And were off........Lochwinnoch - Glasgow - London - LA

Lochwinnoch to LA! Our journey begins. We left Lochwinnoch this morning said goodbye to Family, friends and Kilmouski cat.

Thanks to Nancy and Karen for taking us and our ridiculous amount of luggage to the airport! Now it's very real, family is excited and I think we remembered everything. Extra bags containing schooling materials for the kids and resources for me.

Not sure if America is ready for the Cheshire's! But we are coming anyway : )

tim

Sunset on the day before.........

Today has been a bit manic! Last trip into the JVUK office in Glasgow, last communications with all the US tour stops, pack pack pack, final preparations, reserving seats and printing boarding passes, a crazy moon and the most sensational sunset over Lochwinnoch I have ever seen

Lochwinnoch Sunset

We leave at 12.25 for London and then 4.20pm to LA. 11.05 hour flight time from London - LAX! We have seats on the upper deck of the airbus A380. Never been on the upper deck before so will be fun to experience it ( unless we get an upgrade of course ) not likely!

My first lecture is on Friday in Santa ana, so wed / thu will be a combination of prepping for that and settling in to our accoms in SoCal ( and remembering to drive on the right!! )

tim

Friends, Community and the local pub!

For many years we lived in Glasgow and loved every minute of it. Glasgow is my favorite place in the world, I love everything about it and Glaswegions are the friendliest and most fun people to be around.

Now we live in Lochwinnoch and I love it just as much! Why? Well its near the sea, it has 2 lochs, an amazing national park on the doorstep and a great pub! But the real reason is the people.

We have made some great friends here, as have our kids and we have found a community with a heart and a soul.

Some friends moved into the village shortly after us incuding 2 ex members of my band and it has been a truly great decade for us as a family. 

It's always people who make it or break it and the people we are sharing our life with are definately making it for us : )

Was nice to spend the evening with them in our local pub 'The Brown Bull' on saturday night. 

Spent today having food with my mum and watching Scotland beat USA in the Rugby World Cup ; )

Ok......really need to pack some clothes!!!

tim

Right Team, Right Job, Right Time.......

JVUK Inaugural Board Meeting at Malenovice

Earlier today I was in Czech with these awesome men thrashing out the beginnings of this exciting new  part of the venture. They are such good men who will be a huge blessing to all of us in the field.

It was a very good start and it is clear that this is the right team for the right job at exactly the right time! Only God can do this.

The board were so impressed with all that is happening with the many National Organisations and they enjoyed hearing about the history of JV from Dave Patty.

The JVUK board were also very moved and affected by the testimonies of national staff from across the region. They were also blessed by the time of worship together at the Fall Conference and were inspired by the team from Latvia who led the worship that night.

12 brits! God, we pray that this time next year it will be 120!!!

Watch this space.........

As for me, I am now home back in Lochwinnoch. We leave for the USA on Tuesday.

Thankful for a great 24 hours and all that was achieved, including a great meeting with the Fala team from Poland, and with Casey, Bethan and Danni re. Exit International Convention in Glasgow in December and Koma, Estonia ( my homies )  ; )

Tim

JVUK in Czech - Team UK together for the first time......

We left Glasgow this morning and arrived in Ostrava via London. We drove direct to Frydlant and took part in the JV Fall Conference evening program.

We heard many stories from young people in many different countries. One stood out. A young guy, 19 years old, from Albania. in 1989 there were exactly 4 christians in the entire country. Tonight we heard from a guy leading a church of 350 people! The 19 year old is planting churches! He's 19 and planting churches. This is what is happening, it's good and we are happy to be involved.

I also met with the Polish National organisation, Fala and got some time with a bunch of other people to discus Exit Tour. It has been a busy day.

Tomorrow we spend all day in JVUK board meetings discussing next steps. This will be a significant time.

For me, I am just amazed that I am here, now with some of my closest friends, all looking at how we can best help serve the teams of amazing people all across Central and Eastern Europe and also back home in Scotland. Here they are at the end of a busy day....Resevoir Dogs eat yer heart out  ; )

More tomorrow!

tim

Me and Music - Still connecting me, Still affecting me....

Most of my work involves using music, bands and artists to connect with young people in various settings, mainly High Schools. I have both been 'in' the band as well as managing and pioneering projects both here in the UK and overseas so have a fairly unique vantage point.

Music is basically amazing! It is something that connects us to each other and has the potential to point us towards something higher than ourselves.

Alongside music, my own faith plays a huge role in my work. It's not about religion and it's not about a moral code. 

My faith is in a living saviour, Jesus. My hope is in Him and how He connects me to God through what He did 2000 years ago. This is a message of total freedom. Galatians chapter 5 talks about this freedom: 

'So stand strong for our freedom! The Anointed One freed us so we wouldn’t spend one more day under the yoke of slavery, trapped under the law.'

I spend a lot of time dreaming up new ways to get this message of Freedom, Hope and a future into the hands of young people. I want them to know the truth and I am convinced that the truth will set them free to be the young men and women that God always intended them to be.

I will go to Czech tomorrow and see 320 young people who have all decided to spend some time taking the gospel to young people throughout Central and Eastern Europe. This is an amazing thing to witness, their commitment and resolve.

I will also spend some time with the trustees of the embryonic JVUK. Our first trustees meeting! Something new, something exciting with so much potential. It will be just 1 day in my life, a fleeting 24 hours, but it will be significant, energising and fruitful.

Tomorrow I will talk a wee bit about the purpose our trip to the USA. We leave on Tuesday. EEK!

Tim

Next stop Malenovice in Czech for the JV Fall Conference and JVUK Board Meetings

I leave on thursday with the JVUK trustees for our first ever JVUK Board Meeting! The JV Fall Conference is happening at the same time so I will attend 1 session of the conference and have a few other meetings while I am there but the trip is only for 24 hours.

Fly in to Ostrava and out of Katowice.

I have sent 2 people to the conference, Bethan who works for me in Glasgow and also Dan who is looking at getting involved with Exit Tour. Both from Glasgow.

                                                        JV Fall Conference 'Unstuck'

It will be the first time that the new JVUK trustees are all together and I am crazy excited about this new development.

Tim 

Pre departure update - Cheshire's travels continue.........

We have had quite an extended period of travel this year and for the first time it has been as a family and not just me! This is indeed a welcome development : )

We spent much of the summer travelling, in fact we were only in our house for 8 days over the summer holidays. It has been both challenging, stretching and rewarding for us as a family. Sue is taking to this new adventure well and it seems the gypsy in me has transferred to all 3 of my kids! It has been amazing to see them blossom and grow in confidence as a result of our recent expeditions.

Next stop is America!

We leave Glasgow on September 29th and will return on November 19th, a total of 52 days.

The main purpose of the travel is with my work. I am one of 3 International Directors working with a missions organisation called Josiah Venture, JV for short. JV are an American organisation but do all of their work in Central and Eastern Europe. One of the projects they run is a schools project using music to connect with students and taking lectures in the schools talking to students about hugely important issues like Substance abuse, sex and relationships, depression amongst young people, eating disorders, human trafficking, self esteem....and so on. JV is a christian organisation and we are taking a message of hope with us into these schools across eastern europe.

I have been working with my own band, Superhero, for many years in this part of the world on similar projects and now I am helping to develop and grow this ministry with JV, it is called Exit Tour.

We spent the summer in Estonia and now we go to the USA to connect with partner organisations, churches, musicians, universities and colleges across the country where I have many opportunities to talk to people, students, about the work we are doing and give people the opportunity to get involved with us.

I will blog now every day until we return on Nov 19th. If you are interested in keeping track of us over the next 2 months and beyond please feel free to subscribe to this blog : )

timchesh