St Andrews

Well, as I write this, I am currently in Edinburgh, however I feel as though I should share a little bit about my trip in St Andrews!


Right, so St Andrews reminds me a lot of Banff to be honest, in the sense that it is a pretty small town and is also a major tourist destination! Aside from there being over seven golf courses, there are also some really interesting spots to check out. That great big gate you see in the background of that picture above is actually part of the remains of a cathedral that was destroyed and left to the elements during the reformation! It is now a huge graveyard, and has many large parts of the original cathedral still standing, and is a very beautiful place to visit!



Another really exciting part about getting to be in St Andrews was fulfilling a boyhood dream and getting to run around the ruins of an old castle! It was really just an awesome feeling to picture what it looked like in all of its grandeur, of course a mine shaft that runs underneath of the castle ruins stoked the flames of imagination even more! I had an absolute blast running through the mines, imagining what all they could have been used for.



Another interesting, though perhaps more somber, aspect of St Andrews was that it played a huge role in the Scottish Reformation. The Reformation was Scotland's formal break from the Papacy in 1560, and St Andrews has a past filled with martyrs and even it's ruins in the cathedral and the castle are a part of that past. I visited the site of the very first protestant martyr in Scotland, his name was Patrick Hamilton. They have stones on the ground that mark where he was burned at the stake by Archbishop James Beaton. Those stones are right in front of the entry way to the University of St Andrews. There are a few other locations that mark such events for other people who would die as martyrs during the reformation. St Andrews has a large monument to those martyrs not to far away from the Old Golf Course. It can be seen just a little bit to the right of the clubhouse in the first picture bellow.



The family I got to stay with were the Stirlings, Jenny and Mark Stirling both started the Navigators ministry in Edinburgh before moving to St. Louis for a time, eventually returning to start the Navigators ministry in St Andrews in 2007 I do believe. They, and there four children, are an absolutely tremendous family, and I loved getting to be in there home. They even sat me down to watch the Sound of Music, which I must admit, being a little older to appreciate it more, I did enjoy. Mark is a really smart man and has a really rich understanding of the Word of God. He has been studying modern and classical Greek to help him better understand God's word and is currently doing a thesis on Ephesians 4:20. Mark and his family help also to run a church service called Trinity, hosted within the Holy Trinity Church, and encouraged by the minister who oversees the church. It is a wonderful service, aimed at equipping others and helping them to go deeper into God's word with a richer understanding. I will get to see both Jenny and Mark again at the Scottish Summer Conference in a few days, including, our guest speaker, who taught Mark and whom Mark has a great amount of respect for.



To see the images posted in this blog better, just click on them, or go to the link bellow!


Same Glasgow Gallery, now with more Scotland!

My Itinerary

Alright, so I've been prompted by a friend to post up my itinerary so those of you who actually read this blog can see where I am at! And I will post it, however I thought I might share a couple things as well, let you all know what I've been up to the past couple of days. First though, the itinerary.

Wed 19th May - 0630 arrive G'gow Int Airport flight no.TCX 121L Airbus A330
Fiona McCruden to pick you up
19-28th May am - Glasgow Student ministry, arranged by Darren Jackson
and within this time for you to call and arrange your time seeing Robb
and Meg Powrie-Smith
28-31st May am - St Andrews Student ministry, arranged by Mark and Jenny Stirling

31-4th June am - Edinburgh Student ministry, arranged by Colin Gillies
4-9th June pm - Scottish Summer Conference, arranged by George Craig
9-14th June am - Manchester Student Ministry, arranged by Mike Spencer
14-18th June pm - English Summer Conference, arranged by Ally Wickham
18-23rd June - Leicester Student Ministry, arranged by me
23-30th June pm - Cross culture focus week in Brimingham, arranged by Tom and Judi
Walsh
30-? July - time checking out all things Robin Hood in Nottingham, TO BE CONFIRMED (will
let you know at the Eng summer conf, at the latest)



Alright, now onto the fun bits. I've had a jam packed last few days, that is for sure. I met with Rob Smith and his wife Meg, a wonderful couple. Rob helped to pioneer the ministry in Europe and I had a great time chatting with him and having my socks blown off by the things he had to share with me. I will not go into many details since I am still sort of processing the most of it. What I will tell you though, he told me exactly what I wanted and what I needed to hear, and he read me like a book. I left our time together feeling equipped with the tools to move deeper into my walk with God, and affirmed that I was moving in the right direction.

I have fallen for Glasgow. I love the city and I love the people I've gotten to meet! It is a very interesting place. A friend that I have made, Anna, took me to Stirling to see the Wallace Monument as well as the Stirling Castle! Both sites were amazing and I got to see the sword of William Wallace, which is almost taller than I am!

Click on the images to see them larger.












I am currently in St. Andrews, no images yet, as I've left my camera cable in Glasgow and will not get it back for at least a week. I am staying with a great family, the Stirlings, who've helped to get the ministry in Edinburgh and St. Andrews up and running! Jenny and Mark are a wonderful couple, with a beautiful home and great children! I've gotten to go for a walk with their son Greggor, a spirited young lad, who showed me some of the places he likes to go in the woods near his home. His enthusiasm for adventure reminds me a lot of myself at his age, playing in the woods with my younger brother, making forts and traps and pretending we were Robin Hood and his merry men. On Sunday, tomorrow, I will have a chance to meet more people and things will be a tad bit more sociable as well. I will continue to keep you all updated on everything!

Hello one and all

What does the name mean? When creating this blog, I wanted to emulate the idea of a ripple effect. That what we do ripples out into bigger things. Will those things be good, will they be bad? Will they honor God, or won't they? Eric, the National Director of the Navigators, has told me in retreats a couple times now about legacy; and how legacy ripples out into the lives of others. Dawson Trotman had a legacy, I believe it is written on his grave stone; Always Holding People Up. I want to do the same, I want to be able to help people to grow in Christ, obtain a solid walk with our Heavenly Father, share with them the salvation God gave us in His son Jesus Christ, and allow for God to meet with them and speak into their hearts.

I am currently in Scotland working with Navigators Ministry's over here. As I write this, I am working with the Glasgow Ministry and I want to share some of the things I am learning about as well as pictures from the trip. I want to share people who are rippling into my life and helping me to continue to grow in my walk with God as I continue with this trip.

Glasgow and its Navigator Ministry:

So I've been meeting with like a million different people since I've landed and I finally managed to sit down and have a chat with Darren, who has been sort of my contact in Glasgow.
That is Darren on the right hand side of the picture, smiling at the Camera. I had a chance to finally sit down and have a coffee with him, the both of us have been pretty busy. There was a lot to talk about, I was pretty interested in learning a bit more about the Glasgow Navigators ministry, and how it operates, and I got to hear a lot over coffee. Darren mentioned that the Navigators in Glasgow started around the 70's, took a break in the 80's and was then started back up again, so it has been around for a while. It has around 140 people involved with it currently, which is pretty awesome to hear! They have leaders or coaches, tend to be graduates, who lead the small group bible studies, and they also have what is called the GLC, the Group Leader Community, where those leaders then get put into small groups and are lead by other coaches. From what I have heard, younger students tend to be asked to lead summer bible studies so they can learn and grow in that area, and alumni are asked to partake in only one part of the ministry, their choice, so as to not become overwhelmed. It seems to me that the small groups are doing wonders for their community as Navigators and has forged some really great friendships. I've noticed that most of the people who attend the Navigators here tend to hang out with each other a lot, and have forged some awesome friendships.

Stall:
Stall, or the Cheesy, or whatever other names I have heard for it, is one of the coolest evangelism opportunities I have ever seen. The Navigators partake in it in partnership with the Christian Union on campus. There are two night clubs on campus or around the campus, and the Stall serves tea, coffee, biscuits and cakes to anyone who happens to be hanging around the entrance to these clubs. They give everything out for free and it creates an awesome chance for students in the Navigators and the Christian Union to chat with other students on campus in a less than traditional setting. I was there for a 10 hour long one, and got home at quarter past 6 in the morning, but I had the time of my life. It is amazing how tea and cakes can lead to some interesting questions, the most common being "why". There were many great conversations and several chances to share about Jesus with people I've never met.

Connect:










Connect is basically the same program I am taking in Canada with a different name. The above images are some of the Connect workers in Glasgow, in the first image is Ailsa, she is in the blue top with brown hair, the second image is Abby, and the last image, the guy with the shaved head and the cut off sleeves is Xander. I have gotten to meet all three of them extensively during my stay here thus far, and all three have been tremendous! Abby has been organizing things for me since I've been here and making sure I am well taken care of, Ailsa opened up her home for a BBQ and has helped me to find my way around on a few occasions. I have had some great talks with Xander and hung out with him a couple times now.

That is about all I can put up here for now. I have made a website to post photos into, so everyone can go and rummage through them if they like! Just follow the link!

Glasgow Photos A Plenty!