funky doo

purging Google Reader

I star a lot of posts that I read on blogs through Google Reader - intending to go back and use the resources or follow up on the ideas or share elsewhere. I have failed miserably to do that since September 2009, so there will follow a series of posts of links to blog posts I have liked/starred so that I can find the links and remind myself why I kept them in the first place!

Here I'll post youthwork related posts and links and I'll do other personal, parenting and scrapbooking ones over on the family blog at www.funkydoofamily.blogspot.com so join me there, or on twitter @funkydoofamily...

http://www.thejourneysproject.com/ images exploring the modern day relevance of Jesus message.

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/startfreedom/ for schools and youth groups to engage with issues of human trafficking

http://www.studentministry.org/why-volunteers-wont-show-up-for-your-training-2-of-3/this is a 3 part series on improving your training methods with some great ideas ad pdf download

http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/  Dave Male's blog on Church Unplugged...good stuff

http://holdthisspace.org.au/christmas-spirit/

http://holdthisspace.org.au/whimsy/

http://holdthisspace.org.au/44-days-to-go/

above 3 links for advent/Christmas litugy which is a good find for this time of year!!

Phil Ritchie recommends the film 'Once'

NT Wright on social media and blogging http://churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com/2009/11/nt-wright-on-cultural-masturbation.html

Links from Jenny Baker's sessions at YW The Conference 2009 http://blog.sophianetwork.org.uk/2009/11/links-from-youthwork-the-conference.html

Armstrong and Miller Return to Church sketch with some links to reflection/discussion material http://www.youthblog.org/2009/11/return-to-church.html

Link to Guardian article about alternative communities http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/2009/11/anyone-for-the-deep-end-community.html

Phil Ritchie on cyber bullying http://philipstreehouse.blogspot.com/2009/11/cyber-bullies.html

Meditation on Committing to the Journey http://markjberry.blogs.com/way_out_west/2009/11/committing-to-the-journey.html

Youth and the Internet survey reflections http://churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com/2009/11/youth-and-internet-they-just-cant-live.html

That will do for now - I'll continue later! Hope some of this is useful!

Why I'm excited about Youthwork the Conference:
1. Uninterrupted sleep, I hope. Seagulls, be gone!
2. Input and teaching to restore the soul - programme looks great and, whereas in some years I've wondered whether any of the topics interest me, this year I already have a plan.
3. Time with youthworkers, known and unknown. I'm meeting up with 2 of my lovely youthworkers who come to the Hub every month, but I also know of a dozen others; DYO's, friends, friends of friends who will be there. Good excuse for another cuppa. Chatting to unknowns in seminars and stuff is always fun too!
4. Resources - it's a great opportunity to have some time to browse the shops and stuff available and to take time over the decision. I find I'm often grabbing something needed for NOW but I hope to be a bit more strategic with my non existent budget.
5. Last but my no means least - Jesus. It's all about Him and I'm looking forward to some extended time seeking God's heart - maybe it won't rain all the time and I can go on the beach? Excited that Vicky Beeching is leading worship - not only because she's cool but because she has a vulnerability and a sensitivity that you don't always get with other worship leaders. After 10 months in a Catholic liberal church too, some vibrant, charismatic worship is well needed!!!

There are things I'm not excited about - missing the visit of my brother in law and his family who could only visit this weekend; missing my family, especially with Andy having sliced his finger off; rubbish weather and travelling on a Friday on the train...but generally, I'm excited!!

I'll post next week on my reflections and signposting to the good stuff!

I have spent today de-cluttering at home. Physically that has involved sorting through lots of our personal filing and other junk that for some reason we have kept. Who knows why cos most of it is now in shredded piles or just in the recycling.
I have also done some much needed sorting of some work files, which I brought home with me yesterday in an attempt to keep focused on just that task. I find if I start on a de-cluttering or filing job at the office, some bits of what I am tidying set me off on another task and I never get the original task finished. Anyone else like that?
So anyway, I got all the piles shredded, tossed out or filed and also got my email inbox down from 60 emails needing attention to just 20 which aren't urgent and will just stay in the inbox for reference for a while or until something is resolved. Until I get the next influx, but hey...
Pretty pleased with myself, but it's no where near as tidy as this office in the picture
...which I'm glad I didn't read about before I started on this task today otherwise I might have given up before I got going! 

But once again, the issue of minimalism and decluttering rears in my mind and it is so clear to me how frustrated I get when my work and head space is not in order...once I had done the filing, sorted the piles of stuff and prioritised what was left, I whizzed through my inbox at record speed cos I knew where certain bits of info where and I didn't need to waste time on the searching.
My plan from today:
Set aside days for sorting, filing and decluttering on a regular basis, not just when it seeps out the front door.
Get much more of my work material in an online format - only print where necessary.
Acknowledge to others that I work better this way - and be accountable.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons. http://www.weblogcartoons.com/

International Arrivals

I post this cos it's awesome...! Wish I had flown to Heathrow that day! Enjoy...

WideOpen 12 hour prayer room

If you followed us on Twitter #wideopenprayer or my facebook profile last weekend, you will probably have noticed that we were running an event at our church (All Saints Maldon) - with a difference.

As a fresh way to open up the church after the recent renovations, we devised a prayer space which ran for 12 hours and comprised a number of prayer stations in an informal Labyrinth style. Using various multi-sensory ideas and activities, we encouraged people to pray, to think, to meditate and to have some space in the beautiful building and in the busyness of their day. People came to see the new rooms in the church and the renovations, assuring us they would 'only stay for 2 minutes...' and half an hour later they were still there, at a station or sitting in the Chancel.

It was quite some work to set up, stressful at times, but we had a great day and enjoyed the conversations and opportunity to offer space and prayer to a variety of people. We offered free hot drinks all day, served by a wonderful team of willing volunteers from the church. We also had a team who gave out flyers on the High Street and encouraged people to come in and see...

The welcome tentThe confession station - get rid of your junk..Who am I - creative station with clay  The Chancel Chill Out

Thanks to everyone who helped in any way, near or far. We hope to repeat the event in February with a Luurrrvvvee theme, so watch this space and let me know if you want to borrow any of our ideas for stations or set up.

Thanks for stopping by!