Rock Tour 4 - Taunton

The first venue in our week long tour of the South-West was Taunton on Saturday 24th October. It was a brilliant way to begin our tour week, as I'm sure you will see below. God was piling us high with encouragement before we started our long journey.

The venue was Wellsprings Leisure Centre on the outskirts of Taunton, and it had been brilliantly organised by Veronique Hart, with help from her husband Tim and a number of others. Above all this event had been surrounded in prayer - there was a fabulous prayer team who had even visited the venue a week or so before and walked around it 7 times proclaiming Psalm 150. Thankfully it didn't fall down...

Despite the huge amount of prayer, there were still some logistical issues. The stage was a very long way from the entrance to the hall, which meant that the cast had to perfectly time their entries to add an extra 10 seconds on to the journey time. Rehearsals are so important! The technicians also couldn't get into the hall until much later than usual due to a judo event, but they made it in the end.

The performance went really well despite the time delay, and the audience was a complete sell out. There was a member of Leisure Centre staff sat near the door and she was completely transfixed by the whole thing - so transfixed that she didn't notice the latecomers among the audience, and so Laura and Margaret from the Rock team ended up sorting them out with chairs in front of the bookstall. Needless to say, that girl was given a leaflet!

There was lots of ministry afterwards, which was really helped by a nice big gap at the side of the stage where people could mingle and chat. Alan, our team leader, found himself praying with someone for the first time on the whole Rock tour - and not just one person - three people. Bill (Cornelius)'s postman came to watch, and his son was prayed for afterwards.

A man spoke to Roger about a small village performance of Saints Alive years ago. Completely unknown to Roger, this performance had started his faith journey. What a great story at the start of a tour to raise our faith.

As if that wasn't encouraging enough, one choir member said afterwards, "Thanks for enabling me to find a part of me I never knew existed." This shows just how important it is that we spend a lot of time visiting and working with the choirs. It's amazing what fellowship and singing can open up in people's lives - especially when the Holy Spirit is behind it all.

Thanks to Veronique who worked so hard not only organising, but training the wonderful choir. Thanks to go to all those who helped her.