Journey to the Olympics Mission

Posted 23 Jul 2012

Friday (20/July/2012) saw the arrival of 13 Americans who have come over to Brixworth to help our church (Brixworth Christian Fellowship) with the “Journey to the Olympics” mission; 15 events in 2 weeks… that’s a lot of work for a village church, but our local community of people are worth it.

My wife & I met the American’s (from Fair View Church, Mississippi) on Saturday morning, when we joined most of the rest of the church in putting on a Family Fun Day. We had a big marquee, free games, free food, free drinks & 2 free bouncy castles. It was a lot of hard work, but it was really worth it, as we had many, many visitors who came to join in the fun. I designed 6 different animal face masks, which children coloured in. We had a steady stream of “customers” all day. The American’s were brilliant help & the day was fantastic. We had to put away everything after the event, but even that was fun!

Yesterday we had a Songs of Praise event outside Brixworth Community Centre. We had the Salvation Army band playing, who were really good. To be honest, I thought they might be a bit “fuddy-duddy” & “old”, but far, far from it. Apart from having members of all ages, from teens upwards, there musical skill was outstanding & we were mightily blessed by them.

I joined the church’s drama group & acted out one of the “Wise builders” in a short mime drama of “The wise & foolish builders”, based on Jesus parable in Matthew 7. The American’s sang for us, & were brilliant. One of their number gave a really heart-felt personal testimony of what the Lord has done in his life, which was great. The whole event went very well indeed.

What has really struck me is the amazing answer to prayer we have had with the weather. It has been raining here in the UK for months now, but we have prayed about that & for all the various other aspects of this “Journey to the Olympics” mission. And then, on Friday, the weather started to cheer up. Sat & Sun (& today – Monday!) have had beautiful, sunny, blue sky weather – we really couldn’t have asked for anything better.

So… does the Lord God answer prayer? You bet He does!

The American visitors are down in London today sightseeing, before helping us to deliver all the other events (including Quiz night (Tues), Holiday Club for the kids (Tues-Fri) Ladies Pamper Evening (Wed), Golf Day (Sat) & Barn Dance (Sat evening.) They are doing DIY building projects at the Primary School & someone’s home in the village too… they really have come to get “stuck in” & help out in any way they can.

I hope all of these events help people to see that we Christian’s are regular, normal people, just like them, but who have found an extraordinary God, & the source of true life, peace & joy in this needy world. I hope people connect our desire to serve them (by providing these fun events) with a sincere parallel desire to show them that God is real & that He wants a life-changing, life-affirming friendship with them, just as much as He does with us.

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