CCK Life blog

The CCK Communications team & Technology and Innovation team are responsible for a lot of the creative and media content produced by CCK. For instance the CCK website and blogs are managed by this team, as well as some of the photography, graphic design, video content and media library.

The team includes an array of talented journalists, writers, web editors, graphic designers, photographers, video editors, IT professionals, animators and more, some of whom eagerly volunteer many hours each week to serve what is an increasingly important area of church life; the engagement; artistically, culturally and technologically, with CCK, the city of Brighton and the world beyond.

This team has a home. That home is called The Basement.

A hub. A nerve centre from which all of this creative juice flows. The Basement is where all the magic happens. The basement even talks; You can follow it on twitter here; @TheBasement

Like the great choreographer of The Bolshoi, Matt Simmonds is the man responsible for orchestrating this team, coordinating them alongside the Technology and Innovation team managed by Andy Ferrett. Andy’s team are in charge of IT support and the technical production of CCK sunday meetings. The PA, lighting, Audio/Visual, IT and video recording are all under the management of Andy and his team of experts…

These are some of the recent and more notable projects that The Basement has been involved in;

Photoshoot for ‘Alternative City’ preaching series

CCK Stories Videos

The CCK iPhone app

The Basement needs you. If you’d be interested in joining this team and helping The Basement to become an even greater force of creative wonderment, fill in the form on this webpage. Working around your diary and in any spare time you have, we would love to know about and work with the hoards of talented people out there that could make this the best thing since sliced bread got the financial backing it needed to become ‘the best thing’.

Amy Loizides arrived in Brighton 2 years ago to serve on CCK’s Impact team for a year. She then worked as part of the Administrative team, led by Annie Waller.  She has just left Brighton to return to South Africa before moving to America to be involved with a church there. Amy shares with Yohaan Philip about her relationship with Jesus along with some of her memories of life in Brighton.

YP: Tell me about how you came to know Jesus.

AL: Well….! I grew up in a Christian home but as happens with a lot of people, the older I got the less important Jesus was to me and things like popularity, boys, image, parties etc got more and more important. In Cape Town, South Africa (where I grew up) every year Newfrontiers ran a Summer Camp (sort of like Newday but on a smaller scale) for the youth of the churches in our area. I went every single year and every time I went I’d get all fired up for God again; I’d be really excited about the whole thing, but then two weeks later when I went back to school, I’d go straight back into my old habits – partying, gossiping, drinking and all that. Then I arranged to come to England to find a job after I finished school when I was 18 but nothing opened up! So I emailed Joel Virgo and asked if I could come to Brighton (because that was one of the few places in England I actually remembered!) and volunteer at CCK for a little bit while I looked for a job. He said no to my idea because he had a better one – he said I should do Impact for six months at CCK instead! Then on the plane on the way over I was thinking about how messy everything had gotten in my life and how much it had hurt me and I just said “Right God, I swore I’d never go to England yet I’m on a plane to England and I swore I’d never work for the church yet I’m on my way to do six months at CCK, so it seems you’ve got me right where you want me.” There was no point fighting it anymore and pursuing other things so right then and there I just surrendered my life once again to whatever God had in store for me and honestly there wasn’t anything better that I could have done or will ever do.

YP: Lovely story! So why are you leaving Brighton then?!

AL: Haha the million dollar question… In short I feel like Brighton has been sort of a stepping stone, a ‘launch pad’ if you like in the time that I’ve been here. CCK is a great place to come, get stuck in, be a part of, be trained up and move on to advance the gospel further in other parts of the world. So I’m going to North Carolina, USA for a few months…as you do. After that, who knows!

YP: What have been some of the key things you’ve learnt whilst at CCK?

AL: Man this is hard because literally my whole life has changed! Umm…

To try and do everything with your best effort – because ultimately even if you aren’t working for the church, you are working for God and so it’s worth it to get stuck in wholeheartedly and get involved wherever you can.

To trust God completely with everything no matter how big or little it seems. God’s faithfulness shouldn’t surprise me, but it always does. He might not answer or provide in the way you expect him to, but it will always be the way that’s best for you and He will never ignore you.

YP: What are some of the things you’re going to miss?

AL: I sometimes grumble about Brighton but to be absolutely honest there is not a place in the world like it. I will miss walking down the road and seeing a man with blue hair, a tie dye dress, piercings everywhere walking barefoot in the pouring rain. I will miss the Red Roaster coffee house (just by the Old Steine – visit if you haven’t already!). I will really miss the amazing friends I’ve made and the ladies (plus a few boys) who work on the admin team at CCK - they do so much that goes unnoticed, true gems!

YP: Yes they are stars! All the best then and hopefully we’ll see you soon!

CCK has recently released a new worship album featuring Stuart Townend, Simon Brading, Lou Fellingham and an extremely talented new worship leader named Becki Cox. For a limited time, you can download two tracks from the album completely free by visiting http://haveyouheard.cck.org.uk . Also, the album is available for a special price until noon on Thursday (UK time).