The Midlander Volume April 2010 Issue 10 Born – Died - Risen Achievements: Healings, turning water into wine, deliverance, above all Saving man kind Jesus was betrayed with a kiss by one of His friends. He was taken away beaten mocked spit at and jeered, yet still He said nothing in His own defence. He was nailed to the cross that He had been made to carry and hoisted up for all too see. They still jeered and spat at Him and gambled for His clothes, before He died He said “Father I put myself in Your hands” Luke 23:46 Biker Bible 27th March Breakfast Eleven of us and Izzy gathered for breakfast at the Long Itch Diner in Long Itchington. We had excellent food and fellowship plus they are now stoking bibles. Thursday evening is a biker night so if you can drop in and increase our presence there please do so. We praise God for the way He is working through these times together, if you haven’t come along yet please consider coming to the next breakfast on 24th April 10am Street Bike Streetbike Corner Mucklow Hill, Halesowen, West Midlands B62 8BW 21st March 2010 Nuneaton Wesleyan Reform Church Nine of us attended the service which Pete led Charles gave testimony, Dave Parkes did the reading and Jim preached. We had a really good morning and were made very welcome. After the service we answered a lot of questions about our patches and the bikes parked out the front of the church. The church placed a basket on the information table for donations for the Bible fund. Thank you very much we raised £80 Branch Meeting 18th April 6.30 St Johns Greenlands Redditch 8th May Branch Meeting KEC 5th June Branch Meeting Paul Rayboulds 3rd July Branch Meeting Bedworth Reform Methodist Church 14th August Branch Meeting KEC 4th September Branch Meeting Paul Rayboulds 2nd October Branch Meeting Bedworth Reform Methodist Church 6th November Branch Meeting KEC 4th December Branch Meeting KEC Other Branches East Midlands Event Sat 15th/Sun 16th May BMF show 2009, East of England Showground, Peterborough. 2010 Tickets on sale call 08712 301084 or Book Online www.bmf.co.uk Bedford branch are running the stand. Contact Keith Sanders if you wish to help keef.sanders@talktalk.net Gloucester Branch 9th-11th April Slimbridge Camping Weekend - Hosted by Hedingham Sidecar Owners Club - invitation to CMA UK . Staffs Branch 24-25th April. Stafford Classic Bike Show Fri-Sun 7-9th May. You have been NABD Rally ! Astle Park, North Cheshire run a Holy Joe's or you can volunteer to marshal, Martin did both last year and had a rewarding time. Urgent Ride to the Wall book now or miss out Saturday 2nd October 11am leave Drayton Manor Park Registration is essential at http://www.rttw.org Meriden Motorcycle Megaride Sunday 27th June 2010 We will be putting up the gazebo and giving out bibles at Meriden at the end of the ride. If you want to go on the ride see www.megaride.co.uk National and International Events 7th April National AGM New Life Church, Danesford Community Centre, West Road, Congleton, Cheshire CW12 4EY. EMC/National Rally 4-8 August Storths Hall Huddersfield This year we are hosting the EMC Rally so we are expecting approximately 600 people. Due to this there is no Ladies conference this year. There is accommodation camping and space for camper vans available all at very reasonable prices. There is also a restaurant and a rally BBQ. This year we have been asked if we as a branch will help out with a Holy Joe’s serving others at Rally. If you can help please contact Debbie or Pete for more details. Easy Fundraising You can now help raise funds for CMA through http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk Find CMA there and go to your favourite store and a donation or percentage on everything you buy will go to CMA Please support CMA in this way if we all do it the small amounts will soon add up New E mail Address We now have a new e mail address for the branch cmawestmids@gmail.com This is so that the pass word can be passed on to future secretaries and it will keep continuity for people trying to get in touch with us. Prayer Focus Please continue to pray for Jessica, Jim and Ann’s granddaughter and her family as they continue to support one another. We would like to focus each month on one or two branches and keep them in prayer this month please pray for: East Midlands As they move forward with the twig. Continue to pray for all the officers as they seek to serve God. Pray for the events that they attend that they can be a faithful witness for God. Gloucester Branch Prayers. The availability of some of our members to participate in branch events is becoming less due to an increase in other commitments and responsibilities. This is putting a lot of pressure on the remaining few. Please pray that we may find Christian bikers of like mind who have the vision and time to spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus to the biking community and who want to work with, and share fellowship with us. Personal requests Please pray for Alan & Liz Robertson and Bethany. Alan is due to be made redundant sometime between October and December. I (Colin (Roly) Wright ) am not as healthy as I should be. I am still getting non epileptic attacks on a regular basis, and they have been worse since my wife and I started running our own shop. Please pray for peace of mind. Also the number of members in our branch has decreased with people moving on. Please pray for more workers. Thoughts from the Chairman Last month I issued a challenge to you all to find ways of rising to the challenges facing the West Midlands Branch and CMA UK as we move into a new biking season. By now we have prepared our bikes and to some extent I am pleased to say ourselves. It was fantastic to see so many of us volunteering to help out with a Holy Joe’s at rally. For those who missed the meeting there is still the opportunity to put your name forward to join in with the branch serving others. Please email or ring Debbie and let her know if you can help. We have been discussing the fruits of the Spirit and what they mean, at the last meeting we talked about joy in Galatians. Joy is having a relationship with Jesus and having confidence in being part of His family. We have the reassurance that no matter what happens in life we are confident we are leading a life pleasing to Him. This last week Debbie and I went to visit Zac’s Place in Swansea, run by the God squad who have a parallel ministry to CMA. It was good to see what other expressions of the biking world are doing. Their ministry is to ‘Rag a muffins’ as the sign says over the door. This includes bikers, artists and anyone who society ignores. We are not a church but we have a mission to reach bikers (rag-a-muffins) that are still rejected by many churches. Our aim is to put the Gospel into their hands and demonstrate Jesus’ love to them. God’s grace and the joy it gives are for everyone. We as a branch are pulling together, now the stone is moving let us find ways of increasing the momentum to those we serve. Look out for local churches that will welcome bikers and fresh ways we can serve. It is only by others gone before us caring and sharing that we are at this point today. I am hearing stories of how people in the branch are reaching out in boldness. It is scary when you first start but as things progress you feel the blessing returned tenfold. The joy of the Lord be with you. Peter