Struck by a plague of insects - well one.

Thought we were an accursed people this Sunday - thought the Lord had declared His final say upon us. I guess you probably need me to explain. IT APPEARS WE WERE STRUCK BY A PLAGUE OF INSECTS! Well not really - just one, and a little one at that, but he/she did enough to bring the morning service at X1 to a halt.

Humorously, the exact timing of us as a people needing to gather our things and rush to the nearest fire exit was dead in the middle of me leading us in a corporate prayer of confession using David's prayer in Psalm 51. There I was down at the front of Vue Screen 7 reading out this stunning prayer and one of our key coordinators for Sunday mornings comes running up to me (I have to say I just did not know what was going on) and says, "The fire alarm is going off they are evacuating the building. Well there you go - one of the down sides of meeting in 'public space' was that we had to respond, gosh we couldn't even pass it off as some form of desperate final attack by the enemy to stop us meeting and stand against with raised voices and vociferous faith, we just had to up and leave.

Back to the 'plague.' After a few moments standing outside with everyone from the other screens the fire crew checked the building, declared it safe for re-entry and we were back in. Turns out that our creche lights were the problem - to be more exact a bee roasting away in one of our creche lights (and as we know there's no burning bug without smoke - or is that smoke without fire, mmm...) which set the alarm off and brought all proceedings to a stand still.

Bit of a laugh really, and I am actually so proud of the people of X1 for there patience and togetherness. All part of 'worship' I guess.

Oh yes here's a pic of the unfortunate perpetrator of the pestilence



Simon

You looking forward to church?

My co-elder Andy said a beautiful thing during the welcome at X1 yesterday. He highlighted that several years ago when you went on holiday from the UK often you could not purchase many things that you enjoy in the UK and so you could not wait to get back to partake of those 'home-comforts.' That situation has changed he said; but this time while they were away in Austria skiing all he had missed and that which he longed to return to was the worship gathering at Christ First.

He is a man of integrity so I know he was not just people-pleasing. I have thought about it since yesterday and am prayerful and hopeful that many of us at X1 have that mindset about Sundays.

I know I have got to a place at some of the churches I have been serving at where I felt no desire whatsoever to go on Sundays. That is a tragic, probably consumerist, view of things but it was where I had got to. What about you? How much do you look forward to your worship gathering with your church? If you don't why not? Are you serving or just taking cause that can make a massive difference? Is God joining you by His Spirit? If not why not?

Pray for a heart change if so, also see if there is an opportunity for you to talk to your leadership about your waning affections and see what changes can take place.
As for our little gathering of folk, I pray that they will continue for many a year to ache for our gatherings together and to come prayerfully expectant!

Simon

That's My King

We had one of those special mornings as a people at X1 yesterday where God is so very tangibly present - in a heavy, "Here's who I am!" way. One of our young guys, entrusted with preaching responsibility on the morning finished with this remarkably powerful video which has the mind-blowing "That's My King" audio by Dr. S. M. Lockridge. You may have heard it before but I have placed it here if you haven't or if you want to again. It left us 'undone!'

That's My King! from Albert Martin on Vimeo.

Do you know Him?

Simon

The Romance of Preaching

As I had mentioned in my last post I have been reading Preaching & Preachers by Martyn Lloyd Jones and it has been extremely beneficial to me. It seems to me that I have very few conversations with individuals where there is an almost unhindered joy as they speak of preaching that is affecting their lives. Again and again I will hear people recount their love for worship within their church context, or how they love the expression of Spiritual Gifts, but alas, very few times do I have conversations like this regarding preaching. I find this a great tragedy. I think there are multiple doors at which to lay the blame, but it is very sad.

Lloyd Jones would echo my sentiments exactly, I think he would be heartbroken at this age of 'preaching' within churches. Why am I so certain of that? Well listen to these words that expose his thoughts regarding preaching and the wonder of it

"Let us hurry on to something much more important - the romance of preaching! There is nothing like it. It is the greatest work in the world, the most thrilling, the most exciting, the most rewarding, and the most wonderful. I know nothing comparable to the feeling one has as one walks up the steps [now the pulpit certainly is not 'up' any stairs] of one's pulpit with a fresh sermon on a Sunday morning or a Sunday evening, especially when you feel that you have a message from God and are longing to give it to the people."

His words betray his idea of the importance and prominence of preaching I think. Maybe he was just a product of his time and church has moved on? I do not think so at all.

Preachers, is that the way you feel about preaching. Is it something of such significance to you that you labour in prayer and preparation to present the greatest 'fresh' words for the joy of your peoples and the glory of God? Or is it just the dull part of the meeting after the worship, which gets a minor percentage of the time in your gathering time?

Lord restore preaching that transforms lives and explodes the minds and affections of hearers with the glorious truths of the word of God!

Simon

A Bridge for the Good News

It was sort of our re-launch Sunday as a church this past week. We had used Sunday May 10th as a run through of how it would all go and then asked people to bring friends and guests to VUE for this week.
I have said to a few people already that it was a morning where I felt we could really use the word 'BUZZ' in relation to us as a church. There was energy and enthusiasm oozing from everywhere which is brilliant because it is very attractive for anyone looking in. People got to the tasks of setting up, welcoming, serving refreshments leading the worship and all sorts of other essential bits with fervor and vigor.

I felt it strongly on my heart to preach about moving to VUE out of a real desire to bridge the gap between church and culture. It was a fantastic opportunity and I finished off explaining how I hoped we would go about doing that. Here is the gist of it:

This is the mission we think we must proclaim and embody, we will certainly give it our best shot at least.
We must overcome that which has made the church invisible in culture, we must:

NO LONGER FLEE FROM CULTURE OR HAVE A 'BOMB SHELTER' CHURCH MENTALITY
NO LONGER IMPOSE OUTDATED CULTURE BUT ADAPT TO CULTURE TO GIVE OUR MESSAGE
OFFER DIVINE COMMUNITY TO A FRACTURED CULTURE
LOVE AND NOT JUDGE (DON'T ASK SOMEONE TO CHANGE BEFORE THEY HAVE ENCOUNTERED THE AGENT OF CHANGE- GOD)
'SHOW' THAT FOLLOWING CHRIST IS THE GREATEST THING AND NOT JUST 'TELL' PEOPLE IT IS!

I finished off stating that if the church has a message that can transform the lives of 21st Century people, if the gospel is true than everyone should get a chance to hear it without having to leave their cultural reality to do it!

We want to make a difference, we must.

Simon

We Did It!!

They arrived at 7.30AM, yes people that time does exist, they came in hoards. Men dressed in an assortment of colours jumping out of vehicles grabbing the equipment essential for their mission and accessing the pre-determined location to do what they had come to do.

Everything was gathered together as they descended into the dark hall that was to become their home. In a flash in the blink of an eye they set about their task. In what seemed like moments wires, cables, speakers, lights, cameras, PA desks and a vast assortment of items were arranged in their place. No sooner had these men succeeded in their mission, another platoon arrived. Quickly they slipped into their official orange flak vests and prepared for all that would be thrown at them whilst caught up in this endeavor. Young, old, female, male their team got to work.

10AM rolled around, there had been sounds and rumours of activity for over an hour now, the loud sound began. IT WAS TRUE! Church had begun in screen 7 of VUE cinema Watford. The noise, joy and unified mission took place for an hour and a half and then they rolled out (well of course they did, a movie started at 12PM in that screen so they had to). Beverages were taken, conversations were had, people discussed the crazy goings on of that morning.
Deep breaths were breathed in ad then it dawned on them, 'We did it! We just had our first Worship Gathering as X1 Church in a cinema. How amazing was that."

Yeah we had a great time. It was our run through on this past SUnday, and I just want to thank everyone and of course thank our wonderful Father for His glorious goodness to us. The adventure begins in earnest now...

SImon