+ Happy New Year
2008 draws to a close.
Here's looking to 2009...

*Happy Christmas!
It's Christmas eve! Have a great Christmas.

I'm due to be doing the Christmas day service at my home church tomorrow.
Hopefully will be less full of cold by then...

Seeing Red
Yesterday I went to a Christian bookstore to pick out a new Bible for Christmas. Just something nice in terms of binding, reasonable size to preach from, NIV as that's what most churches I go to seem to use.

There were plenty on offer, but why have we succumbed to the trend (I'm guessing from the USA) of "words of Jesus in red"? I don't get it. Visually it makes the text harder to read. Theologically it makes no sense to me, and if the point is an accurate translation surely this is a distraction? (and before anyone suggests the NIV is not accurate, I also have a small ESV, with you guessed, words in red).

I know this is a privileged Western English speaking problem. Many people are desperate for any scriptures in a language they understand, so I applaud the work of organisations such as Bible Society and Wycliffe.

But come on - how about we ditch the red print stuff and get on with focusing on what Jesus did, as much as what he said?

One for musicians
It's over an hour long, but Bob Kauflin's "band on the run" seminar about arrangements for worship musicians is well worth a look. Great refreshment of the basics for bands playing together in worship.

Worship Music Guitar Hero?
After Christianised dance mats comes guitar praise.
Available this side of the pond from Wesley Owen.
Maybe I'll be better at this than "normal" guitar hero?

Blog Comments
John Smulo wants today to be "blog comment day". Nice idea, but I confess to not having commented anywhere yet (or receiving any comments).

Away (again)
So I'm away again.
Last week having got back from Youthwork the Conference, I had a couple of days away at Hothorpe Hall. This was for a process called the "Residential Selection Conference", basically a couple of intensive days of interviews. Wayne describes the experience well here. This is a route in to "accredited" Baptist ministry in the UK for those who didn't study an accredited course at a Baptist college. I did some stuff at Spurgeons, but currently coming to the end (hopefully!) of an MA at Cliff College. Anyway it was a successful process for me, so in January I will be reocmmneded to be enrolled on the list of accredited Baptist Ministers...

At the moment I'm at High Leigh, for a "regional and national teams" thing. It's the senior management of the Baptist Union plus the Regional Teams (of which I am part of the London Regional Ministry Team). This is an annual gathering and is a good chance to compare notes, pray and look ahead as a Baptist family without the pressured agenda of BU Council and other bodies.

But the best thing about being here is that they still have Five Alive in a can! Something I have seen nowhere else.