Archive for April, 2016

Friday Night at BBHP 2016 – we’re here! 33 of us invading Charminster Chapel, Bournemouth for a few ice-breaker games and then off for a late night hike round Hengistbury Head before supper and the sound of zzzzzzzzzzzzz silence!

Minibus 1 loaded and heading off to Bournemouth – The 2016 ‘BodyBuilders’ Houseparty starts this evening!

What is it?
‘BodyBuilders’ houseparties are packed with interest and provide excellent value for money. Campers are given the opportunity to explore new places, meet new friends, and take part in exciting activities!

Organised Houseparty activities include sports and games sessions, plus trips into the New Forest, a jaunt to the beach and a splash in a nearby swimming pool.

During ‘free time’ campers can just ‘chill out’ or use the onsite facilities e.g. table-tennis, badminton, table-football and a variety of board games.

Note: The Houseparty is Christian based. That means that each day all campers take part in various forms of Bible study and prayer. The main learning time takes place in an action packed, fast paced programme called ‘T.G.S.’ (The God Slot).

This event includes singing, quizzes, Bible readings, ice-breakers, prayers, fun spots, video clips and a short talk.

‘BodyBuilders’ Houseparty is an inter-church event run by ‘Counties’ Hampshire

This year (2016) is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. How well do you know the origin of these English phrases? Test yourself with this quiz – The Bard or The Bible!
Were these modern English phrases popularised by William Shakespeare or the King James Bible?

The Bard or The Bible? PowerPoint Quiz
According to tradition, the great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564.
It is impossible to be certain the exact day on which he was born, but church records show that he was baptized on April 26, and three days was a customary amount of time to wait before baptizing a newborn.
Shakespeare’s date of death is conclusively known, however: it was April 23, 1616. He was 52 years old and had retired to Stratford three years before.
This year is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

Encountering God, Experiencing Change – Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1-8 – sermon by Gordon Curley

PowerPoint slides to accompany this talk are available on request – email: gcurley@gcurley.info

Download

A good night at ‘The Net’ (venue: The Queens Head. Titchfield) with special guest Mike Mellor.
Mike shared his dramatic story of how he worked for years in the newspaper and music businesses, during which time he spiralled down into the chaotic life of an alcoholic. After conversations with a work colleague he was dramatically converted to Christianity.
A down-to-earth communicator who left us with plenty to think about and plenty to give thanks for!

Please pray for the unChurched men who came along, that God will speak to them though these events.

Saturday saw the last ‘BodyBuilders’ inter-Church Youth Event for this session & then next month it’s the Houseparty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Numbers at the events have fluctuated, but the event is still meeting needs and giving young Christians in smaller Churches an opportunity fpr fun and friendship as well as Bible teaching at their level.

Great to have a team of helpers, who run the ice-breakers and the World Vision Missionary Prayer Spot. Most of the helpers are former ‘BodyBuilders’ and having been blessed through these events they are keen to encourage others!

The World Vision Missionary Prayer Spot focus was on Nazareth, Israel and the Emmaus Bible Ministry. Good to get monthly updates from Shawel and Nuha Abdelmalak and the work they are involved in.

The Church Expands – Acts chapter 11 verse 19-30 – sermon by Gordon Curley

PowerPoint slides to accompany this talk are available on request – email: gcurley@gcurley.info

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“Houston we have touch down” – ‘Space Academy’ Holiday Club 2016 at Duncan Road Church. Southampton. Hants. UK.is now officially over! Great to finish the week with all the usual fun & laughter as well prize-giving!

Living in the Light! (introduction to the 1st Letter of John) – 1 John chapter 1 verses 1-4 – sermon by Gordon Curley

PowerPoint slides to accompany this talk are available on request – email: gcurley@gcurley.info

Download

“Houston we have touch down” – ‘Space Academy’ Holiday Club 2016 at Duncan Road Church. Southampton. Hants. UK.is now officially over!
Great to finish the week with all the usual fun & laughter as well prize-giving!

Did you know what happened on the Moon on July 20th, 1969?
Forty years ago today two human beings changed history by walking on the surface of the moon. But what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few people know about it.
I’m talking about the fact that Buzz Aldrin took communion on the surface of the moon. Some months after his return, he wrote about it in Guideposts magazine. And a few years ago I had the privilege of meeting him myself. I asked him about it and he confirmed the story to me, and I wrote about in my book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask).
The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life, and knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human history, he felt he should mark the occasion somehow, and he asked his pastor to help him. And so the pastor consecrated a communion wafer and a small vial of communion wine. And Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth’s orbit and on to the surface of the moon.
He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement: “This is the LM pilot. I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.” He then ended radio communication and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John, and he took communion. Here is his own account of what happened:
“In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.’
I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare [sic], the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility . It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.”
And of course, it’s interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Earth and the moon — and Who, in the immortal words of Dante, is Himself the “Love that moves the Sun and other stars.”