Andy Stevens
Age 36 (and counting)
Marital Status - holy matrimony
Looking for: 100 people to go to China
Likes: His Wife (Jenni), his son (Matthew - see him on YouTube) and his daughter (Isabelle) his dogs (Chow Chows - not Chihuahuas), worshiping
Dislikes: Tries to see the good in everyone and everything, but when push comes to shove he doesn't like, long boring sermons, bad music, rude people, setting budgets, conflict situations. (Does this make me a bad person)
facebook.com/andyds55
twitter.com/andyds55
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Easter splashing
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MORETen ideas for a strategic missional church
If you’re reading this blog post, it’s because you saw the title and thought to yourself, “Yes, I want my church to be strategic and missional”. Chances are that your church is already halfway there. Perhaps you have some members who are working on the mission fields. You receive their prayer letters. Their pictures are pinned up on notice boards. That’s great. But the fact of the matter i...
MORETraining sheep farmers
“But we’ve always done it that way.” Sometimes blind tradition gets in the way of common sense. It is the same complaint heard in many different contexts. I heard this in a more unusual context recently.
My wife and I were high in the mountains of China at 4000m of altitude. We had spent one hour in a landrover driving to a village of only 40 families. The sun beat down on our h...
MOREThe day I kicked a panda
Please don't tell the Chinese Government, but once upon a time, many years ago, I kicked a panda. I would like to say it was self-defence, but that would be a lie. It's a little concerning because there is a death penalty in China for killing a panda, so I imagine for a kick I could be sent down for a good few years. Herewith is my defence.
We were travelling in the remote count...
MORECardiff China Day - 10th February
felt a little bad since I wasn't sure I had done enough work to pull this event off. Fortunately, the Lord intervened and things went much better than planned.
The previous day there had been a flurry of phone calls as a result of the flurry of snow that was falling in the Cardiff and Newport areas. Jenni was very uncertain whether it would be safe to drive. I was prepared to tr...
MOREUnder 30s Conference - Feb 16-18 2007
What a grand weekend. It didn't go entirely as planned, but God's hand was in it, and I am sure that He was moving. Poor John, who had organised the conference in fine detail was unavoidably forced to be absent. This meant that the team he had delegated some tasks to were required to take over. He had done so much planning, though, that it wasn't too hard to step in.
This was a g...
MORELearning Mandarin
I was listening to a debate on Radio Five Live this morning (Radio Four devotees please forgive), in which they were arguing for Foreign Languages to be made compulsory from ages 7-14. I like that; and neither am I so Asian-focussed to think that it is crucial that children be taught Mandarin or Japanese. There were occasional listeners suggesting that Far East languages would be useful fo...
MOREMade for China Conference - planning
Nov 16-18. Seems ages away. However, in planning terms, it is practically next week. This is the major event I take responsibility for. Fortunately, I have a fantastic planning team around me - all of whom provide great ideas, and many are able to give time and energy to sort out the details as well as the big picture.
We have a pretty powerful line-up of speakers. With Jamie Tay...
MOREThe Oxford Seven?
Last weekend was absolutely hectic. I drove the two hours to Oxford four times in the week. We had five events in three days. On Friday 90 people came to a day conference in St Aldates church. 90! On a Friday! As was to be the catchphrase of the weekend, this was beyond expectation, but below hope. I was delighted with the turnout, which included people from as far afield as Bournemouth an...
MOREGaining Momentum
Gaining Momentum
This was the sign that greeted passersby at Momentum in July. Several thousand students and young professionals had gathered at the Shepton Mallett showground to worship God and move ‘Into...