Some Lessons from a Service of Commissioning One of the goals of this blog is to demystify some of the things that happen at church services and events. The church where I work is located just off the outer ring in Belfast and is visible from the carriageway as people drive past every day. When […]

Kloppo, We Salute You The football world and, indeed, the news bulletins across the world, were thrown into shock on January 26th when Jurgen Klopp announced he would be standing down as Liverpool Football Club manager at the end of this season. As a Liverpool fan, I have watched his career with fascination and interest over […]

Models in Ministry I got news at the end of last week about the death of a friend of mine. He had been ill for quite some time and, the last time I bumped into him, he spoke with me about his serious illness.  I wasn’t able to go to his funeral service, because I […]

Places of Sanctuary I spoke to someone recently who hadn’t been in the church building for some time. They told me it felt like coming home. There’s a reassuring sense of peace you get when you come across the door and take your seat. You recognise faces that you haven’t seen for a while and, […]

Behind the Scenes of a Radio Broadcast It all started with an email back at the end of November. The producer of religious broadcasts on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle got in touch asking if St. Finnian’s would broadcast its morning service on Sunday 14th January. I was hesitant, to be honest. My last […]

Making Your Words Count We’re preparing in our church to broadcast a service on BBC Radio Ulster this coming Sunday and it’s been quite an interesting exercise to prepare. It’s a great privilege to share your worship with a larger audience and you know all sorts of people will tune in from all sorts of […]

Leaving the Fragrance of Jesus Sometimes you come across a book that stops you in your tracks and changes the way you think. I had the experience of reading such a book in December. It was called ‘Gatecrashing.’ It was written by Brian Heasley and tells the story of 24-7 Prayer in Ibiza. If you […]

A New Charging Port! One of the things which makes us pretty anxious in the modern age is when our phone starts to play up. For many of us it’s like a mobile office. Emails, messages, maps, internet browsing, phone numbers and contacts all available at the touch of a button. Not to mention the […]

Don’t Miss the Holy Moments As the pace increases in the run up towards Christmas and we tend to live our lives at a hundred miles an hour, it’s easy to miss all sorts of things. As we strive to complete our work and ensure all the preparations are made, we tend to have tunnel […]

Sprinkling the Magic Dust Growing up in the south of Ireland, one of the highlights of every year was the Late Late Toy Show. It’s normally broadcast on the last Friday in November, and tens of thousands of children around the country audition to get on the show to demonstrate some of the toys that […]