Blackpool... and a plea for help!

So, I went to BU Assembly, hoping to encourage lots of new people to come along to Leading Edge this year.
On the one hand, I was really encouraged by the positive comments and support received from those people I spoke with... Leading Edge is, without doubt, highly valued!

On the flip side, I was a tad fummoxed by the number of people who still claim not to have even HEARD about LE. I sort of know why... to many busy church leaders and secretaries, LE publicity is just another piece of unsolicited advertising, I know I've opened envelopes and consigned contents to the file marked B (bin!)

I've been looking at numbers (and here's where you can help) - so far this year, we're about 100 bookings down on this time last year. NOW, we were late starting because of all the debates about the future, AND we're not out to make a huge profit BUT we really need to break even. I reckon, that in order to do that we need about another 400 people to book!!!

I'm usually pretty bad at booking early - I think about it, put it on the pile, meaning to do it, but it usually ends up buried somewhere until timing is critical...
Late in July, we'll look at bookings and think about LE 2012. I don't believe it would be right for the planning group to make decisions about next year, based on people being last minute this year!

So, over to you... get your ENCOURAGING boots on - well, you know what I mean - newbies, oldies, pretty much any-bies.
If your pastor/minister has never been before, I will send them a voucher for a major discount to encourage them to try LE out (with a view to returning with the church next time, of course.. hehe)
If every person currently booked persuaded ONE person, we'd be almost there, besides, isn't there something vaguely scriptural about nothing being impossible with God? ;)

I'll be at my desk, awaiting the deluge of post!!!

Blessings and free hugs (see the Light Project web page for details)

Jill

Productive!

Thanks to all who prayed - we've had a VERY productive day... things are looking positive :)

It's going to be so good - who will you bring?

If even half of previous L:Edgers brought a new family or person, just think what a blessing we could be.

Tomorrow is D-Day...

AKA LE Director's meeting.

It's going to be quite an intense session, with the possibility of some internal structural changes (don't worry - it's organizational, no need to panic!)

We hope that this will free up the creative dynamic of planning LE for the future - God willing, of course.

We'll be spending time beginning to fine tune this year's programme and if our previous thoughts and discussions are anything to go by, I am SO excited at the possibilities this year might bring.


So, my dear L:Edgers, will you play your part and pray for the team that is meeting tomorrow?  [Wednesday 6th from 11am-4pm] Pray for God's wisdom in all we do, pray that His will is done and that our good ideas are really GOD ideas.


I'll keep you updated of progress.


Blessings and Hugs




Jill

Madness...part 2

Well, I'm grateful to say that the letters have kept on coming and we've now got 40% of the numbers we had on site last year! I suspect today will be another busy one.

So now, I'm asking you guys to get busy... if you've not made a booking yet, go for it, send me more people... it would be amazing if we managed to have EVEN MORE people than last year :)

We've got a couple of big advertising pushes coming up... the next issue of Transform will carry an advert and the conference packs at BUGB Assembly will also contain our booking leaflet. I'm actually going to be in Blackpool, touting for business... you'll recognise me by the Leading Edge T-shirt... so if you're there, come say hi. I love the idea of putting faces to all these names.

Hope your weekend brings many blessings


Jill

Madness

Nope, I'm not looking for hairs on the palms of my hands (VERY old joke), I'm trying to describe the sudden flurry of bookings that landed on my desk today.
Now, I know that this is because we all enjoy a bargain AND pennies are kind of tight given the state of the economy etc. etc. lots of lovely people are taking advantage of the early booking discount this year... it's really great.

What is also suggests to me is something I already know - we Baptist Christians do seem to leave things to the last minute... well, I suppose I can really only speak for myself... I  wonder how many envelopes my postie will bring tomorrow?

Thing is, this event organising, I just can't leave everything 'til later. If I did, I'd be buried under a mountain of forms, receipts, cheques, used envelopes, stamps for recycling with BMS World Mission, new envelopes, address labels and invoices. Oh, yes, and volunteer forms.

One of the lovely things about handling the bookings is that, by the time you all arrive on site, I'll feel as if I know you all personally - that said, please don't be too harsh if I don't remember your name, address and telephone number off by heart!

Jill

144 days... and counting

I met my line manager this week in London. His message to me... "Chill."

Most of the time I am quite chilled but every now and again, I do wonder what I'm doing. Happily, I'm not responsible for LE - well, I AM responsible for doing the bits I can, but I can only do them because God equips me and it's good to remember that sometimes.

LE is is a GOD event - I hope this year's week will also be enjoyed as a good event, and one from which we can all take a little more of God's love, grace, peace and forgiveness back to our communities, whether little rural hamlets or major cities.
I'm praying already that we'll be agents of change in our world - Lord knows we need it!

In around 6 weeks we'll celebrate Easter, an event unparallelled in human history, when the God of Creation, far beyond our most imaginative imaginings, made the move to set us free from all the rubbish this existance brings. Wouldn't it be amazing if each one of us, came to LE this year with a story of something small, where being Christ in our own place made a difference?

Let's undertake to pray that God will use LE to challenge and equip us as individuals, as Baptist community and as His church to fulfil His purposes.

Shalom
Jill x

Another special note for volunteer-y types... (but anyone can read!)

I've had a call from Baptist House!!!!

The past few weeks, they've been receiving notification of new or renewed CRB checks with names they don't recognise. The only thing they could think of was that LE volunteers were sorting out their CRB's for this year.

This is GREAT news, BUT, if you do need a CRB, either new or a renewal, please could you communicate it via myself so I know who has what. I am in liaison with Didcot, but the forms don't always say Leading Edge so it would save everyone some detective work if I was able to pass on the right information :)

Thanks everyone - have a GREAT and blessed weekend

Jill