Well having had a week off I’m supposedly all refreshed and ready for the chaos and fun which is the summer!

On Saturday we were at the ordination and induction of Beth Powney at Sandy Baptist Church. It was great to be involved by providing technical support but also to be there on such a special occasion. I stayed with Beth for 3 weeks right at the beginning of my time with Viz-A-Viz Ministries and with her being Rich Powney’s Mum and Ed’s Mother-In-Law and previous Viz-A-Viz staff member our paths keep colliding which is great!

Back at my desk this week with the noticeable absence of Simon Petherick (Viz-A-Viz designer for many years has now gone freelance) and Rich Powney (unless God intervenes is off to London School Of Theology in September to study straight theology) – although Rich will be helping at some of the festivals this summer so will be seeing him then. It’s very quiet!!

Today I have been catching up on emails and preparing for a meeting tonight about Junior Solid. Tomorrow I have some admin bits and pieces to catch up on and then the afternoon/evening is Andy’s Early 21st Birthday Surprise (I’m very excited!!). Wednesday I’m doing some preparation for a Church Weekend Away with Dan and Jen Wicks, Thursday off to Basingstoke to view and exhibition with Ed and possibly Alan Cass and Den Pethers. Friday last minute preparations for the equipping session Arise are running at Earl’s Hall Baptist Church, Westcliff on Saturday. All very busy and spending lots of time trying to manage my time and be as time effective as possible…is that good use of my time?! Whilst keeping Germany, Liv’It and Leading Edge on the radar as they creep up very quickly with very little preparation time between events!! I’d appreciate your prayers, especially for my health – yesterday I slept most of the day and today have been having dizzy spells. Then if it’s not that I suffer with stomach aches – not fun and definitely not helpful!!

So the events that are upcoming are:

June
11th: ‘Just A Child’ Training at Earl’s Hall Baptist, Westcliff
17th-19th: Church Weekend Away with Dan and Jen Wicks
21st: Andy’s 21st birthday!!
29th-4th: Joining the ‘Check It Out Team’ in Herne, Germany

July
8th-10th: SOLID Festival + Junior SOLID (10th), Upminster
22nd-28th: Liv’It Youth Camp, Northallerton

August
1st-8th: Children’s Venue at Leading Edge, Warwick
22nd-4th: Holiday!

I will try and keep updates coming – please forgive me if I slack slightly!

I’m not quite sure how it happened but on Wednesday Andy and I made the spur of the moment decision to go to the Christian Resources Exhibition in Peterborough on Thursday. We booked our tickets and google mapped the showground and felt quite excited. Having exhibited at the Sandown one back in May 2009 we knew what to expect and were looking forward to some interesting conversations and catching up with some familiar faces. We had no specific purpose for going although the fact that York based sound and lighting firm Rock Tech were there was a big attraction for Andy!

We left about 9.10am hoping the M25 would be kind to us which it was and arrived at 10.50. We had a barcode to scan and print off our own tickets in a fancy lanyard and then off we went! It’s quite a bizarre experience having all kinds of people trying to get you to talk to them-bribing you with chocolates, pens and other freebies. Having been on the other side I know how hard it can be and tend to talk to anyone whether interested in their stand or not! There were all kinds of stands from architects and staging to clergy wear, pew heating, bookshops, theatre companies and conference centres. We visited Mike Simmonds from GO Ministries, who we knew from his days at Viz-great to catch up with him. Had a good chat with Steve Legg at Sorted Magazine who I’ve known for a long time. He gave his approval of Andy which is always good! We got 3 wristbands from his stand -’Make Wristbands History’, ‘Save The Rubber Tree’ and ‘What Would Scooby Doo’. Great to see him. Also made friends on the schoolwork.co.uk stand with a girl who used to work with Andy’s brother in Devon! We spent a fair amount of time on the Rock Tech stand -me eating their chocolates while Andy made friends, dribbled over technical equipment and did some research for work!

It was a great day of networking, coffee, researching and chatting! Just awaiting the many emails from various places that took our details!

Well after Germany we had a few days in the office and then a very nice 2 weeks holiday!

Now it’s back to work. Yesterday we had a retreat day with the staff, praying into the future of Viz-a-Viz Ministries. It was a really good time of being together and also encouraging each other with the awesome things that God has been doing. Den shared some of his heart and what he thinks God is saying for the future and the leadership team have an away day today to look at that more in depth. It threw some curve balls in for me too as I’m thinking about what happens next for me. Everybody and his dog seem to be asking me what my plans are, and no-one’s satisfied with ‘I don’t know!’. I’d appreciate your prayers for me in hearing God’s voice in it all. I don’t want to be so focussed on what’s next that I don’t give the best I can to what is happening now because this is the most exciting bit of the year for me!

Last night we had a creative planning meeting for SOLID 2010 where we are leading the late night creative worship slots. We ate pizza and wrote down lots of words and discussed ideas around the theme of ‘See I am doing a new thing’ (Isaiah 43) and I think it was fairly productive!

The next week or so is mostly in the office preparing and writing and training and things like that! Our next event is a weekend in Clacton and then we’re off to Torquay at the end of the month.

Finances… I still need to raise £1744 for this year and would really appreciate any support you can give me. You can support me financially in the following ways

• Donate online at www.justgiving.co.uk/laurabayliss
• Download a form: http://www.vizaviz.org/VAVsupport.htm
• Send a cheque payable to Viz-A-Viz Ministries to:
  Viz-A-Viz Ministries, Phoenix Court, Christopher Martin Road, Basildon, Essex, SS14 3EZ
  Please make some reference to the fact it is in support of me otherwise it will support Viz-A-Viz in general and not me specifically.

Thank you very much. I am more than happy to chat to you if you would like more details or to know where the money is going.

I really appreciate all those of you who are praying for me and asking after me, thank you!

This week we are in the office preparing for some of the events that are coming up:

21st March: Strictly Come Praying, Grangemouth
8th-13th April: Spring Harvest, Minehead Week 2
16th-18th April: The Mix, Norwich
29th-3rd May: Baptist Assembly, Plymouth

There are others in between but these are what we are focussing on! A meeting about each to plan and prepare, as well as rehearsals, stock checks and other admin type stuff! We had an office prayer time this morning, its great to catch up with the people who work in the office, day in and day out keeping everything going and doing the really important stuff that keeps us going on the road! A chance to find out how the other ministries are going and what God’s doing. We’re going out for a meal on Thursday lunchtime, sort of a leaving do for Clive but he can’t make it…so we’ll still go anyway! Any excuse to go out! Also this week is a chance to meet with Andy and Joy and chat about how everything is going and what’s happening next year…I have no idea what God’s plans are for me for September so your prayers would be much appreciated!

Currently preparing part of a seminar for Strictly Come Praying. It’s on ‘How does God speak to us?’. Myself, Keel and La Roche are running it and have chosen the 3 topics of through The Bible, Sung Worship and People & Circumstances. We’re doing 5min chat and 5min practical activity for each. I’m doing Sung Worship so if anyone has any thoughts they would be much appreciated!

On a non-work level…It’s nice to be ‘home’ (Mum gets upset if I call Wickford home so hence the ”!) for a week, a chance to catch up on washing, hang clothes up and have a bit of a tidy up! Very much looking forward to watching Holby City at 8pm tonight, rather than on iPlayer a few days later! Saw Maddie, Emi and Billy at the weekend – we went to the park and got really muddy and it was great fun! I fell over so had to change into my pjs when I got back to Sarah’s and put my jeans in the wash! Watched a film called ‘Fish Tank’ in the evening and it was really good! I recommend for anyone who likes real life films. Had Billy laying on my tummy for a couple of hours, all snuggly and warm! I miss them so much when I don’t see them! 

I bought the Florence + The Machine album and have been listening to it for the past couple of days. I like it a lot!