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Spring Evangelism 2008
Carter Knowle Spring Evangelism 2008
Check out our Photo Gallery for pictures of our meetings and concert.
Spring Evangelism – Week One
It hardly seems 12 months since Spring Evangelism 2007, but it is!
Our theme this year is ‘It’s All About Him’ focussing on the importance of Jesus Christ above all else, be it tradition, long-held personal views or whatever, and the reality that Jesus Christ is just as relevant in 2008 as he was over 2000 years ago.
The Seventh Day Adventist Church at Carter Knowle has come to value Spring Evangelism as a key point in our calendar each year.
God blessed us again this year with the Palmer Family opening up Spring Evangelism for us in fine style.
The morning Worship Service had a ‘tag-team’ of preachers in the form of Mark Palmer and his brother, Clive Palmer. The focus of the tag-team sermon was that if we put Jesus Christ front and centre of all we do, that is the best decision we could ever make.
The afternoon programme saw the whole Palmer family ministering in word and song, including ‘Mum’ Palmer stealing the show with her song, and 8 year old Jada Palmer delivering an up-to-date and relevant sermon to match the calibre of her dad, Mark and her Uncle Clive.
Not to be left out, Jordan Palmer played so well on keyboards along side his Uncle Clive and led the family as they delivered their songs with power, conviction, and gusto.
Spring Evangelism is off to a spirit-filled and uplifting start.
Spring Evangelism – Week Two
Week two of Spring Evangelism was just as power-packed as week one.
Costa Vaggas, from the London area, was our speaker for the day.
Costa has preached all over the UK, and in America, Australia, Africa, and Europe. His evangelistic successes have included a campaign in Liberia, which resulted in a Church of 500 being established – Costa simply describes himself as ‘a sinner, saved by grace’.
Evangelist Vaggas used the title ‘Carbon Copy’ to speak about the relevance of Jesus Christ in 2008, and talked about his journey away from God, but more importantly, his journey back to God.
Costa’s message had something in it for all ages and backgrounds, with a healthy dose of humour, concluding with a call to commitment for those who wanted things to be truly different in their life from the 12th of April 2008 onwards – a call to which 17 people responded.
Our afternoon programme was a Gospel Concert in aid of two worthy causes – the first being the Ebenezer Orphanage in Zimbabwe which works with children in the local community, some living with HIV/AIDS and started by the local Seventh Day Adventist Church, and run entirely by volunteers and by donations.
Lisa MacKay gave a moving presentation of the work of the Orphanage, and the needs of the Staff there involved in this important work – this is truly practical Christianity.
The second purpose for which the fund was being raised is the Audio/Visual Department here at the Church. We want to expand the Audio/Visual options available to the Church as a means of extending Jesus Christ to the wider community by the means of Audio/Visual options available.
The Concert raised £725.00 – the majority of which will go to Zimbabwe
A truly blessed day for the second week of Spring Evangelism – bring on Week 3!!
Spring Evangelism – Week 3
The power just keeps on coming! Week 3 of Spring Evangelism 2008 continued the power, spirituality, and the blessings of weeks 1 and 2.
Our Preacher in the morning Service was our own Ashford MacKay.
Ashford hails from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe and is an active member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church here at Carter Knowle. When asked to describe himself, he simply says ‘just describe me as young guy who has a burning desire to see young people more active in church’
Ashford took for his theme ‘Only A Look At Jesus’ and spoke with power and conviction as to how just after just a look at Jesus people’s lives are never the same again.
One of the most poignant parts of Ashford’s sermon was when he spoke about the thief on the cross, and how in Ashford’s minds eye, after Jesus assured him that the thief would be with him in paradise, Jesus looked across at the thief, gave him a wink, just to doubly reassure him that all would be well. This somehow made Jesus seem more accessible and relevant to 2008 than he already is!
The afternoon Programme was simply called ‘This Is My Story’’.
Three young people were asked to simply share their story of how they had overcome challenging choices and situations in their lives and ultimately and with no regret, choosing Jesus.
Chantell Hayes spoke about how from the age of 14 she got involved in night-clubbing, missing school and a range of other activities way beyond her years.
She had a passing knowledge of the Church through her Father, but had not much more than that. As Chantell grew, she discovered she could sing, and was singing in a rap band and also in a garage group.
Whilst this was going on, Jesus was pulling at Chantell’s heart, and Chantell, after surviving a kidnapping at knife-point by an ex-boyfriend; Chantell gave her heart to the Lord. A recording deal was offered by a major company, but Chantell was clear that Jesus did not want her life to go in that direction. Chantell ended her story by singing her own composition of ‘Try Jesus’. It was clear why the recording contract was offered.
Martyn Lee shared how his life had always revolved around football.
Martyn survived his first match – a totally defeat of 18-1 when he played for his first team (The Caribbean’s). There was in fact some doubt as to whether it was in fact 18-0 as the ref actually scored The Caribbean’s goal!
After growing through the school teams, Martyn began to play for local teams in various leagues in Sheffield. In common with most football clubs, the matches were on Saturday. Martyn’s God-given talent meant that he was always picked to play, so the opportunity not to explain why he wouldn’t play just never arose.
As Martyn got older, scouts came from major football clubs to watch him play, including Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, and many more. Martyn also had to see friends he played with being interviewed on Sports TV, knowing that his talents was greater than theirs.
Finally, Martyn decided that he would just go and play and forget the Lord. He informed his Mother and eldest brother of this plan, but got no support.
The Lord intervened, and Martyn never followed through with his plan. Martyn ended his story with his sisters and cousin singing ‘I will Follow Thee My Saviour’.
Finally, Jackie Jackson spoke.
Jackie shared how she survived childhood abuse in all its forms. Though not brought up in a church-going home, Jackie’s Mum taught Jackie to read her Bible. This became something Jackie loved to do even though she didn’t fully understand what she was reading or indeed doing. Jackie also discovered she could sing, and loved to sing.
Even though by her own admission, Jackie suffered with low self-esteem, she never doubted Jesus’ love for her. This low self-esteem caused Jackie to look for love and validation in all the wrong places, and by the age of 23, Jackie had three children.
The Lord found Jackie, and a life of music ministry called. Though one mistake led to moving away from God, a fourth child, and a broken marriage, Jackie just praised the Lord anyhow.
In 2006, Jackie was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. This never phased Jackie, as she knew in whom she believed. That year, she also lost her Mother.
A full recovery was made, only for the cancer to return in 2007, and just 7 weeks ago, Jackie had a second operation on her thyroid. To hear Jackie minister the song ‘Still I Rise’ yesterday, no-one would believe her surgery was so recent.
All three stories were so uplifting and challenging to us, and demonstrated the power of just what Jesus Christ can, and will do, when given full rein.
Spring Evangelism – Final Week
And so Spring Evangelism 2008 has come to a close.
It hardly seems like 4 weeks ago that we embarked on our Programme for 2008 and we are already concluding!
Pastor Ian Sweeney was our Preacher to close Spring Evangelism, as he had in 2007.
Pastor Sweeney took as his theme the paralytic man of Mark 2: 1-12 and spoke with power and passion that it’s not always a negative thing to be desperate, as desperation makes us lose our inhibitions to seek out that which we need most, in this case, Jesus.
Pastor Sweeney spoke with passion, humour, authority and conviction and re-affirmed again the need for us in 2008 to be desperate enough to want Jesus, above our material things, our church traditions, and our comfortableness.
Our afternoon Programme was our Last Lap concert.
Our feature artistes were Mark & LaDonna Bunney.
We were also blessed again by music ministry from Ashford MacKay and Helene Carrapatoso who sang beautifully the song ‘Beauty for Ashes’.
Our own Choir ‘Rejoice’ ministered again, as did a great friend of Carter Knowle Gwen Madden who blessed our hearts in Week 2 of Spring Evangelism – there was even a duet with David Bussue of a medley of old-time hymns!
Duets were the order of the day, and our own songstress Alicia Saddler sang beautifully with our Audio Visual lead, Lungani Sibanda the song of reality ‘He’s More Wonderful’, which left many of the congregation in tears.
Spring Evangelism has led to people making decisions for Jesus Christ – this is the purpose of us coming together in this way.
Jesus’ name has been lifted high – this is the purpose for us coming together in this way.
We came and we worshipped the One who is due our worship and adoration – this is the purpose for coming together in this way.
Check out our Photo Gallery for pictures of our meetings and concert.
Roll on 2009, should the Lord tarry!