Christmas @ Sefton (Part 1)

Well...what a Christmas that was! Last year, we had a huge Sefton Village Party on Christmas Day ... but it had become far too big and the kids were being neglected on the big day. So we decided to have parties by department.

So my first was the SBTC party on Dec 12th. We had a great night. I bought a Lechon (suckling roasted pig - above) for the students as a 'Thank You' for all their hard work during the Tri-District Conference. But first we played some great games in the Fire Centre and had a great laugh. The last game was one that Gowan and I used to do back in Scotland - Egg Roulette. Take 12 eggs, hard boil 6, let them cool, put them in an egg box and give them a number. Take 12 gullible people and let them choose what egg to hit on the other person's head ... result - a great huge laugh ... and a lot of mess!


On the week before Christmas I went down to Manila, bought a heap of last minute shopping and stuff for Sefton Village and then picked up the Strachan family at Manila Airport. We travelled straight up overnight (they were brave) and we were rally rushing because wee Josiah was singing and dancing in his School Christmas Performance. Well, we were doing pretty well and then, one hour from Sefton, we had a flat tyre! Middle of nowhere ... pouring rain! Disaster!

David 'Mr Fixit' Strachan made a grand effort to get the spare wheel off, but to no avail. Away Pastor Danny went to find someone. 'Fat chance', I thought! Middle of nowhere. Not even Danny, with his millions of uncles, brothers, friends and mother-in-laws could find someone on this mountain!


But, would you believe it ... back he came with a wee guy in tow, "He is a vulcaniser' beamed Danny. And a vulcaniser he was! This wee guy was like Asterix the Gaul or Popeye! He changed the tyre in seconds and soon we were on our way ... with a few laughs on the way home! Bad news ... missed Josiah by 10 minutes. Good news ... we didn't miss much - it was a 'no show' day for the wee man!

After a bit of a rest it was all go for parties. So on Friday 19th we went to the Cornerstone Party - a few games of bowling and then back to the church to eat. All the pastors with their families were there ... great night. It was also Peter Strachan's 16th that week .. so we got the big guy a cake and celebrated Cornerstone style!


On Saturday morning Lydia was performing at her School Christmas Performance ... now she was a star! Her class recited a Christmas poem and did a fantastic ' ' dance! I had hoped to have downloaded already, but our Internet has been terrible these last few weeks) Someone in the UK had given David & Grace money to take the children's Home to McDonalds ... and that was a great time.

I had a great week because poor David was the popular choice for all the Christmas events and parties - jail ministry (twice), Sunday services, Men's Ministry, watchnight services etc. He worked like a Trojan! I was his official driver! One of the highlights came on Christmas Eve in Nagassican. What a night!

The place was packed with people. All excited. Most had very little of this world's possessions but I guarantee you could not find a happier place on earth that night. We sang, the youth danced and David preached. David went out and put on his Santa's outfit ... you should have heard the gasps from the Filipinos! No-one here has even seen anyone dressed as Santa. So David brought the house down.


The kids were all given a gift (chosen and wrapped by Pastor Danny and his wife Jane) and the kids just hugged and held their present for ages, before opening. Some kids never even opened their gift .. and I asked the parents "Appai? Why?" Because it is the only gift they will receive on Christmas day and they want to open it tomorrow.

Selah.

I will take up the story again ... tomorrow! Goodnight ....

Catch Up After Christmas ...

Merry Christmas ... Happy New Year ... Happy Valentines ... life moves on so quickly!

So much to blog about. So many things have happened. So many things going on. So many things to do. So many things planned. So many ...

What a great Christmas we had! The Strachan family (David, Grace, Peter & Grace Louise) from Peterhead came and visited us over Christmas. We had a wonderful time ... especially me, because David ended up preaching at all the Cornerstone special Christmas parties and events!! Weyhey! I felt like I had a week off!

Over the next week I will write blogs about:

* Our kids @ Christmas
* Christmas @ Sefton
* Street Pastors
* Singapore
* Manny Paquiao

* 2009 Plans

I have challenged all our Pastors and Leaders of Ministries here at Sefton to start up their own blogs so that the amazing things they are doing can be spread around the world. So, hopefully, you will be able to keep track of most of our Cornerstone Churches, an SBTC blog, Feeding Programme Blog, Powerhouse Blog etc. I will let you know all their website addresses after they report back to me this week. Should be great!


I want to start the year off with a bit of a laugh. Mary & I have some friends that always say the wrong word at the wrong time. And, although the word is completely out of context, it sounds so funny. Know what I mean? We all know folk like that. Anyway, I have just read a BBC article about some of the clangers that George Bush has dropped. I know he is a Christian man and that he is the President of the USA, but he is not so good at articulating what he thinks. They actually have a new word that describes the problem of poor articulation - 'Bushism'

Just read these quotes and have a giggle (no offence intended!):

"They misunderestimated me."
Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 November, 2000

"I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."
Nashville, Tennessee, 27 May, 2004

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."
Tokyo, 18 February, 2002

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

"I think war is a dangerous place." Washington DC, 7 May, 2003

"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice."
Washington DC, 27 October, 2003

"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."
Washington DC, 17 September, 2004

"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." CBS News, Washington DC, 6 September, 2006

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
Florence, South Carolina, 11 January, 2000

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
Reuters, 5 May, 2000

"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."
Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 6 September, 2004

"Will the highways on the internet become more few?"
Concord, New Hampshire, 29 January, 2000

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Saginaw, Michigan, 29 September, 2000

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 18 October, 2000

"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law."
Tucson, Arizona, 28 November, 2005

"And truth of the matter is, a lot of reports in Washington are never read by anybody. To show you how important this one is, I read it, and [Tony Blair] read it."
On the publication of the Baker-Hamilton Report, Washington DC, 7 December, 2006

"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction." Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

"We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." —Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001

"We both use Colgate toothpaste." —after a reporter asked what he had in common with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Camp David, Md., Feb. 23, 2001

"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it." —Philadelphia, Penn., May 14, 2001

"It is white." —after being asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like, July 19, 2001

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." —Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." —Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."
Washington DC, 12 May, 2008

Enjoy 2009 .... and May the Lord bless you and your family.

P.s. - Little Eunice Hope has made a prefect recovery. Pastor Winston wants me to thank all who prayed for her. Thanks!

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's just turned 12 midnight here in the Philippines .... it is officially Christmas Day! The whole Philippines have been preparing for this day since way back in September 1 ... ridiculous really!

I was a bit shocked at some of the statistics I read concerning Christmas in the UK. I wasn't totally aware that it is becoming more and more of a social festival rather than a Christian celebration. I know that it has become totally commercialised and a good excuse to lose discipline, get drunk and behave pretty badly. But it seems as if people don't even know about what Christmas is all about any more.

I read a startling report in our Weekly Telegraph this week. They asked a cross section of British people four basic questions about the Christmas story. Here are the questions & results:

1. Where was Jesus born?
Can you believe that 27% of British adults surveyed could not identify Bethlehem! In fact 36% of 18-24 year olds got the wrong answer. Some said Nazareth and some said Jerusalem!

2. Who informed Mary she would have a baby called Jesus?
27% of adults said that it was the shepherds.

3. Where did Joseph, Mary and Jesus go to escape King Herod?
hardly anyone got this question right. Many said that they went to Nazareth and some even said Rome!

4. Who is the cousin of Jesus who was also born at the same time?
Over 50% had no idea.

Only 12% of all adults surveyed answered all questions correctly.


I also read some interesting UK statistics concerning Christmas:

• We consume around 10 million turkeys, 25 million Christmas puddings, 250 million pints of beer and 35 million bottles of wine in the UK at Christmas.
• 7 million children leave mince pies and a drink for Santa on Christmas Eve.
• The UK spends £20bn on Christmas with £1.6bn going on food and drink.

• Each person takes an average of 15 hours to complete his/her Christmas shopping.
• 4 million Brussels sprouts are usually purchased in the week before Christmas.
• £10 billion is the average amount borrowed across Britain at Christmas to foot the bill.
• 41% more alcohol is drunk during the Christmas holidays than the monthly UK average.
• Each person spends an average of £33 on last-minute panic purchases.
• 25% of all Christmas shopping time is spent in queues.

• And a recent survey found that one in 10 adults – around four million people – is still paying off debts run up last Christmas

• Hangovers cost the UK about £2 billion a year in lost earnings through sickness absence.
• At Christmas, higher alcohol consumption leads to a 0.4% increase in fatal poisonings for every 1% increase in sales of spirits

The post-Christmas season is traditionally busy one for Ebay, the world’s largest auction site with 168 million registered users. A survey released by the company in 2005 found that:

• Over 50% of Americans say they ‘re-gift’ presents they do not like, will not use, or do not fit.
• 11% say they have previously sold an unwanted gift online.
• Among 25-34 year olds the percentage of those who had sold unwanted gifts online rose to 22%.

In the UK, a Nielsen/Net Ratings survey found that:

• 15% of UK online shoppers planned to sell unwanted Christmas gifts online.
• A further 35% were considering it, with women more likely to do so than men

• Britons send nearly 1 billion Christmas cards every year.
• 6 million trees were bought in 2004, but only 1 in 6 were recycled, leading to an extra 9,000 tons of rubbish being dumped.
• Each year, Christmas leaves more than £1.2 billion-worth of unwanted presents in its wake.
• Nearly 2 million Britons will go abroad this Christmas, creating millions of tons of CO2 in the process.
• More than 8,000 tons of wrapping paper is used at Christmas, which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimates is enough to wrap the whole island of Guernsey.
• We consume far more bottles, cans and paper at Christmas than any other time of year, with more than 3 million extra tons of waste. Our bins overflow with an extra 750 million bottles and 500 million drink cans.
• About 80,000 tons of old clothes also get thrown out every Christmas.

• Calls to suicide and depression helplines increase by 10% during the festive period
• Loneliness, stress, family problems, financial pressure all takes it toll on millions of people who hide behind a smile.

I wonder what the Lord thinks of it all? I believe His heart breaks. It wasn't meant to be this way. We have made something beautiful into a monster that now has no control. What is wrong seems right and what is right seems wrong.

I was in a little church on Sunday (see Sefton Village You Tube channel for video) and we were singing that beautiful song 'When the music fades'. I really felt the spirit if God challenge me to change the words slightly. And I leave these words as a challenge to you this Christmas:

"I'm coming back to the heart of Christmas
And it's all about you
It's all about you Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
For it's all about you
It's all about you, Jesus"

Have a great day and remember to do the most important thing ... seek, find and worship the Lord!

Selah!

All Dressed Up ...NOT!

Last Friday the SBTC students had their Christmas Party. They were all challenged to come 'dolled up' and looking bad! Well, they succeeded ... on both counts!

Check the girls out ... don't they look lovely? MMmmmmm.... Funny thing was that they decided (in true Filipino fashion) to have a time of worship before the party started. So you could imagine these lot with hands in the air, singing & praying away .. looking like this! Good job the Lord looks at our hearts!

The students are doing well and are home for their Christmas break. Please pray that they have a good time with their families and that they enjoy being back in their home churches. Pray also for their finances. Very few of them have been able to pay their fees and this has caused us big headaches inn the last few weeks. Our power was cut off for 5 days because we had no money to pay the bill. Really, really hard. Praise God, the District stepped in and paid the bill but the financial struggle still goes on. Their whole fees for the year - board, lodgings, notes, teaching and three good meals a day comes to around 175 pounds!!!!!! But they struggle so much to find it.

Next year is the 10th Anniversary of Sefton Bible Training Centre. Over 200 people have been trained for the ministry since we began and the hand of the Lord is upon us. We had a Board (not B-O-R-E-D) meting today and we planned next years events by faith. The greatest days are ahead of us!

Have great weekend. Hope you've bought all your Christmas presents by now. The shops in UK will be chocca blocka this weekend .. now hat's something I definitely don't miss! But here it does not feel like Christmas ... yes, there are Christmas trees and tinsel up in our house but the 30 degree heat makes it all seem a bit unreal. In fact, in our Cornerstone leaders meeting on Tuesday I announced that we would tackle a particular agenda "in next Tuesday's meeting" to which they all shook their heads and said "Christmas Day!"

We are really looking forward to having our great friend Catherine Young here for Christmas. She is here for a whole week... a miracle if you know Catherine's travel schedule! We are also having friends who are SIL missionaries from Northern Ireland here for boxing day ... so it should be a lot of fun for us ex-pats!

By the way, if you double click the FLIKR photo badge on the right, you will be able to see a lot of our Sefton Village photos. I have downloaded a lot recently so have a wee look!

Take care and take time for your family this Christmas...

... and be thankful you won't meet this lot in your travels!

Deal or No Deal?

Yup ... that wonderful TV show is here as well!

And it is taking the Philippines by storm. Even little Lydia & Josiah are hooked! So on Sunday, our Cornerstone Christmas Party had a DOND feel about it. We had a great crowd there from our Cornerstone Churches and everyone was so excited. There were over 400 adults and 350 kids there and it is good to see everyone mix and mingle so well. It is wonderful for people from our smaller and newer church plants to experience the bigger family and be part of the bigger picture. Our family is growing!

Cristina and the worship gang led us praise & worship and we sang a song I haven't heard for ages - 'Great is the Lord'. It was so brill to sing that song again - especially the line "And Lord I want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives'. Brought me back to the youth meetings in Fraserburgh quite a while ago! By the way, it is OK to sing older songs in churches; God doesn't mind as long as the words don't trip off our tongue but resounds from our hearts.

We had a drama from the youth entitled 'Real Me' and then all our Pastors sang a song as the people came and gave their offerings (miracle that they gave anything really!!)

Then we had Deal or No Deal ... and what a show it was! Jimmar (the computer guy who is just absolutely ablaze for the Lord) designed a Cornerstone DOND computer program - graphics, music, bankers offer ... the lot! It was amazing. We randomly picked someone out of the audience and Winston was our host. He had trained the Cornerstone DOND girls (see them below) how to do their dance and it looked so professional with their cardboard suitcases and Christmas hats.

Well, the congregation loved it! They really got involved and made some racket! The first lady won P750. I was the 'banker' and also the one who donated the prizes. So I didn't lose too much. Top prize was P3000 so I couldn't complain.

After a worship song (had to re-focus quickly!!!) I preached about 'Deal or No Deal. There are many times in the Bible when people were faced with DOND situations ... and how they responded changed their lives, their destiny and even the future of their nation. I pointed our some areas that I really feel God is challenging us at Cornerstone for 2008:

Compassion
Compromise
Prayer
Commitment
Temptation
Finances
Anointing
Reputation

After every point I gave a 'Cornerstone Challenge for 2008' and simply said "Deal ... or no deal?"

Many responded to the challenge. I told the people that they didn't need to come out to the front but before I could even get the words out of my mouth three guys came rushing out and started weeping and crying out to the Lord at the altar. Many responded for salvation. A great sense of God's presence AND purpose.

We all ate lunch together by church groups. Good old Henry had cooked 350 meals for the kids and 100 meals for the Young Soldiers and visitors. What a guy. What a day!

In the afternoon we had many games and songs. We did DOND again ... and this time the person randomly chosen by Mary was Severo (the officer from a few blogs ago). Guess what? He won the top prize ... P3000. A paradox moment for me ... I was delighted for Severo, but sorry for myself!!!! Joke. It was worth every Peso just to see all our Cornerstone family so happy, excited and animated as they urged Severo to say "No Deal!' It worked. You can see the incredible moment on our YouTube site.

I went to bed a happy - if poorer - man. It is great, as a leader, to go bed on a Sunday night knowing that the people whom you lead have been blessed, challenged, encouraged ... and are happy!

Hope to catch up with more blogs over the weekend. If I blog, will you email your friends, leaders and family and ask them to check out our Sefton blog?

Deal ... or no deal?