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Sign him on a Free Transfer...


My morning routine once I hit my desk is, check mail, check email, schedule tasks for the day, then run my eye over the news on my internet homepage, and any blogs that I have bookmarked, an eclectic mixture of sport, politics and religion.

It isn't often that the news stories in my varied strands overlap, but this morning a story was flagged up on both my football gossip column, and religious world news, and that is that BBC pundit and former Chelsea and Newcastle midfielder Gavin Peacock is moving to Canada after he has done his stint commenting on the Euro 2008 finals, to do further theological study in preparation for a career in the church. Not being into "celebrity Christians", I didn't actually know that he was one, but he's already done his stint as a "Songs of Praise" presenter... although these days you only have to have been to church once for a flower festival to be touted as a regular church-goer by the BBC.

But Gavin has apparently been a Christian since the age of 19, having been strongly influenced by his Methodist mum. He now attends a St Michael’s Anglican Church in Bexley, where he and his wife run a house group and he regularly preaches. He already has a BA in Theology from Ridley Hall in Cambridge, but is now planning to do 3 year Masters course in Divinity at Ambrose Seminary, in Canada, after which he, reportedly, will seek to become a pastor, vicar or minister depending on which denomination he chooses to follow.

He says, like many of his/my generation “Denomination’s not important to me. When we go to a disco we see everyone dancing in a different way, different expressions - but they’re all dancing to the same tune!”

Actually the way that I see some people dance I am not to sure that they are dancing to the same tune... And I'm not always sure that different strands of the church are either... But that's a rant for a different day... But what I am wondering is whether, given that he feels that denominations are unimportant, we here in the Methodist church here in Ireland could get him on a free transfer!?

But actually... Forget that... He played for Chelsea...

You can't be a Christian and play for Chelsea can you!?



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