SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

Third Day Concert with Ignite in London.

Good London show! We raised enough money from donations to build at least one and probably two new Ignite India churches. The downside was that we could have done with more people in the crowd, and Lott our tour manager had his laptop stolen!

Time off in London.

Scotty,Mac,Lott and I enjoyed pies and puddings in a traditional English restaurant near Covent Garden. Spotted Dick was a highlight.

Third Day in Denmark

Hectic travel from Slovakia to Denmark saw the band play to 3,000 loud Danish fans in a festival out in the countryside.

Third Day in Slovakia

In Trnava, Slovakia at a predominantly Catholic youth festival which is in its 17th year. Here's Third Day's merchandise pricing in Slovakian!

HOME AND AWAY.

In the couple of weeks since I've been back home a lot has happened!  Yesterday was my daughter Bethan's last day at school, she only has her exams left. Recently she passed her driving test and has bought a little car of her own- life is developing fast!  I've just completed my final study week for the Master's degree-the module, on Pentecostal Spirituality, was a very stimulating one. It was my last visit to the Elim College in Nantwich before the college moves over the summer to Malvern. I'll be continuing to lecture there on the Youth Ministry course next academic year. 

Our son James came home from Dallas for a week with his girlfriend Tiffany, unfortunately I was at the college for most of that time, but I did get a chance to spend an hour or so with them at Bristol airport before they flew to Nice for three days. They get on very well together and I hope they get married! They were both pleased to see the family and especially Hannah-who is growing day by day. Gill and I have been having a great  time today looking after her whilst Rachel and Chris went to a wedding. Hannah used to be very suspicious of me-especially as I come and go so much, but she's getting a lot more relaxed now which is a big relief!

It's only a week before I head off with Third Day for their UK and European tour, and then only a couple of weeks before Gary and I go to Liberia for our first Ignite Africa conference. After that I'll be devoting some time to my Pentecostal Spirituality research paper-on the NT understanding of the Lord's Supper, and contemporary application.

TOWARDS THE END OF REVELATION-FOR NOW.

With just 4 shows to go until the end of the Spring REVELATION tour, it's a good time to take stock of the last couple of weeks on the West Coast of the USA. Highlights have included:

*Strong concerts each night with a steady stream of powerful testimonies from fans.

*The consistent way that God is bringing broken marriages back together, and giving hope to those in devastating circumstances through the ministry of Third Day.

*Performing on a revolving stage in the round at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix.

*A tour-record 93 children sponsored at the Bakersfield, California show.

*Me being out of action all day at the Los Angeles Show, with a bladder infection- 2 hours sitting in a clinic, and 8 hours in bed on anti-biotics.

*The agony of listening online to Cardiff Blues lose one of the most dramatic rugby matches of all time, after drawing 26-26 with Leicester after extra time in the European Cup Semi-Final the Blues lost a penalty shoot-out, the first time it has ever happened in top class rugby. Bethan was there, texting me from behind the posts where the penalty shoot out took place.

*Almost 36 hours solid on the tour bus driving up into Washington State from California!

*An opportunity to hang out with my mate Rob Holder in Palo Alto-we talked a lot, went to the San Francisco Giants v. Los Angeles Dodgers baseball, and I met some of the Tongan guys in the rugby team Rob coaches.

*Mac Powell and Mark Lee leading worship at our tour communion service on Sunday afternoon- needless to say we sang 'Communion'.

*Going to see X Men Origins:Wolverine on the day it came out. As you can see by the picture below, Tai Anderson from Third Day loved it:

RETURN TO REVELATION.

After a longer than originally planned break at home over Easter I'm back on the REVELATION tour with Third Day. For three weekends we are playing concerts on the West coast of America-starting this weekend in California. Having re-charged my batteries, so to speak, at home, and eventually having lost the soreness in my backside from too many long-haul flights, a 9 hour trip from Heathrow to Atlanta followed by a 6 hour trip from Atlanta to San Francisco the next day- plus the 8 hour time difference between the UK and California-means I'm already tired and sore again! But that's a small cost to pay for being in the place God wants me to be. Last night for instance, signing copies of my book around a crowded World Vision stand, I momentarily reflected on the thrill of being part of this ministry; not because I was signing autographs, or because it was my book, but because each book represented a child that was being sponsored ( each person sponsoring a child by credit or debit card got a copy of the book) as a result of me speaking from stage for a few minutes. Today the band and I had one of our regular off-site lunches where we take the opportunity to share vision for the future, seek God's direction and pray together. This life is physically and spiritually demanding, but immensely rewarding and exciting too.

CARDIFF BLUES WIN EDF CUP

After many years of supporting Cardiff rugby, Bethan and I finally saw them win a trophy. Totally outclassing Gloucester we ran away with the Anglo-Welsh cup at Twickenham by a massive 50-12. Here's a photo of Bethan with Blues full-back Ben Blair-scorer of 2 tries, 6 conversions and a penalty. We're on one of 50 coaches traveling back to Cardiff. Well done the Blues!

EASTER.

Glad to be home for a while over Easter to spend some time with my family, and at church, before heading back out to the Third Day REVELATION tour. We had two services at church on Good Friday, and then on Saturday Gill and I headed down to West Wales for the funeral of Lewis Eynon, my mother's cousin. Lewis was the father of the family farm in Llanboidy, his funeral was a real tribute to him-with 18 family cars in the funeral convoy,350 people in church, and nearly as many local men outside to pay their respects. Both as a child and as an adult I've had many trips to 'Bryn Awel' and since Gill and I have had our caravan on the Gower peninsular we've made a habit of popping in to see Lewis, his wife Doreen and whichever of their children and grandchildren might be around. Their son Celt, soon to be married, now takes over the farm. Here's a picture of Lewis and Doreen with my mum and dad and myself, from a few years ago:

Gill and I rushed back to Cardiff so that Bethan and I could go to the Millennium Stadium and watch Cardiff Blues beat Toulouse in the quarter-finals of the Heineken European Rugby Cup, and then Gill and I went to a birthday party at church. All very hectic, then 3 services at church on Easter Sunday plus a family lunch with my parents and Rachel, Chris and Hannah.  

At City Temple over the Easter Weekend we were joined by Richard Taylor, Director of Victory Outreach UK. It's difficult to do justice to Richard in a sentence or two- brilliant communicator, scholarly theologian, comedian, ex-offender, ex-addict, TV and media personality, but above all a man who is utterly committed to following Jesus. Two awesome sermons and a compelling testimony over the weekend.

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS.

I'm sitting in the house of Lott Shudde in San Antonio, Texas. Lott is Third Day's road manager and we go way back to 1995 when we were both working with Newsboys. Over this last weekend we've done 4 shows- one in Arkansas, and three in Texas. All the Texas shows were outside, and were started off at an open air amphitheatre in College Station, home of Texas A&M university. The weather was pretty extreme, and whilst the band and I were in the cinema, the venue was hit by a flash flood:

It was touch and go whether the concert would go ahead, and the crew had to unload and load the gear and set up the stage twice in record time. Then the wind kicked in, which made the whole night very cold. Next day we were in San Antonio, laying two shows at SeaWorld's PraiseWave- a Christian family themed funday in the theme park. After each Third Day show, there was a performance of Shamu-the killer whales- doing movements and tricks to Christian music! Included in their repertoire was the Third Day song, Otherside, and in the second of these performances David Carr, Third Day's drummer came onto the Shamu set and prayed. For Mark Lee, Third Day guitarist, and I sitting in the audience, the whole experience was surreal! Our final show of the weekend was in a cool open-air rock venue in Corpus Christi.As always you can keep up with my devotions with the band on my road pastor blog.