I must admit that when I was first invited to take a childrens Praise Party at the Kings School in Witney whilst the adults from different link churches were going to be meeting in another hall… I was a little apprehensive.

Why?

Well, a couple of times in the past I have been asked to do this and it wasn’t until I’d arrived that I discovered that the main Church leaders did not want someone to come and minister to the children, they just wanted someone from outside of their congregation to be there to babysit, so that the maximum number of the adults, including their childrens workers, could enjoy (a very long) meeting together whilst the children were being ‘entertained’.

To make things worse they left me with lots of children (ages ranging from creche to youth) and very few adults to help me…. and ……the main Church leaders never even had the politeness to come and say hello to their hired entertainer!

Rant over because…

I am so pleased to reveal to you that the opposite happened this morning.
To start with, I was invited into the adult church congregation and welcomed and honoured by the Church leaders in front of everyone. Then when we went into our own hall it was wonderful to see how well organised everything was.I was joined in the hall by lots of enthusiastic adults and lots and lots of very enthusiastic children who were so keen to listen, learn, sing and of course join in the fun.

These church leaders did not want a babysitter / entertainer, they were really keen to have someone come in and teach and minister to their children…whilst entertaining them of course!
Well, I did my best to fulfil what they wanted for 90 minutes and loved every minute of it.

So, the good news is that some Church leaders really do care about the Spiritual lives and Spiritual growth of the precious little lambs that they have under their care as much as they care about the adults in their congregation.
I think a bit of healing of bad memories took place in me this morning. Thank you Lord.
And thank you Sarah, Guy, their family, the team that were helping out this morning and of course the Church leadership team who wanted me to be there!

I must admit I was a little apprehensive about leading this mornings service at South Bersted.

Why?

Well, never before have I attempted to sing and teach 11 brand new songs in a 1 hour service.

What made me even more apprehensive was I have never really sung or played hardly any of these songs ‘live’ before.

But I needn’t have worried because the reasonably full church immediately started singing them like they were old favourites!

This is just what I hoped would happen when I wrote the songs. They are all very simple and do have very (dare I say) annoyingly catchy and unforgettable tunes.

Matthew 1 verse 21 has taken over from Hebrews 11 verse 6 ‘In God alone’, ‘Christ came into the world’ and ‘To our King’ really took off as we worshipped together and ‘Lord hear our prayer’ fitted so well in a short time of intercession.

Yes and of course and some of the other songs, and the way that we sang them, really brought smiles to peoples faces.

What a wonderful morning.Special thanks goes to Emily and my childrens CD choir, brother Timbo on bass, and Vicar Tim for inviting me.

Looking forward to returning on Sunday January 2nd and to continue teaching, praising and having fun with these lovely people at St Mary Magdalene Church.

In case you are interested, these are the songs that I included this morning from my new Scripture Praise Party 2 CD.

Now is the time

In Matthew 1 verse 21

Give thanks to God

In God alone

Don’t ever judge others

Lord I really

Lord hear our prayer

Christ came into the world

Whoever obeys

For its by grace

To our King

You can now order ‘Our Cancer Journey’ book in advance from our website shop.

All advance orders (received before the publishing date Nov 1st 2021) will also receive a free ‘Revived’ CD.

The e book will be released on the publishing date and cannot be ordered in advance.

Price £12.00 plus £4.00 p&p.

Ish and Irene share their experiences when they faced life threatening cancer and how their faith helped them to cope. This book is a very honest and easy to read account from both a cancer patient’s perspective and the carer’s. Ish tells his story from the patient’s perspective, and Irene from the carer’s. Their hope is that from their experience this book might be able to help and support other sufferers in similar circumstances.

As you know I am continually praying for more opportunities to fulfil my itinerant calling and visit more and more Churches to bring to them a bit of fun and teaching through my music and chat and every time I get an invite…I thank God for my prayer being answered.

My new album ‘Scripture Praise Party 2’ is due to be released on November 1st (thank you everyone for your advanced orders). Well, the great news is on Sunday November 7th I will be returning to St Mary’s Magdalenes Church in South Bersted to share with them ‘live’ some of those brand new songs…. and their actions.

Even better news is that Emily (who trained the childrens choir) and some of the children who actually sang so wonderfully for me on that album will also be there to sing along with me.This is so exciting and I repeat, I really am praising God for another opportunity to serve Him and hopefully to bless all ages who will be there.

So the 21 songs are already recorded….now to think up some movement and actions to go with them….that should be fun, I’ve not done that since the Bigger Barn album way back in 2010…may be a tad less energetic leaping and jumping around nowadays!

As some of you have requested, my Scripture Praise Party 2 CD (Physical) is now available to order in advance from here in our our website shop.

The official release date is November 1st when the album will also be available as a download but as advance orders obviously are really helpful to me, to thank all who order in advance, not only will I include a free copy of my Scripture Praise Party 1 CD (1987) but I will try and post it to you before the official release date and of course 1st class.

About Scripture Praise Party 2

A unique album….well, where else are you going to find an album released nowadays of solid Scripture songs to learn and enjoy that are suitable for all ages.

21 short songs. Brilliant ‘live’ musicians. But maybe it should come with a health warning as Duggie Dug Dug has already discovered some of the songs are annoyingly catchy!

As well as me singing, you will also hear the sweet sounds of both adults and children singing along with me.

And the songs themselves…well, without exaggeration, they do cover most styles of music and yes as you would expect, one or two definitely contain my quirky sense of humour.

My first album for 11 years, I do hope that you enjoy it!

The cover you see is a temporary cover.

This album will initially only be available from my website shop or at my live gigs. Please pass word around to any you think may be interested.

Thank you