I was playing Bop It the other day, and discovered a small hole in it (see red square). Now maybe I’m stupid and this is obvious to all Bop It owners, but I had now idea what this was, but it looked as though my headphones might fit in there. To my delight it turned out it was a headphone socket, now I can play my Bop It without disturbing anyone! Was also pleased to see that JP put Bop It on his wedding list.

Tonight was the first in what will hopefully be a long-term series of cafe nights at BH. I was a bit frustrated with the cafe nights that happened in the past, because it was the same as a normal service, just with chairs set out differently and some nibbles… but tonight we got rid of songs, prayers, any kind of liturgy or service order and I ad libbed at the front.

Povey spoke on the subject of exclusive beliefs and absolute truth, essentially just a rip off of Keller… speaking of which, after a review by me I managed to flog some cut-price copies of Reason for God, I have two copies left if anyone is interested. You can get Povey’s talk here…

First BUSA game of the new season, against Writtle College… was horrible, was wet, and we ended up playing at a Brighton council ground. Anyway we won… I scored 25 runs, my highest score since moving ‘darn sarf’, didn’t get any wickets sadly, but good to get back to playing some cricket!

Sad news though, my trusty Hunts County bat broke, cracked all the way through, was gutted! But it’s a good excuse to go down to Newbery and get a new one!

Today BH hosted the annual Sussex Gospel Partnership conference, entitled “The Mission Minded Church”… the purpose of regional gospel partnerships is to encourage and equip evangelical churches in Sussex to work together; to support training schemes, conferences, evangelism and ultimately church planting.

Today we were joined by guest speaker Steve Timmis from Crowded House, along with 300 Christians from the partnership from all around Sussex. Steve gave two main talks from Philippians about being a gospel shaped church, and encouraged us all as gospel citizens to be gospel ministers. Steve said some great things in explanation of the text and in very practical application. He said some things which I imagined might have been a bit edgy to some there, but it’s always good to be challenged and rebuked by God’s word!

Would highly recommend listening to the talks… there were also 3 seminars; mission to 50-70s, 18-30s and families….

Talks from BH website

On the subject of the BH website, watch this space… the new look will be launched some time after exams… but this is top secret!!

In celebration of handing in my dissertation on Tuesday (2 days before the deadline!) I finally got round to selecting some DVDs to rent from my LoveFilm account… I only bought 4 rentals so I’m being somewhat selective.

Anyway, the first one I got was American Gangster. It’s based on the true story of Frank Lucas, Harlem drug-lord in the late 1960’s and of Richie Roberts who prosecuted him along with other drug dealers and corrupt police officers. Although there’s a couple of bloody/not very nice violent bits it’s surprisingly tame for a gangster film, it gets the 18 rating very much for the drugs theme.

Denzil Washington (Lucas), and Russell Crowe (Roberts) both give good performances, and you know it’s going to be pretty good with them in it. The film is well produced, good dialogue and visually captivating - unsurprising as it’s directed by Ridley Scott. I liked the way in portraying a true story you get to see something into the personal lives of the two men surrounding the ongoing drug-dealing main events. Good distraction from starting revision.

Last month I posted something about Jim Packer and his proposed de-licensing by Bishop Ingham, I was a little ungracious to Ingham (not without reason)… but the recent response by Packer and others to Ingham has been both firm and gracious, it seems a good model for dealing with heretical Bishops, here’s an extract…

…However, with deep reluctance and regret we have concluded that we cannot continue the Anglican ministry to which we were ordained under your jurisdiction. The Diocese, under your leadership, has departed from historic, orthodox Anglican teaching and practice. It has departed from what the Primates have unanimously recognized as the standard of teaching of the Anglican Communion. The Diocese is in a state of broken or impaired communion with the majority of Anglicans worldwide. Sadly, it appears the Anglican Church of Canada has now similarly departed from Anglican teaching and practice…

They’re going to continue to be Anglicans, but get their licences and Bishoply (is that a word?) oversight from a guy in the Southern Cone called Donald Harvey. You can read the full letter here.

Good news that there will be a New Word Alive in 2009, at sunny Prestatyn… but what will it be like? Well, in light of this, this, and this, I thought I would share my wishlist for Word Alive 2009…

Morning Bible Readings - Alec Motyer on Isaiah… loved him last year at Keswick on Exodus, heard he has a fine commentary on Isaiah, would love to find out what that’s all about…

Leadership seminar - Mark Dever… you could call it 9 Marks of a Healthy Church or something…

Apologetics seminar - Tim Keller… It would be cool to hear him give some practical ways to engage with culture, friends, family, colleagues in light of ‘Reason for God’

Evening Celebrations 1 & 2 - Mark Driscoll on Radical Reformission… would love to hear what he has to say about students and young people being missionaries in their culture in the UK

Evening Celebrations 3 & 4 - CJ Mahaney on Humble Orthodoxy… hadn’t really listened or read anything by CJ up until a few months ago… love it now

…and presumably Adrian Warnock will lead the Band of Bloggers seminar…?

Oh, and Team Strike Force leading the music!!

This is all a little optimistic, but just getting one of these guys would be a scoop! Look forward to hearing the details when they happen…

So for those of you who don’t know New Word Alive is happening in 2009, but not in Pwllheli. New Word Alive will be holding two weeks - 30th March-4th April, this is going to be primarily for students, young adults and anyone without school age children (there is stuff for under 5s). The second week, 4-9th April is a family week with full young people’s programme. All this will be taking place at the luxury seaside resort of Prestatyn…

Final New Word Alive 2008 summary post, the morning Bible readings… what a privilege to have Don Carson, arguably the best living New Testament scholar to come and teach the book of 1 John to us. I usually get bored after the first one, the seats are uncomfortable (and not wide enough) and the big tent is always stuffy, the big Don managed to keep my attention though.

Carson began by saying that removing a small piece of the gospel will distort it (making subtle allusions, more subtle than Piper, about why NWA exists), it was the distortions of Gnosticism which John was facing. DC then went into a 25 minute, unscripted critique of Gnostic beliefs and how they had subtly distorted the gospel. In the first section (1 John 1 - 2:2) he has 3 points; What John longs for, what gets in the way of that, and what brings it about… John longs for fellowship, a partnership with God, and a joy in knowing Him… Sin gets in the way, it breaks the fellowship, we can’t face God’s justice… ultimately fellowship and joy in that is brought by the cross, by Jesus our propitiation.

The big Don dodged 1 John 2:2 on the first day and set out to explain it the next, he basically just said that the atonement is sufficient for all, but not effective for all… John says it in this way to say there are no barriers to atonement, unlike in gnosticism where hierarchical barriers were erected. Carson then took us though 1 John 2:3-27, he exposited the various antitheses throughout the passage - obedience vs. disobedience, love vs. hate, God-centredness vs. world-centredness, and Christians vs. antichrists.

Third talk… I’d stopped making notes by this point… was a bit tired and just needed to listen… got a Coke and a muffin to help! I think it was this talk where he said - “Christians don’t sin” (1 John 3:6)… so I start to wonder if I’m actually a Christian, after all this is coming from the big DC! Helpfully and amusingly he told a story of his rebellious school days chewing gum… the point was the although Christians do things they mustn’t, they can’t in the sense that they shouldn’t… what a strong call to resist temptation and submit to God’s will.

On the final morning he spoke (via video link, we couldn’t get in to the main venue) on perseverance and assurance. DC was a great choice of speaker, you know he’s got a massive brain and could destroy you in any debate, theological or otherwise, but he made things easy, he still made a few jokes, was genuinely funny (not just cause of his weird accent). The thing I love most is humility… I heard that he went to the 14-18’s meeting to be interviewed, when asked “What’s the hardest thing about being a Christian?” he said something along the lines of… I always mess up, I don’t do what God wants me to do… that’s not a quote, but it was something like that, but it’s reassuring to know that a godly man who has been used mightily by God gives the same answer as me!

I got an ESV study bible last year, I don’t think it’s an ‘official’ one though, called the Reformation Study Bible… but the big, proper one is coming in October 2008, the site was launched this week with the info.