Hull is where the heart is...

Just come back from a fantastic weekend in Hull. I was at university in Hull for three years and stayed there a year after I finished, finally leaving in 2006. I have a brilliant bunch of friends who all seem to still live up there and I was part of the most fantastic church on the planet (yes even better than hillsong!).

I hadn't been to a service at Hull Vineyard for a good year but when i walked in on sunday I felt like I had never left. This is the church where I really began to discover who I was while I was a member. It's where I learnt about the power of prayer and fasting in an exceeding practical way. Once a year the whole church partakes in a three week fast to seek God for the city, the church and thier own lives. Vineyard is where I learnt about the intimacy of worship, the importance of ever member ministry and the practicalities of the five step healing model.

I have blogged in the past about how I feel so sick of constantly looking back to my past as being the exciting time in my faith, a time of sign and wonders and being 100% on fire for God. That time was when I was in Hull. Speaking to Elaine (who is one of the senior pastors and who used to mentor me and likes to ask me difficult questions!) on tuesday and she reminded me that she also looks back to that time because as a church they had been praying for years for a group of new leaders to join the church from the university. We were the answer to their prayers, we were the ones who had been prophesied about. It was a fruitful and blessed season because so much prayer had been poured into it. Now about 9 years on from the start of that season most of my friends have settled in Hull, bought property, got married, own cats and most importantly are planted in the church and are investing in it for the future. It is so exciting to see.

I guess I'm the one that got away! I know that staying in hull wasn't the right thing for me, maybe one day i'll go back, it wouldn't suprise me if i did actually. Now when I look back I dont look back with regret, I look back with excitement because that time was a testament to God's goodness and faithfullness. It makes me excited for the fruit that the prayers i'm praying now will bring.