it was duke special who wrote these lyrics:

“i don’t get those popping idol shows
everybody knows that the good things take a little longer”

now its not that i haven’t got ridiculously drawn into this years x factor. or that i didn’t enjoy last year’s britain’s got talent. it is fantastic tv in my opinion and in an incredibly successful package.

i guess i’ve come to realise the truth of these lyrics. and also become increasingly frustrated with the concept of the shows. things like the rewarding of the quick success at the expense of those who have been learning their craft for years. the ease of performing to a huge studio audience who sing your name compared to the difficulty of early and intimidating gigs in pubs and concert halls.  the show that makes you a red carpet celebrity in 4 short weeks and sends you home as a loser the very next.

the world of a musician, or stand up comic, or even a preacher, is shaped through years of hard work. surely its in these first venues where a style is formed. these early days when craft is shaped. and the tough nights providing lessons learned.

but also, those days are a lot of fun too!! and for me, the pop stars being produced miss out on all that. and as we celebrate or mourn the latest voting drama on the weekend soap, we too miss some of the beauty that is being produced in our midst simply because it isn’t as well packaged, or worse, been given the right platform for their voice to be heard.

as i ponder these things, i begin to wonder if have we lost the love of small things in our society? have we become too scared of the hard nights?

because as duke special’s lyrics continue…”12 years on the cracks begin to show…”

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PS – don’t read this as a reaction against lucie going out…as devastated as i was about this!!

For more than a while now, I have been in too many conversations with too many people who seem disillusioned and frustrated with church. And reading blog posts about it too!! Good post Ally…

Yet also in this time, I have been discovering that church can be the most beautiful thing on earth. And I have seen first hand how the church can powerfully make a difference in people’s lives. In mine.

And while the church might at times struggle, display apathy, lack vision or argue, God doesn’t seem to have a Plan B. Church is His idea!

This is something I’ve been wrestling with over the past few months. I’ve been struggling to work out what this dream of God looks like in the 21st Century. How could a group of believers grow in community with one another. How should churches better welcome in those on the fringes of faith in a town with not much church influence? Or how should a church function for a group of young people disconnected from any form of organised religion?

I want to keep wrestling with this. But I need the help of others. Need the voices of the 12 year olds. Need the perspective of those in their 60’s who have planted or led churches. Need the opinion of the disillusioned. Need the thoughts of the dynamic leader.

You’ll know that often I talk too much. And so I want to take the next few months to just listen. To discover the stories that will encourage me. To hear the perspectives of others. To have my thinking stretched by those who have much to contribute to this conversation.

this weekend i’m looking forward to heading to one of my favourite places in this amazing island of ours. yes, the scenery is amazing, but more than that, its both the memories and the people that make it so special.

back when the ‘worship ireland’ movement was in full swing, we took several teams to letterkenny, donegal town and raphoe over a 2 year period. and along the way we built up some special friendships. sometimes you go to places like this with the expectation to minister to those present. but yet, every time i left with a deep sense of being blessed by the welcome we received, the hospitality given to us, and the conversations we enjoyed. the words ‘blessed to be a blessing’ came to mind.

but after being in the county over 20 times in 3 years for different teams, missions, events and gatherings, it’s been almost a year since i’ve been there. and so i’ve been invited back to the annual Donegal Youth Convention to speak at the 3 nights over this weekend.

it was a few years ago that i was involved in leading worship at this convention. and its cool to see some of the people who were young people at the time, beginning to step into leadership and influence of this event and ministry. it seems like God has been raising up a group of passionate people in the area over the past few years, and its been exciting to watch this from a far, and occasionally get to share in parts of that journey.

and so both sarah and i are looking forward to sharing and serving alongside old friends this weekend. to once again being involved in shaping young peoples spiritual journeys. and playing just a small part in a continual work of God in this area.

don’t normally ask this, but if any of you pray, i would appreciate that for us both this weekend. that the words i speak would land. for connection with those who are listening. that this would be more than another event. that this would be life changing for some young people.

find this very funny. temper temper rio!!

got embroiled in a bit of a facebook debate yesterday around this man. for me, this man proves the importance of good communication.

let’s be honest. louis walsh is an awful communicator. the things he says don’t get listened to because of the way he comes across, or because he’s always saying in that same over excitable voice, or because he waves his arms too much, and says everything in a high pitched tone! to me, he comes across as a complete muppet!!

whereas, simon cowell on the other hand is cool and calm. when he speaks, people lean in and listen. he doesn’t shout or say too much. and he also knows the art of when to be silent.

but behind it all, louis talks so much sense. especially in the last couple of weeks on the x factor. he clearly knows what he’s talking about. hes like the alex ferguson of music. Westlife, Boyzone, Girl’s Aloud, Cheryl Cole, JLS, the list keeps going…

and yet, because of his poor comunnication skills, his wisdom doesn’t get heard and he gets laughed at and ignored.

is it the same in other aspects of life? those who may lack the charisma but who are speaking the true and profound things that our world need to hear. is it a wake up call to the church about how the message is spoken, as well as heard?

but is it also a call to be people of substance. rather than just focusing on communicating, making sure that we have a strong truth and message to communicate. to have insights that challenge peoples mindsets. and speaking words that go deeper than just cliche.

have added a few links to my blogs recently so just thought i’d give a wee shout out to a few blogs for you to check out…

Paul Bowman – i remember Paul speaking at the MAD weekend when i went as a very young assistant youth leader. got the chance to chat briefly with him recently and enjoying his challenging blog posts which i just stumbled across recently…

Scott Gordon aka the Rainmaker – sometimes humourous, sometimes deeper, a good blog to read. and a good lad too. that’s what being placed at the same table at a wedding does for the world!!

Muckamore Pulse – the epic blog of our fantastic youth community in church. some good thoughts centred around this years theme of ’story’. why not join the conversation and add your voice to our young peoples world?

Pete Waugh – okay, so i’ve had this link for a while, but pete is a faithful blogger, and has some good thoughts, especially on music culture right now. have a read…

i loved playing hide and seek as a kid. my hiding spots were always epic. the adrenaline of someone being so close while you remained concealed, holding your breath, was epic!!

been reflecting for the last wee while on a bit of a ‘hide and seek’ game found in genesis 3. in fact, got chatting through this passage with a few of the older young fellas from church at our home on tuesday evening….all while chicken dippers were in the oven and the football was on live pause!!!

we chatted about how we focus so often on the fact that adam and eve have made a huge mistake. that’s reading the story with our sunday school glasses on. and is factually right. but look deeper. what do we learn about God from these verses? particularly verses 8+9

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” “

as i read this recently, i was struck with the concept of God actively searching for and seeking us. i was blown away by the thought of, after deliberately walking my own way in life, God looking for me.

in the past year, there have been times where i have been lacking that closeness to God that perhaps once was there. and so, when God feels far off, is it because He is nowhere to be seen or is it that I’m actually hiding from him?

is it us or God who does the hiding? ashamed. frightened. confused.

and when you’ve messed up, where is He? ignoring or inviting?

maybe He’s still calling out the same question to each of us today.

where are you?

not because He doesn’t know.

but because He wants you to consider the answer.

we love our youtube videos in pulse (our church youth), and a fellow leader recommended this one to me.

perhaps not musically great but check out the stuff these guys are doing on the trampoline!

and kind of as a follow up to my previous post, i flipping love my sister for coming up with the incredible concept of filling our media with more colour and hope.

jude has had the vision and burden for a while now of creating a media hub site to filter through good news stories from our country and community. so many people continue to complain about the amount of bad news stories that fill our world, news and media. and jude wants to help change that.

challenging the cliche that good news doesn’t sell, she has created a website called ‘tell it in colour‘ which is armed full of amazing stories of ordinary people making a difference in their local area. check it out here and keep looking back for more updates. it’s awesome stuff. bringing colour to our, at times, dull world…

earlier in the month i sat in a harvest service at a church a good few miles away from here. now for a start, i’m a harvest cynic. maybe because i have bad childhood memories of singing songs about ploughing fields and scattering stuff on them and bringing in the sheaves….or perhaps because in the world of young people fruit, flowers and vegetables are fairly far down the priority list. i love instead how our church present the service as a ‘thanksgiving sunday.’ but anyway…

and so the minister talks of how harvest brings colour to our world. and how “the world would be a very dull place if it was just black and grey.”

i looked at him.

he was wearing black trousers, a black jacket, black shoes, a black shirt, he had a greey beard and grey hair. and i suddenly realised he was right!!!!

the challenge for us is to bring colour into a dull, lifeless and uniform world at times. to be prepared to stand up and be different rather than going along with the flow. for me, this photo reminds me of who i want to be.