SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

80th Anniversary of City Temple Cardiff.

This Sunday at church we were reminded by Pastor Chris Cartwright that City Temple was birthed in 1929 out of a mission to Cardiff by George Jeffrey's the founder of the Elim movement. The mission started on 22nd September and continued for 51 nights with an eventual 3,000 people coming to faith in Jesus.  Chris had with him in church a postcard sent to the Elim HQ in London from Cardiff in July of 1928. From that little cry for help a strong church was born. The message on the card simply said- 'Cardiff needs the 4 square gospel. Please come and help'.  The foursquare gospel was the message of the early Elim Pentecostal pioneers and focused on the four themes of Jesus as Saviour, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, Healer, and Coming King.

 Chris mentioned what he believed to be the core characteristics of our church:

• Pentecostal spirituality-every believer experiencing a personal pentecost.
• Evangelism a priority-reaching out to the lost.
• Signs and wonders evident- a belief in, and a manifestation of, the miraculous.
• Citywide influence-we are a gathered city church not just a local community one.
• Innovative ministry- the present building ( purchased in 1934, 5 years after the church started) originally had 1,000 cinema style seats in it and was heavily criticized by other churches for being worldly.
• Creative programming- as new housing estates grew all over Cardiff the church organized busses to bring people into the church on a  Sunday.
• All ages welcome- children and youth ministry has always been a priority.
• All cultures, backgrounds and nationalities welcome- we have 40 countries represented in church on a Sunday. Doctors sit next to ex-addicts, folk born 5 miles away worship with folk born 5,000 miles away. One man in church this weekend remembered giving his life to Christ in a George Jeffrey's meeting in 1933, others have come to faith just this last few weeks!

ELIM- a place of refreshing for the Israelites in a time of challenge and hardship:

  Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.  Exodus 15:27

NEW REVELATION ALBUM DEVOTIONAL eBOOK.

Just to let you all know that a brand new FREE Devotional eBook based on songs from Third Day’s REVELATION album has been added to Third Day’s website.
Simply put, this book is both a snapshot into the heart behind the songs of the Revelation album, as told by Mac, Mark, Tai and David themselves, and also a series of devotions inspired by the songs. The devotions have been written by me and can be used personally or in a group setting.
Many of you will have the album already, and will have even heard the songs live... Here’s an opportunity to go even deeper!
You can find links to  the eBook at www.thirdday.com/index.html

NEW PHOTOS ADDED TO ALBUM.

I've added some photos to the Third Day album on this site, from our recent South Africa tour and from our UK/European tour back in June. Here's one of me with Angus Buchan and his wife before the concert in Durban last week.

THIRD DAY IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Highlights of the South Africa tour with Third Day from a ministry perspective have been the band sharing the platform with Angus Buchan in Durban and with Louis Brittz and Retief Burger in Pretoria. Angus Buchan is a Scottish farmer who has become one of South Africa's foremost evangelists. He had over 200,000 attend his MIghty Men conference this year, and his lifestory has been told in the book and film 'Faith like Potatoes'. Louis and Retief are at the forefront of a new wave of worship music written and sung in the Afrikaans language. I was so overcome by the Holy Spirit when they sang in Afrikaans that I burst into tears when sharing with the Third Day guys in their dressing room. Mac Powell, very unusually, invited me on stage to share my thoughts in the middle of Third Day's set, so I ended up speaking to the 4,500 people gathered there about the importance of ministry into culture, in the language of people's hearts, and the need to reach out so that every tribe and tongue would one day confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

SWEET HOME-CHICAGO.

In the United Airlines lounge in Chicago O'Hare airport on my  way home from 3 weeks on the road with Third Day and a few days in Texas with Gill, James and Tiffany. Non-Third Day highlights of the trip included:

•  Seeing Prasad in Fort Wayne
• Watching him try putting on a little indoor golf course for the first time
• Getting attacked by Andy and Trish Booth's kids
• Speaking on 'Give Me a Revelation' at IPFW Campus Ministry
• Visiting New Life Church in Colorado Springs and meeting Pastor Brady Boyd and Missions Pastor Rhiaan Heyns to talk about them partnering in mission in Wales.
• Catching up with The Sonflowerz and their family in Colorado Springs
• Grabbing a quick coffee with Chaplain Peter Fischer from the Airforce Academy
• Meeting James's new boss and his wife and getting them tickets to see Third Day-they are BIG fans
• Meeting Tiffany's parents in Fort Worth-George and Klina
• James taking us to the Dallas Cowboys v. Atlanta Falcons NFL game
• A five hour historical tour of Houston with Gill
• The spectacular new apartment that James and Tiffany have moved into 
• Praying for them after a lovely meal together on my last night
• Being with Gill for 4 days in the USA after a Third Day tour- a very rare occurrence but one that we immensely enjoyed
• And as almost always... an upgrade to a business class flat bed on the way home.

PRASAD IN THE USA.

Pastor Prasad has been staying with Pastor Ben Gates in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA for a while and on a few days off from the Third Day tour I was able to visit them, stay with my friends Andy and Trish Booth,  catch up with Ron Allen, and with Meghan and Matt, 
speak at IPFW Campus Ministry, and watch Prasad enjoy eating too much food in various American restaurants. It's been great to see Prasad and Ben's friendship with each other develop, and now Andy and Trish have been captivated by Prasad- he's going to cook them a curry next week! 

LIFE IN GATEWAY SCHOOL.

Back in August, Steve Payne from Danescourt church in Cardiff visited India. As well as spending time with Pastor Prasad and popping in to some Ignite churches he spent a day at the Gateway School. Here's a great little video he recorded at the school. If you want to see more about the ministry I'm involved with in India then visit www.igniteindia.org.uk 

GOD ANSWERS PRAYER.

I'm two days into a 3-week spell in the USA- on the road with Third Day and then spending a few days with Gill and our son James in Texas. Earlier today I opened a small notebook that I use for praying and speaking to the Lord when I'm traveling, and the last time I'd written in it was back in June when I was in Liberia. The last prayer I had written was to ask God for wisdom about Ignite LIberia and for Him to financially provide for the needs of Ignite Liberia- especially with regard to buying a car for Emmanuel to use in his role as National Director. I laughed out loud when I read the prayer this morning, as I'd forgotten that I'd written it. Last Sunday I preached in Worcester Park Baptist Church just outside London, where my long-time friend Rob Dando is pastor. Gill and I had a good time catching up with Rob and his wife Janice, and they have taken an interest in Ignite's ministry in Liberia because the Liberian Ambassador to the UK attends their church. Sunday was their Harvest celebration, and by the end of the day they had given £2,200 towards buying a car, with a promise of more to come. One other thing; when I'd written the prayer I also said to the Lord that I was prepared to help answer my own prayer. God took me at my word.

LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

It's the time  of year when the Leadership Academy starts in Cardiff. Ignite have been running this for years, and recently another Cardiff based ministry Going Public have helped us deliver it. I spoke at short notice a last week's first session on 'Transforming My Generation because Gary Smith was ill and I was less ill than him! I'll be speaking again tomorrow on 'The FatherHeart of God- The Leader's refuge.' 14 students, aged between 18-24, all ready to soak up as much teaching and practical experience about Christian leadership as they can. It was fascinating sitting in church at City Temple yesterday and seeing Leadership Academy graduates from previous years all over the congregation-including one guy playing drums in the worship band, and one young woman having her baby dedicated!

CHOICE NO. 8-Encouraging younger people.

I've been recovering at home from having an operation to take my tonsils out, and although I'd been warned that it was going to be a painful time I didn't envisage picking up an infection, getting severely dehydrated and losing 9 kilos in a week! Thankfully, I'm much better now and focused enough to share some thoughts about my number 8 good choice in life. Interestingly enough, our daughter Bethan has left home this weekend for her first term at Swansea University-a big step for her and a landmark time for Gill and I. No-one else but the two of us at home now, and we are praying that Bethan will flourish and enjoy her Politics and American Studies Degree.

Ever since my earliest forays into leadership with The Boys' Brigade over 30 years ago, I've tried my hardest to help develop. equip, and release younger people into the purposes of God and especially into positions of ministry and leadership. Nowadays, I spend as much time encouraging others to do that as I actually  do it myself, and over the recent years a significant part of  what I've done with Ignite and with Third Day has been to challenge people to find three important friends:

a PAUL- an older person who can offer you wisdom and guidance, and be a mentor.

a TIMOTHY-a younger person who you can invest in and be a mentor to them.

a BARNABAS-someone about your own age and experience with whom you can share your spiritual journey.

You are never too old to need a Paul and never to young to be one! However inexperienced or inadequate you feel, there is someone out there who is more inexperienced and feeling more inadequate than you!

The Paul's, Timothy's , and Barnabas's in your life might change from season to season. But it's a good question to ask yourself- Who is my Paul? Who is my Timothy? Who is my Barnabas?