Last week I had lots of fun being ‘Laura The Lion Tamer’ at Kingswood Baptist‘s Holiday Club. Ed was running the ‘Knight’s Of Truth’ themed week and asked me to come along and help him present. This is the same theme that we did at the Baptist Assembly earlier on in the year so had some familiar set and activities. Andy came along to run tech and we were both made to feel very welcome by the Kingswood Baptist team.

The  club ran from 10-12 every morning and consisted of songs, drama, video clips, stories, crafts, games and challenges as we followed three knights on their quest to become ‘Knights Of Truth’. We were finding out about Jesus, helping the knights decode clues to give to the King on Sunday morning as we were invited to the King’s Castle at 10.30am! It was great fun working with a great team and spending time with around 65 kids, a proportion of whom were not known to the church already. The kids were fantastic; well behaved, enthusiatic and it was so exciting to see them understanding and applying the stories they had chatted about to the current riot situation, with no prompting from any of the grown ups!

This week I am in the office catching up on a few bits and pieces and tidying up ready to go on holiday at the end of the week! I’ve got that real end of term feeling!!

Following the cancellation of Leading Edge, an informal gathering of people was semi-organised on the site of Warwick School with around 150 people camping between Tuesday 2nd and Sunday 8th August. The event was nicknamed ‘Over The Edge’ which then merged into ‘Over The (H)Edge’! Viz-A-Viz Ministries agreed to offer 2 days of youth and children’s programme and so early – 5.30am to be precise –  on Wednesday morning Ed and I headed to Warwick to set up in the Pyne Room and provide a morning and evening programme on Wednesday and Thursday.

With the help of Hannah and Naomi Swift and Hannah Cresswell, we explored how God uses ordinary people like us to do extraordinary things. We had a Superhero Theme and used the song ‘Jesus You’re my superhero’ by Hillsong which got stuck in everyone’s heads and you could hear the children singing around site! We had a Superhero drama and Superhero games (Pin the eye patch on the superhero, super strength relay, Super villain skittles…), made our own clay Superhero and found out about lots of Superheroes in the Bible.  The children were very excitable and we had some great times of singing worship and jumping around as well as some quieter times thinking and praying in groups. It was such a privilege to spend a few hours with them and help them uncover truths about God and how He can use us despite our faults and fears.

Over The (H)Edge was also a great social time, catching up with some friends (Ben Read came back to join the youth team) and meeting new people. There was a really relaxed feel over the campsite and a great sense of community spirit as people invited each other to share drinks and nibbles in their section of camp.

Next Up…. Kingswood Baptist Holiday Club: The Knights Of Truth

Although I’m not touring with the Check It Out team, Liv’It Camp holds a special place in my heart and so Joy and Andy let me come with them this year! On paper it sounds like madness – camping for the best part of a week and being around 50 young people from 7.30am – midnight….but it’s great!!! Liv’It is held at Hollybush Farm, Northallerton, North Yorkshire and is a collection of churches from the Manchester Area that meet for their summer camp from Saturday to Thursday. We provide the morning and evening programme as well as other input throughout the day. The rough routine of the day is something like this: (this year we’ve been lucky to get half an hour extra in bed either end of the day!):

7am – Shower
8.30am – Breakfast
10am – Morning Session (Sung worship, games, talk and activities)
11.45 – Academies (Sport, Music, Craft, Drama)
1pm – Lunch
2pm – Q&A Panel/Time to chat to a leader
3.15pm – Some kind of wide game/sports tournament
5pm – Rehearsals
6pm – Dinner
7.30pm – Evening Session (Sung worship, games (including the legendary ‘Jammin’*)
10pm – Late night hilarity including Liv’Its Got Talent, Camp News, and leaders laying on skateboards and being
pushed into cardboard boxes
11.30pm- Bedtime!

*Jammin involves large and small plastic hula hoops strung across the room, young people  split into 2 teams (always the pants and the socks) chucking inflatable balls/hammers/chickens through the hoops – 1 point through a big hoop, 2 points through a small hoop. It’s chaos and everybody loves it!

On the Tuesday we went to the infamous LightWater Valley, and enjoy the delights of ‘The Ultimate’ (Click Here for La Roche and Rich filming their trip!)

The week was brilliant, as it always is. Quite a few new faces which was great, as well as some familiar friends. For me the highlight was seeing some of the young people warm over the time we had with them and being able to witness a change in opinion and view of God. As well as the fun and craziness we had some great times of worship, teaching, creative activities, and question and answer panels. The prayer is that the young people hold onto what they heard from God, and are empowered to make a difference as they go back to their situations.

For Andy and I it was also great to spend time with Paul and Hannah Schofield – a friendship which has developed over the past Liv’It Camps. We also managed to stitch Andy up in late night with ‘Tell us about the time you suggested Laura went on a diet…’ Ask me if you want the whole hilarious story!

After Liv’It, Andy and I spent a relaxing day and a half in Selby with his parents before I came back to Braintree for a few days to spend time catching up with my best friend Lois (Marley and Me should have a sadness rating on it!!) and seeing my lovely sister and my gorgeous nieces and nephew!

Next Up… ‘Over the (H)edge’.

Solid Festival 2011 – 8th-10th July.
‘For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.‘ 1 Peter 2:21

Wow, this time last week it was pouring with rain and a very dedicated team of wonderful people were setting up for Solid Festival 2011! (I was sat in a marquee making lanyards – I wasn’t going to get wet!). The youth festival ran from Friday Night til Sunday Lunchtime, and Junior Solid (for school years 3-6) ran all day Sunday. I had my normal role at the youth festival of ‘hostess’ – meeting and greeting visiting speakers/bands to the site. Then Sunday was where I got really busy – co-presenting with Ed in ‘The Hive’ for four, hour long sessions (The children are split into four groups and rotate around 4 different sessions including crazy games and outdoor activities) about what it means to follow Jesus and rounding off the day all together in the Big Top with the Junior Solid Roadshow.

The weekend had it’s hiccups, with bad weather meaning marquees were a mission to get up, delivery drivers getting to the end of their shifts and so not delivering our much needed radios, a few power issues…but actually it was an awesome weekend! I didn’t see too much of the main sessions in the Big Top but from the buzz on site and feedback from various people know that God moved awesomely in the over 700 young people that were there. Mark Ritchie returned for a second year, his comic style mixed with powerful teaching made him very popular – as well a site wide trend on twitter about Angry Poos (no I don’t know either!!). Worship was led by Jimmy Orr from Church.co.uk (married to Kat Orr, a previous Optimum Volunteer) and was a great mix of old and new songs. I especially enjoyed the mash up of Matt Redman’s ‘You Never Let Go’ with Eminem’s ‘I’m not afraid’. There was a fantastic time on Saturday night of young people coming forward to really commit themselves to following Jesus and their youth leaders were encouraged to pray for them, which from feedback they really appreciated the opportunity to do that, allowing them to know what went on at Solid and follow up their own young people afterwards.

Sunday was my first experience of a whole day of Junior Solid, having previously taken part in the Roadshow, but this year being on management meant I was a lot more involved! Ed had done most of the preparations for the Hive as I had been busy preparing the Roadshow and so I just stepped in to help lead. Much to my delight the ‘hilarious’ joke Ed has prepared and repeated non stop for the previous 2 weeks was a complete flop (Now i’ll know if he reads this because if he does he will try and protest!!) but fortunately the rest of the material wasn’t! Through interactive activities, video clips and teaching we looked at the fact we are all invited to follow Jesus but all need to make that choice to follow him. We were also privileged to have Big Fish Little Fish joining us to lead some singing fun! The feedback we got was great and the kids really engaged with what we were doing, even in the last session when they were all exhausted!

Then at the end of the day it was off to the Roadshow and 400 hundred tired but excited children with their leaders. We looked at the messages of making Wise Choices and Jesus giving us Second Chances through more songs with Big Fish Little Fish, some drama, video testimonies, teaching and a live interview testimony with Rosie, an 11 year old with an incredible passion for sharing Jesus with the people around her. It was sad when it was all over and exhausted we (well not me!) packed everything away, finally getting home at 9pm. Monday I was pretty dopey all day having suffered from a severe lack of sleep!!

So many people worked so incredibly hard during and leading up to Solid, Karen and Claire are definitely top of the list!! My Andy is also at the top, as co technical manager he started work at 7am and finished at 1pm, constantly on call and the first on and last off site. Well done you, I’m so proud!!

Despite the tiredness and occasional grouchiness, it was all so worth it, seeing young people and children connect with and worship God – such a great thing and a privilege to be involved with. Please join me and the rest of the team in praying for all who were there, that the buzz of Solid won’t be just that, but that they will be encouraged and inspired to make a difference and share Jesus with those around them.

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Next up: Liv’It Camp starts 23rd July so am preparing a talk for that. Also busy emailing out publicity for ‘Just A Child?’ equipping conferences in Essex and Sussex in the Autumn – ask me if you want details!

On Sunday we went to the church that Hans (one of the organisers) attends. We were welcomed by the minister from the front, although Hans got a few frowns as he did his best to quietly translate a complicated sermon for us! It was great to be at that church, fairly traditional, but most of the time I wasn’t really sure what was going on! There seemed to be a lot of liturgy responses which members of the congregation all knew off by heart, and not much instruction from the front but everyone knew when to stand, when to sit and when to sing! A couple of the sings were in English or had English words underneath the German ones so we could join in a bit! The last song was Shine Jesus Shine, much to our ‘enjoyment’!

After coffee and biscuits we headed to an italian restaurant. They boys all had pizzas of some description while I had a salad which was very nice until I got to the bottom which was full of balsamic vinegar….mmm soggy lettuce! We then headed back to The Lighthouse to set up for the evenings ‘Check It Out’ Service. The theme was ‘Pusteblume’ – literal translation is ‘blowflower’, but refers to Dandelions. The service was to do with spreading ‘seeds’ – telling people about Jesus. There was music from their ‘Check It Out’ band, acoustic songs from Taste, a hilarious sketch, a great talk and the blessing of various teams who are off on mission. I had Marco translating brilliantly for me so I knew when to play the videos and powerpoints! A lad who became a Christian last year at The Lighthouse Week we were at came back and was translating for Joy – it was really great to see him again! After the service we packed away and were treated to more sausages and soup before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the hotel.

Monday was the long trip home, we left at 9am and got to the office at 7pm! We were all on track for the earlier ferry but hit traffic just before Calais, very frustrating! We kept smiling and telling awful jokes despite being hot and uncomfortable! It was funny, as soon as we landed in England everyone got their phones out, turned back on the internet and got engrossed into Facebook and emails…!

It was a great weekend, mainly in preparation for events in October and November, which I’m not sure that I will be involved in but it was really nice to see everyone again, and be reminded that God is bigger than England!

Today I have been back in the office getting ready for Solid Youth Festival and Junior Solid this weekend!

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