SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

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.

 

 

3 NEW AUDIO SERMONS POSTED.

I've eventually got around to posting 3 new sermons that I have preached at City Temple.

The first one- God and The Generations- is from late last summer and focuses on the truth that God works multi-generationally and that the generations need respect and collaboration to effectively be the church that the Lord desires.

The next two are more recent:

Growing in Grace- focuses on 3 stories from the life of Jesus, and shows that if we are going to grow in the grace of God then we will become less judgmental in our attitudes towards others, more forgiving to those who have offended us, and more thankful to God for all that he has done for and accomplished for us.

Equipping the Saints-is an introduction to  Sunday night church series, and gives an overview of the 5 fold ministry gifts in Ephesians 4- Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers-and how they are people gifted to build the church to maturity.

They can all be found in the Some of My Sermons section of this site.

OFF TO PRESTATYN.

After a busy couple of weeks at church and some time off in our caravan on the Gower Peninsular, it's off to North Wales for the Elim UK national conference. a 5 hour drive and 5 pastors self-catering in a holiday camp chalet- Oh Bliss! 

The conference should be good though-amongst the speakers are Phil Pringle, and Andrew White ( the 'vicar' of Baghdad). Good opportunity too to catch up with various other Elim pastors and to spend some quality time with our own leadership team.

TOUR UPDATE-TORNADO RELIEF AND TALLADEGA NIGHTS.

 

Being on the road with Third Day always throws up some unexpected events. Last night we hosted a Tornado Relief fundraising concert in Birmingham, Alabama and raised $105,000 to help the folks who lost houses, possessions, and sadly family members too, in the recent violent tornados that wreaked havoc across much of the state of Alabama.

The night before we were playing in the legendary Nashville venue, The Ryman Auditorium, home of The Grand Ole' Opry, and a special backstage guest was Grayson Russell. He's a young actor famous for being in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films and currently the voice of the puppy in the Marley and Me prequel, but to us he'll forever be remembered as Ricky Bobby's son Texas Ranger ( along with his brother, Walker) in the Will Ferrell film Talladega Nights. The film is a classic of comedy, and features one of my all time favourite scenes when Will Ferrell gives the blessing over a meal of KFC and Taco Bell.

Grayson and his parents are strong believers and big Third Day fans- there was a lot of mutual appreciation going on when he was in the dressing room!

 

ILL GILL and GO JOE!

The last week or so has been a bit of a whirlwind. I flew home from the USA a couple of days early because Gill had been rushed into hospital with a suspected pulmonary embolism. Fortunately, the scans were clear and it looks like she was suffering from high blood pressure and a viral infection. She was only in hospital overnight-and now I don't really take illness seriously until someone has been in for 3 weeks! I'm back on the road with the band and Gill is recuperating at home.

An added bonus of being home for a few days was celebrating family birthdays- Rachel was 30 and Joe was 1-presents, cakes, celebrations galore!

A Considered Response to the death of Osama bin Laden.

        Like most people, I have been intrigued by the media coverage regarding the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden. I’ve also been intrigued by the varying responses that folk have had to this news- as different as crowds gathering to celebrate in Ground Zero and tweets from believers offering pious platitudes about Bin Laden’s death.

      One genuine mark of Christian faith is that our relationship with Jesus should take priority over anything else that may influence our thinking about, or our response to, any given situation. In other words, when viewing the death of Bin Laden, whether we are American or British, Democrat or Republican, military personnel or pacifist, we must strive to find out an appropriate Christian mindset. Of course, often discovering that mindset is easier said than done: but I’m going to offer some suggestions here.

          There are plenty of instances in the Old Testament of the celebration of enemy deaths, especially when it means God’s people have been protected. Yet those instances are under the old covenant, and don’t really give us justification to celebrate anyone’s death today-however evil they may have been. A more appropriate emotion might be the relief of ‘final closure’ after the capture and punishment of someone who had killed a close friend or family member. Certainly that would be the emotion that people who lost loved ones on 9-11 are feeling now.

          REVENGE should never be an emotion that motivates followers of Jesus. Again, there are a number of Old Testament passages that talk of God’s vengeance and God’s revenge, but the coming of Jesus changes that.

Whilst in Romans we read: Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord,

Jesus actually goes even further and says: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

       We can’t even appeal to a sense of JUSTICE, because whilst God is a just and righteous judge, we can’t operate from that perfect position, and the reality is that God’s righteous and perfect judgment on us has been carried out hand in hand with his GRACE and his MERCY. It’s only through the death of Jesus that any of us can escape the punishment that our selfishness and sinfulness deserves.

However, that does not mean that we do not have to face the consequences that our earthly behavior leads to. A criminal who gives his or her life to the Lord after committing a major crime would still in all likelihood have to face a long prison sentence. Osama Bin Laden is accountable to the Lord for his terrorist activity and for the countless lives that have been lost as a result of his orders- but that is no different than how you and I are accountable for our actions. There is a sound argument for the idea that he should have been brought to the USA and faced up to his actions in front of an international court rather than being taken out by the special-forces team (however much we admire their professionalism, bravery and service).

     This opens up the question-did Bin Laden go to hell? And rather than answer this myself I want to send you to an insightful article by Lee Grady:

http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones/30896-did-osama-bin-laden-go-to-hell#readmore

Grady references this verse from Ezekiel:

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

          Rather than being too celebratory about Bin Laden’s death, we should reflect sombrely on the state of the world, remember with sadness all those who lost their lives or who lost loved ones due to acts of terrorism, and pray for a time when terrorists, criminals, violent death, and even armies and special forces teams are no more.

        70 years ago our great-grandparents struggled with the questions ‘Is God’s grace enough for Adolf Hitler?’ and ‘Did Jesus die for Hitler too? We ask the same questions today about Osama bin Laden. No-one is too far beyond God’s love, his forgiveness and redemption. Yet that is not the same as saying they will accept and receive that love and forgiveness. 

 

THE ROYAL WEDDING!

In the midst of the Third  Day tour, and only a couple of days after being back at home and then speaking at IPFW Campus Ministry in Fort Wayne, I flew to Dallas to attend the rehearsal dinner and wedding of my son James to Tiffany.

 

 

The rest of my family, plus a bunch of James' mates were there all week and had a great time. My 2 day visit was quick but nevertheless fantastic. Texas steaks aplenty at the rehearsal dinner, plus loads of speeches- I read a poem that our friends Mark and Janet Frost had written, whilst the wedding and reception were a mixture of restrained elegance, Texas bravado, and sheer joy. James has made a great life for himself in Texas, he has married a lovely Christian girl, and has been welcomed into a new family and friendship group who love him immensely. It's amazing what a British accent and a cheeky grin can accomplish. This makes it a lot easier for the rest of his family back in the UK to be so far away from him. Gill was especially emotional, she loved the whole proceedings but misses James back in Cardiff. I have posted a selection of photos in the album 'James and Tiffany Wedding'.