Who are these guys? 50 plus … that is ancient! I suppose it depends on how big the plus is! We are a group who meet twice a year to chat and pray together to encourage the churches to reach every man in our age group. Our next meeting is in London on 14 March 2012. We also ‘skype’ conference six times a year and post on the CVM Blog every two weeks so you are welcome to join us. This is the first blog.

At our first meeting in York in October we discussed how to encourage more social projects by working in small teams of all ages, to encourage groups of guys to do DIY, gardening and garden clearance for folk in our community who may be ill or in great need … for details see the Besom website.

We reminded ourselves of Jesus’ command to ‘make disciples’. How could we help this become a core activity of the local church? Again to be done across all age groups and by every member. We felt that by testimony and stories we could encourage discipling on this blog.

The 50 plus group is not a fringe activity, it is at the core of CVM. We are sure that you could think of a better name for the group, so to win your prize of a Yorkie bar please submit your brilliant ideas to me by next week at eddie.james@cvm.org.uk

God bless you – Eddie

A few weeks ago the CVM team and I headed off for another nights stay at a hotel somewhere in the UK, ahead of a regional mens conference we were putting on. Pitching up at the hotel my wife (and PA) had booked for us, we found it difficult to find the reception but eventually found a side entrance that led into a small bar area. The bar was pretty brightly lit with disco lights and some loud, hard core (by my standards) dance music was pumping out to the five people that were there. The conversation with the barman went something like this;

BARMAN: “Let me take you to your rooms, so what are you doing in town?”

ME “I lead a Christian mission agency that works mostly with men. We’re running a conference tomorrow.”

BARMAN “So what do you do?”

ME: “Well we tackle all sorts of issues that men face in life and help them unpack how the message of Jesus can help them.  We support churches all over the UK etc etc.”

BARMAN: “Fair enough…” (looks blank and uninterested and starts talking about how many stairs there are.)

And that was that…

Later that evening after a curry we went back to the bar for a drink.  By this time it was absolutely heaving and stuffed full of men and women in party mode. Sitting outside with a glass of something, it was my team members who started to notice something was a bit different about the place.  A quick web search later on the phones and it turns out that the place we were staying was, although ‘straight friendly’, the pre eminent gay bar and hotel in the town. After a moment of laughter at the situation, we were asked to move inside as the licensing requirements meant that after 10.30pm no one could drink outside.

You have a choice in these situations.  To quote The Clash, its a case of “Do I stay or do I go now.”  We decided to stay up for another drink and eventually it was just Dean and I standing at the bar for another hour or so. Picture it, two youngish straight leaders of a national mens ministry, the night before a mens ministry conference, in the company of 100 or so gay men and women.

Heres what I saw and the questions I left with;

1) It was a friendly, totally unthreatening and pretty chilled out crowd.

2) There was a genuine sense of friendship and comradeship amongst the men and women there that was way beyond the superficial we see and experience in many of our christian communities. Genuine belonging.

3) I could sense deep within me the love of God for every person in there but also a sense of lostness.

5) I felt the Holy Spirit challenge me to focus some attention into the issue of reaching the gay community with the message of Jesus.

6) I was left asking myself why as a specialist evangelist to men, I hadn’t ever gone into a gay bar to talk to blokes before with a colleague or two or investigated seriously, what CVM should do. I suspect Jesus would have done so by now?

And that got me thinking about the complete ambivalence of the obviously gay barman who showed me to my room, when he found out I was a Christian. I suspect he had not heard the message of the pearl of great price. The story about amazing treasure of the gospel that causes people to radically change their lives, giving up everything for it, if thats what it takes.

I suspect he hadn’t heard it because he hadn’t met someone yet who could articulate it to him in a way that he would get it, or perhaps even demonstrate it by the conduct of their lives. I’m not saying there aren’t those people, more that he hadn’t met one!

So I’m thinking.  What is good news to the gay barman, in the seaside town, in the town’s foremost gay hotel and bar? And furthermore, whose going to take that message to him?

Shalom.

Carl Beech

Carl writes:

It’s been a long time coming (2 years to be precise) but CVM has now got the keys for a new HQ. We are calling it ‘The Hub’ because we see it as a central resource base for all you guys out there on the ground reaching men, week in week out. From ‘The Hub’ we will be producing resources, coordinating and liaising with our group leaders, interns, area coordinators, mission specialists, directors in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and basing our events and conference management team. We also want it to be a place where we can host meetings, run training and generally be a fun place for any of our supporters who want to pop in and say “hi!”. This is why we moved CVM to Derbyshire so that we could be much more centrally and strategically located. Two years with seven staff ‘hot-desking’ just two desks in a shared parish office hasn’t been easy but we wanted to focus all our donations into evangelism. We felt strongly however that in order to do what we are called to do with more impact, we needed a base.

I need your help to get ‘The Hub’ up and running and have a few needs!

Firstly, it goes without saying that we need to pay the rent. We have budgeted for this but of course it is an additional regular expense. Could you spare from £2 a month to help us? For any new standing order set up of at least £5 we will be sending you a copy of The Code book, a ‘Men’ DVD and a copy of Cinemania. Give us £10 a month (or more) and we will give you a subscription to the brilliant Sorted magazine as well. Believe me when I say that you probably don’t notice a fiver leaving your account (the cost of a two coffees) but we really notice it coming in.

In fact just 200 men giving us £5 a month would be a real help.

We have also had to purchase second-hand desks and heavy duty storage equipment. We want ‘The Hub’ to reflect our values, and having a smart and welcoming place with reasonable quality office furniture that matches was important to us! This has cost us £3,000. Is this something you could help contribute to?

Here is a short video (click on it to play) showing where we used to work and a short tour of ‘The Hub’ and some photos (below) of what it looks like now! I hope you catch a sense of the vision and growth of our work together.

I really do believe that CVM is a movement that is about all of us being in this together and I hope you will feel part of what we are establishing here in Derbyshire. Giving to this project is really easy, you can click on this link or just call the office.

Thanks for all your support. It really is an exciting time and I hope that many of you get to drop in and see the new base at some point in the future.

Your brother in Christ,

Carl Beech

During the past year, CVM has held some landmark meetings with another movement who are sold out to reach university students for Jesus. From the moment a conversation was started between CVM Director Rev Carl Beech and Fusion National Team Leader Rich Wilson, both visions were destined to overlap in the future.

One year on and we can quite safely say there has been an exciting overlap. It is based solely on these three facts.

• CVM are reaching men with the Christian message
• Fusion are reaching students with that same message
• Half the student population is male

And with those three key facts in mind, CVM and Fusion have drawn up a hybrid operation: Invicta.

The Invicta movement will see CVM support Fusion in reaching male students who can find, nurture and develop their Christian faith whilst at university.

The key stages of the Invicta launch will include: The Invicta podcast, Invicta seminars at CVM and Fusion events and Invicta coverage on the CVM and Fusion websites.

Please pray for the partnership as we see more and more university students engage with their creator during some of the most important years of their lives.

Subscribe to the Invicta Podcast here for free.

CVM are flying an expert on international men’s ministry to the UK. Dave Murrow, author of ‘Why Men hate Going to Church’ is set to headline a CVM event on Saturday, September 17, which will see hundreds of men from the UK unite.

CVM General Director Rev Carl Beech is urging men to take advantage of this unique opportunity to get inspired by an esteemed writer and speaker who is dedicated to engaging men with the Christian message.

Carl said: “This is a rare opportunity to hear a world class expert on men’s ministry and we’ve flown him over especially to talk to us guys. Please book in and bring your church leader if possible. Men are leaving the church at an alarming rate. We think Dave’s teaching on discipling men will help stem the tide.”

Dave will be unpacking the key issue of discipleship amongst men whilst teaching the key points from his popular new book ‘The Map’.

Call the CVM office on 01246 271713 to reserve your place or process your booking online here.

The event will run from 10am to 4pm and tickets cost £19.50 (inc. lunch) at: The Ridgeway Centre, Featherstone Road, Wolverton Mill South, Milton Keynes MK12 5TH

LAST ORDERS GENTLEMEN PLEASE

You may have seen previous publicity about the ESCAPE Men’s Weekend on Friday 30th September to Sunday 2nd October 2011. With only a few weeks to go you still have time to join us at The St Madoc Centre in The Gower for a really excellent and exciting event.

A number of men have already booked in for ESCAPE 2011 and you can still be a part of this unique event by sending in a booking form – and amazingly the cost is only £80 for the accommodation activities and food.

You can find out more or get a booking form by going to: Cardiff Men’s Convention, St Madoc or CVM websites or telephoning Allan Gray on 01792 418265 or Geoff Squance on 01446 771071

The Block Porn Campaign, headed by Claire Perry MP, calls for UK-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide anti-porn filters at network level.   This would stop most pornography from reaching our computers and internet-enabled devices, and protect children much more effectively.   Convergence, which means the internet can be viewed on our TV screens, makes this doubly important.

Safermedia are asking for your support of their 2011 Block Porn Campaign.

Here’s the latest update on the campaign:

Safermedia news’n’action no. 89

Dear Friends,

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and MPs respond to growing public concern – well done!

On 20 June, Claire Perry MP, Safermedia and several other groups attended a meeting in Parliament of ISPA, the Internet Service Providers Association. Your support is making a big difference, and we were able to put some good points to the meeting. Despite a diverse range of views, there was general and encouraging agreement that more would indeed be done to block internet pornography.

The ISPs are coming under ever more pressure. Seventy MPs are now supporting Claire and have just set up a Parliamentary Inquiry into Online Child Protection in September and October. This is another major step forward.

Next Stage of the Campaign

We are continuing to press for ISP-level filters plus a default OFF setting for porn, rather than device-level filters (see our templates for more detail). However the ISPs are still reluctant to go this far, and when they will act is far from clear. Claire has emphasized that we must continue to rally more MPs to maintain the momentum of this groundswell of public opinion. In David Cameron’s statement to Parliament on the NewsCorp scandal, he said this was a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity to try and get media regulation right.’

ACTION

So, if you have not already done so, please write to both your MP and ISP.

If you have already sent those letters, our thanks, and please now:

Send David Cameron a copy of the letter to your MP (by filling in the MPs letter again, writing COPY across the top and posting it 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA or emailing it at https://email.number10.gov.uk/Contact.aspx).

Please forward this email to your contacts.

INSTRUCTIONS

Please use our 2 template letters for your MP and ISP, shown below and downloadable at: http://www.safermedia.org.uk/2011internetfiltercampaign.htm

You will find all the addresses you need on these templates. If you prefer, you can use the template simply as a guide and write a letter in your own words. (NB: The details about an opt-IN system being required are vital.)

Can you also make hard copies of the templates and distribute them to clubs, churches, your workplace, friends and family too? Numbers matter.

Please spread this information as widely as possible to all your contacts. (NB: If you are an organisation, it is best to pass on the template letter, approved by Claire Perry’s office, as it is.

Thank God for answered prayer and pray for continued progress in this campaign. Also ask for God’s will to be done in the current scandal surrounding the Murdoch empire – that it will eventually lead to higher standards throughout the media world.

We now have a new website! Check it out for updates and more information: http://www.safermedia.org.uk/welcome.htm

Thank you and best wishes for the summer break,

Miranda, Pippa, Tushar and the SafermediaTeam

Jenson Button overtook Formula One Championship leader Sebastian Vettel on the final lap to win the Canadian Grand Prix.

Vettel spun his Red Bull under pressure from Button, who recovered from a collision with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton and Fernando Alonso failed to finish a severely rain-affected race in which Mark Webber came third. Vettel still leads the Drivers’ Championship by 60 points from Button.

In Football, England began the European Under-21 Championship with a creditable 1-1 draw against Spain.

Danny Welbeck’s late goal cancelled out Ander Herrera’s early strike. England’s next game is versus Ukraine on Wednesday.

Alec McLeish has resigned as manager of Birmingham City, who won the League Cup this year but were relegated from the Premier League.

Former England manager Steve McClaren has been named Nottingham Forest’s new boss after they sacked Billy Davies. McClaren has been out of work since being dismissed by Wolfsburg in February.

In Cricket, James Anderson is set to return from a side strain in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl, starting on Thursday.

Anderson, who missed the drawn second Test at Lord’s due to the injury, was due to make his comeback on Sunday for Lancashire. However, all Sunday’s domestic Twenty20 games were washed out. Nottinghamshire, who beat Warwickshire on Saturday, led the North Group while holders Hampshire top the South Group.

In Rugby Union, England Saxons will play Canada in the final of the Churchill Cup on Saturday, having secured their place with a 41-14 win over Tonga.

Tonga conceded three set-piece penalty tries and there were touchdowns for Jordan Crane and Billy Twelvetrees, plus 16 kicked points by Rory Clegg.

In Rugby League, the vast majority of those involved in Friday evening’s 16-12 victory for the Exiles over England played two days later in Super League when the top two lost.

Warrington were beaten 16-18 at home to Salford and Huddersfield lost 13-10 at Wakefield. Wigan and St Helens missed the chance to go top, drawing with Castleford and Bradford respectively. Catalan Dragons beat Crusaders 31-18, Leeds thrashed Hull KR 44-14 and Hull FC thumped Harlequins 38-6.

In Tennis, Andy Murray was due to play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Monday in the Queen’s Club final, which rain delayed from Sunday.

Everything I owned was positioned around me like statues peering down at an infant, though I’d never been more aware I was now a grown up. My new flat welcomed me with old stains and strange smells to remind me of the cost of downsizing my life. Helped by a couple of bottles of Miller, I starting unpacking my life in boxes. Uncontrollable laughter at bizarre gifts from Miriam’s family was often followed by a sudden outburst of tears as I read cards from loved ones no longer with us.

During my adventure into my possessions I soon realised that only the things which were affiliated to shared memories were worth keeping. I got rid of around a quarter of everything I owned (mostly scrap paper and odd socks). I dreamed up an idea for wristbands entitled What Would Jesus Scrap? but concluded it probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone not moving house or working in the scrapyard industry.

After the great purge had finally come to an end, I eyed up my belongings which were still fearing the axe. And after a few breaths I arrived at a sobering epilogue. I have nothing of my own. Despite my HD TV and the receipt to match, my Seagull guitar giving to me by Dave Magill, a bread maker and am armchair fitting for Scrooge, none of it is mine. I cannot prove this to you, but I can explain.

There is nothing in this life which I can keep my hands on for a substantial amount of time. The things that last the longest are probably relationships, everything else will need replacing and destroying at some stage. I have nothing. I didn’t even contribute to the clothes on my back, and if I had done, they still wouldn’t feel like they were mine. As life walks me down its random path I am quickly losing all sense of ownership. And the strange irony that surrounds it all, is that things which are closest to “brand new” in my apartment, feel the most alien to me.

As my musings meandered into hunger for a poached egg on toast, I pictured Jesus on the cross with nothing in his hands but nails he didn’t put there. A peace I’d not tasted for a long time proved a fitting appetiser for my healthy lunch which followed.

Luke’s account of Jesus returning to the Father reads:

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Peace.

England beat Wales 2-0 in Cardiff to go top of their European Championship qualifying group. A Frank Lampard penalty and Darren Bent’s goal inside 14 minutes was a double blow that Wales could not come back from and they are now pointless from four matches.

Republic of Ireland moved joint top of their group with a 2-1 win over Macedonia in Dublin thanks to goals from Aiden McGeady and Robbie Keane. Northern Ireland lost 2-1 to Serbia in Belgrade in a match notable because only away fans were allowed in the stadium as punishment for Serbian crowd trouble during a game against Italy last year.

The qualifiers continue this week with Northern Ireland hosting Slovenia on Tuesday. England and the Republic have home friendlies on Wednesday, against Ghana and Uruguay respectively. In friendly action at the weekend Brazil saw off Scotland 2-0 at the Emirates thanks to Naymar’s double.

England are out of the Cricket World Cup after a humiliating 10-wicket defeat to co-hosts Sri Lanka in their quarter-final. England laboured in setting Sri Lanka 230 to win and openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upal Tharanga hit hundreds as they reached the target with more than 10 overs to spare.

Sri Lanka face New Zealand, who shocked South Africa in their quarter-final, in Tuesday’s semi-final. Wednesday’s semi sees a clash between bitter rivals India and Pakistan. The final is on Saturday.

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel led from start to finish to win the opening Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton finished second and Vitaly Petrov was third.

Rugby union’s premiership returned with leaders Leicester stating their dominance thanks to a 37-6 win at Bath. Second-placed Saracens beat Newcastle 24-9 but Gloucester, in third, were thrashed 53-15 at Harlequins. Northampton are fourth after they thumped Wasps 39-3 and London Irish fifth following a 39-17 defeat of Exeter. Sale sneaked past Leeds 15-12.

Warrington remain top of rugby league’s Super League after defeating defending champions Wigan 24-6. Castleford are second following a 10-try 56-16 demolition of Crusaders and Huddersfield are third having seen off Hull KR 38-16. Fourth-placed St Helens beat Bradford 38-16. There were also wins for Salford over Catalan Dragons, Hull FC against Harlequins, and Leeds versus Wakefield.

Finally, Oxford upset the odds by beating fancied Cambridge in the 157th Boat Race.