Booze & Bibles…

just an open invite to a photography exhibition tomorrow night (Monday 27th April) at 7.30pm in donaghadee yfc drop-in cent. 

one saturday last year we gave disposable cameras to a group of young people from donaghadee to journal on film their life in 12 hours.  monday night will be an opportunity for us to share how these young poeple live.  this should be a informing and provoctive evening.

please come along and see for your-slef.

 

S:

ladies and gentlemen stuart has left donaghadee.

 

 

today 31st dec 2008 was my last official day as an employee of Shore Street Church, thankfully  i finally got all the paperwork sorted out.  as i was leaving the church i wandered into one of the rooms and as i stood there thinking about all the great amazing and fun times i have had there with all the different groups of young people i must admit i felt a bit emotional.  i will miss the young people from SST so much.

 

i am also now past my nervous moment i had yesterday and am looking forward to next monday as i start my new job.

 

 

all that is left is to wish you all a very happy new year and i will see you back here in 2009.

 

 

S:

me scared you must be joking……….

Today I have been sorting out the last bits and pieces of paper work as I leave my current employment at SST.  The fact that this time next week I will have completed my 2nd day in my new job has all of a sudden freaked me out slightly.  Now I always knew I would be a tad nervous etc with the change but I actually was feeling a bit scared today, this is not a feeling i have regularly and was a little disturbed by it.  I am always brave when talking to people about the adventure of life and stepping into the unknown and it all sounds so romantic and I do love the life I live but today it all got  a bit scary. 

I was just wondering if you can help me out a bit and tell me the things that can scare you.

 

S:

the end or just the beginning???

well tonight saw the last official night of the much loved and amazing 20′s cell group.  we enjoyed copious amounts of pizza and the most amazing chocolate brownies (home made) ever.  

this was a fully bitter-sweet night for ally and i as we had so much fun and where so blessed buy their thoughtfulness and generosity that was such a blessing, and the fact that we will miss our very special thursday nights with a group of VERY special people.  it is something we have had to naviagte in the past before but leaving this group who shared their lives with us and gave us the opportunity to share our lives with them will not come easily.

i hope that as we all start a new year in the next couple of weeks we will all seek to continue on our journey with and to God.  this journey will be full of many adventures and challenges but traveling on it with people like this cell group will make it more fun and the strength of knowing we are together sures our strength to carry on fighting.

God Bless you guys so much, you know who you are, keep in touch, keep living the adventure of faith and continue to do it in relationship and fellowship with each other.

 

Stuartie.

 

moving

tonight i was at the last night of one of the youth groups i have helped lead over the last few years at shore street.  it was a good night with lots of fun, good food and one brand new face to welcome into the group. 

with all the fuss over my new job and all the BIG stuff and conversations happening i have been distracted and not thought about how much i will miss some of the very special, intelligent and funny young people i have got to know over the last few years.  one of the young people tonight gave ally and i a card and a gift that really encouraged, blessed and surprised us.  (you know who you are ) Thank you SO much..

this has reminded me again how valuable and precious relationship is.  when we begin to connect with people it opens up all sorts of possibilities and opportunities.  i hope that this group of young people will continue to grow and develop and find more of God in their lives.  as i said to them tonight they are called and even commended to take life by the horns, LIVE not just survive this thing called life.  i hope i will bump into many of these young stars as i move on to my next adventure, and together we will become the men and women our famileis, our communities and this world needs us to be.

 

S:

in the pulpit

tomorrow morning i am speaking at the church service.  i have been thinking recently about the fact that we can so easily go about our life missing the point. it feels a little like the first of the matrix trilogies, we are being processed through a fantasy world while missing the real truth which is much more profound.  

i will be illustrating the thought through this story that happened last year.  

the challenge for me is that i have been a Jesus follower for many years and i am regularly concerned how quickly i can begin to fall back into the old fantasy. this is as much a challenge for those of us who claim to follow Jesus as those who do not.

keep searching for the truth, don’t believe the hype.

S:

back from holls

Ally and I had a great short break in Portrush on the north coast of Ireland. It happens to be where I proposed to Alison and it has always been a special place for us. We had great fun spending time with Lynne, Colin, Ellen and Rebecca as we stayed on the caravan site. We played a round of par 3 golf (I won just in case you wondered) We had a lovely meal in one of my favourite places to eat (the ramore) where we bumped into Sheena, Christina, Dave and Ryan, such a small world we also went to see ‘mamma mia’ the movie and once we decided to not walk out of it we both agreed that we felt a bit lighter after watching it and I must admit I did laugh on at lease a few different times through the film. . Any way it’s good to be back.

Watch this space.

S:

last weekend

 

Just recovered from a great weekend away with 20 something young people from sst. We spend the weekend at Castlewellan Castle and we had a great time. It was great to spend some quality time with a group of funny, cheeky, challenging and profound young people. We had a think about the challenge to ‘change the world’, looking at the story of Noah. We had opportunity to be all creative as well designing funky fashion ‘t’ shirts and a rather fetching double bed fitted sheet. Check out the sst web site for some pics. Just to say a big thank you to all the leaders who helped out and to the young people who actually came. You are all stars…. 

S&A

Bluetree

We had a great night with Bluetree on Saturday night at the community centre in Donaghadee as part of the ‘festival of hope’, between 70-80 people showed up to see the phenomena called ‘bluetree’ and experience an audio feast to lift the spirit and possibly do some damage to our inner ears. Just wanted to say a big thanks to Adam and the band for doing their stuff and thank all of you who joined us.

I also want to mention the album ‘greater things’ and the release concert in the Elmwood Hall on the 22nd September. Tickets are limited so contact the guys through their website. www.bluetreeonline.co.uk

Stuartie

Another wee thing in August.