One huge Baptism tank

Our new baptism tank arrived on site today ready to be sunk into the floor of the new auditorium.

The builders couldn't believe how big it was and what it was all about. It took 10 of them to carry it in.

Lets pray that a few of them end up in it! In the right way that is.

Thanks to Mr Baird for the pose.

Cairnbulg & Inverallochy - I could never live here!

My Pastor & friend, Roger Blackmore has just celebrated 40 years in ministry as a pastor. He has been posting a few blogs about the various churches he lead over the years. Yesterday he posted about my home village where he arrived in 1976 - Cairnbulg & Inverallochy.

He was 26, but to me at the time a 13 year old kid he was ancient. Our relationship was sealed when he brought me home from a camp because I was ill. A pastor who was willing to listen to me talk about the first love of my life, Aberdeen F C, for 3 hours had to be cool.

I posted here about how he mentored me.

But one story that sticks out in my mind was when Roger met my Uncle Billy.

So many of the men in our tiny village were fishermen. They were away all week and then landed their catch on a Saturday morning. This involved getting up very early and travelling to nearby Peterhead by mini bus. Landing the fish at market then sailing back to Fraserburgh on the boat. Lots of us kids used to go along for the sail.

One of the traditions seemed to be that Pastor had to do this. A sort of unspoken initiation ceremony into the fishing community. (Secretly I think most of the men just wanted to see this guy throw up over the side.)

On picking up Roger, my uncle, not a church goer decided to wind him up a little. So he offered Roger a cigarette. Of course Roger declined politely. To which Billy fell about laughing and suggested that Rog would not have lasted long as pastor if he had taken it.

Then Uncle Billy said something which has stayed with me for over 30 years. (With our Doric dialect I'm not sure if Rog knew exactly what Billy was saying.)

"You see Roger as Pastor of the church you have got to realise that first they will idolise you, then later they will criticise you and in the end they will scandalise you."

It made me so sad then even as a young kid that I knew he was right and now all these years later we in the church keep on repeating the cycle.

Roger became my Pastor when I was 13 and taught me, mentored me, inspired me, laughed with me and cried with me over the next 6 years till I left for Bible College.

Rog says that when he drove into the village for the first time he said he could never live here. I am so thankful he decided to listen to God and stay.

He is now in Long Island, I am in Milton Keynes. Both of us Pastoring, both in great churches. But just sometimes I wish we were both building Jesus Kingdom in the villages which were the centre of our world for so long.

Running after the heart of God

Had the great privilege of bring the In Rhythm series at MKCC to an end this past weekend.

So if you have a spare 40 min you can watch and listen to what I had to say on "Running after the heart of God".

I enjoyed preaching if you take the time I trust that it will speak to you.

In Rhythm - Pursuing the heart of God from MKCCpreaching on Vimeo.

Tony Morgan Live in the UK

One of things we really want to do at MKCC is assist other churches in the UK whenever we can. We have had the great opportunity to learn from some great people here in the UK and in other countries. We don't know much but willing to share what we do!

So for the first official conference using our new facilities we will be hosting Tony Morgan for one day on Thursday 11th November.

Tony is a great strategic church leader based at West Ridge Church in Atlanta. I first heard Tony speak at a Purpose Driven Church conference at Saddleback Church in California with his friend and Co author, Tim Stevens. They gave some great simple but profound advice.

On the day Tony will be focusing on leadership in the local church helping people take the next step towards Jesus. There will be a Q&A session so you can ask "anything". Also Tony wants to learn about some of the challenges facing the UK church so come prepared to answer his questions!

We don't want church leaders to come alone, we want other members of the team to come as well so we have priced it accordingly. Tony is also waving any fee and is coming for travel and accommodation only. The £10 cost available until the 1st October includes refreshments throughout the day, including a light continental breakfast and lunch.

More details here.