REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (23) - ALWAYS HOME

One of the delights of revival is the unity it creates. Not only between churches but within the congregation, across all ages and backgrounds.

We’ve just celebrated the end of another Leadership Year and Encounter Year at Chroma, for the students involved. Listening to their thoughts on the year was inspiring. Here we have a group of young people who are already turning the world upside down for Christ.

I loved the joy, the enthusiasm – the dancing! One student was planning to ‘upscale David’ with her dancing!

It’s so good that most will be staying in Leicester, and that for any that are moving on, as Pastor Steve said, ‘here will always be home.’

That’s true for the students, but it applies to all of us. What God is doing here is so precious, it will remain with us wherever we are in the world. And wherever we are, if you ask us about revival in Leicester, there will always be a smile. 

And maybe a dance….

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (22) - UNITY

One of the hallmarks of revival is an increased unity.

It was such a privilege to see this for real at Tuesday’s Revival Prayer.

We asked for prayer as a church. Immediately two ladies came up to pray – one from Colombia, one from Argentina. And then two church leaders from other churches came to pray – one from Anthem Church Leicester, one from OneChurch Leicester.

Churches and nations in unity.

When the Holy Spirit moves, unity is the result. As we work together, unity is the result. As we worship together, unity is the result.

Grateful for all God is doing.

REPOST: The Pale Blue Dot

THIS BLOG IS THE FIFTH MOST READ POST ON MY SITE WITH OVER 500 VIEWS. IT'S ONE OF MY FAVOURITES AND A REMINDER OF THE GREATNESS OF GOD.

Look carefully at the image. The pale blue dot is the Earth, captured in a picture from the Voyager 1 spacecraft at a distance of 4 billion miles on February 14, 1990.

Carl Sagan was the one who pushed for the Voyager craft to take the shot, and it’s his quote that follows:

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

With thanks to Professor Brian Cox, speaking at the NAPF conference, October 2012 for pointing out the Pale Blue Dot.

Stand By Me Around the World

Thanks to Chris Kelly for sending this my way.....

"No matter who you are, no matter where you go in your life, at some point you gonna need somebody to stand by you....."

Peterborough- Strangely Attractive to the Rest of the World

There was a documentary on prime time BBC2 this week on Peterborough and the number of Eastern European immigrants who are coming to our city. The final narration in the documentary was 'Peterborough - strangely attractive to the rest of the world'. I guess it was said a bit tongue in cheek, but I take it as an accolade. I think it's great to have so many nations in our city. We have over 50 represented in our church alone.

I hope and pray that as a city we will lead the way with a vibrant, integrated, cooperative, international community!

Belonging

I'm just off the back of an amazing weekend. We had 6 services over 3 days at our church as we opened the new building and celebrated Christmas at the same time- you can see the new building on www.pcc-uk.org

We had about 4750 people through the doors over the weekend, so quite an event. I enjoyed being in the choir. Hard to tell what it sounded like 'out there' but from the stage, it sounded good!

This weekend also saw the winner of X Factor in the UK. I predict a long and successful career for Leona Lewis- not something that could be said for many of the past winners! She has an incredible voice.

None of the choir members could match Leona's voice, I'm sure. But together, I think the sound we made would easily rival, if not excel anything on X Factor. There's a strength in harmony. There's a power in voices together. Paul, when he is writing to the church in Corinth, talks about how we need each other. An eye can't live on its own; it needs a head. The foot needs the rest of the body to function, etc. So, we need each other. And when we work together- what harmony, what belonging.

It's lonely out there. I'm glad I belong.