Pastor Nigel

THIRD DAY FANS IGNITE INDIA.

Despite me being quite ill with Whooping Cough over the last week or so, I've taken the opportunity to ask Pastor Prasad the latest news about our Ignite India churches. The first two churches in Bhopalapatnam and Gummuluru are growing strong, and the third church in a village called Nidigatla is ready to begin worship services.
Then we have had a big rush of activity thanks to the fundraising efforts on the Third Day UK tour. Tapeswaram church is more than half constructed, and the foundations have gone in on the Ambajipeta church. Money has already gone over to start the construction of a church at Tatapudi. We still have some money put aside for another church, and Third Day UK Gomers are also funding a church! Ignite targetted 6 churches in and around the city of Rajahmundry by the end of 2007- we'll actually have seven or eight.

IGNITE INDIA.

At the moment my wife Gill and I are hosting our good friend Pastor Prasad from Rajahmundry in Southern India. Over the last couple of years we have been raising funds to assist Gateway Ministries, which Prasad heads up. My wife is spearheading a project to build a school, and very generously last year the guys in Third Day donated the majority of the money needed to buy 3 acres of land. Since then the school project, in an area we have called The Come Together Compound is developing well and should be completed by the end of this year.
Ignite, the ministry I direct in the UK, have been helping Prasad build churches for some of the 100 or so pastors he oversees. We have already built two and aimed to have a further four constructed by the end of this year. Thanks to the generosity of Third Day's UK fans we raised enough money at the shows in Cardiff, Belfast and Glasgow back in May, to build not four but five churches quite soon.
To check out some photos of our India work you can visit the ignite web site and click on the Indian flag or visit my own blog site and see some of the galleries. I tell the fuller story of Third Day's involvement in the school project in the upcoming book Lessons from the Road- the contract for which has been signed, sealed and delivered to the publisher!

BRAD IN CHINA.

Just in case you haven't been keeping up with Brad's incredible journey to China then you need to visit AveryAddition in order to discover everything about the precious Chinese baby that Brad and his wife are adopting.

NEW NAME.

You'll have probably noticed that this blog has changed its name! That's because Tai came up with the good idea of calling it the name of the book that I've been working on. A publishing deal is close to being struck on 'Lessons from the Road' - a title I came up with nearly 2 years ago when I began the project, and it's likely we'll use it for a number of initiatives linked into my relationship with Third Day as their road pastor. So it's goodbye 'Sir Nigel' and hello 'Lessons from the Road'. I enjoyed being a Knight of the Realm for a few weeks but knew it was destined not to last!

A LIGHT TO MY PATH.

Back in the UK after a ten day trip to the USA, I've been catching up with some listening and viewing of Chronology volume 1 and a pre-release copy of volume 2. Last week, the band guys and I talked about the awesome journey that Third Day have traveled in the last 12 years or so, and I'm more and more struck by this as I reflect on their achievements as I enjoy Chronology. Little did any of the guys realise 12 years ago where they would be now, it was beyond their wildest dreams. Yet God never catapaults people from obscurity to fame without steps in between, and the important thing is being obedient to take sometimes small and insignificant steps that help get you to where God wants you to be. One of my weaknesses is an urgency, even an impatience, to see the whole journey God has got mapped out rather than taking those small steps.When my friend Pastor Prasad visited us in Cardiff last year we gave him an authentic Welsh miners lamp as a gift. On presenting it to him, I quoted this verse:
Psa. 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
A miners lamp only shows you the path immediately in front of you, and only when you have stepped forward into that light do you then see the next few steps clearly. I believe that's the way God guides each of us, step by step, gradually revealing more of the journey as we takes the small steps of obedience.
I thank God for all the small steps Third Day took all those years ago, and the steps of obedience they still take today. On a 'small steps' note- Tai and I had a very positive meeting with IBS-STL publishers and you can expect some good news about the publishing of 'Lessons from the Road' soon.

INDEPENDENCE DAY.

Being in the USA for Independence Day gives me an opportunity to reflect on the great privilege it has been to be able to minister in America and alongside Americans. Over the years, many British friends have asked me what attracts me to America and what I have observed when I am over here. Narrowing my answers to the American church, I reply that often I see the best of the Christian church modeled in the USA, but occasionally the worst too! What I don't buy into at all is the cynical view of America held by some folk in the UK. I'm unashamedly passionate about living in Wales, and I love my country... but I do love the USA too! It's difficult to get my head around the 'war on terror' and the 'special relationship' between the USA and the UK, but what I do know is that with privilege comes responsibility. There is no doubt that those of us in the Western world, especially the UK and the USA, have been given tremendous privilege from God- especially our Christian heritage- and with that comes a responsibility to God. In the parable of the faithful and wise manager, in Luke 12, Jesus says this:
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
I believe that the UK and the USA should be taking a lead in this world, so long as it's offering the love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, justice, righteousness and redemption of Jesus. There's nothing to be ashamed of in that, and we musn't abdicate our responsibility.
To all my friends in America I say 'Happy Birthday' and 'God Bless America' but I also say 'America.. Bless God'.

For a lighthearted view of all I love about America you can visit my personal blog.

EXCESS BAGGAGE!

The highlight of Creation Fest must have been the late night communion service at the end of Third Day's set.
Roughly 35,000 of us listened to the guys start the service with the song Communion and end it with Creed. Unfortunately, our late departure from Creation meant we missed our flights from Cincinnati to Springfield, Missouri, where we were due to drive on to a concert on a native American reservation. Determined not to let the organisers down, road manager Jenn and the band explored every option to get there, and the eventual solution meant the guys flew in a private jet on their own. The crew drove on their bus back to Nashville and I flew to Atlanta with 7 suitcases - Brad's, Tai's, Mac's, David's, Mark's, Scotty's, and mine! Total cost of excess baggage? $200! I headed off to Tai's house, borrowed his van and collected the guys from the local airfield in the early hours of the morning. The concert went well, with the band members going back to old times by being their own crew and techs!
Tomorrow, Tai and I meet a guy from IBS-STL USA ( that's a big publishing house) to talk about the book project.