My Background

As the good old blogger.com only allow 1200 characters as html in the "about me" section I thought it would be only right to fill in the gaps here:

I now reside on the Essex/Suffolk border a few miles down the River Stour from Dedham and 'Constable Country'. Moved here in 2005 and much has happened over the last few years including the birth of my 2 & 1/2 year old Son, who is now a bouncing-full-of-energy-never-sits-still-always-on-the-go variety. It has been a busy few years, new house to furnish and garden to clear of builder’s rubble, meeting and making new friends and dealing with the change a child can make! It has been a time of change on so many levels and I have felt God's call on my life in a real and new way.

I was brought up in Christian home with all the good and not so good points that entails when growing up. I gave my life to God at a relatively early age and had a few recommitments during those early years. I am one of those people who cannot say 'on this day, at this time, I gave my life to Christ'. I often used to wish I could have had or remembered such a moment in a true hell's angel rocker type of way but we are all different and with our own path and story. I guess my recommitments in those early childhood years (to make sure) make pinpointing a date difficult but I do have distinct memories of praying to God and being impacted at summer camp under the fantastic and gentle messages delivered by Dave Pritchard (Camp Padre).

I was baptised on Sept 14 1986 and enjoyed many years in a Brethren Assembly when in those days we had a thriving youth work. I attended Essex Christian Camps each summer from the age of 11 initially as a camper and then a tent leader and later tent officer. It was a good work supported by brethren and evangelical assemblies throughout Essex and London and met on a school site for many years near Lowestoft. They were interesting and fruitful times. However as I grew up and as more independent thinking took place I began to feel that the church environment for me was not really relevant at that time in my mid to late teenage years.

This was followed by a period where my walk with God was not as it should be and I entered a period of back sliding and then a 'typical' university experience. It took a number of years through my 20s to really settle down and indeed it led me to leaving the country and going to teach English in Ukraine of all places in the summer of 1996. This was a great and fascinating time where I really learnt a lot about people and how other people lived and where I also met my future wife. I came to appreciate the things we take for granted in the developed West versus the comparative poverty in a place like the Ukraine. Whole families of 5 or 6 share a two bedroom flat in a high rise in a dimly-lit district and as their Guest I had one of their rooms!...I learnt about how appearances can be deceptive and that the people were so kind and humble but so very friendly and hospitable. It made a lasting impression on me. So that's the background.

In recent years since 2005 when we moved to where we live now and said right let's find a church the first Sunday after we move in, my walk with God has been closer. I have felt his hand on my life in a much deeper way and I have come to know him as a friend as well as a Father. During the pregnancy for our first child we had many worries and concerns which culminated in a very unexpected and premature birth. During the first 18 months we had other concerns with development, feeding, glue ear, hearing loss etc. But often these things happen for a purpose and I know that God brought me through the other side with a greater reliance on him and his purposes. Today my walk with God, whilst having 'it's ups & downs' which I think is probably normal is on much deeper spiritual level than ever before. I guess this is due to both a maturity on my part but also I feel because I am listening more to what the Holy Spirit has to say and allowing him to guide and direct me.

In recent times I have been trying to deal with the whole area of a reformed theology, gifts of the Spirit and the like and a local church based on New Testament principles. I want a local church that values each member equally, that is very much based on scripture and that is out there trying to connect with society and its locality. Church is not as we are often reminded about the building but about the people and my desire is to see the church going beyond the building to meet the needs of a broken society and in many senses a nation, a world which is totally lost.