Word Alive 2015: Day 1

This week my family and I are at Word Alive 2015, a week break with Bible teaching and worship accessible across all ages. Where time (and Wi-Fi) allows, I’ll be posting my notes from whatever sessions I get to go to. 

Here are my notes from Day 1…

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Bible Centred Youthwork conference 2015: Day 4

Today was the last day of the Bible Centred Youthwork conference, a conference dedicated to focusing the work among children and young people in our churches on the principles and content of the Bible.

I have been sharing my notes for each day and a simple thought/reflection on the what particular struck me that day. Here are my notes and thoughts from the last session on Day 4.

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Bible Centred Youthwork conference 2015: Day 3

This week I am at the Bible Centred Youthwork conference, a conference dedicated to focusing the work among children and young people in our churches on the principles and content of the Bible.

I have been sharing my notes for the day and a simple thought/reflection on the what particular struck me that day. Here are my notes and thoughts from the two main sessions on Day 3.

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Bible Centred Youthwork conference 2015: Day 2

This week I am at the Bible Centred Youthwork conference, a conference dedicated to focusing the work among children and young people in our churches on the principles and content of the Bible.

Yesterday, I shared my notes for the day and a simple thought/reflection on the what particular struck me that day. Here are my notes and thoughts from the two main sessions on Day 2.

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Bible Centred Youthwork conference 2015: Day 1

This week I have the joy and privilege of being at the Bible Centred Youthwork conference, a conference dedicated to focusing the work among children and young people in our churches on the principles and content of the Bible.

Each morning I’m hoping to share my notes and whatever thoughts/wisdom I have that might be helpful to people who aren’t able to be at the conference this year, or to those who want to sharpen their thinking with regard to biblical youth and children’s ministry in the UK today.

Here are my notes and thoughts from the two sessions on Day 1.

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Fallen off the wagon of family worship?

This morning, I had a great time reading through Psalm 1 and talking about it over breakfast with my family. It was a simple 10 minutes spent munching cereal and chewing over God’s word together. But it was the first time in a few weeks that I had lead my family in a time of looking at the Bible and praying for the day ahead (ironically, it was the annual pastor’s busy season of Christmas that diverted my attention away from leading my family!). Yup, I had fallen off the wagon of family worship. And I suspect I am not the only one to do so.

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Jesus, I my cross have taken

Jesus I my cross have taken is one of the many x-hundred year old hymns that have been given a new lease of life by overhauling the music it is set to. In the case of this hymn, the music has been reworked by Bill Moore and can be found here. However, the original words are still quite dated. For instance, one of the later verses end with the line ‘child of heaven, canst thou repine?’ Repine? What the heck is that?! I have been asking people for nearly 9 months now (since I first heard the new arrangement) and still haven’t met anyone who knows what that word means.

So, I have set about updating the words (I seem to have a habit of doing things like this) but in such a way that the original sense or meaning is not lost or diluted. Here are my updated words, and I hope the prove useful and uplifting for you and your church.

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World War remembrance wallpaper

World War remembrance artwork

100 years ago Britain entered into the Great War or, as we now call it, World War I. In memory of those who served, fought, sacrificed and died to uphold freedom, and in to honour and fulfil Romans 13:7, I have put together this composite piece to help continue the memory and legacy of brave men and women all those years ago.

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Revelation title slide image

Revelation title slide image

I’ve been getting ready this week to preach on Revelation 19-22 at a youth group weekend away for older teens. Revelation is such a visual book of the Bible rich in imagery, metaphors and biblical theology; I think reading it is the textual equivalent of watching a film in full 4D vision with the volume on 10, the brightness and contrast on max, on a motion simulator.

So, to give me a break every now and then from the work of preparing to preach Revelation, I’ve been working on a piece of composite artwork to act as my title screen. And here it is…

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