Wow: What a year.

Since June it just reflects how our lives have been...reflected in our newsletter style. Snakes and Ladders.

The summer was a great time of rest in wales camping with friends and enjoyng Green belt festival. Gina getting ordained and stating ministry at St Stephen's.

Then Gina;s mum took a turn for the worst and sadly passed away. The funeral was very moving with Gina taking some of the service. Then in November Gina's Dad, John had a major stoke. A very hard time, and many more trips to london. He has recovered miracuously well, just needing time to recapture his great memory. In all of this, Dolly John's wife's mum passed away and yet another funeral down south.

St Bart's church and St Stephens church are working together to see if they can joing together and become 1 area.

Trying to continue ministry in this time has been hard but has happened.

Both youth clubs going well, with 2 big christmas bashes

christmas services were in the theme of "TOP GEAR" - more info and pics to follow
Carol singing in the pubs and streets.

finish the year with "BEER AND CAROLS" in the hillsborough hotel on christmas eve. followed by midnight mass.

The future of the Kalsi family and Church.

The last few God has shown the path that we will be on for the next few years.

Gina gets ordained this July at Sheffield Cathedral and starts her curacy at St Stephens, the church next door, a place where She did a placement.

This means that the Kids can sty in the same schools.

I was then able to apply for funding and now have it. My new role will be community evangelist for the next 4 years.

We are also discussing the possibility of the 2 churches, us and St Stephens working together in a more formal way.

God is good. We can now build on the links we have made and even better with the 2 churches working together.

Cafe Church - Pentecost

Its the fifth Sunday again. Spent the morning with a Pentecost Quiz, Meditative reading on the reading and space for the Holy Spirit to work. People then visited the 5 prayer stations. People singing, Bubbles outside, sending prayers up to God, Christian Aid, the oratory for silence and prayer ribbons representing the wind that came on that day.

Pentecost - 50 days after Jesus's crucifiction, 1o days after His assention. goes back to the jewish rituals.

"Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me."

Half term in London - and fantastic news.

it was fantastic to have time to chill out and see Gina's mum after finding out Her cancer has shrunk, but her pain is a reaction to the chemo not the cancer returning.
We caught up with our old house group from church, it felt like we had not been apart. We said good bye to our leader as she moves to chelmsford.

we caught up with friends , god children and family. Went to see star Trek that was absolutely brilliant. The only gutter was not seeing my mum, she was in Birmingham.

5 easy mornings, and fab weather EXCEPT when Joshua wanted to buy a new guitar from Brighton. We thought we would spend the day on the beach. IT RAINED FOR 7 HOURS and winds at 30 mph. Sun was out the next day typical.

So Refreshed. Thanks you God for a great supporting family.

Semi finals of world snooker.

I managed to get tickets to see the semi finals at the crucible theatre for my birthday. What a great experience. This was one of my child hood dreams to be there live. I been twice before, but still pinch myself . I nearly got hold of Tickets for the final session, but with 2 frames left it would not have been worth it. maybee next year.

Local Youth Suprize me

Today was my birthday and being a Tuesday is the busiest day of my week, we managed to fit in Pizza hut in the 1hr gap. We went straight into the Girls discipleship group and then into Chill, the youth drop in.

I took some of my birthday cake to share. they were telling me off that i did not tell them about my birthday. BUT. Later in the evening the kids had got together before and got me a cake and card signed by the kids.
It made my birthday.

church army conference

What can i say, I have been to many conferences in the retail world before i started pointing people to Jesus, and they have been inspiring and motivational and did not think they could be topped. This conference was not only inspiring, motivational, but added an extra dimension. from moving away from the focus on ones self to work in partnership with God to transforming people, in the power of Jesus.Wow that is something to get fired up about.

Jackie Pullinger was fantastic, real and had a no nonsence approach.
For me particular the following jumped out.
Don't skip the relationship bit with God.
Expect to see miracles
Read the basic gospel and just do it.
See people how Jesus see's them.
See transformation not conversion.
Time for friends, prayer and support.

I'll finish with a word from Rob Bell in "Velvet Elvis""A trampoline has many springs, and are essential to help us jump, they help us make sense of the deeper realities of our faith. The springs are not God, the springs are not Jesus. They are statements and beliefs of our faith that give words to the depth that we are experiencing in our jumping."Lets focus on Jumping and not on the springs.

Beer and Hymns at The local Pub

Once again we hosted the Beer and Hymn night at the local Pub. It was transformed into 1940's style for the St Georges evening. It was topped of with a George fornby and Vera Lynn lookalike.

It wasnt as packed as its been before but all in the pub were involved this time. I could have published it better, but it was all last minute thing.

Holy Week - quiet and relective

Wow what a week. we had nothing prepared at church. i spent the weeks, promoting all the events at the other churches, giving me a time to reflect and be fed personally by God. The week ended with a great walk of witness which i organised starting at Hampden wesley reform church, finishing at St Stephen's via, st barts' s salvation army and then St Thomas's Philadelphia. It was great walking throughtesco carpark. We handed out easter cards and eggs.

the week finished on a high with a joint BBQ with St Stephens on Easter Sunday.

Deputy head interviews

i was privileged to spend a whole day interviewing for a new deputy head at Wirlow grange. I was exhausted with all that thinking. How interviewing has changed since my B&Q manager days. Gut feel was part of the decision process, where as now we cannot even know the persons date of birth or move away from the process. Slightly frustrating but can understand some of the process for being fair.

Community Bingo

Spent the evening at the school Bingo and auction With Gina. What a fantastic way of raising money for a good cause and also have a fab time. It was great seeing the teachers relaxed and having fun. It was also great to connect with local families. I spent £5 on a box of liquorish allsorts in the auction( good cause) and won a massive Chick, which my daughter is jealous off.

Cafe Church- Stories

Its the 5th sunday of the month and its cafe time.
Today we spent the morning sharing stories about our faith over drinks, danish pastries and brioche. It was great to hear where Jesus has worked in peoples lives and how we share some of them with others. We finished with 5 prayer stations giving people oppertunity to reflect. The one that had the most impact was the one where people could write a thank you card to someone who has influenced them to becoming better christians and a stamp to make life easier for their cards.

WWF - Earth Day

Today between 8.30pm - 9.30pm the world was asked to turn of all power for 1 hour. over 50 million people took part.

we spent 2 hours with all the power off and we sat with candles all around. few friends came round to join us. it was a magical moment. Hope it sent the right message.

HOT DATE - reccomend this to all married people.

We have now been married for 17 years and late last year we did a marraige course. ( well i took gina kicking and screeming) 2 hours per session, 6 sessions over 10 weeks. The videa we watched was a bit irritating( very middle classed) but the book and space to discuss issues was fab. 2 hours being pampered with the misses.
The course reccomends continuing this 2 hours after the course has finished. They call it marraige time- WE RENAMED THIS TO A HOT DATE
Me and Gina now spend 2 hours every week to go somewhere, do something, shopping and ita a space where we discuss our relationship not work. ITS BEEN THE BEST THING EVER.

So why not book the next 4 hot dates with your partner and dont let anything cancell it, thats the trick you need to seek the permission of the other person to cancell it or change it.

Our last hot date was a great drive to Hudderfield, visit a free musuem and a drink and cake.

If you are in a relation ship i would reccomed this ,also spend some time on getting to know your partner and get in the habit.

FAB.
for more info see http://www.themarriagecourse.org/

Easter asssembly - in church - work in partnership with God to fix this broken world.

Had over 250 kids in church for the easter assembly. It was great to remind the kids and adults what easter is all about. Good for the personal soul also.
We look at pictures of a broken world, and then discussed ways of fixing it. Without Jesus this is impossible.

Life as a governor.....

As a governor, i did not realise how vital the role is to a school. You are what they call a critical friend. One year on i finally have some understanding od the school processes, finances an recruiting policies. I take my hat of to teacher and the hard Job they have to tick all the boxes with a massive disparity in the kids levels and thats just in one class.

Just spent a whole day recruiting a new deputy head. WOW what a load of pressure that was.
I think more parents should get involved in school life, it would help the school and help bring up their kids with their learning.

Decorating is back on the agenda.

While Gina's been away we decorted her room, Decorated the bathroom and then Porch. I think this is easier when gina is away as i can make more of a mess and do 6 things at once.

Doncaster prison - is this Church to the unchurched.

What an experience I had today. Went in, to find a load of people just standig around. i looked around, lost and someone pointed out for me to fill out a form. I did this, waited in a que to hand it in. Got to the window to be told, " you need to put in through that door" How was i to know!!!
i looked for signs and there was nothing. We waited 2 hours and when we thought we were going in, we looked at the lockers and it said. NO MOBILES< NO MONEY NO KEYS NO NOTHING can go in. the lockers needed a padlock of which i did not have one.
Finally we could not wait any longer andwhen i spoke to the lady , she said " you know should not come in on wednesdays its our busiest day. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I look at our church service the next sunday with the same eyes:
walk in - nice welcome asked to go in and sit down.
I wonder how long the service is : no idea no sign or anything.
what does gospel reading mean!
How do these song go! not heard this one!
Good preach - learnt something.
Someone has shook my hand - WHY!
Have bread and wine - Can I?
finished
Coffee time.

Lots of Questions!!
What is church for!
Traditional or modern does it make a differnce!

Little Gems -Toddler group at Walkley Primary school.

Ive been helping at the todler group in school since last year. Its great way for me to help the school and get to know some of the local familes.

Church Centre Accounts

ITs that time of year again, spent last 4 weeks looking at detail the centre accounts for 08. What a minefield. Waiting to see what the end of year looks like.

Bollywood night - for the lord mayor's charities.

We have just had a great evening raising £500 with the help of a chinese auction for the lord mayor's charities. The cavendish centre( cancer) and the childrens hospital. It was a joint partnership with ZEST a local community group. It was great to see everyone getting involved with the Bhangra dancing and getting dressed up.

it could not have been done with out the teams help.

G2K - getting to Know?

the new afternoon christian club G2K has now been going for 5 months and we are having regulars coming. What's the best bit is all 5 churches in the area are part of it.
Each week we pick a theme on teachings of Jesus and Christian values and put in a short prayer.
We thank the local school for allowing us to go in.

Oasis - Tobogonning

Tonight we took 40 kids toboggoning at the local ski village from the two local youth clubs. Good time was had by all. VERY COLD,

Great School reports.....

The kids school reports were fab, its amazing, josh has now chosen his GCS's and genesia is in secondary school.

No more supermarkets.....ash wednesday

Its the begining of Lent( a time of self reflection and preperation for EASTER) this year as a family we have decided to abstain from using supermarkets. just go local and see what happens.
( to make it worse we have no car , its in the guarage for a few weeks) The nearest one is the corner shop but very basic. the other place is up a major sheffield hill. ahhhhhhh

Mother in laws bucket list.

Gina's mum has just finished her second Chemo sessions. She asked if we could all go away as a family with Gina's Brother's family. We have just had a great week in Norfolk, Hunstanton. It was in a cabin, the warmest caravan we have ever been in, full central heating and ensuite.

we had a fab first day playing pitch and put, 18 holes and was beaten by Gina's Brother. We had an afternoon at the circus. the beach was great, shame the sun was not out. We all visited the sea life centre and and saw the seals and sharks.

i learnt 6 different ways of playing poker and cooked indian and had a full cooked breakfast and pancakes made for me.

Josh even won the young tallent competion( well joint top and the other 4 were under 4 years old)

We pray that Gina's mum enjoys more of life in all that she does.

Visit to India

After a busy Christmas, we traveled to Lonon to see family and on Boxing Day Flew out to India. It was the first time for my family to India.
What a fantastic experience...... Visit Dilhi - Meet the rest of the family
Visit Agra - Taj Mahal
Jaipour -rode on elephants
Mombai by train (18hrs)
Temperature in Dehli was 18 deg and 25 degrees in Mumbai their winter.

arived back in England to minis 4 and a 180 miles drive back up to sheffield.