SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

JT'S BLOG.

A good mate of mine by the name of John Tancock has recently started a blog and I want to recommend it! John lives in Swansea. Wales, has been involved in church leadership, church planting, and youth ministry for most of his life and also contributed regularly to Revelation TV. He's a gifted theologian, and has written amongst other things, a good review of N.T.Wright's  New Testament For Everyone. Check it out at JT's blog.

IGNITE LIBERIA COMMUNITY SERVICE.

It's always fulfilling to hear what Ignite gets up to in the countries outside the UK that we operate in, and just recently I received an email from Stephen Wonbenyakeh in Liberia outlining a new intitiative:

In an effort to continue to make our presence felt and to impact more young people, Ignite Liberia (Montserrado Branch) has launched a community service project focused on repairing the main road connecting Soul Clinic community with the main route to Red Light. Specifically, the project seeks to close pop holes, clean in water ways that have been closed, redig gutters which have been covered with grass and dirt, and give a general facelift to the community. As usual, we do not only desire people to see or know Ignite, but to also to feel its presence through the impacts it makes. And this, of course, is one of the ways to make this happen. 

This is very much like our own Ignite Hope in the UK, which is an effective Word and Deed outreach programme.  Here is a picture of some of the Ignite Liberia team re-opening a closed gutter:

 

FAREWELL TO PRASAD AND HIS FAMILY-AND TO INDIAN TOILETS.

This morning, after two weeks staying with them, I bid my farewell to Prasad and his family and headed off to Hyderabad for flights back to London.

I've led so many mission team to Rajahmundry over the last 6 years that I'm beginning to get a bit complacent about their impact. I still immensely enjoy seeing folk who visit for the first time begin to have their eyes opened to what the Lord is doing here, and have seen that these last two weeks with teams from Cardiff and from the USA. However, just yesterday I was really impacted by our visit to the Leprosy Church. Again, I've been there many times, and nothing will come close to the very first visit when I spoke in their little mud-hut church, but yesterday was different. Let me explain....

Over the years I've suffered from irritable bowel syndrome and regular bouts of stomach cramps and what we euphemistically call 'the runs'. Consequently, mission trips to India have tended to be fraught with the likelihood of me ending up unwell. This trip I had been fine until arriving at the Leprosy colony I had a sudden and desperate urge to use a toilet! The back story to this is that when the lepers moved to this new village a few years ago, the local govt. provided them with houses but no sanitation. After a visit to them I felt that City Temple church in Cardiff had to provide some toilets and so our Christmas missions offering two years ago bought a simple Indian toilet for every house in the village. Thank the Lord for the generosity of our mission offering because yesterday I had cause to use one of those toilets. They are what my American team members call a 'squatty potty' and crouching down over on I began to realise that this was quite a challenge to use as an able-bodied person let alone if you were disabled as most of the lepers are. This reminded me again that these folk have been given a little more dignity by the provision of these toilets ( their options would have been to go outside the doors of their house or crawl or be carried to the outskirts of the village and go by the side of the road) but that their situation is still a very difficult one. Their demeanour is always so positive despite their circumstances, and I guess the wake-up call that I had again yesterday was a reminder that life is much more than our physical condition and the situation that we find ourselves in. The inner peace and strength that these folk find in the Lord is an example that I don't want to forget.... but their toilets I will happily erase from my memory banks!

 

GATEWAY CHILDREN'S HOME.

Here's a video that Gary put together last week about the opening of the latest development on the Come Together Compound- The Gateway Children's Home now joins the Gateway School.

CLEVER GILLIAN GETS A NEW JOB.

Missing my wife on this trip- and what with Bethan going to Ibiza for 7 weeks, Gill is all alone at home. However, today she had an interview for a promotion and she got the new job starting in September. Not too sure of the exact title (she told me on the phone but I can't remember). Basically she'll be leading a team of education specialists doing a similar role as she does now but with increased responsibility in an advisory teacher capacity.

Congratulations Gillian from me and all your friend in India!

BACK IN RAJAHMUNDRY -TAKE 2.

Having returned to Hyderabad with the City Temple team before they flew back to the UK, Prasad and I  met up with a couple of our team for the next week! Now I'm back in Rajahmundry ready for a repeat of last week but this time with some fans of Third Day.

BACK IN RAJAHMUNDRY!

So here we are back at Prasad's house ready for our week long City Temple/Ignite mission trip.

Our first activity was leading a worship service at a village church last night and the  today we visited the Gateway School. Here I am with a couple whose 2 children  have recently joined the school. The parents, called Munesh and Laxmi  came to tell us how much they were thrilled that their 5 year old daughter Sindu and their 4 year old son Surya were now at the Gateway School. It is moments like this that make our fundraising efforts worthwhile!

INDIA MISSION TRIPS.

After a 24 hour retreat with the Waleswide church planting team in Bala, North Wales, on Tuesday night I'll be traveling up to Heathrow airport  ready for a 2 week trip to India. Basically, I'll be leading 2 mission trips one after the other. Firstly with folk from City Temple and Ignite, and secondly with a small group of Third Day fans.

The trip summary is as follows:

• Our time in Rajahmundry will be guided by Pastor Prasad.
• Prasad oversees all the work of Gateway Ministries and Ignite India, and his wife is the head teacher of the Gateway School.
• Using his family home as our base, we shall aim to accomplish the following:
• Spending a day at the Come Together Compound, experiencing life in the Gateway School and in the newly built children’s homes.
• Taking part in some lessons in the school.
• Visiting a variety of Ignite India churches, including those recently constructed.
• Visiting the Ignite India church on a leprosy colony.
• Leading services in some of these churches- sharing testimony, preaching, offering prayer ministry.
• Visiting some villages for evangelistic ministry.
• Acting as ambassadors of Christ, and representatives of City Temple wherever we go.
• Looking at creative ways in which City Temple, Ignite, and Third Day can continue to support the work of the Gateway School and Ignite India.