Fear is your only God?

I've never EVER liked Halloween. Maybe it is because of my faith or maybe it is because I am essentially a scaredy-cat? Whatever the reason, it is one "holiday" I would gladly ban. In reality, for us Brits, it is something of a non-event. I only had to turn away one lot of trick-or-treaters this year and they were so little that I felt kinda bad not giving them anything. In America though, as most will be aware, it is totally different. Everyone seems to be in to it - even God-fearing believers!

I first came across this phenomenon when I went to Florida about 10 or so years ago. It was early October and all the major theme parks in Orlando (outside of Disney that is...) were preparing for their Halloween Horror Nights - the publicity posters were everywhere and even some of the ghoulish props were littered about the place. I find the idea of scaring yourself stupid like this rather unbearable but the Yanks just go nuts over it by all accounts. It concerns me to say that more recently we have gone down a similar path at places like Thorpe Park and Alton Towers and although at first the Americans might have had the advantage in budget and sophisticated technology, we're catching them up! Again, I have no experience of this but you won't catch me at one of these events ever anyway...

Harmless fun, if you like that sort of thing, I guess. But at the weekend I read (read it for yourself here) about something that made me both sick and angry in equal measure. I may have missed this (as apparently it has existed for almost as long as its secular equivalent) but in the Bible Belt of the US, there are churches that put on horror-night-like "Hell Houses" as some sort of twisted morality play... Kids pay to go through a 'haunted house' full of all the ultra-graphic consequences of straying from the path of Christian belief (like, for example, a botched abortion - see pic). They're terrified to within an inch of their lives and then given the opportunity to repent and accept Christ. And if this is all sounds a little medieval - and it is - don't be fooled, as these events have just wrapped for another "successful" year this last weekend.

Still not sure what I'm going on about? Read this article from a couple of years back... it's "scary" stuff!

This is plain wrong. Perhaps advocates of this extreme-evangelism will argue that is contextualising faith (in a culture obsessed with 'halloween fun') or a simple case of going to whatever lengths necessary to save souls? For me, this is merely a case of the end justifying the means and it concerns me that the believing young people who take part seem to have way too good a time portraying the evils of society. I don't believe in a Gospel that requires you to be too scared not to accept it. The Bible says that 'perfect love casts out fear' (1 John 4:18) NOT 'perfect fear brings you to a place of love'. This stuff is way beyond brain-washing - it's (border-line) abuse. It is, in its worst cases, evil itself and at the very least is guilty of over-emotionalism.

I pray to the God of love that this stuff never crosses the pond. We have a duty to protect the children and young people in care both from the evils in the world and sometimes even the evils in the Church. However, it does make me wonder whether we always know where to draw the line on things like this. Do we know when we are over-playing the emotionalism in our youth and children's work? Does the bloody body of Jesus on the cross - a la The Passion of the Christ - draw us to sombre reflection and gratitude or abject fear and guilt? And what about the more impressionable younger members of our churches? Do we sometimes use techniques that are exploitative to reinforce our spiritual point? Perhaps, but in my experience, this is very much the exception rather than the rule.

If we are involved in guiding and teaching our younger people, we must be sure that we are protecting them too and not abusing our position of trust and responsibility; especially not with extremist and overly manipulative scare tactics. God help us if we forget our place...

For those about to rock...

It's 3am and I'm negotiating the streets of Central London. Dodging drunk people and speeding taxis. A string of 80's classics are on the iPod and Dan's keeping me awake and on track through the winding roads. Five hours earlier, the final night of the 2009 Music & Media Academy on the Isle of Wight finished with a bang... with an enthusiastic crowd moshing into one of our cameramen!

Dan & I set off from Luton around 8am on Friday for a 20-hour roadtrip-cum-multimedia extravaganza. We picked up Emma from Guildford and headed for the ferry in Portsmouth. Once over on the Isle of Wight we got "caught in traffic" but still made it in time for lunch. The whole afternoon was spent putting together the camera kit, testing leads, planning shots, adjusting leads & testing our internet set-up.

The whole of the Academy builds to the final night concert. The musicians write, jam, practice and are coached to improve their skills. They meet new like-minded people and form bands ready to perform at the final show. The media crew - this year consisting of just 6, mainly returning young people - work to produce video interviews, posters, publicity, stickers and general accompaniments to the final show. This year, as an added incentive, they are broadcasting the whole show live on the internet so people at home can watch too.

The Friday set-up goes remarkably well - we're finished with time to spare and there's a relaxed expectation about the team. Soon enough it is show time and the bands launch into various rock and blues numbers. The online audience grows and we eventually reach 117 viewers although at any one point, our maximum audience is 32. The gig is a real mixed bag with some of the acts being a little more polished than others. However, all of the bands and performers know how to rock - unlike the following evening's X Factor performers - and the whole place is jumping. In fact, as the gig draws to a close some of the gathered crowd get a little over-excited, crashing into camera & cameraman! It's a great night and everyone has a real blast...



For us though, the night isn't over yet. We hurriedly pack up the kit and we hit the ferry back to the mainland at midnight. Then we head up to Guildford (note to self: it is best to turn on the engine before you drive off a ferry!) to drop of some of Gibbo's kit and pick up some late night snacks. Next we go to Streatham in South London, to deliver Emma home before navigating through the heart of the capital and back up to Luton. Dan gets home around 3:30am and I'm back in Hitchin before 4. A monster of a night... but it rocked!

24-7 Prayer Hitchin: In pictures

The prayer room at HCC...



The prayer wall





Prayer artwork




It's been another inspiring week but almost as soon as it arrived, it's gone again... roll on next year!

Paul Windo @ Urban Saints / #23 / 30.9.09

What’s my role…
Most of my role involves being at my desk, staring at my computer screen… but not so far this week! On Monday I travelled round the whole of the M25, visiting both my colleague in the Media Team, Gibbo, and some local volunteers who run one of our regional websites. I’m also visiting some of my young media volunteers this week to help find out how they can more involved and better supported by us. However, I am currently staring at my computer screen – Tuesday saw some major email account issues and a poorly hard drive – such is the rollercoaster that is working for Urban Saints.

Elsewhere in Urban Saints
This week we re-launched our Energize website with a great new look, new functions and the option to personalise your account so that the group leaders get more what is relevant to where they live and the young people and kids they work with. This is has been a massive project, but now will give us the future opportunity to use video more within the site and set up international versions (multi-lingual) of the resourcing website. Exciting stuff!

How can you help?
Do you have a few hours to spare each week? A passion of administration, a desire to serve & a creative outlook? Well, our communications team would love to have a volunteer to help us at our Luton office. Just one way you could be involved with Urban Saints! For information on this or any other way to support the work, do get in touch…

Tough day at the office

Major, major computer problems today.

A colleague offered some "helpful" advice...

Give. Get Given

So says the deliciously tempting tagline for the latest trigger of my bile duct... Welcome to Orange Rockcorps - the (not so) new initiative to encourage young people to get involved in community volunteering.

This successful corporate scheme has been around at least a couple of years and has done nothing new to trigger this outburst other than the fact that catching some of the coverage of this year's on T4 this afternoon reminded me why its existence frustrates me so. Surely any initiative that encourages disengaged and disenchanted young people to help their community is a more than worthwhile project?! Even as a member of a predominantly volunteer-run movement like Urban Saints, why I would I begrudge this "you scratch our back, we'll scratch yours" approach?!

Well, any initiative that encourages hundreds and thousands of hours of voluntary involvement is never a bad thing. But this scheme sets the bar so low that it requires no level of sacrifice whatsoever - a fundamental element of volunteering in the first place. It's highly incentive-based if not almost "payment-in-kind" and to me smacks a little of self-righteous corporate PR and superficial self-promotion for the "celebs" who get involved.

There's always been incentives offered for these kind of volunteering opportunities and "low-cost" celebrity endorsements of charitable or community projects so what's the big deal. I can remember wanting to be a volunteer steward at Watford FC at one time rather than pay the small fortune for a full season ticket and I'm sure that all those generous stars who give their time to turn up on the night for Children in Need or Comic Relief don't get their own rewards. The issue to me seems to be about unhelpfully raising the expectations for those young people and raising the bar for entry into 'real' volunteering.

You give 4 hours of your time to charity (note, only 4 hours - that's not even a whole Saturday out of of your social schedule) and in return get a ticket to a big exclusive pop concert, the chance to appear on TV and to meet some publicity-hungry celebrity. You're endlessly applauded for your "selfless generosity" yet tempted with glittering exclusive goodies and hey presto, a precedent is set. When you're next asked to volunteer somewhere, what's the question niggling at the back of your mind?! Oh yeah, "What's in it for me?"...

Perhaps you'll be tempted to think that I'm laying it on a bit thick and maybe I am a little. One can only hope that the experience leaves an imprint on these young lives that has them keen to do more. A sense of giving of themselves; of being part of something bigger than their own little world. A desire to be part of a team like that again and do some good for someone else. Sadly, the TV show that accompanies the scheme & concert does little to offer hope here - the summary of the reasons for why they got involved (to be fair the question asked is usually "How did you earn your ticket?"...) is "well, I did some painting and there was all this free food and stuff and I got to meet XXXXXX (celebrity)..." You can't really blame them either - after all, it is THE message and it's being pushed from every angle.

It would be easy to dismiss this as just a sign of the times - no one does anything without incentive nowadays, do they? Well, through Urban Saints, I'm pleased to say I have seen young people giving days of their time willingly to clean up streets, paint walls, tidy gardens & pick up rubbish purely to get involved and make a difference. And they even pay for their own meals! I've known young people give up weeks of their summer to go overseas to countries with devastating poverty, paying their own money (and fundraising) to do so. I've worked with young people who give up one or more night every week to help run their local youth or kids club and none of them ever got to go to a free concert for their troubles. Few of them would have any other way, if you asked them.

This is true volunteering. It costs and requires genuine sacrifice but ultimately the rewards are so much greater and long-lasting. Volunteering is about being part of something you believe in and about making a difference to someone else's life. It's harder to appreciate until you do it but you don't become a volunteer thinking about what you'll get in return. There's another word for that... a job!

So perhaps volunteering does have an image problem and maybe schemes like Rockcorps are the future? They do at least encourage those who would never consider doing a generous deed for their community to think twice. But once the "pop buzz" has died down & the lights have faded at the concert, it is the rest of us who have even greater difficulty filling our volunteer opportunities as a result...

The tagline is almost right. "Give. Just Give" - you'll get what's coming to you if you do!

(District) 9 out of 10

There isn't much about this that hasn't already been said but I have to confess that the last time I came out of the cinema with as much desire to know what would / might happen in part two of a sci-fi film (if there is one...) was a little known movie called 'The Matrix'.

My self-imposed note of caution for "District 10" (??!!) would be that The Matrix was ground-breaking but parts 2 and 3 were, while hardly poor in and of themselves, not a fitting continuation of such an awesome beginning. If in doubt, Messers Blomkamp & Jackson, leave it well alone with the questions unanswered!

Paul Windo @ Urban Saints / #22 / 16.9.09

What’s my role…
I have a new boss called Lorne. He’s a great guy and I knew him already – we used to go “head-to-head” at exhibitions when he worked for Youth For Christ – so it wasn’t too difficult a transition. However, his working style is leaving me rather breathless! He’s very creative and we’ve been collaborating on a new advert idea for the last week or so. It’s gone through loads of changes and revisions, discussions, sketching and even a mock-up photo-shoot! Suffice to say, Lorne joining the team is a great move for Urban Saints, plus he is really stretching me and I’m feeling more creative and energized by the whole experience! Even if I hadn’t even put my bag down this morning when we launched into our latest “re-think”…

Elsewhere in Urban Saints
Last week, the entire Urban Saints team met together for our Team Gathering. It’s a great chance to catch up with the whole team, be inspired, pray and have some fun together. We heard stories of this summer’s ReAct mission, our work overseas, looked ahead to 2010, experienced the Holy Spirit personally and tried to sink one another while rafting! It is a great couple of days and everyone comes back to their roles energized and inspired.

How can you help?
We really need volunteers – the movement is not built on our team but on the thousands we serve who willing give their free time to Urban Saints. Could you give us some of your time where you live? You don’t even have to be a youth / children’s worker – there are loads of other roles we need to fill! Let me know if you want to know more

Paul Windo @ Urban Saints / #21 / 9.9.09

What’s my role…
This week I’m jumping between a number of projects – the course content for this Autumn’s Media Academy (currently looking at creating a “live” TV show to broadcast over the internet…), a script for a Facebook-based competition (which is going to involve a little crazy filming…), sorting out technical outages on the Urban Saints website, reviewing our advertising for this year and preparing for our Team Gathering tomorrow and Friday. It’s a hectic day and it’s set to get worse!

The best way to sum up both what I’m currently doing and what’s going on in the rest of the movement is to watch this video clip that we sent out to all our leaders at the start of term… It’s inspiring stuff!



How can you help?
Please consider becoming an “Urban Saints Partner” – check out urbansaints.org/partners to find out more. Thanks.