28/09/2010 by Dave.

Homebound his morning as both mine and Ruth’s cars are off the road at the same time! Didn’t think I could risk the final descent to Elgol School without brakes at full capacity, so hoping the parts come in at lunch time.

Never mind, non-stop until we leave for Rome, so good to get some time back in the office. Or Kitcehn, as it happens to be this morning! No really, this is youth work: I was offered a fundraiser for Peru out of the blue a few weeks ago so tonight a small team are selling cakes and rinks during the interval of the Young Traditional Scottish Musician of the Year. Of course, it’s two years before we go again, but seeing as I already have some youth who are defintitely interested, I didn’t want to turn the chance to raise a bit of cahs down and it will help them towards their deposit next year.

We had a fun Bible engagement time (trying not to use the word ’study’!) on Friday evening. We split into two groups, one playing the role of a Christian slave-master who meets his runaway slave, the other playing the role of the salve. Having worked out all our reactions, we then had a ‘delivery’ of the letter to Philemon, which put a new light on our role play. Seemed to work well and good to see two new young people along. Although the weekend was effectively time off, it took a while preparing for the Sunday School which meets for linger with moire kids as it was a comminion Sunday. One day we might manage to combine all the ages into a communion service, but for the time being we had lots of fun with the kids and managed to reflecvt on the meaning of communion: I had them all running through a large picture of the cross, akin to the temple curtain splitting in two.

SoundWaves team meeting yesterday as well as a good assmebly in Sleat. Encouraged to see them orgainising a fundraising event for Tearfund and Pakistan, following on from last month’s assembly.  Maybe sometimes my work does make a small difference…

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23/09/2010 by Dave.

Half way through now my trips to the south! Staff days with SU in Lendrick Muir, near Kinross gave us some interesting things to think about. My seminar with Phil for the other Associate Workers seemed to be be well received as a number were thinking through simliar issues to COOL just now, specifically discispleship and church involvement.

Pauline Hoggart from SU International brought some challenging thoughts on creative Bible engagement which I still need to work through in my head. Good as always to see colleagues and even get some work done towards Staff Conference in December; well some work!

Fundraiser Italian meal for the Rome Trip organised by the school this evening. Not too late home and a quieter day tomorrow.

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22/09/2010 by Dave.

Busy and tiring since my last post, largely due to a 3am return from a school trip to Glasgow!

A full weekend off preceded a morning of prayer with Malcolm, the Trust chairman. A time to catch up and reflect on the work of that last month as well as pray for the upcoming events

Right now I am sat waiting for the morning Bible teaching on the second day of  our SU Regional Workers’ days in Lendrick Mui, the SU residential centre near Kinross. Got up late yesterday(!) so wasn’t away until 7.30 meaning a late arrrival. They’re used to that though so no great problem, it is a four hour drive. Good to catch up with colleagues from across the country. My seminar that I lead with Phil Wray was well received by fellow Associate Workers as we considered how we plan what goes into a year’s ministry plan. More good ideas from Pauline Hoggart on Bible engagement too.

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15/09/2010 by Dave.

Another encouraging prayer time in school this morning, and Kenny suggested we split into two groups which worked well. My lunchtime visit got curtailed as I got a phone message that Ruth’s car had broken down. Only trouble was I didn’t know sure where so spent the rest of lunchtime lookig for her! I guess some things just aren’t meant to be.

I at last seem to be getting on top of the to do list. The last thing was my Peru report, which, except for my closing remarks is now finished and should be on the website within a few days. Newsletter went off yesterday and has been posted online, and I’m up to date for my assembly on Friday; good job as I have a long day in Glasgow tomorrow… better get some sleep and hope I don’t remember something else that I should have done!

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14/09/2010 by Dave.

Pretty exhausted since the trip top Glasgow but good events in the last few days. First Friday Night @ Dave & Ruth’s went well preceding our Youth Leaders’ Forum in Kyle on Saturday. Malcolm brought the teaching from 1 Corinthians 3, and I shared something of a vision for the future youth work in our area. All well received with some very similar ideas for a new joint event from across the parishes, so we’ll see what comes of it…

Another planning meeting on Sunday which I could have done without, as my energy levels have been pretty low, but it was useful and I’m glad I was part of it. Monday was the first assembly in Glenelg followed by prep for Tuesday, and newsletter writing. Good to get that done though I still have a Peru report to finish.

And then today. My second assembly for the high school, this time speaking to boys. As last week, I guess I’ll get the feedback tomorrow. I found it even harder (partly because people seem to have appreciated last week’s talk, so the expectattions were higher than I could live up to!) and was so nervous that I forgot to say the prayer at the end. C’est la vie.

A new format for the new season at SoundWaves this evening included choices for the kids as to what style of group work they wanted to do: crafts; puzzles/worksheets; or activities. Not a bad split between the 3 groups for the 31 kids who turned u, and whilst we the program will need a little ‘tweaking’, I’m reasonably confident it will be workable as the months go on.

Nice to have a normal day of routine visits tomorrow, and no prep!

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08/09/2010 by Dave.

Trip to the musical ‘Jesus Christ! Superstar!’ in Glasgow today wth RME & Music. 25 kids; 9hrs in a bus. Good day though and great to relax a bit with the kids.

So, feedback so far from the assembly: controversial and provocative generating discussion amongst staff and pupils. But some girls have told me today that, though it made them cringe a bit (to hear that they’re beautiful) they really appreciated it and it made them sit up and listen; not what they expected at all.

Perhaps tomorrow I may even get the car fixed!

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08/09/2010 by Dave.

So the High School assembly seemed to go OK from my point of view. Nervous as ever, but I covered quite a lot of ground and the school gave me the impression that they were listening as I discussed beauty for girls! Perhaps my thoughts and illustrations could have been linked better and there’s one or two things I should have said which I didn’t. However, there’s only so much you  can do in a formal, brief assembly, so I await the feedback from within!

The trip to Applecross seemed long today; perhaps because I was in a different car (thanks to Colin MacDonald for lending me his car whilst I still await the new parts for mine) or just because I’m still tired from my cold and the adrenalin from the first assembly. Still, good to see the kids again and meet the new head teacher.

As I’m in Glasgow all day tomorrow, I tried to write Thursday’s assembly in the evening, but still needs some work: wasn’t up to much at midnight.

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07/09/2010 by Dave.

Quite a lot to be doing as I look forward to the month ahead. Got started on both my High School assembly and this year’s SoundWaves program this morning. By lunch had just about selected the main teaching for the year, and gathered the raw materials for the assembly tomorrow. Even found time to fill in my expense claim for August!

Jackie and I got to planning the new look SoundWaves format this afternoon which is hoping to address issues of having a smaller team, as well as maximising our individual gifts and recognising kids learn in different ways. We’ll see how it goes next week, though the plans were keenly accepted by the team at this evening’s Bible Study.

Finishing touches to the assembly were completed soon after midnight. Tomorrow we deliver… (scarey things, High School assemblies!)

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05/09/2010 by Dave.

Just a half day today, helping out on the sponsored walk from Plockton for the Rome trip funds. Nice warm day with a refreshing breeze to keep the midges away! Nice to be finished by lunch time; might be able to get rid of this cold now that’s sapping my energy!

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03/09/2010 by Dave.

Draining day. Funerals can be, and it was emotional for the church to say goodbye to John. Still, weather was great which helped at the graveside. Can’t work out what the problems with the sound and video links were; need to look at that when we have some spare time!

Anyway, afternoon clear to write the Back to School with God service which actually went really well. Ruth spoke about primary education whilst I was in charge of the praise items and message, though it was good to get the support from Fraser and Alastair on the guitar. If I could get them more organised we could do more of that! Loads of young people and children out and well supported by our usual supporters, considering advertsing was little late this year.

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