SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

MASTER'S DEGREE COMPLETED.

At long last I've completed my Master's degree! Handing the dissertation in earlier this week was the final part of the work towards an M.A. in the study of Pentecostal and Charismatic studies.

My dissertation title was: An examination of the Biblical imagery of Fire in relation to God, and the challenge to contemporary Pentecostalism.

ELIM CONFERENCE.

Just back from 4 days at the national conference for the Elim Pentecostal church, taking place in the inglorious surroundings of Pontins Holiday Camp in Prestatyn. HIghlights of the week were significant landmarks for two personal friends- Chris Cartwright had confirmation that he will be leaving City Temple in October to become regional leader for Elim in Wales and the South West, whilst Matt Gregor was ordained as an Elim minister. Chris, coincidently, spoke at the Ordination service for Matt and the 32 others ordained,  and here's a picture of the two of them afterwards:

I've known Matt for over 15 years, since he first started helping at Big Ideas/Ignite events. We've worked on summer camps together, travelled overseas, done missions, worked in schools, and it was Matt who first started going to City Temple and suggested I should try it out!  I mentored him for 3 years intensely and still offer advice and guidance now, we've been through a lot together and have many funny stories to tell, so it was a special pleasure to be at his ordination and a humbling experience to be thanked in his speech. I've known Chris for about 12 years, first as a friend, as my pastor, and more recently as  a colleague in ministry. Rarely a week goes by without us meeting for coffee, and we'll try hard to keep doing that when he moves on to his new role. Chris and I are both 50 this year, and have a lot more in common, not least that I've nicked quite a few of his sermon themes and preached them on the road with Third Day!

FULFILLING RELATIONSHIPS.

Not having written for a while I want to talk about two sets of relationships that have been extremely fulfilling for Gill and I. The first news is that we are Grandparents again! Rachel and Chris welcomed baby Joseph into the world last Sunday. Gill and I absolutely love being Grandparents and we have enjoyed Hannah's overnight stays with us immensely over the last few months. We find grand-parenting so much easier and less stressful than being parents!  Here is a picture of a proud Grandmother with both of her grandchildren, and a new born Joseph:
   
 

Over the last couple of weeks we have had Pastor Prasad from Rajahmundry staying with us. He came to visit IgniteHope and to catch up with all the people, churches and schools that have been supporting his work with Gateway Ministry, Gateway School, Ignite India churches, and the leprosy village. Gill and I really think of Prasad and his family as our own, and we've had such a thrilling journey of faith and discipleship with him since we met in 2005. At present he's been fundraising for a new level for the school which will add an extra 6 classes- for the 100 new pupils starting in  3 weeks time! We had an exhausting but fruitful time with Prasad, finishing off with him and I spending a day sightseeing in London-including a trip to Lord's cricket ground. Here's a picture of him at Hawthorn School in Llandaff, Cardiff at a fundraising tea party for Gateway School:

 

BOOKS WORTH READING.

It's about time I recommended some good books! Here are three that, despite my focus on writing a dissertation, I've found some time to read lately.

If you are sceptical about the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement and their theology and practice, or you have been hurt or disturbed by involvement in Pentecostal/Charismatic churches then I really urge you to read these two books:

J. Lee Grady: The Holy Spirit is Not for Sale: Rekindling the Power of God in an Age of Compromise

A fantastically Bible-based, common-sense filled, Spirit inspired book that calls Pentecostals and Charismatics to an authentic, humble and honest faith.

Michael J. Klassen: Strange Fire, Holy Fire: Exploring the Highs and Lows of Your Charismatic Experience

Especially helpful if you are trying to make sense of your Christian experience and feel that you have been bruised or battered by the extremes of the Charismatic/Pentecostal church.

On a different subject, if you are desperate to engage more with what it means to be a missional church in the 21st century and move your church from an 'attractional model' to an incarnational model' -or would just like to know what the heck al that means then read:

Reggie McNeal: Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church 

Basically this is about stopping DOING church and instead BEING church.

I'm not on a commission for any of these- but they are all full of extremely helpful insights!

CHOICE No.9-Being willing to go!

It's been sometime since I wrote one of my series on the good choices I have made, but here is another one.

Mark 16:15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.

It may be simplistic but I have always been willing to take God seriously when he challenges me to go into all the world. Of course, the world starts on out doorstep, and I began to preach in the small churches in the denomination I grew up in around the south-west London area. Now, thirty years later, I still get a real thrill from 'going' to preach about Jesus-whether it's to a church or youth event 10 miles away or a country five thousand miles away. In fact, I have a real difficulty in turning down opportunities to preach, wherever they may be.

The fact is that we worship a God who is a sending God-

*He sent His Son into the world to save us

*He sent His Spirit to live in us

*He sends us into the world to tell other about HIm

The very heart of mission is the mindset that Christians cannot be inward looking but be outward going. It's not that the church of God has a mission but that the God of mission has a church.

As for me, if I haven't been able to 'go' somewhere in the name of Jesus for while then I get restless and thirst for  the challenge and the experience again of being sent by God to be part of his mission to a world that needs to be be redeemed.

GOOD NEWS.

Good Friday above all days is a good time to talk about sin. I'm not averse to talking about sin, although in today's society it might be more relevant to explain sin in terms of selfishness. I'm uneasy about preachers who deliver the good news message of Jesus without mentioning the enormity of sin, and the eternal consequences of sin if we choose not to accept Christ's offer of forgiveness and life: A gospel message without reference to sin doesn't do justice to our Lord and Saviour. Yet equally, I'm just as uneasy about preachers who start a gospel message emphasising sin. It's as if original sin was the starting point of creation-which is obviously wrong, as Genesis 1.31 tells us: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. John Eldredge calls this 'original glory' and reminds us that before sin there was the original glory of creation which included man and woman.

A good news message must focus first on God's creation and his desire to have fellowship with all of mankind...THEN the bad news that sin has damaged this can be introduced into the equation. The following outline may sound a bit twee or trite, but it is true nevertheless:

There is Good News- GOD FORMED US.

There is Bad News - SIN HAS DEFORMED US.

There is Good News-JESUS CAN TRANSFORM US.

1Pet. 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN.

One of the great features of being on the Winterjam tour has been the opportunity to get re-acquainted with the Newsboys. My first adventures in the Contemporary Christian Music industry were with the Newsboys in the UK and Europe in the summers of 1995 and 1996, and they were the guys who first invited me to work over on a tour in the USA in late 1998. One of the support bands on that tour was Third Day...and the rest is history. Besides that, Third Day's current tour manager, and good friend of mine, Lott Shudde was Newsboys road manager when I first met them. So tonight was one of those special nights- involving me stepping on a Newsboys tour bus for the first time in over 10 years- when their production manager Steve Campbell, also a long-time friend, invited me and some of the Third Day guys over for a curry. It was such fun to hang out with Dunny, Steve, Wes, Jody, Jeff, and to have a long chat with recent Newsboys addition Michael Tait (once of legendary group DC Talk). Dunny came back onto our bus for a couple of episodes of Ricky Gervais' Extras. I owe a lot to Newsboys, and to their founding guy Peter Furler who is no longer in the band. They took a risk on me, I took a faith step not knowing what the outcome would be, and my life was immeasurably changed and my ministry experience enriched.

BETTER NEWS FROM LIBERIA.

Whilst out on the road with Third Day I've received some heartening news from Emmanuel in Liberia. over the last few months Ignite have been raising funds to buy Emmanuel an Ignite Liberia vehicle, and we eventually wired the money to him a few weeks ago. Ignite Liberia are now the proud owners of a Nissan car normally used as a taxi, which will make Emmanuel's role in overseeing the work of Ignite in each of Liberia's counties so much easier.
 To read the story of how we funded the car you might want to read my post dated 9th October 2009 entitled 'God answers prayer.'

TENSION IN LIBERIA.

I recently received this disturbing news from Emmanuel Jonah, National Director for Ignite in Liberia.

 Please pray for J. Nehemiah Johnson and family as they serve in Lofa. He just informed me that yesterday, there was an attack on Christians by the Muslim community. According to him, a little girl from the Mandingo tribe was killed mysteriously and her body was found side the road with parts extracted. This happened in a town called Kornia. The local authority called residents to  investigate. While  investigating, someone from the crowd  went outside and called  on  his mobile to Voinjama(where Nehemiah is) and ordered Mandingos to attack Christians and burn down church buildings. This led to the burning of the catholic compound, five other church buildings, including one of Ignite member churches-the pentecostal church- leaving 8 people dead.  The government troops have put things under control, but  people are still  angry  and  want to  pay  back.  Please pray for God's intervention. Remember, prayer works!

STILL ON THE ROAD.

I'm coming to the end of my third stint in the USA since 6th January, on the Winterjam tour with Third Day.

it's been pretty cold, long, tiring, but nevertheless very fulfilling. The tour is LARGE- average 13 or 14 thousand people a night, and with many young people giving their lives to Christ. Third Day don't play until 9.30pm so it's  a long day waiting around. It has meant the guys have been able to focus on some brand new songs for their next album, and plenty of good conversations and devotional times together. We've also all found a great iPhone camera app called Hipstamatic and here are a couple of cool shots: A skyline of Kansas City: 

and Mac Powell working on one of those new songs in the dressing room: