CCK Life blog

Christian Finer has been a member of CCK since he was a student and has been working at the Church for just over a year. Christian chats to Emily Sneyd about life at the CCK offices and shares his enthusiasm about coffee…

ES: Hello! Can you tell me how you became a Christian?

CF: I grew up in a non- Christian family and didn’t have any ties to Church, until I was about 12 and met a guy at secondary school whose dad was leading the Baptist church in my town. He invited me along to the youth group and it all went from there really. One Sunday they invited me to take part in a children-led service which in hindsight was a bit of a crazy move! Nevertheless, I went along to support that service and found the people were so friendly and inviting, and they kept inviting me every week. The major point for me was going on their youth weekend which was really fun- we were really naughty and my whole youth group won all the competitions like tug-of-war that were supposed to be for the under 12’s- even though we were all about 14 or 15… We’ve still got the trophy on the wall! Anyway, the important thing at that weekend was when one of the leaders shared the gospel and invited the people who didn’t yet know Jesus to join him in a prayer to ask him into their lives.  Although I’d wanted God to reveal himself to me, I had never properly asked him to, so I decided to try it.  I closed my eyes and said the prayer, and heard a voice say, ‘I want to know you’. I opened my eyes to see who’d been talking to me and was amazed to find that there was no-one there! I’d actually heard God speak to me.

ES: What a wonderful story! You’ve been working at CCK for just over a year now- what brought you here?

CF: I guess it started when I did the Impact year for the Church; it was such a great year- everyone should do it (thought I’d try to get a plug in there!). I was the operations manager for the Student Work, my main responsibilities being admin, and organising events like the student weekend away and Christmas ball. When my year finished, I was a project manager for a musical technology company in Worthing for a while, but was always praying for something closer to home in Brighton. I got made redundant which was a kick up the bum to have a proper look for Brighton jobs and found brief employment at Lloyds bank. I learned some valuable lessons there and was able to hone my people skills, but knew that ultimately, it wasn’t the job for me.  At that time, there was an increasing demand at CCK for someone to be added to the admin team. They needed someone to help organise events and to help with the increasing workload when the third Sunday service was introduced. Yeah, so that’s when I joined!

ES: So you’re the admin expert…?

CF: Well, my role is admin support, basically.  The job has changed along the way, but it’s mainly heading up the Sunday department like the teams that serve on a Sunday, and things like the Sunday coffee shop. Outside of Sunday meeting stuff, I organise a lot of the special meetings that we have, like Easter and the baby thanksgiving service, as well as various weekends away and Sent to the workplace days. I also act as PA to Elder Steve Boon, and help him with organisational things.

ES: Have you got a favourite part of the job?

CF: I get to work with a great team of guys, like Matt Simmonds in the Communications department to Dan Sweetman who looks after the Clarendon Centre, where we hold our meetings. They all make things happen, and although we all have varied responsibility for Sundays, we’re a group of guys that are committed to Christ and who love this city.
I also love what we’re doing in terms of serving this City, like volunteering as a Church at the Brighton marathon a few weeks back.  I was privileged enough to be one of the main points of contact between CCK and the marathon organisers, and really enjoyed seeing it all come together to be a fantastic day- I’m already excited for next year!

ES: What’s it like in the Church offices?

CF: It’s great fun. I love the passion of every person there; no matter what job they perform, they’re all passionate for Jesus to be made famous in this City.  And people will always go the extra mile too, there’s a great sense of team spirit. When there’s stuff that needs to get done, they’re quite happy to muck in, even stuffing envelopes if that’s what it takes! There’s always a ‘let’s get it done’ attitude which is great.

ES: What do you love about Brighton?

CF: I love the creativity here- it’s got such an energetic vibe about it and there’s always something going on. I like checking out the random music and art events, and my favourite thing about the Brighton Fringe festival is a music festival called ‘the Great Escape’- I went to it last weekend and it was awesome! Also, any of my friends will tell you I’m a massive coffee fan, so I love the cafe culture in Brighton.  Anneke and I get to live above the best coffee shop in Brighton called Taylor St. Baristas- they do professionally made coffee with this amazing latte ‘art’- It’s a quality cafe, people should check it out!

ES: So Christian, if you had to move to another country, right this second, where would you go?

CF: I should probably say something cool like New York- which looks fun too, don’t get me wrong! But I think I’d have to say Amsterdam. My wife, Anneke is from Holland, so we’ve been many times and I just love it there. It’s got a very similar energy to Brighton, in fact- it’s a very ‘happening’ city.

ES: Have you got any comedy heroes?

CF: I got to see Michael McIntyre when he came to Brighton last year and he was brilliant- what a funny guy!

Thanks Christian.

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.

So why develop an iPhone app? Why not just watch the videos on your computer at home? Isn’t it the same content? What’s the point?

Creating an iPhone app enables those already making use of the content to do so in a fashion that may suit them better. In essence it is the same content as the website, but now everything can be viewed or listened to on the move (on the bus or the train!) without the need for a computer or laptop. The media is available to download too, so can be stored on the phone and enjoyed later.

It’s helpful to take into account the 40,000 Internet downloads of the CCK Sunday preaching in 2009. The three CCK blogs had a similar number of views since they launched in May last year; and so it’s clear that there are many people around the world (from 139 different nations) that value what is preached here enough to download it all!

At CCK we want to be constantly engaging with those at the forefront of technology, exploiting as many ways to communicate the message of the gospel as possible. We also hope this app will serve those who perhaps haven’t been in touch with CCK before, and even those who’ve never encountered Jesus before.

Fantastically for us, the application was developed free of charge by Brightec; a web and application development company run by Andy Ferrett, a CCK church member who wanted to trial an app development for us.

Fantastically for you, the app is completely free to download from the iTunes app store.  Do it today!

Click here to get the iTunes app store and download the app

Roy and Isabella Davey: From Peru to Brighton

Roy and Isabella Davey live in Brighton and regularly attend Church of Christ the King. Roy has recently written a commentary on the book of Romans in Spanish based on the Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones’ interpretation. Prior to that he served the churches in the jungles and hills of Peru. It was whilst he was in Peru that he met Isabella. They share their stories..

Roy: In Feb 1980, I had a break down. Before that I found that my mind was closing down and my performance at work was decreasing drastically. Yet in April that year, I met Jesus in the street! At 9:30 one night, I heard an audible voice saying “you could die tomorrow”. I knew that was true because of the drugs and alcohol that I was regularly consuming. I panicked but suddenly remembered something I had heard in Sunday School about hell. In my panic I phoned up a local pastor and asked if I could see him. It was 10:30 by then and he asked if it was a matter of life and death! Yes!…I met him and he spoke to me about Jesus Christ for an hour. I left his house and was walking home. It was like I was walking with a blanket draped around my head touching the ground when suddenly a great divine hand came down and lifted the blanket off. It was extraordinary! In that moment, I went from extreme depression to extreme elation. I was so excited I was helping old ladies cross the road, whether or not she wanted to!

I went to Bible college then. I was 37! I studied a lot there, about 15 hours a day and I loved it. Whilst at Bible College, a Peruvian lady missionary spoke about Peru needing Bible teachers and her talk stuck out to me. I used to find missionaries talks boring, but this was different. So I asked God whether he wanted me to do this and I felt lead to read a verse that was written on the inside cover of my missionary principles notebook. It was Acts 7:23, “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.” Well I was 40 and I knew that the Christians in Peru were my brothers and sisters so this gave me an inclining to go to Peru. It was 7 years before the doors finally opened for me to go. I didn’t know why though, but when I got to Peru I realised my God had delayed my trip so that He could use the time to work in my heart. I would have collapsed and come home in disobedience that first year if I hadn’t had those 7 years of preparation.

I went to Peru in 1993 and lived there for 14 years. I spent 6 years in the mountains and 8 years on the coast training people to be pastors. Most people don’t have money to go to Bible college, so the church I was linked to had its own Bible college. Pastors would come down from the mountains or up from the jungles and they would be looked after for 2 years. I would be one of their teachers. I taught from the Bible and also by living out a Christian life to them. I loved it.

I came back to England in 2007. I came back to work on the book, but we now feel that God has closed the door for us to go back to South America and stay on in England. Just a couple of weeks ago we got a visa for Isabella to stay here. I felt the Lord say ‘mission accomplished’ which is a lovely thing to hear at the end.
For young people thinking of pursuing mission overseas, don’t go unless you’re certain God has told you to go. The missions turned me down because of my age so I went out as an independent missionary. I had a lot of discouragement but I trusted God and knew it was His plan for me to be in Peru.

Isabella (Roy translating): I lead a very empty life before I became a follower of Jesus. I was a very religious catholic and went to all the masses but my life was empty and aimless. I used to read the Bible but I did not understand it. During my teenage years, my parents separated and I had to assume parental responsibility for my siblings. Around that time, some of my friends became Christians and I noticed a difference in their lives. Their faces changed, they looked happy! They invited me to go to their church. At their church, people received me with a great deal of love. It was like stepping into another world all together! When the meeting started the words of the songs spoke to my heart and when the pastor preached, he stripped my life bare. It was as if someone had told the pastor about me! I didn’t think I was a sinner in comparison to others but that night I felt like a sinner. That night I saw my life like a film and I saw my rebellious personality in even the smallest of things.

That night I chose to follow Jesus.

I had an extraordinary joy in my heart after that and my life changed completely. I asked for lots of miracles to show people God’s grace and glorify Him and I have loads of stories of God’s provision.

One evening not too long after I became a Christian, I went to a village. A mother of 8 children had died that morning. I couldn’t accept that this was God’s will to take away a mother from her 8 children. So I prayed and the mother came back to life! That resulted in many people putting their trust in Jesus.

It wasn’t always easy for me though. I was thrown out of my house when I became a Christian. I had to hide and read my Bible under streetlights in the dead of the night but God was always there to strengthen me.

He lead me to marry Roy in a very special way even though I had to wait many years before we met.

I love it here at CCK. God has used me to encourage some of the younger Spanish speaking women at CCK. My English is very poor but I want to stay on in England more than Roy!

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.

On Sundays at CCK over the last few weeks we’ve been showing short videos highlighting testimonies of various people at CCK.

All these videos are posted on our YouTube channel after we’ve shown them on Sunday so check them out along with all our other video content.

We’ve cleverly embedded the latest story below.

RS: Do you have a particular football team you follow. Dundee United perhaps?
DR: No, the opposite in fact, I was chaplain for Dundee, their city rivals and I’m not chaplain any more but I do support them and Barcelona are my other team… It’s like I drive a Mini and I have a sticker on the back that says “My other car’s a Porsche”. I support Dundee but my other team is Barcelona.

RS: How did you first come to be interested in Apologetics yourself?
DR: Well, (a) I hate the term Apologetics and yet I use it so I’m not blaming you for using it! I do what I call Apologetic Evangelism. (b) Since the day I became a Christian I’ve been interested in communicating the Gospel and that’s what I consider Apologetics to be: communicating the Gospel. So since I was about 17 years old.

RS: Yeah, the fact that you’ve just said you hate the term apologetics kind of leads me on to my next question really which is: In listening to you debating and reading your book “The Dawkins Letters” I notice that there is quite a difference in style between yourself and someone like Alistair McGrath and Tim Keller. Is that a conscious thing that you set out to do?

DR: Well, different people have different gifts. I know AM and I know TK, and admire both of them enormously especially Tim whom I regard as a personal friend. Actually, in some ways we probably have a fairly similar style on different things. I would say that my concern about apologetics in general is the impression for ordinary people in the church is that it’s undertaken by academics. That you’ve basically got to be from Oxford and read Wittgenstein and Nietzsche, and people like that and talk like that and so think ‘yeah it’s a good thing to do, and we’re glad we’ve got some clever people on our side, but it’s not for me’.

My intention deliberately is to say ‘actually Apologetic evangelism is just communicating the gospel, we should all be doing that, we should all be interested in it. It’s a lot more than just reading a Josh McDowell book or handing out Lee Strobel. It is thinking about your faith scripturally and then applying it to the culture you live in. So, there is no point in you telling people the gospel if you’re using a language they don’t understand and the best way for you to communicate with them is to think about your own faith and apply it to the people who are around you. So, there are many ways of doing Apologetics but part of what I do is what I call ‘Popular Apologetics’. I love going into pubs and doing talks in pubs and elsewhere, where you get your average joe yelling out a question to you and it’s just thrilling to see how God uses that. So you’re right it’s a different style, it’s less academic probably though I still have to do a lot of the academic work… I hope this doesn’t sound wrong but I also think it’s hugely entertaining! It’s interesting, the gospel should be interesting anyway and I don’t stand up to do stand up comedy and that, but when people are firing questions like last night here in Brighton at the Jubilee Library a guy came out afterwards and said ‘man, that was just a fantastic hour, that was just so entertaining’ and another guy came out saying ‘you are in enormous danger of making Christianity appear attractive’.

RS: Haha, well we wouldn’t want that!

DR: Oh no!

RS: So David, how do you and the church in Dundee go about motivating or having a congregation full of people who are well reasoned (as it were), in explaining the gospel to people?
DR: Let me use the football analogy. My team made it once to the Scottish Cup Final. What we did was – I remember I was heading off to the game and I had all my gear on and everything as well -  I was so enthusiastic I was talking to complete strangers. In other words I was full of enthusiasm about this particular game, it was really hard to stop me talking about it. I use that analogy in terms of Jesus Christ. Because what I want is – I want people to be so enthusiastic about Jesus Christ that you actually have to shut them up. So my first thing is, in the congregation I want people, whether they’re at a service or whatever it is, to be bursting to tell people. Once they’ve got that enthusiasm then it’s a question of channelling it.

RS: Indeed. In the public eye, obviously people like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris get an awful lot of coverage. Perhaps more than many Christians. Do you think that as Christians we should be very fearful of people such as that having a very strong say in the public limelight?
DR: No. I would be more fearful of the default position which was secular humanism. There was a program “Beyond Belief” – I actually listened to it yesterday after we did the talk here on my IPod – and they were arguing that we now live in a post-secular society. The gentleman who was presenting the program said in the 1980’s and 90’s a program such as “Beyond Belief” on the BBC would have been unthinkable. You mentioned religion and everyone was like “For goodness sake, no one’s interested in religion”. Now he says it would be unthinkable not to have programs like that. So there are now some sociologists who are talking about Britain being a post-Secular society. Which is fascinating! So the Church needs to come up to scale with that. We’ve hardly got into the notion of it being a secular society but I think that analysis is large and correct. And that’s why Dawkins and so on are so vehement and public; because they’ve been seeing that happening.

Now the danger here for Christians is that we think “Oh that’s good, Religion’s on its way back”. No, the primary sin in the Bible is idolatry not atheism. And when you’ve got New Age and all the cults and all the different religions and all the weird variations of Christianity, we shouldn’t be rejoicing that people are religious. In some senses it’s easier to preach the gospel to secular people then religious people. We should be very wary of that. Yet none the less we should still recognise that this is still drawing in people…that they’ve got a spiritual interest at the very least.

RS: Ok. Thank you very much for that. To close, just a couple of questions really. Firstly, who would you say your greatest influences have been since you became a Christian? Maybe writers…
DR: John Calvin’s book “The Institutes of the Christian Religion“. Calvin is an apologist that no one thinks of but he planted over a thousand churches. That’s phenomenal. I mean over two million French people were Christians – Evangelical protestant Christians. So he’s been an enormous influence. Tim Keller has been a strong influence. I’ve always enjoyed the writings of C.S.Lewis. But a lot of non Christian writings as well. I just don’t divorce that. I think the gospel should be every part of my life.

RS: Ok. And finally. Perhaps along similar lines. What would be the – this is quite a hard question to answer really – top three books that you would recommend to people looking to give a reasoned explanation of the gospel?
DR: Well, again it’s fairly straightforward. If you’re thinking of people who are, I don’t know, Times readers and the Guardian readers I’d say Tim Keller’s “The Reason for God“. Anyone under forty in a community like Brighton, who’s relatively intelligent that is going to be a phenomenal book for them. People who were brought up religious, Tim Keller’s “The Prodigal God“. C.S.Lewis’ “Mere Christianity“. The thing that drives me more then anything else is just in reading the Bible when I see that God is all about mission – mission and evangelism is not an optional extra or something just that we talk about or something just that we do overseas. But it’s our very life. So that would be it.

RS: That’s brilliant. That pretty much rounds up everything that I had to ask. So thanks very much for your time David.

Andy Cross manages ‘Live in the Lounge’ at Church of Christ the King which features local Brighton bands performing after the Sunday 6:30 pm service in the lounge. Andy writes,
It was recently my pleasure to sit down with Trip to Dover – the Brighton based, Dutch-British rock band with an electronic edge, who also happen to attend Church of Christ the King.
Trip to Dover are playing at Live in the Lounge on June 14th before setting off for a tour around parts of northern Europe.  The band is made up of Johannes (Keys, vocal) and Olga Taal (vocals, guitar), Lewis Morgan (drums) and Rob Finch (bass).

AC: The first thing I have to ask is whether you’ve ever actually taken a trip to Dover?
Johannes: Olga and I have taken the ferry there a couple of times!
Olga: When we took the ferry for our auditions for the music school we went to last year (Nexus), we stood on the rear deck of the ferry. It was very early and foggy. It reminded us of our old life disappearing in the fog and a new life on the horizon and that’s where the band name basically came from. We were stepping into God’s purpose for our lives and trusting in Him. Rob and Lewis do the same as they tour through Europe and make their ‘Trip to Dover’ over land. A “Trip to Dover” is a continuous journey.

AC: How did you come to find yourself in Brighton?
Lewis: Brighton has a reputation for being a good live music scene. Have you been to Coventry?!  Seriously though, we felt it was the right place to come to.

AC: Why Brighton and not London?
Lewis: The Seaside! I really wanted to come to Brighton and had a heart to be here, but for the others it didn’t matter, so we decided to move down! Rob was at Chichester University at that time, but soon enough he decided to quit university join us here.

AC: And you formed whilst studying at Nexus?
Johannes: Yes. Nexus is a bible and music school, a one-year course. Although we knew each other, it was only in the last week that we came together. Then we got together properly in Brighton in September 2008, and a couple of days later got our first gig, a 15 minute show in the Czech Republic, so it was literally straight to work!

AC: How have you been enjoying gigging in Brighton? You were well received the last time you played Live in the Lounge!
Lewis: It’s been pretty good fun playing in Brighton so far. Most places we’ve played want us back, so that’s got to be a good thing!
Johannes: It was a lot of fun playing in CCK with such an enthusiastic crowd.

AC: And I think I’m right in saying you’ve been coming to CCK since September? How have you found being a part of the church?
Lewis: It feels like home now!
Rob: Being in a small group helps a lot too.

AC: Can you tell me a little of what you’ve been up to recently?
Olga: Well, our new EP’s arrived today, fresh from the factory!
Rob: We’ve been practicing new songs for our Europe tour!

AC: That sounds pretty exciting!
Johannes: We’re going on a month’s tour through Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Sweden. This is straight after our EP release in Brighton, and then we’re leaving a couple of days later.

AC: What are your plans for the future?  Staying local, or world domination?
Johannes: We can conquer the world from Brighton!
Lewis: Although we can’t say for sure, we’ll always need a ‘base’ so that may as well be Brighton.  We’d really like to be a band that people can relate to, through our music, but also in a personal way. We really try to meet as many people as possible at our shows.
Olga: At this moment we feel this is what God asks from us. With taking steps in obedience I also know how much He blesses us and how He pulls Trip to Dover forward to what He wants it to be. I’m really looking forward to the coming time/years to see what is going to happen!
Johannes: In order to do this, we need to make a living from music. So that is a goal, but sort of a means to an end. In the last year we have done as much gigging as possible, gained experience and tried to get our name out. For the next couple of months we hope to increase the number of shows and get in touch with booking agents and mangers.
Olga: We really like to play gigs in both churches and secular venues. That is part of our “vision” if you like. We think it would be good if there were more bands in the secular music scene that draw their inspiration from God.
Johannes: It is cool to see how young people sometimes open up to “the band”. I feel a responsibility there.
Olga: And in that we want to inspire people that we meet on the road to look for more than “just” life. On the other hand we want to encourage young Christians, inspiring them to pursue God and find their purpose for life.
Johannes: Sometimes it is as little as not being hammered at the end of the night… but it does give a signal!

AC: Great stuff ! And who are your Heroes?
Rob: Flea (bassist from Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
Johannes: When I was younger I admired people who were very strongly opinionated. Now I admire people who are just an inspiration in who they are. Showing you what to do without telling you.
Olga: From a musical perspective, I think Jon Foreman of Switchfoot is definitely a great example. I really like his way of songwriting and his attitude on and off stage.
Lewis: My dad is a legend

AC: And for the record, your failures?
Johannes: I left the keys in the van at our gig last Saturday…
Olga: I failed miserably once while during a gig I jumped backwards off the drum riser, turned around and tripped over my pedal board!
Rob: I totally stacked from a cable trolley when I was having an indoor race with our sound guy, Ben, in Holland (straight over the handles onto my face!)
Lewis: I never seem to know where we are in crucial video moments. and tend to come across very “Brighton” on video, if you catch my drift!

Phatfish are back! With the release of ‘In Jesus’, their latest album, comes the welcome return of the Brighton based song-smiths and a return to the youthful and vigorous sounds that made their 2001 release Heavenbound so successful; due in part to the injection of two new guitarists, Jos Wintermeyer and Ben Hall.

The album is yet another uplifting demonstration of the bands faithful commitment to presenting the truth of Christ, and is arguably their best work yet. This is the next chapter in the success story of this prolific band and is sure to contribute another set of soul-strengthening songs to fans old and new. From the blues-rock title track In Jesus, with its grungy rock guitars, chunky Hammond and shatteringly lucid presentation of the gospel, to the equally driving and compelling Mission - the album travels and journeys through a diverse soundscape with the ease and dexterity that fans have come to expect. Lou’s vocals are as soaring and accomplished as they have ever been, negotiating this fresh set of melodies with perfect clarity, while the rest of the band play with a zeal and energy that belies any assumption of the bands slowing down. This is Phatfish as we know and love them.

The lyrics are wonderfully potent; free from over poeticism and needless embellishment, they present the truths of scripture in the typical no-nonsense way that makes their work so edifying to listen to. A lyrical highlight is Lou Fellingham’s If I Have Not Love, a song that unassumingly echoes Paul’s sentiment in 1 Corinthians 13, and brings an honest, down to earth concession of our need to love and serve with Christ as our great example. Mike Sandeman’s Pardoned is another real highlight, and is the most anthemic on the album. With its quasi-hymnal passages and huge sound, the song is another spectacularly clear declaration of God’s great salvation plan. The final 2 minutes of the track are about as epic as you can get, with stunningly ethereal guitar and powerful drumming underscoring Lou’s inescapable line “All my sins are washed away, through your death, the price you paid”. A special moment in a fantastic song.

This album, amidst the currently dogged generic Christian music industry, comes as a bracing departure into new musical expressions and genres. No one Like Our God with its swirling retro synth sounds and the phenomenally hard-hitting proclamation of He Watches Over Me (my favourite track!) is a production tour de force and is rich in the kind of detail and flair that ranks this album among Phatfish’s best work yet.Buy this album.. it will do you good. After all this time, Phatfish are somehow still capable of offering superb songs, skilfully executed and packed with great biblical truths that will feed and strengthen individuals and churches alike.

•‘In Jesus’ is available now, and details of Phatfish tour dates are found at www.phatfish.net.

•Phatfish have a tour-date at CCK, in Brighton on June 13^th, supported by Seeker, doors open at 7pm. Tickets available here.

Last Sunday we had the privilege of having Pastor Jamie Munson, Pastor Scott Thomas and Pastor Tyler Powell from Mars Hill, Seattle with us. Over the next couple of weeks you will find on this blog a review of Scott Thomas’ meeting with the men at CCK, where he openly spoke about 6 things that Mars Hill do well and 6 areas of struggle, as well as interviews with Pastor Jamie and Pastor Scott.

Pastor Jamie recorded a video of his time at CCK and Brighton which features a video tour of Brighton by Steve Boon and messages to Mars Hill Church from Joel Virgo, Tim Jones and Yohaan Philip. You can find the video by clicking on the link below:

http://blog.marshillchurch.org/2009/06/08/greetings-from-brighton/