So at the start of our week we went out in groups after worshipping, praying and listening to God for prophetic clues (words and pictures) that would help us find the people he wanted to share his love with. My Treasure Map had Afro, Converses, Tilly, Jack, Knee Hurt, “Crunch”, Trebor Mints, Father, GameStation. Sam and Sarah had the clues Ice Cream Factory, Pizza Hut and Cherry. (Correct me if I missed anything out) It’s worth mentioning that we had other clues that we didn’t find.

We figured we must have been rather hungry while writing down our treasure maps and started our journey looking for Trebor Mints, finding them in a market sweet shop but alas the shopkeeper didn’t match any of our clues. We had spotted an ice cream stall in the street so wandered over there with Ice Cream Factory in mind. Again the stall operator wasn’t on our map however a lady approached the stall with an Afro and proceeded to purchase a cone for her small son. We said hello showed her the map but due to a language barrier we didn’t get much further in chatting. We decided to move on stopping near the library chatting to a young couple with Converses which turned out to be fake. We walked up to the main street deciding to look for Pizza Hut. On the way we bumped into a band of boys, some who were wearing Converses (genuine items) and holding GameStation bags. They looked at the maps seeing they were on the list but didn’t want to be prayed for, I believe one had an injury. By the looks on their faces they were either trying to work us out but we left them knowing we were not crackers. We side tracked to the GameStation shop but there was nothing there and continued our exploration for Pizza Hut. All the time we were on the look out for people with limps. Seeing a lady near Pizza Hut limping Sam and Sarah chased after her (which wasn’t that difficult) and then prayed for her coming back to join me. All the time I was looking for clues, but didn’t realise we were very close to the clue Cherry. Sam noticed from his map the Cherry Tree Pub right bang next to Pizza Hut. Three men were stood in the doorway, two in crutches. We explained who we were and that we were on a treasure hunt. We showed one of the gruff Yorkshiremen in cruches a map to see if he was on it. His mate in the cruches began to complain that he didn’t have a map so I offered him mine saying we had plenty to go round. Ha ha! He went down the list and spotting the names Tilly and Jack exclaimed that “This is freaky!” He explained that Jack was his son who had died and that Tilly was his daughter, he was a Father. To prove it he showed us the names tattooed on his neck and wrist. I encouraged him to see if there was anything else on the map that related to him. “I Crunch that’s the sound my leg made!” I offered to pray for his leg and he said I could. Putting my hand below his knee I prayed that the Kingdom would be revealed. I asked him if anything had changed. He said he felt pins and needles and again the word “Freaky” was used as God had met with him. By this time everyone in the doorway knew that Jack and Tilly were on our map and their eyes were wide as saucers, “how did they know”? We told them that Jesus was alive and wanted to speak to people today. We were suddenly joined by one of their friends from inside the pub and they told him what had just happened while looking at the map and tattoos. He was obviously moved and asked that we pray for his heart, he had been to church at some stage when he was younger but knew he was distant. We obliged. Having to leave we reaffirmed that God had revealed himself to them all and wanted to know them personally.

It was a wonderful time adventuring with God and stepping out of our comfort zones. What struck me was that listening to God and inviting people to take hold of his Kingdom should be done with ease like you would introduce a friend but with the added trust and expectation for God to work.

I love hearing from God. Recently I went to Huddersfield to be part of a team encouraging the Ark Church who were putting on an Alpha launch party. We got up to all sorts that week, lots of flyering, questionnaires and Treasure Hunting. Treasure Hunting is where we take time out to listen to God and then write down appearances, locations, ailments, names and even things that don’t make too much sense which we then use to help us find people the “Treasure” on the streets (See Acts 9:11 for a Biblical example of Saul and Ananias). We then share God’s love for them. After a fantastic time doing it earlier in the week we did it again. In the morning I had the clue blind. I felt God give me faith to pray for a blind person that day.

In a team with Ben & Hannah we did our hunt and found the boy who’s mum’s friend was Julie in a Chequered shirt with Asthma and Eczema opposite Wilkinson and a Charity Shop while a Policeman with a Helmet walked by (correct me if I missed anything out guys). Which was great! But no blind person. I was a little frustrated, and a little disappointed (sorry guys), that we hadn’t found a blind person during that hour. The reality was I was focused on success. I began to realise that God was after much more. Later that day I was giving out leaflets to the Alpha Course with Simon and in my own heart I told God that I didn’t want to be there just to have success but to appreciate working with him. I wanted to share who he was because I loved him. 10 – 15 minuets later a couple from South Africa took my leaflet and we got chatting with them. I quickly discovered that the gentleman had a cane and was partially blind! We offered to pray with them and they agreed. Although he wasn’t healed, God healed my thinking, sounds cheesy, but it is true. I was able to share God’s love with them with the right heart motive. It is awesome to befriend God and work alongside him. I’ll share another Treasure Hunting story in a different post, I just thought it was important to highlight the journey that you go on with God in these adventures.

I thought I would write a post on how Im really proud of how our youth group, level-x. It has been great to see them growing and maturing in the past year. They have been taking on some big projects such as leading an Easter Sunday and putting on a Fashion Show with Auction to raise money for Compassion in Haiti. It would be fair to say that they are punching above their weight.
At our last Ignite (a monthly youth service) we got them to write down their questions about any thing related to God and the Bible and they came back with loads of great questions which we aim to get answer after the easter break. Hopefully this will become a regular feature and will create a culture of asking questions to the leaders in the future. Here are some of them below…

• What happened to Judas when he died? Did God plan this?
• What made God decide that Mary and Joseph were “the ones” to have the baby Jesus as their son?
• Is Goliath a descendant of the people who had sex with the angles in Genesis?
• Did Satan fall before Adam and Eve, during or after?
• If Adam was 800 years old why do people say the oldest person was 128?
• If it cost only one rib to get Eve, what would he have been given if he gave a whole arm?
• Did Abraham really hear from God when he thought he was told to sacrifice Isaac?
• Can Jesus/God read our thoughts and can people in heaven know what we’re doing like God can?
• Can God change anything he wants whenever he wants to? Is that how he answers people’s prayers?
• Why didn’t God make everyone equal? (Poverty)
• Why does he allow babies to die?
• Does God exist on other planets?
• If God is about love, why did he demand so many wars?
• What about other religions?
• If God is real how come we have so many floods and wars?
• Predestination?
• Why did God make us so we didn’t have to learn everything but know everything?
• Why did God allow the Israelites to pass through the red sea and allow the Egyptians to die?
• Why does God allow death?

It was called “Sunrise Home”, which might have been appropriate if it weren’t for a mountain that blocked the sun for much of the day. It was a place of new opportunity for orphaned Japanese girls.

One day a mother came with her four children, the youngest a baby very sick. Her husband had been killed in an earthquake, which had also destroyed their home and all their possessions. “Sunrise Home” wasn’t really designed for families, but the missionary who ran the place, made an exception, taking in this needy bunch. It was obvious however, that the baby needed medical attention, so he was taken away to a hospital.

Over the following weeks, the baby seemed to get weaker and weaker. The doctor at the hospital wanted to reunite the child with the mother. Besides, the fresh air at the Sunrise Home would be good for the baby– but the baby also needed sunlight, and the mountain was in the way. The missionary wondered if there was any way she could get rid of that mountain.

Back at Sunrise Home, she told the other children the problem, and they wanted to help. “I know what we can do”, one said. “We can take away the mountain ourselves, one shovelful of dirt at a time.” So everyone pitched in. But their little shovels hardly dented the mountain. It seemed as huge as ever.

One day the missionary was asked to travel to another city to meet with the head of the mission. The children said they would continue shoveling in her absence. Almost as an afterthought, the missionary suggested they pray about the mountain before she left. Some of the prayer were discouraging, and then one girl prayed, “Lord Jesus, last Sunday we heard in Sunday school that if we had faith as a grain of mustard seed, we could remove mountains. Lord, help us remove our mountain.” Another prayed, “Dear Lord, you said we could move a mountain into the sea. Here the sea is just across the road. Will you please take our mountain and put it into the sea?”

When the missionary returned, they said “We have a wonderful surprise for you.” They led her in the back way and told her to close her eyes. Then they brought her to the front yard and said, “Look!” She looked. The mountain was gone; it was nowhere in sight. She couldn’t believe it. “What happened?” she asked.

The children were so excited that their word tumbled on top of one another. The preceding week, a truck filled with workers had come up the hill. Without a word, the workers swarmed over the mountain with pickaxes and shovels, loading the dirt onto the truck. Truckload after truckload was carted away. Finally one of the assistant at Sunrise Home asked what was going on, and the supervisor explained that they need to fill in some land to make a children’s playground where the sea had receded, so this “mountain” was being used for fill.

“The Lord really did answer our prayers”, explained one little girl to her teacher. As so often happens, God provided even more. Not only did the Lord move the mountain, as the girls requested, but he also provided them with a playground. And the following week, the little baby was reunited with his mother in the sunbathed Sunrise Home.

Huddersfield is a unique blend of rural and urban due to the industrial revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Large cotton mill architecture is still very prominent along with towering chimneys. Today shops and the up and coming university are the main magnets. The cities Leeds and Manchester are easily accessible from the town making Huddersfield an ideal place to live if you like the Yorkshire country side and are willing to commute to work.

The older people desire to hold on to past history which frequently comes into conflict with seeing something new come out of the area. Although the university does keep old mill architecture, there does to appear to be a struggle for visual identity in Huddersfield. Despite some valuing the cosmopolitan vibe the community is divided down ethnic lines. A Church that gathers the various ethnicity’s and ages together in Huddersfield will be so vital in bringing visible transformation to the area.

The favourite place of most people we asked was the landmark “Castle Hill”, a tower built on an old iron age fort situated just outside Huddersfield Town overlooking the area. This tower was constructed to mark Queen Victoria’s 60th Jubilee Year and in its opening attracted thousands of people.

A big thank you to the friendly Pape and Bunce families for showing us round, we couldn’t have done it without you! Thinking of joining this loverly bunch? Ill let Steve Hurd have the final word.

Steve Hurd. Huddersfield from Box-head* on Vimeo.

The Psalms are all about, personal “on my heart” prayers of repentance, thankfulness and seeking. Singing songs about God is great but it can put him at an arms length in peoples minds. Looking at the songs that bring me closer and experience joy in God they tend to have lyrics that speak to Jesus personally. It’s been suggested we need a good diet of “About” and “To” songs.

Recently I was put on to a song sung by Whitney Houston called “I Look to You” written by R. Kelly. Though published through popular culture I can just imagine King David singing it, the lyrics are just so honest and can be used to honor God.

Road Map

Phase 1 – Event Info & Top 20 Questions. A decent site explaining what the event is all about and which collects the top 20 questions, which will then be answered by a panel, filmed and published for Phase 2.

Phase 2 – Guide & Directory. Will be a guide on setting up a Grill a Christian events as well as a public directory of events where you can go and ask your questions.

Phase 3 – Social Questioning. Ideally we want people to be able to send their questions in over the web in advance or via their mobile phone at the actual event. People can join their event group ask questions directly and see what everyone else is asking.

The highlight was Simon Holley giving us an education in delivering people from spiritual oppression. I hadn’t seen God deal with it on this scale before. I was struck by the fact that we look at salvation as a decision made once. Rather, God wants us to keep taking steps of faith to relieve us from past baggage and provide us with the knowledge/weapons that he is indeed a loving Dad. As Wendy Man shared we often give the enemy a foothold when we call into question the character of God or how he thinks of us. God is good 100% of the time both in fatherly character and passionate loving action towards us.

On the last training day we focused on knowing Joy in God and Mission. Those who felt called to go to another country shared where they felt called to, one lad said New Zealand (I lived their for a year). Finding him afterward he turned out to be a Kiwi I had met once in Wellington, when on a flat hunt. He had given his heart to Jesus in the last year, journeyed to the UK and had decided to do FP in a London Church! Amazing and hugely encouraging. So in summary God is Love and is full of surprises!

The Everything conference aims to equip Christians to make a difference and to transform culture. With seminar tracks on work, community, the mind and the arts, this will be an exciting event not to be missed.