So… I am now a PUBLISHED author…

‘What the heck am I doing getting involved in a cookbook?’ I hear you ask! Well, let me try and explain. I’m incredibly blessed that my role as Lead Pastor at GBC has led me down many different paths as we seek to serve our community. We have the Backroom Café, where once a week we open our doors, serve delicious artisan coffee, a variety of teas, and an incredible selection of homemade cakes — and we do it all for free!Or I could tell you about the Renew Wellbeing Café, which runs every week and is a place where it’s okay not to be okay. Or the Make Lunch initiative, run in partnership with TLG. Or the many amazing small groups, men’s ministry, women’s ministry… honestly, there’s so much I could share.

But instead, let me tell you about the Gamlingay Food Project, because this is where the story behind the cookbook really begins.

We’ve been running the Gamlingay Food Project for some years now, in partnership with St Mary’s Church. Through this project, we are able to provide hundreds of food parcels a month, to households in our area, who need helping hand. These parcels include non-perishable, long-life food in them, like tinned pulses (variety of beans, lentils, chickpeas), and tinned veg (carrots, peas, potatoes), and tinned meats (ham, tuna, meatballs, etc). As blessed as we are to provide these parcels, my wife and I noticed very early on, that we would have some of the tins returned.

At first, I found that really perplexing. Why would someone return food they needed?

But then, it suddenly hit us… people don’t know what to do with a tin of lentils and some chopped tomatoes. They don’t know how to turn chickpeas into something delicious. That tin of sardines, becomes a ‘yuck’ as opposed to an opportunity to do something that goes farther, and is absolutely delicious. Suddenly this dream, of being able to create a simple to follow, community cookbook, using items regularly found in a NEED Project Food parcel was birthed inside Amanda and I… and it only grew and grew… Only problem was… We’d never written a cookbook, and didn’t have the capacity to do one… or the connections to pursue it… until Amanda was having a coffee with Jenny Jefferies, a friend of ours, through our kids school.

‘Let’s do it!’ Came the call from Jenny. Wait. What do you mean, ‘let’s do it?’ Amanda and I could hardly believe it. Was she really in? And Jenny was in fact in… You see, Jenny is already a published cookbook author (www.jennyjefferies.co.uk/) She’s a ‘proper’ cookbook author. And she was in. And just like that, Amanda and I were starting to see the dream come together piece by piece.

Jenny got in touch with various local chefs, and we connected with many local home cooks (many linked with the church and cafe), and asked for simple, yet delicious recipes, that anyone could prepare, using items from the parcels. People were amazing. They said yes. They got behind it. And every step of the way, I kept on thinking, ‘no way. This is ACTUALLY happening.’

Funding to print them became the biggest hurdle. Because, we can have the recipes, and the designs, but without the money we can’t print anything. And so, we took a punt, and we applied for a local grant through our district council, and we got it. Again, another step, which seemed pretty big to us, became easily sorted.

With the design finalised, with the money in hand, and printing on the way, Jenny jumped into PR mode. Press releases issued, magazines and radio showing some interest, and a ‘Book Launch’ date sorted. It felt surreal. Genuinely, it was a low-key and simple gathering, but it also felt incredibly surreal. As a person who regularly does public speaking, without real fear, I felt nervous about this one. What if people don’t like the recipes? What if the book is ‘overhyped’ what if people just don’t like it? Who am I to think I could do this? WHAT WAS I THINKING???????

But GOD!!!

On the day of the launch, covered in prayer, we share and present this cookbook, and the feedback is phenomenal. People start ‘buying’ them (we aren’t selling but asking for a suggested donation, with all the money going back into the NEED Project Hub), the buzz was fantastic, and since then, there have been SOOOO many conversations of where we can share it, and what could possibly come next as well. It has genuinely been a dream come true. Every single household that we support, that receives a food parcel from this day forward, will recieve a free cookbook with it. How AWESOME is that?!?!?!?!?!

Why do I share all this with you? Why did I decide to write a blog about it? Is it to ‘sell’ you a book? No not really (I mean, if you want one, you can head to http://www.gbchurch.org.uk/cookbook. There’s even a a free digital download). I def don’ make any money off of the sale of the book, so it’s not about that. I guess, the reason for sharing is to remind you, that when God places a dream on your heart, He’ll find a way to make it happen, if you stay faithful to all He calls you to. Amand and I, could never have thought to have published a cookbook, with a seasoned author. We never would have thought we could have done so, with so many awesome local chefs from around the wider community We never could have thought that we could present a ‘proper cookbook’ to everyone the NEED Project Hub supports, for FREE… BUT GOD!

So, if you have made it to the end of this, I hope you are encouraged!

God is awesome! AND, we can definitely dream the BIG dreams God lays on our hearts.
And sometimes, when God plants a dream in your heart, you’d better buckle up for the journey ahead.