The winner of the Yorkie Bar prize for naming the CVM ’50 plus group’ was Keith Harper from the Netherlands … he wisely suggested that we keep it as it is – 50 Plus -

“it does exactly what
it says on the tin”

Our thanks to Roger Leitch, Mike Stenbrook, David Entrican and Oliver Street who gave some good ideas and encouragement.

The message that I keep hearing from lots of guys who want to reach the ’50 plus’ is what Jesus said, “… go and make disciples …”, this means both being discipled and making disciples: we are talking about small groups of 3 or 4 men meeting up regularly to encourage each other and gradually develop their gifts. This is a command of Jesus and not an option.

If you would like to share your experience on this theme, please contact me on eddie.james@ cvm.org.uk or make comments on the blog.

God bless you, Eddie

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As you may know, I have two daughters Emily and Annie. When Karen was pregnant we spent months thinking about what we would call them – obviously there were a few names we had to avoid with Beech as a surname! (Please don’t email in with suggestions such as “Sandy”!)

Jesus’ parents didn’t have to spend any time deciding on his name as an angel told them to call him Jesus (Matthew 1 v 21). Actually, in the bible, Jesus has over a hundred different names or titles! The one I like best, and the one that we sing about a lot at this time of year in carols, is a name he was given over 700 years before he was born. The prophet Isaiah said he would be called “Immanuel” (Isaiah 6 v 8).

Immanuel means “God With Us”

This year there are men all over the UK who know for the first time the reality of Immanuel – that God is with them! The reason they know this is that someone told them the truth that Jesus came to save them and they believed it. Each of these decisions is a miracle and that’s what CVM exists to see happen.

Here are a couple of amazing quotes from messages we have received recently:

“My husband went to a CVM event. I knew he was different as soon as he got home. I slept next to a Christian man that night for the first time in our marriage…”





”A paramilitary guy met with Jesus after your talk in Northern Ireland. He gave everything over to Jesus that night and since then has taken his family to church every week.”

Some other words in Isaiah that have a massive impact are: “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6 v 8). At CVM our answer to that is “send us!” The CVM team has spent this year travelling up and down the UK telling men that Jesus came to save them and we have been helping other men and churches tell their friends and contacts the same. The reason more men in the UK know Jesus as Immanuel this year is because this men’s movement, that I count you a part of, is willing to say “Send Me!” In the last 12 months, this movement has connected the message of Jesus to thousands of men all over the UK through CVM events, groups and evangelistic resources.

This Christmas would you be able to send us a gift to help us keep our small team on the road telling men about Jesus and equipping and inspiring churches, individuals and groups to do the same. Please make a off donation or set up a direct debit via JustGiving.

Thank you for supporting us. My hope and prayer for you this year is that you will know that God is with you and that you would be willing to say “Send Me!”

Happy Christmas from all of us at CVM. God bless and strengthen you!

Your brother in Christ,

Carl Beech

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It’s safe to say the salon was camp. I was two steps into the York establishment when I realised that more women were having their bonnets cut than men. I felt a little bit out of place, and so, like any working class lad, I kept my head down. On my approach to the reception desk I saw a guy that looked like he had stepped out of an aftershave advert. He was taller, cooler, better dressed and generally a nicer guy than I was. He smiled at me despite me frowning at him. I was instantly sceptical of this salon.

It turned out that he was the only one available to cut my hair on that day. I was secretly pleased at this news because deep down I wanted to look like this guy. We chatted about our lives and I found out that he always tried to keep himself in shape to impress his girlfriend. And after the first few minutes of small talk, he asked me a question I had never heard before: “So, how much work do you put into your hair?” I laughed at first, before clocking the fact he was serious. And so he should be. Though I had found a discount voucher for this particular salon, it was still one of the best salons in York. He wasn’t just a donkey with some hairclippers, he had dedicated his life to creating style. And though it’s not my idea of an exciting ambition, there was no doubt he was serious about it.

I was honest about the lack of effort I had put into my hair. He laughed for a short while before telling me about my hair’s potential. He said my hair had ‘the potential to turn heads.’ (I took the compliment but didn’t believe it). But he is an expert, so I watched him carve my strands into something a lot nicer on the eyes.

So, golf, football, creative writing, communication, long-distance running, speaking Welsh, snooker…hair. This is an updated list of those things in my life that I am happy to work on. I am happy to make sure I am always improving in these things. I am positive that the more I put into the above list, the more I will develop in each area.

But the Christian faith is not to be worked on. There’s no time. After all, the Christian faith is something which should drip into every area of my life. It’s not separate is it? At the end of the day its all about me being pleasant to others, cracking a few jokes at my midweek church group and being on time on Sunday. Surely I don’t have to work on my faith. Surely that’s not my responsibility. For I am saved by Grace, and not by works. Yes that’s right, grace. Lovely lovely grace. Hallelujah.

Philippians 2:12-13: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

I guess there’s a difference between the faith that keeps its head down, and the faith that turns heads. So to echo the words of my hairdresser, ‘How much work do you put in?’

Peace.

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It got me thinking. There are so many reflections I could make on the night. Comparing my own desire for the eternal with the crowd’s desire for the temporary and finding myself lacking, wishing the church was as desperate to spread the gospel as these customers were to get their hands on the game. The memory of the night encapsulates all that I think is wrong with today’s consumeristic society. The must-have attitude where people are so desperate for the latest game, fashion, phone that they have to be one of the first to own it. The sad fact that this will all be repeated on perhaps an even bigger scale next year when the next Call of Duty comes out.

Even reflecting on the name – do we, as Christians, treat our call as a duty rather than a pleasure? Is that why we so consistently get it wrong. I don’t know. However I do know that as I left the shop that morning, my own discounted copy clutched tightly in my hands, I lamented that something has to change.

Romans 12:1-2 (The Message) ‘So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.’

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Stubbington, near Portsmouth, was recently CVM’s port of call for yet another fun-filled, packed out Regional Day. The night before a Regional Day, the team usually stays in a Travel Inn close by to chill out, eat food and frequent a local pub. This evening was no exception.

What followed a good meal of ribs in barbecue sauce was a nice glass of Baileys and some good friendly chatter. As Carl and I sat there on one side of the pub, parallel to us was another duo of mates. They were debating giving up smoking and suddenly we became involved in the conversation. As time went on, not only did we get an offer from one of these blokes for a drink, but ended up talking about life and the challenges brought on by the recession.

The conversation moved from politics to religion, which should rarely be brought together over a few tipples of the strong stuff. But things didn’t go the way you think they might have.

One of our newly made friends began opening up and telling Carl and I about how he was struggling to make ends meet He explained how he was having to downsize his business and make a real lifestyle change. He was finding it hard as the main breadwinner to have failed to bring in enough to keep his family in the life they were accustomed to.

He soon concluded his thoughts with: “It’s all about the money”. Carl and I simultaneously replied “No its not, it’s about family’.

We didn’t pull any punches in mentioning that we were Christians and that we ran a national men’s ministry. We carried on making our faith known and being open to the Holy Spirit as I shared my failings in business as well.

And as a man’s man, I decided to talk to him about Mary Poppins. When I was in London with my family a while back, we caught the West End show of the Disney feature film live on stage. And what jumped out for me whilst struggling to make ends meet and being in so much debt, was that I could take refuge in a scene from this show. The scene is when the father loses his job due to the children causing havoc at the bank and then realizing that they are about to lose everything. But suddenly, the reassurance of the mother comes in the middle of a particular harrowing moment. She quite boldly exclaims that: “As long as we are together, that is all that counts”.

This scene helped me through the time of uncertainty. And amazingly, it somehow hit home for the bloke in this bar who was struggling. He opened his eyes to the fact that there was more to life than money and material things.

We mentioned Jesus on numerous occasions that night and now have to leave it with God to follow it through. But hopefully, with Carl and I unashamedly making Him known with everything we do and say, we planted a seed in this chap’s heart. We now pray that something has happens because we didn’t back down from the basic stuff of Jesus. We hope that what we said, even though it included a scene from a fairytale, changes his life. Only God knows. But we do that know that Jesus loved to use stories to point people to the truth, so let’s not be afraid to do the same.

Cheers.

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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

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So here’s a story.

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Manchester City delivered a stunning display of their Premier League title credentials with a 6-1 demolition of rivals and defending champions Manchester United at Old Trafford. City inflicted United’s heaviest home defeat since 1955 to go five points clear at the top of the table. Mario Balotelli’s brace put the visitors 2-0 up with Jonny Evans sent off between. Sergio Aguero added another before Darren Fletcher pulled one back. However, Edin Dzeko struck twice and David Silva once late on to humiliate United.

Unbeaten Newcastle went level on points with third-placed Chelsea, who lost 1-0 to QPR, thanks to a 1-0 win over Wigan. Chelsea had Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba sent off before half-time. Tottenham moved above Liverpool into fifth with a 2-1 defeat of Blackburn, who went bottom, after the Reds were held 1-1 by Norwich. Arsenal rose to seventh by beating Stoke 3-1.
Elsewhere Everton beat Fulham 3-1, West Brom saw off city rivals Aston Villa 2-1, Sunderland defeated Bolton 2-0 and Wolves drew 2-2 with Swansea.

Hosts New Zealand won the Rugby Union World Cup, ending a 24-year tournament hoodoo with a thrilling 8-7 victory over France.Prop Tony Woodcock was an unlikely scorer of the All Blacks’ first-half try and fourth-choice fly-half Stephen Donald’s penalty after the break made it 8-0. France hit back through captain Thierry Dusatoir’s try, which Francois Trinh-Duc converted, but New Zealand held on for the narrowest of wins.

Australia took third place with a 21-18 defeat of Wales. Berrick Barnes’ try and drop goal plus eight points from James O’Connor’s boot put the Wallabies in control. Wales hit back through Shane Williams’ try but Ben McCalman crossed to leave Leigh Halfpenny’s late touchdown a mere consolation.

England captain Lewis Moody, a 2003 World Cup winner, announced his international retirement, aged 33.

Domestically, there were Anglo-Welsh Cup wins for Bath, Harlequins, Leicester, London Irish, Newport-Gwent Dragons, Northampton, Saracens and Scarlets.

In Rugby League, wing Tom Briscoe scored two tries as England warmed up for the Four Nations by beating France 32-18. England Knights beat Cumbria 26-12.

In Cricket, England went 4-0 down in the best of five one-day series in India with a six-wicket defeat in Mumbai. Having lost by five wickets despite scoring 298 in the previous game at Mohali, the tourists could manage only 220 all out. Although they reduced India to 46 for three, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina responded with a 131-run stand to all but complete victory.

In Golf, Luke Donald topped the PGA Tour money list with victory in the Disney Classic in Florida. Donald finished on 17 under par thanks to a final-round 64 which included six birdies on the back nine.

In the annual NFL game at Wembley.the Chicago Bears withstood a late fightback by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win 24-18.

Following British IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon’s death the previous weekend, there was another high-profile fatality in motor sport with Italian MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli losing his life in a crash at Sepang, Malaysia.

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If you had seen the big chocolate fudge cake for two quid on sale in Sainsbury’s on a casual Thursday night, don’t pretend you wouldn’t have snapped it up too.

It wasn’t that I was hungry for the cake particularly, but something in me decided that the discounted item was too good to pass up, regardless.

Brilliantly, my reason for buying it walked past me as I got out my car to go into my friend Pippa’s house, cake clutched in my arms. “I wish I had a cake like that” said a voice from the shadows. I looked up to see a tall bearded man, slightly stooped in an old grey coat, turning back to smile at me as he walked on.

I’d just begun to laugh, responding with: “Yeah, it looks pretty good doesn’t it?!” when Pippa whispered in my ear: “Give him the cake” and before I knew it, I was placing the box into the stranger’s arms declaring: “I’d love you to have it then!”

The look of complete surprise and bemusement on the man’s face was one I hadn’t seen in a while. The apparently outrageous random act of kindness stopped him in his tracks and sent him spinning. It was like people weren’t used to generosity, “just because”, anymore.

Of course he tried to hand it back, and when I refused, he asked me what the catch was.

“I want to bless you mate. I know Jesus and I believe this is something he would want to do” I said, looking into the stranger’s lined face and puzzled expression.

“Ah, so maybe I do have to do something for it then” came his response, as he broke into a wry smile.

Before you know it, the basic concept of grace and freely accepting a blessing with no hidden charges had been explained by us girls. We had swapped names, a little of each other’s lives (turns out he’s French-Swiss) and he knew exactly when, where and why my church meet. We agreed that if he really wanted to return the favour, (I think he wanted to bake a Tarte Au Citron for me… so French…), he would have to meet me at church on Sunday. And given my church is designed for those who “don’t do church”, Adam (my new friend) seemed to think that sounded a good idea.

In the space of about ten unplanned, unpredicted minutes on the street, I had got the chance to invite a guy to church and give him a cake fit for a party. And the most poignant moment of all occurred when Adam turned to me and said “There is an aroma about you. Like a strong herb. It is overwhelming. Not bad, but a powerful aroma”. And in that moment I was reminded of the words in 2 Corinthians 2 v 14- 16:

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.”

It’s not often I experience a moment like that; when someone who doesn’t know Jesus basically quotes the Bible in order to describe coming into contact with the truth of life. How spot-on, alive and active is the word of God?!

“I will think about this Miriam. I will remember this” Adam said, pretty touchingly as we parted company. Adam, I will pray for this. I will remember this too.

Father, bring Adam to church on Sunday. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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‘Faith’ the atheist concluded ‘is a crutch for the weak.’ As he sat down, I seethed in my seat. Although I was aware of this argument I couldn’t believe that a supposedly educated man would use this aged saying as his closing gambit. The theme was ‘Do we need God in the 21st Century?’ As I imagine these things always do, it turned into ‘Does God exist?’ In the God corner weighing in with faith were a Christian Bishop and a Muslim Cleric, and in the no-God corner advocating free love and nudity was a naturist and the above mentioned atheist.

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