Last Tuesday night I spoke at a large event in Southampton to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Southampton Blitz in the Second World War. The gathering took place in St Mary’s Church 70 years to the day since the night the roof was blown off by a direct hit and the church was gutted by fire. 631 people lost their lives that night as the centre of Southampton was almost destroyed by 300 incendiary bombs. BBC and ITV film crews were at the event and I was a little nervous sharing the pulpit with the Bishop of Winchester! We saw around 500 people attend, many of who were not Christians and the atmosphere was electric. The media picked it up in a big way via newspaper, radio and television.

This Friday I fly to Madrid once again to run a three day evangelistic programme as part of my ongoing and deepening relationship with the ICC Madrid, a multi-congregation resource church reaching out across the city. Please pray for the events and that many children and adults will meet with Jesus for the first time. As soon as we return we are taking the Mobilestage up to Leeds to run a large outdoor Christmas event beside the coffee shop that my friends Nick and Linda Castle run in Garforth. We are also running a similar event in the New Forest just before Christmas. We are hoping for big crowds and great opportunities to present Jesus.

It just remains for me to wish you all a fantastic Christmas and New Year and to thank you all for the commitment and partnership throughout 2010. Next year we have great dreams for the UK and Mainland Europe and some big faith targets as ever!