Pre-Scotland

Rock is not finished yet! We had a bit of a reunion of the Rock Touring party for our trip to Scotland, but before we could head up north we had a practice performance at Selly Oak Methodist Church in Birmingham. Helen had trained a small choir for the day mostly made up of people from the Twenties group that meets at the church.

The Scotland Rock Team:

Peter - Devon Brown
Jesus - Simon Cooper
Cornelius - Alan Walker
Various - Jonathan
Miriam - Sarah Moreton
Zillah - Alyson Ottaway
Susannah and trumpet - Helen Pollard
Clarinet - Amy Carter
Flute - Marilyn Ellis
Viola - Annie Routley
Dancer - Laura Rhodes
Dancer - Felicity Norris
Bookstall/Sound/Powerpoint - Laura Cooper
Bookstall/Prayer/Driver - Barrie Renwick

Oh and Roger of course.

So for those of you who are interested, all the principle soloists from Rock were part of this tour except for Bill Carpenter, who was replaced by Alan Walker (he was team leader on tour anyway) and Ann Steer, who was replaced by Sarah Moreton. It was great having Sarah with us - she slotted in perfectly.

The performance went really well - it was a little rusty in places but we made it. Laura and Felicity did a great job re-choreographing just for two dancers, and Annie, Marilyn and Amy did well covering Carole's Oboe and cornet parts for Helen when she was singing or simply playing badly!

One of the highlights of the evening was actually the prayer time before hand. Roger often gets choirs to sing 'Spirit of the Living God' before a performance to get us all ready, but this time it was really special - the harmony was beautiful and there were no voices sticking out. God's Holy Spirit was clearly moving and blessing people.

Special thanks go to Martin, Tristan and Rebecca for setting up the AV.

An initial Canada review

Richard has promised a full Canada write-up for the blog, and I'm pestering him, but in the meantime, here's Roger's brief report that he sent out in an email back in April:

KANATA (near Ottawa)

- a tremendous ROCK performance, over 300 present, they had to get extra chairs in! Very well received - "standing ovation" - many folk saying they were really blessed. It was a great joy to link up again with Craig Bowers, formerly of Clayton and Morrisburg. Craig's daughters Sarah and Eva also sang with us, Sarah singing the part of Zillah. Ann Faurbo trained the choir amazingly well. They were wonderful! Sunday morning (day after performance) - I spoke at THREE services, which felt a real marathon, ie 0800, 0915 & 1100. Again very well received - we did the music for the final one as well!

DEEP RIVER

- quite a remote community about 2.5 hours out of Ottawa, just about to lose their priest Lee Lambert. I introduced them to new music for the Liturgy, including using Peter Moger's version that we used at Willersley, then used it in a Eucharist. I talked about "The look of love". They really loved it and I think it opened a whole new concept for them. The next day we talked about using music in evangelism & mission, and then did an evening using most of the ROCK songs. A terrific time, with the locals really enjoying it and responding well. We loved being once again with Rhonda Turner, the director of music at St Barnabas.

OTTAWA - ST GEORGE'S

- It was a great joy to be re-united once more with Dave Crawley (rector), Archie Hunter, etc. This church has left the Anglican Church of Canada over current "issues". They are really spiritually alive and thirsty. We did a worship seminar with lots of praising. They were up for it and found it a great encouragement. I really felt it was right to be
with these folk!

OTTAWA - EPIPHANY CHURCH

- Linda Posthuma, the Priest, wanted us to introduce the concept and theolgy of psalms hymns & songs - this was entering fairly new territory for them, but it was amazingly well received and I felt a great freedom to teach and lead. There were lots of laughter, and I really sensed God's presence. It was also good to meet Chunson Park the director of music. I feel a great empathyy for her in her role.

MORRISBURG

- rehearsal then production of ROCK - great enthusiasm, and it went very well indeed. I think this was timely for them. Here, as before, the Choir was trained extremely well by Edie Sneath. Next morning, immediately after the Eucharist I shared my testimony and used "Let me see you face" (sung by Catherine) as ministry. It seemed to bless a lot of people.

DIXONS CORNERS

- right out in the farming area - a rehearsal then production of ROCK in a very spiritually alive church We gave "words of knowledge" at end. At least one was responded to there and then. Some quite powerful ministry followed, and overall it was a superb way to conclude the tour.

I think we led 16 sessions in the 12 days we were in Ontario, and slept in 4 different beds! I really believe we were in the right place at the right time. Our team (Roger, Mary, Richard, Amy, Catherine, Devon) worked incredibly well together, and of course we had a lot of fun! As a matter of encouragement to the Trustees, I am bringing back a cheque for over £3500 (sterling!) being donations to the ministry! We also sold well on the bookstall which should defray our costs.

I feel a deep grief and concern for the Church in Canda. There is much division, seemingly over the "same-sex" issue (but maybe really over authority of scripture and biblical concepts of creation, family, marriage, etc. Many evangelical/charismatics are considering their position, some having already left the diocese. I suspect there may be a "reformation-type" development happening, which will be tragic although possibly inevitable.

I am more convinced than ever about the need for the ordinary Christians-in-the pews to know their Bibles and understand basic and important biblical concepts and theology. Using MUSICALS goes a long way to meeting this need and "filling the gap". There is much "liberal theology" at loose in Canada and parts of UK, some of it blatant heresy, but my prayer is that as they experience the Bible story in song they will be learning the "Apostles' teaching", growing spiritually and being kept from error.

Cursillo and Alpha provide a great ministry but could the "Wholeness through Christ" ministry also play a major role? It most certainly has blessed me!

Some follow-up comments have already been received:

- "Thank you again for your amazing ministry. I know that yet again, more seeds have been planted, and many hearts have been touched by Jesus." (Jane - Morrisburg)

- "I am positive your work for God was all worth the trouble and thank you for including the Epiphany in your busy schedule. It certainly was an uplifting experience for all of us." (Chunson - Ottawa)

- "I feel really blessed by your ministry and excited about expanding our ways with making worship services more meaningful. Everyone here enjoyed your team and their enthusiasm. It was a wonderful experience!" (Rhonda - Deep River)

- "We really felt blessed to experience your ministry at Epiphany - what a joyful evening that was!" (Kelly - Ottawa)

- "I have had 100% positive reaction to your time with us. People so enjoyed and related to the humorous and serious ways you showed us all about more freedom and joy in worship." (Rev Linda - Ottawa)

- "Many thanks for including Deep River... the right people were there and received the blessing that they needed to continue in their ministries and continue to lead the church in the path of worship through music." (Peter - Deep River)

The final Roadshow

On Saturday 17th April 2010 we held our last ever Rock Roadshow. This event was at the United Church in Bridport, and was organised by Molly Doughty and her assistants. It was wonderful to be able to hold a day in Bridport, as they were one of our new venues on the Rock Tour. We were really delighted with the turnout - there were over 40 there, which is impressive considering the Bridport choir didn't contain that many people.

The team for the day was Roger, Annie, Helen, Brian Johnson, Bill and Barbara Carpenter, and Carol Lawrence. Carol came over from Bournemouth and led our 'Working in the Family Business workshop'. Brian was without Gill due to some dental surgery, so he led 'This is the place' alongside Annie. And then Helen and Barbara together led 'The Look of Love' - Barbara had come up with all kinds of interesting and creative ideas for that one.

It may be our last official Rock Roadshow, but we hope in future to use the system of Rock teaching and workshops as often as possible. Let's see where God leads!