What makes the Feast so special?

How to explain the Feast - it is best said by those who come each week.

George likes “Ruth’s cooking, the room, the tablecloths and the fact that is not too rushed – when he is here he gets time to sit and relax.”

Ken said “Wonderful – If it weren’t for the church I would be dead!”

Peter said “the Feast makes you feel full up physically and spiritually.”

Rodney said “1st Class, warm welcome, hospitality, good friendship. Virtually trouble free. Mixed community. The Good news is spoken here.”

Feast running total

The Feast total now stands at 995 so we are very close to the 1000th person now. Probably in 2 weeks time.

Numbers at the Feast

Last night was a smaller Feast but there were 6 new people. This means that we have now reached 990 people who have been to the Feast since it started. So in the next few weeks we will reach the 1000.

Life in Catford 2 - Praying Man

Recently I walked out of the Housing Benefit office in Catford to hear the shouts of a man standing by the bus stops. I have never seen him before. He was shouting at people walking by, at the cars and especially a little old lady waiting patiently for her bus. As you may expect the language was unpleasant and often sexual in it's content. As I have come to expect no one does anything! People pass on by as if this is normal everyday behaviour - Fear results in silence.
I decide that I will talk to him. I am always friendly and confident when I talk to people like this. He immediately backs away and shouts very loudly,"you're a praying man, why do you pray to God" - at this point I'm thinking why does mental instability and openess to the spirit go so close -
[14 years ago on a train a man was running up and down the train throwing all the rubbish out of the windows and he was shouting loudly of course. When I spoke to him and introduce myself he replied, "you're not going to convert me"]
Somehow this abusive man in Catford was acting 'prophetically', that was until he called me and everyone else "a terrorist". At that point he walks across the road and began shouting at a new bunch of 'pray-ers and terrorists'

Milestone

At the Feast I keep a record of 'new people' and have been recording this since the Feast started in January 2002. The list of different people who have been has now reached 983, so in about 4 or 5 weeks we will reach 1000. I am planning a press release and we have started collecting comments about the Feast, which I will publish on the blog over the next few weeks.

Visit to the Bridge Project in Birmingham

Yesterday I went back to my 'home' city Birmingham and visited the wonderful Bridge Project. This is a 15 bed unit that has an excellent drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme. I was particularly interested in how it worked because it is only staffed Monday to Friday 8-5. Responsibility is given to the residents for locking up, responding to problems that happen out of the staff time. Random drug and alcohol testing happens 24/7 though. Please see their website for much more. I found that the Bridge is an excellently run project that is fuelled by faith. If we manage to get to opening a rehab I would definitely operate it on a non 24 hour staff basis.

Life in Catford 1

As I cycled to Lewisham yesterday, I realised that I miss being around the streets of Catford. I used to go out every week but recently I have been out far less. I just get to see people that I see nowhere else! Yesterday, for example, after passing a fight between 3 men (there was already a group of people shouting at them so this time I carried on cycling) I met a guy who I haven't seen in over a year, sadly he was yellow, his head and his eyes. (almost Simpson cartoon coloured - when I told my children they laughed that the Simpson's are alcoholics!) Seeing this guy was a sad sight but I was so pleased to see him again. My guess is that there is little hope for his life but I do know that he knows Jesus and therefore he has hope eternal!