CCK Life blog

Stephanie-Elise Melrose reviews the recently concluded Newday 2010 youth conference.

On 11^th August, 73 CCK youth plus numerous leaders and servers, gathered at the Norfolk Showground for Newday 2010. Whilst not exactly the sunny spot we encountered last year, this year’s conference more than made up for the weather in terms of amazing encounters with God and the challenge of living out the love of Jesus.

This is the first time that some of the youth have been of an age to take part in the Outreach projects, which are such a key part of Newday. Oliviah and Alison were out painting fences and initially, were suspected of being on parole because they were doing so! Despite this initial misunderstanding, the girls said, “they were really kind and grateful.” They had a lot of fun; and managed to warm up after a very rainy day with hot chocolate!

12-14s teaching was once again led by Andrew Wilson, who focused in on incarnation, substitution, resurrection and grace to expand on ‘What’s The Difference?’ between Christianity and other world religions. CCKYer Jasmine found his teaching on grace particularly powerful – but was also very excited by some tangible experiences of God, including speaking in tongues for the first time.

Meanwhile, Stef Liston challenged the 15-19s sessions with a fast-paced series on ‘the real Jesus’: showing different amazing aspects and attributes of our God, and why He should be the foundation of our lives. On Saturday, one Engage delegate said, ‘the main sessions today were both great. In the morning [Stef] did a whole thing on freedom. And tonight, it was Adrian. So of course it was great!’

The Gospel presentation evening is always a highlight of Newday, and this year didn’t disappoint. After a great time of worship led by Matt Redman, Adrian Holloway began praying for healing. God’s power was breaking out all over the tent: with medical professionals on hand, it was confirmed that 371 people were healed in about half an hour! After Adrian’s powerful gospel preach ‘Through the Tunnel’, we saw again just how much Jesus loves to save people. With ministry team forming a circle, literally hundreds of youth pushed through in order to give their lives to Christ. Joel requested with delight that more team be on hand to pray with people, due to the sheer number who wanted to commit their lives to Christ. Amazingly, 334 young people made the decision for the very first time that night.

Other highlights, for Brighton folk in particular, included seeing Stephen Dawson’s ‘special’ birthday treat in 12-14s on Sunday. Well known for aiding and abetting some truly disgusting challenges for delegates – which this year involved items like vinegar, honey and chicken feathers, to name but a few – his co-leaders presented Stephen with a concoction involving all the random foods which the youth had consumed during the week. Which, of course, he ate.

The entire camp was also blessed on Sunday night not only by Joel’s preaching but also by his drumming skills, which were demonstrated in the Big Top to rapturous applause.

Following this excitement, we had the amazing privilege of seeing many young people touched by the power of God, as Joel led into a time of ministry after preaching from the second of his Psalm 2 preaches on Jesus as King. All over the tents, hearts were surrendered to our King and broken for His world. How exciting to be part of an evening that could have eternal impact for the Kingdom of God.

When: 21st – 23rd May. Friday evening till Sunday afternoon.
Where: Chantmarle Christian Resource Centre, Dorset. DT2 0HD.
Prices: £58, £40 for 18’s and under
You can book a space on the CCK Coach for just £22

At CCK we want to gather men to a sense of mission and purpose. We want to build a church where men have their identity truly rooted in Christ and their focus on something eternal.

What we need at CCK and what the church around the world needs is Godly men, not just for the sake of the men themselves but for all. For men to become who they are intended to be by God will have enormous ramifications for the church and for our city.

Please book in today for our Men’s Weekend. It will be a hugely worthwhile time of hearing from God, worshipping together and spending lots of time with other men in the church.

We are really honoured to have two gifted teachers joining us; Matt Hosier (Gateway Church, Poole) and Rory Dyer (Glenridge Church International, Durban, South Africa). I trust both Matt and Rory will be a huge help to us.

Spaces are limited so I encourage you to book in promptly. Please note you can book in today but we won’t take the money from your account till May so don’t worry about the cashflow!

Joel Virgo

Lena Newman reviews The Women’s Day event conducted on the 13th of Feb..

It was absolutely amazing and so encouraging to see so many women gathered in one place last Saturday, united despite clear differences in age, race, culture and background – but all desiring to meet with God, engage with the word and expectant to hear His voice.

The sense of momentum and genuine excitement built as four hundred women realised that being sold out for Jesus in this city could change it’s face forever.

Admittedly I felt for the handful of males in the room, (who were outnumbered by a hundred to one!) and I was very grateful for their willingness to serve us.

After a brief intro by our lovely host Kate Virgo, we kick-started the day with amazing worship and met with the Spirit in a powerful way.

We got straight into the first session with Livy Gibbs powerfully teaching from Genesis, explaining to us the foundations of the God-given authority given to women as well as men from the beginning. She took us right through the New Testament and admonished us to use our authority and leadership, explaining that although headship is rightly gendered, leadership and authority aren’t, and pleaded with us to take seriously Jesus’ commission to do greater things than he did.

After a short break, Wendy Virgo took the next session, and preached from Esther, on the same topic of authority – but with a different perspective. Wendy brought to life the story of Esther as a woman of faith with humble beginnings, and vividly explained how God used her to redeem and save a nation. Their very different approaches to authority, and the different generations they were brought up in complemented each other wonderfully and gave a very rounded picture of what authority looks like for us.

Finally session three was an open time of worship and prayer, and different ministries and areas affecting women of all ages was brought to God in fervent, passionate prayer. It was particularly moving and right to see the older generation honoured in such a wonderful way – as those in their twenties and thirties gathered around them to pray for renewed faith and calling for the future.

It was truly refreshing to go to such an equipping women’s day, with solid biblical teaching on theology, spirit-filled worship, and fervent prayer. Throughout the day there was a clear sense of being commissioned as women to come alongside the men, as together we fight the battle to win this city to Christ! What an absolute privilege.

November, apart from the excitement of sparklers, fireworks and toffee apples, was the month in which the attention turned towards what is one of the classiest events in the CCK calendar; The CCK Leaders party.

The Clarendon Centre was transformed in order to host this annual celebration, in which we honour those individuals who have worked especially diligently in their church roles over the past year. With awards going to nominees from every level of church leadership, it was an excellent opportunity to applaud the people that have really given their all, those that have sacrificially and wholeheartedly served to ensure the smooth and productive running of the church…

The evening had a very apt ‘Cluedo’ theme, as the Church was likened to ‘a great house’ with many rooms. The main hall was decorated to look like a dinner room in an old mansion,with stain glass (projected!) windows and dinner candles…An old leather chair, lamp-stand and table intriguingly sat on a curtained stage as we waited patiently to see what it all meant. With a fantastically decadent photo booth area set up on one of the balconies, guests could ensure their glitzy outfits could be forever immortalised by photographer Steve Rowland (photos are available for viewing here) as everyone waited for the ceremony to begin.

As the lights dimmed and conversation hushed, our host, an eccentric aristocratic man by the name of Colonel Algernon Mustard, bundled into the side door as if from a storm, carrying a lantern and proceeded towards the leather chair where he introduced himself and replaced his raincoat with a well-appointed dressing gown. He then introduced the tour he would take us on through the floors of ‘the grand house’ (graphically represented brilliantly, in the classic Cluedo style on the big screens) Each floor was essentially a layer of church leadership, containing several rooms. Each room represented a team, and ultimately a set of nominees; ‘The Music Room’ for instance of course implied the worship team, while ‘The Nursery’ represented the Children’s ministry workers. As we journeyed through each floor and it’s rooms, the nominees were announced (on Cluedo cards!) and the winners presented with trophies. In true Oscar night style, the orchestral music, spotlight and huge applause accompanied each announcement, and here is a list of categories and their winners-Remember to pat them on the back next time you see them hard at work!

ZONES

South Hove Zone - Matt Fookes

Students - Chris Sivers

East Zone - Tal Fahy

Brighton Central Zone - Anneke Finer

North Hove Zone - Paul & Phillipa Williams

North Brighton Zone - Tom & Barbara Chong

West Zone - Steve & Lorrie Bell

International Zone - Edward Rhodes

Fiveways Zone - Paul & Becky Flannagan

YOUTHWORK

COGS weekly team leaders - Andrew Knight

COGS leadership award - Clare Andrews

Youth Work - Rich & Lisa Miles

UTILITIES

Duty Managers – Ken Stevens

Connect - Nick Vaughan

Lounge – Will Drury

Coffee area – Jo Rooke

Deaf – Mitra Hajebi

Looking after the Elderly – Beryl Lawton

Poor of the City - Danny Cassidy

Women of the City – Kate Martin

Family Life - Tal & Jo Fahy

MUSIC AND PRODUCTION

Sunday Production – Ryan Worsley

Worship – Jules Burt

Website/Communication - Yohaan Philip

SPECIAL AWARDS

Outstanding contribution – Keith & Irene Brooks

Winner of Winners – Matt Davis

After the announcement of the winners, our host announced that the dinner room doubled as a ballroom, and with that the on-stage curtains drew back to reveal a band, led by Hannah Silvester who set the excitable crowd dancing for the remainder of the party. A fantastic and fun end to this spectacularly posh party!

A review of the Men’s Day, eh. Well, I am imagining that most of my readership are curious women wondering what on earth goes on when the smellier species spend five hours together on a wet Saturday in November…

Hopefully this brief report will inform you if you are a lady and will persuade you that you should have pulled out the stops to be there if you are a man.
After some hot-warm caffeinated wake-up juice, men in droves ascended the stairs to find Stuart Townend and band halfway through a sound check. As a chorus of Grace was bashed out, a confused half of the congregation clambered to their feet to join in, much to the bemusement of Townend who told the over-enthusiastic testosterone-pumped congregation to sit down and bide their time.

After worship, guest-speaker John Groves got to his feet. The leader of Winchester Family Church got a mixed response as he revealed his fandom of Tottenham Hotspurs, but his preaching on Biblical manhood seemed to receive a more universal approval. He used Irish psychiatrist Anthony Clare’s book, Men: Masculinity in Crisis to highlight the current confusion over the place of men in modern society: “The whole issue of men – the point of them, their purpose, their value, their justification – is a matter of pubic debate”. John claimed that the essence of being a man has been eroded in society with distinctions between the sexes seen by some as offensive. Yet, the Bible teaches that men and women are equal, but different and that those differences are beautiful and wonderful things that we should celebrate. Men and women complement each other.

Session 1
Leadership falls within a man’s remit John claimed and whilst this is a controversial concept in modern society, it is clearly biblical. John was vulnerable about his own leadership, talking about times he has questioned his ability to lead others, harking back to feelings of rejection he encountered when he was overlooked as prefect potential as a sixth former. His honesty provoked many to bring their own vulnerabilities to God in a prayer as session one drew to a close.

Session 2
Session two got down to the practicalities of being Godly and manly. The order of those adjectives is vitally important as Larry Crabb points out: “The only way to be manly is to first be Godly”. We are fed confusing and conflicting messages of what it is to be a man: should we be Rambo? Narcissus? Churchill? Who is the ideal man? Well, we have the perfect model of a man in Jesus Christ and being like Him is the only way to live up to the biological truth. Strength, obedience, courage are all things that Jesus excelled at, but He was real – never aspiring to be like someone else. John claimed that masculine qualities need to come from a natural expression of who we are. This wisdom was such an important moment in the day. There is such a danger that we paint a stereotype of a Godly man and leave the day inspired, but with unrealistic and unhelpful visions of the Rambo-Christian that we are now going to be. This unsustainable challenge is quickly shown up for what it is and John did well to put Godly, manly courage within everyone’s grasp – a difficult fistful perhaps, but one worth grasping.

Final Session
Another quick break in which many men took advantage of the female-free environment by visiting the ladies’ loos took place before a concluding Q&A session. A panel of Bill Bigwood, Colin Bonner, James Foreman, Paul Williams and our visiting speaker answered questions that had been texted in. It was great to hear wisdom from a Godly men on range of tricky issues. Before the concluding tasty lunch, the action of the day ended with the question on everyone’s lips: Is it okay for men to wear guyliner? James Foreman delivered the final curt word: “No”.

Watch this space for information on the upcoming Men’s Weekend Away from the 21st to the 23rd of May 2010

And we’re on to the final day of Newday 2009. The thunderous applause continues..

Main Session 10: Stu Gibbs – Baptism

Matt 28:18-20

For the final preaching session, Stu preached on Baptism from the Jesus’ Great Commission. He spoke about how baptism should be a powerful start to your walk with God and that it should add a new dimension to your spiritual life.

Baptism is about.. grace

• We are washed from our sins (Acts 22:16)
• We were dead, but are have now been made alive (Col 2:12)
• We have been rescued from judgment (1 Cor 20:2; 1 Pet 3:21)

Baptism is about.. obedience

• “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:20)
• Jesus’ 2 commandments (Matt 22:37-40)

Baptism = grace + obedience = power

Power to resist lawlessness (Titus 2:14 )

Baptism is about.. making disciples

• “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19)

Main Session 11: Prayer Night

Joel Virgo hosted a session of prayer and worship as we closed Newday in style!

Some of the key things we prayed for were:

• The revelation of God and the ‘drumming out’ of the fear of man
• England and young people and children in England
• The Government
• Becoming influencers
• Friends who aren’t Christians (7,000 Newday delegates  * 1 finger for each friend = 70,000 people prayed for!)
• The Church
• Youth groups and youth leaders
• International break through of the Gospel in places where Christianity is forbidden
• The mammoth offering raised to be used to serve God’s Kingdom!

We closed Newday singing with the 100% confidence that  only a Christian has about what’s going to happen in the future. A generation is emerging.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon you
Because He has anointed you to preach good news
The Spirit of the Sovereign God is upon you
Because He has anointed you to preach good news
He has sent you to the poor
This is the year
To bind up the broken-hearted
This is the day
To bring freedom to the captives
This is the year
And to release the ones in darkness

This is the year of the favor of the Lord
This is the day of the vengeance of our God
This is the year of the favor of the Lord
This is the day of the vengeance of our God

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon us
Because He has anointed us to preach good news
The Spirit of the Sovereign God is upon us
Because He has anointed us to preach good news
He will comfort all who mourn
This is the year
He will provide for those who grieve in Zion
This is the day
He will pour out the oil of gladness
This is the year
Instead of mourning, you will praise the name of God

Another epic day! Over 300 people were healed from various ailments including a blind girl, a deaf girl and a girl with a 15 year allergy to egg! And at the time of this post being written, over 350 people had responded to the gospel and the numbers were still coming in! God is moving very powerfully at The Norfolk Show Ground. One would have thought that the decibel levels would have come down considerably after 5 days of pushing the level, but they haven’t!! There was thunderous applause and shouts as the mighty work of the cross of  Jesus was revealed and glorified.

Main Session 8: Joel Virgo – Peter: Offended by Jesus

Acts 10:1-48

Jesus’ final instructions to the disciples was to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. During His life time, He had preached about the Gentiles (non-Jews) being added to His Kingdom. But Peter hadn’t grasped that completely. He had stayed in his comfort zone and preached only to the Jews. God had to literally kick him out of his sleep and command him to take the gospel to the Gentiles. It is not sufficient to desire to stay in the presence of the glory of God, but we are meant to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the world.

3 reasons why Peter struggled with taking the gospel to the Gentiles:

1. Peter was a religious and legalistic. Christianity is not about making rules on what you can and what you cannot do. Do whatever you do to glorify God and with a clean conscience. Be careful of doing anything that distracts you from following Jesus.

2. Peter was a racist. Separate cultural things from things of Scripture. Just because it is done one way in your culture, that doesn’t mean it must transcend all other cultures, unless it is in accordance with Scripture.

3. Peter wanted comfort. Jesus will ask us to do things that are uncomfortable so that we don’t worship comfort. There are 1000’s of unreached people’s groups that need to hear the Gospel of Jesus.

Trust God, go to the ends of the earth, and the Spirit will comfort you.

Main Session 9: Adrain Holloway – The Lost Son and the Loving Father

What a time! Adrian interspersed worship time with a time of powerful testimonies of people who had been saved at Newday 2008, prayer for healing and testimonies of people who were healed! The atmosphere was electric.

From the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32), Adrian illustrated the gulf that had been created between man and God by sin. Adrian used his trademark (and keenly anticipated) props – two sets of stairs, a connecting bridge and a cross. Man was created to be in relationship with God. Jesus died on the cross to bridge the gap man’s rebellion had created. The love of the Father, His encouragement and keenness that we draw near to Him and the price that Jesus paid for us to come back were Adrian’s key messages.

Over 350 young people responded to the Gospel as the rest of us wildly cheered them on and celebrated exuberantly their restoration with our Father. You had to be there!

And what a day it has been!! We’re seeing such an outbreak of God’s presence amongst those calling on His name that words cannot do justice to what’s going on! If you’re child’s here, they’re probably going to come back transformed. GOD IS AT WORK at Newday and as you can see, I’m bubbling with excitement! I live to see God work in people’s lives. I thrive on these moments. Jesus is being glorified!

Main Session 6: Joel Virgo – Peter: Restored by God

Mark 14:26-31,6-72

From this incredible story of Peter’s boast of his loyalty and his ultimate denial of Jesus, Joel, urged us not to be proud about who we are and to approach God, broken for His will in our lives.

Peter, who later wrote urging us to be on our guard against the prowling lion (the devil), had been shown how desperately he needed God. Satan had asked God if he could sift Peter, but Jesus had prayed for Peter. Sifting is the separating of the wheat from the chaff.

God knows how frail and fragile we are. As a father has compassion over his children, so our heavenly Father has compassion on those who fear Him.

At Newday, most of us our on a spiritual high as we encounter God and as He places ambitions and plans on our hearts. When times of testing follow, remember that you are not the hero of your story, Jesus is.

The evening session began with worship lead by Simon Brading, who was joined on stage by crowd favorites, The 29th Chapter! People went wild as soon as they appeared on stage on joined with Simon and the band to do their popular rendition of ‘Our God He reigns‘. What amazed me the most though was that in spite of the song being not your typical worship song, we never lost our sense of worshipping Jesus.

Main Session 7: Mike Pilavachi – Filled with the Holy Spirit

Ezek 47:1-12

The crowd roared with anticipation as Mike took the pulpit to preach again. Mike seems to have become a very popular speaker as he brings his depth of understanding of the Word along with a very dramatic sense of humour to the stage. We loved him!

Last night after Mike preached, we spent some time waiting on the Holy Spirit. And the presence of God came! What followed was, well, not normal! You had people crying in one corner, laughing in another, doubling over groaning, jumping, dancing. Mike sought to explain what had happened or rather, to explain why he couldn’t!

From Ezekiel 47, Mike explained how the river that flowed from the altar of God’s Temple was an indication of the Spirit that flowed from the altar of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. There can be no Pentecost without Calvary. The Spirit is a gift from the Father through His Son. We don’t earn Him. The Spirit often comes to us in our weakness and brokenness rather than in strength and achievement. It is never about how good you are, but how good Jesus is. The destination of the river is the world. It moves to makes things fresh, to create things new.

The imagery in Ezekiel’s prophesy is about stepping of the ground and releasing control. God’s plan is for the Spirit to be completely in control We can’t call Him ‘Lord’ and then proced to do what we want to. When we invite Him, He comes to us and takes complete control.

God dwells in us by His Spirit. Through His indwelling, His gifts are released in us. It’s not about wearing the badge of the gifts of the Spirit, but about it being a power to take the gospel to the world.

The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus. We must be people of the Word and the Spirit is we want to grow in our understanding of Jesus.

Gig Review: 29th Chapter

By Jotham Oakley

29th Chapter will be remembered by many for the famous ‘Jesus Rocks’ rap last year with Simon Brading. It would appear that they have built on that success as the gig venue was possibly at its fullest yet. A solid start to the gig rolled into a slower mid-section which could have been seen by some as a surprise. But as a result the energy of the crowd was saved for the end of the gig in which the band performed their new single ‘Invincible’. Bright lights, active on-stage dancing and impressive crowd partciption meant that fans left the venue buzzing with energy.

Day 3 and energy levels are still going through the roof! The weather has been impeccable! Sunny all through the day – a rare occurance for the likes of Newday! The return of a dear friend, an outstanding preacher and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit characterized today.

Main Session 4: Joel Virgo – Peter: Renamed by Jesus

Matt 16:13-23

Jesus is about to unveil the big plan. ‘I will build my Church..’ is Jesus’ mission in a nutshell. The Greek word for Church implies the rulers or the governing body of a city. We are called to be rulers and to shape the culture we live in. We are called to bring righteousness and justice and rightness and goodness and Gods ways to whatever context we are in. We need to understand how great and what the significance of the Church is.  Jesus see’s the Church as His plan A.

The rock on which Jesus will build His Church is

• the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
• On leadership gifts and people

Never rebuke God! Fight temptation and sin. Stay focused and committed to the mission we have been called to.

The evening session began with worship lead by Matt Redman. And how we celebrated and worshiped God!

Main Session 5: Mike Pilavachi – Jesus in the Old Testament

Mike, who is a part of Soul Survivor, had us in splits and yet awe struck as he brought in revelation after revelation about Jesus Christ. You don’t want to miss watching this preach online!

Mike preached about Jesus is the central character of the whole Bible especially the Old Testament. Through the pre- Christ scripture, we see hints and clues which point towards the ultimate treasure which is revealed on the cross.

Genesis 6:5-9 – Noah is a type of Jesus, who was blameless, righteous and walked with God. Through His death, He provided for us an ark of salvation in which we can take refuge from God’s judgment.

Genesis 22 – Jerusalem was later built at the center of the region of Mount Moriah – the mountain on which Abraham went to sacrifice Issac. The Lord ultimately provided the lamb to take away the sin of the world.

Joseph – Was sold for the price of a slave by evil men, went into a dungeon of death, came across 2 criminals – one died, the other was saved, he then came out and was seated at the right hand of the most powerful man in Egypt and under his rule the land prospered. Much like our Savior.

Ex 32:31-33 – Moses was willing to be blotted out  from God’s book in place of the Israelites. Jesus was forsaken by God on the cross in place of us sinners.

David – He was born in Bethlehem, was a shepard, an evil king wanted to kill him, he beat an evil giant that was oppressing his people. Once again, much like our Savior!

Jesus is all over the Bible! Find Him!

Gig Review: Verra Cruz

By Jotham Oakley

Verra Cruz have apeared at Newday before, and this time, the crowd appeared even more up for it. Despite there being only three of them, big sound and impressive lights ensured that there was little lack of interest on stage. With their blues/rock feel and some big crowd vocals, the band produced a set that was musically similar to the likes of Kings of Leon. Good arrangements and melodies proved that this band has a category of good songs and with their full guitar, big drums and a healthy dose of bass,  the trio should feel they performed a successful gig.