Tonight was the first family service of 2014, looking at the theme of old and new. Tony organised a Bible quiz on (fairly obscure) facts from the Old and New Testament!

With willing helpers to decide whose hand went up first, we tackled twenty questions:

To give a flavour of the questions:
1. How old was Abraham when his first son was born?
2. What unusual judgment did Elisha bring down on the youths who insulted him?
3. Whose name means ‘child of the right hand’?
4. Who died after falling from a chair?

Answers:
1. 86
2. Bears came and mauled the 42 youths who had called him bald
3. Benjamin
4. Eli

Much to his utter delight, Garry won the quiz on a tie-breaker (perhaps a necessary victory since he is now the pastor!):

We also had a birthday to celebrate:

Dave spoke this morning from John 1:43-51 TNIV about how Jesus called Philip and Nathanael to follow Him. The call of God has been much on our minds recently with the changes in church leadership, but the call of God actually comes to every believer. Sometimes, however, we fail to hear God, perhaps because we are unaware of how He speaks or because we tend to ignore His voice. Samuel is a good example of one who had to learn to recognise God’s voice. He was a special gift of God to the barren Hannah who was brought up in the very presence of God and yet when God first spoke to him, he thought it was the priest, Eli, calling. It took Eli’s insight to recognise that this was God’s voice and Samuel needed to hear God for himself, as we all do.

Often we are confused about whether God is speaking or not, perhaps believing it is ‘just us’ or a dream caused by eating too much cheese at night! God often seems to speak subtly and quietly and it takes practice in listening to hear His voice. Sometimes our preconceptions and prejudices prevent us from recognising God’s voice (Nathanael clearly didn’t expect anything good to come from Nazareth!) But as we listen to God – through reading His word, through the meetings at church, through prayer which allows time for God to speak, through other Christians – we will learn to hear His call, for He has a personal plan for each one of us and is seeking us out and calling us by name. As we practise listening to God, so we will hear His voice more clearly and then the challenge is for us to respond to that call. When we hear God, we have the promise that we will see heaven open: revelation comes and the invisible world is revealed to us. We are called to respond, however, for a failure to respond will lead to us missing out on so much that God has planned for us.

In case anyone has been wondering, Igor (the official church mascot) was pleased to be at church yesterday:

Thanks to the church for the beautiful flowers:

We had some lovely family shots throughout the evening:

And then we just had lots of other great photos to enjoy!

One of the things our church does exceptionally well is provide food for buffets! Our thanks to all who provided so generously for the refreshments afterwards.

Thanks to Ruth for making flower arrangements for the community hall:

Thanks to all who helped on car park duty, as greeters, as tea and coffee makers and as stalwart washer-uppers! Your willingness to help with all the practical details was much appreciated. Thanks to Mark, Debbie, Lorraine, Karen, Jade, Alan, Janet and Gillian in particular for their unstinting help.

Thanks to Mark Wapples for standing in as bassist again (Stephen is highly frustrated that he can’t play bass and piano at the same time, so thanks, Mark, for helping out!)

Thanks to Stephen for all his help with the music for the evening, and most especially for standing in for me, but even more for his encouragement and support over many, many months last year during the waiting and the difficult times. I am privileged to have you as a son and cannot thank God enough for you.

Thanks to the rest of the music team at Goldthorpe, who make worshipping God so much easier not only because of their skill but because of their servant hearts and love for God. Thanks also to Gemma who sang at the end of the service when I virtually had no voice left to sing!

Thanks to Dave for his unstinting attention to detail and his willingness to go the extra mile in making this service so special. Many people at the service found it strange to think that two former pastors (in Dave and Mark) are still on the leadership team at church and that there is no sense of awkwardness in working alongside each other. We can only say that God has blessed us enormously in this respect in giving us good relationships, much accumulated wisdom and deep friendships. We believe this comes from God’s grace and people’s humility. Dave and Joan have been a great support and blessing to Garry and myself over the years and we are grateful for their support in ways that make the words ‘thank you’ seem utterly inadequate!

Thanks to Stephen for his willingness to ‘do the boring bits’, as he put it in introducing the meeting and for Karen for making presentations:

Thanks to Stacey for her stalwart work as photographer and videographer. She would like to be a wedding photographer one day, and I have to say, last night felt rather like the photography sessions at a wedding as one by one, people were lined up against ‘the white wall’ (for a good background) and photographed! Since she has to contend with one who apparently blinks or talks every time a photo is taken, her patience and skill are to be commended! At one point during the week we had no tripods for the recording and ended up with four, so thanks also to all who generously loaned theirs for our use!

Thanks to Mark and Diane for their support, encouragement, commitment and faithfulness to God. It’s difficult to find the words to express just how much they contribute to the life of the church, but I’m sure we are all committed to continuing to pray for them to know God’s leading and anointing in everything they do.

Thanks also to everyone at Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church who make it possible to ‘enjoy the call of God’, as Dave put it, through their faith, love, encouragement and support. I have never known a group of people so committed to God and to each other and count it a privilege to serve alongside you. Thanks to all who took time out of their busy schedules to support the church last night, especially those from the Salvation Army in Goldthorpe, Wombwell Pentecostal Church, Grimethorpe Pentecostal Church and Hope House Church, Barnsley. We are part not only of a local church but a global church and we are grateful that God gives us each a part to play in His wonderful salvation story.

The biggest thanks have to be saved for our amazing God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

One of the great blessings of the service last night was the opportunity to meet friends and to enjoy fellowship:
Just before the start of the service:

Enjoying food after the meeting:

Julie with various colleagues from Hope House School, including former pupils, and members of Hope House Church in Barnsley:

With friends and family from other areas:

Both Garry and Julie gave testimonies of how God has led them to this new area of responsibility. One of the great privileges of this service was having so many friends attend who have been instrumental in shaping their ministries over the years. Garry thanked Brian Watson for his faithful witness as a work colleague which led to his accepting Christ:

He spoke of how (many years ago) Brian and an unknown lady in a church in Ripon had both spoken of their belief that God would lead Garry into the pastorate and that although this had seemed an utterly impossible task in those early days of faith, God has worked consistently in his life over many years so that at this point, this no longer seemed an impossible task! He thanked Mark and Diane for their support and friendship and the congregation for their love and encouragement and spoke of the irony of having little formal theological training when he was so used to pursuing training in every aspect of his life, yet how he remained assured that God had given him the training and teaching required to do this work.

Julie was also thrilled to be able to share this evening with people who had been instrumental in bringing her to faith and nurturing her faith through university years and throughout her working life:
Raymond & Jane Obin

Philip & Sharon Pye (leaders at the church in Oxford which Julie attended as a student, Phil preached at Garry and Julie’s wedding and now works in Ilkeston, being a senior leader in Assemblies of God)

She too gave thanks to Mark and Diane, not only for their leadership of the church but for their encouragement and friendship which has helped to develop her ministries, saying that Mark and Diane are shining examples of what God’s light looks like in human form. She then shared how God had led her in 2013 to leave her job as a French teacher, calling her to what was then an unknown destination, a decision that was both difficult for one whose temperament liked familiarity and back-up plans and challenging. She also shared how there is often a time of testing and waiting between hearing God’s call and seeing the fulfilment of His promises. In her case, this meant waiting beyond her expected period of notice at school for God to supply a replacement teacher:
Julie with Florentine:

During those long days of waiting for God to move, the song ‘Mighty Fortress’ by Aaron Shust became very real and whilst unable to sing this herself because of having virtually lost her voice this past week, Stephen sang this song to encourage all who may still be in this waiting ‘in-between’ phrase that there are things God will simply never do because of His character and so we can be confident that He will never forsake us, deceive us, abandon us or reject us but will indeed be a mighty fortress and tower of strength to His people at all times:

‘Mighty Fortress’, Aaron Shust