Family

Ellie’s operation

Ellie gave us a bit of a scare earlier this year.  What started off as just a niggling pain in the chest turned out to be gall stones, which was at times crippling and meant she had to avoid anything even remotely fatty for several months.  She found that change of diet difficult, what with not being able to eat cheese or chocolate.  Still, the operation went very smoothly and she was back on her feet and eating naughty things soon afterwards.  My biggest confession here is that I’m still ever so slightly jealous at how quickly she healed after her operation, compared to me and my hernia (which is mostly fine now, incidentally).

Peter leaving home

This year my littlest brother flew the nest, finding a lovely little church in Uffeculme to go and be a trainee youth worker at.  I went to his induction service, which was a great way to support him as he began his new ministry, and an opportunity to meet (albeit in passing) others like him and also the vicar he’s working with, who seems very nice.  Unfortunately, despite booking a date in with him, we didn’t get to actually visit Peter on-site this year (more on that later), so hopefully we’ll reschedule that for early 2012.  It does leave Mum and Dad’s house somewhat empty though; apparently their food bill has roughly halved now that Peter’s moved out…

Read Peter’s blog.

France holiday

Apart from a weekend in Weymouth, we as a family have never had a holiday until this year.  Ellie and I have been married for 4 years, and that was all we had managed.  This year we took advantage of Ellie’s Dad’s holiday home in France, and had a lovely week with them.  We had a fantastic day on the beach, generally enjoyed chilling and not doing too much, and although it was short it was much appreciated.  The travel was an adventure – driving on the wrong side of the road isn’t actually too hard at all, although the weather on our return journey made the ferry crossing quite uncomfortable (not that Samuel seemed at all bothered by that).

Samuel’s visit to hospital

Not to be left out, Samuel also necessitated a trip to the hospital, following a very high temperature that caused him to have a brief seizure.  That was a huge worry for us at the time, but thankfully it wasn’t anything to worry about in the end.  Apparently these things happen with young children, because their bodies aren’t able to deal with the heat as well.  No lasting damage, I’m pleased to say.

Grandma’s funeral

Ellie’s Grandma sadly passed away this year.  It wasn’t entirely unexpected, as she was very old and increasingly unwell, but it was still something unpleasant we all had to go through.  She had been growing increasingly senile, making conversation difficult, and although we’d managed to persuade her to move out of her bungalow and into a flat where she’d have people to help, she actually only lived there for a matter of weeks due to prolonged visits to various hospitals.  It was one thing after another, what with falls, blood pressure, infections, and so on.  In the end she had a fall while in hospital that led to a bleed on the brain which, in addition to everything else she was going through, was just too much.  Thankfully we happened to be visiting Ellie’s Mum at the time, so we were on hand to support her through it.  A useful bit of planning on God’s part, methinks.

Cars

Tow bar fitted to the Zafira

We have a trailer tent sitting in the garage.  We were given it by Ellie’s Dad, but we have yet to actually take it anywhere.  We drove it back from Gloucester, attached to our Ford Escort, but since then it’s just sat there.  So to ensure that we would be able to take it out when the opportunity finally presented itself, we got a tow bar fitted to our Zafira with 2 power points just in case.  It may not usually be recommended, but I reckon with judicious driving and selection of gears it should be easily possible to tow a trailer tent with a 1.6 litre engine!

Ellie’s driving test

I’m very pleased to report that Ellie is now on the road, having passed her test in November.  It was only her second attempt, and she had to take the test in our car because her instructor had double-booked himself, and it was in Dorchester rather than where she had been learning, so all things considered I think that’s pretty good going!  It’s already proved to be very useful, with Ellie frequently dropping me off at work and having the car during the day so she can do shopping, take Samuel into town, etc.  And of course long journeys can now be shared out between us, which was very much appreciated at Christmas time!

Zafira written off

Unfortunately, exactly a month after passing her test, Ellie had a bit of an accident.  Nothing major, which was a relief, especially given the sort of accidents new drivers tend to have, but sadly it was enough to make the Zafira a complete loss.  It was just a collision with a parked car, but it took out the steering rack.  Our insurance company was very good though, and helped us through the process very well.

Our new Focus Estate

So having lost the Zafira, we went looking for a new car.  We hired a little Corsa for a weekend (which was surprisingly affordable, courtesy of Enterprise) and went touring the local area for potential cars.  I was originally aiming for a Ford Focus hatchback, which would be a lot smaller than the Zafira but about the same as our Escort, so should be manageable.  Not ideal, but it would do.  The first Focus we saw turned out not even to have a valid MOT, so I refused to take it out for a test drive.  It would have needed a lot of work doing on it anyway.  The second, while in much better condition, still didn’t feel right.  In the end though we found a Focus Estate that was just right, and it’s really proved its worth over Christmas.  It’s got a slightly bigger engine at 1.8 litres, making it a bit more powerful, and the gearing is taller too making it much more comfortable on the motorway.  And it came with a tow bar, so we’ll still be able to take the trailer tent out when that opportunity comes round…

Church

Creating the Facebook page

For those who don’t know, I’m on the PCC at church.  That’s basically the committee that makes the decisions regarding the running of the church, working on behalf of the whole congregation and beyond.  Those who know me will know that I’m not a sit-quietly-and-wait-for-someone-else-to-do-it person.  I saw a need for us to be on Facebook, so I proposed it, explained a few times what Facebook was, and was finally given the go-ahead to set it up.  It’s now live, and although it’s not a hive of activity, at least it’s there and being used, which is a step in the right direction!

Visit the Facebook page for St Peter & St Paul’s.

Designing a new church logo

I’m also on the Outreach Focus Group, which is like a sub-committee of the PCC in charge of outreach.  While I was thinking about outreach and how we communicate with the outside world I got to thinking about creating a logo for the church to use.  So I created a potential design, got very positive feedback, presented it to the PCC, got even more positive feedback, and was then told to put it on hold until the new vicar arrived.  Which was frustrating.  I can see where they’re coming from though, and hopefully this year we’ll be able to move forward on it.

Our new vicar

When we first moved to this area and started going to St Peter & St Paul’s there were 2 full-time clergy and a curate, plus a whole load of retired clergy itching to get involved.  Now, I’m sure it’s nothing to do with us, but not long after that we lost Dave to another church, and a bit later Liz took early retirement, leaving just the curate, who should have been busy training really and not running a church.  Despite being promised lots of support from the diocese, and the promise of being fast-tracked through the process, we still had to wait a good 18 months before David started.  It was a tough time for the church, and a lot of people had to work a lot harder to fill in the gaps and keep things running, but clearly God was saving us for just the right person.  I’m pleased to say that I like David a lot, and I think he’s just what our church needs.  He has already made a big impact, already challenged people’s expectations, already begun giving us focus and direction.  And we’ve already ensured he’s got the right impression of us – since he’s arrived we’ve had 5 fancy dress outings, the first of which was on his first Sunday and I dressed up as Cruella Deville…

Youth Praise talk

I was asked to do the talk at the December Youth Praise service.  I’ve done them before, but this turned out to be the talk that made me most nervous.  There were a number of factors at play: it was the first sermon our new vicar would hear me preach, and my parents were visiting that weekend so they’d be there too.  Oh, and I ripped a page out of my Bible.  Now, before you write me off as a heretic, I ought to explain the context (and back myself up by stating that I’d checked with the vicar that he was okay with it).  The running theme of the talk was that of “one continuous story”, bringing in the fact that although Jesus was born of Mary he actually existed long before then, and was present at creation.  And although the words stop being printed at the end of the book of Revelation the story itself continues and includes all of us today.  So to make the point, and to reinforce the idea that the Old Testament and the New Testament are not two separate stories, I ripped out the divider page between Malachi and Matthew, making it literally one continuous story.  Now, obviously I don’t condone people ripping pages out of Bibles as a general rule, but it got the point across, and I had some very positive feedback afterwards, which was encouraging.  There was more to the talk than just that, but that was the bit that required the most thought and prayer!!

Fancy dress

Pyjamas

To raise money for Children in Need this year our Youth Praise service at church decided to come in pyjamas.  I have to admit I’ve never worn pyjamas in church before.  It would have been cold had it not been for the addition of a dressing gown and slippers.

No pictures I’m afraid.

Cruella Deville

We don’t tend to actively encourage Halloween in church circles.  I personally find it a tough concept, mainly because the whole event trivialises something that is very real and dangerous, which can be a very risky thing to do.  But nor do we like to appear to be sticks in the mud, so we arranged for a Halloween-alternative party for our young people to come to, and it had been decided it would be fancy dress.  After much work (mainly by Ellie), I turned up to the party as Cruella Deville from 101 Dalmations, accompanied by Ellie as a dalmation, and I was decidedly the most scary person at the party.  I wore a long black dress, black bra (with socks for padding), tights, knee-high boots, a black and white wig, black gloves, plus makeup and accessories.  And, I have to confess, it was surprisingly good fun!

Butler

A little more conventional this time; Ellie and I appeared as a maid and a butler (respectively) at the church youth group’s Christmas meal.  We waited on them the whole evening, staying in character the whole time, which I think unnerved a couple of people!  It was tiring work, especially on the feet…

Root of Jesse

At the December Youth Praise service we were encouraged to come in fancy dress again, this time as something from the Old Testament.  I was doing the talk, so I didn’t want to be wearing anything too distracting, so I just brought a carrot.  It’s a root vegetable.  Root of Jesse.  Geddit?

No picture available for this costume I’m afraid.

Wolverine

I’ve been Wolverine before, at Anne-Marie’s birthday party a few years ago, but I brought it back out again this year (something I prefer not to do, I don’t like to repeat myself) for a special occasion.  The work Christmas party this year was themed as “A Night at the Oscars”, and we were all encouraged to come as a film character or actor.  A lot of people opted for the easy option, which was to come in a fancy ball gown as if they were walking down the red carpet, but thankfully there were also plenty in fancy dress.  I was Wolverine from X-Men, in a tux.  My claws were made from cardboard, coloured with a silver pen, held in place by untwisted paperclips taped to the back of my hand and hidden by fingerless gloves.  It worked very well, and I got a few comments from people at the party.  The muttonchops also went down a treat.  The most surprising comment though wasn’t about any of that – “is that your real hair?”  Yes, it was my own hair, just gelled.  I’m still not sure whether to take it as a compliment or not.

A photo does exist, but it’s not mine and it’s on Facebook.

Christmas Elf

Another Christmas party, this time for the younger children of the church.  In absence of Father Christmas himself, I manned the grotto as an elf, wearing bright red trousers, green t-shirt, red waistcoat, green hat, and proper elf ears.  And yes, I was in character too, making sure I was smiling and jolly the whole time, which was incredibly hard work.  I gave presents to all the children, did a little dance (for which I still need to exact my revenge on Wendi…), and afterwards tried to convince the kids that it wasn’t me and that it must have been a real elf.  I don’t think they believed me.

Again, no pictures that I’m aware of.

White Rabbit

This was my second-favourite costume this year, for our New Year’s party.  It was a group of friends from church, all of us with children, so we started at 5pm, had some dinner, played some games, and then bundled all the kids upstairs and told them to go to sleep while the rest of us stayed up.  That plan sort of worked, eventually.  Anyway, it was fancy dress but with no particular theme, so we decided to go as characters from Alice in Wonderland, which is a theme we’ve somehow not covered before.  Ellie went as the Mad Hatter, I went as the White Rabbit, and Samuel was the Dormouse.  Ellie made the most enormous hat, and Samuel looked very cute with his mouse ears and teapot.  My triumph was the teeth I made from a plastic pot cut to shape, which simply slotted between my gums and upper lip and, with a little effort, still allowed me to speak!  Obviously I still had to take them out to eat and drink, but it was good fun nonetheless.

Music

Rediscovering the cello

Earlier this year I had a free evening, and Ellie was out, so I decided to dig my cello out.  It had been buried in the corner of our hall since we’d moved in, and hadn’t been played in years.  I hadn’t even checked that it had survived the house move.  So it was with some apprehension that I opened the case, but found to my surprise and delight that not only was it all still in one piece and in working order but that it was still perfectly in tune!  Not only that but I could still remember how to play the thing.  Admittedly not to the same level as when I was on top form, back in my final year at school, but I was still able to play The Swan without any difficulty, which is somewhere in the grade 6-7 range I think.

Album update

Unfortunately this year has seen little in the way of progress on my album.  I did some more editing, and regrettably decided that one of the tracks that had been causing me difficulty was actually too fast and needed to be re-recorded at a slightly slower tempo.  I also did some minor tweaks to some of the levels, and re-recorded a couple of the guitar bits to make use of the effects pedal I got for Christmas last year.  But there is still a fair amount of work yet to do, what with re-recording bits and adding more depth in a few places.

Worship at camp

Camp was by far the biggest musical input of this year, as I was leading the music and worship for the whole week, which is quite normal for camp but still a lot of effort in a condensed period of time.  I found it quite hard work this year though, partly because I wasn’t quite in the right place, spiritually, to lead as effectively as in previous years (in my opinion).  It was also harder because I didn’t have my core group of musicians that I had got used to – Sarah had double booked herself so couldn’t make it, and Greg was needed on another camp and the dates clashed.  The musicians I actually worked with were brilliant, but it was just a lot harder work having a different group of people each evening and not having an opportunity to gel as a band.  Still, it was good fun overall and I’m looking forward to next year!

That’s a quick summary of 2011.  Well, not “quick”, but summarised nonetheless.  Bring on 2012!

I guess it’s partly with that in mind that I and my wife are leaders each year on a Christian youth camp.  I say ‘partly’ because the other half of the reason I go is that Ellie asked me to, and since we were engaged at the time (the first year we went) I felt I ought to say yes.  Since that first year we’ve both made ourselves quite indispensible, doing lots of stuff, leading lots of things, running hither and thither to help out wherever we can.

This year was slightly different for both of us, for different reasons.  The main difference for me, as you may have read, is that I’ve had a hernia.  I was under doctor’s orders not to lift anything heavier than a kettle, and not to do too much walking around either.  Ellie’s time was also eaten into by the attention of our baby Samuel, who had his first experience of exuberant teenagers this year.  Camp this year was tough on all of us – physically and mentally.

My main responsibility at camp is leading and co-ordinating the music and worship during the week.  I’m the front man for the band, which plays for the morning and evening meetings each day, helping the kids worship God in music.  I choose the songs, co-ordinate the rehearsals, lead worship and provide musical interludes where appropriate.  This year we had a music session on each day as well, and for the most part I led those single-handed too.  There was a worship workshop on band dynamics, two practices for the members’ band (who provided the music for one of the evening meetings), and a jam session where the young people could come and play.  I was also on hand to help out with the DJ session, and usually help with ‘Junk Funk’ too (which is a percussion session using bits of junk we find around the site).  And that’s all in addition to co-leading a Bible study group and being a dorm leader, and all the other responsibilities of camp in general.  Oh, and I was the official photographer as well.

Normally I would have thrown myself into all those activities, and doubtless worn myself out by the third day as usual.  But, with my hernia hampering my ability to take part in anything even remotely physical, I had to take things a lot slower than usual.  I had to leave extra time to get between locations, because I could only walk at a very leisurely pace if I wanted to avoid a lot of pain later in the day.  I had to get people to carry things for me.  I had to ask other people to run around and find the theatre keys while I sat outside in the sunshine.  I had to push in the queue at meal times s that I wouldn’t be standing for longer than I needed to.  It may sound like a cushy life, but in reality it was really hard work – not physically, but mentally.

Life wasn’t easy for Ellie, either.  While it was a godsend having her mum with us to look after Samuel during the day, Ellie still needed to be with him for some of the time, and of course she was still getting up during the night to feed him.  How she had the energy to do camp at all I really don’t know.  And of course because I wasn’t able to physically do much with Samuel, I then felt guilty for sitting and watching.

And yet, despite this backdrop of difficulty and inconvenience, camp was still undeniably awesome.  The worship band, which consists of only three people – me playing guitar and keyboard (not at the same time), Greg on bass, Sarah on drums – gelled together almost instantly, and I was once again amazed and inspired by how rich and full a sound the three of us could make.  Leading worship from a sitting position didn’t appear to have a major impact on the effectiveness, and many of the young people said how wonderful the worship had been during the week.  I even taught them a few of my own songs, which seemed to go down well.

Everyone looked after me, everyone understood why I wasn’t able to do as much, no one was offended at my inaction or blamed me for lateness.  Being temporarily disabled gave me an insight into other areas of camp, those chilled out times in Stanbucks (our on-site equivalent of a Starbucks cafe), the spectators at the sidelines of sport activities, the conversations and relationships taking place in the breaks and free time.  It was beautiful.  I got to listen, to hang out, to gain insights into people’s lives that I’d never found time to explore in previous years.  Yes, this year’s camp was lived in the slow lane, but ultimately I found it to be a very positive experience.

And then there were the kids.  Or ‘members’, as we officially call them.  A lot of them are repeat offenders – by which I mean they come back to camp year after year.  Sometimes they bring their friends, too.  And it’s been so inspiring to see how they’ve all grown and matured in the last few years.  I remember leading the members’ band a few years ago, and recall how hard work it was getting them to work together and wanting the show off their musical talents.  This year, in stark contrast, I was blown away by their spiritual maturity, their willingness to serve, their ability to work together for a common goal, and their musical skill.  That Thursday evening when the members’ band were on stage was such a rewarding experience – its rare that you get to see those seeds grow and mature over the years, and I’m so thrilled with the way God has been at work in their lives in those 51 weeks of the year they’re not at camp.

I’ve put photos up on Facebook, as usual, and most of the members are now ‘friends’ with me.  I find it interesting watching them go through life the rest of the year, seeing what’s going on in their lives, how God’s working in them.  And I guess that’s the key.  Nothing we do at camp would be worth a penny if God were not at the centre of it all.  There’s no way such a small group of leaders should have the energy or resources to do what we do each year and still be able to drive home at the end of it.  There’s no way we would have any impact on young people’s lives if it weren’t for God being there to inspire them and help them grow.  It’s God who attracts them, God who challenges them, God who changes them, God who equips them, God who supports them when they go back home.

I’m looking forward to next year’s camp already.  Ellie and I have a list of things we’d like to improve or add.  But most importantly I’m looking forward to meeting with the young people again, seeing where God has led them in the last 51 weeks, seeing how they’ve grown and matured, catching a glimpse of the people God is making of them.  I’m also hoping I won’t need a desk chair on stage next year.

So, here are the words to the song, “Jesus your name is higher”.  I don’t have the music written out yet, but when I do I’ll try and make sure that finds its way onto here too.  

Jesus your name is higher

Verse 1

Wake us, revive us,
shake us, inspire us to believe.
Take us, mould us,
change us by your transforming love.

We are your hands and mouth and feet,
your great commission we’ll fulfil:
to tell all the world of all you’ve done.

Chorus

Jesus your name is higher,
Jesus your grace is greater,
Jesus your love has defeated our sin.
Jesus your church is listening,
Jesus your church is reaching,
Jesus, your people declaring your name.

Verse 2

Teach us, renew us,
inform us and change the way we see.
Fill us, empower us,
prepare us and send us to your world.

We are your hands and mouth and feet,
your great commission we’ll fulfil:
to tell all the world of all you’ve done.

Chorus

Words and music copyright (C) Matthew Dawkins 2009

It’s deliberately quite a simple song to learn, which makes it great for a worship slot, but the tune is also quite catchy and a good congregational anthem.  Thematically it’s about individuals coming together as the Body of the Church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, with the aim of actively demonstrating God’s love in the world around us.  God’s commission to us to spread the gospel isn’t a passive one; we need to be showing people God’s love through what we do every day, telling them of God’s passion through what we say in normal conversation.  We need to rise to the challenge and be God’s hands and feet in this land.

It’s a gathering song, speaking of our unity in Christ, so would go well at the beginning of a service.  I particularly like the end of the second verse, which says “trusting not in our own strength but in your power, saved by grace and not by what we’ve done”.  It helps us recognise how awesome God’s grace is, how he allows us into his presence despite our many failings, and the chorus invites God to “set our hearts ablaze with passion” to do his work.

Come Holy Fire

1. Every walk, every past,
gathered in your name;
fallen hearts, weary souls,
we whom you forgave.
Humbly now we bow before your mighty throne,
and recognise the power of your name.

Come holy fire,
set our hearts ablaze with passion.
Come breath of God,
fan the flames of our desire.
One heart, one mind,
we have gathered here to worship.
Closest friend, humble king,
you are worthy Lord.

2. So we turn from our sin,
drawing close to you;
set aside hopes and dreams,
we will follow you.
Trusting not in our own strength but in your power,
saved by grace and not by what we’ve done.

Chorus

3. Now to you we will sing
of your matchless grace.
Now our souls are set free
to worship in this place.
Earth and heaven open wide to praise your name,
reconciled, united in your blood.

Chorus

Copyright © Matthew Dawkins 2009.

“Come holy fire” by Matthew Dawkins is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

It’s my prayer that this song is useful.  If you like the song, please let me know and spread the word – it’s not currently associated with a publisher, so you can use it completely free of charge (for now at least).

Download the score for “Come Holy Fire” (PDF)

On sale now – only £5!!

Rooted is a band I set up at Orchard Baptist Church a couple of years ago, mostly playing completely original songs written by members of the band.  After almost a year and a half in the making, our debut album is now finished and available for you to buy.  At the moment there are limited copies available, so get your bookings in now to ensure you don’t miss out!

In the beginning features 7 songs, including one bonus track at the end, and covers a range of musical styles, from rock to reflective, with the aim of stimulating worship in a variety of ways.  From the loud and rocky “Father God you reign” to the softer “I draw near” featuring a cello trio, there is something for everyone in this concise album of original Christian music.

To buy your copy of In the beginning, contact Matthew either in person or by e-mail.

Track listing:

1. Father God you reign
2. In the beginning
3. God will always be there
4. Beautiful Lord
5. I draw near
6. O Lord my God
7. Do I need riches (bonus)

Band members:

• Matthew Dawkins (guitars, vocals, additional instruments)
• Berkeley Young (acoustic guitar)
• Paula Stubbs (vocals)
• Rachel Paterson (bass)
• Luke Knight (percussion)
• Anna Lane (keyboard)
• James Green (drums)

A big thank you to Orchard Baptist Church for allowing us to use the church for recording, and for the use of your microphones.  And a big shout out to Rachel and Luke, both of whom are off at uni at the moment.

Introduction

This year Ellie and I were both leaders on a Christian youth camp (a CYFA Ventures camp) for 14-18 year olds, at a boarding school near Southampton called Stanbridge Earls.  We’ve both been before, but this was the first time we’d been as a married couple, so that was a nice novelty!

Our week was actually started off a few days earlier than everyone else, as we went to Southampton University for my brother’s graduation.  It was lovely to see him, and all our family, and generally hang out in Soton for a bit.  Photos will be up on a gallery somewhere in due course I expect.  Ellie and I then stayed a couple of nights at a guest house in Soton, visiting the New Forest on the Friday before going off to camp on the Saturday morning.

Saturday

We arrived at Stanbridge Earls with plenty of time to spare.  In fact, that’s a bit of an understatement – we got there a full half an hour before we were technically allowed on site.  So we drove around for a bit before venturing through the gates to find a couple of the other leaders who had already arrived.  All the leaders met up at around 10am, had a quick business meeting and a catch-up, and then promptly got to work setting up the site for our camp.  Ellie and I were both hard at work in the theatre, which is where the morning and evening meetings were held throughout the week (like mini church services).  Ellie was up in the lighting box finding her way around all the knobs and buttons, and I was generally setting up the stage with a few other people, placing instruments and helping plug various cables in the right places.

It was actually really nice to be back on camp again.  Wandering around the site it was all so familiar, even though it’s been 2 years since I was last there.  It was as if I’d never been away.  Camp is a bubble, completely cut off and separate from the rest of reality.  And it’s quite a nice bubble, too.

We had a good number of kids this year, around 50 in total, which meant that there was a chance of getting to know most of them over the course of the week.  They arrived in dribs and drabs and congregated in the dining hall, and mid-morning we were given our first activity – the Members’ Challenge.  It was essentially a quiz that we had to do in our dorm groups that took us all over the site to retrieve various things, answer certain questions, or have our photos taken in various poses.  It was good fun, and helped us bond with our dorm right from the start.

Then after dinner we had our evening meeting, for which Sam led worship on guitar, I played my funky electric guitar, Tom played bass, and Sarah played drums.  There were some people singing too, but they varied through the week and I can’t remember who sang when, so I’ll just thank them all and assume that someone was singing!  The music was good and loud this year, with both Sam and I having pretty solid guitar setups – Sam had brought his new electric guitar as well as his acoustic, and was using a Line6 Spider II amp with a pedal box, and I was using my Line6 Variax guitar (that essentially gives me around 26 guitars in one) plugged into my Line6 Spider III amp.  It was a bit mushy that first night, with both of us trying to find a good balance between who was playing and with what level of distortion.  The kids seemed really into it right from the start, which was good.

The evening was rounded off with a quiz that Richard had sorted out.  And then bed.  And it was surprising just how much we needed it after just one day.

Sunday

Somehow I was too busy to notice that it was Sunday and I should have been at church.  Then again, every day that week felt a little bit like a Sunday, with all the God-centred stuff and worship twice a day.  Good stuff.  Sam and I alternated leading worship this year, so Sunday was my turn to lead both morning and evening sessions.  I don’t think I did a huge amount else that day, apart from sorting out music and stuff.  I should really have been socialising with my dorm, but there was just far too much other stuff that needed doing.  Ah well, we live and learn.

In the evening we had a “Night Hike and Campfire”, which was essentially a crowd of 80 people stumbling through the darkness, through the trees and bushes (at least I think that’s what they were), and eventually finding ourselves at the big camp fire where the ALs had hot chocolate prepared.  Oh, I ought to mention what the ALs are – Assistant Leaders.  Lucy and Anna (twins) and Laura were members last year, but were old enough this year to be ALs instead, and did a fantastic job of doing all those jobs that no one else wanted to do, like cleaning and serving hot chocolate and typing up songs at short notice and generally doing loads of stuff behind the scenes.  They were a fantastic team, their matching T-shirts were awesome, and they really helped make the week a success.  Hats off to you girls.

Monday

The major activity on Monday was so big it had to be split into two parts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  The Mini-Olympics basically involved a whole series of games that we did in our Bible study groups (which was half of one dorm group combined with half of another of the opposite gender).  My team was stunningly average, and despite some heroic triumphs and some embarrassing defeats we actually ended up coming somewhere smack bang in the middle.  Can’t complain.

It was the evening that really saw things come alive though, with the Murder Mystery that PJ had created.  Yes, created, not an off-the-shelf jobbie.  Completely engineered himself.  And it was awesome.  Set at the turn of the century, the plot revolved around a young lady who had been bitten by a vampire, and the teams had to run around the site interacting with various members of the household to try and find out who the vampire was and how to stop him.  I was a butler called Hinton, and spent all my time in the dining room polishing cutlery and polishing my shoes.  Others weren’t so lucky – Will was a crazed madman running around in the woods smelling people and shouting random things in the darkness, in the pouring rain.  It was really well received though, and all the members pulled together and enjoyed it greatly.

Tuesday

Tuesday I played a lot of music.  And I mean a serious amount of music.  I was leading worship in the morning, then the morning activity I was leading the members’ band, in the afternoon we did Junk Funk and then I was leading worship again in the evening.

Okay, let’s just explain what some of those are, because unless you were there you’re unlikely to understand the significance.  The members’ band is where we get all the members who play instruments and try and get them co-ordinated into a band, with the aim of having them lead the worship for the Thursday evening meeting.  My job was to organise them all, which turned out to be a job and a half, simply because there were 6 drummers, at least 5 guitarists, and a whole gaggle of singers.  We managed to make some sense of it all eventually though, and played through a couple of songs.  I decided it was best to leave the final decisions until the next rehearsal, and just whet everyone’s toes for now.

Junk Funk was a joint leadership thing between myself and Sarah, who is a trained and very talented percussionist (she can play pretty much anything that you hit).  The idea was to get a whole load of junk, give it to the members and get them to play as a percussion band in some form.  A bit like Stomp, if you’ve heard them.  Now, Sarah and I come from very different percussion backgrounds – Sarah is very highly trained, and has a passion for Brazillian and Latin rhythms, and is very organised.  I have no training whatsoever, a general appreciation for anything rhythmical, and prefer planned spontenaity to prescriptive pre-planning.  In actual fact the combination of those two approaches worked out really well.  We had a huge number of kids come along, most of whom were very rhythmic (which made our job a lot easier).  Sarah started off by teaching people a few call and response things from her Samba training, which we used at various points during the session to control everyone.  Everyone seemed to pick these up quickly, so I then led the planned spontenaity (which I don’t think Sarah had come across before), which basically involved starting everyone off with a beat and told them to get creative with it.  Before very long there was a multitude of beats going on, all very musical, and all I did to control it was wave my hands around to tell people to get quieter or louder, or which section should be playing at any given time.  It was lots of fun, and they made a wonderful sound!  The only problem was that in some ways they were a little over-enthusiastic – there were a couple of kitchen items that got a little bashed out of shape over the course of the session, and by the time we eventually finished everyone’s ears were ringing!  All good fun though, and definitely one to do next year.

The evening meeting on Tuesday was argubly one of the more powerful ones of the week, with a really stirring talk by Jennie followed by some quite touching worship afterwards.  There were a number of people in tears by the end of the meeting.  That’s by no means a bad thing, of course, and showed a good level of maturity from the members to be able to take on board the tough message.  All in all it was quite a draining day – musically, emotionally and spiritually.

Wednesday

Half way through the week, and by this point most of us were running low on energy.  In the morning Sam, Sarah and I led a Worship Workshop, which actually only attracted 4 members, but we had a good session talking about how to play effectively as a band, what constituted worship, and how to lead worship.  It was a bit of a fly-past tour of the topic rather than an in-depth study, but I think it was enough to at least whet the appetites of those who attended.  Judging by the musical ability of some of the peeps in the members’ band and the spiritual and emotional maturity already demonstrated, I can see there being a whole new generation of worship leaders just waiting to be put on stage!  With God’s annointing I am sure they will go far.

The afternoon I think I managed to take some time out to relax a bit.  At least, I think that’s what I did.  It’s all so long ago (already) and the week was so packed with stuff that figuring out what I did when is a bit of a challenge.  Thankfully though I managed to pace myself better this year – two years ago when I last came I pushed myself a little too hard and crashed quite spectacularly on the Thursday.  This year I managed to alay my guilt and spend some quality time sitting on a sofa doing very little.  Not wasting time, savouring it.

That evening we had the formal meal, for which everyone dressed up in black and white – and bling – and had a lovely meal.  For a change, all the members were served by the leaders (rather than the job being assigned to specific dorm groups).  The food, it has to be said, was lovely, just as it had been the whole week – hats off to the cooks!  After the meal we all headed down to the theatre for the Stanbridge Earls version of “Britain’s Got Talent”; there were a number of acts, though many of them (including the Monty Python sketch Ellie and I had rehearsed) were cut short due to lack of time and lack of talent.  A little frustrating for those groups who had been rehearsing for hours, but never mind.

Thursday

Another relatively easy start to the day, with nothing specific planned for the morning except leading worship.  It was the afternoon and evening, though, that got my pulse racing again, with the second of the two afternoon activity sessions (the one just before dinner, which was followed immediately by the evening meeting) being the second members’ band rehearsal.  Everyone managed to make it to that rehearsal (the previous time several people had been on an off-site activity so couldn’t make it), so there were a lot of people to try to co-ordinate.  Rather than dictating to them what they were going to play and how, I had decided to let them have a say in it all, so the first part of the session involved everyone discussing which songs we wanted to do, taking into account the theme of the talk that night, and then the complicated task of working out who was going to play at what point.  I think there was a little disappointment by some of the drummers, all of whom really wanted to play but not all of whom could play at once!  We finally managed to get that all sorted though, and managed to go through the songs a couple of times.  The main problem I had was keeping a tight reign on their enthusiasm – there were three fantastic guitarists all playing at the same time, and I kept having to tell them to scale it down and not all play at once!  It was quite heavy and stodgy at times.  Thankfully I think the message got through eventually and they managed to put their egos aside for the meeting, and it all worked really well.

Oh, and the evening session saw all the boys camped out in the theatre watching Finding Nemo.  Quality.

Friday

Aahh!!  Our last full day of camp!  Where has the week gone??!  It was a bit of a shock to the system actually, realising that camp was nearly over.  We had grown so used to functioning on no energy, relying on God’s strength to get us through the day, and it felt quite odd to be thinking about going back into the real world again.

In the morning I helped with the scone-making, and in the afternoon we all ate them with jam and clotted cream in our dorm groups (a traditional Friday activity on camp), before a leaders vs. members game of rounders.  Which the leaders won.  Regardless of the score, which attested otherwise.

The evening meeting’s talk was given by Rachel, who I’m not sure had actually been to camp before this year, but who really got stuck in and active, despite having had both her legs broken in a car accident only a few months ago.  Her talk was one of the best of the week, touched on some really tough issues, had some funny moments and some tear-jerkers.  It’s been a while since a talk aimed at young people has brought me to tears.  It seemed to have a big impact on others too, so it was definitely well received by all.

After that our dorm had an extended time of Bible study.  Earlier in the week we had looked at the topic of relationships and going out, which our dorm group really got into and had more to say – the hour session we had just wasn’t long enough, so we scheduled this additional discussion to run through any more questions they had.  It was really encouraging to find that they all had so many questions, and how maturely and sensibly they discussed the issues, especially given they were the youngest age group at camp.  We all talked long into the night, going over a whole load of tough issues, and there were a fair few challenges that we all had to address, both leaders and members.  It was well worth doing though, and everyone seemed to get a lot out of it (we even had members of someone else’s dorm joining in).  It meant a late night for them all, but I think it was worth it.  There is no substitute for thinking.

Saturday

Yes, it finally came, the last morning of camp.  Everyone packed up and had breakfast, and after the morning meeting everyone dispersed and went home, some by car, some by train, some by boat.  It was sad to say all those goodbyes, and there were many tears shed and e-mail addresses exchanged.  Then, once all the members were dealt with, we leaders set to work taking everything down again, ready for the next group who were arriving that afternoon.  I spent most of my time in the theatre again, packing up instruments, folding up microphone stands, boxing up speakers, loading up cars, coiling up cables.  As with setting up at the beginning of camp, it was surprising how the big things were the easy ones to get set up and put away again – it was all the small things that caused the problems.  There were boxes that just wouldn’t contain another small item, there were odd bits and pieces here and there that just wouldn’t fit into people’s cars again, there were missing items, excess items that shouldn’t have been there, and a lot of tidying up to do everywhere.  We managed to get it all done though, and finally managed to get all the leaders off-site to meet up at the pub down the road for lunch and a fond farewell.

In conclusion

Wow, what an awesome week.  God was really present with us the whole time, for which we were all very grateful, and lots of fun was had too in the various activities we all endulged in.  My electric guitar has never seen so much use in all the time I’ve had it, but it stood up to the punishment admirably.  I managed to lose my Bible (and other bits and pieces) several times during the week, but Ellie was always there to find them for me (and put me to shame in the process).  We all went home very tired, but also very satisfied that God had been at work through us all in teaching and inspiring the members who came.  Unfortunately I didn’t have time to take any photos, but people on Facebook will probably already have seen the photos put up by various people who did manage to get snappy.

And next year?  Well, Ellie and I will definitely be going back as leaders, and since Sam plans to abscond to Australia I shall probably (it has yet to be confirmed for definite) end up co-ordinating all the music next year.  That means I’ll need an assistant, so that I’m not leading every meeting.  I’ll also need to think about songs to take with us, and equipment that we’ve so far relied on Sam bringing, like projectors and computers and cables and stuff.  All good fun!  Roll on SE09!!

So, first of all, a general introduction.  Many things have happened since my last blog post, including (but not exclusively): two trips to theatres, some significant developments on the business front, a somewhat extended birthday, Neddy going to the garage a couple of times, a couple of additions to the Dawkins household, an above-average number of requests to lead worship, and a general realisation that Ellie and I are taking over our church.  That’s quite a lot to write about.  I’ll try to keep some of it brief.  Just to demonstrate that, you’ll notice the lack of information in the spaces between words.  Every little helps.

Glass Menagerie

This is a show Ellie has been working on in Ipswich, which finished last week.  She managed to get a couple of tickets for the penultimate show, and I quite enjoyed it.  A little random in places, but that’s all good and familiar.  Some fairly convincing American accents, plenty of imagery, clever lighting, and rather eerie music.  Not much to report really, but it was a good evening out.  Ellie and I joined the cast and crew afterwards for drinks, so that was a good opportunity to meet people and put faces to names.  And if I was lucky I got the right name with the right face.

Keeping busy with business

A couple of Saturdays ago I met up with a group of Christians in Colchester working in internet business, whether that be hosting, web design, SEO or general management.  It was a good meeting, lots was discussed, and it looks like I’ll be getting a little more work out of it.  One of the other guys is trying to get rid of all his clients (in the nicest possible way), and it looks likely that he’ll pass them on to me to look after.  Not a lot of work involved really, just annual billing for hosting and the occasional request for updates.

The major development, though, is a business link I’ve made with another web design company based in Hornchurch.  It’s run by a Christian chap, and his company deals mainly with high-flying businesses, so quite a different clientele to me.  He’s been rushed off his feet recently, and is really looking to find someone he can employ full-time.  Clearly I can’t give up my current commitments to my existing clients, so that wasn’t really something I could consider, but he’s now outsourcing to me and passing a fair amount of work my way.  It’s nice to have some variation in my work, and doing business web sites involves a very different approach – whereas churches spend forever thinking about things and passing everything through PCCs and committees and suchlike, businesses want it all done yesterday and are prepared to pay for the privilege.  It’s been quite exciting, and I’ve been doing a fair amount of PHP as a result.  All good stuff.  And it pays well too.

I’ve got a brand new combine harvester

Sadly I never did manage to find that song on the internet for free.  Ah well, never mind.  I had plenty of other folk music to satisfy my taste and provide a background ambience to my birthday party.  Yes, for those of you who didn’t hear (and therefore weren’t invited – sorry), my 25th birthday was celebrated this year with a fancy dress party (no surprise there) on the theme of ‘farmers and country folk’.  It was a good laugh, with people dressed up in chequered shirts and flat caps, eating home-made cakes (courtesy of my lovely wife) and kettle chips, drinking tea and cloudy lemonade (not at the same time), with Devonshire folk music in the background and a dog curled up in front of a roaring fire.  Yes, you read that right.  It was cheating a little, perhaps, in that the dog was a toy and the roaring fire was a screensaver on my computer, but the effect worked well.  Photos are up on Facebook.

Present-wise, the highlight was most definitely the radio-controlled Mini I got from three of my friends who clubbed together.  So much fun!!  I’ve driven it round the lounge more than a few times already, and had fun doing handbrake turns and powerslides and all sorts of things you’re not really supposed to be doing with radio controlled cars.  I also got some chocolate and another guitar strap.  Ellie’s present to me didn’t arrive in the post though, so I had to wait for that.

Gee up, Neddy

Neddy, my Mini Sidewalk, has been feeling considerably under the weather just of late.  Acceleration has been rather sluggish and uneven, he’s been leaking oil, and the fan belt has been slipping very conspicuously.  I had every intention of getting the work done myself, as none of it is particularly difficult.  But, as the lateness of this blog entry testifies to, I just never got round to it.  In the end I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to pay someone else to do it for me, and ended up taking my Mini to Wivenhoe Garage.  Last week they replaced the top engine steady bushes, replaced the oil and filter, and fitted a new rocker cover and gasket (which should stop the oil leak).  Yesterday Neddy went in for stage two, which involved replacing the alternator (bearings were gone, and it turned out to be cheaper to buy a new one than get the bearings replaced) and flushing the coolant.  Neddy is also lined up to be given a closer inspection by a tuning garage next week, which will involve interrogating the ECU to find out just how happy it is, and may involve putting it on a rolling road to get it properly set up – the new alternator has certainly helped a lot, but I’m fairly sure more power can be eked from the 1275cc block yet.

Diamond and Pearl

No, we haven’t been splashing out on fancy jewellery.  Ellie and I went to a pet shop on Saturday to buy some bird food, and ended up going back on Monday to buy some gerbils.  A little spontaneous, perhaps, but definitely worth it.  Expensive too, given that we had to buy everything in one go, but they’re apparently very cheap to keep after that.  We’ve got a fantastic cage, with a plastic bottom which gives them plenty of room to dig around in the bottom without sending sawdust flying out into the lounge, and a barred cage on top giving them two further levels to explore.  They’re so much fun!  And very cute, too.  I really must take some photos of the girls soon.  They’ve settled in really well already, and we’re beginning to introduce our hands to them and encouraging them out so they can play.  All good fun.

I have not forgotten you

Leading worship is one of my many passions, as my friends and family will know.  I’ve been a keen musician for years, and it’s been a natural progression from there to leading worship.  I led worship at the CU, I led worship at the Anglican Chaplaincy, I led worship at Orchard Baptist Church.  Pretty much everywhere I went, that was my focus, my responsibility, my blessing to the Body of Christ.  Until I came to St Margaret’s, that is.  Apparently they have a policy of not letting anyone ‘new’ lead worship, at least until they’ve been observed and checked out for at least a year.  It’s been over six months now, and I was beginning to think that maybe God didn’t want me leading worship any more.  Then, within about a week, I had two requests to lead worship.  One was a Christian event organised by a friend from the CYFA camp Ellie I go to in the summer, which sadly I was unable to agree to since the event fell on the same weekend as my birthday.  The second I did agree to, though, and that was leading a short worship slot for the Lent Course on Tuesday evening.  It was only 10 minutes or so, so only three songs, but it was still the first time I had led worship at the church, and despite what Christians generally say I’m pretty sure they were all judging me.  The response was good though, which is reassuring – I’ve been learning to lean on God a lot recently, and it was so wonderful to be given the chance to serve again.  So it sounds like they might ask me to lead again.  God apparently does still want me leading worship after all.  So much for the year of waiting!

The Great Dawkins Takeover Bid

In addition to being told that I wouldn’t be asked to lead worship for at least a year, when Ellie and I first started coming to St Margaret’s the vicar was quite insistent that we wouldn’t be asked to do anything in the church at all in the first year of our marriage, telling us to focus on our marriage first.  As we expected, and as I think our vicar is beginning to understand now too, that was never going to happen.  Ellie and I are both the sort of people who like to be active in the church community, always happy to be doing things.  Very soon after joining the congregation Ellie found herself leading one of the youth groups, and I quickly got myself into the worship band playing guitar and bass.  Ellie also does sidesman every now and then, and we’ve also done teas and coffees after the service.  Ellie has been asked to work the projector in a few weeks’ time, I’m down to MC an evening service next month, and both of us are on the rota to preach in the near future.  We’re not complaining, it’s what we love doing, but it just seems funny how little of the church is left for us to get involved in!  Not bad for being at the church for almost seven months.

Birthday part 2

Remember I said that Ellie’s present to me was delayed by the post?  Apparently that was a rouse.  The postal service wasn’t involved at all.  Ellie wasn’t going to work yesterday at all, despite what she’d said.  About lunchtime yesterday I got a text message informing me of the treasure trail she had planned, and told me where to find the first clue.  In the middle of a book in our bookcase I found the first clue and some instructions, and before I knew it I was hopping on a train to London with no idea where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there.  Once I got to London I followed a set of cryptic clues, sent by text message, which led me from one location to another on a route from Westminster tube station, along a whole load of roads I’ve never been down, through China Town, and eventually found my wife at the end of the trail, who took me round a corner and revealed my birthday present – there, a little way down the road, was the theatre showing Les Miserables.  It’s a show I’ve wanted to see for a while, and I really enjoyed it.  The treasure trail was superb though – a little random, but lots of fun.  I did feel a little conspicuous running through London looking all around for random objects, then stopping and texting on my phone, and then waiting for the next clue to come back before setting off again.  It was like being a secret agent, following some obscure set of clues.  Les Mis was superb – very sad, but very good.  Especially given the main part was being played by the understudy that night.  I won’t give the story away for those of you who haven’t seen it, but I would encourage you to go and see it if you’ve not already – some fantastic music, a very dense plot, some heart-rending moments, some funny bits, and quite a powerful resolution.

So thank you, Ellie, for a wonderful birthday present.  Suitably random.