iTalker » Albert Bogle

Preacher John Reconstructed 25 Years Later

italker — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:35:49 +0000

You may recall a few posts back that I was telling you all about the story of Preacher John. Well here is the reconstructed version of the song 25 years later. This is the song I wrote for John Stuart’s Induction yes 25 years ago. I grateful to my songwriting partner Iain Jamieson for putting down the soundtrack and for the creative input of Campbell Dye a past member of the Bogle Band and who worked on the keys and fills. Let hear what you think of this version. Personally I think I might sing the lyric a wee bit to aggressively, but I think when we come to the end of the song we engage with a really interesting vibe. Anyway its not meant to be a perfect work of art just a tribute to a good friend. However Iain and myself are determined to get another album out before the end of the year.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And of course congratulations tomy dear friend John who is now the minister at Knoxville Presbyterian Church and writes a well read blog entitled Heaven’s Highway have a look John always has something a bit original to say and make you think.

Wisdom and Magic

italker — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:47:31 +0000

Recently I had the opportunity to listen to Norman Drummond give an inspiring lecture on leadership at Edinburgh University entitled,” Wisdom and Magic” its well worth a listen. It turned out to be a great evening all round. I had the chance to catch up with a few friends followed by an excellent meal in one of Edinburgh’s French restaurants in Cockburn Street.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been talking to a number of people about Norman’s lecture. Helping people see the “Magic” is an important aspect of mentoring and encouraging leaders and even friends.

I know we don’t always succeed but I’m sure we all agrree that it is so important to try to bring out the best in the people we work alongside. Its so easy to be negative but there is a real joy that comes from connecting people to the “Magic” that Norman Drummond talks about. Encouraging people to rise to their real potential. I also liked one of Norman’s memoralble phrases when he spoke of our culture that is so often all about “valuing targets rather than targeting values.”

Norman’s theme was of special interest to two young teachers with whom i met up with last week. We had arranged a meeting to talk about ways in which we can help contribute as a Church, to the Curriculum for Excellence in our local Secondary School.

Both of the teachers were really passionate about what they were trying to deliver in their classrooms. They were also enthusiastic about the opportunities Curriculum For Ecellence will bring them giving them the freedom to create much of their own material.

It was good to work along side Lilias our Youth Worker as together we were able to make a contribution to the way christianity will be taught in the school. We’re hoping to use the Jesus Manifesto as reported by Luke at the end of Chapter 3 and the beginning of Chapter 4 as the starting point from which to introduce Christianity to all the first years.

I think its going to work. It will also allow the RE Department to engage with all kinds of links across the curriculum and also the community. While we were talking about all this the ‘Magic” appeared and it wasn’t long before we could also see the wisdom we wanted to share appear.

Using the words of Isaiah, Jesus tells his listeners, in the Gospel of Luke, that he has fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. He suggests to them he will “bind up the broken hearted, set prisoner free, heal the sick, and give sight to the blind.”

Using this quotation from the Gospel, we will be able to make links for the school to the local prison, and connect the children with our various Church Outreach programmes, which are all connected in some way with healing.

In the school there are lots of connections with other subjects that can be formed. The history of Art, will allow the Art teachers if they so desire to see the importance of the parables of Jesus as retold by many of the classic painters. What I’m realising is that there are many opportunities available to share the gospel in schools through these creative educational opportunities.

From the Market Square to the Palace

italker — Sat, 15 May 2010 23:37:11 +0000

This has been a pretty busy week for all of us in and around St Andrew’s. A lot of busy people trying to catch up with themselves. I noticed the staff of Sanctus Media have been working really hard to get the DVD ready for the 25th Anniversary Dinner of the Vine Trust which was held in Holyrood Palace last Thursday evening.

It was a great honour to have the company of our Patron The Princess Royal and also to have been given the use of the Palace by Her Majesty the Queen for this event. We had people from every walk of life with us including Oscar Schiappa Pietra who currently advises the Minister and the Secretary of National Planning in Papua New Guinea as a UNDP Officer. Oscar in the past has been a Senior Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Executive Director of the Peruvian Agency for International Aid, in Peru. He has also been a great friend and advisor to the Trust. It was also great to see some of the first members of the Trust attend the dinner and to remind ourselves of our early challenges and difficulties.
However it is because of people who were prepared to carry on in the face of difficuties that we have the Trust as it is today. We all had a wonderful time. I was especially pleased that Princess Anne highlighted the work that the Trust is now developing in partnership with schools in the UK and also paid tribute to the way we work trying to be innovative and inclusive networking accross the whole strata of society.

I can hardly believe that 25 years have past since we first opened the Branches shop here in Bo’ness. Today much of our success has been brought about by the grace of God working in the hearts and minds of people of faith and even no faith. I particularly want to say a huge thank you to Willie McPherson our Executive Director and his small but dynamic staff who have worked so hard to make the Trust an effective partner as we work alongside Scripture Union in Peru bringing Health care to over 100,000 people in the Amazon through our Medical Programme and supporting over 200 children in the five homes we have built and continue to fund. All this is a far cry away from our first falteriing steps as we opened a shop in the Market Square in Bo’ness. Its a great privelege to be Chairman of the Vine Board and to have such a creative group of people on our team.