SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE.

One of the privileges of working with young people is that you get invited to their weddings, and that's especially exciting if you know them really well ( it can also make you realise you are getting on a bit!).

In recent years, the Ignite team have seen loads of people who have worked with us over the years, get married. John and Rachel Settatree, Dave Lyle, Maaike Van der Toorren, Paul Read, and Laura Picton (now Dernley). On Saturday, a bunch of us went to Broadhaven Baptist Church in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, to the wedding of Becky Williams. Becky met us through Flames of Fire, now New Wine Cymru, organised the Ignite programme there one year, and volunteered on and off with us throughout her university years in Cardiff. She's definitely been to more Ignite Christmas dinners and leaving parties than anyone except Gary, Anita and myself. A bunch of other Flames of Fire young people are getting married in the next couple of months, and it's fantastic to see them all flourishing in the purposes of God: Mark Nam, Lois Richards, Craig Wakeling, Ellen Griffith. Gill and I will be going to some of the weddings, so I'll be your wedding correspondent for a while.

DIGGING DEEP.

I've been finishing off a book by John Glass, head of the Elim Pentecostal Church in the UK, called Building Bigger People which is basically his life message to the church over the last few years. It's full of wise biblical teaching and some good real life stories as illustrations. One such story was told to him by Dr. Paul Yonghi Cho about his frustrations of being delayed by building works in his city that seemed to be taking ages to complete. When he asked the foreman why the work was so slow, he was told "Because we intend to build big we have to ensure that we dig deep." John Glass goes onto say that "God loves BIG and has called his church to largeness, favour and growth, but if there is one thing that God prioritises over BIG in the economy of his kingdom then it is DEEP."

That's one of the main reasons I'm studying for a Master's degree. I desperately want to build big but I know the time is right to dig deep first. At the moment I'm just finishing off a lot of digging in the book of Judges.

   The illness I came back from India with was finally diagnosed after tests as Campylobacter a form of gastro-enteritis caused by food poisoning. Although I thought I had rid it from my system, one of the side-effects has been waking up in the middle of the night with extreme pains in my chest. So I ended up in Morriston Hospital in Swansea all day yesterday for checks and examinations to make sure I hadn't had a heart attack.I should have been enjoying a day at our caravan with my wife! All clear, but the pain is in the gullet region so I'm on a course of tablets and I'm having some more blood pressure and ECG readings this week.

A CRY FROM IRAN.

Last night at City Temple we watched a powerful video called A Cry from Iran. Being a church of the nations and a church to the nations, we have a number of ethnic fellowship groups-one of those is our Persian fellowship, many Farsi speakers who are originally from Iran. We also have a group that prays for the persecuted church, and these groups came together at our midweek meeting to watch the video. It tells the powerful story of Pastor Haik Hovsepian, who was martyred for his faith in 1994. It really is an astonishingly emotional and challenging story, showing the Iranian church flourishing despite much persecution. It reminded me of the famous quote by Tertullian- The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

HOME JAMES.

So what have I been up to lately?

*Getting intimately acquainted with the lives of Othniel, Jephthah, Gideon and Samson for my latest Master's research paper- Examine the role of the Spirit as presented in the book of Judges.

*Watching plenty of Twenty20 cricket on SkySports- star performers? Graham Napier and Dawid Malan.

*Cooking my wife some meals. Best so far? Spicy beef medallions with sweet potato mash and mixed vegetables. Suffice to say I surprised even myself.

*Planning a few talks- Other Lovers for the 16+ venue at New Wine Cymru, Why shouldn't I be baptised for a baptismal service at City Temple.

*Drinking coffee in the new Starbuck's drive through near Asda's in Cardiff Bay.

*Doing loads of radio interviews on US Christian stations for 'Lessons from the Road'. Best question so far? What would you do, who would you be if you weren't touring with a Christian rock band? Answer? Pastoring a church, leading a mission organisation, or earning a living as a sports journalist.

*Listening to plenty of Classic Rock on digital radio station Planet Rock. Favourite songs?  Need you ask- anything by Supertramp or Pink Floyd.

*Beginning to plan the next set of tour devotions for Third Day. To find out more visit my road pastor blog.

*Sorting my putting stroke out on my brand new astroturf putting green on the lower level of our back garden. A lovely little 3 hole course which sadly I haven't really mastered yet!

*Writing content for the Mission pages on the new City Temple church web site.

*Attending fundraisers for The Gateway School in India. We still need a bunch of money to get the roof on.Creative fundraising ideas gratefully received.

*Planning a family excursion to Chicago for a few days before Third Day play there in August. Hotel? The Essex Inn-looks good.