“Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God’s people.” Phil 1:7

It’s a good job the measure of our life’s worth isn’t reflected by the number of times our name appears on a google search. That certainly is the case with my dear friend Leslie Edgell, who passed away on the evening of 13th December, 2011 and whose funeral took place in Sidmouth yesterday. You’d be hard-pushed to find Leslie’s name if you searched for him on google, and yet here was a man whom I count to be right up there among the greats. A man of compassion, vision, love for his God and his fellow human-beings with a wicked sense of humour to boot, Leslie’s life impacted a vast number of people across Britain, the United States and the former Soviet Union, my own included. The verse in Philemon was appropriately chosen during Les’ thanksgiving service as a fitting epitaph… a man who loved much and gave much joy and comfort and through his kindness refreshed the hearts of many  people.

“Well done good and faithful servant.”

Building Bridges With Fellow Texans Highlight Video from Northwood Church on Vimeo.

Over 2,500 Muslims and Christians got together at a Church in Texas on September 18, 2011, to understand one another’s religions, build friendships and eat fabulous food!  What a great example of how to build peace and understanding.  No doubt there’ll be criticisms from within both communities – but weren’t we told that it would be so.

Budrus will be made available for free online for 24 hours at http://mubi.com/films/budrus on September 21st, 2011, the International Day of Peace.

Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today. In an action-filled documentary chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolence to confront a threat. The movie is directed by award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (co-writer and editor of Control Room and co-director Encounter Point), and produced by Bacha, Palestinian journalist Rula Salameh, and filmmaker and human rights advocate Ronit Avni (formerly of WITNESS, Director of Encounter Point).

Quality reporting from CNN

A very cool video from “INFOASAID” ( a partnership initiative of Internews and the BBC World Service Trust) which shows how important information is for vulnerable communities, especially those suffering from natural and man-made disasters.