We spent a week in Hawkwell Baptist Church running an activities week for age 11-18yr olds. Most of them were young people from the church and their friends. We had about 25 for the week. We spent the mornings split into Songwriting and Drama streams and then the afternoons chilling out playing pool, air hockey, guitar hero and chatting. Taste had 16 people in their Songwriting stream and spent the week writing and recording a track called ‘Face to Face’. Diversion had 7 girls: Becky, Becca, Jessie, Bailie, Grace, Dani and Chloe. I was initially a bit worried about a group of girls (having been at an all girls school, i know the arguments that occur!!) but they were amazing! The brief I gave them was to come up with a piece of Theatre In Education to perform to their friends on the Friday night. So we spent the first 3 days establishing the theme, message, plot, characters and technical stuff. We workshopped ideas and techniques and played games on creating stories and impovisation. The girls worked so well together and were really focussed and enthusiastic. The final piece was brilliant!!! The Drama Team names was ‘Herd Wot?’ (Anagram of ‘The Word’, the name of their youh group), with the tagline ‘The Word In Disguise’. The piece was called ‘Do you know who you are talking to?’ and was on the dangers of social networking – meeting people online. It included a news report with CCTV footage – filmed and edited during the week, and an MSN conversation on the big screen. I was SO impressed with the quality of the piece and the performance gave me goosebumps! On the Friday night we put on an event which including Taste songs, Street Tuff from Diversion and the two performances from the young people. It was a really great night, with lots of people and lots of positive comments!

We have since heard that 2 of the young people, previously not part of the church have expressed interest as a direct result of the activities week which is fantastic. I really hope and pray that the relationships built up and conversations had have a lasting impact on the young people and really enthuse them to get stuck in with God.

Tags: Activities Week, Air Hockey, Diversion, Do you know who you are talking to?, Drama, Face To Face, Gig, Guitar Hero, Hawkwell Baptist Church, Herd Wot?, Pool, Songwriting, Street Tuff, Taste, Theatre In Education

The gig was awesome!!!

We had about 150 young people, which meant the church was packed out, so the atmosphere was brilliant…as well as very hot! Taste were fantastic, you could just see how much they loved performing, and their fans certainly enjoyed it! We performed Street Tuff which went well (always get so nervous about that one!). Andy gave a message which is always a challenge as the audience is so hyped up and noisy! The response seemed very positive though and we gave away a lot of Check It Out tracts. Sales of CDs were good and we had lots of requests to sign things and have photos taken!

Pack down was good and Keel did an awesome job of a rather difficult load! He went straight back to Selby and Jack to Sheringham, leaving us with more space in the van! Back to Essex…I was in bed just before 2am!

I have loved the past 2 weeks, its so much fun and so rewarding. Answering questions such as ‘Who made God?’, ‘What does God think of climate change?’, ‘Why doesn’t God come to Earth?’ and to be able to share the amazing difference Jesus has made in our lives…there is no better feeling. It’s so easy though to get caught up in the planning, the busyness, the fact you are exhausted, the ‘celebrity’ status (autographing flyers, having your photo taken), the buzz of a gig, the manic-ness of packing down…but why actually do we do it? We say the measure of a successful week is if just one person slightly alters their perception of a Christian in a positive way. We really want to make a difference in these kids lives. We don’t want to be the hype of the week and then they forget about us, well it’s not about us it’s about God. I really believe that God will have made an impact on these young people’s lives and I just hope and pray that they act on it.

Because that’s what all this is about.

Tags: Gig, Grantham, Street Tuff, Taste, What does God think of climate change?, Who made God?, Why doesn't God come to Earth?