It was a privilege last night to speak at a huge concert at the Royal Northern College of Music. Manchester University & Manchester Met and RNCM CUs teamed up to put on one of the best events I’ve ever attended. It is a superb setting for classical music and full as it was for Christmas, the RNCM Symphony Chorus rocked their own venue. The surprise factor for me was not that the music students were so outstanding, but that they also had some contemporary numbers, including Sam Saunders who sounded like Frank Sinatra singing Andy Williams’ “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” – as host Joseff Edwards and Grace Rudge commented immediately afterwards “it’s like having Michael Buble singing at your Carol Service.” Brilliant event organiser Amy Hartin sang in a quintet with Orchestra Conductor David Gibson on “Mary did you know?” with Sam Saunders singing beat box. And then there was an outrageous trumpet after party in the foyer as we left. I was extremely proud to be associated with such a knock out event and the true meaning of Christmas came through the words of the Carols and hopefully through my talk. I’m pleased to say that at the end, we had 36 people who told us they are not part of any church, nor part of CU, who prayed the salvation response prayer, and a further 27 people, also not church, nor CU, who didn’t pray the prayer, but did say they wanted to know more. I was delighted to stay with Adam and Debbie Jones who lead the UCCF team in the North West and who have done a superb job bringing people together in the city. I’m now looking forward to working with these guys for a week long mission to Manchester in Feb 2017.