At about 3.20am I finished the autobiography of Duncan Bannatyne. It is called: If I can Do it Anyone Can: My Story Duncan is one of the major stars of the BBC TV programme The Dragons Den It is a brilliant programme whhere would be entrepeneurs present their business ideas to 5 "Dragons" The 5 are all self made multi-millionaires. If they like the idea they invest their own money, in return for a share in the company. I must admit Bannatyne is my favourite. His dry Glaswegian wit can sometimes be brutal. It makes for compulsive tv viewing.

Back to the autobiography. In it he talks about his charity work in Romania. Much of it is with a friend who describes as a "committed Christian". Throughout his charity work he says so many coincidences, he becomes to believe that it is God at work.

He goes onto say:

From time to time everyone involved in charity work like this breaks down in tears.....For me the tears came at about ten Oclock at night. I went outside and found a quiet place at the side of the house. I couldn't stop the tears......After many minutes I began to get the feeling I wasn't alone.

And God said, "OK" and disappeared.

I was so encouraged when I read that. It is clearly authentic and it prompted me to pray!

One of the key points in the Ignite declaration is "Involve yourself on a local church and respect its leadership"

On Saturday I had the pleasure of speaking at a special day for those interested in music, worship leading and songwriting called Inspire. As I was speaking I found myself saying "The older I get the more I love the church." I must say it was hearfelt.

I love being part of my local church. It is Cardiff City Temple.
W are blessed with having great leaders, worship, teaching and a very varied congregation.

Yesterday we had a great service. Steve Ball preached. and Richard Lewis lead the worship. The communion was excellent. It was just a good morning! When I came out into the foyer I headed to chat with one of my friends. Unfortunately, he had been buttonholed by one of the older members who spent the next 10 minutes just moanong about the church. Initially, I was angry. I made the decision not to get involved, which was definitely a good thing. However, as I reflected on it I was just sad. This is the bride of Christ! We should not be in the business of slagging he church off. If we have a complaint after taking it to God and we have confessed our prejudgices, if we are still frustrated, our concerns should be taken to the leadership and not be a subject of gossip.

I do not want to sound like I am taking the moral high ground. I suppose I am just as capable of saying inappropriate things.

The truth is, when we do this, we grieve God.

A couple of weeks ago the local paper, The South Wales Echo, featured an article about a "pub church" venture organised by Ararat Baptist church. The problem being that the venue, the Club Ifor Bach were not selling enough drinks.

Last week I was talking to a friend of mine who owns a coffee shop. Recently, he has been letting a local church use it for an evening cafe event. However, he has just stopped it as the most popular drink request was tap water!

Then yesterday I was organising a concert in London with the Christian band, Casting Crowns
at rock venue in London called The Forum.
After the doors had been open for about 45 minutes I visited the gents. On my way in I was greeted by an attendant. He was delighted that a Christian band were playing because he was a pentecostal Christian. He was offering people towels after they had washed their hands. Inside there was an amazing selection of aftershaves, deodrants, chewing gum and lollipops. In his tip tray he had £3!!

So here is my question? Why are we such bad customers? Why are we not blessing our people with our generosity. Why must business people despair if a bunch of Christians want to use their premises or services?

Last night I was fortunate enough to see The Who at the Liberty Stadium Swansea. Nigel, Gill and Martyn Evans were there and we all enjoyed a great show. I was suprised that the show was not sold out but to be honest it seemed like there had been a poor promotion.

No fanfares, no big introductions but at 8.30pm 6 men walked on stage and by 8.31 the stadium came alive to "Can't Explain." There were issues with the sound not least being that it kept cutting out as if there was a power cut. surely it was not the volume? because to be honest for a band that used to be the loudest in the world it was relatively tame! They lost the sound during "Who are you?". Undefeated, they tried again and get almost to the end when they lost the sound again. Pete Townsend then said "well there is no point in doing it again. I think we should all know who we are by now!"

The band ran through loads of their hits. The highlight for me, and worth the £50 ticket alone, was "Won't Get fooled Again" Daltery's scream has to be the best in rock!

A great start to my birthday weekend!