Worship Wednesday

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Order of Service

G'day and welcome to Partakers Wednesday Worship on the 17^th of August, 2011.

Song - O For A Thousand Tongues!

Lord's Prayer

Bible Talk - My Jesus Part 1

Song - Here Comes Jesus

Bible Talk - My Jesus Part 2

Time for your own prayers

Closing prayers

Welcome

G'day and welcome to Partakers Wednesday Worship on the 17^th of August, 2011.

Song

O For A Thousand Tongues with Peter Schrock

O for a thousand tongues to sing

my great Redeemer's praise,

the glories of my God and King,

the triumphs of his grace!

My gracious Master and my God,

assist me to proclaim,

to spread through all the earth abroad

the honours of thy name.

He breaks the power of cancelled sin,

he sets the prisoner free;

his blood can make the foulest clean;

his blood availed for me.

Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb,

your loosened tongues employ;

ye blind, behold your saviour come,

and leap, ye lame, for joy.

Bible talk 1

My Jesus

My Jesus is unique, majestic, tender, wise, strong, and lovely.

That is my Jesus, whom I seek to serve and obey in every facet of life, every second of every day. I don't always achieve it, but I know that when I fail, I can ask for forgiveness and He will grant it from His wellspring of gracious mercy. Yet another WOW factor about Jesus Christ. It is this Jesus whom I depend upon and personally know to be totally reliable in every way. When people let me down, turn away from me, discourage me, think wrongly off me, incorrectly assume my motives. This Jesus always picks me up, never turns me away always encourages and embraces me.

All through each day, I know that Jesus has been dependable, going ahead of me!

Amazing! This Jesus who died on a Roman cross two thousand years ago was the same Jesus who was raised from the dead, without decay, into newness of life and ascended to the right hand of the Father.

This Jesus is coming back to gather His followers, to Himself. Jesus is coming back, but not as a baby this time. There will be no kitchy-kitchy koo factor. No! Jesus is coming back with a big WOW Factor as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

What does Jesus look like now? He is described by one of his beloved followers, John in Revelation 1v13-16

Among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

That's the ascended Jesus Christ as portrayed by his friend John! Are you suffering today with some illness or you are in the middle of a period of grief? We all suffer in some way. I had a stroke back in 2003 and recovered. I still get aches and pains. But one day! One day you and I will have perfect bodies. WOW! And not only that, but this God suffered and died on a cross, so has sympathy for our own suffering while we are in this world!

Jesus is coming back and will do the most extraordinary thing. We read about it in Revelation 21:4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Isn't that just the most amazing verse? Picture it! Jesus Christ taking your face in His scarred hands and He will wipe away your tears - tears of suffering and tears of joy. You will say to yourself, it was all worth it - the trials, temptations, sufferings and experiences I have had for the sake of Jesus Christ my Master.

Song!

Here Comes Jesus with Marjie Reece

Just when you are thinking about giving up.

You've tasted your last sip of life's bitter cup.

You can't find a friend to understand or care.

If you'll just look up, you'll find Jesus standing there.

And here comes Jesus! Walking on the water.

Here comes Jesus! He's calming the storm!

Here comes Jesus! Making life peaceful.

Here comes Jesus, bringing everything back to norm.

Now, like a roaring lion, roaming to and fro,

Satan is killing and stealing as he goes.

Everything God gave us through Jesus, His Son.

But, two-thousand years ago, the victory was won.

And here comes Jesus! Walking on the water.

Oh, here comes Jesus! Calming the storm!

Here comes Jesus! Making life peaceful.

Here comes Jesus, bringing everything back to norm.

Bible Talk 2

Your Jesus

Who is your Jesus?

Are you struggling to make a major decision and don't know what to do. Seek the wisdom of Jesus in making that decision. He will help if you ask.

It may well be that you are feeling desolate, abandoned and lonely. Or you are feeling tired, drained, burdened and in need of help.

Allow Jesus to give you the strength to endure! Give the burden to Jesus and let Him take the weight for you.  Let Jesus wrap you in a warm embrace, encompassing you with loving compassion.

Silent Prayer

We now have a time where you can offer your own praises and prayers. Lets pray and praise!

Father God, in your mercy, hear these prayers of your children! For we ask them in the name of your son, Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Doxology

sung by Jeff Wooldridge

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Benediction

May the love of God the Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen

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Partakers Friday Prayers

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Order of Service

1. General Opening prayer

2. Praise!

3. Time for your own praise

4. Prayers for the world

5. Prayers for others

6. Prayers for church services worldwide

7. Time for prayers for your own concerns

8. Benediction

Welcome to Partakers Friday Prayers on Friday 5th of August, 2011. Let us pray together!

Opening Prayer

Father, as we commence, let our hearts and minds be right before you.  We thank for your Son Jesus. It's in His name we offer you these praises, prayers and petitions in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside those who are your children. Amen

Psalm 113

Lets now have a Psalm of praise! Its Psalm 113 and our reader today is Sharona! Over to you, Sharona!

Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD, you his servants;

praise the name of the LORD.

Let the name of the LORD be praised,

both now and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,

the name of the LORD is to be praised.

The LORD is exalted over all the nations,

his glory above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God,

the One who sits enthroned on high,

who stoops down to look

on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

he seats them with princes,

with the princes of his people.

He settles the childless woman in her home

as a happy mother of children.

Praise the LORD.

Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Christ has risen! The Spirit has come! Praise you, God! Amen!

And now a time to offer your own praises to God! If for some reason words are failing you, simple pray "Lord God, I lift up thanks and praise to you alone."

Alleluia

Father God, accept these praises as sweet smelling perfume! Amen!

Prayers for the World!

We lift to you once more, Father, the people affected by the drought in the Horn of Africa.  How can we not look at the scenes coming to our eyes without compassion? Those people fleeing drought, famine and fleeing conflicts.  Help those people Father, in ways which only You can achieve. Fire the imagination of people to solve these ongoing problems. Enlighten people to give generously, to share and to be looking to the interests of others. Father, help the aid being sent to reach its destination instead of being stopped by insurgents and war-mongers.

Father, be the strength for all those who are grieving and mourning the loss of loved ones. Father, we pray that those in despair will be helped and where there is darkness there will be light.

May justice and peace come to places where injustice, strife and conflict currently dominate! Where there is chaos, bring order. Where there is hatred, may love be sown.  We pray that in areas of need following natural disasters, that aid will get through and infrastructure rebuilt.

Lord in your mercy, hear these prayers of your children! Amen!

For churches and Christians worldwide

Our Father God, we lift before you all those who are preaching, leading, serving and participating in church services around the world this weekend, we ask that the Holy Spirit would guide their minds and that the worship will be in Spirit and in truth, that the Word as it is faithfully preached.

For those in countries where to meet other Christians is illegal or not condoned by the government, we ask that you continue to strengthen, guide, grow and uplift them. Let them know through Your Spirit, the Spirit that lives within all believers that we are praying for them.

Amen!

Prayers for others

We come now to praying for the needs of these individuals.

Kath, Elsie, Ian, Billy, Karen and Adam, Ruth, Kathy, Lynn, Zachary, Patti and Amanda.  O Great God our provider, we ask for a healing touch and wisdom for the medical staff treating them.

O Lord God, give strength to the week, particularly Sarah.

Finally, Father, we lift before you, all those facing challenging situations: such as loneliness, confinement at home, geographical isolation, lack of employment, health issues, and financial pressures.  O Father, please meet their needs in what ever challenging situation is being faced, particularly for C and her daughter! and we put ourselves in your hands to help meet those needs where we can.

We ask these things, our Father God, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen!

Your own petitions

Now there will be a short time of prayer where you can give to God things that are on your own mind and heart.

If for some reason, words are failing you, then pray this short prayer based on Psalm 40 "O God, Help and deliver me from this pit for I am poor and needy!"

Father, we pray that your love will take over our lives! We also pray that we would follow you faithfully, live lives obediently and give praise to you alone in all circumstances we face together.

Lord in your mercy, hear these prayers of your children.  Amen

Benediction

And now, as we close: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope and faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Thank you for joining us on Partakers Friday Prayers.

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Order of Service

1. General Opening prayer

2. Time for your own praise

3. Thanks for the life of John Stott

4. Prayers for the world

5. Prayers for church services worldwide

6. Prayers for others

7. Time for prayers for your own concerns

8. Benediction

General Opening Prayer

Father, as we commence, let our hearts and minds be right before you.  We thank for your Son Jesus. It's in His name we offer you these praises, prayers and petitions in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside those who are your children. Amen

Time of Praise

Now there will be a short time where you can offer praise and thanks to God for things that are on your own mind and heart.

If for some reason, words are failing you, then pray this simple praise prayer based on an ancient song

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Christ has risen!

Thanksgiving for John Stott

We now have a time of giving thanks to God for the life and witness of one of His great servants of our time, John Stott, who died on July 27^th.

Father we thank you for the work you have done through John Stott. We thank you that he was a role model for church leaders everywhere. We thank you that he though now physically dead, is also more alive then ever before, as he is in your presence. Thank you for his legacy and his witness as a truly humble servant of you. Father, raise up new leaders of this calibre throughout your worldwide church, we pray!  Amen!

Prayers for the World!

Now we pray for this world.

We especially lift to you the country of Norway in the aftermath of the horrendous attacks there last week.  Father, be the strength for those who are grieving, particularly in the memorial services that are being conducted. Father, we pray that those in despair will be helped and where there is darkness there will be light.

May justice and peace come to places where injustice, strife and conflict currently dominate! Where there is chaos, bring order. Where there is hatred, may love be sown.  We pray that in areas of need following natural disasters, that aid will get through and infrastructure rebuilt. Amen!

For churches and Christians worldwide

We now pray for church services around the world this weekend.

Our Father God, we lift before you all those who are preaching, leading, serving and participating in church services around the world this weekend, we ask that the Holy Spirit would guide their minds and that the worship will be in Spirit and in truth, that the Word as it is faithfully preached.

For those in countries where to meet other Christians is illegal or not condoned by the government, we ask that you continue to strengthen, guide, grow and uplift them. Let them know through Your Spirit, the Spirit that lives within all believers that we are praying for them.

Amen!

Prayers for others

We come now to praying for the needs of individuals.

We thank you that, Lynn, is healing well after her recent fall, and we pray that that continues. We also lift her grandson, Zachary, to you after he recently had a bike accident. Help his body to heal and please help the medical staff as he receives regular treatment.

We also lift to you Daniel who is aged, has the onset of dementia and will soon need 24 hours care. This means him losing his home and his independence. We also, Father, pray for his partner, Margaret and ease her distress and give them both comfort.

We bring before you now, Father, Ray. He is currently going through chemotherapy and we pray also that he may have comfort and ask that you will help the medical staff in this treatment.

We bring Jan before you, who is recovering from a relationship break-up. Ease her heart and mind, and may the Holy Spirit give her comfort and counsel. May she find rest in you.

We lift to you all those desiring partners and families, particularly BT. Help them in their loneliness and give counsel on how to handle the current situation.

Finally, Father, we lift before you, all those facing challenging situations: such as confinement at home, geographical isolation, lack of employment, health issues, and financial pressures.  O Father, please meet their needs in what ever challenging situation is being faced, and we put ourselves in your hands to help meet those needs where we can.

We ask these things, our Father God, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Your own petitions

Now there will be a short time of prayer where you can give to God things that are on your own mind and heart.

If for some reason, words are failing you, then pray this short prayer based on Psalm 40 "O God, Help and deliver me from this pit for I am poor and needy!"

Father, we pray that your love will take over our lives! We also pray that we would follow you faithfully, live lives obediently and give praise to you alone in all circumstances we face together.

Lord in your mercy, hear these prayers of your children.  Amen

Benediction

And now, as we close, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for joining us on Partakers Friday Prayers. If you would like to post a prayer request in the comments below, either named or anonymous, we will pray for you.

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Worship Wednesday

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Order of Service

G'day and welcome to Partakers Wednesday Worship on the 20^th of July, 2011.  Lets start today with a song "Your Love O Lord"

Thanksgiving and Joy

O God, great and wonderful,

Are you, O Lord!

Who is like You?

None can compare to You

For you are beauty in holiness and majesty.

As we come now to worship you now,

we acknowledge you are the Almighty One.

We thank you that we can worship you!

Amen

Bible Readings

Our Old Testament reading today is taken from Psalm 89. Our reader today is Richard, so over to you, Richard!

Psalm 89v1-2, 5-8

¹ I will sing of the LORD's great love forever;

with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known

through all generations.

² I will declare that your love stands firm forever,

that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

⁵ The heavens praise your wonders, LORD,

your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.

⁶ For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD?

Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings?

⁷ In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;

he is more awesome than all who surround him.

⁸ Who is like you, LORD God Almighty?

You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

Our New Testament reading is from Revelation 11:16-17

¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying:

"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

the One who is and who was,

because you have taken your great power

and have begun to reign.

Bible Talk

Throughout the Bible, God is called Almighty. For example, in our Old Testament reading from Psalm 89v8 we read "Who is like you, LORD God Almighty? You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you. "

But how is God, almighty? God being Almighty, can be summed up in 3 words.

Omnipresent -God is Almighty, in that He is wholly present everywhere. He fills the universe in all its parts without division (Psalm 139v7-12; Jeremiah 23v23-24). For example in Ezekiel 1, Israel is in exile in Babylon and they thought God was left in the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet God appears to Ezekiel in order to show that God was also in Babylon with His people! He is also present within all those who are Christians, because God the Holy Spirit lives within them!

Omnipotent -God is Almighty, in that He has unlimited power to do all things that are the object of power. With Almighty God nothing is impossible. But we have to take those verses from the Bible and read them in context. That is because there are things God cannot do. He cannot do anything that is contrary to His own nature. For instance, He cannot declare something infinite if that something is finite. Or because God is holy and cant look upon sin, God cannot therefore sin. If it was possible for God to sin, He would case to be God Almighty and therefore need His own saviour, which is certainly impossible and untenable! Omnipotence is an essential quality of God for if God were not all-powerful then He would not be God and would not be worthy of worship. He has amazing power! God created the universe with His eternal and infinite power! God made everything out of nothing and He sustains it and gives all of it life!

Omniscient - God is Almighty, in that He is has perfect knowledge of all things. The Psalmist writes: "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me, You know when I sit and when I rise...You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways" (Ps. 139:1-2a & 3). God knows all things, past, present, and future and all possible circumstances, solutions and outcomes. Therefore He knows all that we do (which includes the remembrance of all that we have done), all that we think (and the record of those thoughts), and all that we do say and all that we could say.

So what?

So God is Almighty in presence, power and knowledge and He is mighty to save. As we seek to live holy lives, let us remember that whatever we do, Almighty God is watching. Watching not to condemn us, but watching in order to love us as any good father does to his children. And save us, He does! Jesus Christ, being the Son of God will do an amazing thing to all those who have taken up His free offer of salvation. And because we are saved, the Spirit lives within us! Almighty God who is amazing! And yet this amazing and almighty God, who has us as children, can do something like this.

We read that in Revelation 21v3-5:

"Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Revelation 21v4, isn't that just the most amazing verse with a great big WOW factor? Picture it! Jesus Christ taking your face in His scarred hands and He will wipe away your tears - tears of suffering and tears of joy.  God is Almighty! Almighty in presence, power and knowledge. Yet this Almighty God, is full of mercy and grace, and when time on earth comes to an end, He will wipe away the tears of His children. Amazing and Almighty God.

Prayers

Lets speak to this Almighty God now. Let's pray!

Lord, again we lift to you all those affected by the drought in the Horn of Africa.  Hear their cries! Help the aid agencies and national governments to assist these people quickly! Stoke up the imagination of people who can help those in need and find solutions to these ongoing problems. Help those who are richf financially to give generously. Where there is conflict and strife, Almighty God, bring peace. Where there is great need, Almighty Father, bring supply and solutions. Where there is injustice, bring justice.

I bring before you now, Kathy, the mother of a dear friend. Lord, you know her situation! You know the worries of the medical staff and family concerning her. We pray for quick healing and assure her of your love for her. We ask this in Jesus Name, Amen!

Hymn / Song

Open my eyes - Steve Gooden

Benediction

Lets close in prayer, with these ancient words:

May the love of God the Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen

See you next time on Partakers! www.partakers.co.uk and if you have prayer requests, visit www.facewall.co.uk, post your request and we will pray for you.

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Worship Wednesday

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Order of Service

G'day and welcome to Partakers Wednesday Worship on the 6th of July, 2011. Lets start today with a song and we are listening to Steve Gooden singing "Amazing Grace" (In the public domain at http://ffmp3.firefighters.org/gooden.asp).

Bible Readings

Old Testament - Psalm 117

New Testament - Colossians 3:1-4

Prayers

Be exalted, Lord, above the heavens, let your glory cover the earth. Keep our nation under your care, and guide us in justice and truth. Let your way be known by all people, your saving power among all nations.

Send out your light and your truth, that we may tell of your saving works. Lord, hear our prayers, for we put our trust in you.

Amen

Message (Outline)

We are marked as Christians, but not outwardly visible marks, but internal one! Paul tells us what marks us out as Christians is:

1. We died with Christ
2. We are raised with Christ
3. We live with Christ
4. We are hidden with Christ
5. We will be glorified with Christ

These marks cover our past, our present and our future! So what? How do we apply this to our life?

Benediction

May the love of God the Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen

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Psalm 23

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1 The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

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Worship Wednesday

Be Thou My Vision

The video is at the bottom of this post!

Music taken from Godly Christian Music website and in the public domain.

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Yinka

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Today we have a special guest! His name is Yinka. He is originally from Nigeria but now lives and works in that great city of London! He will be sharing with us why he is thankful to God and how Jesus has helped him in his daily life.

If you have found this helpful, please do let us know how it has helped your own journey of faith. Thank you.

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Jonny Rose

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Interview with Bex Lewis

regarding Partake and BibleFresh!

Question 1 - So, Dave, briefly explain to us your journey of life & faith, which has taken you fro.m the sunny shores of Australia to ‘England’s green and pleasant land’.

I was raised to be a sceptic cum agnostic cum atheist with the words “Churches are dangerous places” and this is like 30 years before Dawkins and his ilk uttered the words! So coming into my teenage years, I decided if they are so dangerous lets go for a bit of danger! So I rebelled, became a Christian and started attending a local Christian youth group. After a bit, it was thought by my family that I was being brainwashed, so was stopped from going for a couple of years, until I met somebody who I used to go to school with who invited me to her church, and I restarted from there…

As to how I came to the UK! Well, I came here from Australia for 6 months travel around Europe! Or so I thought! That was in 1990 - 21 years it will be on the 26th of February 2011! I view it as God having a sense of humour. He knows I don’t like rain, cold and in particular - together! He has even given me the most beautiful of women as a wife but she doesn’t like hot weather! God sure has a sense of humour! 7 years ago I had a minor stroke and I view that as God giving me a clip round the ear to stop being stubborn and to listen to Him for direction. So instead of moving north with my job at Royal Mail, I took redundancy and went off to Moorlands college where I graduated in 2007.

Question 2 - You run ‘Partakers’ which looks to encourage and resource more Christians and churches to partake online. When did you set this up and what inspired you to do so?I set up Partake Ministries up in 2007. I had recorded some audio files as part of a block placement during my 3rd year at Moorlands. 6 months later I looked back on the site and discovered that the 16 audio files had been downloaded several thousand times, mainly in a country where evangelical Christians are persecuted. It was also part of my dissertation investigating if a Virtual Church could be part of the universal church. I based my study on the old maxim: one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

I still took the normal route post-bible college and applied for pastor jobs around the UK. I often was interviewed but the 2 main reasons given for not being successful was that I was too radical (as in application and use of internet/digital space etc), too much of a teacher or both! It was like “You cant seriously use the internet to evangelize and disciple others!” Bit like when the printing press came out and the church’s collective bellybutton puckered and said “You cant give the bible to people, they may actually read it!” So, I continued doing the Podcasts etc.

As for the name Partake itself, I got the idea straight from Matthew 5v6, which im the NIV says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” or as I paraphrased it “Blessed are those who partake after righteousness for they will be filled.” I have an accountability team set up by the church we attend, for mentoring, prayer, guidance, advice and accountability. I also have people on Facebook & Twitter to keep an eye on what I say and do to see that those things are within biblical confines.

Question 3 - What digital media tools do you use? It’s clear to see that you use blogging, Twitter, Facebook extensively, what does each do for you, and what else do you use?Blogging, podcasting, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter… I consider Facebook my online church and have many opportunities to encourage the Christian family as well as have good dialogue and friendships with many non-Christians who would never darken the door of a church. Yet those same people, message me prayer requests and ask questions which they know I will answer honestly. Podcasting is what I do mainly, but as with all the other things, I don’t do them for myself. Rather, I do it to share what God has given me to others, both those I know and those I don’t know, so that when I stand before Him, He will say “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have bought me much honour with the things I gave you.” As for the tools I use, its all open-sourced such as Audacity for recording voice or already installed as part of the Windows package such as Windows movie maker.

Question 4 - You also have lots of experience with podcasts, what particular advice would you give people who wished to start a regular podcast, and which tools would you recommend?Be yourself. I am not naturally a talker, or as we say back home in Australia a gum-flapper, so I tend to keep what I say to the point and don’t waffle on. Others are different but for me, it is to see that God is glorified and honoured through what I do. I use the open-source software Audacity – it is brilliant!

Question 5 - We’ve been Facebook friends for a while, and there’s always quite a lot of comment going on your pages – what’s the best debate you’ve had? I don’t think I have had any real debates, but it was probably with a Dawkins clone who insisted that all religions were equally bad and that no religion had never done anything good for anybody at any time and they should be all abolished. To which I simply replied so that means no education system, increased literacy etc…

Question 6 - I’ve met you at a number of conferences, which focus on the nexus of digital media and Christianity. What are the key thoughts that you’ve taken away from such events? New Testament church was relevant to their community, radical in applying Scripture in those efforts and were willing to take Spirit-led risks – the 3 r’s if you like. I am passionate that the 21st century church should be the same and using digital media and digital space is one way to do that. I am sure you have heard me say this before, but with the advent of digital space and social networking, the only real barrier to practically loving others is a limited imagination. Moltmann once said that the church needs to embrace a creativity for doing the impossible and with social networking and digital space we can do just that.

Question 7 - Of course we’re interviewing you with regards to @Biblefresh and @bigbible, so we’re particularly interested in what you think can be achieved with regards to getting the Bible online, and let us know what you’re doing with this, e.g. how do BAM and POD work? Firstly there was POD or Psalms On Demand. With the help of St Pixels, the church I attend and a few other people around the globe, we have managed to get all the Psalms recorded. Including Psalm 119 which was done by a Los Angeles Youth Group and Psalm 117 which was recorded by the 9 year old autistic daughter of a friend of mine! As I said previously, using digital media allows almost anybody to use their talents and gifts for the glory of God! Secondly there is BAM! Which is Bible Book a Minute, where I summarise the key point of the book and offer 2 key verses! As I usually speak about 180 words a minute it is possible! Plus there have been several series including a set of 25 studies “Scriptural Delights” based on Psalm 119; a series 18 studies called JOG (Jesus Overview in the Gospels) and a 12 module discipleship course with 6 studies in each module.

Question 8 - So, finally, what do you particularly want to offer to churches and individuals with regards to working in the Digital Space… and where do you see things going over the next few years? Leading on from my dissertation and other work with Partake, I have developed an hour-long seminar to get churches, Christians and small groups to be more involved in Digital Space. We had two trials at at the church we attend in the New Forest, the last one being on November 26th and are hoping to take this out to other churches and help them catch the vision. We have another planned for early 2011 involving all the churches in our town. There have been a couple of interested parties also elsewhere in the UK, as well as the US and Australia…

The world is rapidly changing and church history shows us that where the local church fails to adapt and be relevant to their local community, they either become merely a local cultural curiosity or they simply close up. By embracing these new technologies and using them for God’s glory alone, churches and Christianity can thrive and continue to thrive.

There are people in our communities who can’t get to a church – such as the housebound and geographically isolated. Using Digital Space is one way to show that the church is radically caring for these people. They have talents which can be shared through digital space such as poets, artists, photographers etc… The ability to help somebody, even if we don’t know who it is, is no longer limited by distance or geography, but only by our imagination. Technology is only going to increasingly develop and we can use it for the glory of God – the originator of imagination and sciences.