Some Thoughts About St. Patrick Next Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day, and I wonder what you associate with St. Patrick. For some it will be rugby and the Schools’ Cup final. For others, it will be about parades and partying. In certain parts of the world, it’s about green beer and shamrocks and leprechauns dancing […]

Showing and Sharing Vulnerability One of my favourite TV shows is on RTE television and it’s a show called, ‘Operation Transformation.’ It usually starts in January and finishes its 8 week run at the beginning of March. It documents the life of 5 leaders who apply to be on the show. They usually want to […]

Honouring People One of the beautiful ideas that lie at the heart of the Christian faith is that we were made in the image of God. If we believe it to be true, it should fundamentally impact how we seek to treat other people. If I am honest, and it’s not a nice thing to […]

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 […]