Give us a clue!

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Last Sunday night we held the last of our ‘God, Goats & Games’ nights. It was the last of our summer events and we wanted to make it special; so we held a giant game of Cluedo!

Everyone came dressed in their best bib & tucker, looking all smart & glamorous. It was great fun.

Each of the Redefine leaders was a suspect in the murder of a prized penguin, and each of them (during the game time), were responsible for one room during the game time. We had the following eccentric characters Dr. Dewifroggle of Nexu, Colonel Koreypheasant of Texaz, Madam Scarlettperrin of the Thieves Guild, Lady Katiedebarkle III of Nonsense, Rev. Timopious of the Pool and Mrs Amywinehouse of ‘Down South’ (can you guess who played what?)

Each room contained a series of clues; once answered correctly the players of the game brought a password to the suspect in charge of that room, who then gave that team a ‘fragment’ of a larger story about the evening’s crime. This happened from room to room until all of the teams had gathered all of the story fragments and had to figure out, from all of the information they had accumulated, who the culprit was and in which room the deed was done and with what weapon.

As I already said it was a really fun evening with everyone getting stuck in to the game. And as it was a mystery that needed to be solved, we also looked at the first chapter of the book of Colossians where Paul speaks of the amazing ‘mystery‘ “that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” – Colossians 1:26-27.

This is not a mystery that God wants to keep hidden, but rather one that God wants everyone to know. That is one of the things that we at Llandudno Youth for Christ are passionate about. We want the young people in Llandudno and beyond to know how amazing the good news of Jesus truly is. How they can have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe and be filled with so much hope.

Please consider supporting us in the work we do to see a generation saved. Support us financially, support us with your time by volunteering and most importantly support us in prayer.

Be blessed!

 

 

Refresh 2018

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Hi all,

On Thursday 30th August we will be holding our annual Refresh Mini-Conference. This is always a great fun filled event and well attended. Indeed this year looks like it is going to be one of the best attended Refresh Mini-Conferences we have ever held.

I’m really looking forward to it.

There will be Games, Bible Studies, Worship, Food and an evening Bonfire Sing-Along.

We will be looking at the Book of Ecclesiastes in our studies and it will “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” – Psalm 90:12.

Have I already said I’m looking forward to it?

I love the Book of Ecclesiastes and it contains one of my favourite verses in the Bible; “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11. It fills me with hope to know that God is in control. That He is sovereign and He makes everything beautiful in its time.

It makes me think of the poem ‘The Weaver’ –

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colours, He worketh steadily.
Ofttimes he weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weaver’s hand
As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

He knows, He loves, He cares,
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.

God is good and God is love, and God is in control. These are great truths to hold onto. We pray that the young people really get hold of this.

So having said that, please can you pray for us as we hold this event.

Please pray for safety for all involved, both young people & volunteers. Pray that everyone has a fun time and meets with God over the Conference. Pray that young lives are changed for eternity by the Good News.

Thank you and Be Blessed!

Hammer Time!

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Now despite my love of comics, this post is not about Thor from the Avengers, it’s rather referencing the 1990’s pop star MC Hammer. Why?

Because he had a hit with a song called ‘Pray’ and some of the lyrics in the chorus went as such ‘We’ve got to pray just to make it today’. I thought given the world in which we live in, that is such an apt lyric.

Also again during the 1990’s the Christian band, the World Wide Message Tribe had a song about prayer that contained the following lyrics, ‘Prayer strikes the ground like a rhino charging.’

I love that image of prayer having such an impact on the world around us, which it indeed does.

So this Sunday 26th August we are having our monthly Prayer Gathering, where we will be praying for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ. 7-8pm at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre. Please come along and pray with us, to see God move in the lives of young people in Llandudno and beyond.

“rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer”

We hope you can make it.

Be Blessed.

Robot Wars of Jurassic Proportions!

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Last Sunday night we held the first of our ‘God, Goats & Games‘ evenings. It was a fun packed time with everyone getting really stuck into the event.

At the Robot Wars ‘G,G,G’ our director Tim Gough used the film Jurassic Park to illustrate different ways we can react to monstrous situations in our lives. We can run away in fear from them; we can react with inexperience and try to sort it all out on our own; we can face up to the monsters and be enthusiastic but unwise; or we can be like King Jehoshaphat and be wise by taking our situation to God to get His help. Please read 2 Chronicles 20 for more on King Jehoshaphat’s wisdom when facing a monstrous situation.

God, Goats & Games, or ‘G,G,G‘ as we abbreviate it is the event we run during the month of August to replace our regular ‘Reverb Youth Space‘ and ‘Redefine‘ events, and is an amalgam of both of them, with young people from both events in attendance.

This is a great opportunity for building community, which is a very important part of what we do here at Llandudno Youth for Christ.

During this month we have a total of 4 nights of G,G,G, plus our ‘Refresh‘ mini conference at St David’s College, an epic water fight and our Late Lock in. It’s a great month of events that are lots of fun and an opportunity to let the young people know how much God loves them and has a great plan for their lives.

At the next G,G,G night we will be having a Pizza & Movie night on Aug 19th, then the week after that will be a joint 4 square tournament & musicals sing-along night on Aug 26th, and we will be finishing off the month with a Human Cluedo & Leavers Banquet on Sept 2nd.

Please pray for us during August. Pray that God would use the events that we are running to speak to the hearts of the young people that attend and that we would have opportunities to share the good news of Jesus with them.

Be blessed.

Hands Held High

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I used to be in a Christian school’s work drama team and we performed many different sketches in our time. Some really good, others quite cheesy.

One that we performed was called ‘Hands’. It spoke of how we can use our hands to build and create or damage & destroy. To love or to hate. To welcome or reject. It spoke of how man had chosen the darkness, disconnection & death when Adam turned away from God; and how Jesus the second Adam came to forgive and redeem us. How His hands were pierced by our hands nailing Him to the cross.

Now as redeemed believers we can lift our hands to Jesus in worship and adoration. Listen to Kari Jobe’s song Hands to the Heavens below.

Indeed in the Bible 2 of the words used for worship, involve the lifting of the hands: they are Yadah & Towdah. With the word Yadah (יָדָה) we get the image of throwing out the hands to God in confession and thanksgiving. We are raising our hands in a sign of surrender and casting our cares on Him. Aknowledging that He is God and we are not. That we are totally dependent on Him for our victory and indeed everything.

Saying that makes me think of Moses with Aaron & Hur; In Exodus 17 the Israelites were fighting the Amalekites and when Moses hands were lifted high with the staff God had given him above his head, then they were victorious; but when his arms were down they were pushed back, so Aaron & Hur helped Moses by holding his hands up. This links in well with last week’s blog post about ‘We’re in this together’. Moses was tired and he needed his hands lifting up. The battle had worn him out so he needed the support of his friends.

Sometimes were are that way too; we are tired and battle-worn and need the support of friends and family to lift our hands up to God for us to see the victory.

This Sunday the 25th March at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre from 7pm we are holding our monthly prayer meeting for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ. To pray together that God would impact young people’s lives and for us to see their lies changed by Jesus. Please join us and let us lift each others hands up to God and see many victories won for His kingdom and His glory.

Be blessed!

PS: I found this image for how to use our hands as a reminder in prayer. 

We’re in this together.

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I wanted to write in today’s blog post about how, as Christians, we are not designed or made to do life alone. God is a triune God. He is Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Before anything had been spoken into life by God, He was in perfect relationship, the 3 in 1 God of all creation. We see that in Genesis “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”- Genesis 1:26-28. When creating man, God said let us make human beings in our image. He wasn’t talking to the angels, but was talking to Himself. I love that. God is a relational God. He wants to be in relationship with us.

Jesus came to restore our broken relationship with God. “For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. “God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Saviour and rescue it! So now there is no longer any condemnation for those who believe in him, but the unbeliever already lives under condemnation because they do not believe in the name of God’s beloved Son.” God has done everything we need to restore relationship with us, His heart is for relationship, and as we are made in His image, we are designed for relationship with one another. To walk together hand in hand with each other and God.

In the book of James we are told to “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” – James 5:16 and in Galatians we are told “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2

We are not strong enough to do this alone. We are called to do life with God and each other.

So if you are struggling in an area of your life, don’t go it alone. Speak to another Christian and pray together, inviting God into the situation, and see Him bring the victory.

Also, I just want to remind everyone that on Sunday 25th March we will be meeting again at the Ty Llywelyn Community Centre to pray together for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ. Starting at 7pm and meeting until 8pm. Let’s come together and pray for this great work, lifting up our hands to God, for us to see Him move.

Be blessed!

Fire Fall Down

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As is a common theme, the blog post is named after a song. This time from Hillsong United’s album ‘United we stand’. I’ve put the video from the album below for you to listen to. You’ll understand why I chose the title as you read the post…

This coming Sunday evening at Llandudno Youth for Christ we are having our brilliant prayer gathering.

We will be holding these on the last Sunday evening of every month.

It will be a great time to call out to God on behalf of all the young people in this area.

We will meet at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre in Llandudno and start at 7pm; praying for God to come and bring change to our communities.

This is not something to be missed. Prayer is essential in the life of believers.

Image never speaking to the people you love? Ridiculous isn’t it?

So spending time talking to God in prayer is a must. Relationship involves communication and prayer is just that, talking to God.

It is also what changes lives, communities and nations.

You just have to open the pages of the Bible to see how God moves in response to prayer. “I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.” – Psalm 3:4

When Paul & Silas were chained in prison in the book of Acts Luke writes the following: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” – Acts 16:25-26

Wow!

Prayer opens doors, looses chains and set prisoners free.

When Elijah was facing off against the prophets of Baal, after he had given them plenty of time to implore Baal to answer them, and after he had made the task of lighting the sacrifices with fire by dousing the altar with copious amounts of water, the Bible tells us “At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: ‘Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The Lord – he is God! The Lord – he is God!’” – 1 Kings 18:36-39

In the book of Revelation we read the following “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”- Revelation 8:3-5

Amazing and humbling that God takes our humble prayers and responds with fire from heaven. I love that image: God’s fire hurtling earthward in response to our prayers to bring change. To deal with injustice, to bring God’s refining fire to change and transform lives and communities.

So let us be engaged with the task of praying for the young people in Llandudno.

It all starts with prayer and we want you to join with us in this gathering and see God change lives.

Be blessed

History Makers

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I’ve recently been listening back to some albums that God has spoken through in the past to me. It’s good to revisit times when God impacted your life. To view the marker stones in your life to remind yourself of God’s faithfulness to you in the past; and in doing that to encourage yourself that if He was faithful then, He will be faithful today and tomorrow. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.” – Hebrews 13:8

Songs by the band Delirious? have really impacted me, and a great song by them that encourages us to pray and to have faith in God’s ability and willingness to answer our prayers is ‘History Maker‘.

‘Is it true today
That when people pray
Cloudless skies will break
Kings and queens will shake?

Yes, it’s true
And I believe it
I’m living for you’

Those are just some of the lyrics from the song. It declares that prayer changes things. When we seek God, we will see nations changed, lives changed, people set free and Jesus lifted up.

In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul says to the Christians in Rome who are living in extremely difficult circumstances, suffering persecution and oppression by the ruling powers of the empire, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” – Romans 12:12. Another translation puts it this way “Let this hope burst forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Don’t give up in a time of trouble, but commune with God at all times.” or in another translation it says “Be happy in your hope. Do not give up when trouble comes. Do not let anything stop you from praying.”

I love how this verse in all the many different translations really encourages us to be full of hope in God and for what God can and will do, to endure troubles and presecution and to never stop praying. Never stop meeting with God. Never stop devoting yourselves to prayer. One translation says for us to “give constant energy to prayer”. This is an active and energetic action. When we pray it is not a passive thing, but and active engaging with the God of heaven and earth; calling for Him to intervene and bring His kingdom into where we are to see lives, communities and nations changed.

Historically, there has never been a move of God that has not been preceded by his people gathering together to faithfully pray for God to do what only He can do; transform hearts and lives.

We can be history makers by coming together and praying for our families, our friends, or co-workers, our communities, our government, our nation and our world.

Charles Spurgeon said that “Prayer moves the hand that moves the world.”

On Sunday 25th February at 7pm in Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, we will be gathering together to pray for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ; to see many young lives changed by the power of the gospel. This is going to be a great time of coming together as Christians to see God move in our communities.

We would love to see you there.

Let’s be history makers on Sunday 25th February.

Let’s pray to our amazing God and see Him change lives this year.

Be blessed!

A long time ago in a little town far, far, away….

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Last night at our last ‘Redefine‘ of 2017, we held our amazing leaders Nativity. It was again our take on the Christmas nativity story; titled ‘Hobbit Wars‘.

We did a mash up of characters from the Lord of the Rings & Star Wars stories and had them as the characters from the nativity story.

Joseph was Bilbo Baggins, Mary was Princess Leia, the Angel Gabriel was Gandalf the Grey, The 3 Wise Men (I know the Bible doesn’t directly state there were only 3) were Han Solo, Chewbacca & BB8, The Shepherds were Dwarves from the Lonely Mountain and King Herod was Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Herod’s soldiers were Imperial Stormtroopers, plus we threw Gollum into the mix so that he could have fight with Darth Vader.

It was hilarious and a lot of fun to do. We will be posting the segments that we had pre-recorded on video to our Facebook page.

We are not the only people who have ever done alternative versions of the Nativity. Here are some examples of other versions of the Nativity.

Christmas According to Kids

Bethlehemian Rhapsody

As you can see there are many different ways that people have creatively retold the Christmas story; with 2 of them being winning entries from the Nativity Factor: A competition that ran from 2011 to 2014 for people to create videos that re-tell the Christmas story in engaging and relevant visual ways that help people to refocuss on the real meaning of Christmas – “We believe the birth of Jesus needs to be re-told in a way that engages our generation and the one to come. The Nativity Factor offers the opportunity to communicate it in a fresh way.”

The same motivation is behind the ‘Redefine‘ leaders’ Nativity. We are not trying to be irreverent, but by putting the Christmas story into a different setting, we are aiming at highlighting the amazing truth that God came to earth as a baby to live as one of us and to die for all of us. This is the amazing wonder and truth of Christmas – Emmanuel – God with us!

We also do it to have fun together as we celebrate the message of Christmas. The message of the Good News of Jesus.

“And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” – Luke 2:9-12

So this Christmas as you celebrate with friends and family, think about the amazing truth of Jesus, come as a baby to die for all of us. This truly is good news.

Have a blessed Christmas!

 

What a Bonanza

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This is a very quick blog to let everyone know about our upcoming Spark North Wales Christmas event.

On Saturday 16th December we will be holding a ‘Christmas Bonanza‘.

A bonanza is something that is very valuable, profitable or rewarding, or it can be used as a synonym for ‘extravaganza‘ – a lavish or spectacular show or event. So we are telling you that this Christmas ‘Spark‘ event is going to be a spectacular event that will be very valuable and rewarding for everyone that comes.

It is going to be held at Gloddaeth Church in Llandudno and will start at 5pm, running though till 7pm; and for those who want a little bit extra, we will be showing a Christmas Movie from 7pm, which will run till 9pm.

It’s going to be a great time; with an epic ‘Hunt for Santa‘ game, a Christingle activity, carols by candlelight and of course loads of lovely festive food.

This is all free for 11-18 years old. So if you are an 11-18 year old, or you know one who you think would enjoy coming to the ‘Spark‘ Christmas Bonanza, then do let them know.

I’ve posted the poster for the event here, so you can share with others too.

Thank you, and be blessed!