“All that is expected of Christian men by the church today is to invite the unchurched to a social event with other Christians – nobody really expects a man to share his faith with others.”
This year’s Northern Men’s Convention challenged Christian men to stand up and make a difference in their world, be that as a husband and father, as a Christian in the workplace or in the mission field. Yes, there was a strong missions focus this year.
I was there with OMNIvision to provide the Visuals for the event. Continue reading Being men who change the world
Tag Archives: evangelism
In the garden
“What are we getting ourselves into this time?” I thought to myself as I pulled up at the address I was given. Ruth and I felt like we had nothing to offer, and this was way out of our comfort zones – but God often does that to us and it works out well. Continue reading In the garden
Mysterious
“That morning when we awoke, the Lord had just taken him” – the Knight family had lost their son Mike unexpectedly, mysteriously one morning. The coroner could give no reason and so they concluded that the Lord had simply called him home.
After spending the summer traveling around Europe doing big events, this week’s evangelistic concert evening took place right here in Carlisle, UK. Out of the tragedy of their son’s passing, the Knight family brought together Christian entertainers from all around the world for one night to ponder together the mysteries of life and death. Dan and Suzie (Duzie) Potter hosted the event in their peculiar style, the band performed top tracks from Mike’s iPod – songs with challenging lyrics, rap artists WriteWay performed and actor Steven Baldwin shared the story of how his life was changed dramatically by Christ. He lead the audience in a prayer to receive Christ and at least 6 of those who prayed with him made contact with a local church to start an introduction to Christianity course. Many people shared that they had also struggled with loss and grief and questioned God’s existence or goodness but felt differently at the end of the night. I’m sure that many seeds were sown that evening that we will never know about – but in the future they will grow into Christ.
For me personally God answered a very dangerous prayer – to be more humble. During the GO conference I had become rather proud – thinking that I could have done a better job than those around me. Through the mistakes that I made during the setup that had to be fixed for me, and simply observing how talented my co-workers are I felt at the end of the night that God had reminded me of my place as a new team member with OMNIvision and given me a new respect for those I work with.
Leading teens to Christ in Europe
Whilst the church in exotic far away places like Africa, Asia and even the Middle East is growing at an amazing rate (just look at China) – the church in Europe is in steady decline. Weath and prosperity has replaced the need for God’s provision, advanced science and philosphpy has convinced most people God doesn’t exist – but neither have filled the emptiness inside every human being.
TeenStreet is a large international event in Germany where almost 4000 Christian and undecided teens come and experience God face to face. Powerful, exciting, confronting main meetings with intimite worship and challenging teaching are the spark of a flame that is fanned in small groups where the teens work out the mechanics of living their lives for Christ. Some commit their lives to Christ for the first time, others resolve to serve Him wholeheartedly, others still get a heart for local and world missions. All are impacted in some way.
We were pleased to be a small part of this huge conference in roles that we feel comfortable in. Chris was a part of the OMNIvision crew who covered the video for the main meetings – making sure that people could see, hear and understand the message being spoken to them. The title of this year’s TeenStreet was ‘Newsong 40’ – following Psalm 40 it encourages teens to leave behind the ‘old song’ of the world and start to sing the new song from God: “We were created to start each day anew, not consumed with the pain and regret of yesterday, or the fears and worries of tomorrow. Instead, to start a day in relationship with the Happiest person we know. Starting the day singing the Truth of the Kindest person we know, and what HE says about who you are. This is the song of our Father, who’s desire is to see His Kingdom come on Earth, as it is in HEAVEN!”. (www.teenstreet.de)
Part of Chris’s role for the week was to edit and upload recordings of the sessions. You can watch them online at http://www.omnitube.org/TeenStreet_Germany/. Feel free to use the clips or the ideas in them for your youth meetings etc.
Ruth coordinated the kids program – KidStreet – that ran simultaniously for the kids of helpers and organisers of TeenStreet. Following the same theme of a new song, the kids enjoyed a range of fun activities on their level, helping them to leave behind their old song and sing the new. Leading a group of kids who all speak different languages is difficult, but thankfully we had helpers from all the language groups!
