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!

A Rock Letter

We received this wonderful letter from a lady called Alison who lives in Suffolk:

Dear Roger,

Just felt I had to put pen to paper and to tell you what a blessing the Rock Musical has been to me.

Not only was I thrilled to be a part of the choir at Ipswich, but I have just returned from a wonderful pilgrimage to the Holy Land and as I travelled in the footsteps of Jesus the songs came flooding back and the story which was acted out took on real meaning as I stood on the traditional sites of Jesus' ministry.

Standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee early in the morning watching the sun rise the words of 'This is the place' were on my lips and on my heart and visiting Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked Peter who he thought he was, I recalled the words of 'You are Messiah' and suddenly it came to life and really meant something really special to me.

So thank you so much for blessing me through your ministry and may God continue to use you in His Service.

Rock in Chipping Sodbury

We've just had a phone call from Frank Maude in Chipping Sodbury. Every few years the churches in Chipping Sodbury and the surrounding area join together to perform a big musical. In the past they have performed Burning Questions, Hopes and Dreams and two others by Paul Field and Stephen Deal as well as three of Roger's, including Jail Break. Frank and his helpers very graciously delayed their performances until after the CMM production of Rock at the Colston Hall in Bristol, for which we are most grateful.

They have just finished their run of performances at Chipping Sodbury Town Hall, and they went very well indeed. They held a concert version, but added in a few small bits of dialogue, such as Susannah's coming to faith.

As they had no dancers, they approached the song 'Were you there?' in an interesting way, showing a clip of Jesus' crucifixion from one of the Jesus films under the introduction and first verse, and then a photo of the tomb (digitally altered to have the stone in the entrance!) for the second verse, and then their own actor playing Jesus in a white robe for the final verse.

CMM's own Alyson Ottaway was part of the cast, reprising her role of Zillah, and it became quite a family affair with her mum Wendy playing Miriam for the final performance, and her dad John taking the part of John.

Many people were moved by the performances, and a couple of people owned up to having shed a tear or two...

Photos of the performance can be found here.

Well done!

Canada Maps

Here's a couple of maps of where the team are going in Canada.

Canada is very big. Just Ontario alone is several times the size of the UK.

Top left - Deep River

Next from left - Kanata

Next - Ottawa

Bottom right - Morrisburg and Dixon's Corners

Canada Itinerary

This is the itinerary for Roger's tour of Canada starting tomorrow:

Thu 18
0920 BIRMINGHAM to PARIS, then to MONTREAL
2215 (+5hr) arrive in OTTAWA - from MONTREAL - travel to KANATA
This is a long journey, and often many bugs and illnesses can be picked up on aeroplane flights. Please pray for protection in travel for the team.

Fri 19
KANATA - Rest day - get used to time zone, etc
Kanata is just to the south-west of Ottawa. Roger and team visited Kanata three years ago for a music and worship evening. But this time the vicar has changed, and they are going for a full on production of Rock. While at Kanata, the team will be staying in a lovely Christian house out in the countryside.

Sat 20
KANATA - Rehearsal & ROCK Production

Sun 21
Morning Services in KANATA then travel to DEEP RIVER
Deep River is a three hour drive from Kanata up to the North-West along the Ottawa River. It is a small town/village. Last time Roger and the team were there, the river was still frozen solid and there was lots of snow.

Mon 22
DEEP RIVER Eucharist led by CMM and Father Lee with praise & teaching

Tue 23
DEEP RIVER - Seminar teaching session based upon ROCK
Please pray for these two worship seminars. Last time CMM was in Deep River there was a production of Jail Break, so it is great this time to be able to contribute to local church life with some ministry and teaching instead.

Wed 24
Travel to OTTAWA
Music in Worship - St George’s, OTTAWA
St. George's is an inner city church in central Ottawa. It is always great to share with them.

Thu 25
Music in Worship - Church of the Epiphany, OTTAWA
This is a new venue for CMM, so please pray for good contact with the local congregation and no problems with the unknown logistics.

Fri 26
Travel to MORRISBURG
Morrisburg is the home of the organisers of the whole Canadian tour - Nick and Jane Lee. They are long-standing friends of CMM, right from when they used to live in the UK. Morrisburg is right on the St. Lawrence River, so over on the other side of the river is the USA.

Sat 27
Full Rehearsal, then ROCK at St James Anglican Church, MORRISBURG

Sun 28
Preaching at Sunday Service
Travel to DIXONS CORNERS - Rehearsal
ROCK - Christian Reformed Church, DIXONS CORNERS
Dixons Corners is a small village about 15 minutes drive from Morrisburg. But in this small village is a fabulous modern church building - an ideal venue for a performance of Rock!

Mon 29
Rest day for team

Tue 30
Return to UK -from OTTAWA, via MONTREAL, PARIS

Wed 31
1030 arrive BIRMINGHAM

CMM TEAM: Roger, Mary, Devon Brown, Richard Harvey, Amy Walters, Catherine Muggleton