There were about 900 people who attended the three services at Kerith Community Church yesterday. I preached on work from Colossians 3:22-25. Julia and our four girls came to the 11.00am meeting. It was great to have them with me.
My great friend Simon Benham paid Julia a very generous tribute when introducing her to the congregation, so that was very special as I’ve been away from home so much.
Doug Horley was doing the kids work for the 5-11s which Grace and Bethany went to, so we have even more Dougie-Dug-Dug songs to listen to in the car.
Amazingly we were all then treated to a trip to Legoland with Simon, Catrina and Alice Benham and also Ben & Beccy Oliver and their three girls.
It raised the question . . . would going on a rollercoaster immediately prior to the 7.00pm service improve the message? We will never know as my younger girls kept me on some low impact rides, though we did go in a submarine ride (seriously) called ‘Atlantis”.
The highlight of the evening service, was that even though it was not an evangelistic message at all, Simon went for a salvation appeal at the end and 7 people came out in response and stood on the stage next to him. I’ve never seen people respond so publicly ever before! I also had a great time chatting to Kerith’s youth pastor and evangelist Liam Parker http://www.kerith.co.uk/Groups/73957/Kerith_Community_Church/Kerith_Life/Youth/Youth.aspx
Then as I left I met the author of “The Locust Years” in the foyer. Her name is Jacqui Williams. It’s a famous testimony book of how she came to faith in Christ having been a devoted follower of Rev Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the “Unification Church”.
I also got some very helpful feedback from Ben Davies, who made an unforgettable impact on me when I first heard him as a visiting speaker in 1986. I remember him preaching on Galatians. It was so outstanding that I remember driving to Bracknell just after passing my driving test aged 17 to hear him speak at what was then “Bracknell Family Church”. They were meeting in a school at the time, because the Kerith Centre was being built. Ben is a great example of believing God and continues to be a great inspiration. He’s still going for it!