Where There’s Blayze

The congregation of Denby Bottles Methodist Church has been extremely busy these last few months with practising for a show that we are putting on to raise money for Cliff festival. For those who do not know, every year our youth group Contagious attend Cliff festival to deepen their faith and also bond as a group in a different environment. The majority of Contagious meetings are focussed on looking to what we will do for the next Contagious service, so it is nice for them to have a long weekend away where they don’t need to plan anything, but rather just be in the presence of God. It is my understanding that the way Contagious usually gather funds for this somewhat expensive festival is by doing a quiz night and putting that money towards the price of the tickets. This year, two of our Contagious members took on the daunting task of putting together a show full of songs from boy bands and girl bands and selling tickets to raise money. The show is called ‘Songtagious’ which of course is an adaptation of the youth groups name, ‘Contagious.’ Usually the young members of the Church will do a Songtagious show towards the end of the summer where they do songs from musicals and put the proceeds to an agreed upon Charity and into the youth groups funds. So this was the first time we have ever done a Songtagious show at this time of the year and that has not been songs from musicals but rather the theme was, ‘boy bands vs girl bands.’ We have been practicing for this show since early February and as I recall we have been talking about it since the very start of this year. We met two evenings each week to go through the songs and stage set ups and in the final week we met pretty much every night. This is a lot of time to devote to a show, but nonetheless a necessary amount of time. I often found that during all this I could sometimes forget what it was we were doing all this for. I don’t mean that it was not clear where the funds would go from the show but rather that when you are rehearsing so regularly and focussing on other aspects you can easily forget the real reason behind what you are doing. I had to remind myself that everytime we met and discussed the show that the reason for all this was so that the Church had an opportunity to go to Cliff festival and grow in their faith. The more I pondered on this the more it made me reflect on everything else I do in my life and how sometimes I can forget the real reason as to why I am doing it. As part of my job I tend to meet with a great many individuals and go into numerous schools, it is very easy to just get caught up in that and forget what drives you. As Christians we should always be seeking to know what God wants us to do and then to never abandon that. That should be the reason that drives us, and the reason should always be clear in our mind. This is of course what we are told to do in the Bible. In 1 Peter 3:15 it says, ‘ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.’  

The benefits of constantly reminding yourself of the reasons behind your tasks and goals are very easily found in my opinion. If I look to my time in the local schools I very quickly see examples of how this has helped me. I have been to around five schools in the local area and am heavily involved in two of them. The staff at one school in particular, have welcomed me with open arms and have gone out of there way to make me feel like a member of the staff and not just a volunteer who comes in time to time. Due to this, I have often found that I enjoy going into that school just to sit in the staff room and talk to the staff. I find it interesting to hear their stories and a great deal of fun to engage in some of their banter. Recently I was invited to join them for a whole day before they broke up for their Easter holidays, this was so that in the morning I could lead the assembly and help represent the true meaning of Easter in the lessons, but also so I could join them in the mini mucker. For those who do not know, the Mini mucker has got to be one of the best ideas I have ever seen a school have for their kids. The school staff spend the entire morning setting up an obstacle course on the field for the kids to run, and I assure you they spare no expense on this course. There were hay bales to jump over, nets to crawl under, tyres to run through, tyres drag to checkpoints, spiders web to climb through, and best of all a swamp to run through. If this was all not enough there was a drone flying around filming it all. I joined them to help set up for this epic course and was stunned by how much went into it. The school are greatly helped by the fact that one of their staff members is the living embodiment of Bear Grylls and Macgyver. As I have not asked this gentlemen for his permission to name him, I will simply refer to him as Macgyver from here on out. Macgyver is currently building an 

The hardest time to remind myself of the reason I do things is strangely enough when I am around everyone from the Church. This may seem a bit odd, but it is because the people who make up the Church have come to be some of my closest friends. Most of the things I do socially these days are with them and the majority of fun I have is with them. If you have been to Denby Methodist then you will know that this is true but if you have yet to experience this Church then I am sorry to say that mere words scribbled on a blog will not do justice to the people who make up this very Church. They are all fine, loving, welcoming people who I am blessed to know. Since the first day myself and Becky arrived there, we have been welcomed as if we had attended for years and shown nothing but love. I know for a fact that Becky feels more welcomed at this Church then she does at the university where she has been for the last three years. This is not to insult her university but rather to help illustrate the atmosphere that is always present at Denby bottles Methodist Church. The reason why my intentions can so often be forgotten around them is because I cannot help but just relax and feel like I am off the clock and somewhere else. This is by no means a bad thing, but in fact a sign that we are doing the right thing at the Church. I could sit here and write for hours regaling you all with stories of the fun that I have had at this Church, but like with the school, I would not list them as my greatest times at the Church. Once again my greatest times at this Church come when I feel that I am remaining true to what God wants me to do. I thoroughly enjoy the tough questions group that recently started up, where we meet in a pub to discuss the tough questions that Christians have to face. It is a time where I can ask questions but also when people come to me with questions that I can help with. I love discipleship group where we can all delve into the scripture and I can learn from their interpretations and they from mine. I feel most useful when people come to me wanting to talk, or to ask me about something in the Bible, to pray with them, to help them or simply just to listen to them about their issues. It is in these moments where I hear God more clearly, I 

have rationalised that the reason for this is because he has more to say to people in those moments. It is in those moments that I see people growing. There are so many amazing people at the Church and I personally cannot wait to see what God does with them and how they grow in their faith to help change the Church of tomorrow. 

Songtagious happened on the 14th April and despite the last minute nerves, it ended up being a fantastic show. We all got our words right and sang very well. We all had fun doing it and really it was a sad moment when the last song was over and we realised that it was done. I could fill a book with stories of the fun we had and the laughs we shared, but I must confess my favourite point of the night occurred just before we went out on stage. We met in the upper room of the Church to pray and remind ourselves that all of this was to raise money so that we could go and learn more about God and deepen our faith. We stood there praying and it was a real eye opener of a moment. I properly gave my life to Jesus when I was seventeen, I was getting drunk with my friends quite regularly, was failing pretty much all my courses and had no idea what I actually wanted to do with my life. I’m twenty two now. Five years (actually closer to 6) later and I have a degree in Theology with a decent amount of knowledge, I have a full time job in a fantastic Church with some amazing people, I am engaged to a beautiful and Godly woman, and most importantly I have found meaning and serenity in my relationship with Jesus the risen Christ. It is He who has given me all this and it is Him who gives me the reason for my work and my life.