As you have probably gathered...

Hey

If you've been looking at this page at all in the last few months you've probably gathered that I've stopped writing here for now. It wasn't a conscious decision as such - simply that I was totally overtaken by a busy life and the fad (like many others I guess) seemed to fade out... So, if you've been looking for news etc I'm sorry.

If you are remotely interested in staying in touch, I do have a facebook account - just search for me on there - there aren't many of us. In truth, I don't get that much time to do that either but it does have a few pics on etc... I guess it's one of those things - busy job, young family etc....

Anyway - thanks for looking and I'll probably wind this blog up in the next few months..

Cheers

Nigel :)

GBG Anaheim - The Last Post!

Hey guys. This is my last post from USA because we are flying back this evening & will be back in Brum on Mon afternoon. Can't wait to see my family again!!!

Saturday was the last event of the tour - a Great Big God kids praise event at Vineyard Anaheim. Wow - what a great afternoon. There were 200+ kids here & we rocked!! The team here put on an amazing 9 workshops as part of the event - everything from hip hop dancing to puppet making and we made lots of lound music.

We do have some video footage but the leads I need are packed at the bottom of my case under various clothes & presents - so you'll have to wait for the last installment. In the meantime these pics should give you a good idea of what went on!

Huge thanks to all who have been prayin for us while we've been out here. We don't know what the long term outcomes will be although the short term response has been excellent. Judging by the hassle that my family have had, I'd hope that God has big plans for the kids worship vision..

Anyway - see you in the UK.....

Hollywood Dreams!

So we had a day off and went to Universal Studios. Wow. Awesome. The yanks certyainly know how to do a theme park! Anyway - some video & pix to show you a bit of what went on!

Love & Peace

Video Part 3

Hey - see below for other vids & details. This covers our flight to LA and up to the schools event at Vineyard Anaheim. Enjoy y'all!!

Video Part 2

Here's part 2 - see below for part one, diary & pics.... This mainly just covers Sunday in MAryland - church in the morning & visiting DC in the afternoon!! LOL Nigel :)

Video Part 1

hi guys

Thansk to all who've posted comments back on the blog. If you're looking for news, keep scrolling down the page. I've managed to get some video clips up on line but I can only put 5 mins at a time, so this is part 1 - see above for the next bits. It's just quickly chopped together so you can see what we've been up to - none of the smooth & creative editing you're used to. Anyway, this covers our first 3 days including the GBG training & event in Maryland.. ENJOY!

2 Days in LA

Hi y'all

Wed night in LA. Spent a relaxing day in the Mall doing some shopping for various bits & bobs & generally taking it easy after a fairly hectic tour so far. We flew over here from Washington on Monday - gaining another 3 hours in the process, and then rehearsed that night for the event next Morning. We were in the main auditorium of the Vineyard Church in Anaheim - a bit like the Vatican for some - it being the place where the Vineyard Church started... Anyway after we'd got over the excitement, we set up for the kids event next morning.

Tuesday morning there were 350+ kids from local christian schools all arrived for our chapel service - which was a bit like a gloried & more funky assembly. We played songs, interviewed Jacob & Sarah read You Are Special. We had a lovely ministry time where most of the kids ended up praying together & generlly had a ball. The feedback was very positive from teachers & pupils alike - and we now have upwards of 250 coming to the event on Saturday.

We spent the afternoon checking out Newport Beach - very nice, very expensive!! and hired a motor boat to cruise around the bay for an hour admiring the $2,000,000 + holiday homes, then went to see Cindy & Steve Rethmeier in the evening thanking her for starting it all when she encouraged us at a kids worship training day back in 2000.

Today I had a chance to put my video footage on the computer so I'm hoping that you should see evidence of our weekend very soon.

Cheers all! Nigel

Iconic DC!

Hey.

It's Sunday night and tomorrow we head off to California. We had a great time at Central Maryland Vineyard this morning. I got to preach (which I haven't done in a while) on one of my favourite subjects - worship. At the end we had a great time praying for the kids, and then getting the kids to pray for the parents. Then, after quickly catching up with my family on skype, we headed to Washington DC to do some sightseeing. Unexpectedly, it had snowed all morning so the road was a bit slushy, but it did mean that DC was quiet & we got to look at all the iconic buildings - The capital building, the white house and the Lincoln Memorial (where they did the anti war demos & MLK gave his I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH). It's amazing to see places that you've heard about so much & seen on the movies & news archives in the flesh.

After that, we went to the smithsionian flight & space machine where we saw some awesome planes including the Spirit of St. Louis (first solo atlantic crossing) and the wright brothers first plane as well as the apollo spacecraft from the first moon landings. As a bonus, there was a display of amazing stuff from the American History museum including dorothy's shoes from the wizard of oz, abraham linccoln's hat, mohamed ali's gloves and prince's guitar. It felt like a truly iconic day.

Tomorrow we start early to get to the airport. See you in California...

Maryland, USA

Greetings from Maryland, USA. We've been here 2 and a bit days so far & spent most of that in the company of the lovely people of Central Maryland Vineyard Church. They're made us feel very welcome and we've had a cool time. Jacob, Nathan & I are staying with a lovely family - Dan, Suzanne and Elizabeth in a beautiful old farm house with a small lake (frozen over) and horses next door. On our first morning, we were treated to an American Country Breakfast - sausages & bacon, hash & eggy bread - all with maple syrup. Delicious!!

We went to see a fantastic movie called Amazing Grace that just opened over here, telling the story of William Wilberforce and how he led the move to ban slave trading in UK 200 yrs ago - I cried buckets!!!

Then the serious work started and we led a training meeting for children's workers last night and the first ever Great Big God USA event this afternoon - with around 100 kids & their parents. The band sounded great, everyone danced and sang and had a great time. There were five workshops, stories, games and a lovely ministry time at the end with many connecting with God. What a privilege to come all this way & do something we love doing...

I know that quite a few folks back home are thinking about us - thanks so much for your prayers, comments, emails & texts. So far it's going really well and we're all fine. Tomorrow we take part in the church service (I'm preaching to the adults and the others are leading the kids) before sightseeing in Washington DC, then we fly on on to California on Monday.

I'm still struggling to get my head around the time difference (having lived in the same time zone for 37 years it's frankly a bit weird) but my body is slowly getting the idea.

Anyway - gotta sleep. Peace & Love to all.

Nigel

We're Off!

Well actually, we’re waiting at Birmingham Airport but hoping to board soon. My good friend Jacob is here reading Payback by Andy McNabb. We’re pretty excited at the forthcoming trip. From here we fly to Amsterdam & meet up with the rest of the band - Chris, Nathan & Alex from Vineyard Records UK and then on to Washington DC. I can’t get my head around the time differences yet, but we’ll see what happens.

Our itinerary for the trip looks something like this:-

Thurs 22 Feb: Fly to US – staying at Central Maryland Vineyard

Fri 23^rd Feb: (eve) Training for children’s workers & adults

Sat 24^th Feb: Great Big God kids event.

Sun 25^th Feb: Helping with services at CMV

Mon 26^th Feb: Flying to California – staying at Anaheim Vineyard

Tues 27^th Feb: Chapel Service at Anaheim Vineyard School

Wed 28^th Feb: Day off – shopping & hanging out

Thurs 1^st Mar: Sightseeing

Fri 2^nd Mar: (eve) Training for children’s workers & adults

Sat 3^rd Mar: Great Bog God Kids event.

Sun 4^th Mar: Church & flying home overnight.

Please do leave us a message so we know you’re thinking about us. We’ll try & post lots of pics & the odd video so you know what we’re up to.

Cheers