Monday 23 February 2009

... and a happy announcement!


I have been incredibly remiss in informing you all that Sally Jones and her boyfriend Karl Taylor are now engaged to be married. They hope to tie the knot in 2010. Our huge congratulations go to them.


A sad announcement...

We received this email from Carol Lawrence:

Just to let you know that Peter died last night at quarter past midnight on the morning of Sunday 22nd February. His health had declined all week until by the end he was sleeping all of the time and we had nurses coming in every morning and night to care for him. His breathing became difficult on Saturday and although the nurse gave him drugs to help this it didn't totally solve the problem. The whole family have been here at home since Wednesday and we have all been able to spend time with him. Amanda was sitting with him until midnight and then left him in the care of the Marie Curie nurse. 15 minutes later he stopped breathing.




Peter and Carol have played an incredibly important role in the life of CMM - particularly in introducing Roger and Mary to ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter and Carol were also instrumental in Roger's decision to go into full time ministry. Peter will be greatly missed, and all our prayers are with the family at this time.

Friday 20 February 2009

A week by the sea

On 8th February, despite heavy snow forecasts, Roger and Helen travelled to Whitby on the Yorkshire coast accompanied by Tim and Lydia Dock. It was Tim and Lydia's first time on team with CMM, although they have long been known to us through the Lee Abbey music week (where they first met - awwww). Tim sings the part of David on the most recent recording. We were joined by Mike and Barbara Rowarth, and Barrie Renwick.

The week was at Moorlands Hotel right on the West Cliff at Whitby, and it is one of the various Christian Guild Hotels we travel to every year. There were about 30 guests at the hotel, and quite a few people joined us from the local area. The week was based around the Torn Curtain.

Every morning we had a bible session led by Roger, and the themes were:
Approaching the Most Holy Place
Being in the Most Holy Place
Receiving in the Most Holy Place
Ministry in the Most Holy Place

Following these sessions Helen led rehearsals of the musical, and the small group of people gradually turned into a pretty good choir, with some excellent soloists - Kathleen, Amanda and Clyde the only guests outside the CMM team brave enough to audition!

The evenings were a variety of events including an evening with Helen based on Simon Peter, a praise evening, an introduction to Wholeness Through Christ from Mike and Barbara, and the performance/service/communion on the Thursday night. Our audience was perhaps a little limited because Whitby was cut off from the rest of the country by severe snow showers on Thursday afternoon.

Helen Drummond, local URC minister led the communion section of the Torn Curtain performance, and in a unique evening, Roger, Tim and Lydia accompanied the choir, while Helen conducted - the first music week ever without Roger conducting the final performance. I don't think people minded too much...

This comment was received from one of the guests:

Hard to think Whitby is already over a week away. It was a wonderful week
and I came home recharged. Thanks again to you Roger and the rest of the
team.

Thankfully the snow had melted enough for us all to get home the next day. Thanks to Moorlands again for hosting us. I hope we can go back next year.

Rock Staines

On the weekend between the Manchester and Birmingham Roadshows, a small CMM team travelled to Staines Methodist Church to lead their Circuit weekend. The weekend was themed around Rock, and they had a choir of 25 which had been training for a few weeks ready for our visit. The advance team were Roger, Annie, Helen and Anne, and on the Friday evening after a lovely meal with our hosts we had a rehearsal with the soloists in the Church Hall, preparing them for the hard work rehearsing and performing to come over the weekend.

On Saturday, the CMM team was augmented by Geoff, Alan, Sarah and Amy, and we had a day of Rock - incorporating choir rehearsals with teaching sessions and workshops. The teaching and workshops went very well, with plenty of ministry time and people responding to God's touch on their lives. And as the day progressed the choir built on the training they had already received and were ready to impress the circuit on Sunday night.

On Sunday morning the CMM team (minus Geoff and Alan) split up to attend different churches. Annie, Anne and Helen travelled with Lou Ashford (one of the circuit staff) to a special breakfast church, where a few people gathered together for bible study and worship over a lovely breakfast of cereal, toast and croissants. After this, they travelled to another church in the circuit for their morning service where Helen preached, and they led the song 'This is the Stone" from Rock with no music book whatsoever. Annie did a fantastic job playing it on the piano from memory!

Roger, Sarah and Amy were the other CMM team, and they took part in the morning service at Staines - Roger preached, and Sarah and Amy sang and played guitar and clarinet/sax respectively.

Then after lunch with hosts and a gentle start to the afternoon, we all met together at the church for a final choir rehearsal in place at the front of the church and a shared dinner before the performance. The performance was very well attended, and from the chatter afterwards, much appreciated. Well done to the choir and all the soloists. Annie, Helen and Amy had fun filling in all of the tour instrumental parts, and Sarah and Anne joined in with the choir.

All round, a great weekend.

Rock Roadshows

From the Rock Blog:

The first three Rock Roadshows have now been completed, and we're absolutely thrilled with them.

The days ran as follows:

Roger's first plenary session "I will follow you" looked at the call of the first disciples, looking particularly at story as told in Mark's gospel. The particular focus was on Mark 1:18, a short, yet very pithy verse: "Immediately they left their nets and followed him." You can guess Roger's three points - Immediately, Left their nets, Followed him.

The second plenary session "Prophetic Worship - Do you love me" was an interactive session enabling the delegates to develop their creativity in worship, and then to invite the Spirit to come and turn their creativity into prophecy.

After lunch, the group split into three workshops led by the CMM team. These were:
"This is the place" - receiving the power of the Holy Spirit
"The look of love" - receiving the look of love from Jesus
"Working in the Father's business" - using the gifts of the Holy Spirit

And then the final session of the day was "Feed my sheep - a Chosen People" - a general encouraging and building up session led by Roger, leaving time for ministry at the end. This looked at 1 Peter 2.

The first area choir to take the plunge was Manchester, and their day was held at Bamford Chapel in Rochdale. The choir, led by Walter Brisk, have been long-term supporters of CMM. There were 50 delegates, and a CMM team consisting of Roger, Annie, Mike and Barbara Rowarth (EBRG), Gill and Brian Johnson (EBRG), Jonathan Chappell from the Rock cast, and Barrie Renwick and Brenda Earnshaw from the Rock Touring Party. We had a CMM music group like no other - Annie on keys, Jonathan on his 12 string guitar and Brenda on flute.

Two weeks later we didn't have to travel far at all and held the day in Birmingham for the four choirs that made up the choir for the premiere. 50 people braved the snow and joined in the fun at Christ Church, Ward End. The team for the day included Roger, Mary, Helen, Helen's sister Miriam, Martin Fisher, Devon Brown, Jonathan Chappell (all from Rock Cast), Anne Maddox (Roger's PA), Alan and Sue Walker (EBRG), as well as the local CMM choir team of Pat, Linda and Denise. We also managed to force Rachel Walker to join in with the team too, rather than hiding at the back...

And then a week and a whole lot of snow later, the team travelled to Doncaster. Roger was supported this time by Annie, Gill and Brian Johnson (EBRG), Richard Harvey and Ann Steer from the Rock Cast, Amy Carter (instrumentalist) and Barrie Renwick from the Rock touring party. Over 70 people were at the day, mostly from the Doncaster and Sheffield choirs, although there were a couple of people from Hull.

A great time was had by all. Have a look at the CMM website for details of the Roadshows to come - the next one is in Crowborough on Saturday June 13th.

Catching up

After a few mad weeks catching up on office work, then being away from internet connection for a week in Whitby, it is now time to catch up on the CMM blog.

First thing to mention is the EBRG retreat at Shallowford House. Every year EBRG, the support group for CMM, go away for a weekend retreat to listen to God on behalf of the ministry, or to have some more training. This year the focus was very much on 2010 and beyond - what God want CMM to do post-Rock.

It was an excellent and encouraging weekend, with many words of knowledge and pictures from God to help guide and shape the ministry. We have a lot more thinking and praying to do, so watch this space!