Tuesday 23 August 2011

Methodist Conference

While Roger and Annie were in Yardley and Digbeth, Helen was in Southport for Methodist Conference 2011 playing trumpet and singing in the band.  It was an amazing honour to be asked, and while it wasn't an official CMM event, it was a fantastic opportunity for networking.  At every Methodist-related CMM event since, there has been someone who was at Conference!  Hopefully in future our links with the conference may grow - perhaps a stand at the exhibition might be a good start...

Visit this link if you want to see a bit of what Helen was up to.

Rock in Yardley and Digbeth

At the start of July, Roger, along with Annie and Sarah, went to Yardley and Digbeth in Birmingham to take part in their performances of Rock.  The main organisers of the event included Anne Maddox, who used to work in the CMM office.

The choir, soloists, actors and dancers had been preparing for weeks, and all Roger had to do was to conduct the performances - although of course that's a lot harder than it sounds!  Annie and Sarah played their instruments, adding an extra dimension to the final performances over the weekend.

The soloists did an excellent job, and it was also great to see Jacob Maddox as one of the dancers.

It was a wonderful community event, and incredibly well attended.  It shows how useful a tool the musicals can be when churches get together to share the gospel in a way that is accessible and fun.

Monday 8 August 2011

Renewal Evening - Bishop Michael Whinney

On Sunday 26th June, we held the latest of our series of Renewal Evenings at Christ Church, Ward End.  This time the speaker was Bishop Michael Whinney, who has long been a friend and supporter of CMM.

This was the first time Roger has been missing for one of these services, so instead Helen led the worship with a wonderful team - Pat, Katie and Martin on vocals, Amy on flute and tenor sax, Miriam on clarinet, Dave on guitar and soprano sax, Annie on keys and Tim on drums.

Before Bishop Michael spoke, we were honoured to hear a testimony from Rev Walter Barrientos, who was a representative of the Anglican diocese of Bolivia.  He had a wonderful story of a miraculous healing from cancer, and he shared with us a little about the church in South America.

It was lovely to hear Bishop Michael, and he led into a wonderful time of openness to God's Spirit.  We all got into pairs and prayed for one another, which was slightly different to the usual ministry time, but it ensured that everyone was blessed and involved.  Annie led the music during the ministry time.