CCK Life blog

Alison Davis has been on the CCK staff for four years now, undertaking the role of operations manager. Alison tells Emily Sneyd what life is like working for the Church, and why she likens her job to The Generation Game…

ES: Thanks for letting me intrude on a busy day, Alison!  First off, can you tell me how you became a Christian?

AD: Well, my husband’s parents have been involved with CCK since its inception, so he was involved years ago, but it was at his sister’s wedding when I really felt something special about being in church.  We were invited to attend a meeting at CCK by another couple, and we were starting to feel comfortable so we began to come on a regular basis and subsequently went on the Alpha Course. There was one night when elder, Dave Fellingham did the talk, and he gave this really great analogy about alarm clocks and whether we were putting our faith on ‘snooze’, and just continuously putting it off, when we what we really needed to do was just wake up and commit! This got to me, and so after the session I got prayed for by Wendy Virgo, and this was the point that I made head-response to the gospel.  But I hadn’t yet committed my heart, and this came out of the blue one Sunday meeting when the Holy Spirit just changed me when we were worshipping and I knew I had to respond in my heart to Jesus. That was around 10 years ago, and Matt and I have been a part of the Church ever since; we quickly joined a small group and went on to lead one up until things changed with the introduction of Zones a few years back.  Matt became an elder of the church last October.

ES: Tell me about what you do here at CCK.

AD: Before I started my job here, I was working for American Express for 14 years, and decided to take a sabbatical year, in which I started working one day a week for elder, Neville Jones.  I enjoyed it so much, went back to Amex for 3 years and then I was offered a permanent job here. I’ve been here for 4 years now doing 4 days a week and I suppose my title here would be ‘operations manager’, which involves a lot of different things. I’m not legally trained, but I do deal with a lot of the legal aspects of Church administration like insurance, licences and contracts, and I am Neville Jones’ PA so I handle anything that is required. I also deal with some of the finance aspects along with other members of staff, and do things like risk assessments which are a requirement now. CCK is actually a company, so we’re accountable to the ‘Clarendon Trust Ltd’ and its trustees who ensure that we’re doing everything we should be, like all the legal things, for example. But, we’re a charity too, so there are certain criteria in place to ensure we do what we say we do. I often envisage my job as that conveyor belt on The Generation Game (showing my age now!) where you have to remember all the items that come through one by one, and it gets harder as they keep whizzing past you!  In other words it’s very busy and varied, but I do love it.

ES: What is it like working for the Church, as opposed to working for a big company like Amex?

AD: I did have to get used to working here, it’s a totally different environment and there are some challenges, like there are with any job. But, there are far, far more positives than negatives; being able to take the time out to stop work and pray together when something comes up is just fantastic, and our weekly staff prayer meetings are invaluable too. I think the main difference is the realisation that I’m working for a bigger purpose here- I no longer have targets as such, or financial goals, but am working for God’s big picture for the church. When I was offered the job here, I was looking at a large pay cut and my colleagues at the time were just shocked! They all said though, that they wished they had the guts to do something similar- something worthwhile, that had real meaning.

ES: Is there anyone that you really admire?

AD: When I was working for Amex, I organised travel bookings for the Body Shop, and since then, I’ve really admired Anita Roddick. She was always someone I could identify with for wanting to achieve something for a larger purpose- and going to the ends of the earth to achieve that. The great thing for me is that even in the workplace I can have an ‘eternal perspective’ about what I do.

ES: What do you love about living here in Brighton?

AD: It’s the geography of it.  I actually really love horse-riding, and when I can, I ride on the Downs at the back of Shoreham. I also love the peacefulness of where I live in Hove; it can be the busiest weekend in town, but it’s so quiet in my back garden and I can even hear the sea. It’s such a privilege to be just 10 mins from the sea and the Downs, and only 45 mins from London at the same time! Although, thinking about it, I really don’t like London that much…but it’s great for other people! I love the smallness of Brighton, and yet the fact that it’s still a City within that; there are really great restaurants and cafes in which to meet friends, and  it’s a real testament to Brighton that so many people come here as students and then decide to stay here for the long-term.  It’s what I did!

ES: Me too- Brighton is the place to be! Thanks, Alison.

Alan Preston is an Elder here at CCK- he is married to Marian and they have three grown-up children together. Alan tells Emily Sneyd his story, what his job entails from day-to-day, and why he is so passionate for Brighton to be a transformed City.

ES: First of all, can you tell me how you came to know Jesus?

AP: Well! I grew up in Ireland and we were a family of Ulster Protestants-my mother and father were ministers as well as my grandfather and my great-grandmother, so I was of good pedigree! I knew the gospel and what it meant from a very early age, and I went to church four times every Sunday which was as normal as eating breakfast to me!  I was in very much a bible- believing, evangelistic, fundamentalist, highly- conservative atmosphere. But, it got to a point when I was about 15, when I asked myself who was truly the Lord of my life and who took my time and attention and made my decisions.  It was then that I felt a release of new life and became passionately fanatical for Jesus, and knew that He was who I wanted to live for.

ES: And what brought you to CCK?

AP: Are you sure you want the whole story- you might be here for hours!

ES: Haha! Ok,  just give me the condensed version…

AP: Ok, well I went off to University in London to study physics, and joined a discipling movement while I was there. I then got the calling to do mission work after University, so I spent 2 years out in Africa for a mission organisation. I returned to England and was a production engineer for 5 years in Southampton where I got involved with a very fruitful student ministry where I got baptised in the spirit. Shortly after, I felt the call of God to come to Brighton, so I came to CCK and set up CCK students at the University of Sussex, while completing my PGCE. I got to evangelise and see people come to Christ, and some of those people are now currently in the Church so that’s really rewarding to see. I became an Elder of the Church in 1986.

ES: The year I was born! So what exactly does your role as Elder entail?

AP: Well, I’m one of the pastoral Elders here at CCK, and I suppose my responsibilities are split into several different compartments. The first one is that I am an Elder, which means I look after the flock as an entirety; I deal with marriage conflict and praying for the sick and things like that- in essence it means being a father to members of this Church. The second thing would be heading up the International Zone, which I love; there’s a lot of strategy involved there, in thinking of new ways to reach out to the international people of Brighton.

I’m also responsible for the front-door activities which include welcoming people as they come into the building for the Sunday meetings and overseeing the Connect teams and the Connect Area downstairs after every Sunday meeting, where people can find out about how to get involved with the different areas of Church life. I head up the Alpha and Beta courses which run throughout the year as well as doing the ‘Joining the church family’ days, baptisms and ‘Why CCK’ sessions where people can learn more about the history of CCK and what we’re about as a church.

The other part of my job I would label as ‘Miscellaneous’! I spend some time connecting with and skyping people in India, and I love to visit there when I can. I also visit and preach at other churches as well as doing some theological training.  I also oversee the Impact team, for example- I love it, they’re a fantastic bunch!

ES: Yes, and mischievous as well, I hear…!  Part of our mission statement here at CCK is: ‘In Brighton. For Brighton’. What makes you FOR Brighton?

AP: I LOVE Brighton & Hove and I love to see people saved and discipled. I firmly believe that mission starts with the place where God brought you. We need to be united in our thinking as churches in this City in trying to reach the people who don’t yet know Jesus. It’s important to do that, or you can end up in a situation where churches are just trying to grab Christians from other churches. My analogy is, if you visualise the whole Church as a cake, the cake isn’t growing in size; it’ll just be that some churches have a bigger proportion of the same cake. There needs to be a move from restoring the Church (although of course this is important) to restoring the City- and this is the phase that CCK is in as a Church, I think.

ES: And what else do you get up to when you’re not doing all of the above!?

AP: I have 3 grown-up children, so I’m a fully-fledged taxi driver in my spare time! I also love bird-watching with Marian and watching a bit of BBCnews24.

ES: Ok, last one:  Name 3 people, past or present that you would invite to an imaginary dinner party.

AP: Ok…(thinks for a while)  Number one would be W.P Nicolson- He was the last guy who brought revival to Belfast in 1920s; a truly awesome guy. The next one would definitely be the Apostle Paul; I’d ask him what on earth he was talking about!  But seriously, that guy had vision and breadth to his Christian experience that no-one else had- I’d love to just sit him down and listen to what he has to say about our present time.  The last person would be somebody totally outrageous, like Kathryn Kuhlman- I’d ask her why she was such an anointed nutter!!

ES: Thanks very much Alan, you’ve been very entertaining!

Phil Turner is part of the leadership CCK Team and is primarily involved with running the Alpha Course. He is married to Mel and they have 5 children. Phil is very passionate about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and in this interview he talks openly with Yohaan Philip about why and how he came to be so excited about Jesus.

YP: Can you tell me a little about how you came to know Jesus?

PT: Before I became a Christian I worked at Lloyds TSB for 17 years. I wanted to build a career, get promotions, good money, a flat, a car etc  and find some sort of safety and security in my life. I hoped for the day I’d be really happy and never look back. But, the problem was that inside it was like a storm that I couldn’t get away from. I had great parents and a safe home. But there was an inner turmoil in me and as I strove for these things , even if I did get them, it left me feeling more empty, more fearful, more anxious about what the future had in store. I turned to astrology, trying to find out what the future had in store. I wanted to be happy, but never was.

After a broken relationship, a storm took place in my life that really crushed me. My safety nets were collapsing and I didn’t know where to turn to. I turned to alcohol and clubbing, trying to find a way to escape the reality of the world, thinking I’d find freedom and happiness. But the problem was that the next day I was back into the reality of everyday life. One Friday night, I remember being down in a night club on West Street with this storm really raging inside of me. I had never read the Bible at this point and was far from any understanding or looking for any form of God. And that Friday night I just said, “Jesus, I really need your help. Can you help me?” Then, this Christian friend of mine started talking about Jesus to me. I had always envied his life – whatever storms that seemed to surround him, it never seemed to affect his peace or happiness or security. I never had any security. He invited me along to CCK to a Paul Oakley concert one Friday night. I saw people worshipping and putting their hands up. Initially it seemed a bit strange, but one thing I noticed as I came out of the meeting was that these people seemed to know Jesus personally and have a depth to them. My life with all it’s clubbing and pubbing seemed very superficial. People I met made friends based on star signs. But at the church, I found a kind of safety that I had never experienced before. It was quite remarkable.

That lead me on a request to discover this Jesus. I read the Bible and the thing that nailed me was the resurrection of Jesus. There were over 500 witnesses that claimed that Jesus came to them. I realized that Jesus was really alive. On the 8^th of October 1993, I became a follower of Jesus. I’ve never been the same since.

YP: Wow! That’s quite a story. So how did you become involved with CCK?

PT: I quit Lloyds TSB about 6 years ago and had an opportunity to work at a training consultancy. The advantage of that was that I got the same pay as Lloyds, but had to work for only 2 weeks a month. I made a decision to serve and help CCK more during my free time. As soon as I became a Christian I felt that that God would call me to work full time for Him in a Church as an “Evangelist.” I didn’t know what an Evangelist was at the time. All I knew was that God put a passion in me to tell everyone about Jesus. The day after I became a Christian I went back to Lloyds and told everyone about Jesus and earned the nickname, ‘Phil the Baptist’! I worked for the consultancy for 3 years and during those 3 years, I felt my passion for the Lord grow and I learned to pray and to seek Him and to serve. At the end of the 3 years, work dried up at the training consultancy. By this time my family was growing. God spoke to me amazingly at Northampton one day that I would never work for that company again. A few days later the consultancy called me to say they were making me redundant. In the year 2000, a preacher from India, Ram Babu, came and told us (CCK) that he had never had to find a job and God had provided for all his and his family’s needs as he travelled India and the world talking about Jesus. When I heard this, I turned to my wife, Mel, and whispered to her asking her if she thought we could live this way and trust God to provide for our every need. And so, when I got made redundant, I decided to serve God and the Church full time and trust God to provide for our every need.

During that period, the provision of God was extraordinary. We learned to pray together as a family. There were times when we were so hungry and had no petrol for the car day – we were right down to the wire. We were living on baked beans. One time, the mortgage was due the next day. We all prayed as a family and a thousand pounds came through the doorway! God provided! We have lovely stories of how God used our children. One night my oldest daughter, Molly, had a dream where God told her that someone would put money through the door next day – and it happened!! We did endure some suffering, but we knew that God loved us. So during that period we grew closer as a family and learned to trust the plan God has for our lives and to follow Him in obedience. There were sometimes when we were fearful but we felt God’s love for us every time.

YP: So would you encourage people to live like this?

PT: You need to really know the call of God on your life to do this! But there are so many areas in life you need to step out of the boat and just follow Him. You don’t want to be irresponsible in this. You need to have a peace of heart and faith to know God’s in this.

YP: Tell me more about the Alpha Course you run?

PT: initially I used to be involved with Alpha on the estates, but then more recently, we’ve gathered all our resources and shifted all our Alpha courses to the heart of Brighton city. This is the 3^rd Alpha course we’ve run under my leadership in the city. It’s going fantastically well. Last week I shared on the resurrection of Jesus which is a passion of mine! We complete on the 8^th of December with a Christmas celebration. We want the alpha course to be more than just a place where people can make new relationships and discover Jesus. We want them to get stuck into Church and really grow in their faith. The next Alpha starts in spring next year.

YP: What are some of the influences in your life? What keeps you ticking?
PT: One of the major influences in my life has been a guy called Mike Springer. He was passionate about talking about Jesus. When I first began come to Church he took me under his wing and had a huge impact on me. Ram Babu, from India, is another one. I’d never seen a miracle before! But through people being miraculously healed, I saw God working through him. Joel Virgo coming in has made a huge difference in the vision of the church. Tim Keller is another huge hero of mine. Sharing Jesus in a city is a lot more complex than what I gave credit for. I have found his teachings on engaging people and honouring and then challenging their objections very helpful.

I think what ultimately keeps me going is to keep going back to the cross and the resurrection. Everyday.

Over the last two weeks at Church Of Christ the King, we saw 57 people respond to the gospel! Evangelist  Phil Turner shares with us his exciting journey as he preached both at CCK on Sunday and the two Alpha meeting. Phil writes..

We started the Spring Alpha Course on the 21st April with 109 guests!

The Alpha Course is run mainly as a discipleship track alongside the Beta Course to help Sunday service responders and people looking in on a Sunday meeting, to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. On Sundays, a team of us run a Get Connected stand where visitors as well as those who respond to a gospel appeal can connect with the Church. People who come to the stand can sign up for the Alpha and Beta courses, Water baptisms and small groups.

Week by week the Alpha team have been building solid foundations into our guests lives and we recently reached Week 5 – Why did Jesus die?

In a staff prayer meeting that morning, God started to stir me that salvation was coming at Alpha. At the Alpha prayer meeting before the evening began, one of the table leaders had a prophetic word that God was moving rain clouds and was about to shower blessing and favour upon us as an Alpha team and our guests.

At the end of the night we gave our guests an opportunity to respond to the gospel, and we were thrilled to see 23 guests respond, 16 of which requested immediate follow up and duly received a free copy of Mark Driscoll’s Vintage Jesus! Praise God!

Five days later and it’s our Sunday Baptismal Service at CCK. Again the Holy Spirit quietly whispered to me during the week that we were going to see responses. Amazingly God did it again with 25 responses to the gospel including a whole row of young people all responding at the same time on Sunday night. This filled me with a sense of awe for Jesus the ultimate insider in the Trinity who became the ultimate outsider on the cross, and he did it for you and me.

Two days later at Alpha another 9 brand new responses to the gospel!

Over just one week, two Alpha meetings and two Sunday baptismal meetings we have seen 57 responses to the gospel.

Last week we were praying as a church for the advancement of the gospel in this incredible city of Brighton and what a city it is. As we pray we can be so thankful to God for the way he is saving Brighton people week by week remembering he has many more people in the city for us!