]]> http://www.graysonsinfrance.net/family/baptism-photos/feed/ http://www.graysonsinfrance.net/family/weekend-plans-2/ http://www.graysonsinfrance.net/family/weekend-plans-2/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:25:33 +0000 Rob http://www.graysonsinfrance.net/?p=319 Two important things happening this weekend (three if you include this evening’s X Factor….although I should probably be boycotting it after last week’s preposterous voting off by the judges of Laura):

• This afternoon is the first full session of a worship school I’m running at the Assemblies of God church in Le Havre. It’s the first of six sessions running once a month over the next six months (excluding December). We have a lot of ground to cover this afternoon – in three hours, we need talk about an introduction to worship, the difference between praise and worship, worship and revelation, spirit and truth worship, and the place of worship in the church. Whew!

• Tomorrow we have a shortened service in the morning, and then at 4pm we’re having a baptismal service at which both Joseph and Bethany are being baptised! This is something they’ve both talked about at different times in the past, but until now we’ve never really felt they’ve been quite ready. This year they’ve both come to a point where they feel they want to take another concrete step in cementing their faith and commitment. I’m really excited! Hopefully I’ll have one or two photos to post next week.

Wherever you are, and whatever you’re doing, have a great weekend!

Anyway, for another take on the election, see this article from a satirical US news site. Made me chuckle.

With three birthdays this month in our immediate family, and another two in our wider family, November is clearly a popular month. Or I suppose it probably makes more sense to say that February must be a popular month, if you know what I mean…

Bethany opened the batting with her eleventh birthday on 3rd November, the day that we arrived back from a wedding in the UK. She was happy to have a birthday cake with candles on (though we couldn’t manage 11 – three was all she got), and her main present was money, most of which she has yet to spend. The problem is trying to get her to spend it on something other than clothes and ear-rings…

My birthday was yesterday. Kind of came and went like any other day, really. I had a few cards to open, and a few gifts of money, which was nice. We went out for a meal to Buffalo Grill last night – kind of an American-style steak house that’s quite good for family meals. Joseph is next on the 19th.

The wedding we went to last weekend was great, although the week-end was a little crazy. Here’s how it went: I left Le Havre on the 17:00 ferry on Friday. Joyanne and the kids, having spent the week in Dorset with grandparents, collected me from the ferry terminal at around 11pm, and we drove to a Travelodge that we’d booked about an hour north of Portsmouth. Breakfast was in McDonald’s at 7:30 on Saturday, and we then drove up to Sheffield where we took the kids to my Dad’s, stuffed down a quick sandwiched, I got changed into my suit, and we headed off to the wedding. It was due to start at 1pm, and we got there with 5 minutes to spare! I can honestly say that it was one of the nicest weddings I’ve ever been to; it was also a great opportunity to catch up with various people we see only rarely, including our friend Andy Bromley, who moved to the States a few weeks ago to serve as Worship Pastor in a church in Colorado (it was his sister who was getting maried).

After the wedding and a formal drinks reception, we dashed back to the other side of Sheffield to collect the kids, then drove to my sister’s in Rotherham, where we had a delicious Chinese take-away (they don’t make them that nice here in France!). Joseph and Bethany slept at my sister’s, and Joyanne and I at my Mum’s just up the road. On Sunday, which was my brother-in-law Kev’s birthday and the day before Bethany’s birthday, we all went went out for a very nice meal culminating in a much larger than expected dessert, photographic evidence of which is provided below (along with a photo of Bethany in her little black number and all of us at the meal – except Joseph, who was taking the picture). It said on the menu it was for two to share, but Joyanne decided she didn’t want much… and when it came, it looked as though it was enough for five!! I didn’t eat it all, honest!!

We then drove back down to Portsmouth on Sunday afternoon while listening to the Brazilian Grand Prix on the car radio – a very nail-biting experience, though we were, of course, delighted with the result – Lewis Hamilton is World Champion! Vive les anglais! We caught the overnight ferry and arrived back home tired but happy just in time to celebrate Bethany’s birthday on Monday. Whew, what a weekend!

Things pretty much back to normal this week. The kids went back to school on Thursday after a ten-day break. I’m working on preparation for another worship training session next Saturday in Le Havre. And great news for church – a guy who came for the very first time when we held our family service a few weeks ago has since come to some Bible basics/baptism preparation classes, and says he wants to be baptised!! How cool is that?!

Have to go now to take Joseph to a friend’s birthday party. Don’t forget to watch the X Factor tonight!

Last Saturday I was in Paris teaching at a worship school. This was the second time I’d taught at this worship school, and once again it went pretty well. Driving to Paris early in the morning to get there by 8:30 was possibly not the best option, though – I was pretty knackered by the time the day was over. I’ll be speaking there another three times this year.

On Sunday we had another really good meeting at church. Numbers were up again following the excitement of the previous week, and it was once again a positive time with good worship, a great mesage and lots of people hanging around chatting afterwards. Let’s hope the new-found momentum continues!

Joyanne and the kids left for the UK on Sunday afternoon as it’s the school holidays here, so I’ve been on myu own since then (sniff) – well, apart from the dog and two cats, that is. It’s been a busy week work-wise, though, with a deadline for a large translation project. On Tuesday evening I went out with a friend to see the film “Righteous Kill” at the cinema; as a big fan of De Niro and Pacino, I couldn’t really not see this, could I? My verdict is that it’s an average film which is carried by having two truly great actors in it side by side. We then had a Chinese meal afterwards, which was enjoyable apart from the fact that 10pm really is too late for me to be sitting down to eat in a restaurant.

(Speaking of films, the new Bond film is out today. That’s a film I definitely want to go and see!)

I’m catching the ferry this afternoon and Joyanne and the kids are meeting me in Portsmouth. We’ll be up in Rotherham for a wedding tomorrow, which should be a great opportunity to catch up with various friends we haven’t seen for ages, and then will be staying with my family on Saturday and spending most of Sunday with them before heading back down to Portsmouth late afternoon. Overnight ferry on Sunday night and back to work on Monday. Phew!

There is one other very important event this weekend (other than the important event every Saturday evening, The X Factor!). I’m referring, of course, to the F1 Grand prix in Brazil. It’s the last race in the season and the chamionship is Hamilton’s to lose. COME ON LEWIS!!

See you next week…

To see the rest – it’s hilarious – go here. (By the way, the signs are from Church Sign Generator. Churches could have some fun with this…) HT: tall skinny kiwi.

I read this article yesterday, which I think is a sound response, though I can’t guarantee you’ll like it. Though it’s written from an American perspective, much of it rings true for Europe too.

The background is that we put forward the idea of the family service as a different type of service to be held roughly every six weeks – the main differences being that there would be no kids’ church so content would need to be suitable to all ages, and that it would be evangelistic in nature – not in an old-fashioned, cringe-making evangelistic rally kind of way, but in a way that makes church and the gospel accessible and understandable to the unchurched. We were given agreement and the mandate to make it happen.

Joyanne and I also had a secret objective of showing everyone that church doesn’t have to always be predictable, routine, same old same old….we wanted people to experience something where at the end of it, they would be saying, “I never thought church could be like that!”

We wanted to stick to 1 hour 30 maximum to keep people engaged, and felt that it was important to have variety, to keep things moving, and to have a theme. So for this first time, our theme was “Who is Jesus?”. The aim was to have a variety of elements all seeking to look at that question from different angles. These included video (see below), readings, PowerPoints, a testimony in the form of an interview, and a short, focussed 20 minute preach. Even the songs were carefully selected to reflect the theme.

We started communicating about this event some weeks ago, telling people that the primary goal was evangelism and that it would be a waste of time if they didn’t bring friends, family, and anyone else who doesn’t normally set foot in a church. And I’m delighted to say that there was a great response – I didn’t get chance to count, but I’d say there were around twice as many people as we have often had on a typical Sunday. This included people who are “on the fringes” for various reasons and come to special events once in a while, but it also included a good number of non-Christians. The preach was a clear gospel message followed by a short appeal, and although no-one responded at the time, feedback from various quarters suggests that people were touched, challenged, etc.

Another reason for keeping it to 90 minutes was to have time for refreshments afterwards – nothing fancy, just nibbles and soft drinks. This went down well - there was a real buzz in the place afterwards and people hung around and talked for much longer than they usually do.

All in all, the whole thing was a great success, and while we’ve already identified some areas to tighten up on, all the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. And one message has come through loud and clear: “We want more!” Because there’s already a special event scheduled for Christmas, the next one of these services is likely to be in February, but as we’ve set the bar quite high, we’d better get our thinking caps on quickly!

Finally, below are two videos we used in the service. The first is a montage we put together using clips from “The Passion of the Christ”. The aim was simply to get us to think about some different ways you could answer the question “Who is Jesus?”, and we showed it right after the opening song. (The first one is the French version as used on Sunday, and below it is an English version for all you non French-speakers.) The third video is simply a photo montage to the sound of a reading of John 1:1-18, which talks about Jesus being the Word of God and coming into the world etc. I haven’t made an English version of this one - if you need it in English, you can find it in your Bible!

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who prayed especially for this service. Your prayers have been more than answered!