Retracing Steps: STONY2012

Psalm 91:11-12

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.

They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

2012 has been my happiest and best year, but a road trip US hiatus through 4500+ miles for work, family, and friends left me worse for wear for most of March.    As I crossed familiar miles over 13 states, I couldn’t help but think about my worst days in each one… each holding a solid chunk of stony ground in my life story.

• Iowa had a chilling memory of my coldest winter.
• Oklahoma had a ridiculous heartbreak.
• Louisiana teased me with that nuclear family feel it always promised but never delivered.
• Mississippi whispered the lines of the collective lives and deaths of the major players of my youth.
• Alabama reminded me it had fileted my soul with the loss of my parents’ marriage in the 80′s and my first full time job 20 years later.

And Florida was quick to remind me where I’d slept 6 of our first 12 months together: on a church floor.

I dashed my feet against so many stones in those states.  Those moments, those days, those years…. full of clumsy trips and falls over unapologetically hard rocks.  Thoughts entered my road weary mind.  Where were those angels then?  My feet hit those stones…in most cases my face soon followed with a thud.

Then a look in my rear view mirror reminded me.  These same feet that tripped so bad over those stony days of the past were now walking over them, carrying a toddler and pregnant wife happily in tow.  I’m living my best and wildest dreams.  The stones were still there, but they’d sunk down, gone from stumbling blocks to foundations.    Thinking back, I had stumbled.  Fell hard.  And it was the stuff of heaven- angels and saints and a Savior- that picked me up.

To commemorate being home at our mission house in N.Ireland, I’ve decided to conclude with this blessing inspired by those hard miles.

Buzzkill High

“Those kids are only here to take from you.”

Nothing like a few choice words to attempt to kill that Monday ministry buzz.

Some 2 dozen local children stormed our 8 day old kids’ ministry last week.  This was it!  We had moved venues from an industrial district to this residential area of Craigavon so we could reach and minister to these hurting families.

Then when I encountered a local government youth worker on Monday, she did her best to burst my ministry buzzing bubble.  She proceeded to tell me this pack of children go from group to group taking a anything they can get. 

And the buzzkill almost worked….until I responded to her  “That’s so awesome…cause we’re only here to give to them.”

When I mentioned our intention to reach “At Risk Youth” to a City Council member recently, he said to me, “At Risk?  These kids are In-Risk, half of them ARE the risk.”

Someone once told me having a child is the most awesome and awful thing in the world all at once.  The best of times and the worst of times.  Ministry is so similar.  To help the hurting, we will experience hurt.  To heal the broken, we will touch sickness.  To find the lost, we will reach into darkness.  It’s all worth the risk to see what Jesus does firsthand.

Still Buzzin!

-John

CCNI is moving October 23!

I’m excited to announce today that Celebration Church NI will be moving to a new location, the brand new state of the art Brownlow Community Hub (pictured here), on the Sunday of 23 October 2011.

After a season of searching our options, this facility clearly was a godsend.  The Hub has Sunday morning and Sunday night booking availability, is a centre for Craigavon, and is a top notch facility.  It is found 1 roundabout up from the Rushmere Mall, and is walking distance from at least 19 estates and developments in Craigavon.

The Hub has excellent rooms for children’s ministry, an ultra modern lobby, meetings rooms for groups and teams, 2 kitchens for food service, and an acoustically designed main hall that seats 300 people.

I’m most proud of our leaders viewing this not only as a more functional facility, but also as an outreach opportunity to reach more families searching for a life-giving, non denominational church in the area.  Our current location at the Seagoe is in an industrial area, and the Hub is in a recreational and residential area.  The Craigavon Leisure Centre is on the same property, where hundreds of local families enjoy sport, swimming, and community events.  2 local schools are adjacent to the property with thousands of teenagers in attendance.  The Hub itself has a uniting theme, as it is replacing 3 older community centres in nearby distinct communities.  As a non denominational, multi-ethnic ministry, it’s our honour to be a part of seeing a new chapter move forward in our city.

 

A missed christening, a friend’s wedding, and my baptism: guest blog by Holly Graham

[This is the 4th in a series of posts celebration the 13th birthday and groundbreaking for Celebration Church. This post is by CCNI Team member Holly Graham]

The 28th of August was a LIFE changing day for me.. it was a day I thought would NEVER come. I got BAPTISED!

A missed christening and struggles…

For years I had went through life having no faith, no foundation, when I hit rock bottom..I just kept going down. I struggled through my teens confusing the idea of right and wrong. I saw people who had faith and I was jealous of them but I couldnt connect with them on that level, dispite them being close friends of mine in school. I always had questions but wasnt willing to accept the answers. Which I think is a hang-up of most non-believers.

I had always asked my mum and dad what they thought, they told me that God is inside you and you dont have to go to church if you dont want to, you just need to be a good person. I dont think this was bad advice from parents who didnt go to church themselves. The encouraged me to be a better person. It was around then I found out I was the only sibling not christened as a child. This stuck with me for years! Why wasnt I christened?! My mum and dad told me I could always be baptised if I wanted to, but to me this wasnt possible as I didnt go to church and found the idea of church hard to warm to.

A friend’s  wedding that changed me forever…

I cleaned up my act over the next while, determined to be a better person with or without church. It was during this part of my life I was at a wedding (earlier this year) and met on old friend, Ashleigh Ballentine, Ashleigh planted the celebration seed and I was going to church for the first time the next week! I loved it! Its young, current and real! I never knew church could be so fun and friendly!

I still had many questions. I asked a few here and there and was always encouraged to seek God through prayer and devos. I started attending group devos and couldnt get enough of them, reading God’s word and applying it to my life, LIVING it, gave me more strength than I had imagined possible. I was hooked, I AM hooked. The questions I had in the past I realised, werent questions but problems and voices trying to stop me leading a God first life. When I was saved these went away and now… I simply have faith.. and it is enough.

And then a baptism I’ll never forget…

I serve in the church, I love to serve God and getting baptised was a MASSIVE and exhilerating step for me- and chance to make it public! With my family, friends and God as my witnesses I got baptised. That will be the day that I will always remember.

I want to give everyone the opportunity I had and I want to encourage anyone who is finding it difficult to keep at it, it doesnt come overnight to everybody, it took time with me but I got there… I’m here right now so come and join me!

Groundbreaking: Guest blog by Katie Forker

As part of groundbreaking month, here’s a guest blog from Katie Forker, one of our key team members on the service production team…

For me, Celebration Church has meant….a complete life change. Before I never thought of even having God in my life and that I could just face each day as it came. I depended on my family and friends to correct my mistakes. Celebration Church opened my heart to who our amazing God was and it wasn’t for people who just wanted to “be good living”.  Pastor Stovall Weems spoke on God’s plan for us, why he gave us a plan and about trusting in God, this spoke volumes.

God has taken ground in my life….by providing more than I could ever wish for. God has shown me a career direction that I never thought was for me but now working with 16-17 year olds makes me excited that I am providing them with learning that could be the foundation for their future career.  With everything else I can wait for the right time for God to supply everything and everyone else for my life.

God is taking ground here (in N.Ireland) too….Massively!!! Celebration Church is a wonderful thing for Northern Ireland’s society, youth and communities. God is taking ground here to reach out to the lost, for us to reach to the lost. Celebration Church is so exciting as it grows, it allows people to come and worship  God in a fun way, to hear God’s amazing word through energetic and real/relevant pastors so that we can shine God through our lives.

Taking Ground Guest Blog by Andy Uprichard

As part of groundbreaking month, here’s a guest blog from CCNI Launch Lead Team member Andy Uprichard….

For me Celebration Church has meant a total life change from the inside out. God has used men from his church to pour into my life and show me how to lead a God first life. Looking back to this time ONE year ago, the change has been massive. I want to be part of a church that is going to continue to do this in many lives, for years to come.

To me, this ground breaking is about reaching out into our local communities. Local communities to me are the people who not only live where i do, but work where i do, spend time where i do, people who i come into contact with. I  want to see break throughs in their lives and give God the glory for it. I want to reach the unreached.

God is taking ground here too. Being a member of Celebration Church and watching it take ground in NI has been great. The numbers our church is reaching has increased immensely within the past year or so and this is still the beginning! God is continuing to open doors for our church to move into and is changing the lives of many as we go. Its my prayer that God continues to push us forward and that we can play our part in turning this country around.

My Stake in this: Generational legacy

 I grew up in a small church in Central Mississippi.  Our youth group had less than 10 people most of the year…but there was 1 time each year I was able to get around more than 20 Christians my age… Youth Camp!  The services seemed tailored to really speak to my generation.   The messages were relevant and engaging, the worship was passionate, and we just had so much fun.  Camp would start with a bang…but end with tears….cause we all feared it would probably be a year until we could be in that sort of environment again.

I have a Stake in this, and it has a name.

Even though I’m in the UK,  you could say I have many stakes in Celebration Church’s August groundbreaking, but the one closest to my heart has my daughter Anikah’s name on it.  When Rachel and I got married, we prayed to find a church where our family could experience God in a relevant and exciting way more than once a year.  We found that with Celebration.    We want our daughter to grow up in a place where it’s normal to have a real, relevant, and enjoyable service every single week…and that she do life alongside a generation of worldchangers that will call her to a cause so much bigger than herself.

To me, this groundbreaking is about….

… a Generational Legacy.  Long after we’re gone, her generation will have propelled massive initiatives and work that brings glory to God.  Groundbreaking at any of our facilities means more people reached, and more influence upon the world around us.

God is taking ground here too…

Celebration in Northern Ireland is greatly affected by the momentum in our other global campuses.  The prayers for and favor in our church has put wind in our sails here, as God has expedited relationships and contacts in the community here.  Just this month, doors have opened for us to make a real impact in the Brownlow community, an area with some of the oldest sectarian rifts and most intense hurts in our country.  Pray that the ‘fallow ground’ breaks up in our city!