Its sure been a blast for the Apex to have Terry preach and do a very casual Q&A at our midweek group meeting. As the apostle Paul said "he visits the churches to strengthen and encourage them" that’s just what Terry has done with us being here. Putting on a BBQ and being outside on a warm evening made for a casual relaxed time in hearing Terry speak on how he founded NF and from humble beginnings see it grow into a movement that has truly impacted the world with gospel centrered spirit filled churches planted out. In small bible week beginnings to Stoneleigh where 28.000 gathered and other landmarks in the history so far of NF, and still humble.

On a personal note, it’s always good to see how these public men of God are when close up and living under the same roof...wherever Terry stays he will always be up early to pray for an hour or two.

On Sundays preach, ‘The wedding at Cana,’ was a familiar topic but bought alive by fresh insights that came out and were quite gripping; That Jesus’s mother was gently but none the less rebuked by him, that when she told the servants to do exactly whatever Jesus told them to do, however strange sounding, then do it. Like filling water jars with water when the issue was that the wine was running out, an embarrassing situation! How today, in our lives just under the surface can be circumstances that any moment could become public knowledge and embarrassing yet doing what Jesus said and trusting in him who can change circumstances in no time. Sadly, we all too often think we can run our lives better and sail into storms rather that letting Jesus have the helm to steer us to safe harbours.

This lead to a time of praying for people who knew they had hold of their own lives and knew they needed to let God have control again. He went on to pray for the sick and those with bad backs in particular where sure enough some (not all) testified to feeling a whole lot better. There was a real atmosphere of God’s presence the whole time from the first note of Chris’s piano in worship time which was superb. Thinking about it, it may have been the best meeting we have had, it was certainly the most full and gave us a glimpse of all we can hope to expect in the months ahead.

After church we took them out for a new experience with a sail on the Solent on ‘Celtic mist’. The wind was just right so Terry got a chance to understand a bit how the wind and sails work together - a different wind of God but its effects never fails to move things along, ‘no wind - no movement’. We dropped anchor in Osborne bay for lunch and some chit-chat. From the comment on Terry’s twitter it went down well, ‘just had an unforgettable sail on the Solent’ was the tweet!

On a personal note, it’s always good to see how these public men of God are when close up and living under the same roof. I read of John Stott, one of Gods great men, that his habit is he prays an hour a day, a day a month, and a week a year. I had also heard wherever Terry stays he will always be up early to pray for an hour or two. Having him here I can say this is true and its challenging/inspiring to hear the man praying audibly at 6.00 am in the living room each morning!

In the words of Yongi Chow who leads the biggest church in the world, ‘no prayer-no power, little prayer-little power, MUCH PRAYER-MUCH POWER!’.

So, see you guys on Thursday mornings at 6.30am for our mens prayer meetings at ‘Oakhill’.

PS They are loving the Island which they last came to over 30 years ago and the weather has maintained its favourable reputation so hope they come again .Who wouldn't!

Kierkegaard quote "Faith is the matchless lack of logic...God requires each of us this degree of commitment: an absolute relation to the absolute. Such commitment can be terrifying as God leads us ‘out upon the deep, over seventy thousand fathoms of water’. And just as Jesus Christ produced certain effects on his contemporaries, to be his in faith one must be a contemporary of his and have vital, decisive contact with him now. There is no such thing as a second–string disciple."

Right: A big cargo ship carrying a huge load is coming in to harbour the day after Terry left...it's called 'Virgo leader'.