Archive for April, 2025

Park Gate Primary School – Assemblies x2 (9.00am & 2.30pm).
A long overdue visit to our local school, looking forward to meeting the new Head Teacher and watching the reaction from the children, many we know from Kids Clubs, Holiday Clubs and previous visits.

Theme: Responsibility.
Bible story: The two sons (Matthew 21:28-32)

It was great today to enjoy the company of Billy Graham (I kid you not!), Billy is 93 years old and has lost none of his enthusiasm of sharing the gospel (Billy is a former open-air missioner), also in the photo is my Ethiopian brother Gabriel.

A usual day at Speakers Corner, the sun shone, the crowds came and amongst the shenanigans, sensible conversations and arguments took place.
Two highlights today, #1: a good chat with Husain from Saudi Arabia, former Muslim now agnostic seeking the truth. #2: a long chat with a Kurdish man now living in the UK, he is from the Alevi* minorities and these are seen as ‘questionable’ by many other Muslims.

* Alevism (/æˈlɛvɪzəm/; Turkish: Alevilik; Kurdish: Elewîtî is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams,

more madness in the park, it had been brewing for an hour or two and finally kicked off towards the end of the day, me thinks it is time to go home!

Evangelism @ Speakers Corner. Hyde Park. London.

“There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the breath of life for a conversation.” — James Nathan Miller
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Speakers Corner in London’s Hyde Park is the oldest free speech platform in the world. People won the right to speak in mass protests in the 1860s and early 1870s. Some people believe the tradition is connected to the right of the condemned to a last speech before being hung at the Tyburn gallows, a practice that stopped at the end of the 18th century. Every Sunday people from all sorts of convictions come to Hyde Park in the afternoon to spread their message or to have fun.

Preaching today…

Activity: Morning Service
Venue: Norreys Church. Wokingham.
Time: 10.00am
Subject: ‘Seeing is believing!’
Bible Passage: John chapter 20 verses 24-29

A memory from the past! A mention on one of Ivor & Angie Cooper’s prayer letters. The year 1987. The reason, I had just completed my first year in full-time Christian ministry (in-service training with the Cooper’s & the Telford’s) , it was now time to move away from the Midlands but where? At that time I did not know what County I should be, I had a calling to join Counties Evangelistic Work (as it was in those days), but no County fixed, it would take another year before I had a calling to go to Hampshire!
Praise God for 39 years of provision of funds, friends/fellow workers!

Praise God for 39 years of provision of funds, friends/fellow workers! “How good is the God we adore!”

Thank you for your prayers re: ‘BodyBuilders’ Houseparty 2025. Preparation –
Two days to write, edit and print the Quiet Time notes for the fast approaching weekend and few other jobs all taken care of!

Check list looking good:

Final emails to Campers ✓
Final emails to Leaders ✓
Quiet Time Groups arranged ✓
Minibus travel groups arranged ✓
Minibus checked and ready for pick up ✓
Medical & dietary forms checked & sorted ✓
Venue checked and ready for invasion ✓
Swimming baths & ‘The Crusher’ booked ✓
Extras sorted ✓

Nest week prep days will involve:
3 main talks & sessions on the life of Moses.

Hi, or should I say, High! As hundreds of people gathered in Hyde Park to boldly smoke cannabis in full view of the polices in what has become an Easter Sunday annual protest. They gathered a few hundred yards away from the Corner and we could detect the unpleasant smell associated with this drug all afternoon. On the plus side there were no fights, or anyone being punched today, so perhaps it had a calming effect on us all – lol.

It was good today to have some particularly good conversations, the highlight being a two-hour Q&A with Taker a Danish Moslem man who seemed to have memorised every argument and verse the Muslims use to refute Christianity. It was good to show him what many of these misquoted Bible verses really mean in context, but he really is blinkered to the truth, praying that the Holy Spirt himself will bring light and understanding.

Evangelism @ Speakers Corner. Hyde Park. London.

“Discussions are better than arguments. Arguments are about WHO is right. Discussions are about WHAT is right.”
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Speakers Corner in London’s Hyde Park is the oldest free speech platform in the world. People won the right to speak in mass protests in the 1860s and early 1870s. Some people believe the tradition is connected to the right of the condemned to a last speech before being hung at the Tyburn gallows, a practice that stopped at the end of the 18th century. Every Sunday people from all sorts of convictions come to Hyde Park in the afternoon to spread their message or to have fun.

Preaching today…

What: Easter Morning Service
Where: Velmore Church, Chandler’s Ford, SO53 3GA
When: 10.30am
Subject: ‘Resurrection Snapshots’
Speaker: Gordon Curley
Bible Passage: John chapter 20 verses 1-18

A service for the residents at Hawthorne Court. Southampton.

Todays service will be:
Hymn: Thine be the glory
Prayer
Collective Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer (traditional)
Short talk #1: Gordon Curley
Penny: Action song: Lord I lift your name on high
Short talk #2: Gordon Curley
Hymn: The old rugged cross.
Closing Prayer.

Hawthorne Court specialises in dementia care.