Date: 2nd March ’25 Venue: Bath Forum A truly inspirational evening with the star of the hit TV show Gladiators. Warren Furman’s meteoric rise took him to the top of the celebrity world. With big muscles, fame, a page 3 girlfriend and stacks of cash – he had everything a guy could ever want, right? But he found out life wasn’t quite that simple. Join us for a fantastic evening, packed with laughs, games – maybe even a chance to let out your inner gladiator! Warren will share his story of the fame, fortune and faith, but also the futility […]
Category: Inspiration
Good Health this Christmas
Widow Alice’s 6-year-old daughter died because she didn’t have the equivalent of the cost of a Starbucks coffee… how could that be? Her daughter was sick, and Alice had no money to get her treated. She asked her neighbours for a loan, but they were likewise destitute. So she set about making a clay pot as quickly as possible to sell, but during those lost hours, her daughter’s illness proved fatal. I’m shaking my head in disbelief as I write this… it is so wrong! We can stop something like that from happening again this Christmas for 5,000 of the […]
Content in Christ!
This talk is the fourth in a series I gave on the book of Philippians this past summer. To listen to it, click Below: Content in Christ – 3 Promises – Peace, Power, Provision Have you ever been through something really grim and been ‘comforted’ by someone who clearly hasn’t got a clue what they’re talking about? They haven’t been through what you’re experiencing, so it rings hollow and you actually just want to tell them where to go! But when someone listens deeply and you know they ‘get’ it, you really listen to them. I listen to Paul because […]
Journeying with Jesus
This talk is the third in a series I gave on the book of Philippians this past summer. To listen to it, Click Below: This chapter starts with faith, continues with resurrection power, and ends with glory! I’ll share some of the illustrations I used, and finish with some useful questions for reflection. A new convert approached Watchman Nee in deep anguish of soul, saying, “No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord. I think I’m losing my salvation.” Watchman Nee replied, “Do you see this […]
Christ Likeness
This talk is the second in the series I gave on the book of Philippians this past summer. To listen to it, click the Audio Link below: I love to illustrate and quote people, and this is just one of the stunning stories I use of God’s Sovereign purposes coming to fruition in this message… and there’s some reflection questions to help focus our thinking. In Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo, just across the lake from us in Burundi, I’ve preached there and seen the missionary graves. In 1921, David and Svea Flood went with their two-year-old son from Sweden […]
No Sting in Death!
It’s been a rough month, with two of God’s best troops taken out by cancer – but both of these friends have died well and impacted so many in the process. I’m going to Richard Garnett’s* funeral/celebration of life next week. Many of you will have heard of Steve Legg. I interviewed him with Carl Beech early last summer, just after he’d been given a couple of months to live. Well, he battled on for a full extra year, and ran his race beautifully. He continued touring, making people laugh and cry as he shared his comedy acts with the […]
WHAT A WOMAN!
Sometimes you hear a story and you get to be a part of totally changing someone’s life. That’s my invitation to you right now! Clementine has no legs and actually walks on her hands. My colleague Eloge drove past her this week, and felt prompted in his spirit a few minutes later to turn around and go back to talk to her. He asked her what her story was. Here goes: Clementine is an only child, and aged 4 she was struck with poliomyelitis and became disabled. Her father abandoned the whole family because of her, and she’s never seen […]
The Win/Win of Being All-in
Recently I preached this series of talks on the book of Philippians, so below is the first of four talks. Some thoughts / quotes / illustrations from the talk: The key takeaway for me is that Paul is totally out of control (in prison), and yet totally confident of God being in control! And so it is for me and you, whatever you’re going through, that’s the case. I need to hear that. Here are some of the juicy quotes I used, plus at the end some questions to reflect on: Eldredge talks along these lines: “Choosing to see life […]
Tears and Bullets in Burundi
As I stood up to preach, I burst into tears in the pulpit. It was July 2003 and I had flown back from Burundi and on to the USA for my first preaching tour there. I was with a wonderful church called St Andrew’s in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina. Memories of this moment came flooding back a few days ago when I visited my old office on the outskirts of Bujumbura. It was a time of reminiscing and rejoicing. Back in 2003, I was distraught because at the very moment I was preaching at the midweek service, in Burundi rebels had attacked […]
Happy Halloween?
What do you make of Halloween? I’m conflicted. On one level, it’s just an excuse for a good time, and I love the chance to engage with the community and be out and about. But on another level, I’m uncomfortable with the sinister underbelly and know that as a follower of Jesus, I need to be awake to those darker realities. So I thought I’d share with you two of my friends’ stories, who were witches themselves. I think their opinions and experiences are more important and authoritative than mine, and what happened in their lives is frankly mind-blowing. Well […]
Pursuing His Purpose
This is the third talk in the ‘Hot Pursuit’ series, delivered at Lee Abbey in August. Pursuing His Presence Pursuing His Peace Pursuing His Purpose Pursuing His Power This is the story of one of my heroes: Robert Jermaine Thomas (1839-1866) from Kingsley Armstrong’s book: After Robert Thomas found the Lord, he began preaching at age 15. He went to train at New College, London; met Caroline Godfrey, got engaged, married, ordained and sailed to China the same year. In 1863 Robert said goodbye to his homeland. He was twenty-four when he travelled with his new wife on a ship from Gravesend […]
Pursuing His Peace
This is the second talk in the ‘Hot Pursuit’ series, delivered at Lee Abbey in August. Pursuing His PresencePursuing His Peace Pursuing His PurposePursuing His Power You can listen here: Some notes/quotes/illustrations from the talk: Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” What is Shalom? Completeness, soundness, welfare, peace. At ease, favour, health, peaceful, prosperity, safety, secure, security, rest, trust in relationships, wellness, well-being. Acknowledge your fear Become aware of his presence Claim his promises “The beginning of fear is the end of faith; the beginning of true faith is the […]
Stunning Modern-Day Miracles!
You might struggle to believe some of the following stories from last month’s outreach. I hope not though. ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever’ (Hebrew 13:8). So here are some feedback highlights, having asked folks to pray last month as we sent out 1,439 young evangelists from 88 churches for two weeks all around Burundi. The top-line summary is that they saw over 23,000 people come to faith! It’s the modern-day Acts of the Apostles! Here goes: An Urge for Healing In the small village of Bwambarangwe in Kirundo province, 41-year-old Diomede had lain paralysed from the waist down and […]
Tears Falling in Your Stomach…
This morning was holy ground. I’m back out in Burundi with a team of supporters for a week of introducing them to our various wonderful partners. As I knew would happen, the team members are blown away at the calibre, integrity and commitment of these Kingdom warriors. As Justin noted, the repeated story is that almost all of them had the chance to take the easier option and leave for whichever affluent peaceful country, but they chose to stay and make a costly difference here, in beautiful but broken Burundi. Ephraim shared how he’d fled to the Congo during the […]
A Divine Encounter!
I love these stories! We get bombarded with so much bad news in general, that all the more I see it as part of our job at GLO to tell inspiring tales of overcoming. Meet Divine: She was an orphan living in Nyanza lac in the South of Burundi. She was married young to a boy who mistreated her, indeed whose family rejected her and maligned her such that she preferred to flee to the streets. She was left with no apparent options other than to sell her body to survive. That was five years ago. Just a few months […]
Crazy Wild Workings in Burundi!
Earlier this summer, I asked for prayers for our huge team of evangelists during their two-week summer outreach campaign, and the results and stories are in. As promised, here’s what happened. First, the stats: We sent out 850 evangelists across the country for two weeks.They worked alongside 47 churches in their respective areas. 13,831 people chose to give their lives to Christ.16,474 people who had drifted in their faith renewed their commitment. Amazing! And there were other stories of marriages being restored, suicidal attempts thwarted or abandoned, community reconciliation and more. So here are a few of the many stories – all I can say is ‘Wow!’ […]
Preparing for Dark Times – FearLESS and HopeFUL Resilience…
We are entering a dark period of history, and we need to be ready for it. I fear we are far from ready. Are you ready? Am I? “God did not give us a spirit of fear.” (2 Timothy 1:7) I believe it is absolutely critical for believers in the risen Jesus Christ to embrace and live out this verse. We live by faith, not fear. Or at least that is how we are meant to live. But my observation in lockdown was that many believers were as susceptible to fear as anyone else, absorbing endless fear-inducing messages and being […]
Beautiful Healing Testimonies from Burundi!
Last Sunday night, we had an evening meal with GLO Partner United Christians for Evangelism (UCE). They are a superb outfit doing incredible things on minimal funds, which is what I find so utterly inspiring. When I was last out here in October, we had done an outreach in Gatamba in Karuzi Province, which had been a real adventure and very fruitful – some of you might remember the demon-possessed lady Teresa who had thrown both her shoes at me from the crowd who was then prayed for, set free, and helped to make a fresh go of life having […]
Brave Boldness and Damned Demons in Burundi!
Greetings from Burundi! There is so much good to report from my short visit (49 meetings and counting so far after seven days), but I thought I’d just share a couple of beautiful encounters to stir your faith. GLO’s motto is ‘Transforming Burundi and Beyond’, and I love how stories from Burundi encourage you in the ‘Beyond’ around the world, wherever you are as you read this. Here goes, as posted on facebook: I met with Abdoul today. He’s a brave man. He used to be in charge of 15 mosques, and prided himself in zealously winning Christians over to […]
Chrissie Chapman – A Tribute
Things would have looked very different if Chrissie had died when the doctors said she would. Decades ago, she was dying and had been given six months to live. She was partially paralysed, bald, her whole body was swollen ‘like a Michelin-Man’, and she had two wrecked lungs. On her hospital bed, she heard an audible voice: “It’s time to go home; I am going to heal you!” She was allowed out of the hospital some weekends. One weekend, back in her apartment and resting on her beanbag, she believed she was dying but then suddenly felt painful pins and […]