Killymurris Youth Fellowship

Movie Night

2011-01-11T19:11:00.005Z

Massive big-up respect to Diane for running THE KYF last Sunday (9th). Sadly I didn't get any popcorn. I had another packet, but didn't want to open it. Anyway, there were two main points to the whole thing:

You need to make a choice: follow God or not.
If you do follow God, you will get 'special powers', which may not seem miraculous, but you should at least notice a change in your life and the way you think. That's God guiding you, but again, you need to make the best use of God's gifts. Peter Parker gave up being Spiderman and everyone suffered. Look after yourself and aim to help others.

OK, hope to see you this coming Sunday 16th January 8pm-9:15pm in the minor hall.

What should I do with my life?

2010-03-10T23:32:00.003Z

We looked at a big question last Sunday and I hope you enjoyed it because I did! Ruth had some great stuff on being sure to listen for God. He doesn't usually tell us exactly what's going to happen, but we do need to stay close to Him so we can be sure it's His voice we hear. Remember, too, that complex psychometric tests can be fun and that God has things only you can do and we want you to find out what they are.

There is no YF on 14th. Hope you have a good mothering Sunday.

YF returns on 21st March with another night of awesome.

ICON TV

2010-03-06T21:58:00.004Z

Sorry, I meant to post this days ago.

Last Sunday (21st February) we went to ICON TV in Wellington in Ballymena. It was a pretty sweet setup if a little loud for my aging ears. I just wish I'd volunteered for the contest. I can't do rap freestyle, but I am a bit of a fan of Mario Kart 64.

The message was that we don't have to be slaves to TV or advertising, or the messages in some of the music and the music videos aimed at teenagers. There's a cost to our lives if we only want to buy the next big thing. You lose money, the earth loses resources, and often poor people lose out completely. Take more of an interest in the world around you. Spend your money wisely.

But there's a bigger cost than mere money and resources. Where is our ultimate trust? Are we trusting the things we buy will make our lives better? Only Jesus can truly improve our lives. Following Jesus won't solve all your problems, but you will have a certain hope that your soul, your most valuable possession, will be safe.

Next week (Sunday 7th March) we're looking at the future!

Sunday 14th March: we're not meeting, but we're on the next week (21st March) for a night of more awesomeness.

Adrian and Laura's (and team's) Fun Night

2010-02-27T11:29:00.003Z

Adrian and Laura (and team) supplied some great games last Sunday (21st Feb) and it was good to see so many of you being competitive. Just keep studying those maps! Remember, Bethlehem is just a little south of Jerusalem and a little west of Bethany. And I'm glad I wasn't playing the blindfold game - I enjoy cold beans (and had some straight from the fridge for a snack when I went home after YF), but I wouldn't want to put my hands in them.

Next Sunday (tomorrow, 28th Feb) we're going to Wellington Church for their ICON TV event, run by Youth For Christ. We're leaving the church hall at 7:45pm and will be back at about 10:15pm.

Stayawake 2010

2010-02-20T00:19:00.006Z

Thanks for making the stayawake a success! £220 was raised for Friends for Romania and Open Doors. I was surprised you all took to the team games so well and some day I will count up the points to see who actually won. Don't forget to have that shoe lace ready!

Here are a couple of photos from the event...

Next up is Adrian and Laura's night of fun! Sunday 21st Feb, 8pm to 9:15pm at the church hall

KYF on tour: Clough 2010

2010-02-04T23:01:00.004Z

Clough YF has invited us to join them at 8pm on Sunday 7th February, after the joint church service (which starts at 7pm). If you're not going to the church service or you need transport, meet at Killymurris Church hall at 7:45pm. We should be back shortly after 9pm.

Don't forget: big event on 12th-13th February - the 12 hour stayawake. Entry is £5 in aid of Friends of Romania and Open Doors

How long is an awesome piece of string?

2009-12-12T15:09:00.005Z

Very long. Thanks to Cloughwater YF for joining us last Sunday (6th Dec) for a little fun and some snacks. There seem to be some humans amongst us because some people weren't dancers. Plus, we learned the secret to Joshua's success was not what he did on the battlefield, but rather how he studied God's word (the Bible) and applied it to his life.

Our next meeting is Sunday 13th, 8pm to 9:15pm. After that there will be no YF on Sunday 20th, but come along to join us at church at 7pm for our special Christmas lessons and carols service. We'll have a bit of a holiday until probably the second Sunday in January.

Are you doing anything on Saturday 19th December at 12:30pm? The church choir is going carol singing to the houses of the local elderly people who can't get out to church and you are invited to join us.

I am also advertising the meeting at Carnlea Mission Hall on Sunday 27th December at 8:15pm. It will be led by The Rescue, a youth group from Stewartstown.

The awesome power of prayer

2009-12-05T16:13:00.005Z

Thanks to Adrian and Laura, and Andy and Debbie for providing you guys with another night of awesomeness.

Prayer seems like a crazy thing. Some people might call it talking to an imaginary friend, but if you have seen what God can do you will know He is not imaginary.

But prayer is not all about getting God to do stuff for us, it's more about us trying to find out more about God and what He wants us to do. So find that quiet place and take a few minutes to thank God for the great things He has done, ask Him what's going on the world and think hard about what the Bible says.

Joint YF

Sunday 6th is when Clough, Cloughwater and Rasharkin will worship together with us in the main church building at 7pm. Afterwards in the church hall will be some awesome games for any YF-age people, as well as awesome snacks!

The Weakest Cube

2009-11-26T23:19:00.003Z

Well done to the winners of The Weakest Cube! I'm not entirely bitter about being voted out in the second round of part one. But I feel silly for missing out on two points on my own turn in 'The Cube'.

Anyway. What relevance is this to our lives? First, it's good to learn lots and keep learning. Second, things are more difficult in 'The Cube' (except my task). As you go through life as a Christian you will have an audience, just like being in 'The Cube'. Unfortunately, some members of that audience will want you to fail. They will cheer your failures, boo your successes and try to bring you down. On the other hand, there will, thankfully, be some who will support you. But you are also in the audience of the lives of other people. Which part do you belong to? Be a supporter.

Next week is awesome again! Bring a Bible. 8-9:15pm.

Help

2009-11-18T00:39:00.002Z

Last Sunday (15th) we got serious about helping two groups of people: orphans in Romania (through Victoria) and persecuted Christians worldwide (through Open Doors). I love the enthusiasm!

Next week (22nd November) will be game show night. Will you be an egghead? Will you be able to make a deal? Find out at 8pm.

Inside/Outside and Cloughwater

2009-10-27T20:27:00.004Z

I loved YF last Sunday (25th). But I was reminded how old I am because mine and Laura's group hadn't heard of Kylie Minogue or Jason Donovan, or even Peter Hook. On the other hand we had a really good look at Matthew chapter 23 where Jesus says that it's much more important to get sorted on the inside first than to look good on the outside. Don't forget that God will help you get your inside sorted if you let Him! You too can be full of win and awesome on the inside.

This coming week (Sunday 1st November) we're going to Cloughwater to meet up with them, as well as Clough and Raskarkin. There's a whole church service there at 7pm and there's a meeting for younger people at 8pm. If you need transport, be at Killymurris church hall at 7:30pm. We should be back at about 9:30pm.

Also, special Youth Club Hallowe'en party on Saturday 31st October at 7:30pm.

Get ready to be full of win and awesome!

2009-09-11T23:25:00.003+01:00

Everybody wants to be full of win and awesome, so this year we're going to try to become more awesome on the inside. To start things off, what better way to become awesome on the inside than to eat some awesome food! If you are at secondary school, meet us at Killymurris Church Hall at 6pm for a moving meal on Saturday 19th September. Don't forget your cutlery! And because it's a moving meal, you'll have to make sure your parents have filled in a consent form before we can start eating!

Killymurris Live Wire Day 5 - Training

2009-08-08T21:43:00.004+01:00

You guys certainly love the sea, we couldn't get you out, even coming up to 9pm! Though you really need to get better at football. Being beaten so handily by the leaders must be embarrassing, especially with me on the leaders team, and I was playing barefoot, and when I score a goal the other team must be really bad.

Just like you need training to play football well, you need training in your life as a Christian. After you decide to turn, and follow Jesus, life doesn't just stop. The training and the transformation go hand in hand, but the training also takes up your whole life, not just a couple of hours a week. Then at some point you should be able to start training others, but you should always be aware of the point of the training. It is good if you live a better life, but as Peter showed in the books he wrote, that's not enough if you want to spend eternity with Jesus. You need to trust Jesus and only Jesus that he can save you in the end. That is true faith and that's what you need to learn from the training you get from God every day.

Thanks for coming every night to Live Wire. Every night more of you came, and if you came once, you tended to keep coming. Thanks also to all the parents for your support. Next stop the Sunday celebration at 12 noon in Killymurris Presbyterian Church Hall on 9th August, hope to see you there.

Killymurris Live Wire Day 4 - Transformation

2009-08-08T21:29:00.004+01:00

Peter was transformed by Jesus, from a man who was impulsive, impatient and even showed a tendency to violence when pushed, to someone who showed great wisdom, understanding and preached for respect and brotherly love. Jesus even changed Simon's name to Peter as soon as he met him to show how much he would be changed.

Debbie told us how she was transformed by Jesus from being scared to go to school to having confidence and hope through Jesus. The pictures she painted show the story visually. The Bible verse (Joshua chapter 1 verse 5) she shared was one of her great encouragements.

Thursday night was also the night of the water fight and hot dogs. I think everyone got suitably wet! Thanks to Perdita for the lovely sausages, mmm :)

Killymurris Live Wire Day 3 - Tripping

2009-08-08T21:17:00.006+01:00

I loved you kids all week, but the quietest you were was during the unihoc duel game!

Michael told us about another side of Peter, about the times he tripped up. Particularly when Peter denied he knew Jesus, not once, but three times, and he used some rough language with a woman. Fortunately Peter didn't give up, Jesus came and restored him later. Jesus didn't die for people who think they are perfect, He died to save people who know they need help.

Be careful with chocolate fountains, they are awesome for adding chocolate to anything, but they are fragile and can break if dropped.

Killymurris Live Wire 2009 Day 2 - Trust

2009-08-05T17:28:00.010+01:00

Note to self, don't use razors for the balloon shaving game, covering everyone with shaving foam is enough fun! An even bigger night than Monday, last night Trevor, or Novert as he likes to call himself, talked about trusting. Particularly how Peter put his trust in Jesus, both when walking on the water and in everyday life.

Come again tonight, 8:30pm to 10:00pm, not forgetting that you don't know when the gunge/water/eggs/shaving foam may appear!

Don't forget the time change on Friday night! If the weather's good we're heading to the beach, but we're leaving the church hall at 7pm and returning about 10:30pm.

Check day 2's fotos...

Killymurris Live Wire 2009 Day 1 - Turn

2009-08-04T15:43:00.008+01:00

A great first night! Loads of people, free ice cream from an ice cream van, slabs of cheesecake, great games and a great message.

Samantha introduced a character called Simon who was a fisherman. When he met Jesus, he immediately gave up fishing for fish and followed Jesus, who promised to make him a fisher of men (Matthew chapter 4 verses 18 to 20). That didn't mean they were going to go around throwing nets over people. They were going to do God's work, telling people about Jesus. You don't have to leave school or give up your job to tell people about Jesus, sometimes that's exactly where God wants you to be, but God's plan for Simon meant he had to turn his life right round. God has a plan for you. Is there anything you have to give up? Bad habits, bad behaviour, etc? But you won't find out God's plan unless you look for Jesus.

Come back tonight (4th August 8:30-10:00pm), for part 2 of the message and more fun and games!

Live Wire 2009

2009-08-03T15:21:00.005+01:00

Live Wire 2009 is go - at 8:30pm tonight (3rd August). If you are going to secondary school next month, bring your friends to Killymurris Presbyterian Church hall each night this week and be prepared for some messy games and a message from the life of Jesus's friend Peter.

Click on the picture to see the details

Staying out for the summer*

2009-05-18T12:14:00.007+01:00

Killymurris Youth Fellowship is on until the end of June!

Here is a list of the great things we'll be doing in the next few weeks:

Sunday 24th May: Find a mission, then go do it! 8:00 to 9:15pm
Sunday 31st May: Prep for Young People's day. 8:00 to 9:15pm
Sunday 7th June: Season Finale. Party games! 8:00 to 9:15pm
Sunday 14th June: Young People's day evening service. KYF is going to be one of the main attractions. 7:00 to 8:00pm
Saturday 20th June: Lighthouse fundraiser 10:00am to 2:00pm. There will be coffee, tea and buns for sale, a car wash, arts, crafts, and fun! Watch this space

*Double bonus points if you can tell me the band name.

Resurrection Day Celebration 2009

2009-04-14T21:56:00.004+01:00

Thanks all those who came to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with us on Sunday 12th. If you weren't there, here's a recap. Sorry the sound wasn't always great, but the video we saw at the start was called "Sunday's Comin" and you can see it here. It was a great way to show how terrible Good Friday was, when Jesus was falsely accused, beaten and then crucified, but at the same time remembering Sunday was coming. Because of Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Day, as I like to call it) we should always be able to look forward with faith.

But why did Jesus have to suffer so much? Because of all the wrong things we have done or ever will do. We were created to be pure, like Debbie's white heart, but we have all flipped that heart to black. We stuck little black hearts to a cross to remember to leave our sins behind. Don't go back to them.

Remember Jesus's death was not the end for Him, and if you believe Jesus rose and you live like you believe it, it won't be the end for you either.

Finally, thanks to Olive, Olive, Jean and Alison for all the awesome food and buns.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. Mark chapter 16 verse 6 (NIV)

KYF on Tour: Clough 20090405

2009-04-09T16:58:00.005+01:00

Thanks to Clough for hosting the joint youth fellowship and giving us so many sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks! Steven Alexander (recorded singer and sometime announcer at Sainsbury's Ballymena, and used a new aluminium MacBook in his presentation) told us about a hero of the Bible, a man who amazes him: Jesus.

Does Jesus amaze you? Maybe you've heard all the stories before and they are just boring now. Maybe you think of the stories all having happened a long time ago, thousands of miles away and they don't mean anything to you. Next time you hear about or read about a miracle of Jesus, particularly this easter-time, think how you would react if you were there to see it.

Announcements:

YF is at 10am on Sunday 12th April. It's going to be a time to think and a celebration of Resurrection Day!

Judgement, swine, pearls AND hypocrisy

2009-03-25T22:28:00.003Z

First, sorry if I misled anyone, the word hypocrite does not come from two Greek words for under and mask, it comes from two Greek words for under and judgement. Actors in ancient Greece were called hypocrites because they had to interpret their script like a judge interprets the law. So now you know! (Thanks to Etymonline and the Wikipedia).

Judgement is something we all have to do. We have to decide all the time if our actions are right or wrong. We have to decide if what other people do is right or wrong. But what is our standard for judging others? It should always be God’s principles, not our own. If we judge people we should expect to be held to the same standard as everyone else.

Finally, we can’t force feed our beliefs to other people. If someone doesn’t want to know about Jesus, don’t make them angry by telling them all the time that they’re going to hell. Live a good and honest life, show the person you love them and trust God will change their mind. After all, it took God to change your mind.

Announcements:

29th March: No YF, but the GB invites you to their 50th anniversary Thanksgiving service at 7pm (tea at 8pm)
5th April: KYF on tour! Clough Presbyterian church Joint service 7pm, youth event at 8pm (if you need transport, meet at Killymurris hall at 7:45pm)

KYF on tour: Cloughwater

2009-03-02T21:47:00.005Z

No, I wasn’t texting during the meeting, I was taking notes on my iPhone so I could write this for the benefit of those who weren’t there (*Clough*). Would you believe it was my first time in Cloughwater? I do hope to be back though because of the amount of food provided (see photos below).

Alaister Aicken (who has a macbook pro, respek), gave a presentation on service, on how you can serve others and show how good God is. There’s so much you can do, but if you can’t think what to do, the best place to start is at home. Serve your family. You don’t have to be a slave, but filling the dishwasher, offering to make dinner, sweeping the floor are just some of the little things you can do to make your home a happy one. From there anything is possible. Also remember, Jesus didn’t just serve the people whom He liked, he served everyone. We are told He knew Judas was going to betray Him, but He washed Judas’s feet just the same as Peter’s and John’s.

Don’t put yourself down, but never put yourself forward at the expense of someone else.

Mark chapter 9 verse 35: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Finally, on Sunday 8th March, we’re going to be thinking again about serving others, specifically about helping people in Ballymena who use the Lighthouse hostel. Men’s clothes, toiletries, etc are all useful. Do you have any ideas on how to raise money?

Follow the link to Philippians 5:2-11

Finally, finally, service isn’t just about giving, giving, giving, there is joy, just look at Team Hoyt(It’s worth the 10 minutes to watch)

Living for the Weekend

2009-02-19T21:48:00.004Z

Meh, I'm not a big fan of Hard-Fi, but I am a huge fan of KYF! There were a couple of things on the Weekend away to Greenhill YMCA that I'd rather hadn't happened, but overall I thought it was great. There were all the games, the high ropes, the low ropes and archery. There was the photo safari (prizes soon!). There was Chalenj (though we won't be doing forward rolls again). There was church on Sunday morning, where we were all in the choir.

Most of all, there was Matthew, and he had a message. Actually more of a question: what does it mean to follow Jesus? It could be as simple as doing the dishes for your parents. It could be telling your friends and other people about Jesus. You have to find this out for yourself, but the information is all there in the Bible.

Announcement:

We're going to Cloughwater on 1st March. We should be leaving the hall about 7:45pm, returning about 9:30pm. See you then!

Don't worry

2009-02-10T22:58:00.007Z

UPDATE: in addition to the kit below, please bring a pillow case with you this weekend!

Seems most of you young people don't actually worry about anything. Thinking back I might even have been the same around your age. Which probably goes to show what great parents we have. Our parents make sure we have everything we need. Sure there may be some things we want, but you are all well-clothed, well-fed, and well-educated and I hope you realise how much your parents love you.

If our parents are so good to us, then how much more can we trust God? He loves us, He has proved to generations that He can be trusted and He will provide for you. But will you accept His love and what He gives?

See Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 to 34 and chapter 7 verses 7 to 11 for more.

Also, it's not long until the weekend away to Greenhill YMCA, here's a summary of the letter you should have received by now:

When: 13th - 15th February 2009
Where: Greenhill YMCA, Newcastle County Down. Transport will be a private hire coach. Departure time: 6:30pm on Friday evening (13th) from Killymurris church car park. Return time: About 4:30pm on Sunday (15th) to Killymurris church car park.
What: There will be worship, games, fun and also activities run by the YMCA staff. Greenhill YMCA will provide any specialist equipment, but everyone should have at least the following kit-list.
- Warm, practical clothes and shoes you don't mind getting wet/dirty and at least one change of clothes and water-proofs.
- Sleeping bag and night-clothes
- Any required medication (please make sure the leaders know about any medication. Also note that it may not be possible for the leaders or centre staff to administer some medications)
- Towel and wash-bag for personal hygiene (toothbrush and paste, soap, etc.)
- Bible, notebook, pen
- We may take a walk into Newcastle on the Saturday, so a small sum of money is optional.
Please note Greenhill's manager is ultimately responsible for the centre and we do not want to damage any property, equipment or our own reputation. For safety during any activities (e.g. sports, high ropes, etc.), attention must be paid to the person in charge.
Who: This year we are delighted to have Matthew Boyd from High Kirk as our guest speaker. If you have any questions, please contact either John Ferguson, Ruth Boyd or Andrew McClean.

Finally, we would appreciate your support in prayer.

Same, but different?!

2009-02-04T21:22:00.005Z

Maybe for you YF hasn't been all that different for the first two nights in 2009. After all, we've had games, food and guests before. But our next night, 8th Feb 8pm to 9:15pm, is the first in a three-part series that will be different. Come along and check it out!

Speaking of different, hope you had a good 'night off'. Unfortunately us on the committee still had to meet because we had loads of planning to do, but Adrian's awesome chicken stroganoff was excellent brain food. mmm, stroganoff.

Also, if you are going on the Weekend Away (13th - 15th Feb), please pay the remainder of the money as soon as possible. Contact John, Ruth or Andrew if you have any questions.

Finally, Mark and Kirsty say thanks for the wedding present.

How can I help?

2009-01-22T22:13:00.004Z

That's a question maybe we don't ask enough, but Ruth asked the Lighthouse in Ballymena 'How can we help?' So someone from the Lighthouse will be at YF on Sunday 25th January from 8 to 9:15pm explaining what they do and how we can help.

Hope to see you there!

Here are some photos from last Sunday night. Please join me in mourning the death of the beachball

KYF starts again on 18th January

2009-01-04T17:21:00.003Z

Hey peoples, Happy noo-year! (As the Americans are wont to say) The KYF starts again on 18th January at 8pm, after the church evening service.

Where's your treasure

2008-12-04T22:31:00.005Z

I’ve been getting my Bible reading notes via email from Scripture Union’s excellent Wordlive service. This week has been on the book of Ecclesiastes, which was most likely written by Solomon, one of Israel’s most successful kings. He was rich beyond imagining, yet he saw everything on earth eventually as meaningless. Money could give his body comfort and he used his wisdom for great earthly achievements, but nothing could comfort his soul. Except his faith.

Solomon lived before Jesus came and did not know the hope of Salvation like we can today, but he still knew that life without God is meaningless.

Money, PS3s, big TVs, films, hair straighteners, cars, etc. are all enjoyable things, but they are all part of this world and everything in this world will get old, tired and broken sooner or later. And jealous people will want to steal them. Plus, as the saying goes: you can’t take it with you.

But all the things you do do not have to be meaningless. If you have a relationship with God you can get treasures in heaven that will be far more valuable than any amount of cash. Help people’s bodies, help their minds and help them know how God can save them. Help charities and do mission work. Many people see investments like that pay off immediately, but either way, they will be infinitely better off in eternity. See Matthew 6:19-24.

Sunday 7th December: KYF on tour. Joint service at Rasharkin at 7pm. If you are not going to the joint service, YF will be leaving Killymurris church hall at 7:45pm and returning about 9pm.
Saturday 13th December: KYF will be decorating the inside of the church building from 7pm.
[Provisional] Sunday 14th December: Reports from me, Kathryn, Gillian and Ruth about what we got up to over summer 2008. Everyone is welcome at 7pm, because YF won’t be on afterwards.
Sunday 21st December: Everyone is welcome at 7pm for the Carol Service. There will be no YF on afterwards

Car Wash and KYF on tour: Ballyloughan Youth Rally

2008-11-24T21:50:00.006Z

First, thanks to everyone for helping wash cars for Kathryn and thanks to all the customers for trusting us with your cars. The money will be used to help people in Romania. Also thanks to Kathryn’s mum for the soup and lovely bread.

Second, the topic of Ballyloughan Youth Rally was Media Matters. For anyone who wasn’t there, and is square, here is the gist of the message:

What is ‘the media’? TV, radio, magazines, internet, anything that carries a message. The word media comes from the latin word for middle. What you watch and read is important. It will fill your mind and if you fill your mind with worthless things, worthless things will come out. Are you a slave to the media? Can you survive if you don’t see Neighbours or if you don’t hear Chris Moyles or if you don’t read Heat? And how do you use the media? Does your bebo page glorify God? Is your relationship with God your priority or is watching ‘Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two’ your priority?

Lots of questions, and lots of challenges. Do you watch Scrubs? Is it worse than Friends? There’s a lot of crazy stuff in both programmes, particularly about relationships that shocks even me. Though I’m not sure House, M.D. is really any better. My point is that you should know what’s crazy and make your own mind up whether you are comfortable watching it. You probably shouldn’t make a habit of watching Scrubs, but don’t feel too guilty if you do enjoy the odd episode, it often has more morals than what you hear some people getting up to at school. Remember, you have a mind, use it and realise that Zach Braff isn’t the best role model (even though I do get insanely jealous of him and his Scrubs character).

The band at Ballyloughan was Mr Jag. They have a bebo page here: http://www.bebo.com/mrjagmusic

Prayer

2008-11-19T21:19:00.008Z

What is it? Talking to God. And listening!
Why do it? Keep your relationship with God strong.
When should you do it? As often as possible.
Where should you do it? Anywhere.
What should you say? Give God praise, say sorry for any wrong things you’ve done, say thanks for the good things God has done (like send Jesus) and ask for things. Also, be honest with God.
How should you do it? However works best. Walking around, listening to music, writing a journal, talking out loud, in a group, on your own. If in a group, pray because you love God not because you want to be heard by others.

Click this link to see what Jesus said about it

Huge thanks to Debbie, Ruth and Andrew. Hope Laura is better.

Weekend 2009: 13th to 15th February 2009 in Greenhill YMCA, Newcastle. Please have give in the £25 deposit and completed medical form as soon as possible!
22nd November 10am to 2pm: Kathryn's Car wash for Romania
23rd November: KYF on tour! Youth Rally in Ballyloughan. Leave car park 8pm, back about 10pm
29th November: Youth Club on tour! Mother Goose in Grand Opera House £10 see Youth Club leaders

Giving II

2008-11-11T21:19:00.004Z

Found at www.morethandodgeball.com

Giving

2008-11-10T23:07:00.005Z

Andy and I love drama nights! We come up with a couple of lines of text and then we let you have fun for 20 minutes :)

Giving is not just about money. It’s about time, and talents, respect and love. It’s not just about giving to the church, it’s about giving to charities, spotting a friend in need, even day to day sharing. But giving for the wrong reasons is almost worse than not giving anything. It’s your attitude that matters. Do you give just a teeny tiny amount of what you have? Do you want to boast about how generous and humble and modest you are? Look around the world, there is famine, poverty and disease. A pound from your pocket money isn’t going to solve everything, but it can make a difference. You have to choose wisely what charities and causes to support, but once you hand the money over it’s not yours anymore and you shouldn’t expect to control it.

But the central point is that giving does not make you a good person, and it doesn't hide any bad things you may have done. What matters is that you give out of a love for the person or people you are giving to and that you are showing God’s love to them and not boasting about your own success and wealth.

Weekend 2009: 13th to 15th February 2009 in Greenhill YMCA, Newcastle. Please have give in the £25 deposit and completed medical form as soon as possible!
22nd November 10am to 2pm: Kathryn's Car wash for Romania
23rd November: KYF on tour! Youth Rally in Ballyloughan. Leave car park 8pm, back about 10pm
29th November: Youth Club on tour! Mother Goose in Grand Opera House £10 see Youth Club leaders

No wonder the books are in a bad state :O

biggest yf evar!11!!1!

2008-11-05T23:36:00.005Z

I really wasn’t ready for the sight which struck me when I entered the minor hall just after 8pm last Sunday. The other Killymurris YF leaders and myself had anticipated anything from 5 to 30 young people and had planned games accordingly. In the event we couldn’t play any of the games we had planned because there were just too many of you! It was a good thing I got that beachball from the Faith Mission Bookshop. Thanks to all the other YF leaders for standing up with no warning :)

Thanks also to Stephen Atkinson from Christian Witness to Israel. It’s great to hear of CWI’s work and it is good to hear the reasons why it is important to take the Gospel back to Israel and the Jewish people in general.

Random fact of the day: The US presidential election actually happens on the 15th December!

And remember, follow Jesus into heaven, but not at the expense of anyone else - do something to make the world a better place. You might just encourage a few more people to follow Jesus.

Weekend away is 13th to 15th Feb 2009 in Greenhill YMCA (we hope): If you want to go, you must give us your medical form and £25 deposit as soon as possible
Sat 22nd November: Kathryn McWhirter's car wash to raise money to go to Romania

Don't Wanna Know 'Bout Evil

2008-10-28T20:37:00.005Z

I only wanna know ‘bout love. Beth Orton is a superb singer-songwriter, one of the best ever in the world, but unfortunately, while I love her song Don’t wanna know ‘bout evil, there is evil in the world and we have to deal with it. In Matthew chapter 5 verses 38 to 48 Jesus completely turns around the way we think about people who annoy us, dislike us or are just plain evil toward us. Instead of fighting back we need to change perspective, take a step back. Think if what you really want to do in your anger wouldn’t cause more harm than good. Remember that God is the ultimate judge and have faith in his justice, not your own.

But how?! Ruth and Laura offered a really useful technique: just change the way you think. Instead of thinking about revenge, think of how you can heal things or even at some point how you might even become friends. At least we have the example given to us by Jesus. Even on the cross, when I might have cursed and swore ludicrous things about those who put me there, Jesus prayed that the Father might forgive them.

And remember, sin is sin. An evil person may be more obvious, but everyone falls short of God’s standard. I repeat, trust in God’s judgement.

Announcements

Weekend 13th to 15th February 2009: Please give us your completed medical forms and £25 deposits as soon as possible because we need the money to confirm the booking. Fundraising ideas are welcome if you want to reduce the price of the weekend.
November 2nd: YF is 8pm to 8:45pm because of Joint service at 7pm. Your parents are welcome to have tea and biscuits in the main hall from 8pm.

Keep your oath or you're an oaf!

2008-10-21T22:56:00.007+01:00

In Matthew chapter 5 verses 33 to 37 Jesus says we need to keep to our word and speak plainly. Why?

First, it’s just a good idea to stay on everybody’s good side. Some day you may need someone to do something for you. Perhaps you said you’d do something for them but you forgot, or just couldn’t be bothered or weaselled out of it some way. Do you think the other person would take kindly to you asking them to do something for you? You need to earn trust and remember to deal with people in the same way you would want them to deal with you.

The second thing is even more important and there are two reasons why. First is simply that God has a higher standard and he has demonstrated in the Bible that He keeps His promises. He is a forgiving God, but it is good to get as close to God’s standard as possible. Second is that in John 1:1, Jesus is called ‘The Word’. It is by words that we know who God is. In the same way, it is by seeing things that we know what they are. If you are a Christian, people who aren’t Christians will compare what you say with what they see you doing and will judge you as a representative of God. If they think your words don’t match up to how you live they will think your faith is meaningless or worse, they will think faith in God is meaningless.

So tell the truth, speak plainly and keep your promises. Represent God.

Announcements

YF Weekend 13th - 15th February 2009 Greenhill YMCA, Newcastle. Book your place ASAP! (and tell us your fund-raising ideas for getting the price down)
Pantomime 29th November 2008. Tickets are £10, see the Alan or Nigel to book.

Finally, can anyone tell me if this is an alpaca or a llama?

Pluck out, cast off

2008-10-16T23:22:00.002+01:00

How much do your hands and eyes mean to you? In Matthew chapter 5 verses 27 to 32, Jesus challenges us by saying that if something causes us to do the wrong thing then we should get rid of it, even if it is useful in other ways. Through the medium of impromptu drama we also looked at times when we might be tempted not to do the right thing, like lying to your parents, not helping a homeless person or gossiping. Thanks to Andy and Debbie for running last Sunday night. I hope the next one will be almost as good. Announcements:

Weekend is booked for 13th - 15th February 2009. Booking and payment details will be posted soon.
November 2nd will be slightly different. Clough, Rasharkin and Cloughwater will be coming to Killymurris for 7pm to hear about Christian Witness to Israel (which Colin used to work for before he became a minister). There will still be a Youth Fellowship, but it will be games and snax and should end by 8:45pm because the adults will be in the big hall drinking tea.
November 22nd. Car wash to send Kathryn to Romania.

When Anger Shows

2008-10-09T23:00:00.006+01:00

Editors is one of the best bands ever and today their song ‘When Anger Shows’ has been in my head. Then I remembered I hadn’t blogged about last week’s YF. Sorry Ruth and Adrian for being so late. When anger shows (anger, not the song), it can lead to terrible things. We say things we shouldn’t and we do things we wouldn’t do if we just thought a little more. I know I’m ashamed of some of the things I’ve done when I’ve been angry. The thing is, anger can be very hard to hide and sometimes words are as bad actions. Better than trying to hide your anger is not to be angry in the first place. Don’t be two-faced and talk about people behind their backs. Even if the person never finds out. The only way to do that though, is to keep your relationship with God strong. Keep talking to God, keep reading your Bible and keep meeting with other Christians for worshipping God.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, You fool! will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew chapter 25 verse 22 (ESV)

Finally, it’s not what you say, it’s what you mean that matters. You might call someone a fool but really mean something much worse, which is just another way of being two-faced. Red Arrows at the Shorts (Bombardier Aerospace) 100th anniversary celebrations. It was actually a lot darker than this pic shows. (And 275 more photos of the factory if you want to see them...)

Salt and Light

2008-10-01T12:07:00.000+01:00

You have some salt inside you (NaCl aka Sodium Chloride) and Albert Einstein developed mathematical equations showing that matter (stuff you can touch) is the same as light. But that is not what Jesus meant when He said ‘You are the salt of the earth’ and ‘You are the light of the world’. Salt has so many uses - it is used to keep meat from rotting, it is used to melt ice on the roads and we put loads on our food just because it makes things taste better. What Jesus means is that we should be making the world a better place. And remember, church is like a salt cellar. The salt can only do anything when it gets spread about. Light is something we really take for granted. Most people can’t do much without light because we need to see what we are doing. God’s message of love and forgiveness is like light, it shows up our problems, but also how God can fix us. So when Jesus says you are salt and light, what He basically means is that He wants us to spread God’s message of love and forgiveness by making the world a better place. See Matthew Chapter 5 verses 13 to 16 for the full story. It's difficult to draw with salt in the dark. Debbie’s message sheets reminded me of this, probably one of Bob Dylan’s best songs: Finally, I found the following video via ThinkChristian.net (see links on the left) and it’s in my Bebo profile. I love bass. I love the ska. I love organ! Zap!

Vote for me!

2008-09-23T22:06:00.003+01:00

Last Sunday was the first part of our series on a speech Jesus gave that is recorded in the book of Matthew and is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. Sunday 14th was the zeroeth part of the series. If you were a political leader, what would you campaign for? If you ruled the world what laws would you pass? The start of what Jesus taught the people is a bit like a big campaign speech, only Jesus puts God's standards first, not our own standards, and tells us to put other people before ourselves. There is so much in Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 to 12 that Andy and me could only scratch the surface, but the point I want to leave with you is that the group of sayings we call 'The Beatitudes' is more than an lifestyle, it is faith in God fulfilling his promises.

Foundational Games

2008-09-17T21:06:00.003+01:00

Another night made great by you kids. First I managed to get a fist-pound from everyone! Then you all played the games with unbelievable enthusiasm. Special thanks to Debbie for cutting up the pizzas and especially for taking them out of the oven bang on time. They tasted great. Also to Adrian who cleaned up my mess in the kitchen. The chair shuffling games you played may have scuffed the floor a bit (needed re-varnishing long ago) but it was about the first thing I’ve done in Killymurris that worked close to first time. Mega thanks to Ruth for putting Jelly Babies and spaghetti to a new use and for giving them a spiritual connection! If you want to hold an egg, you need something strong enough to hold an egg. If you want to keep your life safe, you need a foundation strong enough to hold it. That foundation is not a hole, or concrete, it is a person. It is Jesus. Finally, all the stuff that was on the wall that you didn’t take home with you is now in my blue bin!

Apology - origin of science

2008-09-04T20:28:00.003+01:00

Sorry. I knew I should have looked this up before I spoke at Live Wire. Here is the correct history of the word 'science': http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Science. I was kind of correct when I said it comes from the greek for question, but not completely. It actually comes from the greek word meaning split, rend or cleave, which is sort of like asking questions, especially to find the truth. The more direct ancestor of the word sciene is scire (I think pronounced skeer-eh, but with an italian accent, obviously). I hope I didn't get anyone in trouble with their Latin or Greek teachers.

YF 2008/9 starts soon - 14th September

2008-09-04T12:02:00.002+01:00

Hey all ma homie peeps in a de Glarryford area - stylee. Big up ruspek! You guys made the Live Wire into teh awesome and win event that it was :) Now the YF hype begins. Killymurris YF 2008/9 starts on Sunday 14th September at 8pm in the church hall. There will be games and food! Everyone at secondary school (and a little older) can come. Bring a friend, learn about Jesus. YF will be on nearly every Sunday from 8pm to 9:15pm. Don't be late!

Live Wire night 5 - put on your armour with prayer

2008-08-09T11:45:00.006+01:00

If you are a Christian you are behind enemy lines, yes there are a lot of other Christians about, but this world in which we live does not yet belong to us. Though remember, our strategy must only be a loving revelation, not a violent revolution. The problem with being behind enemy lines is that you are cut off from your commanding officers. Fortunately we have a much more reliable means of communicating than the Enlgish pilots had in 'Allo, 'Allo, we have prayer. But prayer must be used effectively, still yourself before God, don't always rattle off a list of requests. Don't forget, Scouts, GB, Youth Club, Youth Fellowship will all be starting in a month or two, along with Sunday School and Bible Class. If you are reading this before Sunday 10th August, we'd love you to join us in the church hall for a service starting at 12noon to celebrate the Live Wire and Holiday Bible Club 2008. Here are some pictures from last night, all other pictures available on request via CD (or bring your own memory card/blank DVD - I have just under 900MB of pics)...

Live Wire night 4 - The Helmet of Salvation

2008-08-07T22:43:00.009+01:00

Announcement: Leaving for the beach at 6pm, should be back about 10pm. Bring your beach stuff (clothes, towel, etc - you don't want to be going home wet!) Don't forget the talent show. I have a couple of things I can do, but you don't want it to be just the 'John Show'. Maybe when winter comes we'll find the ball that was lost in the hegde. Until then I'll brush up on my knowledge of the rules of Rounders (did you know it is a Gaelic game?). It was popular at my primary school in England, along with Stool Ball, but I haven't played much since then. Remember the main three points about the Helmet of Salvation:

A helmet will save you from unexpected blows, blows that you can’t defend yourself from otherwise
A helmet can give you confidence - learn, ask questions, protect your intellect
The helmet God provides is not a mask

It was great to see the attendance is staying high. Remember that Killymurris has things going on for young people throughout the year and Youth Fellowship starts again on 14th September (20080914). Plus the Scouts and GB, and the Sunday School, and the Youth Club. If I had practised my talk more I might have actually remembered to use the whiteboard. There's always next time. But at least I drew a couple of nice pictures afterwards. Checka the pics below (inlcuding a couple from the primary school holiday Bible club)... If you can think of captions, please add them in the comments :)

Live Wire night 3 - The Shield of Faith

2008-08-06T22:41:00.006+01:00

Announcement: we're going to the beach on Friday night, leaving Killymurris church hall at 6pm. Bring whatever you need for the beach and your talent! Don't forget the talent show. I know some of you can't come to Live Wire every night, even if I don't understand why. We've had some great teaching that's been better than school! oh, and the games, don't forget the plates of faith :) So for those who couldn't attend I've been taking notes and I even remembered my whiteboard to make note-taking easier. Tonight we had the pleasure of the company of Andy and Debbie, but unfortunately they didn't bring spare clothes, so they couldn't join us for the water fight. I have a really good insurance/warranty plan for my camera, but I still didn't want to take it out in the water fight, so you'll just have to use your imagination or treasure your memories. Andy and Debbie double-teamed to help us understand what the shield of faith can mean for us, even though the only shield most people use in modern Northern Ireland is a windshield (it's not just Americans who say windshield). My notes are in a picture below and a transcript follows. Checka Wednesday's pics:

Shield of Faith
Modern shield - car windscreen/shield
Biblical shield - completely cover
Faith - belief in Creator God, Redeeming God
Fiery arrows

insults
setbacks
pressure/stress

Live a life inspired by Jesus; Romans 8:28; WWJD
Link up with the shields of others

pray for others
Ask others to pray for you
Pray with others

make time for your relationship with God

Live Wire night 2 - The Sword of the Spirit

2008-08-05T22:18:00.009+01:00

Historical Critical Method. Remember the HCM. Basically, it means that you should look at the Bible as far as possible through the eyes of the people for whom the Bible was originally written. That way you should not be able to take it out of context. For example, the book we call Galatians was written for the people who lived in the city of Galatia in Turkey almost 2000 years ago. If we want to learn from it we have to know a little about the people of Galatia from 2000 years ago. The Sword of the Spirit is the word of God. God's words are called a sword because they are powerful. Read about the temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 to 11, because when Jesus used God's words (from Deuteronomy chapter 6), the Devil had no power, he gave up and left. Tonight was a huge turnout! 37, up 8 from the night before. I think we can squeeze a few more into the hall! Come along for the rest of the week even if you haven't already. Announcements: Wednesday night is water fight night. Bring clothes to put on after you get wet, bring a water pistol if you want, bring a towel. Friday night is talent show night. Make sure your act is ready to go when called! Let us know what you want to do. And don't forget the plates of faith! This has nothing to do with the topic, but is interesting. Galatia should be familiar to all modern football fans because of the name Galatasaray. The club was named after the region of Galatia. Galatia was a part of what is now Turkey and was named after the tribe who lived there, who were the same as the Gaulic/Gallic/Gaelic/Celtic peoples of France, Britain and Scotland.

Live Wire night 1 - The Belt of Truth

2008-08-04T23:09:00.006+01:00

Check the pictures! (below) I plan to do daily updates from the Killymurris Live Wire. Night one we had special guest speaker Trevor Robinson and he talked about the Belt of Truth (Ephesians chapter 6, verse 14). The belt is the foundation of your armour. It doesn't seem as exciting as a helmet, a breastplate or a sword, but a good belt helps you fight. Do you know the Truth? Jesus said 'I am the way, the truth and the life'. Is the truth the foundation of your life? Announcements for the rest of the week:

Bring your waterpistol and a change of clothes :)
Show your talent on Friday night
God-willing we will go to a beach on Friday night - dropoff and pickup times will be announced soon

Near the beginning of the night, Agent Satan, whom some said was from The Matrix, ambushed poor Samantha. Fortunately God was on hand to give her the armour she needed and finally the sword with which to slay Agent Satan. John had to go out just before Agent Satan arrived and forgot to give his camera to someone else, but he did manage to get a photo taken later of Agent Satan's clone. Well done everyone on doing so well in the treasure hunt. I don't think anyone got less than 80% and nearly everyone got full marks, which was very good considering there were many sheets, but no sheep. Tomorrow's update will hopefully be earlier.

LiveWire invites out now!

2008-06-30T22:44:00.006+01:00

Life is good, but it can get tough. We at Killymurris want to supply you with the armour you will need. The armour will be supplied at Killymurris Church Hall from 4th to 8th August from 7pm-8:30pm. If God wills, the weather will be good enough to go to the beach on 8th. Bring your Bible, but also bring your water pistol and spare clothes :) Here is an A4 poster version of the invites you may already have seen. If you don't have any invites, print this out (it works well small, in greyscale, too) and give it to your mates, or email it, or put it on your Bebo profile*, or whatever you young people use nowadays. There will be games, there will be special guest speakers, there will be hot drinks and did I mention the beach? Oh, and there will also be a talent show at the beach, starring you! So practice your Soulja Boy crank, or will we be lucky and find the next Donald? You decide! *Remember, Bebo has a policy that only people over 13 should have Bebo profiles.

Ruth says thanks

2008-06-23T23:29:00.005+01:00

Ruth emailed us these photos of the ‘chain of encouragement’ you sent sent her.

Summer Prayer Requests

2008-06-23T00:20:00.009+01:00

Loads to pray about and I am not ashamed to include myself or even my sister.

YF

Please pray for YF itself, for the other kids (hopefully they are your friends, don't forget your prayer buddy cards either) and for the leaders so that we can serve you better. As I said in church, the leadership team is changing and we hope to get a couple of new people on board, so pray you will get the right leaders!

Gillian

Will be helping on the SU camp in Dunbar, Scotland from 19th to 26th July. Please pray for the following:

The Camp Leaders, Officers and Cooks
The Teaching Programme at Camp
Health, Safety & Suitable Weather
God’s Dealings with the 80+ Campers
Activities and Outings
Defeat of Satan’s Plans

Kathryn

Will be helping on a Spark team in Ballymena in August. Spark is incredibly exciting, I wish I had time to help. Please pray for:

Breaking down barriers around Ballymena
That the Spark teams will be Jesus to the people in Ballymena who might not know Him
Energy to serve joyfully, whether building relationships, lifting litter, tidying gardens or cleaning up after dogs
Good weather to work in
Lasting impact for Jesus on Ballymena

Claire

Is my sister and is currently cooking for Camp America in Massachusetts. She will be working in the kitchens until mid August. Please pray for:

Engergy to work long hours with little time off
health and safety in the kitchen and around camp
That everyone will come closer to God
Good relationships will be built

Mark

Is getting married to Kirsty. Pray that their wedding day will be a day of joy and that they will have a lifetime of growing closer to each other by growing closer to God.

John

My list may be long, but that doesn’t mean I actually do any more than anyone else.

27th-29th June Scout TOE Camp Crawfordsburn
8th-10th July Explorer Scout Survival course in Scotland
11th-18th July SU Boys Camp in Carrickfinn, Donegal
20th-26th July Craigavon Christian Youth Senior Camp in Dunluce
4th-8th August Killymurris Livewire Event

Prayer points:

Safety while travelling
safety at camp
good weather
good behaviour
team unity
that the Gospel will be shown as well as taught and that the young people will accept Jesus or grow closer to him.
Livewire is a new event for Killymurris for anyone of secondary school age, so please pray that our first year will go well.

Belated Updates

2008-06-23T00:20:00.002+01:00

I have no excuse being so late posting some this stuff because I was off work all last week, but hey, I had a stack of DVDs to watch. I liked Napoleon Dynamite, but Kingdom of Heaven was woeful and way overlong despite being beautifully shot and having a good, but short, performance from Liam Neeson at the start, though it did pick up a bit towards the very end. Men, if you are old enough, watch Windtalkers - amazing battle scenes and great questions asked about friendship, orders and the greater good.

Killymurris Youth Day

The youth choir did really well, glad to hear you all, but John A should try not to look like he’s in pain when he sings. Plus the band goes from strength to strength (even if I do say so myself). Also glad to hear all the people who read so well in the pulpit. I’ve been there a few times now and it’s still a scary place for me.

In the morning Clare had a cool talk show with some special guests from around Killymurris. The message was that you can say you are a great chef, farmer or footballer, but you have to show your talents to prove it. You can say you are great Christian, but you actually have to know Jesus yourself and you have to show how Jesus has changed you as well to prove it.

In the evening Michael had a special remote control that could make the choir stand up. Who’s in control of your life? Is it God?

Visit from Carnlea LOL961 and friends

LOL indeed! lol, well I lol’d even if you didn’t. I might even LMAO if you ROTFL. Sorry, I got carried away there!

I hope you all welcomed our local Orangemen to Killymurris. We all heard a great sermon on Psalm 23 from Bobbi Brown of the Belfast City Mission. In the evening, Clifford encouraged us to take God at His word because He is faithful to all His promises, even if people are not.

Sunday 22nd will get another post of its own, hopefully very shortly.

Clough Youth Night

2008-06-01T23:57:00.002+01:00

So I returned to the church where my sister and I were baptised and the congregation of my father’s side. Unfortunately I don’t go there as much as I would like, but my excuse is that I’m dedicated to Killymurris, not that I’m lazy :) The occasion was that Clough had an evening service run by their Youth Fellowship. I enjoyed their acting and especially their singing, but the big thing I remember is that the theme for the evening was prayer. The drama compared prayer to breathing. You’d die if you didn’t breathe. You wouldn’t be healthy if you didn’t breathe regularly. Part of the reason for the focus on prayer, as well as how important it is in general, was because three people from Clough are going overseas on ministry teams in the summer. Please pray for Gillian (from Clough, not Killymurris, even though she stabbed me with compass at primary school) as she helps with the rebuilding in Peru in July with Latin Link after the earthquake that struck there last year. My cousin Amy is going to Romania with Exodus and Alison, who is working with Open Doors. Sorry, no pictures, again, but Clough isn’t that far away, you should know what it looks like. Oh, and remember, always check the order of your Powerpoint (or Keynote) slides (double inside joke).

Rasharkin Youth Night

2008-05-27T00:20:00.003+01:00

haha! because none of you turned up (except me, Adrian, Mark and Stuart) we were invited to a BBQ with Rasharkin YF after the church service. We played Bruce, the counting game, mafia, Taboo and ate lots of BBQ food. It was full of win and awesome. At the Youth Service itself there was much singing and a brilliant drama about the football kit of God. Then my good friend Sam Mills spoke about Hebrews 12:1-6. The Christian life is like a race, you have to start, you have to keep going and you have to finish. Sorry, no pictures. Maybe I’ll get pictures if we ever get Rasharkin down to Killymurris.

Rasharkin Youth Service invite - 6:00pm at Rasharkin

2008-05-19T00:02:00.005+01:00

Hey Killymurris young peoples, you have been invited to Rasharkin on Sunday 25th to worship God with Rasharkin's young people. I'll post the time it's at when I find out. Hope to see you there. UPDATE: I now know the time, it's 6pm at Rasharkin, please meet at Killymurris at 5:30pm. Don't forget the power of RSS! You get updated when the site is updated, you don't have to keep checking here when the posts become more infrequent over the summer. Here are some links explaining RSS with Internet Explorer 7, with Firefox 2 (Firefox 3 is almost as good as Opera). Don't forget Google Reader, it may be your only hope if you still use AOL *cough* (suppressing hysterical laughter :D, but with a tinge of sorrow :,( for all those lost souls who don't know any better, can't believe anyone would use it by choice :O )

Post 61! Summer is here

2008-05-07T18:13:00.001+01:00

So summer seems to be upon us and most welcome it is too. Hopefully autumn won't start at least until after July this year. First, thank-you for reading this blog, now in it's 61st post, I hope to keep some activity going through the summer, but July might be a bit sparse. Second, thank-you for coming to Youth Fellowship. The Sunday School is still on until the end of June and Sunday morning (midday?) church services keep going thoughout the summer. If you think you'd rather have Youth Fellowship than church, well ha, Youth Fellowship is church - and you'd get bored of YF all the time. Young people's day at church will be a big event, though, and if you can't last until September and you are at secondary school, you can come to the LiveWire from 4th to 8th August. You may have seen the excellent posters up around church recently. Thirdly, Debbie did something cool a month or so back. She signed up for a YF email address: killymurrisyf@live.com. You can use this address to contact any of us on the committee for any reason. All the committee members have access. If you want we can also use it for instant messaging. If you have any other ideas, let us know! Fourthly, I have a couple more CDs of all last year's pictures, find me after church (I'm on sound this week) and I should have them with me. If you didn't order one, but still want one, I should be able to get one burned for you. Again, let me know if you want a copy of the Youth Club stay-awake and BBQ photos.

Holy Communion

2008-05-06T21:41:00.005+01:00

Or the Lord’s Supper, is a great event and I was glad to see some of you young people there. To be honest it was all a mystery to me until I actually became a communicant* member in 2002 when I was 21. We only celebrate it 4 times a year in our congregation and sometimes I wish we’d do it more often, but at the same time it is a very serious event. It would be bad to go into it lightly and it would be bad if communion lost its special status if we did it too often. I usually pray that I learn something new at each communion. At the first one I realised for the first time what the bread and wine actually mean. Eating the bread (in our case shortbread) is like sin. Sin is what broke Christ’s body. You can’t live without eating, it’s in our nature. You can’t live without doing the wrong thing every now and again, it’s in our nature. But then you get the wine (in our congregation’s case Ribena, sometimes Miwadi). The wine washes away the broken bread from your mouth like Jesus’s blood washes away sin. But blood cannot flow unless a body is broken. Jesus had to die. That brings me to what God taught me this time. I’ve had a sore ankle for a couple of years now, but it’s only started to really affect me in the last couple of months. It is sore and uncomfortable and I can’t do the things I’m used to doing, but at the same time what do I deserve? Apart from my ankle I’m in pretty good health, better than many people who have suffered longer than I have lived. More than that though, the pain of my ankle is nothing compared to the pain Jesus went through because of my sin, because of all the things I continue to do wrong. My ankle pain isn’t going away, so I have resolved to make an appointment to see the doctor. We’re not supposed to live in pain if there is a cure available. We’re not supposed to live in sin because God has given us the cure. . Sin is more serious than ankle pain, or any kind of disease. If God could raise Jesus from the dead, God can free you (and me) from sin if you (and I) trust Him enough. It may take a while but keep trusting. Keep getting closer to God. Finally, think carefully about Communion. If you are a Christian when you are 16, please talk to the minister about taking Communicants’ classes. They are a good way to learn about what Communion means and what life as a Christian in a group of believers is all about. *Communicant means a person who joins in Communion. People in our church who are registered to take Communion can vote in congregational meetings. Photos from the Youth club BBQ follow...

You gotta fight, for your right...

2008-04-29T20:52:00.004+01:00

Sorry, got carried away by the Beastie Boys there. I’m sure there are occasions nearly every day when we do things for no other reason than because everyone else is doing those same things. And there often isn’t anything wrong with that. I, for one, got myself an iPod back in 2004 because everyone else was getting one - and it has done me well. There are plenty of things your friends might do that are stupid, wrong or dangerous though. That’s up to them, but never let yourself be pressurised into doing anything you don’t feel comfortable with. What if the government may command you to do things you don’t think fit with your faith? There were three Jews in Daniel chapter 3 called Hannaniah, Mishael and Azariah who disobeyed their king because they did not worship a big statue. You may also recognise them from the Veggietales story featuring Shad, Rack and Benny. Yes, God made sure they didn’t burn in the furnace they were thrown into, but they were fully prepared to face the flames no matter what. Christians are called to stand for their faith, but we must not defy the law. You must always be prepared to face the consequences like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were:

our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. (Daniel chapter 3 verses 17 to 18, ESV)

Standing firm for your faith means you'll need armour. Learn all about God's armour 4th-8th August!

Fake Republic on Ehud

2008-04-27T15:39:00.004+01:00

What's your favourite Bible passage? Mine is Psalm 22, but this video is from a guy who's favourite Bible passage is about a guy called Ehud, a left-handed hero in Israel several thousand years ago. Find out more about Ehud by watching this 15 minute video from a Northern Irish man who lives in Canada and has a vest like Tam's.

Prayer: The Return

2008-04-24T23:30:00.004+01:00

If you want to do anything right you need a strong foundation, you need to get the basics right. If you want to live right for God you need to get prayer right. Prayer is how you grow your relationship with God and keep it strong. Sure you can get a long way on a little prayer, but why settle for less? Prayer is better than Lembas bread. It will never run out and it’s not fattening. How should you pray? First, think of the teaspoon. TSP. Thank God for who He is and what he’s done for you. Say Sorry for any bad things you have done. Petition God for what you think needs to be done. Second, just do it! You can pray anywhere at any time. You can pray in the alone in the quiet, you can be jogging, doing the dishes. You can even pray with other people on a rooftop in North Africa or alone on top of a sand dune in the Sahara. Why recap on the basics? Because summer is coming. After next week there won’t be any Youth Fellowship until September and we want you to stay close to God and to pray for each other. Keep your prayer buddy list close by. I think I lost the sheet of names for requests for the YF leaders to pray for you guys over the summer, so we’ll do another one this Sunday. There might be more of you there anyway. Finally, don’t forget the LiveWire! Five evenings from 4th to 8th August in Killymurris church hall for kids at secondary school, or in P7 now. It will wr0x3r jur wur1d! Finally, finally, I was too busy to take any pictures last Sunday, apart from one.

Change of Plan

2008-04-17T20:14:00.004+01:00

An advert that made a big impression on me a couple of years ago was one for IBM called ‘Change of Plan’. Unfortunately I cannot find it on YouTube or I would link to it for you. They didn’t really show any significant technology, but it was all in the timing and the way they said ‘change of plan’ every 5 seconds. Yeah, I'm sad.

The point of this post though is not to plug IBM or it’s ad company, or their Chief Marketing Officer at the time, who now works for the same company as me. The point of this post is to tell you that there has been a change of plan.

The new plan is as follows:

Sunday 20th April - Youth Fellowship at 8pm - Scouts remember the St George’s day parade at 2:30pm at Broughshane Community Centre
Friday 25th April - Tear Fund Walk with Scouts - time to be determined. We’ll tell you on Sunday, Scouts will already know.
Sunday 27th April - Last Youth Fellowship of the 2007/8 year - suggest a video (I suggest Vegetales:) )

Service W5

2008-04-15T21:26:00.006+01:00

First, let me apologise, our plans have been changing considerably over the past week and when we tried to sort out a good date for doing the Tear Fund walk I forgot about the Scouts’ St George’s day parade (in St Patrick’s Broughshane - meet at the community centre at 2:30pm on Sunday 20th). So, sorry about confusing any Scouts, but you have to go to the St George’s day parade. Anyone who isn’t a Scout, we will let you know soon what’s happening. Onto the main event then, service. What is service? Something in volleyball or tennis? Customer service? The armed services? Helping old ladies? All of the above, and more. Service basically means helping people, and in Christian terms usually means that you don’t do it for personal gain. Of course, if you work in the service industry you will get paid for doing your job, but Christian service is above and beyond the ordinary. We often talk about serving God. One of the features of serving God is serving other people. Missionaries may go to serve God in another country, but successful missionaries serve the people they meet there. They may have a particular skill, like a missionary relative of mine who fixes Land Rovers. In helping people they do what Jesus did and so serving God is both helping people and telling them about Jesus. Matthew chapter 25 verse 40 says:

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (ESV)

Here are your ‘mind-maps’ about service... Finally, don’t forget the power of RSS! If you use IE7, Firefox 2 or 3, Safari or Opera, get automatic notifications of updates by clicking the little orange icon in your address bar (the colour can depend on any skin you might have put on your browser - Firefox three’s RSS icon is blue). Personally I quite like Opera’s RSS reader, but my friend swears by Google Reader.

Relationships part 2

2008-04-11T17:50:00.001+01:00

While the ladies discussed the men upstairs, sorry, while the ladies discussed the men of their dreams, us men were discussing how we relate to family and friends. We had talked about the women of our dreams the week before. How we live with our parents is incredibly important. As Paul wrote, the commandment to honour your father and mother is the first of the 10 Commandments with a promise attached to it. God promises that you will live long and prosper in the land He will give you. Why? The relationship with your parents is a model for your relationship with God. If you can’t obey your parents, will you obey God? Your parents care for you deeply, does not God care even more? In the extremely rare case you have bad parents you must still respect them. Don’t push them down the stairs! But seriously, don’t suffer in silence, try to get help (which might be where friends come in) and pray. Pray for your parents anyway. Good parents need prayer just as much as bad parents. Family life is stressful, your parents will be thankful if you help them out. Friendship too is important. You need to interact with other people, but you need friends in particular because we can’t do everything on our own. I would also like to clarify something I was saying in the Bible study with the guys: don’t drop your non-Christian friends even if they don’t understand why you want to go to church. Just don’t let them stop you meeting for worship. Some artwork...

Relationships part 1

2008-04-01T23:43:00.003+01:00

We split the group into men and women last Sunday so that we could discuss things in safety. I have no idea what the girls were studying, but apparently they were all unusually quiet. The men’s discussion cannot leave the committee room, but we looked at relationships with women, what men and women want from each other and thought about how we might react to various situations where male/female relationships might get challenged. As Colin said, prepare for crises before they happen - and the best way is by reading your Bible and strengthening your relationship with God. I don’t have any photos of YF, but Megan did take over 100 photos for me at the 12 hour Youth Club. That was a crazy time, especially the Unihoc from 4 to 5 am. My legs were still sore on Monday. Finally, also from Youth Club: the captain has said the plane will crash, make sure you have your parachute on.

Choice is good

2008-03-26T20:30:00.005Z

I just found www.MyBibleVersion.com via www.thinkchristian.net. Everyone's different and different translations have different strengths, so prayerfully use what's good for you. I didn't think too much before using the tool and was surprised to see that it recommded the Jewish Publication Society translation for me. I'll have to get one. This is all a great reminder of why Wycliffe's Vision 2025 is so important. English has more translations every year while more than 2000 languages have no portion of the Bible at all. Please pray for Wycliffe's Vision 2025 to more than succeed.

He Lives!

2008-03-24T16:24:00.004Z

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. (Mark 16:2-7 ESV)

Very early on Sunday morning, Adrian, Gillian, Mark, James and his dad, and me went to Slemish car park to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection with many people from around the Ballymena Presbytery. Unfortunately it hailed 2 minutes into the preacher’s address and he finished soon after that. Then as everyone walked back to their cars it started to get nicer, though it was still cold. Also unfortunate was that Gillian, Mark and Adrian didn’t want to go up Slemish. I couldn’t really blame them given the terrible weather, but if I was in my own car I might have climbed to see if I could break my record of 34 minutes to the top and back again. Hope to see the rest of you there next year. I think Andrew has done it in about 25 minutes in the past. Photos follow... It may have looked cold and wet, and it was, but even though I hate getting up early, it's worth going to join God's people in worship.

Jesus's Last Week

2008-03-24T16:14:00.005Z

Apologies for being over a week late with this summary of 20080316. Let's get straight to it. First, Mark gave Tank a Cadbury’s easter egg with nails inside. Don’t complain to Cadbury, I think Mark got them inside himself, by magic. The true meaning of Easter can get lost among the eggs and Lindt Bunnies. Jesus, God’s only begotten Son was taken by sinful men, was beaten, scourged, crucified (remember the nails) and died. Mark and Laura then gave us a few drama ideas from Jesus’s last week and then left us to act them out. I’ve been quite enamoured with this style of drama since Donna McNeilly introduced me to it at KYF several years ago (think it might have been 2001 or 2002, if not earlier). I suggest we call it LABS (Live-action Bible Study)*. There are about twenty pictures from the dramas and I can’t choose which ones to post, so I’ll show them next time there’s a projector being used at YF. I might even get them printed! If you get a chance, as well as reading the last couple of chapters of each of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and Psalm 22, you should watch the first couple of episodes of ‘The Passion’ on the BBC iPlayer. There are many places where it gets things wrong, but Jesus’s teachings in it are powerful and challenging. * I was a fan of role-playing games in my youth (RIP Gary Gygax) and was aware of some people who liked to act out their mythic quests instead of just use dice and pencil and paper (hey, this was before World of Warcraft, peeps). They called what they did LARP (Live-action Role Playing). Plus, there are now a couple of pictures of me from side on. Do I really look like I’m about to tip forwards when I speak?

SU Camps and Missions 2008

2008-03-16T16:50:00.003Z

Check this link for a list of all the camps that SU is running this year: SU Camps 2008. There you will see a table with details of whether the camp is full or not and whether it needs leaders. The SU website will also tell you about the missions (CSSMs) that are going on all over Northern Ireland. If you're going to the beach (or some of the CSSMs are inland too), make sure you get your parents to take you when there's a CSSM on. If you are 16 or over, or coming up to that age and you would like to help out, please pray about it. It's a great way to work for God and to help other people get to know Him better. Plus you get to know God better yourself and you get to meet other amazing leaders, and oh yeah, the kids as well. Yeah, don't forget the kids. Seriously though, I'm always amazed at the kids and what God does with them. Again, you can find details on the SU website, though the closing date for applications is fast approaching. But if you can't help this year, there's always next year, DV.

MTYEWTKAKYFL

2008-03-13T22:29:00.028Z

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Killymurris Youth Fellowship Leaders!

In alphamabectical order:

Adrian

Enjoys eating, playing piano and violin as well as singing bass. He will listen to any music as long as it’s not too heavy. He carried half of John’s tent across much of northern Italy in 2001 in order to get a belt. His favourite films include The Green Mile, Chicago and Moulin Rouge, but he does not like sports. He once met Prince Philip.

Andrew

Is another person who once carried bits of a tent across Italy to get a belt. He is working towards adding the letters ‘MEng’ to his name. He took the YF chequebook after receiving extensive training from John. He is a Queen’s Scout and he helps with Youth Club. He has been known to bake from before dawn.

Debbie

Is the shortest member of the KYF Committee, which brings her much pride. Fortunately she does not have too far to fall. She was born in Manchester, but did not pick up the accent. She studies English at Queens, specialising in Renaissance literature, but her favourite poet is William Wordsworth. Debbie is a Christian, believing strongly in the power of prayer. She loves having a good olde chat to God because ‘He is amazing’. She particularly enjoys drama, bible studies, arty things and doing a bit of teaching in KYF. She is fashion-mad, but still loves H&M.

Gillian

Is almost resident in Eurodisney, but does not let that stop her being a teacher in Northern Ireland, a role she seems to have been born into. She enjoys watching chick flicks and listening to Westlife. She is fiercely anti-anti-ginger and recently became an aunt herself.

John

Sometimes has pretensions of being a writer, but always pretends to be a computer geek. He enjoys being a pedant and listening to most genres of music, but particularly Drum ‘n’ Bass and the Ska. He lists his other interests as reading, cycling, photography and repeating catchphrases. Also achieved a belt by carrying half of Adrian’s tent across northern Italy. John enjoys randomness, but craves order, often decrying that one must have a system. He enjoys many sports, though he understands them better than he plays them.

Laura

Despite being the right age, Laura is not a goth or an emo because her favourite colour is purple. She enjoys eating chocolate and chinese food and drinking tea. For entertainment she listens to Westlife, Céline Dion and Mika, she likes to watch Friends and the film ‘How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days’. Paradoxically she loves chilling with friends and eating food, but does not like being cold or brussels sprouts. Without straighteners, her car or her Bible, she could not enjoy Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner. Her favourite Bible verse is 'For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper and not to harm you...', found in Jeremiah 29 v 11

Mark

Will soon be a devoted husband. He particularly enjoys farming and transposing music as well as playing piano. Being an uncle is important to him, but his nephew and nieces haven’t said anything. Along with some of the other YF leaders he is a recorded singer and will be taking part in Ballymena Festival 2008.

Ruth

Is an accomplished secretary and flautist who is currently in New Zealand with Scripture Union as a youth missionary. She harbours a now not-so-secret love of David Starkey, the TV historian, who is ‘amazing’, apparently. Her long list of likes includes the television programme ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, summer, sparkly things, Snow Patrol, toast with butter, marmalade and cheese, her family and friends, lie-ins, long walks and laughing until her belly hurts. Her shorter list of dislikes comprises dogs, rude people, pigeons and drivers who break the speed limits.

Apologies to Debbie, who had the idea to do this 3 months ago.

Godtowards all liverwith love!

2008-03-10T20:41:00.012Z

Or, I’m sure all you fluent Inga speakers will have translated that to “Diusta tukui sunguwa kuyai”.

Of course, in more everyday English that translates as “Love God with all your liver”. Culturally though, we might rather say “Love God with all your heart”.

Can you see that it’s really the people who speak the language who are the best at translating it? Imagine if you had to read the Bible if it had been translated from Inga to English without caring about grammar and culture. You’d never be able to read it. The words would all be in the wrong order and it would be full of references to your liver instead of your heart.

Wycliffe, the Bible translation people, were at Harryville last Sunday night (20080309) to show us three things.

There are currently about 2,200 languages in the world today with no portion of the Bible.
Wycliffe’s vision is that by 2025 (just 17 years from now), a translation effort will have been started in all those 2,200 languages. Over 2000 languages already have some portion of the Bible, but it will also be years before they have a whole Bible of their own.
You can help in many different ways. e.g. Helping the churches of the native speakers to grow; as a linguistics consultant; as a teacher - either in direct literacy work, or teaching the children of missionaries; or even supporting and fixing the computers that the people who work for and with Wycliffe need to use. You can also give money, but more importantly you can pray.

Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:37-38 ESV)

See www.wycliffe.org.uk for more info, and www.wynetuk.org if you are from 13-18.

Look how quickly the chocolate disappeared once Gillian and Laura got it!

Hmm, there's been a bit of a mix-up on Google's side with the photo hosting, sorry if you have to look at them in an external viewer.

Felix or Failix

2008-03-04T21:48:00.005Z

We kind of had YF during the evening service last Sunday because Clough, Cloughwater and Rasharkin came to join us and hear Bobbi Brown from the Belfast City Mission.

As luck would have it Mr Brown preached on nearly the same passage as Colin had in the morning service, Acts 24. Colin focused on Paul though and Mr Brown focused on Felix.

Felix (pronounced failicks) is Latin for lucky, but this Felix was more of a failure than lucky. He was intrigued by the message of Jesus and he discussed being a Christian with Paul himself. But he didn’t like Paul’s message: what it means to be a Christian - particularly righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come.

And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you. (Acts 24:25 ESV)

Interesting notes on Felix you can learn from the Wikipedia...

Felix was on his third wife, Drusilla (not the one from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who was only 16 when they were married. According to Wikipedia, Drusilla left her first husband to marry Felix based on bad advice, but we’re not told how their marriage went after that. Drusilla didn’t have the best family life to begin with. As well as being involved in all the intrigue of royal families, she was the daughter of the Herod who died of arrogance in Acts chapter 12 and related to the Herod who had John the Baptist killed and also the Herod who had tried to kill Jesus in Bethlehem.

Identity III - The Revenge

2008-02-27T01:15:00.004Z

Not a lot to summarise this week, except to show some pictures and mention I Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12 to 26. I Corinthians was actually a letter to a group of Christians in the Greek city of Corinth - and you think I write a lot! It’s actually an encouragement to see that the Christians in Corinth at that time were far from perfect, but we still need to learn the lessons they did and become better at showing people the real Jesus. In our case, Paul wanted to teach the Corinthian Christians how each one of them had a real and important part to play in the church. To do this he compared the church to a body. An healthy body has healthy body-parts (systems, organs, tissues, cells, etc), but most of all it is made of different parts with different jobs, and each part is necessary. Just like we need a heart and lungs, we need people in the church to work together and encourage each other. Now for the pictures!

Identity II - The Group

2008-02-20T23:17:00.006Z

Coming this fall...

Sorry, I meant to say that what follows is the summary of Sunday 17th’s KYF. But I don’t need to do a summary, in fact, my work here is done. Someone said that Christians are geeks. I am so pleased! Pass directly to Go, pick up your £200 and collect the rent from Mayfair! Now that you know Christians are geeks I have nothing left to teach you. In fact, Dictionary.app on Mac OS X 10.5 has the following in its definition of geek:

a person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest, e.g. computer geek

There’s also a rich etymology there because it came from old English and German and originally meant ‘fool’; and if you remember, Paul wrote in I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 25:

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.(ESV)

All that is left is to remind you that there are two main groups talked about in the Bible (I John chapter 4 in particular): the world, and Christians. You have to be one or the other. Hopefully from the dramas you acted out so well that you will think hard about what you do in life, especially how you react to things like fouls on the football pitch, or gossips and bullies in everyday life.

And now it’s over to you. Let us know any ways we can improve KYF and Killymurris in general. So far we’ve had a request for more pizza and social nights, which I agree with!

What You Are

2008-02-13T23:30:00.007Z

‘Who are you’ by the Who (as made popular by one of the many CSI series) was too obvious, so I went with ‘What you are’ by Dave Matthews Band. So the lyrics don’t really suit the subject and it’s probably a song about an argument, but it’s still about identity and is actually about the only song I have in my collection apart from ‘Who are you’ that remotely fits the occasion. Work that camera, baby, yeah! So I hope you could see from last week’s YF that humans have a special place in Creation, from Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 to 28 and Psalm 8. The bit in Genesis also shows that we have a special job in looking after Creation - not destroying it. If we’re so special then we need to respect each other, so treat others better than you would expect them to treat you. And respect yourself, because after Jesus you are your own greatest gift from God. Don’t harm yourself, but use your own gifts to serve others. Back on the theme of others, don’t judge by the outward appearance. Yes, there’s a lot you can tell from the way a person acts and dresses, but don’t let that be the full story and don’t jump to conclusions. Remember Adrian dressing up as not a badminton player? Remember me dressing up as not a farmer? Remember I Samuel 16:7? (Apologies to Jerry Seinfeld for using his jokes so badly). Debbie helped us see from Galatians chapter 5 verses 16 to 23 that there can be many bad aspects to a person’s identity, but God has set us an high standard (verses 22-23) of good things we should do (love, joy, peace and patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control - sing a long!). Adrian helped us see from Amos chapter 6 verses 1 to 7 that our identity can be tied up in the pursuit of comfort, music and exotic smells, like Impulse and Lynx, which are often heavily promoted by TV, radio and magazines. Those things aren’t bad in themselves, but God was angry about them in Amos 6 because his people went after all these things with no thought for their souls or even their national security. Finally, we didn’t get time to really look at John chapter 15 verses 5 to 8, but please read it for yourself (as well as verses 1 to 4) because it contains a very important picture of how we can change our identity to become more like Jesus. Wikipedia has a cool entry on grafting, though it can seem like you need an ‘A’ level in Biology to read it.

Stealth Alpha

2008-02-06T00:13:00.000Z

Double bonus points for recognising the parable Jesus told in relation to us giving out certificates for the completion of our Stealth Alpha course. There may be a prize if I remember to ask about it next week. At the very least you will have the respect and admiration of your peers. Unfortunately Professor Philius P Barnham-Walsinghamstone Junior III, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at University College Port Merion, could not not join us for the demonstration of physical theology. In his place though we did have the very able, soon-to-be BEng, Andrew McClean esq. By way of a careful titration of sultanas and lemonade Andrew showed that life too has ups and downs. We also saw both the extent to which God forgives sin and the fragility of computer data and the necessity of being saved when all Ruth Boyd BA’s work was lost at the click of the mouse. It wasn’t really lost, check the pictures for the magic of Seashore (based on the Gnu IMP). Though I did forget that CTRL+S doesn’t work on the Mac, you have to use CMD+S. The secret of my success: Seashore's layers. The main event was a study of Romans chapter 12. There’s loads in it, but the highlights are thus: - Let God transform you and don’t hold anything back - Recognise the gifts God has given you and put them into practice - Be sure to show that God has changed you - by putting your gifts into practice - Remember that we can’t live up to God’s standard on our own, we need God to transform us. Just to remind you of the sum-up - Be aware (your country needs wares) - Be a disciple (though the magic e seems too far from the i) Finally, on behalf of the committee, thanks for going through the Youth Alpha Course with us. Let us know what you thought, especially if you are new to the KYF. John’s tedious link: The song that was playing during Gillian’s shameless promotion of her SU camp in Scotland was ‘The Middle’ by rock band Jimmy Eat World (sorry if it was a little bass heavy, but the Bose speakers at church are better than my speakers at home, so I keep bass boost on in iTunes all the time). I have a compilation with another Jimmy Eat World song called ‘Salt Sweet Sugar’ (aka Bleed American). In 2003/4 I worked with a guy in Northbrook who was a fan of Jimmy Eat World. Northbrook’s main offices are in Belfast. I’m on a course in Belfast at the minute with a guy who comes from the same village in Scotland as the singer from Deacon Blue. For all Deacon Blue’s singer’s faults, they did write an amazing song called ‘Dignity’. I work with the husband of the woman who is running this year’s SU sailing camp. If you put enough money in a kitty, you can go on that dinghy. You can sail it up the West coast of Scotland, through villages and towns. You’ll be on your holidays and they’ll be doing the rounds. People will ask you how you got on the boat and you’ll say, ‘I saved my money’, and you’ll say, ‘isn’t she pretty? that ship called Dignity.’

What is church for?

2008-01-31T22:26:00.000Z

Indeed, what is church for? I know I like sitting in the choir. I like playing about with the sound equipment and indirectly it gave me the excuse to inflict my writing style upon all you young people via this blog. That all comes at an heavy price though. I mean, what is it with sitting around for an hour (usually more) each week, usually hearing stuff about sin that makes you uncomfortable? Why subject yourself to my attempts at singing or playing guitar? What is it with all the old people? They can’t possibly understand us cool cats. (Can they?) Well, the Bible is actually quite clear that church is incredibly important. Remember the building is just a place, but the church is the people who meet there. God has promised to be wherever his people meet. He takes great joy in the praises of His people. Church can be a community where we lift each other up, and most importantly help the people outside the church. There are also some heavy theological pictures that God gives us through the very existence of the church. As well as being the people of God (worldwide, not just Killymurris), the church is God’s family. That means we should all look after each other like a family and we have the right to inherit the new Earth. It is the body of Christ, which means that even though Jesus has no physical presence anymore, all Christians must act together, like a body’s different limbs and organs, to do God’s work. And we are the bride of Christ. That sounds even weirder, but it symbolises how much God loves us (look up Judges for the story of Ruth and Boaz) and that we should be so smitten with love for Jesus that we boast about him like a woman in love should boast about her future husband. To symbolise some of these things, we made some ‘human pictures’. The Church as a cheering crowd. The Church working together The Church as a family The Church is the people, not the building Positive aspects of church Church negatives More church positives A D10 (decahedron), I believe

Youth Rally Kells 20080120

2008-01-21T21:16:00.000Z

Yet again, Killymurris was loudest per person at the roll-call, but we need more people next time to challenge the Ahoghill roughs. To the townies in the Ballymena churches I say this: GROW SOME LUNGS! Then again there were only three young people from Killymurris and 5 leaders. But all you other ones really missed out both on juice (Robinsons, no less) and biscuits (McVities, no less), as well as a great talk from Rev Philip Thompson from Rathfriland. Philip's subject was ‘News FOR the world: Good News and Bad News’, not News OF the world, obviously. One nitpick was that he used a relatively light yellow on a relatively light blue background on his Powerpoint slides. Also, while I can appreciate that Comic Sans has some uses, it is sacrilege to use it for any length of text, whether it’s from the Bible or not. It’s for captions and headers! But only when no other font will work. Apple’s Chalkboard is neater, but not always better. Sorry, but I can get passionate about typography. Anyway, the following is a shortened transcript of my notes from the talk. You can read the whole lot in the accompanying pictures. “Often the bad news and good news have to come together to make sense. Ephesians 2:1-10 Bad news for those without Christ - dead in sin (v1), i.e. living as if already dead - turned from God (v2) - therefore led not by God, but the evil one - objects of wrath (v3) - God has every right to be angry with us, like Sir Alex Ferguson sending out his team and they lose because they don’t play to his plan - sin has terrible effects - see it in the news and everyday lives, plus read what Paul wrote in Romans 7:19 - can’t fix sin problem ourselves - can’t do anything to make God like us Good news! - God still loves us (v4) he’s rich in mercy - out of His love He rescues us through Jesus (v5) - He doesn’t treat us the way we deserve (vv 5 & 8) Example of grace: going through the hedge in your new girlfriend’s brand new car, not even facing up to her parents, yet still being forgiven and she still marries you later [note: don’t try this at home] You are more wicked than you ever imagined, but God loves you more than you can ever dream The big challenge - Find God’s rescue if you haven’t already - If you are saved, don’t boast about yourself (v9) - work for God because you want to, not because you feel you need to (v10), and God has a purpose for each one of us." Isn't it annoying when you accidently miss a couple of pages in your notebook?

Is it true today?

2008-01-17T23:27:00.000Z

This would have been posted earlier, but I’ve been having trouble with my favourite web browser and although it is now working again I have no idea what went wrong.

The title of this post is a reference to a great song by Delirious? And I linked to that because the topic of last Sunday’s YF was ‘Does God heal today?’ No one said they had had direct personal experience of healing miracles, but we generally came to the conclusion that God can heal today, but He might not. That may sound like a cop-out and maybe it is, but we do have direct evidence from the Bible to support us.

First there are many things to learn from the story of Naaman, the general of the armies of Aram (modern Syria). The whole story actually hinged on a servant girl Naaman had taken from Israel as his slave. Naaman got leprosy, which is a serious illness today, but back then no doctors could do anything for Namaan, he was condemned to be an outcast and a cripple. The Israeli servant girl didn’t have to care about Naaman, she was his slave and he had taken her from her home, but she did care and she knew how he could be healed. Can you imagine telling someone in this day and age that God will heal them? People would think you were crazy. Although there are a lot of people today who believe a lot of crazy things about health foods and electromagnetic radiation and even about charmers. Anyway, telling someone back then that a rival nation’s god could heal them would be like telling someone not to go to the doctor nowadays. But she did tell Naaman and he believed her. More than that, Naaman’s king allowed him to go to Israel to see Elisha even though it could have looked like he was starting a war between Aram and Israel. When Naaman got to Elisha’s house he was understandably upset that Elisha didn’t even come out to meet him, but Elisha did leave some instructions. Naaman was to wash in the Jordan river 7 times. Naaman thought this was crazy. This supposed man of God didn’t even come to meet him and he could have easily washed in one of Aram’s rivers, he didn’t go all the way to Israel just to wash. He went for a dramatic miracle! Fortunately for Naaman, his officers persuaded him to wash in the Jordan, it couldn’t hurt could it? It didn’t hurt. And more importantly, Naaman was cured. In fact he was so happy he declared the God of Israel to be the only true god in the world. Can you imagine a general from Iran declaring Jesus to be the Son of God? Well that’s what it would have been like. So the point of the story is not that Naaman was healed, but that he worshipped God.

Healings aren’t automatic for Christians and you can’t say ‘I’ll believe if God heals me’, because Paul had a disease for many years that he describes as a ‘thorn in the flesh’ in II Corinthians 12:7. So while God can use healing to make people truly believe in Him, He also showed Paul that He could provide him with all the strength he needed even when Paul himself was weak and ill.

But don’t forget, there are many problems people get that you can’t see, like mental illness, broken relationships, depression, etc. If you know anyone who is ill for any reason whether physical or not, please pray for them in love. Perhaps a doctor or a treatment will be an answer to prayer, perhaps your friendship/influence for good will be an answer to prayer or maybe God will perform a miracle.

Now the gallery...

Christian what?

2007-12-30T13:48:00.000Z

Yes, my friend, follow the link to Christian Wrestling. It is amazing what you find on the web. I wonder if they'll ever do a tour of Northern Ireland.

This video's pretty cool. Shawn Michaels himself comes to the rescue...

Stop and think

2007-12-20T18:41:00.000Z

Ok, the summary and photos from 16th will be up soon, but in the meantime, have a look at this

That was it??!

2007-12-18T21:07:00.001Z

Yes, the nativity play what I wrote was the big event! I hope you enjoyed it, but even though it's not possible, please tell me any ways to improve it. Some of you might be performing it in front of the whole church next Christmas :)

While I remember, please remember the Bible Bubble is Luke 2:10. Have a think about it before the new year. There will be a test. And thanks to Debbie and Andrew for the iced shortbread. I've eaten too much and it's still only 18th December.

When we were planning what we would do until December, it was decided to put on something special for Christmas, like a nativity play, and because no-one found a nativity play for us to perform, I wrote one. I had no particular themes I wanted to draw out except to emphasise a few things I think get neglected, like the Magi or that women are the pinnacle of Creation, since they were the last thing God made. The shepherd thinking Gabriel was an alien was just an X-files joke. However, at the end I did draw out one thing - some looked for Jesus because He would be their Saviour, but some wanted to kill Him because He would threaten their power. Which path do you choose?

Please thank Jordan for taking the photos...

I can has frenz?

2007-12-12T23:58:00.002Z

I'm going to have to get the committee to stay away from Youth Fellowship. For various reasons there have been a few weeks where one or two haven't been able to come and generally the number of young people has been 10 to 15. Then when the whole 8 of us came there were only three of you young people. Do you not love me any more? Did you ever love me? Why do you never talk to me anymore? I feel alone. Thankfully I know you'll all be at youth fellowship this coming Sunday (16th) for our special Christmas event at 8pm. We're going to have a bit of an holiday after that. The Killymurris evening of Lessons and Carols will be at 7pm on 23rd November so please come to that. There will be no YF on 30th December and in the new year we start back on 13th January. But we do encourage you to go to the Risk Factor mission information event in Wellington Street on 6th January at 8:15pm.

But enough of all that. You really came here for the summary of Adrian and Ruth's session on telling others about Jesus because you weren't there to see it for yourself :)

First, Jesus tells us to tell other people about Him (Matthew 28:16-20). But it wouldn't be much fun if there wasn't much to tell so think about when you hear good news, or about when something great happens to you. Can you wait to tell other people? Recently at work I've been learning about Lean Manufacturing, the seven wastes, value stream mapping, demand pull rather than supply push and takt time and all that good stuff. I might not shout it out, but I would explain what I've learnt so far to anyone who asked. Jesus is much better news than Lean. Lean can change your life and make you wealthy. Jesus probably won't make you wealthy, but He can do more than change your life. He can give you life.

How can we tell other people? Not just by talking. You need to live what you would say to people about Jesus. Remember the word Christian means 'like Christ'. You can invite them to an event (like our special Christmas event or a Youth Rally or any night of YF) where they can hear about Jesus. You help them in any aspect of life, like studying at school or even just friendship. Most importantly though, pray about it - ask God for opportunities and for what to say.

Finally, here's a link to a video someone uploaded to YouTube because they wanted the world to know about break-dancing! Start now and you could be as good as this guy!

Before I finish just remember to look up Matthew 28:16-20 and I Peter 3:15.

This little light of mine...

2007-12-06T01:23:00.000Z

Bible Bubble: Deuteronomy 20:1-4

There's a lot of mad and bad stuff in the world that is not caused by this guy.

Seriously, though, our world is kind of dark because even though we have the knowledge of right and wrong we so often choose wrong. But we can choose right. In fact if we choose Jesus, He has promised that we will be lights in this world. But there's more than just us and Jesus involved in how dark or light our world is. There are powers of darkness that will try to put out your light. You could call it evil, you could call it Satan or the Devil, it's more than just sin. God hasn't left us powerless against the enemy though, He has given us armour to wear and a powerful sword. This armour was written about by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 6. We looked at the shield of faith, the sword of the Spririt and the belt of Truth. Pictures of our studies below.

The world may be dark, but if we keep our armour on we can keep our flame burning and add just a little more light and hopefully keep others alight, but most importantly get others burning in the first place.

Mega-thanks to Andrew and Debbie for all their hard work.

Now the gallery...

Colouring in competition revisited

2007-12-04T23:00:00.000Z

By popular, well by Gordon's demand, I've taken the shadows off the YF poster and I am reposting it. As with anything else on this blog I've posted and except where stated, I still own the copyright, but I give you permission to copy and modify it for the purpose of advertising and promoting Killymurris Youth Fellowship.

The typefaces are Agent Orange and Agent Red and can be downloaded from several font distribution sites on the web.

The summary of last week's YF will be posted as soon as possible, but it is going through the editorial process at the minute.

Nooma Nooma

2007-11-28T00:56:00.001Z

The Numa Numa kid

I love having this blog, it lets me write up the things I forgot to say on the night.

First. The chairs at the Youth Rally in 1st Ballymena were luxuriously padded (well, compared to Killymurris).

Second. The title of last Sunday's YF was supposed to be How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit, but we ended up looking more at what the Holy Spirit does and why you should be rather than how you can be filled. We did touch on the 'how' though and we looked at Luke 11:9-11 where Jesus tells us to ask so that we can receive and that God really does want to give us good gifts.

Third. The three Physical Pneumatological* demonstrations (experiments need measurements and log books demonstrations are just eye candy) showed why we should be filled.

The bottle that was full did not buckle under pressure like the empty one.
A sponge needs to be wet before it is useful, especially if it is to be used to distribute detergent over the area to be washed. And this is the bit I forgot to say... You need to keep the sponge clean so that it doesn't make everything it touches dirtier and so that it doesn't scrape or damage the thing you are washing. So think of your body like a sponge. Fill it with the Holy Spirit and keep it clean.
When you are 'pricked' you show what's inside you, like the balloon filled with air compared to the balloon filled with water. What comes out of you when you are pricked?

The Holy Spirit can make you a powerful worker for God if you ask God, because He won't send you out without the tools you need, although what you need and what you want can be different.

Finally, I worked out why the Nooma series of DVDs is called Nooma. It sounds like pneuma, the greek word for spirit.

*Pneumatology == study of the Holy Spirit.

Youth Rally 20071118 1st Ballymena

2007-11-20T23:02:00.000Z

'Twas an happy few from Killymurris who went to the Youth Rally in 1st Ballymena last Sunday evening. Though the Killymurris Krew may have been few in number the overall turnout was huge and I don't know if the insurance would have covered the organisers had anything gone wrong with that number of people in the hall, but I'm sure the proper risk assessments were carried out. Some of us from Killymurris even ended up with some great seats on the stage.

The roll-call was somewhat lacklustre until Killymurris was called out and we made a valiant effort, but Portglenone beat us I think due to having three times more people there than us.

The guest speaker was Michael Wylie, who currently works as a youth pastor in Carnmoney Presbyterian. I thought he was brilliant. You can leave your comments about him using the link at the end of this post.

I'll take this opportunity to thank Steven and Christine and the rest of the ones at 1st Ballymena for putting the whole thing on and then having to carry in all the extra chairs.

I will now reproduce my notes from Michael Wylie's talk...

Friendship

Ephesians 4:1-16; I Corinthians 12

Guard and protect your fellowship - don't let anyone run your friends down. But be humble and gentle and slow to anger. Don't forget how you were once ignorant of God or disobedient to Him. Therefore don't get angry with other people if they are ignorant of you or disobedient to you.

We need to commit to friendship & fellowship even though we live in a culture where no-one commits to anything.

Possible theme tune to Ephesians 4:1-16 could be 'One' by U2.

Need to act in line with the head (Jesus) at all times.

Don't be caught in between committing to God and committing to the world. Commit to Jesus and your fellowship

Please excuse the picture quality. Low light == lots of noise. lots of noise == harsh JPEG compression

colouring in competition

2007-11-15T23:41:00.000Z

you've seen the boring posters I put up, but I couldn't think of anything better than last year's with the Habbo Hotel characters. Well now you have the opportunity to improve upon my graphic design skills because, just like Solomon Grundy's, I'm giving you the posters so you can colour them in!

You can print it out and colour it in or you can edit the image with your favourite image manipulation application (Microsoft Paint, Paint.net, GIMP), colour it in and bring it to YF. I'll try to remember to make my own electronic attempt for 25th November.

Sup, Holy Spirit? Whawchuptoo?

2007-11-14T23:18:00.000Z

Another unforgettable night at the KYF, with many unprintable photos. There's nothing bad about the photos, but Jordanne would probably kill me for posting them. I'll try to make them tasteful...

Anyway, here's my summary of what team Gillian and Ruth taught us. BTW, if you learnt anything more please share it with the group :)

The main thing the Holy Spirit does is to give us new life when we become Christians. Genesis says God breathed life into Adam, but soon he disobeyed God and he eventually died. And everyone since Adam has disobeyed God which means we will all get the same punishment. If you realise you can't do anything on your own to get back with God and you believe that Jesus was perfect and that He took your punishment then God will not punish you. In fact, He will give you new life through the Holy Spirit, a bit like how He gave Adam life in the first place.

Well that's my faltering explanation. Gillian and Ruth's retelling of the Princess Diaries, starring Gordon as Jordanne, Stueffert as the Prince and Jimish as the guard, was a little more succinct. The gripping drama was an heart warming tale of a girl who acted like a princess, but wasn't actually from a royal family. She travelled to the castle in her most princessly outfit and tried to declare her undying love for the Prince. But the prince wouldn't even let her into his castle and the guard threw her out onto the street. In the depths of her despair Jordanne abandoned any thoughts of royalty and packed away her sparkling dresses and pictures of the prince, but she had to go back to the castle to apologise to the prince for trying to be someone she wasn't. The Prince, seeing her as she really was realised he actually loved her. Unfortunately the Prince had important princely duties to attend to so he had to leave the Jordanne. But he gave her a bunch of magic flowers so that she would always remember him and their magic could guide and help Jordanne whenever she needed the Prince's help. The Prince knew though that someday, somewhere, Jordanne would meet him again and they could be together forever. Aww.

We must come to God humbly, not pretending to be someone we are not, and He will make us part of His family. The Holy Spirit doesn't just give us that new start. He also helps us to understand God (John 14:26), He helps us to pray (Romans 8:26) and He gives us spiritual gifts (Galatians 5:22-23, I Corinthians 12:27-31). Gifts that can include, but are not limited to teaching, helping, administration, healing and even miracles. But remember, God gives according to His purposes and our needs, not our wants.

Are you like me? Do you have trouble telling people who know you about Jesus? Pray about it and be prepared to let the Holy Spirit help you. You may not get an opportunity to tell that person for days, weeks, months or years, but at all times try to live so that that person will ask you why you live the way you do (Matthew 5:13-16 - last week's Bible Bubble). And remember, if you have to say something

“the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:12 ESV).

gallery and wiring

2007-11-11T03:55:00.000Z

Photos as promised...

first the artwork

then the plug wiring

Gotta love having 10 megapixels with a good lens :)

finally the message

i'll suffer for my insomnia tomorrow :(

YF, meet Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, this is YF

2007-11-07T00:30:00.000Z

First, many apologies for the slowness of my MacBook. I had too many tabs open in Opera and too many Safari windows open, but even after closing loads of stuff switching applications is still horribly slow as I write, though my uptime is over 30 days so beat that Microsoft fans :) Anyway, I think I need another gibibyte of RAM, and I've heard Leopard speeds things up a bit.

Second, this week's Bible Bubble is Matthew 5:13-16 (if you got the slip, did you notice the font was Trebuchet? It has a telltale M).

Third is my summary of last Sunday's YF.

Third.1 Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is not a random ghost or an anonymous spirit or a weird force, it is a full person in God. We usually call this concept the Trinity. The word Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible, but there is good evidence for it. In the Old Testament God told the prophets about His Spirit. In the New Testament Jesus told us to baptise people in the Name (singular) of the the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Also, the Holy Spirit was there at the Creation and is the breath that God blew into the lungs of the newly formed Adam to give him life.

Third.2 The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

We looked at 4 characters from the OT: Bezalel (no love for Oholiab?) in Exodus 31:1-5, Gideon in Judges 6:14-16,43, Samson in Judges 15:14-15 and Isaiah in Isaiah 61:1-3. The Holy Spirit gave these people gifts like artistic and technical skill, wisdom, leadership, strength, reconciliation, (too many things for me to draw from Isaiah 61:3!). However, the Holy Spirit's gifts were only available to a few people back then. But God promised through Ezekiel (36:26–27) and Joel (2:28-29) that one day the power of the Holy Spirit would be available to everyone. And of course when Jesus healed the relationship between God and man God's promise came true, as you can see through the book of Acts and in Paul's letters (like Galatians 5:22-23).

Remember though, without their power source, Bezalel, Gideon, Samson and Isaiah wouldn't have been able to do what they did. Just like a plug needs a power source (and needs to be wired correctly).

Third.3 Pressups

I haven't done more than 45 for a while, but I'm sure I could crank out 50 and I don't suppose 40 would be any trouble with a couple of litres of water on my back. I think it would take 5kg or more to make a difference for me, but I'll have to try that this week in case you want me to prove it.

The point is that with a few kg of water or some sugary drink on my back I'd get pretty tired if I had to carry it all the time. If it was inside it would sustain me. In the same way God's covenant with the Israelites included a lot of heavy lifting (have a read at Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy), but if the covenant was really on the inside, it would not be a burden and would be a source of refreshment and energy.

Third.4 How do you see the Holy Spirit?

Short answer: you don't. Longer answer: you see the effects. You can't see the wind, but you know when it's there. At this time of year we see the leaves blow in the wind, but the Holy Spirit is more powerful than any hurricane. He can give us new life and is available to all Christians because of Jesus.

Edited 20071107. Changed Third.1 and Third.2 after input from Mark

We're number 1!

2007-11-05T22:42:00.000Z

At the time of writing, this site is number 1 in a Google search for "killymurris youth fellowship". All I can say is w00t!

I forgot the Bible Bubble!

2007-11-01T01:22:00.000Z

How are you guided?

2007-10-30T18:27:00.000Z

Guide me O, Thou great Jehovah
Pilgrim through this barren land...

A fine hymn and a great model, but how does God guide us? Adrian and Andrew showed us there are many, many ways. In no particular order...

Friends
Ministers
Books/internet
TV
Doctors
Teachers
The Bible
Parents
Prayer
Magazines
Horoscopes

Some of these things have more worth than others and you also said that you trust different sources to varying degrees and for different purposes. For instance, you usually know your friends well because you spend a lot of time with them and you want to know they will not tell everyone all your secrets. And you'd be likely to trust a doctor with medical problems more than other sources.

God can obviously guide us in any way because He is God, but you're going to get more value out of guidance from the Bible and prayer than horoscopes. God wants you to know Him and He wants you to follow Him, so He wants you to go straight to the source. Things like horoscopes or star signs and astrology will not be able to guide you where you need to go. They will only be able to guide you away from them because you will soon see they are wrong.

If you learned something else, please share it with the group. And finally, the obligatory pictures...

Gordon's winnings

Im in mai scrt plc, pryn...

2007-10-23T21:27:00.000+01:00

Personally, I thought Gillian and Mark's night on prayer was fantastic, so I hope my summary doesn't leave any important bits out. Charades and pictionary showed we don't need to talk, but it's as if we're designed to speak. When you try to mime a charade or draw a picture, your first reaction is to open your mouth and it is frustrating when you could just tell them your team the answer to get it over with. Plus, sometimes, like in taboo, you just don't know what to say or you don't have the words to explain what you do want to say and prayer can be like that too. Sometimes we just don't have the words to express how we feel. Well check this from Romans 8:26 (ESV):

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

That's a bit complicated, that God the Spirit prays to God the Father for us, but I hope it encourages you that God knows and understands your feelings even when you don't have the words.

But what does prayer actually do for me?

First, the most important thing is that it keeps your relationship with God going. Second, the Bible has loads of examples of prayers being answered and miracles happening, why don't miracles happen today? Well here's a tiny one. Yes I told a few people in church about the music club I was starting, but when the time came to start advertising it I didn't tell anyone to anounce it in church because I hadn't had time to prepare anything. I simply said to God, 'if You want this music club to happen, I leave it to You.' And I was more surprised than you can imagine when Colin announced it on Harvest Sunday.

But prayer for a Christian shouldn't be like in Bruce Almighty. That film did have important lessons about why it is wrong to be selfish, but when we pray it is not enough just to think of other people - we have to worship God, especially by thanking Him for Jesus, and we have to admit any wrong things we do - and be prepared to change.

Do you have toospie?

Mark and Gillian gave you the TSP acronym to give you a rough guide to prayer...

T == Thank God for who He is and what He has done for you
S == Say Sorry for any wrong things you've done
P == Please (or Petition :) ). Finally you can ask God to do things

Hopefully that should help us get our priorities right. Prayer isn't just about God doing stuff for us, what if you find out you are answer to your prayer!

Finally, I've heard this said a lot: you have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak. I know you don't have to use your mouth or ears when praying, but the principle still applies.

Read the Bible? Srsly??!!?!!

2007-10-16T00:32:00.003+01:00

Glad to see more people at yf last night, but still missing a few joules per second (Watts, geddit? do you see what I did there?) As promised, here is the summary of Sunday 20071014... The topic was 'Why and How should I read the Bible?' First we did a mini Bible study on Deuteronomy 8:3 and the question was 'is it weird to think of words, as food?' Stufert showed how you get from Correen to Rasharkin using a map, but couldn't get from Paris to London. We had a Lego building competition, more on that later. Then you showed that most of you know what's in the Bible. Finally there was a bigger Bible study on II Timothy 3:15-17 and Mark 4:1-11.

Now, the Lego, even though I had plenty of time to recap on why I had you build Lego vehicles due to O2 not delivering Debbie's message when we wanted (well not really since we were 15 minutes behind schedule at that point) I forgot to tell you the main points! 1) each team had different building blocks - God has made each one of you unique, and so no-one's going to end up the same, even with the same instructions. 2) there was a set of instructions, but they were intentionally vague. Some bits were less vague than others, but they were the non-negotiables, things you had to do, like have wheels, but not more than 8, or have a driver. That's what the Bible is like. It may not always be immediately clear, but some bits are very clear, like 'Do not steal'. Then again it doesn't say anything about cars or bebo, but it does tell you how you should use cars and bebo. Plus, a lot of you had to ask what a chassis was and reading the Bible can be like that too. Even for the parts of the Bible that we need to apply to how we live, we struggle with what it means, like what exactly do we have that belongs to Caesar and that we must give back to him? Anyway, use the poll to vote for your favourite lego vehicle.

Can't forget the Bible Bubble, again. This week, please read Psalm 139 verses 1-12 (though the other 12 verses are good too).

If you don't want to use this blog to send me comments, or if you think that email is for the elderly, you can leave messages on my bebo site.

Finally, finally. Music club for anyone (well anyone in the Killymurris area) who likes any type music is at 10:30am on Saturday 20th. Future dates to be sorted. Bring you favourite song and be prepared to perform something, even if it's just a scale, or a simple rhythm.

john's on bebo

2007-10-15T00:44:00.000+01:00

I gave in and registered for bebo against all common sense. I don't know how any of you guys use it, it's horribly designed! And the skins you use make it worse (my eyes, they burn) The only good skin I've seen so far has been Steven Houston's, partly because he has a big Fendt tractor everywhere.

My profile is JohnF139, but I'm pretty new to the whole bebo/myspace/facebook thing, so don't presume that my current count of zero friends means anything.

Summary of Sunday 14th will come shortly. In the meantime, I don't know if you've noticed that I've tweaked the page layout to be a bit easier to read, but I am up for any suggestions for further improvements, especially if you are a wizard with xhtml and css. I can hack them, but they're markup languages and I prefer programming languages.

Edited: 13th wasn't Sunday it was Saturday. I meant to say Sunday 14th, oops. Need to write my posts before I start to fall asleep.

random linkage

2007-10-10T17:53:00.002+01:00

maybe you're already a fan of the Homestarrunner, but if you're not here's a link to making your own comic of Stinkoman 20X6. Click here. If you make a cool one, print it out and show it at yf. Plus, do you have any links you want to share? Tell me about them and if it's good I'll put it on the linkage bar to the left.

Can you help me with my homework?

I'm doing a night course on youth ministry and the lecturer has asked us to read a teenage magazine, surf a teenage website and watch a teenage tv show. Unfortunately I must confess that I'm not exactly down with the kids and hip to the hop, daddio, (you're shocked, I know) so please send me suggestions before Sunday 13th, although even if you read this after that date, I would appreciate any insights into your culture and the type of things you enjoy reading, watching and doing. Comment me, or mail me. Again my address is a little disguised: take @gmail.com and put john george ferguson in front of it without any sapces.

Can you tell one diet cola beverage from another?

2007-10-08T22:46:00.001+01:00

Crazy Joe could!

Update!

Forgot to say that the Bible Bubble is I Peter 2:9-12

Thanks again you faithful few who attended yf last Sunday (7th Oct). Please tell your mates what they missed. But if you were at Clough's Evening Harvest service, please tell me what I missed!

To summarise the last yf session: Team Andrew and Laura tried to show you some ways you can be sure of your faith. Perhaps it seems like you're running blind in the world and need someone to guide you. Perhaps it seems there are loads of things wanting your attention, like companies trying to sell you hundreds of types of fizzy drinks, and you want to know which is 'the real thing' (Coca Cola advertising slogan from a few years back).

Well, to be really simplistic, I think its really easy to tell the difference between proper sugary coke and nasty horrible diet Coke, or Coke Zero, and Dr Pepper is just slightly weird. Real life isn't just as simple, but you'll know if something is right by asking yourself if the Holy Spirit is behind it. Likewise you will know you are on the right path if the Holy Spirit is guiding you.

So the question is, how will you know the Holy Spirit is actually guiding you? Well the first thing comes from Revelation 3:20 where Jesus says

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (ESV)

Have you asked Jesus to be part of your life? The Holy Spirit only comes where Jesus has cleared the way. He won't join you if you don't want Him to. Secondly there is Galatians 5:22-23a

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (ESV)

If you are really being guided by the Holy Spirit you will show it.

Finally, more photos...

And one of me posting a photo to blogger (actually taken a week ago with my little old Fuji F401, not my big new Canon 400D)

Chemical Theology

2007-10-02T17:36:00.000+01:00

I must be honest and say that I made up the subject of 'Chemical Theology' completely and even worse, that I'm not 100% sure of the meaning of ontomalogical (bonus points for spotting the Homerism), but I think it fits better than epistemological. I still say that I am more honest than Bear Grylls.

Enough of that. Ruth and I hope that i) you enjoyed Sunday 30th and that ii) you learned something from it. If you have any feedback, please either leave a comment or contact me in person or by email: (so that the spambots don't get me my address is presented slightly cryptically) I have a gmail.com account and my username is all my names in one long word i.e. john george ferguson, but with no spaces

Finally, more artwork...

Still want your photos on the web?

2007-09-25T00:55:00.000+01:00

Although some of you have asked me to put your pictures on the web and have even offered to give full permission, here's one reason why I'd be reluctant... http://webbalert.com/2007/09/september-24th.html The video is about 6 minutes long and story of interest is just over half way. I mean its bad enough that Virgin Mobile Australia didnt't seek the permission of the girl in the photo, but they didn't even pay the photographer!