Flow Magazine – Issue 19

THE MAGAZINE OF THE

MESS AGE | ISS

015 UE I9 WINTER 2

ALSO | CARL BEECH | INTRODUCING ‘THE OAKS’ | NEW LIVE WORSHIP ALBUM | ...AND MUCH MORE

INSIDE: 8-PAGE HIGHER MANCHESTER PREVIEW PULLOUT

EDITOR: Alistair Metcalfe ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Ian Rowbottom DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION: Simon Baker Samuel Bloomfield Hannah Beatrice Prittie Bethan Wilson Matthew Varah Wilson Noun Project: Thumb by Justin Blake Radio by Emily Iles PICTURE EDITOR: Hannah Beatrice Prittie ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: Rachael Silvester Bigstock Prayer Storm CONTRIBUTORS: Carl Beech Andy Hawthorne Linda McKay

SUBSCRIPTION & SUPPORTER ENQUIRIES: E: info@message.org.uk T: 0161 946 2300

ABOUT THE COVER Lucy Speakman and Joe Barrett from BrightLine between takes during the recording of their first full-length album. BrightLine will be one of the headliners of Higher Manchester, along with Twelve24 and LZ7.

Interview: page 6

GIVING: E: giving@message.org.uk T: Timothy Emerton 0161 946 2328

CONTACT: E: flow@message.org.uk T: 0161 946 2300 flow – The Message Magazine Lancaster House Lancaster Campus Harper Road Sharston Manchester M22 4RG www.message.org.uk/flow

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NEWS: Including a preview of next year’s Proximity conference

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THE OAKS: Our new residential support centre, opening 2016

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MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: The story behind our live worship album

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HIGHER MANCHESTER: Special pullout feature and poster

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FREEZE YOUR HAND TO THE SWORD: Teaching from Carl Beech The Message Trust is a registered data user and only uses personal data in connection with its charitable purposes.

Registered Office: Lancaster House, Lancaster Campus, Harper Road, Sharston, Manchester, M22 4RG

THE BIT AND THE BRIDLE:

By Andy Hawthorne

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OUR COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT

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ANDY’S RANT

The adventure begins Dear friends, Excitement (and just a little trepidation!) is building as we move towards the first leg of the Higher Tour here in Manchester.

For the last few years we have been mainly focusing on what we often call ‘salt and yeast’ work – consistently pouring our lives into the last, the least and the lost through our prisons outreach, 39 Eden teams and our growing bus ministry.

More recently, it’s included the vital work of the Message Enterprise Centre, providing jobs, homes and support to our region’s most vulnerable young men and women. It can be slow and patient work, but it’s resulting in lasting fruit, as you’ll read throughout this issue.

We’re not backing down on any of that stuff. But as we’ve been sharing in the last couple of issues of Flow, we are now convinced that it’s time to do something that could be described as mission which ‘puts the lamp on a stand.’ That all starts in 2016 with the launch of the Higher Tour, the biggest youth mission for a generation, as we boldly proclaim Christ in dozens of high schools across the region, culminating in five massive nights at the O2 Apollo Manchester in March.

We are believing for a mission which results in a culture-changing number of young disciples.

Two things we are focusing on right now: • Our partnerships with local churches. We are committed to working together to train and support youth workers so there’s a seamless ‘baton pass’ and follow-up happens smoothly.

We also believe we have our best discipleship resources ever to place in young people’s hands.

• Covering the whole thing in prayer. As you’ll read on page 8, we are partnering on 40 days of prayer and fasting for souls which just happens to be taking place in the run up to Higher.

Please get involved if you can.

You never know, as we come together in unity, make mission the main thing, and pray like never before, perhaps God will see fit to draw multiple thousands of young people to himself. How amazing would that be?

Thanks, as ever, for all your partnership in this adventure.

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THE BIG PICTURE

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BRIGHTER THAN EVER

Missions team BrightLine opening for Twelve24 at their album launch on October 12 at The Ritz, Manchester. The band have been hard at work on their own new album, slated for release in the new year. They’ll also be one of the headliners of the Higher Tour Apollo nights in March 2016. Turn over to find out why lead singer Lucy Speakman is so excited to be part of it.

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YOU’RE THE VOICE BrightLine’s Lucy Speakman used to be ‘the quiet one in the corner’. Now she’s headlining Higher Manchester. The gospel has power to change lives – and that’s why Lucy is so excited about Higher.

Did you always dream of being a singer? Or an evangelist?

Neither, actually! I grew up singing because I’m Welsh and that’s what you do! But apart from singing with our church youth band, I was never that serious about it. That was until I came to Message Academy.

How did that happen?

Message Associates MaLoKai did an outreach weekend at my home church in Neath, South Wales. One of the guys asked me, ‘What are you doing with your life?’ and to be honest, I had no idea. They pointed me towards Academy and when I read about the course and heard the testimonies on the website, I instantly knew I wanted to do it myself. Even though it was in England!

Did Message Academy have a big impact on you?

It did, but I didn’t notice it as quickly as other people did. When I came back home for holidays, people would say, ‘Oh, you’re a totally different person.’ I was like, ‘Am I?’ I just hadn’t realised all that God was doing with me. At the start of Academy, I was the quiet one in the corner – now I’m singing to large crowds. Academy helped me find out who I really was. I learned that my story is worth telling, and that other people can benefit from what I have to share.

How did it come about that you joined BrightLine?

I was coming to the end of an internship where I’d been helping In Yer Face with the All Is Calm show, working with the Academy students and occasionally filling in for Katrine from BrightLine. When she sadly announced she was moving on, I was amazed to be asked to take her place. It all happened so fast – before I knew it, I was preaching the gospel at New Wine and seeing kids giving their lives to Jesus. I love it!

Are you excited to be part of the Higher Tour?

It’s going to be amazing. We’re going to see more kids in schools in one month than we would in a regular year. Thousands of kids will have a chance to hear and respond to the gospel at the Apollo. That’s going to have a powerful impact on this city.

Aren’t you a bit nervous?

Oh my days, yes! It is very daunting – there’s a lot of work ahead, getting new lessons and a whole new album together. It’s new for all of us. But we’re super excited for the tour. We’re headlining the Apollo... that’s amazing!

Higher Manchester kicks off in February 2016, the first stage of the nationwide Higher Tour. Turn to page 13 for a special pullout explaining all you

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need to know about Higher Manchester.

NEWS

P R O X I M I T Y Following a sell-out conference in 2015, the Proximity urban mission conference is back this May with another stellar line-up of speakers and contributors. Our advice – if you want to come, book in fast.

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several outstanding books to his name. His most recent, Choose Life, won the 2015 CBA award for Devotional Book of the Year.

Proximity 2016 takes place in Manchester at the Message Trust HQ on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 May. Weekend tickets start at just £22.50 (early bird price, if booked before February 28).

We’re also excited to welcome back Bill Hogg to Proximity. Bill works as the National Missiologist for the C2C Network in Canada, where he helps leaders and established churches think and act like missionaries. Bill’s sessions on leadership at Proximity in 2014 were some of our most well-received yet.

This year, we welcome evangelist and social entrepreneur Simon Guillebaud as our keynote speaker. Simon’s work with Great Lakes Outreach in Burundi is a powerful example of gospel-motivated social action in one of the world’s poorest places. He is also a popular author with

The conference will be hosted by Eden national director Sam Ward and there’ll be plenty of time for encountering God in praise and worship led by Jamie Hill and the Message band. Why not bring your team for a really refreshing weekend?

DID YOU KNOW? Sessions recorded at Proximity 2015 featuring Danielle Strickland and Ash Barker are still available for free download at: eden-network.org

FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS, VISIT EDEN-NETWORK.ORG

‘GOD’S HAND IS REACHING OUT – TAKE IT!’ Just before stepping out as our latest Associate ministry, Twelve24 joined Message South Africa for a ministry tour around Cape Town.

of you, and all you have to do is take it.”’ While there, the band also found time to film the video for new single ‘Nobody But You’, the latest release from new album From The Ground Up. More at twelve24.co.uk

Ryan, Christina and Josh joined a team including Message Academy-trained missions team KineticIV, for schools and prison visits followed by three packed-out weekend concerts. Many young people gave their lives to Christ following gospel appeals, says Beth Ann Bielik from Message SA: ‘To say transformation took place is an understatement. At Grace Performing Arts Center, Josh gave a testimony and said, “God has his hand reaching out to every one

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‘PRAY LIKE NEVER BEFORE’ CALL TO JOIN 40-DAY UK FAST Starting on February 10, 2016 and running through till March 21, The Fast UK calls Christians across the country to fast and pray for 40 days, specifically for salvation in our land.

It comes in response to a number of prophetic words given to leaders across our city in the last year and a feeling that we are on the cusp of a major move of God. ‘We want to stir the UK church to pray like she’s never done before,’ says James Aladiran from Prayer Storm, the organisation spearheading the initiative in partnership with

MESSAGE WALES IGNITES

The Message, UCB and others. ‘We are asking for a 40-day extra commitment to fast and pray for God to send workers into the harvest field.’

Significantly, the fast takes place over much of Higher Manchester, the biggest mission to young people in the city in a generation. We’d love all our supporters to engage with The Fast UK, especially with Higher Manchester in mind. More information at thefastuk.com

GOT TIME FOR A TESTIMONY? You only need a couple of minutes!

StoryBox is our online testimony store with mini testimonies from around the Message movement. Log on to our website and click on ‘Testimonies’ to watch the latest encour-

Message Wales launched with a series of landmark events in Cardiff back in the autumn.

September 24 saw a formal launch dinner at Cardiff City Stadium for 160 specially invited guests, including church and ministry leaders and supporters old and new. The next night brought the team to more familiar turf as Twelve24 and BrightLine lit up the first Message Wales youth event at Cardiff City Temple. A packed room heard Andy Hawthorne preaching the gospel and six young people gave their lives to Christ. And on Sunday, Wales beating England in the Rugby World Cup gave Andy a great platform from which to join national director Gary Smith in two local churches where challenges to support the new ministry and accept Jesus were both met with great responses.

Find out about our exciting plans for Message Wales at messagewales.org

aging stories of lives changed by God: message.org.uk

BODY LANGUAGE In June, Respect ME team leader Emma Owen had her body semi-permanently tattooed with negative and harmful words, to illustrate the lies that are spoken over this young generation. Emma raised money – and more importantly, awareness – for her vital work in schools.

‘Respect ME goes into schools to squash these lies and tell the biblical truth that our youth are fearfully and wonderfully made, bought at a price, worth everything to him, precious and beautiful!.’ respectme.co.uk

NEWS

WELCOME HOME Opening early 2016: The Oaks, a safe place for our MEC team members to put down roots and grow.

Just a short drive from the Message Enterprise Centre is The Oaks, a 12-bedroom house in Wythenshawe, Manchester. This autumn our MEC Building Services team has been hard at work refurbishing the house from top to bottom.

24 months depending on the individual. After an induction, courses will guide new team members into greater emotional stability and deeper faith in Christ. Life skills and coaching will help them become better stewards of their time, finances and relationships. Days will be carefully structured to allow for a balance of work, devotions, training and free time.

At the heart of The Oaks is a vision of a Christian community that both supports our team members they rebuild their lives, and blesses the local area.

‘We’ve already seen a lot of success in restoring individuals’ lives through the MEC,’ says Simon

That’s because from early 2016, The Oaks will offer a new home and support for young people as they move towards becoming MEC team members. Most we met in prison where, after hearing the gospel, they turned to Jesus and decided to leave their old ways behind.

Over the last three years, the MEC has helped over 20 of these young people through vocational training and jobs in our four businesses.

In that time fewer than 10% have reoffended, and over 70% are now in employment, either with us or elsewhere. Considering over 60% of prison leavers are normally back behind bars within two years, this is a remarkable result.

The Oaks will build on this success, offering a residential support programme lasting up to

Sullivan who, with his wife Jane, will lead the centre from the new year. ‘But the gospel is about more than our personal restoration – it catches us up in God’s project of restoring the whole world. We want more for our team members than to simply work through their issues and leave; we want them to be mobilised to serve others. Put simply, The Oaks is about moving our MEC team members from maintenance from mission.’

‘The Oaks is a place where those previously branded the burdens of society will become the nation’s blessings’ – turn over for a personal reflection from Oaks leader, Linda McKay.

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TESTIMONY

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ver the past ten years I have lived on three continents, preaching the gospel in over 20 nations and loving some of the most marginalised communities on earth. AIDS-stricken townships and desert border towns within an earshot of a warzone have been my home, and garbage dumps, refugee camps and red-light districts have been my office.

At the beginning of 2015 I was sitting on a rooftop in Jordan drinking coffee, when I felt Jesus calling me back to the UK. After almost two years of living and working amongst Syrian refugees it was time to ‘help sow seeds of Oaks of Righteousness’ in the UK. At the time I had no idea what he meant by that.

By that evening I had applied for an office-based job with The Message Trust, an organisation I knew very little about, but one whose vision I was willing to serve.

by Linda McKay

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Two hours after landing back in Manchester I was sitting in an interview. A week later, I was signing a contract. And in just a few weeks’ time I shall be starting out on my next adventure – moving in to The Oaks.

A little while ago, just around the corner from The Oaks, I hugged a homeless guy farewell after I had spent some time sitting in the rain chatting with him about a life plagued by tragedy and addiction. My heart was aching for the lost, the lonely and the hurting in this nation. We don’t have to look far to find them if we really choose to see. As I walked away I realised that I stank of stale alcohol. Strangely enough, it made me feel at home, much as the smell of burning rubbish did in Africa, or the tear-induced make-up stains all over my clothes after a night in a red-light district, or the pungency of an afternoon sat on urinesoaked refugee mats. This is where I belong.

With the hurting and the broken. It once again reminded me that if we want people to smell like us (and the One whose fragrance we carry), we need to be close enough that we walk away smelling like them. Their brokenness needs our presentness.

I have a substantial dream list for life. Number 22: Never let anyone feel invisible in my presence. So often, loving starts with choosing to see, and allowing ourselves to be inconvenienced for love’s sake. When Jesus commanded us to love, I believe he meant it. Much like our Eden teams, I have always taken a very incarnational approach to mission and ministry.

If you want to wage war on hopelessness you cannot just talk about the goodness of God, you have to demonstrate it. My ‘I love you’ needs to be more than just words.

Love – like Jesus – comes alongside the broken and says ‘I am here’. That is my inspiration in moving in to The Oaks: to come alongside the hurting, and in turn teach them to do the same. Who better to train up to release in to the community than guys and girls who understand the pain, but also truly know the hope there is in Jesus.

It is the place where ‘decisions’ for Jesus will become sold-out disciples for him. Families are places where we learn to love and be loved, where we learn to dream and feel safe enough to pursue those dreams without fear of failure or wont of compromise. We are wired for connection and in an atmosphere of love people flourish. We simply learn to be.

Love – like Jesus – comes alongside the broken and says ‘I am here’.

There is a beautiful paraphrase of Ephesians 4:15 in the Mirror Bible: ‘Love gives truth a voice and creates an atmosphere wherein growth is both spontaneous and inevitable.’

I truly believe The Oaks is a place where those previously branded the ‘burdens’ of society will become the nation’s blessings as they learn to truly live life with Jesus and for Jesus. I feel incredibly privileged that I get to play a part in their stories.

I don’t intend to call The Oaks work. I intend to call it home.

Help make a house a home We have set up an online ‘Gift List’ to fully furnish The Oaks in time for our opening in early 2016. Choose your gift at: www.message.org.uk/theoaksgifts

I am a firm believer in family and community. It is the home of transformation.

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NEW ALBUM

CAPTURING THE ‘MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE’ Missions Director and worship leader Jamie Hill explains how our new live worship album came about I remember many years ago hearing a song

by Matt Redman that began, ‘Let worship be the fuel for mission’s flame’. That song really stirred and challenged me about worship.

Worship which doesn’t lead me to give more of myself to God for his purposes is probably not true worship. Worship must lead to mission – there must be a point where we are filled to go, blessed to be a blessing, loved to be the love where there is none.

to start to find ways to give voice to what God is doing with and through us. Writers have started to write songs that have given that voice to this movement. For example, the song ‘Jesus, The One Who Saves’ is based on our touchstone scripture from Isaiah 43. It is everything we believed God called us to and continues to call us to. It has always been Jesus, and it always will be.

For us, worship and mission have always gone hand in hand. Andy made the decision early in the life of The Message to shut down all activity for one full day a month: to pray, to worship, to sit under God’s word and to be revived so that we could be sent. At the start that looked like four people meeting to pray and strum an acoustic guitar in someone’s front room. This month, over 200 people attended our Prayer Day in Manchester.

Over the last few years, I have had the privilege of journeying with an exceptional group of musicians to serve these Prayer Days and

If you bottled our Prayer Days, you would get this album. You would get these songs and prayers. You would get a sense of the worship life of a community looking to serve God and reach this generation for him. In this bottle you will find our passion and drive – it’s Jesus.

You’ll find our vision for our communities and young people – it’s Jesus. This is The Message in a bottle.

GET YOUR COPY! Order your copy of our new album with twelve brand-new songs recorded live at The Message. Available on CD from message.org.uk/shop priced at £10 (all orders include free P&P), or as a download from iTunes (search for ‘Message Trust’)

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HIGHER MANCHESTER: THE JOURNEY SO FAR LAUNCH NIGHT Sun 17 May 2015, O2 Apollo Manchester

YOUTH LAUNCH NIGHT Fri 20 Nov 2015 Audacious Church

YOUTH CONFERENCE Sat 30 Jan, 10am-4pm, Message HQ A special training and equipping day for youth workers and teams, explaining the mission in detail and how churches can work in partnership to follow up every decision made during Higher Manchester.

AFTER OUR EXCITING YOUTH LAUNCH NIGHT ON 20 NOVEMBER, WE’RE WELL ON THE WAY TO HIGHER MANCHESTER 2016. JOIN US ON THE NEXT STEPS OF THE JOURNEY...

PRAYER DAY/EVENING Mon 14 Mar, Message HQ We’re piggy-backing on Message Prayer Day – and praying on into the evening – right at the start of the Higher:Apollo week.

Keep this date free if you can!

PRAYER EVENT Thu 4 Feb, Message HQ Everyone’s welcome to join us for a night of passionate prayer to lift up to God the next few months.

OPEN UP FOR YOUR HIGHER MANCHESTER POSTER...

DISCIPLES NOT JUST DECISIONS… WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? Why are we putting such an emphasis on seeing disciples, not just decisions?

‘I see that hand!’

We all know that success in evangelism is most easily measured by how many hands go up in a meeting. We all love to see people responding to good news powerfully preached.

And of course that’s exactly what we dream of for the Higher Tour. At our Apollo events in March, we want to see thousands and thousands of young people making that crucial, eternity-changing decision to get to know Jesus.

mission is the true fruit of disciples. That’s why we’re committing more time, more resources and more prayer than ever into making sure that the Higher Tour results in disciples, not just decisions.

So how are we doing it?

We know that it’s going to mean working together with local churches. So all our energies are focused on linking local church communities to the young people reached by the mission. We are totally committed to being in step with the local church to ensure an effective ‘baton pass’.

This includes: • Supporting and equipping the amazing youth workers based in our region’s local churches through our Youth Leaders’

But that’s not enough. It’s never been enough.

Our job doesn’t end there. Sadly, we can all name people who made a decision to follow Christ in the heat of a powerful evangelistic meeting, only to drift away like dry ice from the stage.

There is no questioning their sincerity as they made that decision. But something stopped them from turning a jumping-off point into a journey. Instead of changing culture, they gradually changed their mind.

In the Great Commission Jesus commands us to ‘go and make disciples’. That’s because disciples are the true fruit of mission, just as

Network • Training and encouraging Christian young people across the city, starting with our Youth Conference on January 30 • Resourcing high quality ‘AAA’ discipleship resources to help youth leaders start the journey with young people (see overleaf) • The Higher Bible and Bible reading notes giveaway at the Apollo nights (see overleaf) It all comes down to this: unless we see true disciples born through the Higher Tour, we won’t see the shift in culture that we dream of.

Let’s make sure we get this right together, so that the end result of all this mission is real disciples – a generation of young people caught up in mission themselves.

THE LARGEST YOUTH MISSION

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THE AAA PASS: A PIONEERING DISCIPLESHIP RESOURCE

Pioneered in partnership with Light, the AAA Pass is a simple online course to help young people clarify the decision they’ve made and get started on a journey of discipleship.

Young people who make a response at Higher Tour events will be handed lanyards with a passcode giving them free access to the AAA course material on a computer or smartphone.

As well as music videos from the Higher headliner bands, the course includes step-by-step teaching from the Bible delivered by Lindz West and other top evangelists.

There’s no better way to help turn decisions into disciples, than by rooting young people in God’s Word.

That’s why we want to give every young person who makes a commitment to follow Jesus a special Higher Tour Edition of the Bible, containing the full New Living Translation text and specially written helpful introductory material.

In all, we aim to give away 5,000 Bibles in Manchester during the first leg of the Higher Tour. They will form part of a ‘New Christians Pack’ and be used as part of follow-up, as giveaways, and in schools.

A gift of £10 will allow us to place two copies of this fantastic new edition of the Bible in a young person’s hands. £50 will

mean we can get ten young Christians off to the best possible start.

Turn to p30 to make your gift.

THE BRAND-NEW LIVE WORSHIP ALBUM FROM THE MESSAGE

AVAILABLE NOW FOR £10 (FREE P&P) MESSAGE.ORG.UK/SHOP ALSO AVAILABLE ON

ACADEMY TESTIMONIES

‘God has been so faithful’ GEVONTAY, 19

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came on to Academy because God was on my case about it! While I was in college last year, I started getting involved in youth and student ministry here in Manchester and I loved it. I grew so much. I went on a missions trip to Romania and I learned that obedience to God is the key.

During the year, people kept telling me to get involved with The Message and God kept con-

Two of our new Academy students explain why they decided to join the course – and what God has taught them so far

firming it in different ways. But I still wasn’t sure – especially about the money. I didn’t know how I was going to afford the course fees and the extra costs. But I remembered what God had taught me and I trusted him.

Since making the decision to ‘seek first the kingdom of God’, he has just been so faithful to me, providing for me in supernatural ways.

It’s got beyond ridiculous how faithful the Lord has been in fact!

For me, the advert for Message Academy sums up exactly what I’m about – I want to serve God on both the stage and the street. It’s always going to be both for me. That’s why this is exactly the right place for me to be.

Applications for Academy 2016-7 are now open. If you’re 18-25 and looking to make an impact for God, apply now.

Start at message.org.uk/academy

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CHANTAL, 18

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ome of my friends went to Genetik Sessions and they invited me along.

I immediately enjoyed the vibe and loved getting the chance to do music production. I especially enjoyed working towards the showcases, writing songs and producing.

At the same time, I began to explore my faith.

It was a gradual process – there wasn’t one big moment. It was good to be able to talk to the various tutors week by week, asking questions openly, but not being pressured or forced into believing anything.

Academy was a last minute decision, but it was always a possibility because I’ve been around people from The Message for so many years.

The music element is important for me. But mostly it’s about the people – it’s a supportive community to grow in. The teaching is really interesting and thought-provoking. I’ve learned to talk to young people and to be more confident to be myself around them because if you’re not yourself, there’s no point!

It’s been challenging too. Leaving home for the first time was a big change for me. The days are tiring and being around people all the time can be intense. I’m definitely learning patience and to make sure I make time for myself. But it’s so worth it.

‘It’s all about the people’ Photography by fellow Academy student, Rachael Silvester

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TEACHING

by Carl Beech

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About three years ago I accidentally cycled over the Alps.

It all started while I was cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats with a mate. We were in Kendal in the Lake District having a pork pie and a cup of tea. The weather was awful on that trip and my mate said to me, ‘Oh, let’s do something better than this next year. Why don’t we cycle to the South of France?’ And I was so exhausted I said, ‘All right, mate.’

Now, when you’re a bloke and you shake hands with another bloke it’s like you don’t need to sign anything, your word is your bond. So it was decided. It was only later on when he said to me: ‘It’s going to be a bit tough isn’t it?’

I said, ‘What’s that?’ He went, ‘Cycling over the Alps.’ ‘What are you talking about?’ I shot back, ‘You said we were going to the South of France!’ He said, ‘Yeah, the Alps are in the way.’

I said, ‘Well you never told me that when you shook hands, did you?’

So we ended up doing a thousand miles and ninety-two thousand feet of climbing in eight and a half days. It was terrible. The whole thing just hurt, badly. On one training ride up a hill I thought I was doing really well and a butterfly went past me. I’m not joking – this butterfly pulled up level with me, spun around a bit and went off. That’s how painful it was.

Why am I telling you this? It’s not because I’m trying to look like a hero – that would be ridiculous. But here’s the thing epic bike rides and a few marathons have taught me – ministry is not a sprint. It is a massive, massive long-term job, and the more you discipline yourself and you get ready for the long haul, the better. The less you focus on the immediate thing that is going to give you the next buzz, the longer you’ll last.

Many at The Message are getting alongside people with very broken backgrounds – some of you have come out of very broken backgrounds yourselves. And what I’ve learned about trying to get alongside some of the people that life has really beaten up on is that you have to love them and love them and love them. And eventually a work of grace happens and they pull through.

Sometimes people crash again, and then what do you do? You love them and you love them and you love them. You go over the Alps with them again. And then you look back after 28 years and you think, ‘Flip, there were some hills there, but look where we are now’.

The Bible says that one of David’s mighty men ‘froze his hand to the sword’ before the Lord ‘brought about a great victory’. Another took his stand in the middle of the field’ and again, ‘the Lord brought about a great victory’ (2 Samuel 23:10-12).

You have to freeze your hand to the sword. You have to stand your ground. You have to learn from the people of the past like Wilberforce who spent his whole parliamentary career fighting slavery. It was only just before he died that the law started to change. There’s Wesley, who preached thousands of sermons – they reckon he did eighty thousand miles on his horse – probably a few horses to be fair.

He never let go his vision to see revival. There’s pioneering missionaries, people like Carey who went out to India to preach the gospel. He took his coffin with him by all accounts because he didn’t think he’d make it back.

Let’s learn to make the frustrations our friends.

Let’s choose to see the discouragements as opportunities. Let’s freeze our hands to the sword, and stand our ground. Because this thing we’re in, it’s a long haul.

There’s something about adjusting for the long haul that is so important when it comes to life and ministry, whether that’s being entrepreneurial and planning big events like the Higher Tour – or getting alongside people on Eden and the Enterprise Centre.

Carl Beech is Director of Church Planting for Elim UK and President of CVM. You can catch the full version of this talk on our Podcast.

Search iTunes or listen on our website: message.org.uk

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GRACE NOTES

The healing we seek from the damage that’s been done to us can only come through Jesus, writes MEC team member Scott Gorman

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ll my life I’ve struggled with addiction.

My father was an alcoholic, and his father before him. Growing up, there was always an unease about the atmosphere at home and I picked up on it naturally. I never felt like there was any stability in my life. Maybe that’s why I started abusing solvents at age 11 and stealing to fund my habit.

All my friends started becoming Christians and talking about God all the time. I fought it for a long while, but after a time I found I couldn’t deny that God seemed to be orchestrating things in my life. People said they were praying for me, and what they were praying for was actually starting to happen.

I also had my own experience of God in my flat

I was always passionate about music. It was an outlet for me, something I loved. I picked up a guitar and started playing when I was a teenager. But the drugs got in the way: I discovered that they helped me to open my mind, so I took a lot of LSD and hallucinogens, mind-altering substances. It all went horribly wrong, as it always does with drugs. I had a seriously bad trip that messed me up for years. It escalated to amphetamines and crack.

in North Manchester. One night God woke me up with a vision and I felt an amazing peace just fall on me. Soon after, I decided to go to church. I heard a sermon, and there was an altar call. I responded – and I meant it – but it didn’t last. Within six months, I was right back where I was, with a needle in my arm.

‘I’M SO GRATEFUL TO GOD’

I tried to break free and for years I was in and out of recovery. But nothing seemed to make any lasting difference. Things finally started to change while I was going through a twelvestep fellowship called Narcotics Anonymous.

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The turning point only came was when a Christian friend got hold of me, saw my situation and said, ‘I can get you into Victory Outreach but you need to come today.’ That moment I knew it was make or break – rehab was the only way I would get myself sorted out. I left everything behind – flat, car, everything – and moved into the Victory Outreach rehab.

TESTIMONY

It took years, and I’ll admit it was a chequered journey, but I graduated from the home and went on to help and serve there and in another Victory Outreach home in Ireland. I think I discovered a balance in my life that wasn’t there before. I’ve came to see that the things that I used to look for in the drugs were the things that only God can give me – a sense of belonging, a sense of family. Most of all, the healing we seek from the damage that’s been done to us can be given to us by Jesus, not through the drugs.

I’m so grateful to God that when the time came for me to leave Victory Outreach, an opportunity opened up with The MEC. I’ve been working with the Bespoke bike shop and getting involved in the life of the community here at the MEC. This is a grace-full, encouraging place. There is real discipline here but also space to make mistakes. I’ve been in a lot of recovery environments before and this is the most supportive.

We are all people who have encountered Jesus and seen him change our lives. And we want to share what we’ve found with others. So this

autumn a team of seven of us have started going into prisons around the North West to lead chapel services on a Sunday. We bring a band to lead worship – I play keyboard and guitar – and we all give our testimonies, one after another.

In the first prison we visited, we saw 27 people standing to respond to the gospel. One of our team, Cyril, was in that same prison himself ten years ago so his story was especially powerful. I was able to share my story too: about how God will pick you up every time you fall.

My message is grace: God has been so gracious, and restored me so many times, he could not but get my attention.

Thank you!

Your support in prayer and giving makes our ministry through the MEC possible. To find out more about Bespoke and the rest of the MEC businesses, visit themec.org.uk

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TEACHING

The Bit and the Bridle GODLY OBEDIENCE LEADS TO LASTING FRUIT WRITES ANDY HAWTHORNE

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Let me tell you what stopped two of the greatest strikers in their prime.

the scenes. And the bit and the bridle was put in. He never lived up to his potential. Thirty or forty years later, I heard him talk about this, lamenting ‘What if...? What if I’d listened to that old guy?’

Michael Owen was the youngest player ever to score a hundred goals in the Premier League – by eighteen he was Sports Personality of the Year. Radamel Falcao came from Colombia and was the fastest player ever to score a hundred goals in Europe. If you want to see unbelievable skill, just put Falcao’s name in YouTube and watch.

I live in fear of that, the little injury coming in. Everything looks fine – I’m still waving my arms at the front, I’m still preaching on the platforms. God hasn’t taken it all away, but there’s a little injury that means I can’t put the ball in the back of the net the way I used to.

There’s a bit and a bridle in there somewhere.

That was until they were signed to my team, Manchester United. Owen was 29 – he should still have been at the peak of his powers, but he couldn’t even get on the first team. Falcao was the same: still only in his twenties, he should have been banging them in every week the way he was for Atletico Madrid. But he just couldn’t do it for United.

You know what the problem with both of them was? They both had career-defining injuries.

For both, it was all about bursts of pace. After injuries, they just weren’t the same players.

At the top level, just a tiny handicap is all it takes to stop good being great.

One of the scariest talks I have ever heard was by a fellow evangelist who I won’t name here.

He was invited to preach in a massive arena in place of a very famous world evangelist, and God used him very powerfully indeed. Many, many people came to Christ under his ministry. He became this guy’s heir apparent and by all accounts he could have been the next big world evangelist. But then sin crept in. He went a bit too far with the ladies. He started to have a lustful spirit and got involved in some things he shouldn’t have.

Around this time, an old Pentecostal fellow came up to him and said, ‘If you don’t watch it, God is going to put a bit and a bridle in you.’ But he didn’t listen. He carried on with preaching on the stage but not living it behind

Maybe it’s not the kind of lust of the flesh that took our brother down; maybe it’s just a lack of forgiveness or bitterness. Maybe it’s just plain weariness in the work of God; becoming a bit chipped up and no longer able to go again in faith. Bit by bit, you’ve become less than the man you should be.

The book of Isaiah paints a picture of two types of people. There are the faithful ones – those that Jesus would hundreds of years later describe as those with ‘a good and a noble heart’ – who hear the word, retain it and by persevering produce a crop a hundred times what was sown. But there are also the rebellious ones, described in the first half of Isaiah 57 as a brood of rebels. So much of what we see in our nation stems from rebellion – lust and violence, worshipping idols – it’s all around us just as it was all around Isaiah.

But that’s not us. It’s not what we’re called to.

Please God, let us be a people who live your word in godly obedience and reap the benefits.

We need to be this people at a time like this, a time when I can see the dark getting darker and the light getting lighter, can’t you?

The Message Podcast contains fresh teaching from some of the world’s best Christian communicators including Andy Hawthorne. Updates weekly.

Search iTunes or listen on our website: message.org.uk

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THE CROSS SOUTH AFRICA CYCLE CHALLENGE In February, Andy Hawthorne and a team of 12 intrepid cyclists will embark on an eight-day, 850km epic journey along the southern coast of Africa in aid of The Message Trust. Starting in Port Elizabeth on the coastline of the Indian Ocean, the team will finish with a hero’s welcome at Message South Africa’s latest Eden project in the Nyanga township on the Atlantic coast in Cape Town.

The team are looking to raise £150,000 through this amazing fundraising effort.

Will you help pump up their fundraising? Visit message.org.uk/cycle to sponsor an individual cyclist or the whole team!

Included in their number will be Message Trust business supporter Nick Taylor (pictured right).

We met up with him to find out why he’s signed up to the cycle challenge of a lifetime…

Hi Nick – tell us how you came to be a supporter of The Message!

It was a good few years ago now! I used to be a youth leader in our local church and we were constantly looking for fresh things that would engage the young people. Somehow we came across a World Wide Message Tribe CD and we were blown away that something so modern

OPEN UP...

vent heart behind it. It’s easy to start something, to have enthusiasm but then to run out of steam.

But The Message isn’t running out of steam – it’s always doing new things. Jason Hooper, who we sponsored as an Urban Hero, just sums up The Message for me. God met him and transformed him, but it’s thanks to The Message that he’s had someone to walk alongside him. For all of us, growing up in Christ is a process. could also be so good for the kids. So when we heard about the Message gigs at the Apollo, we used to pack up this clapped-out minibus with youth. Every month, the kids always wanted to go. They loved it.

More recently, we came across The Message at New Wine. We were blown away by the way Andy spoke and his heart. We were also challenged about our giving personally. From that point I started getting involved with the Message Business Network, going along to events and sponsoring the Urban Hero Awards. Owning our business gives me the ability to support a little bit more.

What’s most inspiring about The Message?

I think it’s that 28 years on, there is still such a fer-

So why this crazy bike ride?

I’m asking myself the same question! My advice to your readers – if Andy Hawthorne rings you up, whatever he asks you, don’t say yes immediately! Tell him you’ll pray about it!

When Andy rang me up, I’ve got such a lot of respect for him I just said yes straight away.

And then I realised what I’d done.

No seriously, I’m really excited about it. I’m putting in the training miles because I want to enjoy it. I’m really looking forward to spending time with other Message supporters because we all have something important in common – we are all people who want to see God’s kingdom come, who are ‘part of the jigsaw’. I think it’ll be a really inspiring time.

...THE BIBLE FOR A GENERATION OF NEW BELIEVERS In March 2016, Higher Manchester will bring thousands of young people under the sound of the gospel for the first time. More importantly they’ll have a clear chance to make a response. But what happens next?

Together with local churches and youth leaders, we want to give every new young Christian an opportunity to clarify their decision, and put down foundations for faith that lasts the rest of their life.

We need your help to provide Higher Bibles, AAA Passes and other discipleship resources to young people who make the decision to follow Christ at Higher.

GIVE NOW Get behind Higher Manchester with a gift today and you’ll help make this a reality.

Please fill in the form overleaf to send your gift today.

Even better, join our vision to see a shift in youth culture through The Higher Tour by setting up a regular gift.

BESTOW A BIKE FROM BESPOKE THIS CHRISTMAS BRAND NEW RANGE OF KIDS’ AND ADULTS’ BIKES – VISIT US IN STORE!

WWW.BESPOKEMANCHESTER.COM

Spend a year with us and you’ll be trained and released to be all God’s made you to be, wherever he sends you.

INTERESTED? Apply NoW! Email Academy@message.org.uk Or Visit www.message.org.uk/academy