August!

This August is proving to be quite different from recent years, for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is the first year that I haven’t been involved in Newday, the Newfrontiers youth event. As the event moved to Norwich this year, I felt it was right that I didn’t take on any responsibility. I did however meet with the Newday in Norfolk team a few weeks ago to look over their outreach plans, and I have to say, they had done a great job in preparing for the event. All the feedback I’ve heard since is that the event went really well, which is great to hear – well done guys!

I had expected this decision to give me a quiet August, but it hasn’t quite worked out like that! We’re right in the middle of preparing for our venue move in September to Derby QUAD, and working on some new publicity material. The new website is coming on well, and will hopefully be launched in the next week or so. There are still some other things to get into place, but we’ve got a great team and I’m sure it will come together.

One thing I have enjoyed is having other people preach during August. Adam, Matt and Graham M. have done great over the last 3 weeks, and I’m looking forward to Mike next Sunday. Having other people preach this month has enabled me to have a break from regular preaching and begin thinking about the autumn term. This will be a key time for us as we move to a high profile venue right in the heart of the City Centre.

Next Sunday will be our last at The Waterfall. This venue and the team there have served us really well over the last few years. We will miss them and are grateful to God for all He has done whilst we’ve been meeting there. However, this chapter is drawing to a close and a new one is just over the page.

An evening with Kelle Bryan

Our Alpha launch after Newday was called “An evening with Kelle Bryan”. Over 150 people came to the evening at The Spot in Derby to hear her and to enjoy a free curry!

Kelle, a former member of Britain’s most successful R&B groups, Eternal, spoke about her journey to faith and her relationship with God. She was remarkably honest about the highs and lows in her life and also talked about how God has healed her from Lupus. The evening was hosted by Steve Legg, who also hosted last year’s Alpha evening with Shane Lynch.

Newday in the City – Day 5

Well, what a week! The final day of outreach was today, and the week finished on a tremendous high. Over the week, we’ve seen at least 8 people respond to the Gospel on the streets in Derby and today there was a great report of God healing someone with a damaged hand. All of the practical projects have finished and look great – the young people have worked so hard and made such a difference to a whole host of communities across Derby.

In the final meeting tonight, we were singing the great song by Blutree, “God of this City”. The song talks about greater things to come, and we believe it – even though Newday 2008 is over, and next year moving to Norfolk, God has got greater things for our City. We’ll continue to pray, to thank God for all He’s done and pray for greater things to come.

Newday in the City – Day 4

What a great day! The rain held off and we bused another 600 or so young people into Derby this afternoon. I managed to get to 3 projects I hadn’t seen so for – one practical project in Brook Street, the City Centre outreach and our SonWorld Kids Club in Sinfin. All were excellent! At Brook Street, I met one of the City Council workers who had helped arrange the project there. She was thrilled with all that had been accomplished and was so grateful for the support we had given her. In the City Centre, Tim and Simon were doing a fantastic job in sending out the young people to talk to shoppers, sharing their faith and offering to pray with people. Meanwhile in Sinfin, there were over 50 kids at the Kids Club – amazing! The team from Kings Church Horsham have served us so well – thanks guys!

The exciting news of people responding to the gospel continued with another 3 people becoming Christians today. Obviously we will be in touch with all these people, offering to help them to grow in their faith and helping them to put down good foundations in their new life following Jesus.

Back at Uttoxeter, hundreds of young people responded to a gospel appeal following an excellent preach by Adrian Holloway from ChristChurch London and an amazing drama which had me, and others, in tears. The Gospel is amazing – who would have thought that a Holy God should be interested in me – but He is, and He sent His Son to die for my sin, and yours….. and He’s interested in you too…. have you responded to His invitation to have a relationship with Him?