The past few weeks have been interesting, with many high points and low points (the lows COMPLETELY outweighed by the highs!). God is doing some incredible stuff here at Nexus and He’s really speaking to us all in various ways. Personally, God is really challenging me to sort out some things in my life and help others to do this as well. He is showing me just how much my life can impact and influence other people’s and so I need to really live in a way that glorifies Him and is a good example to others. He has been speaking to me a lot about community and people and what that should look like for me, and about plans for next year (September ’12 to July ’13).

Our most recent LPW task is to write a pop song as a band that is a very ‘current’ sound (the sort of Pop we’re hearing at the moment) but is lyrically counter-cultural (in that it actually brings something of substance and isn’t about going out/getting drunk/one-night stands etc). Our band has had a lot of fun with this task and we’ve come together really well in producing our pop track. God’s been speaking to us all through Isaiah quite a lot recently (during Intreat, in Bible Lectures, Bible Work, Churches, and other things outside of this too) and so we thought it was appropriate to write our song based on one of the chapters which He’s been speaking to us through – Isaiah 52.

It’s now half term, and it’s really nice to have a little bit of time to relax – the past few weeks have been so busy it’s unreal! It’s not all relaxing though, as I need to be doing my Bible work and practice. Oh and I’m joining the gym! Yes, that’s really weird for me to be saying, but for this year’s RAG Week we’re doing an endurance event… the whole college is doing a long-distance cycle! And in long-distance I mean from Coventry to Amsterdam… and back… in a week! So I need to get my fitness levels up. I also need a road/touring bike to borrow between now (or ASAP) until at least the end of May – if you (or you know anyone who) could help me find/get hold of one it would be much appreciated! There will be more information coming soon, but for now I’ll leave you with that.

I also recently purchased some in-ear monitors (IEMs) from Minerva, which came through in the post this morning! These are for on-stage monitoring/foldback so that I can clearly hear the mix of instruments I need and protect my hearing from excessive noise at the same time. They are great for listening to music through my laptop/iPod/phone in general too. I’m a very satisfied customer!!

We have Staff Concerts coming up very soon (mid-March). Tickets are on sale here, and there’s some information on this Facebook page. It’s going to be an incredible concert you really won’t want to miss – I’ve heard some of the rehearsals and I’m SO excited! They will be some awesome nights of true musicianship.

And finally… we’ve had snow =)

Prayer pointers for the next couple of weeks:

1. Training and motivation – that we all commit ourselves to doing the training necessary to be able to endure our RAG week cycle from Cov to Amsterdam and back, and that none of us get injured through this.
2. Staff Concerts – that prep and rehearsals go soundly and that the nights are fantastic.
3. Work and practice – that we all keep on top of our bible work and practice and don’t get behind.
4. House – that our house would continue to grow closer in our relationships and that any issues/problems are cleared, that God would work in us and help us support one another even better.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support, it means SO much to me. I continue to pray for you too =) Blessings

So my Christmas ‘break’ was really good. I had some time to just wind down after the Christmas Concerts (which were INCREDIBLE), spent a lovely week and a half back in Plymouth seeing family and friends and the sea, and then enjoyed another week back here with the house to myself before everyone else came home. In that time I tried to get a lot of practice and work done… not much of the latter happened, but I did some good practice and a few recordings I uploaded to YouTube (my channel is linked on the right of this page, and I’ll put one of the videos at the bottom of this post). I also enjoyed spending New Year with some of my Nexus friends who live in Cov anyway, and so had a good time with them and their family.
On the weekend most people got back we had a bit of a gathering at one of the houses just to catch-up and spend some time with each other. It was very exciting and we were all so happy to be back and see everyone again. The holidays felt like a lifetime, but at the same time it also felt like we never really went away.

First week of Term 2 was our second assessment week – we have to pass these first two in order to graduate the music part of the course. I’m so pleased that I passed everything first time round this time (although I may ask to be re-assessed on a couple of things to better the marks, but it’s not vital). To be honest I wasn’t feeling too well prepared and know I could’ve worked a lot harder towards it, but somehow I managed to come through and not forget much! As it was assessment week we weren’t on normal timetable for the week, so it was a nice way to be eased back in… although I really was itching to get started and get stuck straight back in to ‘Nexus life’. BUT it was a good opportunity to finish off the bits of work I still had left and to go and see people.

Last week we had ‘Intreat’ – this is basically like an in-house week-long retreat, so we were at Nexus but had a completely different timetable. It involved a lot of times of worship, sharing testimonies, small group times, time spent in fellowship, and a lot of food (always good!). God did some flipping incredible stuff, I’m still processing a lot of it! But there was definitely a tangible change for the good in Nexus and it’s all very exciting. I’ll be writing a separate page (rather than post, so you can find it at the top of the screen) on this to explain a lot more in detail about what went on, how God spoke and what has changed, but as I’m still processing it all it’ll probably be a few more days before that’s up.

Yesterday we got stuck in to normal timetable again and, I must say, it’s great! I’m starting to become a bit of a theory geek… I’m actually loving learning theory right now because it’s making so many things make sense to me and it just unlocks so much! We had some feedback on Intreat too which was great and made some more things from last week make sense to me.
Today I had an LPW where it was like an audition, so we weren’t allowed to practice with people before as they mixed up the bands and we didn’t know who we were playing with. So we had to learn two (quite annoyingly catchy) tracks which were ‘Good Times’ by Chic and ‘The Power of Love’ by Huey Lewis. It was a challenge for me to learn them as I’m not good/practiced at learning things by ear but rather like to just read sheet music, so that was interesting. The LPW went really well though; mistakes were covered/dealt with well and we just had fun grooving the tracks.

We have also been given our tracks for the Gospel Concerts (!) so we now know which songs we’re playing and who else is in the bands. I’ve listened to some of them and they are seriously incredible! VERY challenging to play, but we have around 4 months to get them sorted so I’m too worried… yet! This is very exciting – all the 2nd/3rd years and staff say Gospel is THE best concert every year! If you can’t come then you’re seriously missing out, so please do try to come along. I guarantee you will love it!

Prayer pointers for the next week or two:

1. Open Day – Weds 25th we have our second Open Day of the year. Please pray that everything goes smoothly, attendees are well-informed and that interviews/auditions go well for people.
2. LPWs – that we have fun being back together as a band (Yay for Band 2!) and that our Live Performance Workshops go well. Pray that we continue to grow closer as a group of people and musicians and that we keep being stretched and pressing further into our playing abilities.
3. Nexus – that we recognise and remember everything that God has done in us as a whole this past week and that we continue to push forward in this.
4. Elim – that I will have fun serving my church up here, that I will be valued by them and that I can help bring even more of God’s heart to our worship times through my serving.
5. Student Cell – that I will enjoy serving in this area of my church too, and that I build more strong relationships here with other students.

And finally, I leave you with one of the recordings I did during my Christmas break. It’s another cover, this time of Yiruma’s ‘River Flows In You’. I hope you like it! Blessings.

These were the closing lyrics from our Christmas Concert this year – how much truth is in them! It is absolutely incredible that God has always been here for us and always will be here for us. His love for us is so incomprehensible yet so amazing. I’ve really seen that this first term at Nexus – through all the highs and lows God has still been right by my side guiding me along, helping me when I’ve messed up and encouraging me more when I’ve done something great.

I can’t quite believe Term 1 is over already, it all seems quite surreal that this term has gone so fast! I have already learnt so much and my playing has improved immensely. God has been teaching me A LOT and I am looking forward to this Christmas break to get the chance to look back on everything and reflect on what He’s been growing in me. We have assessments to prepare for (our first week back in January) and a lot of Bible work, and these 4 weeks are going to be good to get this work done. The break will also give me the opportunity to go back over lecture notes, think over them more, remind myself of how God’s been speaking to me and do more about it all. I guess even though it’s a break, I’m definitely not having a break from God – if anything I shall be digging deeper into all of this.

This week’s concerts have been phenomenal too. We all had an amazing time performing and sharing something of our hearts for God through our playing and singing, and there have been some really encouraging testimonies from people who came. Our final night’s finale saw people in the audience raising their hands in worship as we sung the lyrics above – at that point I was so in awe of God, thinking back over all He’s done this term, and it was so moving for me I must admit I shed a tear! I can really see how much closer everyone has grown through this set of concerts which is so good. God is really working in our relationships with each other and I just love it so much. All the hard work and effort – the many hours constructing, practising, filming, editing, producing, drinks tasting etc. – really paid off and it was so amazing to see everyone pull it off so well. Deconstruction is happening on Tuesday so I’m going to go and help rip down what we spent so long constructing (thankfully it won’t take anywhere near as long!).

God really has me where he wants me right now and this excites me so much. Thanks for all of your support so far, it means so much to me. Please pray that everyone has safe travels this christmastime and enjoys spending time with their families and friends back at home. Pray God will continue to grow us and shape us to be even more like Him. Thank you guys, I pray you have a very blessed Christmas this year!

Band lineup
Lead vocals : Elisha Baylif
Keys + vocals : Danson Gichini
Elec guitar + vocals : Emar van Rossum
Bass : Phil Hardwick
Drums : Joel Stevens

After this week we have a month’s break for Christmas. I say break… we still have a lot of work to do, preparing for assessments (our first week back) and doing 5 weeks’ Bible work! It’s all part of the fun of it though.

Prayer pointers:

1. That it all goes really well and people enjoy it and get something out of it.
2. That all of us who are ill/have colds at the moment are absolutely fine during the performances, and that no-one else gets ill.
3. That we all remember our parts really well and pull off the show amazingly, and all the technical aspects (video links, sound, lighting, pyros etc.) work – the video links especially have been playing up.
4. That we just have fun with it.
5. That we all work hard over the Christmas break, and get some well-deserved rest too.

Thanks for your prayer and support! God is good.

Band practises and LPWs for the concerts are also going really well. I’m really loving my songs and am having fun with playing them now that I’ve learnt them properly. There are some really beautiful songs this year and some amazing stylistic re-writes of some more traditional christmas songs. I can’t believe how many of you will miss it!

For those of you wanting to come, the concerts are on the evenings of: Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th, Friday 8th and Saturday 9th December. Doors at 7pm, starts at 7:30pm. There’s also a matineé on Saturday 9th (Doors 1pm, starts at 1:30pm). For tickets go HERE (only available online). It’s a proper decent price, although I do realise anyone coming from home would have to pay for travel and likely accommodation too (unless you fancy driving up and back in one day) so that sucks as I know how many of you I’d love to come.

Everything else is going great here, although a lot is focusing on the Concerts right now. Core classes, bible lectures, Pow and Encounter are all going really well. I am learning so much and God is speaking to me a LOT which is fantastic! I love being here and am very excited for everything else God has in store for me and everyone else here this year!

My church up here (Coventry Elim) is wonderful. I am growing some really good relationships with the student team and have settled in really well. I am getting a lot of good ‘food’ from the preaches and the times of worship are incredible.

Prayer pointers:

• Christmas Concert prep – construction, decoration, practises etc., that everything goes smoothly and isn’t to stressful.
•  Elim – that I continue to walk in step with these people and can give to them even more than they have given me.
• My hands/wrists/arms – that I don’t get RSI or any pain from over-practising.

Much love and many blessings to you all =) x

God has really been challenging me this past week and I’ve had a few big struggles. BUT He has put the right people around me to cheer me up and encourage me and help me get things straight. Every day I am learning more about God’s grace and goodness and love for me, it’s fantastic! Our POW time this morning was seriously amazing. God did some amazing stuff and everyone in the room was really deep in His presence. God is revealing so much to me at the moment and it is so hard to try and put it all in words, but it is so amazing and I am continuing to be expectant for Him to do even more!

Please pray:

• For God to keep revealing more of Him to each one of us and growing us closer to Him
• For God to keep working in relationships and growing us closer as a community
• For continued expectancy for Him to work in and through us
• For peace and protection
• For enough rest/sleep!

I am thankful to God for your support prayerfully (and financially, if you are doing that too) and keep praying for him to pour out his blessings on you.

Many people have been asking me for some pictures of everything that’s going on here, so I’ll leave you with just a small selection. Enjoy!

We are constructing the set for the Christmas Concert, LPWs are all Christmas Songs – have been since our first one and will be until after the Christmas Holidays. This week is assessment week so everyone’s been taking assessments today, we have theory assessment tomorrow morning, (I also have LPW tomorrow afternoon), time to practice on Weds for re-assessments on Thurs and then Friday will be Encounter and Discovery Groups I think… along with a Keys social in the morning (yes, 8am Full English Breakfast!).

We went to a gig the other day which was so inspirational and left the 6 of us completely speechless! I’ve also been given the opportunity by a friend to play a few gigs with him, which is fantastic!

Prayer points:
- confidence in re-assessments (yes, I have to do my scales again!!)
- my band in LPW tomorrow (we have a beautiful song called Emmanuel)
- safe travels for everyone during half term
- discipline in working and practising
- my right wrist (that it heals and doesn’t get any worse)

Thank you so much for your prayers and support, you’re such a blessing to me!

We still don’t have internet in our house, so I’m currently sat in the common room at Nexus listening to some of this year’s Christmas songs and being a little bit sociable (whilst using the internet to update you all). The weather is beautiful up here (as I’ve heard it is everywhere else too) which is great, we’re having a chill in the park in a bit!

These past 2 weeks have been awesome. I was speaking with one of the guys last night and we were saying how it feels like we’ve been here for months already. It’s so true – I feel so at home here and have a few really close friends who I get on with so well, which is awesome!

Classes and lectures are going great, and our band is soooo awesome. We are already learning songs for Christmas which is a little annoying, but I’m listening through all the songs and some of them are just so beautiful! The concert is going to be amazing I can guarantee! My band has our first LPW (Live Playing Workshop) on Tuesday so please pray that our band gels well and that it all comes together fantastically for that.

Please pray for our house as we chat through things and set some things in place so that the house is better run and we all pull our weight. Also pray for people’s voices – my cold has thankfully gone now but a couple of the singers are getting sore throats, so pray that they can rest their voices this weekend and that they are healed.

I will have to leave it there for now – my dinner’s ready! Thank you for your prayers and support, I am praying for you all throughout the weeks. Many blessings.