Extravaganza Bonanza!

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This Saturday in Llandudno we are celebrating our annual Victorian extravaganza. It’s a great fun filled event that lots of people attend regularly. People dress in Victorian attire and there are vintage vehicles and a funfair.

Thinking about the extravaganza spurred me to ponder about the lives and impact of Victorian Christians on the world around them and how they can encourage us to be the salt and light in our generation.

One such Christian that stood out was Charles Haddon Suprgeon, known as the “Prince of Preachers.” He was a Baptist pastor who had a great influence not only in his time, but his words and work are still being used by God today to touch hearts and lives with the Gospel.

In his lifetime he published 49 volumes of commentaries, anecdotes and devotionals; the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity. Which includes his published sermons that fill a staggering 63 volumes.

He is estimated to have preached to about 10 million people, that is a great impact upon so many lives. He was a pastor in London for almost 40 years, and was one of the most well-known pastors of his day. Even today he continues to be an important and influential voice across denominations in the Church.

“If you are to go to Christ, do not put on your good doings and feelings, or you will get nothing; go in your sins, they are your livery. Your ruin is your argument for mercy; your poverty is your plea for heavenly alms; and your need is the motive for heavenly goodness. Go as you are, and let your miseries plead for you.”

“Saving faith is an immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, resting upon Him alone, for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of God’s grace.”

The above are two great quotes by Spurgeon that clearly demonstrate his earnest heart to share God great good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.

He was a great preacher that was always aware of keeping Jesus central and also of building a legacy of faith for the future. He saw the need to pass on the baton to the next generation and create a generation of history makers that would impact their world with the transforming love of Jesus.

“You may speak but a word to a child, and in that child there may be slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian Church in years to come.”

“Train up a child in the way he should go – but be sure you go that way yourself.”

I love the two quotes above. At Llandudno Youth for Christ this really resonates with everything that we do. We want to see God transform lives with His love and leave a legacy for future generations.

Would you consider partnering with us in prayer, provision and people to see a generation of young people passionate about their Saviour rise up and change our nation?

We pray you will.

What does it Sound Like…?

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There’s a silly Meme on the internet (which ones aren’t) which says that ‘Talking to God is prayer, but if you hear Him talk back you’re crazy’.

As Christians, we believe in a personal, relational God that is interested in us and our lives and wants to communicate with us, and yet a times it can feel and sound a little arrogant when we say things like ‘I heard God say…’ or ‘God told me…’

But the Bible is full of stories of people talking with God.  People having very real and honest conversations with God.

Take for example the prophet Jonah, yes the one who got swallowed by a big fish after trying to run away from God.  We know how that didn’t exactly work out as he had hoped or expected.  He didn’t want to answer God’s request for him to go to the city of Nineveh and tell the people that God was angry with how they had been treating each other.  Eventually Jonah relented and asked God for a second chance (being stuck in the stomach of a big fish will do that for you). The fish spat him out on the beach near Nineveh and Jonah did what God had originally asked of him.  The people from the King down heard his message of judgment and repented, praying to God for mercy.  God heard them and did not bring the destruction for their past evil behaviour upon them. This put Jonah in a sulk and here is where he has a rather frank exchange with God. Check it out at the end of the book of Jonah.

I love the openness and honesty between God and Jonah. God takes Jonah’s tantrum in His stride and loving corrects and teaches Jonah about mercy, love and compassion.

If you read the Psalms you can hear David’s raw honesty about how he is feeling.  He doesn’t put on any religious airs and graces when he talks to God. “My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.” Psalm 38: 5 & 6.  That’s quite a graphic picture of David feeling pretty wretched.  God called David a man after His own heart.  I get the impression God liked David.

I could go on, and on about people who talked to God and heard back from Him.

We see it as the norm, in both the Old and the New Testament.  Not something super-spiritual or weird or unusual.

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” God promises the prophet Jeremiah.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrew 11:6. This verse is following a list of example of people who lived courageous, daring and what might have looked like to outsiders ‘crazy’ lives because of their faith in God.

God is so very interested in us and invested in us that He wants to speak to us.

Let’s take the time to listen.

Redefine Easter Feast

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Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

At the end of the Easter Break we had a special night at Redefine, where we laid out a feast for all the young people to enjoy. It truly was epic, and like Jesus feeding the 5,000, we had baskets of food left over… At least until the following week when all the remaining crisps and snacks were gleefully gobbled up as we watched the ‘Minions’ movie at a Reverb night.

I can definitely say that here at LLYFC we don’t know how to do minuscule and small scale when it comes to celebration.  We always enjoy celebrations on a grand scale with generous amounts of food, fun & fellowship.

This night was no different.

To accompany the actual feasting on food, we looked at the metaphor of ‘feasting’ on God’s Word: the Bible.

This imagery of God’s Word being like food is found in the Bible; with the idea of it being life giving, nourishing, tasty and even sometimes a bit difficult to digest, but worth it in the end (makes me think of prunes & celery for some reason). “…man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Deut 8:3. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103.  “Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: ‘Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, ‘Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but “in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.” Rev 1o:8-10.

It was an evening to remember, and really reflected God’s generosity and the extravagance of His love for us.

It left us with a lot of food for thought and we are definitely looking forward to the next Smorgasbord!

Spark On The Road: Holyhead

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For some background, Spark was the brainchild of one young person who bought a team together of other young people to run an event to support even more young people across North Wales!12961310_1029710860456389_5891959997538634512_o

As LLYFC, we hold the team accountable and shepherd these events through from start to finish. So far we’ve run two: the first at the end of last Summer with Rob Beamish coming to speak, and the second at Christmas with a dinner. Both have been amazing events!

12957554_1029710980456377_2801422948270159878_oThis weekend we held our first ‘Spark on the road’ event at Elim Church in Holyhead. We had just under 50 young people and youth leaders show up from Bangor, Holyhead, Llandudno, Llanfairfechin and Old Colwyn.

The evening included games, worship, two fantastic testimonies by Redefiners (Fu & Lauren), Grill A Christian/Gospel talk with text in questions (with Tim) and a great meal to end.

The night was a tremendous success! It was amazing seeing youth groups mix and new friendships being12998440_1029710867123055_1622656958474303371_o forged. It was a great night for non Christians to watch their peers worshiping God – and they responded really well to the ‘grill a Christian’ session. The team of young people running it are really coming into their own and are maturing very quickly!

We’re excited to see this organically grow, excited to see Christians networking, and excited to see people hearing the Gospel for the first time – bring on the next!

Nerf Night

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We had a terrific night at Redefine last Sunday running a ‘Nerf War.’ Lots of different games, teams, rounds, scores and general mayhem! We we’re also able to run a short ‘leaders trial’ beforehand and work an effective Gospel message into the evening.

Both Dewi and Chloe (volunteers) led teams in ‘team deathmatch’ and ‘capture the flag’ scenarios (2 to 1 Dewi!). Then we tried to survive a ‘zombie apocalypse’ and ended with a ‘last person standing’ elimination round.

Everyone massively enjoyed it (huge understatement – you should have seen Facebook afterward!) and it was easily one of – if not the – best social we have ever run. Well worth it!

Soul Survivor 2015

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We all survived ‘Soul Survivor’!!!!!!

Seriously though, it did rain a lot, although not of Biblical proportions as we saw in December in the UK, but it was a great time for everyone who attended; wet, but wonderful.

Lots of friendships were made, and a lot of fun was had, despite the weather.

Soul Survivor, is a great event for our young people. There are insightful and impactful talks, fun activities throughout the day, great resources, powerful worship and lifelong memories to be made.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!

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A very brave lady, Mrs Baxter is deciding to “baldly go” where no-supporter of Llandudno Youth for Christ has gone before!

On Friday 14th August, Mrs Hayley Baxter raised money for the work of LLYFC by having a sponsored head shave. It was a great evening, with many of our young people supporting Hayley in her brave endeavour. Her husband was also there to give her morale support.

As part of the conditions of her raising the money, she said that she would keep her head shaven for a whole month after the event.

Thank you Hayley, for your bravery and support of the work of LLYFC.

If you have any great ideas like Hayley did, for raising both fund for and awareness of the work of LLYFC, then please don’t hesitate to contact us, or if you want to get involved with the work we do, again, please drop us a line, or check out our website.

Our First SPARK Conference!

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‘For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.’ 2 Timothy 1:6

Spark North Wales came out of the heart of the young people that attend our weekly Sunday night Bible study: ‘Redefine’. They wanted to organise an event for Christian young people in the North Wales area that would encourage and empower them to share their faith. Out of that desire ‘Spark’ was born.

It was great to see the young people meeting together regularly to plan this event and pray together for it. Everything from contacting speakers for the conference to designing the promotional artwork and flyers was done by the young people (with some help and support from LLYFC team members).

It was really well attended, with young people coming from as far afield as Penmaenmawr and Holyhead.

Many connections were made, and friendships built that will continue to be grown and developed, as was the case when at the end of December, the Redefiners organized a Christmas ‘Spark’ mini-event. This like its big brother was a great success, and a lot of fun was had.

Through events such as these, the young Christians in the area are being strengthened and encouraged in their faith, and are also developing their God given gifts and talents to serve each other and spread God’s message of grace and forgiveness to their communities. The Kingdom at work to see lives impacted and eternities changed.

But don’t just take our word for it; here’s some responses by the young people who attended these events:”It was AWESOME. All of us from Holyhead thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you” Brooke (Holyhead.)

More Spark events are planned for 2016; please check out Spark’s Facebook or Twitter account for more information.

Highlights & Roundup from 2015

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2015 was definitely a year of change and transition. The past year reminds me of what John 3:8 where when talking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus says “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Jesus paints a picture of God’s Spirit at work in believers being active and moving; no stagnation, no doldrums; but a vibrancy and life with an exhilarating unpredictability. It’s great how God keeps us on our toes, following Him in faith and expectation as we adventure with Him.

The past year has been full of adventure. We started with a large group of our volunteers attending the YFC National Conference, where they were blown away by the powerful and impassioned teaching of Wes Stafford (former direction of Compassion). They returned from the conference full of vision and ideas fro the year ahead.

Another great RE Day Conference over the Easter period was held with Ysgol John Bright, and many young people were given opportunity to think more deeply about the Easter story.

The hunt for a new place to make our home was started in earnest in the spring: it was time for us to pack our tents and follow God’s lead to where He wanted us to go.

Talking of tents and camping, our annual trip to Soul Survivor was lots of fun, with great fellowship amongst the young people who attended, despite the typical British Summertime weather. It’s amazing how many people can crowd into a small gazebo to huddle away from the wind and rain over a nice pot of spaghetti or whilst making toasted marshmallow smores.

A brave supporter of the work of LLYFC raised money for the work we do by shaving all of her hair off, and getting sponsorship for doing this amazing deed of selflessness (If you have any ‘hair-brained’ ideas to help us raise funds please don’t hesitate to get in touch)

Then it was full tilt into our premises move in July and August, with our last day in our Madoc Street premises being August 31st. So many memories to cherish and take with us.

Even before we had fully settled into Ty Llywelyn in September we held our first conference there on August 29th called Spark. This was organized (with a little help) by the young people, for the young people.

All of our regular events went from strength to strength, and we had a great Christmas period exploring the message of the Nativity, and finished off our Christmas program with a great Christmas buffet for all the young people.

2016 here we come.

 

Our Move To Ty Llywelyn and New Website!

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Well, we have moved! Yay! We have been in Ty Llywelyn Community Centre; our new home; for the past couple of month and we are loving it.

Thank you to everyone who helped with the move; from those who packed and carried boxes to those who faithfully prayed for us during our period of transition. We couldn’t have done it without you.

All of the events we regularly held in our Madoc Street premises have settled well into the facilities here; from our Thursday evening drop-in ‘Reverb’, to our Sunday evening Bible Study ‘Redefine’.

We are holding our ‘Monthly Meet’, training night here too, and have even run 2 fantastic youth conferences under the banner ‘Spark’, which were great successes: more on that to be read on p?.

Please come and visit us at our new abode; our administrator Todd can be found beavering away in our new offices every Monday and Friday between 9am and 5pm.

Our new contact details are: Llandudno Youth for Christ, c/o Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA. email: llandudnoyfc@gmail.com. Tel: 07517 429 763. We also have a new website www.llandudnoyfc.com.

We hope you enjoy the rest of our Blog entries, and look forward to hearing from you.