I am ashamed to say that this summer I lost a bushtucker trial competition against my 12 year old daughter Grace, we ate 12 scorpions (6 each), a water beetle each, and a black hundred year Century egg each. There were around 150 people watching, who were mostly cheering for Grace, understandably. This all took place in the youth tent at New Ground Churches’ Ashburnham conference at the end of August near Battle in Sussex. Grace was quicker than me digesting her scorpions, which tasted disgusting. I felt I had the edge on her with the water beetle, but because it has a hard exoskeleton, we both found our beetles hard to digest, (you had to prove there was no remaining insect parts in your mouth upon umpire’s inspection – that’s what’s happening in the photo). I was quicker on the egg, but although overall it was a draw, Grace had so wasted me on the scorpions that she won the verdict on what in boxing terms would be called a ‘split decision’. Of the many games I’ve played as a speaker at a youth event, this was the first competition against a family member. And the good news is that, afterwards, 17 people responded to the invitation to become a Christian when I spoke afterwards! Terry Virgo was the speaker the following evening, and I still don’t know whether he also had to eat the jungle treats, or whether, perhaps, Terry has overcome so many real challenges in Christian ministry that he is not asked to eat insects purchased off e-bay before he preaches. It was a fun end to a great day which began for me with a seminar I’d long been looking forward to. Months before I’d been asked to host a seminar on evangelism in the main adult venue, and I’d researched some great stories from different parts of the UK. We had a series of different speakers. One lady told how she’d been driving from Sevenoaks to Beachy Head with the intent of throwing herself off the cliff, but how she’d turned the car round at a roundabout, and eventually become a Christian instead. Another moving report was how one lady, having become a Christian had led so many of her friends and family to Christ, that they now make up 10 per cent of the average Sunday attendance at her church. I shared a few lessons that I’ve learned along the way, and I’m not sure I’ve ever packed so much content into 57 minutes as we did that afternoon.