Thoughts from a Pastor
Thoughts from Jon Cook, Senior Pastor of NCLC.
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Tough Mudder TM No.3 Post training session.
Training Session 1
20 running circuits of the church hall (about 9 mins)
1 min press ups
2 mins church circuits
1 min body weight squats
2 mins 2 feet step hops
1 min spiderman floor walk
1 min rest
2 mins 2 feet step hops
1 min plank
2 min burpees
1 press ups
2 min burpees
1 min lying pullups
Yes I know its not a lot and I have a long way to go but at least I have started.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Our interwoven stories.
Last night was our Team Vision Night and we had the privilege of honouring the hard work and consistency of our good friends Andy and Helen Rose. Their life, with the ups and downs could be summed up by the words "They kept turning up".
Anyway as I was preparing for team vision night, I began to think of the stories that have woven through theirs and began to write down just some of the links within our church.
Here is a glimpse of the rich tapestry of a few lives that connect with the NCLC community.
Andy met Helen and married her. Helen is friends with Katie, who she brought to church. Katie brought Gary & Emma Smith to church. Katie also brought her mum & dad, they brought Susan & Katie and then Danielle.
Paul Etherton moved up to newcastle from London with Dee & I, he met Katie & they got married and are pregnant. They moved to Kibblesworth, met Michael who came to church. Michael lives next door to Dan who came to church with his mum & dad who knew Ken & Isobel Wood. Dan met Nichola and married her. Ken & Isobel began looking after some of the international students who are in Newcastle to study. Ken & Isobel now have spiritual kids all over Asia, particularly in Malaysia.
Meanwhile back at the Roses. They had a friend called Matt who contacted me in the early days and came to church when he was visiting the north. He eventually finished uni and came to live up here. He finally got his butt in gear and asked out the amazing Judith, who he later married in a venue they found through a pastor at Judith's gym. The pastor & his wife decided it was time to retire and, because they liked Judith so much they mentioned this to her because they knew she went to a church that was looking for a building. We eventually bought this building and it is now our home.
So anyway about 300 years ago the youth event that I helped run and play drums at had this keyboard player who was an exceptional young man called Gav. He went on to be a rock god in a band called Yfriday, but when the band ended he started coming along to our church and eventually brought a lovely young woman along with him called Ileana. She had met Gav at a Europe rock gig where she went with her brother & Gav had gone to with Jamie from this church.
At a youth camp called Harvest I had previously come to know the young guy called Jamie. He eventually came along to church and then brought his younger sister and mum along. His sister met and married another rock god called Pak. Jamie's mother met a man called Brian and they are about to be married.
Back to to Andy & Helen. They are friends with a guy who is in our Teesside community and he used to go out with a girl called Claire. Claire ended up living with Dee & I for a while when she & her boyfriend split up. She met a young South African guy, Miguel, who had come to the church after his older brother came along with his family. They ended up getting married and now have a baby girl called Mia.
Around about the same time that Miguel's older brother came to the church, another South African moved up from London and started coming along. He was a cracking singer and worship leader. He met a girl who had started coming to our church. Yep, thats right they got married and had a baby boy called Jacob. The girl had been so impacted and challenged by a visit organised by the church to visit our sponsored children in Compassion Tanzania that she left her teaching job and began to work for Compassion.
When she went on maternity leave her job was coverd by another young guy who looks too much like Will Smith for my liking. This young guy had gone along to our international students gathering, run by Ken & Isobel. He went mainly for food, but there met a lovely young girl from Indonesia who he later married. This guy has a sister who caught the attention of a drummer from a local band. The drummer eventually left the band and started working part time for the church.
So back to this guy called Miguel. Before he married Claire he invited his friend called Laura along to church. Laura came along and got stuck in and I think she is still around. Anyway she brought her mum along who worked at an opticians. She offered a part time job to the drummer guy who was looking for a job at that time because he could only work part time for the church. He had already married the sister of the Will Smith guy that I talked about earlier.
Yet again back to the Roses. Andy has a fantastic brother called Simon, who came along to church after walking away from God. He reconnected his life to God and met a lovely young women in our church called Emma, yes of course they got married.
Are you getting this interwoven picture of lives connected in community?
This is just a glimpse of the lives that has brought together and woven into community. There are so many more stores that connect. If you are part of NCLC, thank you for being part of the bigger picture. If you are not, why don't you connect yourself into this tapestry.
See you at Vision Sunday.
Finding our Voice, Telling our story.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Anyway as I was preparing for team vision night, I began to think of the stories that have woven through theirs and began to write down just some of the links within our church.
Here is a glimpse of the rich tapestry of a few lives that connect with the NCLC community.
Andy met Helen and married her. Helen is friends with Katie, who she brought to church. Katie brought Gary & Emma Smith to church. Katie also brought her mum & dad, they brought Susan & Katie and then Danielle.
Paul Etherton moved up to newcastle from London with Dee & I, he met Katie & they got married and are pregnant. They moved to Kibblesworth, met Michael who came to church. Michael lives next door to Dan who came to church with his mum & dad who knew Ken & Isobel Wood. Dan met Nichola and married her. Ken & Isobel began looking after some of the international students who are in Newcastle to study. Ken & Isobel now have spiritual kids all over Asia, particularly in Malaysia.
Meanwhile back at the Roses. They had a friend called Matt who contacted me in the early days and came to church when he was visiting the north. He eventually finished uni and came to live up here. He finally got his butt in gear and asked out the amazing Judith, who he later married in a venue they found through a pastor at Judith's gym. The pastor & his wife decided it was time to retire and, because they liked Judith so much they mentioned this to her because they knew she went to a church that was looking for a building. We eventually bought this building and it is now our home.
So anyway about 300 years ago the youth event that I helped run and play drums at had this keyboard player who was an exceptional young man called Gav. He went on to be a rock god in a band called Yfriday, but when the band ended he started coming along to our church and eventually brought a lovely young woman along with him called Ileana. She had met Gav at a Europe rock gig where she went with her brother & Gav had gone to with Jamie from this church.
At a youth camp called Harvest I had previously come to know the young guy called Jamie. He eventually came along to church and then brought his younger sister and mum along. His sister met and married another rock god called Pak. Jamie's mother met a man called Brian and they are about to be married.
Back to to Andy & Helen. They are friends with a guy who is in our Teesside community and he used to go out with a girl called Claire. Claire ended up living with Dee & I for a while when she & her boyfriend split up. She met a young South African guy, Miguel, who had come to the church after his older brother came along with his family. They ended up getting married and now have a baby girl called Mia.
Around about the same time that Miguel's older brother came to the church, another South African moved up from London and started coming along. He was a cracking singer and worship leader. He met a girl who had started coming to our church. Yep, thats right they got married and had a baby boy called Jacob. The girl had been so impacted and challenged by a visit organised by the church to visit our sponsored children in Compassion Tanzania that she left her teaching job and began to work for Compassion.
When she went on maternity leave her job was coverd by another young guy who looks too much like Will Smith for my liking. This young guy had gone along to our international students gathering, run by Ken & Isobel. He went mainly for food, but there met a lovely young girl from Indonesia who he later married. This guy has a sister who caught the attention of a drummer from a local band. The drummer eventually left the band and started working part time for the church.
So back to this guy called Miguel. Before he married Claire he invited his friend called Laura along to church. Laura came along and got stuck in and I think she is still around. Anyway she brought her mum along who worked at an opticians. She offered a part time job to the drummer guy who was looking for a job at that time because he could only work part time for the church. He had already married the sister of the Will Smith guy that I talked about earlier.
Yet again back to the Roses. Andy has a fantastic brother called Simon, who came along to church after walking away from God. He reconnected his life to God and met a lovely young women in our church called Emma, yes of course they got married.
Are you getting this interwoven picture of lives connected in community?
This is just a glimpse of the lives that has brought together and woven into community. There are so many more stores that connect. If you are part of NCLC, thank you for being part of the bigger picture. If you are not, why don't you connect yourself into this tapestry.
See you at Vision Sunday.
Finding our Voice, Telling our story.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
What is our focus?
Christmas is less than two weeks away. Yet again I have to ask, where has the year gone? I can't believe how quickly the last 12 months have gone. Yes I know it is a sign of growing older that time becomes compressed. The year or so has gone so quick yet so many events have taken place.
In the last 14 months we have seen two amazing young people leave this Earth to take their place with their saviour. Some lovely friends have left and returned to their homelands, taking a piece of our hearts with them. New people have come in and added themselves to our community, some because they have come to know the grace, love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ
This is our focus.
I have been so challenged lately by the apostle Paul's words in Romans 9:3 where he is basically saying that he is so desperate for his Jewish community to come to know Christ that he would be willing to accept separation himself if that were possible. Think of the impact and consequences of those words for a minute. Those are some pretty big feelings that Paul is pouring out there. This is the same Paul who can seem quite harsh and focused on the personal purity and growth of followers of Christ. He lets his feelings for his fellow Jews overflow with desperation as he sees them following the same legalistic road that he once travelled.
My challenge for us as NCLC is, are we more focused on our own personal walk with Christ (which IS essential) than we are to see our friends and our world saved from a life without Christ and a lost and dying eternity? Do we have a bit of Paul's desperation in us? We don't have to be alienated from Christ, but we may have to give up some of our "me" time.
This coming year our challenge as a church community is to keep our focus on the lost and to also grow more Christlike.
We will be making some changes in the new year that will allow us to move forward and see our communities impacted with Christ.
Over the past eighteen months we have bought our own office space and moved from doing everything in our dining room. We have also moved Sunday venue three times, ending up in our venue, the place we now call home. We have brought structure, policies and procedures to our staffing, finance and HR areas. This has all helped set a great foundation for the organisational side of our community. Despite the tragedies of lost loved ones, people leaving the community, "God has crowned the year with His favour."
Now it is time to continue our forward momentum.
The church leadership is being very intentional about looking at all aspects of our community to see what has stagnated and what is working. We will be reintroducing some things, leaving some things behind and starting some fresh initiatives. All done within the boundaries and culture of who we are as NCLC and with the question in mind...
"Will it MAKE and GROW healthy DISCIPLES?"
I am excited to see what God will bring in 2013.
But we still have a few more weeks to serve the purpose of God in 2012. Our Christmas presentation is not just a nice service at Christmas, it is an opportunity to present the good news of Jesus to those that don't know Him. On the 23rd December we have the Cottey's back with us from Tanzania. Then our last service of 2012 on 30th December at 5pm will be a great night of worship and baptisms. If you haven't been baptised, don't put it off any longer, obey what the word of God has told us to do. What better time to be baptised in water than as we end one year and head into the next.
Are we prepared, as Paul was, to give up something of ourselves in order to bring the lost to Christ. This is our challenge. Will you join me?
See you Sunday.
Teesside 11am
Newcastle 6pm.
Merry Christmas
Yours
Jon, Dee,Théa, Imani & Judah Cook
(not forgetting our newest addition to the family, Breck our black labrador puppy)
In the last 14 months we have seen two amazing young people leave this Earth to take their place with their saviour. Some lovely friends have left and returned to their homelands, taking a piece of our hearts with them. New people have come in and added themselves to our community, some because they have come to know the grace, love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ
This is our focus.
I have been so challenged lately by the apostle Paul's words in Romans 9:3 where he is basically saying that he is so desperate for his Jewish community to come to know Christ that he would be willing to accept separation himself if that were possible. Think of the impact and consequences of those words for a minute. Those are some pretty big feelings that Paul is pouring out there. This is the same Paul who can seem quite harsh and focused on the personal purity and growth of followers of Christ. He lets his feelings for his fellow Jews overflow with desperation as he sees them following the same legalistic road that he once travelled.
My challenge for us as NCLC is, are we more focused on our own personal walk with Christ (which IS essential) than we are to see our friends and our world saved from a life without Christ and a lost and dying eternity? Do we have a bit of Paul's desperation in us? We don't have to be alienated from Christ, but we may have to give up some of our "me" time.
This coming year our challenge as a church community is to keep our focus on the lost and to also grow more Christlike.
We will be making some changes in the new year that will allow us to move forward and see our communities impacted with Christ.
Over the past eighteen months we have bought our own office space and moved from doing everything in our dining room. We have also moved Sunday venue three times, ending up in our venue, the place we now call home. We have brought structure, policies and procedures to our staffing, finance and HR areas. This has all helped set a great foundation for the organisational side of our community. Despite the tragedies of lost loved ones, people leaving the community, "God has crowned the year with His favour."
Now it is time to continue our forward momentum.
The church leadership is being very intentional about looking at all aspects of our community to see what has stagnated and what is working. We will be reintroducing some things, leaving some things behind and starting some fresh initiatives. All done within the boundaries and culture of who we are as NCLC and with the question in mind...
"Will it MAKE and GROW healthy DISCIPLES?"
I am excited to see what God will bring in 2013.
But we still have a few more weeks to serve the purpose of God in 2012. Our Christmas presentation is not just a nice service at Christmas, it is an opportunity to present the good news of Jesus to those that don't know Him. On the 23rd December we have the Cottey's back with us from Tanzania. Then our last service of 2012 on 30th December at 5pm will be a great night of worship and baptisms. If you haven't been baptised, don't put it off any longer, obey what the word of God has told us to do. What better time to be baptised in water than as we end one year and head into the next.
Are we prepared, as Paul was, to give up something of ourselves in order to bring the lost to Christ. This is our challenge. Will you join me?
See you Sunday.
Teesside 11am
Newcastle 6pm.
Merry Christmas
Yours
Jon, Dee,Théa, Imani & Judah Cook
(not forgetting our newest addition to the family, Breck our black labrador puppy)
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Christmas musings
Today I am taking part in my Tuesday ritual. Head to the Metrocentre in Gateshead, go to Starbucks, grab a coffee and study for my next preaching/ leadership night/ or whatever my next speaking engagement happens to be. I love sitting here reading, writing and watching the world go by. Today is no different, except for the fact that people seem to be walking a little quicker, carrying a few more bags and are probably slightly more hassled than usual.
Its the Christmas season.
I am watching the sales people on the stall in the middle of the walkway trying to attract potential customers and get them to stop. There are many refusals, some polite with a smile, some not so polite (usually pointing to their watch as they refuse) and some just completely ignore the attempts of the retail staff. How many refusals must they get in a day, yet they still continue on with a smile!
Christmas can get so busy with all the shopping, the parties and the preparation for the big day that we can forget the importance of this period that we, as followers of Christ, are in.
This is the time we celebrate His entering into the mess of humanity to put the finishing touches to God's master plan for our reconciliation back into the family in place. We are not just celebrating the birth of Christ but also, in the words of the carol
Born that we no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.
This plan wasn't an afterthought of God but it was put together before the foundations of the earth were laid. His intention for humanity has always been to bring us back to himself despite our rebellion and disobedience. Christmas reminds us that God is good and He thoughts toward us are good.
Christmas reminds us that we have an intricate part to play in this plan. God chose Mary to carry Jesus, Joseph to take care of Mary, shepherds to spread the good news, the Wise men to give credibility to His birth and us to be witnesses to why His birth is vital for mankind.
In the busyness of Christmas don't be too busy to share with you friends, family and work colleagues why we, as Christians, love Christmas. It is because it shows Jesus' amazing love, God's incredible grace and the all encompassing fellowship of the Holy Spirit towards us.
If a small group of sales people can keep asking, despite rejection after rejection, can we, who have the very words of eternal life in us, keep talking to people about this Jesus in a manger.
Have a blessed Christmas.
Remember, God has crowned your year with favour.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Its the Christmas season.
I am watching the sales people on the stall in the middle of the walkway trying to attract potential customers and get them to stop. There are many refusals, some polite with a smile, some not so polite (usually pointing to their watch as they refuse) and some just completely ignore the attempts of the retail staff. How many refusals must they get in a day, yet they still continue on with a smile!
Christmas can get so busy with all the shopping, the parties and the preparation for the big day that we can forget the importance of this period that we, as followers of Christ, are in.
This is the time we celebrate His entering into the mess of humanity to put the finishing touches to God's master plan for our reconciliation back into the family in place. We are not just celebrating the birth of Christ but also, in the words of the carol
Born that we no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.
This plan wasn't an afterthought of God but it was put together before the foundations of the earth were laid. His intention for humanity has always been to bring us back to himself despite our rebellion and disobedience. Christmas reminds us that God is good and He thoughts toward us are good.
Christmas reminds us that we have an intricate part to play in this plan. God chose Mary to carry Jesus, Joseph to take care of Mary, shepherds to spread the good news, the Wise men to give credibility to His birth and us to be witnesses to why His birth is vital for mankind.
In the busyness of Christmas don't be too busy to share with you friends, family and work colleagues why we, as Christians, love Christmas. It is because it shows Jesus' amazing love, God's incredible grace and the all encompassing fellowship of the Holy Spirit towards us.
If a small group of sales people can keep asking, despite rejection after rejection, can we, who have the very words of eternal life in us, keep talking to people about this Jesus in a manger.
Have a blessed Christmas.
Remember, God has crowned your year with favour.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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