CCK Life blog

Steve Horne is an Elder here at CCK and looks after a lot of the ministry teams. He lives in Moulsecoombe with his wife, Jane and they have four children together; Bethany, Tilly, Megan and Sam. Steve talks to Emily Sneyd about why he is passionate about his job, and why it’s not wise to eat a curry before running a marathon…

E.S: Hi Steve,  can you tell me how you came to be part of CCK?

S.H: Well, I grew up in Bognor Regis, and my wife, Jane grew up in Uckfield. I worked in London for a while as a student nurse and it was friends that I made through nursing that introduced me to Church. I eventually got saved and began to get involved with the Holy Trinity Brompton Church (HTB), and did the Alpha course there. I really wanted to get married to Jane but my friends advised me not to as she wasn’t a Christian at the time, plus Jane thought it was all a bit weird then! But shortly after, she got saved here in Brighton! We were married in Uckfield and then moved to Brighton and were recommended CCK by some friends.  In fact, even before we had considered it, Jane had dreams about the Church that we would be a part of and specifically had a vision of some steps, so when we walked through the main entrance of the Clarendon Centre and saw the stairs leading up to the main hall, we knew it was where we were meant to be! I was very happy because like HTB, CCK is a charismatic church, but mainly, we both felt led to be part of God’s Church in Brighton- and we’ve been here ever since!

E.S: Fantastic. Now what exactly are your responsibilities as an Elder at CCK?

S.H: I oversee the ‘Ground war’ teams which put simply, is all the ‘People’ ministries, so; Small groups, Zones, Youth work, Student work etc. and lots of other aspects of Family life such as Counselling and the Parenting course, and also the Social-action Zone. To make this all happen, I work to a lot of the other Elders and leaders in the church, like fellow Elders, Steve Walford and Matt Davis, and I oversee a lot of different teams.

E.S: That’s a lot of things to take care of!

S.H: I guess I’ve always focused on the Church in Acts: 2 – it shows an incredible community of Jesus-loving people, looking after itself in pursuing the right things, and consequently, being added to daily. To enable this, we need to be a big presence on Sundays with our three meetings and be a real voice to the City.  But equally as important is the need to back that up with a strong community that is attractive to the people of Brighton & Hove who don’t know who we are yet. My passion is to see people saved- I love the gospel, and love to see people led to Christ. I am fully behind Joel (our lead Elder) in what he is preaching, and where he is leading us.

E.S: What motivates you as a person?

S.H: My wonderful wife and kids, as well Joel’s vision for the Church and City- what he sees and wants for us as a Church. I also love learning from the great men around me at Church. I have made sure over the years that I’ve seized every opportunity to work with as many of them as I can (like Peter Brooks, John Hosier, Peter Lyndon and Dave Fellingham etc.). They’re amazing men, and I’ve learned so much from them and continue to do so, they’re all influences of mine.

E.S: Any bad habits!?

S.H: I am absolutely terrible with names, which is quite unfortunate being a pastoral elder!  I’m also quite impulsive and talkative so there’s times when I’ve said completely the wrong thing at the wrong time…

E.S: Haha, that must be a source of some amusement at times! What’s playing on your ipod at the moment?

S.H: Everything! I’ve got some of our home-bred talent, Phatfish on there, as well as Delirious? And of course, some Queen! I’ve got a lot of dance music on there which I listen to while I’m running. I’m training for the Brighton marathon at the moment which is hard work but I really enjoy it- I’m on week 15 of the training programme at the moment so I’m getting there. I’ve done a marathon before and learnt some lessons the hard way -I ate a curry for lunch and then tried to run 23 miles, which in retrospect wasn’t the wisest plan… This year, I’ll know better.

Thanks Steve, we’ll be rooting for you at the marathon in April!

“I like to visualise the Clarendon Centre as an aircraft carrier, launching different missions for furthering the kingdom of God in Brighton”

Dan Sweetman is facilities manager at CCK and his primary job is managing the Clarendon Centre, where our Sunday meetings take place. Dan is passionate about spreading the good news of the gospel across the City, and also leads the North Hove Zone with his wife, Adrienne. They have two daughters together; Keziah and Emery. Dan chats to Emily Sneyd about his role, and why he is so excited to be part of the Church in the City of Brighton and Hove.

E.S : Hi Dan!  First of all, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

D.S: Well, I was born and bred in Brighton, and was blessed enough to grow up in the Church! My background has always been in IT- it’s not something I studied, but I enjoyed it so I worked up to being an IT manager for a while.

Then, a few years ago I felt God prompt me to work abroad for a year, so I ended up in Missouri, U.S . I worked with a Newfrontiers Church out there. I had a really great year and developed my faith, but it certainly wasn’t easy and was painful at times as God dealt with issues in my heart. My time there ended abruptly when my application for renewal of my Visa was denied, and I was forced to come back to Brighton. I was recently engaged, but my fiancée, being the amazing woman of God that she is, was happy to follow me back to England. In hindsight I can see that God was calling me back to Brighton and it was all part of His plan for my life.

Adrienne and I got married when I returned and then I got a job managing buildings and selling office space. This was an interesting time as I learnt a lot of new skills that have been invaluable in my role in managing the Clarendon Centre.

E.S: That’s quite a journey! Tell me a bit about your job- What does it involve?

D.S: I like to visualise the Clarendon Centre as an aircraft carrier, launching different missions for furthering the kingdom of God in Brighton. The Centre itself is influential because of it’s visibility in the city- It’s a fantastic tool for our mission as it gets different groups of people into the building as well as being able to offer an outstanding space to hire out for meetings and events.

The largest part of the job is our Sunday meetings; we run three services each Sunday so much of the week is spent gearing up to these big events. Another large part of my job is developing new business for the Centre and offering a great service to clients for when they want to hire out the Centre for events. Closely associated to that is overseeing the events themselves; doing the preparation, clear-up and then re-setting for the next event- it’s a lot of work! We are a relatively small team, but the team fires on all cylinders and are doing a phenomenal job. The catering and hospitality side of things is also huge for the department; Church-run events such as the Alpha and Beta courses, serve three-course meals and I again oversee a fantastic catering team.

E.S: That sounds like a lot of responsibility! How would you say your job feeds into your passion for the Church and for the city of Brighton?

D.S: I’m in a privileged position in my role; I am able to see what CCK is doing on both a macro and micro level. On a macro-level, it is seeing how the Church can serve the city as a whole; for example, for the Brighton Marathon in April, we are reducing our three Sunday meetings to just one evening meeting so that over 300 volunteers from CCK can serve at that event. On a micro-level, it is serving our smaller, local communities with the ‘Zone meetings’ that we have, and in the Small Group meetings that make up the Zones, as well as all the other activities that build community. We’re reaching out to the people who don’t yet know Jesus in such a multitude of different ways. I’m really enjoying being part of the plan for Brighton, and actively engaging the community around us. We’re not fully there yet, but God is helping us to achieve this. I enjoy being part of the grand scheme as well as getting my hands dirty.

E.S: So, do you have any influences in your life?

D.S: Jack Bauer!  Ha. He should be everybody’s influence (E.S: for the sad individuals who are not in-the-know, Jack is the invincible counter-terrorist agent in the TV series, 24). I enjoy war movies and I love Band of Brothers, I’m also looking forward to the new Series of Pacific.

E.S: Well, with your hectic job, you must enjoy your weekends! – What would be the ideal day off for you?

D.S: Well, it’s not overly exciting, but ideally I’d be sitting down, drinking a cold beer and reading a good book, maybe by John Grisham or James Patterson- something easy to read.

E.S: That sounds like  exactly what you need! Thanks very much Dan, I hope people realise just what an asset to CCK you are.