As I emerge from a week of travel I realise I have neglected my blog for the first time in 2011. It's not good for me. My head gets overly full with things I want to write about... Books I've finished... People I've hung out with... The chicks hatched in our lean too... My trip to the USA... An amazing Easter weekend... and so much more. I know it's inevitable that I will fail to capture it all retrospectively but this week I'll blog daily to try and capture at least those moments freshest in my mind.
Today I want to chat about the end of an amazing journey through lent. The podcast you're probably all sick of me mentioning called 24-7 Prayer Spaces.
This idea was born over a year ago. For ages many of us involved in the prayer, mission and justice movement have wanted to repeat the podcast put out a few years back to unite us in prayer across the globe. The challenge was finding the time and resource to make it happen. The series has been dreamed about in many different guises until just after Christmas we finally realised we were able to make it happen. Alana, Scot and I holed up in our little London office with tea and chocolate, prayed together and then covered the walls in paper as we started brain storming the possible topics and verses we could pray through. It's been an amazing journey to see those scrawls become a reality.
I thought that the podcast would be an encouragement and tool for maybe a couple of hundred people around the globe. The response however on our first week of release was overwhelming. People have participated in their THOUSANDS!!
That was a little scary at first...
Our simple, scruffy little videos have been used by individuals, churches, networks, young people, old people, youth groups, families around the dinner table and many more. The feedback we received moved me to tears (er... not cause it was mean) because it was amazing to see that God had used them to really speak to and meet with people. What more could you ask for?
Scot and I are starting to plan our next Prayer Spaces season (probably for Advent this year!) and ways in which we could involve more 24-7ers from across the globe. Watch this space and the 24-7 Blog for more.
To finish off the season Scot and I recorded the video below for Easter Monday. Our closing thoughts and prayers are wrapped up beautifully by a little special something that the lovely Georgina and fabulous Ella put together.
Oh yes... it's the outtakes!
I highly recommend watching them, it's laugh out loud material. (Skip to middle to get to the good stuff.) Someone commented on twitter and I have to agree that there's a lot of me in there. What, did no-one else try to read their bible upside down, or nearly fall down a bank, or say "Mary went to the kill country"? Ok maybe that last one was unique. Anyway, enjoy! If you watched any of the Prayer Spaces season I'd love to hear from you. What did you think? Got any feedback?