Blog: Mel's Muse

Public Speaking As A Means To Enlarge My Vision: Part 1 - Preparing To Give

Public speaking for the dedicated communicator is so three dimensional. I give; I receive; I am filled. Or perhaps that should be: I am filled; I give; I receive. Let me explain.

Setting up a keynote address requires a huge effort. Especially if it includes visuals such as a Power Point Presentation. Hours of work...

Posted at 19:01pm on 5th July 2009

Readers Group Questions: Intelligent Church By Steve Chalke - 9.7.2009

What exactly do you believe about God? (in a nutshell) What are the non-negotiables of church – what are the things that make a church a church? Is there a difference between how we ‘do’ church at and how we should/could do it eg. should we discard the building and get a more modern one...

Posted at 20:05pm on 3rd July 2009

Make The World A Better Place: Be A Cookie

One of the seminars I attended at the Conference at which I was speaking last week was about seeing your life as a cookie. Kathy See is the editor of Revive magazine and she wanted us to focus on our self-perception and what we might be able to offer in terms of writing a...

Posted at 19:57pm on 2nd July 2009

2 Comments

Personality And Communication

There’s no doubt that mistakes, misunderstandings and misinterpretation lie at the bottom of many of the problems we all encounter, from time to time. You know the situation? There was a poster some years ago which summed it up admirably. Something along the lines of: I know you think that what you say is...

Posted at 15:47pm on 1st July 2009

3 Comments

Les Holidays Anglaise

If you don’t mind having to flush the odd, alien, pubic hair from the shower tray, and polish your cutlery before eating, les holidays anglaise take a lot of beating. I am not, you understand, referring, here, to the fortnight in an Eastbourne hotel or boarding house favoured by my parents’ generation during my childhood,...

Posted at 11:51am on 22nd June 2009

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Enlarge My Vision

GENERATE 2009: SALVATION ARMY: Adult & Family Ministries Conference

At The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick

26th – 28th June

Title: ‘ENLARGE MY VISION’

Mel will be Keynote Speaker at this Event, beginning on Friday evening with the Keynote Address, titled: Five Tent Pegs & A Central Pole.

Workshops led by Mel on Saturday will examine what it means...

Posted at 07:57am on 16th June 2009

Book Review: Intelligent Church By Steve Chalke

UV READERS’ GROUP MEETS NEXT IN THE LIBRARY AT THE GRAND

AT 7.30pm ON 9th JULY, 2009

Intelligent Church by Steve Chalke

Intelligent Church by Steve Chalke is the book under discussion at the next meeting of the UV Readers’ Group. The following review, written by Simon, should whet your appetite. Unfortunately, I shall be at a...

Posted at 01:00am on 16th June 2009

Feuding Families V The Stability A Single Parent Can Provide

“Children with feuding parents 'more likely to have underage sex and do drugs.'” * (see link below.) The Daily Telegraph heading caught my eye because it so precisely mirrors my own experience and philosophy. Divorce may be cited as an unstabilising factor in a child’s life but, until now, there has been little research undertaken...

Posted at 18:38pm on 15th June 2009

When You Marry Again, Are You Expecting A Replacement Parent For Your Children?

Continuing the series of excerpts from Mel’s book on Successful Step Parenting, we come now to the sensitive issue of wedding plans, and what to call the new person in mummy’s or daddy’s life.

Many of the practical details of converting two families into one stepfamily will, necessarily, have been thrashed out prior to the wedding....

Posted at 18:57pm on 12th June 2009

The Structure Of An Article: Think Base, Building & Boundaries

Part 6 of 6 in the Series on Article Writing

The secrets of article writing may be thought of in terms of a building project:

Base Building Boundaries BASE: LEAD TECHNIQUES

This is your lead paragraph, the opening of your article, details of which I posted last month under the title Lead Techniques When Writing An Article. Without a firm...

Posted at 18:40pm on 10th June 2009

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