SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

WHAT I'VE LOVED ABOUT STORNOWAY.

An amazing weekend in the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis has just come to an end, and sitting in the pastor's house I'm reflecting on how much I've been privileged to be hear. My personal highlights:
* The passion of my new friends here to see God be glorified especially amongst young people.
* The wonderful hospitality of Robert and Marina Sinclair.
*Meeting their pastor and long-time friend Tommy MacNeil and his wife Donna.
*Visiting the Callanish Stones- the island's version of Stonehenge.
*Witnessing all 50 young people at the Ignite conference stand in readiness to commit themselves to the Ignite declaration.
*Sneaking off between meetings for an hour's fishing.
* The great parable of a dad teaching his son to fish.
*Experiencing worship led by Ian MacKinnon - he's a big Third Day fan!
*Hearing that Tommy MacNeil had a phone call at 10.30pm on the Sunday night to say that a girl had given her life to Jesus in the youth service that evening. He's meeting another guy tomorrow who wants to share the difference God has made in his life,
*Seeing the church with more people in it than in living memory, for that youth service.
*Discovering that the Isle of Lewis has a similar religious heritage and present day set of circumstances that I see in Wales.
*Having a snooze on the bed this morning, with the Sinclair's cat Tiger snuggled up next to me- he's so much like my old cat Tinker.
Here's the team for the weekend:
back row-Ian MacKinnon, me, Norman Morrison(youth worker), Robert Sinclair. Front row- Marina Sinclair, Tommy MacNeil and his son Matthew.

REVIVE US LORD!

Later today I fly to Glasgow and then tomorrow onto Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis off the coast of Scotland.
I'm leading an Ignite weekend for a group of churches in Stornoway and I'm very excited, if not a little daunted at the prospect. Stornoway was the scene for the first stirrings of the Hebridean Revival of 1948-52. As a Christian living and ministering in Wales, often called the Land of Revival, I'm aware of the cry of those who so desperately want to experience God move in their land once again.

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.

I went to a family wedding over the weekend, where our daughter Bethan was a bridesmaid. The wedding ceremony was nice enough, but the highlight for most people was the speech by the bridegroom. No embarrassing stories or funny jokes, just a real heartfelt declaration of his love for his new wife, and for his family- especially his grandfather who was sitting there listening. All the women on our table where in tears, and I have to admit I wiped one or two away as well. Seeing or hearing declarations of love, when they are truly meant, always impacts people at the deepest level. It's amazing that Christians, defined by the most amazing declaration of love ever seen, so often find it difficult to share that love with others, and occasionally hide Gods' love behind a smokescreen of theology, religious practice, legalism and prejudice. There's no shame in loving people, and in showing them the one true source of love.

SIR NIGEL JAMES.

No- I haven't been knighted, but this is the name of my new blog with Third Day- a name not chosen by myself I hasten to add! It's simply one of the various Third Day blogs and can be found at Sir Nigel James. At the moment I've been posting some sneak peeks from chapters of the book about life on the road with Third Day.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE NEEDED!

Over the last year or so I've been working on a book project called 'Lessons from the Road' with the guys in Third Day. It's now finished and currently being touted around a few publishing houses in the USA by a friend in the industry. This book could prove to be instrumental in enabling me to step into a new season of ministry both in the USA and the UK. Please would you pray that a publisher will catch the vision of the book - devotional, autobiographical, behind-the-scenes, stories behind the songs from the band themselves- and will want to publish it!

DIOLCH I TI ARGLWYDD AM COLEG Y BALA.

That means 'Thanks you Lord for Bala College' in Welsh. I've just spent 3 days up in Bala, North Wales at the Presbyterian Church Youth and Children's Centre.
The 6 staff at Coleg y Bala are all passionate about Jesus, Wales, the Welsh language and seeing a young generation come to faith in Jesus. It felt like a really significant time meeting up with them and leading them through some sessions about communicating with young people. We covered many of the themes that I teach at the Elim College, and it was an opportunity for me to use some of my faltering Welsh!

TALKING ABOUT MY GENERATION.

Just back from our caravan after a few days break with my wife Gill. Enjoyed 2 rock n'roll moments while I was there. Firstly I watched This is Spinal Tap again- a spoof rockumentary about an English rock band at the tail end of their career trying to tour America. It's a VERY funny film and seeing it again reminded why for years Third Day's old road manager booked them into hotels using the names of the Spinal Tap band. Then last night, Gill and I along with Gary and friend Martin Evans from our church, went to see legendary band The Who in Swansea's Liberty Stadium. For my younger readers, they are the band who supply the theme tunes for CSI, CSI Miami, and CSI New York. The Who's classic anthem of the 60's, My Generation features the infamous line hope I die before I get old and unfortunately that's what happened to two of the founder members Keith Moon 'the Loon' and Jon 'Ox' Entwhistle. Now the band consists of 60 year olds Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend plus some veteran accomplices including Ringo Starr's son on drums.Four times - yes, four times, during the show the power went down, frustrating audience and band alike. On one occasion, after a break of 2 minutes or so, they started back up exactly where they'd left off! Very impressive. As Gary said " It was worth the ticket price just to hear them play Won't Get Fooled Again."