Mayb2day

Received this today from Duncan Parker on behalf of Premier Christian Media and Endis.

Dear friends,

Earlier this year, iTunes passed the 10 billion song download mark. The 10 billionth song was “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash.

Every day YouTube serves 1 billion (yes billion) videos to users. In the USA, 82% of internet users view video online with 12.2 billion videos viewed per month. Unless you are catching up with a missed TV show, most of these will be short videos.

The average user in the USA watches 182 videos per month.The UK will not be far behind these trends.

We are in a digital world, an oral and visual generation.

And of course, this way of communicating opens up many possibilities for the Church – not just secular organisations.

Multimedia and your church

Premier Christian Media and Endis are keen to find out what your church or denomination is currently doing or planning regarding the use of multimedia.

This will help us improve our extensive technology and related services to help you engage more fully with this increasingly digital world. We’ve devised a short survey and it would be great if you could complete what you can!

The link to the survey is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/webmultimedia

Thank you in advance for helping us understand what you would like to be able to do.

Sincerely, Duncan Parker, Church Liaison.

+447772 051713 or 0844 736 5298 option 1.

Nun other than technology:

http://doiop.com/rollingnewshabit

‘A 13th century order of nuns who never leave their convent or read newspapers is now able to pray for victims of tragedies across world after being given purpose-made handheld device that flashes up news headlines.’ (Daily Telegraph)

Brian Draper has a new book out.  It’s called Labyrinth: Illuminating the Inner Path.

If you don’t know Brian, he is a writer, thinker and speaker who seeks to ‘provide an inspiring presence in the business world for leaders who truly wish to be part of the solution, not the problem’.  He is the author of Spiritual Intelligence (Lion), and ‘Searching 4 Faith’ (Lion), and presents BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day on the Today programme.

He describes his new book as being ‘short, but sweet enough … Beautifully illustrated by the designers at Lion Hudson, it’s an evocative exploration of what it means to walk a labyrinth.’   Brian has been using labyrinths as a form of creative, spiritual reflection and meditation for a long time.  His new book is a guide to the literal act of walking them, but also stands alone, as a reflection on the art of walking the metaphorical path of life and faith.

It’s a hardback book with full-colour photos throughout.  I am looking forward to receiving my copy, but knowing Brian and his insights in this area, I can commend it before even reading it.

To order signed copies: http://www.spiritualintelligence.co.uk.

Otherwise, Amazon is cheaper:

http://doiop.com/draperslabyrinth

Apparently, Jesus was spotted on Google Earth:

http://doiop.com/Jesusinafield

Many Christians will say, ‘Of course it isn’t Jesus … it’s just a coincidence … or photoshop … or whatever’.  But … it is interesting that people think they see Jesus in the strangest of places.  Perhaps more people are subconsciously looking for Jesus than they’d like to admit.  Or perhaps we should expect to see Jesus in the strangest of places … whether it be a field, or not.  Or just perhaps … there’s a Creator God just has a sense of humour!  Who knows?

Thanks to the ENews sweep from the Baptist Union of Great Britain for bringing to my attention this photo in the THE TIMES OF INDIA.

An ultrasound scan of Jesus in the womb – complete with the suggestion of a halo – is the new poster image for the churches Christmas campaign by ChurchAds.net this year.

The startling image, with the words ‘He’s on his way’ will continue with the on-going campaign line of ‘Christmas Starts with Christ’ launched on bus stops across the country last Christmas.

Chairman of ChurchAds.net, Francis Goodwin said: “This is the kind of thing proud ‘parents-to-be’ show their friends and family – passing round the scan of the baby, or even pinning it up in the office. Our poster reflects this new way of announcing the news of a new arrival and places the birth of Christ in an ultra-contemporary context. It offers a fresh perspective on the birth of Christ – creating anticipation and alluding to both His humanity and divinity.”

ChurchAds.net organisers hope that the poster will capture people’s attention and spark conversations about the birth of this very special baby ,with as much relevance today as 2000 years ago. Commenting on the new poster, the Bishop of Reading, the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, said: “For many parents pregnancy gets real when you see the image from the ultrasound scan. It tells you something is actually kicking off. We’ve got so used to the tinsel wrapped cosiness of the carefully packaged 21st century consumer-fest Christmas, that its astonishing reality – an actual pregnancy, a God come down to earth – is easily missed. But this image demands attention. So does this child. He’s on his way.”

Last year’s campaign, on posters and radio, was supported by over 700 churches and reached 20 million people; this year organisers hope the campaign will reach even more and are aiming for 2010 bus stops across the UK in 2010.

Francis Goodwin said: “It may seem very early to be talking about Christmas, but we’d like to make this one of the largest Church Christmas campaigns ever. By booking soon church groups can buy a two week display at their local bus stop for £150. It’s a fantastic opportunity for churches to get a strong Christian message out to the general public. Our vision is to reach 40 million people by seeing the poster displayed on 2010 bus stops in 2010.”

ChurchAds.net will continue to work closely with outdoor advertising company, Clear Channel, which offered bus stop sites to churches last year. Posters will appear from December 6th.

The poster campaign, has been launched on the ChurchAds.net website www.churchads.net and will be supported by radio adverts available for churches to place on their local commercial radio stations. The adverts put the birth of Christ into a contemporary setting and also include the tag-line ‘Christmas Starts with Christ’.

Vice-Chair of ChurchAds.net, Mike Elms said: “Research has revealed that 85% of people agree with the statement that ‘Christmas should be called Christmas because we are still a Christian country’. But it also shows that only 12% of adults know the facts of the Christmas story in any detail. If Christians really want to keep Christmas focused on Christ, we must work hard at re-telling the story of his birth in ways which engage with ordinary people. We believe our slogan: ‘Christmas Starts with Christ’ helps people connect with our new images each year as we seek to re-tell the Christmas Story in a modern, secular context.”

ChurchAds.Net is an independent ecumenical charity, whose executive team includes senior communications officers from the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and URC churches; from the Church Army and Evangelical Alliance; together with Christians working in secular media and advertising organisations. The charity maintains close links with the leaderships of most major denominations and its work is vetted by a Council of Reference of senior theologians.

There are just seven days left to book at discounted rate for the Church and Media Conference.

Click here to go straight to the booking site.

Highlights of the conference include…

Mumsnet founder Carrie Longton on the power of social networking

BBC Religion Head Aaqil Ahmed on the future of religious broadcasting

TV’s master storyteller Tony Jordan on his BBC dramatisation of The Nativity

International Christian activist Tony Campolo on what the media is doing to our society

Click here to go straight to the booking site.

Distinguished journalist Roger Bolton on the state of the media industry

Humanist leader Andrew Copson on religion and atheism sharing public space

Catholic spokesman Austen Ivereigh on Roman Catholicism under the spotlight

Award-winning stand-up Jo Enright (Phoenix Nights, I’m Alan Partridge) being funny

Click here to go straight to the booking site.

Plus Harmander Singh (Sihks in England), Inayat Bunglawala (Muslim Council of Britain) andChris Cole (God TV) on the representation of faith in the media;

Caroline Diehl (Media Trust), David Holdsworth (BBC) and Duncan Williams on the future of local media.

All of this plus sector-based strands and loads of great networking opportunities.

The conference takes place from Monday 7th to Wednesday 9th June in the glorious setting of the Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire.

Click here to go straight to the booking site.

Don’t miss it.

A few months ago a bunch of Delirious fans started talking about how great it would be to get a song up in the charts that raised the flag for faith in Jesus. The good news is that HistoryMaker is today the No. 6 single in the charts.

Could you help get it to No. 1 by Easter Saturday?

This is not a money making scam for Delirious? They will be donating their profits from the UK single downloads to Compassionart projects that bring relief from poverty where it is needed most.

There’s an original studio version and a live take recorded at the band’s final gig last November. You could buy one or both for  just 79p each.

Studio version:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/history-makers-single/id362290577

Live version:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/history-makers-live/id362290374

See also my last blog post.

News from The Church and Media Network (of which I am a trustee):

What will you find at this year’s CHURCH AND MEDIA CONFERENCE?

Well, for a start there are some really significant names to lead our thinking. Distinguished journalist and broadcaster Roger Bolton will give a keynote “state of the industry” address and globe-trotting campaigner Tony Campolo will ask whether the media we’re making is damaging our culture.

Then there are plenary sessions looking at some big issues – like whether faith is being squeezed out of the public arena, how Muslims are portrayed in the media and whether local broadcasting has reached the end of the road or just the beginning.

To go straight to the booking site just click here.

As ever we’ve assembled a line-up of top speakers … like Caroline Diehl from the Media Trust,Andrew Copson of the British Humanist Association and the new chair of the Church and Media Network Elaine Storkey. And there’s a great deal more besides. If you take faith seriously and you care about the media it’s unmissable.

But probably the best reason to get to the Church and Media Conference is to network with friends and colleagues from across the industry.

The conference will take place from Monday 7th – Wednesday 9th June 2010 at the Hayes Conference Centre, Derbyshire. If you haven’t booked your place yet click here for more details about the conference and online booking. There are substantial discounts for early booking, so don’t delay.

Please would you help us get the word out by forwarding this email to anyone you know who may be interested in joining us.

Best Wishes

Andrew Graystone
Director, Churches’ Media Council

PS
Of course there will be plenty of time to network and relax. I’m delighted that award-winning comedian Jo Enright will be joining us for a Summer evening of fun.

Just in case you haven’t seen this:

You can find out more and vote at http://www.robinhoodtax.co.uk/

Will you jon the ‘merry (wo) men’ who will vote for the tax?

Find out about Community Voices grants from the Media Trust

26 community projects will receive funding of either £1,500, £7,000 or £14,000, as well as support from digital mentors to help you make a difference in communities.

APPLY by 28 February 2010 to be considered for a grant.

NEWS RELEASE

Appeal launched to help thousands struck by devastating Haiti earthquake

• Church donates £20,000 to aid victims of killer quake feared to have left thousands dead
  

The Methodist Church in Britain has launched an emergency appeal and granted £20,000 in immediate aid to Haiti after a catastrophic earthquake rocked the Caribbean nation yesterday.

Reports revealed that the 7.0-magnitude quake, the worst to hit the country in two centuries, tore down the HQ of the UN Mission, the presidential palace and thousands of homes in the space of a minute at 16.53 Haitian time and 21.53 GMT.  Survivors used the micro-blogging site Twitter to report on the unfolding tragedy.

Revd Marcus Torchon, a Haitian Methodist minister serving in the Liverpool District on an exchange programme, said: “I am still waiting for news from family members who are missing. I managed to speak to my nephew after the quake happened, but since that phone call there were more than 10 after-shocks. Now the line is dead because the major phone networks are down.

“It is really destabilising emotionally. Practically, I would like to be of service to them. I feel that at some point I may have to go there when the airport is open. At the end of the day, we have nothing but our faith in God.”

Revd Tom Quenet, Partnership Coordinator for the Americas and Caribbean, established contact with the President of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas at 3am GMT today. Tom said: “Following the damage caused by four successive hurricanes that hit the island in 2008, I fear that the people of Haiti will wake up to scenes of devastation, fear and loss of life.”

Haiti’s Methodist church is the largest membership district of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean & the Americas with 12,000 members.

Tom Osbeck from aviation ministry Air Calvary said: “The buildings, homes, businesses and hospitals of Port-au-Prince are flattened. We stand outside and weep as we hear thousands of crying people. Thousands have died – many, many around our house.”

David Carwell of Mission Aviation Fellowship said: “All kinds of things in our house shook and slid and came tumbling to the floor. There have been many aftershocks and tremors. They seem to be weakening, but I doubt if it’s over yet.”

The Methodist Church in Britain is appealing to people to make their response through the World Mission Fund while international relief agencies and governments work to bring relief to Haitians.

Donations can be made through the Just Giving webpage on the Methodist Church website here or by sending a cheque payable to the World Mission Fund and posting it to Dave Bennett, Fundraising Coordinator, at Methodist Church House, 25 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5JR. Postal donations should be labelled ‘Haiti Appeal’.

A prayer is available on the Methodist Church website: www.methodist.org.uk/haiti

Meditate on Psalm 104.

Prayer:

Powerful God who causes the power of the universe to create and destroy.
We thank you for lives spared
and miracles that have taken place in the devastated country of Haiti.
Give us grace to live with the mystery of your power
that at times like this leaves us confused, broken and shaken.
We pray for the people of Haiti
and ask that you will comfort the grieving and the injured.
We are humbled by their confidence in you in times of trouble.
May the embrace of compassion and humanity be a shelter and refuge.
May your word feed and nourish as the world brings relief and rebuilding.
We pray for the Rev Gesner Paul and the people of the Methodist Church in Haiti.
We ask that you will strengthen them
as they work to bring relief and comfort to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
This day and every day,
give us the will to listen to your voice and work together to heal broken lives,
build destroyed homes and establish justice for all your people. Amen.

My friend David Coleman has let me know about a new Church Army initiative that is worth checking out and passing on to others.

Here are the details of the new Now a Christian FREE email course which they have launched @ www.nowachristian.org

You Tube – see http://www.youtube.com/churcharmy#p/a/u/0/KHsy5vf0zoU.

Do watch this it takes about 2.5 mins and gives a great overview of the programme which is FREE.

Please put the link on your website.

There is an Inspire Magazine article about it on their website:

http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/article.aspx?i=98&q=369

The Gathering

‘Faith in the West End’

Sunday 22^nd November 2009

at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster

Great Hall opens: 5.45pm; formal start: 6.30pm

With song, testimony, interviews and worship

Hosted by Tony Miles

Directors of Music: Gerard Brooks & Craig Edwards

Special guests include:

Revd Rob Gillion
From Terry Wogan’s Pause for Thought on Radio 2,
patron of Intermission, and chair of the Actor’s Church Union

The West End Gospel Choir

Nerys Hughes
From The Liver Birds and District Nurse

David Erik
From Dirty Dancing and Phantom of the Opera

Tabitha Webb
From Phantom of the Opera

Earl Perkins
From Thriller

Olivia Lumley
From Dirty Dancing and Prime Suspects

Marking ACTION FOR CHILDREN’S 140^th anniversary
Free admission with an offering.
Light refreshments available

SPECIAL GUESTS:

REVD ROB GILLION: is heard regularly on Terry Wogan’s Pause for Thought (Radio 2). Rob wears many hats including being a patron of the charity Intermission, Chairman of the Actor’s Church Union, and a member of the Archbishop’s College of Evangelists (Arts and Media). He is an actor himself and also the Rector of Holy Trinity Church Sloane Square and the area Dean for Chelsea.

THE WEST END GOSPEL CHOIR: is made up of past, present and future performers from West End shows such as We Will Rock You, Joseph, Les Misérables, Dirty Dancing, The Lion King and Thriller. The choir came into being to help expand Christian relationships within the theatrical world of London’s West End. It provides an opportunity for people to explore Gospel and spiritual music in a relaxed environment and fellowship.

NERYS HUGHES: best known for the role of Sandra Hutchinson in the BBC TV series The Liver Birds. She later played the lead in The District Nurse and won the Variety Club Television Actress of the Year Award. In the theatre Nerys has played with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the English Stage Company at the Royal Court and The Theatre of Comedy. She also guest starred in the Doctor Who and was also a producer on the Sky One drama Is Harry on the Boat? She most recently appeared in the Torchwood episode, Something Borrowed. She is also known for her role in The Queen’s Nose. Nerys is also a patron for Action for Children (Methodist Church’s children’s charity).

DAVID ERIK: hails from America and was a member of the original London cast of Dirty Dancing and is currently playing the leading role of Johnny Castle. His theatre credits include Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Canterbury Tales,Tickledom, Les Misérables and Cabaret. In America David played such roles as Danny in Grease and Michael and Adrian in Smokey Joe’s Café.  David’s first recording project is due for release in 2010.

TABITHA WEBB: is currently performing in Les Misérables and understudying the role of Cosette. Her solo work has included concerts with the English Symphonia, Bournemouth Symphony and the London Philharmonic orchestras, and she has sung the national anthems at England international football matches! Tabitha has also played the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera and was a featured soloist in Chess.

EARL PERKINS: has appeared on the West End stage in Thriller Live, Rent and Dancing In The Streets. He also appeared in Rent on Broadway and on a US National Tour. His other performances in America include Ragtime, Peter Pan, Smokey Joe’s Café, Chicago and Showboat. Earl’s television credits include Dr. Who and Holby City.

OLIVIA LUMLEY: trained at RADA. Her theatre credits include Lisa in Dirty Dancing, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Mary in Calvary, Undine in The Little Mermaid. Her film credits include Outlaw (Pathé) and Rabbit on the Moon. Her television credits include Law and Order: UK, Prime Suspect VII, Rosemary and Thyme, NY-LON, As If, Holby City and The Forsyte Saga.

For more information: http://doiop.com/FaithinWestEnd