This is a thought that occurred to me.  What would happen if everyone else had a prolonged summer break like Footballers?  During this time everyone, whether under contract or not, could be tempted by new jobs elsewhere - competitors, previously unheard of organisations, jobs abroad…

Imagine if you went into work tomorrow and your boss said: “We’ve had an offer for you from Company Y and in exchange for you they’re going to give us £2 million, plus one of their warehouse staff.  You leave this afternoon, clear out your desk.”  How would you feel?

Or if you were perfectly happy in your job, but after a holiday in spain and six weeks away from your co-workers a local paper asked if you would consider moving to Spain if the right job came up… “Sure, I suppose if it was the right job I might consider it.  But I am happy at my current place.”  Imagine how this would be played out among your friends, family and co-workers…

How about if you were unhappy in your current job, but had signed a contract in order to provide stability for your family, then one summer your dream job comes up - it would work for both you and your family.  You ask your boss if he would consider letting you move on.  Your customers, who you’re very popular with, begin booing you when turn up for work.  Your colleagues publicly beg you to stay.  Your internal newsletter writes horrible things about you.  All this because your dream job came up.

Imagine if every summer was open season for you and your career.  You didn’t know if you’d be staying in your current role, if you might be head hunted, or if you might be forced to take a job with a smaller organisation and accept a pay cut.  What would that do to your psyche? How would you prepare yourself?  How would it affect your performance during the year? How do you put down roots with your family? Imagine the pressure from your family, in order that you don’t need to move again, that your children don’t need to make friends again.  

The normal response is that ‘Footballers get paid enough, they have enough money, it doesn’t matter.’  Maybe it makes the logistics of moving easier, but at the end of the day, how would you feel?

Food for thought during this transfer window.

I’ve always used two (Chrome) tabs for two different Google Apps Email accounts.  For some reason this morning it wouldn’t let me do this, it would sign me out of one before I could use another.

A fix for this seems to be: visit https://www.google.com/accounts, choose ‘Multiple Sign-in’; then click on the drop down arrow on the top right, add the other account and you seem to be able to use different google accounts in different tabs again.

Not sure what they changed, but this seems to work.  You can also use an ‘icognitio’ window according to one blog.

Some of my favourite quotes from John Wimber:

“It’s not enough to be Biblically literate; we must also be Biblically obedient..”

 ”One question you never want to ask God unless you want the answer is, ‘what’s wrong with me?’ He will tell you the truth..”

“It’s not the Churches job to hold onto people. That’s what cemeteries do..”

“I’m just change in His pocket- He can spend me however He chooses…”

“Programs are only workable as long as they work. When they quit working- quit working them..”

Wimber-“I would never send anyone out from my church that wasn’t a discipler. I don’t care where they went to school and what kind of education they have. What i want to know is ‘Are they trained?’ Education is not training folks. I’m all for education, i just don’t want it to get in the way of learning. And so often it does…”

“Never mess with the message of the Gospel. Leave it alone. It was good then and its great now..”

“I’m for disciples. I’m glad for people that have experiences- but that’s not enough. Until you have somebody who can reproduce it in peoples lives you haven’t got much..”

Wimber on following leaders.. “Put your cart behind the one with the most fruit..”

“There is no ‘new thing’ and there will be no ‘new thing’ of what man thinks he can discover. The only thing is the exaltation of Jesus; the waiting for His imminent return; the winning of the lost and the establishing of the Church, and nurturing of the same…”

“I don’t trust any leader that doesn’t walk with a limp…”

Wimber to Vineyard Leaders-“Dont offer simplistic solutions to complex problems such as leadership development and pastoral care..”

Wimber to Vineyard Leaders- “Ruthlessly assert the Vineyard value of ‘no hype’ in all communications. Avoid pumping people up for the ‘new thing’ God is doing. Demystify new emphasis even as the Vineyard has attempted to demystify spiritual gifts. Understatement is a key Vineyard value that I pray will flourish for many years..”

“You only get to keep what your willing to give away… we must always give away our best!”

“Social justice is at the very heart of the Gospel. Remember, ‘It is a Kingdom in which justice rolls like a river; righteousness like a never failing stream..’ Jesus linked His healing ministry with ministry to the poor..”

“Our job is to care for the poor. We don’t get to decide who is worthy to be cared for. Our job is care and God decides whose worthy…”

“I started praying for the sick not because the sick were being healed, but because thats what Scripture tells Christians to do..”

“People often confuse decisions with discipleship. Effective ministry is not just about the catching, its also about the cleaning. We must not only harvest, but also process the fruit..”

“We’ve been given the keys of the Kingdom; the authority & power over the enemy. But if we don’t exercise that power then its of no use. The Kingdom of darkness is organized to distract us & to prevent us from doing God’s bidding. We must know the power we have, use the power we have and not allow ourselves to become distracted…”

“Remember, the enemy follows no rules of war. He considers nothing unfair; and he is not a gentleman. The sooner Christians understand this the more serious they will become about being equipped and properly trained for the Kingdom..”

Sagepay is one of the most popular online payment processors in the UK. Everyone at some point of the integration will need to test that the payment gateway is working and to do that you will need the test credit / debit card numbers. These are hidden away in the SagePay integration documents so here they are for easy reference:

Please note that there are no card details that will work with their live server setting, all of the above details will only work with the Sagepay test server.

In answer to why it’s important to count people in the Church.

My answer:

Whilst it’s not all about the numbers, numbers are important to know how many people we’re reaching and so that we can measure the effectiveness of what we do.

Someone cared enough to count in the gospels: 5,000, 12, 72, 40, 3000 - the numbers of those present, disciples, those sent out, days, number of people saved at Pentecost.  

Numbers help us to work better, cater better, welcome better, have enough house groups, have enough leaders, have enough chairs, have enough baptismal pools, the list goes on.

Article that appears on the BBC Leicester website:

Leicestershire NHS Trust has apologised for its care of a mentally-ill woman who ran over and killed a mother and daughter in her car.

Gemma Montanaro, 41, said she thought Satan was driving when she lost control in Saffron Lane, Leicester, in 2007.

The previous evening she had been assessed in hospital by mental health teams and allowed to return home.

An independent report published on Wednesday found there had been a “lapse in safe standards of care”.

‘It was Satan’

Miss Montanaro’s Vauxhall Astra mounted the pavement on 30 January, 2007 and hit a group of pedestrians.

Jane Malkin, 51, and her daughter Nicole Townshend, 24, were killed and a child was slightly injured.

A second child and a woman escaped unhurt.

Miss Montanaro was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving “by reason of insanity” but was banned from driving for life and given a court order under the Mental Health Act.

The court heard Miss Montanaro told police after the crash: “Somebody had their foot on my foot and their hand on my hand - it wasn’t me driving, it was Satan.”

On 29 January, 2007 she was assessed in the Leicester Royal Infirmary’s accident and emergency department by a Deliberate Self Harm team and then a Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment team, who decided she was suitable for home treatment.

Care ‘not adequate’

Wednesday’s report found that although the tragedy could not have been predicted or prevented, she should not have been sent home from hospital without an adequate plan in place or an “interim care package”.

The report made nine recommendations - eight for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and one for NHS East Midlands which commissioned the report.

Antony Sheehan, chief executive of Leicestershire NHS Trust said: “The standard of care offered was not adequate, it was not up to standard, it was not what should have been expected by people using these services.

“The consequences were tragic and I want to offer a full apology for this to the families who have lost loved ones.”

Incredible song from Jeremy Riddle.

Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant through the trial and the change
One thing remains
One thing remains

Your love never fails it never gives up it never runs out on me

On and one and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never ever have to be afraid
One thing remains

In death and in life I’m confident and covered by the power of your great love
My debt is paid there’s nothing that can separate my heart from your great love

Spotify link: Bethel Church feat. Brian Johnson – One Thing Remains