Am on the way home from Cambridge after an evening with Care for the Family and Rob Parsons. It was a good night and worth the trek from London. I thought that I would use the journey home to write a blogpost on the iPod.

I have to confess that my initial thoughts were that I would not like it and be rather cynical. The first few minutes supported this theory as the sound was not great and the ott adverts are not my thing but it would have been fine for the mainly white middle class attendees (well it is Cambridge!!)

My cynicism was ready to overflow until phatfish led us in some worship and my heart melted somewhat. As always, they were excellent and they overcame deficiencies in the sound with seeming effortlessness.

Rob Parsons spoke with a proliferation of stories and sound bytes that hit the nail on the head – for many youthworkers there was little that we have not said before but Robs voice is heard and people will likely act – it needed to be said. Without doubt he won me over – children need our time, every word counts, invest in youth etc.

I probably would not rush back but there are many for whom this would be important. For that I am thankful and grateful. My cynicism was crushed beneath a banner of hope. Thank God for people speaking truth in our churches.

As a footnote, some video clips of youthworkers made me smile – they spoke of time with young people, would love them to listen to Steve Griffiths at ywc11 – may challenge them 😉

these are rushed thoughts written on an iPod in the immediate aftermath of a busy day so may make little sense. Hope that they read ok