Two Sisters at Rochdale

On Saturday 5^th March, Roger, Annie and Helen, along with Jonathan, Caroline, Ann, Devon and Martin travelled up to Bamford Chapel, a URC church in Rochdale, and the home church of Walter Brisk, conductor of the United Christian Singers.

UCS are a large choir from the Manchester area, and have been great supporters of CMM for over 20 years since they first began for the production of Mary Magdalene at the Free Trade Hall in the city.  Walter conducts the choir, and holds two rehearsals a week – one in the north of the city, and the other in the south, and there are about 100 choir members altogether.

On Saturday UCS hosted CMM, but advertised it as a workshop day open to everyone, so there were about 80 UCS members, but also more than 40 others present – a wonderful choir.  UCS had had some rehearsals, so they formed the backbone of the choir, but there were quite a few singers who were new  so we treated it as a scratch choir day.  Roger led the first rehearsal, and then Annie took the ladies and Helen the men for the second rehearsal.  Finally we put it all together before stopping for a wonderful faith tea, and then the performance at 7pm.  (I must not forget that the team were treated to a wonderful lunch before the workshops began!)

The performance went really well – the choir remained in the congregation pews and the audience sat around them and up in the gallery.  Caroline and Ann were Martha and Mary respectively, Devon and Martin were Lazarus and Jesus, and then Jonathan managed to be both ‘baddie’ parts all on his own!  Annie and Helen played their instruments, ably assisted by local techie Gareth who was in charge of the backing track and microphones.

The following day the team split up to cover two services – Roger preached at Bamford Chapel, and Helen preached at Brimrod Methodist Church.  This is an exciting development in CMM’s ministry, and it is wonderful to be able to meet with folk who aren’t usually part of the choir.  People often see CMM as just musicals, but in the local church situation we are able to bring in far more – teaching on worship and life in the Spirit particularly.

 

After lunch with our wonderful hosts we travelled home.  Thanks to Walter, Tony and all of UCS for hosting us – it was a wonderful day.

John Pye has added some photos and a writeup to the local deanery website: http://heywoodandmiddletondeanery.org.uk/homepage

Roger at Derby

On Thursday 3^rd March, Roger took a team up to a meeting of the Derby Crusade Choir in Mickleover.  The choir are shortly to hold a production of the Torn Curtain, and the choir leader invited Roger to come up and envision them about music and worship and using musicals in evangelism ahead of their performance.  Roger had a wonderful team – Ann, Carolynn, Yvette and Andrew.  The start was a bit hectic as Roger had left the beautifully printed running orders at home, but the team managed to make things happen!  It was great to have Carolynn and Yvette involved, and we hope to see them much more in future.

Previsit Time!

As we are not touring with Two Sisters and a Funeral in the same way as in the past, the call for previsits has been lessened.  But this week Roger had chance to take two of them – Leicester and Coventry.  As these venues are fairly local, we have been able to fit them in with mid-week performances, but that does mean we cannot spend an afternoon rehearsing with the choirs.  The Leicester performance has been organised and the choir trained by Alan Baum, and the Coventry performance has been organised by Olive Holtom and the choir trained by Paul Wood.  Previsits are always great fun – time to rehearse, but also time to share with the choirs some of the vision behind the musical.

A Weekend (not quite) off

When we’re not involved with any CMM events there is no let off!  On Saturday 26^th Feb there weren’t any official CMM gigs, but Roger was still busy.  He had a day at his own church, Christ Church, where the worship team gathered together, led by Pat.  Roger had been asked to speak to them about worship and structuring and leading praise.  Since Roger and Mary moved house, Pat has taken over the responsibility of worship pastor at Christ Church, so we pray for her in her new role – she’ll be great!

And then on Sunday Helen was busy preaching in her own circuit, Annie was involved in leading worship at her church, and Roger was preaching at Christ Church.  Roger particularly had a pressurised morning, as a local Imam was due to attend the service and find out what Christianity was all about.

Finally on Sunday evening we held the next in our series of renewal meetings in conjunction with Christ Church.  The speakers were Rosie and Tim Bunn, from a church in Norwich, but also heavily involved with New Wine.  They were there to talk about ‘Treasure Hunting’.  This is an exercise where a team would meet in a town centre, and pray together, before filling in a ‘treasure map’.  This map is really just a series of questions such as:

1. A location

2. A person’s name

3. A defining characteristic such as article of clothing

There were 6 or 7 questions on the sheet, and after waiting on God for 3 minutes, the team each would answer them – and then go out into the town looking for their treasure.    God has done some amazing things through this ministry, and a team of people from the renewal evening were due to be going out the following Saturday.

Before and after Rosie and Tim spoke, CMM led worship – we had a huge group: Roger on keyboard, Tim on drums, Annie on viola, Sarah on violin, Christine on flute, Amy on clarinet, James on guitar, Helen on trumpet and horn, and Martin, Katie and Pat on vocals.  It was great to worship and minister together.

Two Sisters in Staines

It was a delight for CMM to travel back to Staines in February.  Two years ago we had visited the Methodist Church in Staines for a Rock weekend, performing the musical, but also including some Holy Spirit workshops.  This time they invited us to bring our own soloists, and they had fewer rehearsals in advance.

The CMM team was Bill Carpenter - Lazarus, Phil Griffith - Jesus, Alyson Ottaway - Martha, Helen - Mary and Kaye Cooke - various solo bits.

Despite the fewer rehearsals, Roz Sendorek had done a wonderful job with the choir, and they sounded absolutely brilliant.  We had a wonderful time rehearsing with the group.  Helen and Roger took sectionals - Helen spent a lot of time with the men working on the two 'baddie' songs.  One of the baddies was John Izzard, the minister of the church, and that led to a lot of laughs!

On the Sunday morning CMM led the morning service alongside John.  It was a lovely morning, and God really blessed us.  Helen led some worship and Roger spoke about the 'More than' God.  It was great to have Phil jamming away on the organ in the worship!  At the service we were amazed to be joined by a young man who had flown in to Heathrow from Zambia that morning.  He had looked online for the nearest church, and walked all the way from the airport to Staines.  After the service he walked back again, and got on his flight home to Helsinki.

The performance went really well in the evening, and there was a really large audience, which was great.

A fantastic weekend - thanks to all at Staines for inviting us!

Jerusalem Joy at Arddleen

The Saturday after Lindors, Annie took a team to Arddleen right on the Welsh border for Jerusalem Joy in a day.  Annie has travelled to this village several times over the years and led a series of musicals in a day.  Her team consisted of Andrew Lockwood (Jesus), Barrie Renwick (Pilate and assorted others), Helen (Herod and assorted others).

There were a lot of people gathered when we arrived ready for what Annie had put in her programme as 'Team Meeting'.  Once it had been explained, they all understood that it meant just the CMM team!  There was a lovely buzz and vibe around the place though, so people had a hot drink and enjoyed chatting.  A large group had come up the road from Welshpool for the day, deliberately for a taster ahead of their Greater than Gold day with Annie in September.

The choir were excellent, as they should be in Wales, and we were also joined by an oboeist and a guitarist, which really added to the performance.  Helen played a little bit of flute and french horn too.

In the week before, EBRG had prayed about this event, and had some interesting words of knowledge and pictures.  Annie was very brave in her talk to the choir, and shared the words with them.  One of them in particular was claimed, and it was a real Spiritual high-point in a wonderful day.

Andrew and Barrie sang really well - and particularly Barrie, who managed to lay to rest a bad experience of singing the part of Herod at Rhos on Sea a few years ago!

A Week in the Wye Valley

In February we had our first music week of the year.  This time it was a music in worship week, similar to the week at Whitby last year, and it was at Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavel's on the Welsh border.


The team for the week was Roger, Mike and Barbara Rowarth, Helen, and in a real treat for Helen, her two sisters Deb and Miriam, with some wonderful support from Deb's husband Jon and their daughter 18 month old Bethan.  We had no phone signal for the week, so Helen sent email updates to EBRG each night to let them know how it was going.  Here are some edited highlights:


Day 1:
The journey down to Lindors was fine - only an hour and a half.  There's about 20 here for the week.  This evening Roger got them all to share about what they do worship-wise, and what they are expecting from the week.  There aren't any who are just here for a holiday - they are here to learn, and to experience more of God, which is fantastic.  We have several musicians, several who are trained worship leaders in the Methodist Church (which basically means they are trained to lead the rest of a service apart from the sermon), we have a group from a parish in the Lakes (Roger led their weekend away two years ago, and last summer Annie went with Martin Cavendar to lead it - they are really hoping to learn about leaving space in worship for the Holy Spirit), and then we have three Welsh pentecostals who love worshipping.


Day 2:

Had another good day at Lindors. 

 

One of the members of staff has her mum living nearby, who has been to a couple of our Lee Abbey weeks.  She rang her mum, who after being assured she would be allowed, has come to every session today!

 

Wholeness Through Christ Visual Aid

The first session this morning seemed to be well received - it didn't really lead into any ministry, but was just a kind of overview about being a worshipper.  Roger will get down to some of the nitty gritty from tomorrow onwards.  The workshop was fun - people were very happy calling out answers, and even though Roger went very off topic and ended up missing out half of the session, it was a good (God) digression and I think people received a lot.

 

Mike and Barbara led a Wholeness Through Christ introductory evening, which seemed to strike a chord in quite a few people, so hopefully it has set the tone for the week and they will follow up by asking for prayer.

 

Day 3:

A quick email tonight as I'm typing on my phone...


Miriam led worship really well, which was great. It isn't a tough job though as everyone here is up for it!

Deb and Bethan

Roger's session on Mary went down really well- he majored on the bit about being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. In the workshop that followed  stuck to his plan :-) and got them all thinking about how they would lead a praise block. They are all very willing to join in.


Mike and Barbara had 3 prayer ministry appointments this afternoon, and also had one very deep one yesterday. Pray for stamina and strength for them.


This evening was good fun. I got them all singing delirious songs and thinking about evangelism. Deb and Jon did a really funny sketch too.

And Miriam!

Day 4:

Another late night email from my phone.

This morning was an interesting session. Roger spoke clearly and uncompromisingly about demons and the power of praise and worship in demolishing strongholds. The tricky thing was that some people who were day visitors and new to us picked this session to turn up. Roger could easily have softened the message, but he didn't, and God really blessed the session. Not many are receiving prayer at the end of the morning sessions, but plenty are seeking out private prayer ministry at other times which is good.

Mike, Barbara and Roger all were involved with prayer ministry this afternoon. 

This evening was very special. Roger led the evening and shared quite a bit of his story, which included some hard things about grieving. A lot of people were really touched.

Day 5:

Last update!

Had an excellent final day.  Roger spoke about Peter and the mount of transfiguration - we have to allow God to take us up the mountain in worship, and then allow him to take us down again ready to minister wherever he puts us.  Obviously there was a lot more to it than that, but you get the gist.  At the end we simply spent time in God's
presence - again, not a lot of ministry needed, but people were very open to receiving.

The Holy Spirit workshop went well - everyone got into groups and had a go.  There was even a spot of healing, so praise God for that.

The evening was very special. We had a long time of worship, and then Roger spoke about worship that transforms.  We shared bread and wine, and then Mike and Barbara prayed for everyone and anointed them
with oil.  There was a tremendous sense of love and unity within the group.

Christian Dance Ministries

A new and exciting venture has been brewing for some time - Christian Dance Ministries.  Sally Taylor (formerly Jones!) has gathered together a wonderful group of dancers from various places, including the Wildfire and Rock tours, and some girls from Sally's gap year with Springs.

Over the past few months they have been meeting regularly, and putting together a presentation of a number of dances to take to different churches.  They have also included a couple of workshops with local dancers to encourage them.

So far they have held three presentations in aid of cancer research - one at Christ Church Burney Lane, another at Nuthall Methodist in Nottingham, and one at St. Andrew's in Barnt Green.  There is one more to come on Saturday 26th March at Selly Oak Methodist.  Call CMM if you would like more details.

The presentations have been wonderful, with a mixture of comedic and poignant dances, and a few songs and instrumental links interspersed between them.

Please pray for Sally and all of the dancers as they begin to think about their future and seek God for what he has in store.  They are a wonderful group, and their performances are both spectacular and thought-provoking.

Lunch in King's Heath

On a Friday back in January, Roger, Mary, Devon and Helen went to a church in King's Heath.  They had invited Roger to come and speak at their regular lunch meeting.  There were quite a number of people there, and the lunch was wonderful - lovely soup and bread followed by various puddings and cheese and biscuits.  This lunch meeting is for anyone who happened to be available, so there was a big mix of people present, including the son of the organiser, who was off school having hurt his foot.

Roger shared about using musicals in evangelism, which gives plenty of opportunity to share CMM's vision and aims, and sing lots of songs.  Devon was well known to the group, so it was lovely for him to sing and share with them.