Jon Jolly

I had a really great time last week. The weather was terrible and rarely did the sun shine as the photo shows, but I got to hang out with around 30 fantastic young people without having any agenda to achieve or promote - just enjoying their company. It was a good chance for me to put into practice the act of ‘presence’ or ‘being with’ people which Mark Yaconelli promotes in Contemplative Youth Ministry.

The other thing I really enjoyed about Soul Survivor was the way in which Mike Pilavachi and team hosted the main meetings. With nearly 10,000 people on site it must be very easy to get caught up in the hype and atmosphere that a crowd of that size creates. Instead I found the exact opposite, a patient, gentle and above all, humble approach that gave glory to God rather than revolving around a figurehead on the stage. There’s something I could learn from that…

I’m sitting in the office today catching up with various bits of paperwork before heading off the Shepton Mallett on Monday. We’re taking around 25 young people along to Soul Survivor A and I’m quite excited about going because the last time I went was waaaay back in 1999.
Our group is joining together with St Margaret’s (another local church) and sharing our camp, food and friendship so I really hope to encourage much inter-church shennanigans.
While there, I also plan to catch up with various friends and youthy-types so if you’re going to be on site, drop me an email on “mail [at] jonjolly.com” and we’ll try to hook up.

Meanwhile here is some extreme camping: it’s in-tents!