24-7 Ibiza

One night last week, myself and Jessica – one of the short term workers here for 2 weeks – were out on the streets and we found ourselves in conversation with a group of about 5 or 6 guys from England. The conversation proceeded and we explained about 24-7 Ibiza and what we did in the West End of San An. I grabbed an opportunity and took out a bible and one of the group requested that I read some of John to them. Though surrounded by bars with the group having consumed a fair bit of alcohol I read out of John 3 to them.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his son, his one and only son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a hole and lasting life. God didnt go to all the trouble of sending his son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again”.

They responded well to it and I had an opportunity to pray with one of them there and then on the street. Two of the group took bibles and after a few minutes of further chat in which we shared a bit more about what Jesus has done for us we wished them a good night and they moved onto the next bar.

Later that night when in Garlands at Eden (a club in the west end) with the whole of the team I saw some of this same group on the dance floor. I went over and started to dance alongside them. I introduced myself to them again and they recognised me at which point they pulled out their Jesus Loves Ibiza bibles and held them aloft in the middle of the dance floor. Though they were obviously intoxicated having consumed one form of drug or another, we all danced together for a while as they held the word of God up high on the dance floor. It was great to see the word of God that is so powerful, so full of truth and life in the hands of some guys who really wanted it, loved it and need it.

Neil is part of our summer long team you can follow his journey by reading his blog here

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We’d love to hear from if we have helped you home at any point. We really do enjoy making sure people are safe and sound but could do with a little feedback from time to time. So if we have helped you in any way this summer, why not leave a comment. We would really appreciate it.

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Our friend Steve Lawton recently wrote this poem whilst watching sunset at Cafe del Mar:

The warmth has gone
The light lays hidden behind the unexpected mist
The melodic soulful ambiance creates the backdrop to the ever-present air of expectance
We all exercise a degree of forced patience
One solitary fisherman patrols the vast expanse and almost seems
Insignificant
In comparison to the ocean

The backdrop moves in slow motion

Eyes patrol in the same direction
And give a subtle impression
That we are all people
Of expectance

Yet for my in experience
My heart beats just a little faster
For what it is for which we wait

Waiting and watching, watching and waiting
All aware
but know one saying
Yet we all sit
And watch
the same

Some every day folk
Some Day to day folk
Some claiming celebrity status
Some just here to play folks
Yet we all sit and wait
The same

The colours blend to create
And to paint
An undisputed masterpiece
Naturally made
As if pinned of hung from 4 corners
the largest piece of priceless artwork freely on display
And it shows its self today
as every other day
Without fail

Many things brought us here today
Different circumstances will create the crowd
And different ones will create it again in a different way the following day
But for today
For this specific moment
Of this specific day and point in history
For this specific display
It is here and now.

That we wait

Whats the difference in this miss matched rag tag band of unusual characters
That have gathered from far and wide
but all looking in the same direction?
All looking the same way
As the sun sets
Its as if the maker
Is sitting back with arms folded and with a little smirk as if to say
“what more can I say”

The difference I guess

That someone took the time to explain to others
Why it is that the sun fades
And what happens to it the next day
And how to operate when the day is claimed
by the dark

And someone told them how to explain
To the next person,
In the hope that they would take the opportunity to do the same
So we all sit here again
Different
Yet in some sense
The same

And we wait
For the end of the day

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Our centre will open at 4.30pm on Monday May 3rd, we will have all the usual stuff in our revamped and redecorated centre.

This year we have a table tennis table instead of a pool table!!

The prayer room will now be called “the chapel” and will be a great place for some quiet spiritual reflection in the madness of the summer.

Pop down and see us

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The best thing to do is contact the consulate here is the website with all the latest news there number in Ibiza is 91 730 1818 or e-mail Ibiza.Consulate@fco.gov.uk they are open between 8.30 -1300 hrs Monday to Friday.

We think the best way to get home would be get to Barcelona then catch a train to Perpignan in France, from there you could hire a car and drop it off at Calais. You could hire a car in Barcelona but it is more expensive to take it from one country to another. This is not an expert opinion just what we have looked into for friends.

Madrid airport is also open so you could fly there and get to Santander and catch a 24 hour ferry!!!!

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Man, I am SOOO thankful for being able to do what I do. During our team meeting this morning we were all just reminding ourselves how blessed we are to be doing what we do. Without people’s generosity and God’s thorough, constant provision, we would struggle to do this work here on the Island.

I’m so thankful for all the people who give each month, not only to us all individually but also to the work too. We talked about how, after seeing God come through time and time again on numerous occasions, your ‘faith muscle’ grows. The next time that something big comes up and you think, ‘how will I ever pay for that?’, you remember how God has always been so faithful in the past and your faith is that much stronger in God’s faithfulness.

We are here, doing this work, because God is so faithful, yesterday, today and forever. We just want to take this opportunity to say a massive ‘Thanks’ to anyone who has ever given or supported us and the work here.

I also want to throw this out….are you planning on coming on a team to Ibiza this summer, or thinking of moving here for longer? Are you worried about finances or some other obstacle? If so, we just want to encourage you to trust God; he’ll provide all your needs, according to his glorious riches in Christ.

Proverbs 30

⁷ “Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:

⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD ?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

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One of my boys has a piggy bank – a proper, hollow pig with a slot in the top and a wiggly tail. The other lad however has a ‘robo-bank’. When you pop your pocket money in its head it says ‘thank you’, sounding just like Stephen Hawking. And whenever the robot’s sensors pick up movement in the room it announces ‘YOU HAVE ALMOST REACHED YOUR TARGET!’ This can be quite disconcerting late at night when I tiptoe into the room to tuck the boys into bed. Heaven only knows how often the robot exhorts the hamster to continue saving.

I’ve been thinking lately that prayer and faith can be a lot like saving pennies. Partly because it generally takes perseverance before we see miracles, but mainly because faith seems to accumulate the more we celebrate the small things God has done. Stories of answered prayer can increase our expectation, and the more we expect miracles the more we will experience the reality of the supernatural realm. It’s a righteous cycle of faith that flourishes in a culture of affirmation and gratitude.

Last weekend my boys triumphantly discovered that they had saved enough money to buy their hearts’ desire: a Nintendo Wii. Perseverance in the day of small things had come to a glorious – and previously impossible – conclusion.

Sometimes, of course, miracles take a little less perseverance. After sentencing David Joseph to prison sentences in a number of States, the US government discovered that he was in fact a British Citizen. They wasted no time in kicking this persona non grata out of the country, sending him back to England where he arrived at Heathrow airport jobless and penniless. David came to a prayer meeting I was leading at Holy Trinity Brompton church in London on a Tuesday morning last September, and asked the Lord to provide him with work, specifically in the construction industry. Many people think that it’s pointless to pray about such very practical things – especially in a recession, with a man who has a criminal record. But we prayed because we believe that God has a purpose for David’s life, that God never gives up on anyone, and that he promises to provide for all our needs.

Within ten minutes of that prayer meeting, as David Joseph walked to the nearby underground train station, he was offered a job, in construction, by a complete stranger. He’d received a miracle and five months later he’s still working there and still worshipping God.

Over Christmas many prayers went up for the musician, Charles Costa, who was in a critical situation in an Austrian hospital after a very serious skiing accident that could easily have left him brain damaged. Two months later neurologists are simply amazed by the extent of Charles’ recovery. ‘We believe it was prayer that made the difference’ concludes his father, ‘and we’re just so grateful for such support’.

Last Saturday night hundreds of people crammed into a church in Edinburgh Scotland to cry out for the nation and to commission the year of 24-7 Prayer which is taking place across Scotland right now. The Tuesday before that 800 people packed Holy Trinity Brompton on a day of prayer and fasting. It was the sort of prayer meeting we associate with other countries or other times in history; not with the part of London where they filmed Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill! One man wrote in to say: ‘I had tears running down my face and a sense of the power of God inside me.’ In that electric atmosphere God spoke about his Church being a lion that must roar once again in the land and about impacting Europe.

Such ‘big’ words can seem daunting as we go about our normal lives. But as we continue to celebrate small encouragements – dropping pennies into that heavenly piggy bank – we might imagine the clouds parting from time to time and a voice that sounds a bit like Stephen Hawking reminding us: ‘You have almost reached your target’.

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