Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

The Holyde Family (pastor’s family) and I got the amazing blessing of getting to go watch Charlie & the Chocolate Factory on the West End the other week. It was such a spectacular show! What made it amazing though was the fact that we were there because four of the members of the cast and crew are now our dear brothers and sisters in Christ that come to Bible study with us. Also, the fact that us just going to see them in the show meant so much and was such a blessing to them. 

These four are a few of the ones really eager to grow in the Lord that come. Liz (second to the left above) is Mike Teavee’s mother in the play, David (front center) is an Oompa-Loompa, Jack (back right) and Alice (not pictured) work back stage. Be praying for these guys as they are lights for Jesus in this theatre.

We got the extra blessing of getting a whole backstage tour with them afterwards, which was pretty amazing.

Covent Garden Study

We are seeing bright sparks being lit up for Jesus in Lion King, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Book of Mormon, Lost Boys and Body Guard. We have even started a class before the study on an overview of the Bible, how to really study it and then how to share it because so many of the people really are so eager and hungry to know the Word of God and grow deeper. 

A couple of the other girls and myself really have a heart for building deeper fellowship amongst the women outside of the study. So many of them are such brand new believers and really struggle with looking to the all the empty things of this world for fulfillment in ways only God can. Especially in the area of guys. They really need Godly women walking alongside them to see and be encouraged in what it looks like to live with Christ as our everything.    

Jesus Night

On the 2nd of Feb. we had our first, of what we hope to become monthly, Jesus Nights at Camden Guitars. After we had done our Christmas Eve service at the guitar shop, both the owner and we have been eager to do another event there. So we’ve started one Sunday night a month to do a worship night. We are calling it Jesus Night because we want to make it clear who we are worshiping. Especially in London this needs to be clarified as people would not automatically assume this is a ‘Christian’ thing and even if it was, sadly, it’s not assumed Jesus would even be a part of it. 

It was such an amazing night! Just like at Christmas Eve, we saw a lot of people come in off the street to listen and they heard the Gospel clearly preached and saw genuine worship and love for our risen Lord and Saviour. Out front on the street, during it, I got to talk to a lot of people about what we were doing. Some laughed and kept walking, some got mad, some stopped long enough for me to share the Gospel and some came in and stayed for some or all of the night. Also, several of the people from the theatres that come to our Tues study were able to come after their Sunday matinée shows and invite others with them.

A couple highlight moments of the night...Getting to share the Gospel with a drug dealer and pimp, Lexus, that is convinced he’s beyond redemption and no one on the dark corners of the streets can be saved. Told him how God is bigger, knows how to save anyone and that several of the people in our church are from those dark corners. Also, a media student from Germany who came in for the whole night and really impacted by it. She wanted to record and interview with me about what this event was all about for her to maybe use for a project. So I got to share the Gospel on tape for her.  

Women's Ministry

I am so blessed by the women in our fellowship that are so quick to love on each other and serve. It is especially cool to see how quick so many of the women are to pray for each other. At the beginning of Feb. we had another women’s breakfast at Lauren’s house. It was great to see some of the newer women come, excited to get connected.

As we head into this year, as leaders, we are really praying about how we can best challenge and encourage the women to personally grow in the Lord. Instead of constantly relying on others, whether that be teacher in our church, other authors, etc., to feed them the Word to see them reading the Bible on their own and learning to hear God’s voice. Lauren, Suzanne and I all have observed that though there is a lot of love for the Lord and each other there isn’t a lot of individual spiritual depth. We are looking at focusing more on getting women into the Word daily and being challenged and poured into more on a smaller group and individual level.   

2013 Christmas Eve Service

2013 Christmas Eve Service, a set on Flickr.

We were praying about what to do for a Christmas Eve service since the church building we rent was not available. The Lord opened up the door for us to hold it in a new guitar shop that a guy from our fellowship was just opening on the main street in Camden in the heart of all the markets and pubs. It was a cramped space and a kinda crazy idea but it was perfect for us. So with very short notice somehow we pulled it all together and it was unbelievably amazing.
About half the people that came were people right off the street that received an invite a little bit before or was walking past. God did some amazing things this glorious Christmas Eve and people received the greatest gift of all...Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
Right as it was about to start I was talking to a couple guys on the street inviting them in (see guy in Santa hat’s in pics). After pouring the last of their alcohol bottle into their cups they finally decided to come in. These guys ended up giving their lives to Jesus and truly walked out different.
Another guy I stopped as he walked passed happened to be this young guy whose one of the drug dealers a couple of us had shared Jesus with months ago. Others, didn’t come in but stopped long enough to share the Gospel with. All in all it was a spectacular night! God is so good!

November Update:

Missions Team from York

The first 10 days of Nov. we had a missions team from the Calvary Chapel Bible College in York come. I was in charge of planning and setting everything up for them so the weeks leading up to it and during I was very busy. It was exhausting but a blessing having a team here devoted to outreach. We were able to get posters up in the back stages of every theatre on West End for our Tues. Bible Study. They also did street outreach in both Covent Garden and Camden and treated the guys at the Uturn Rehab with an amazing breakfast. 

 

Trip to Scotland

To get a little down time and kind of to celebrate my 29th birthday I took a 5 day trip to Scotland. The trip was such a blessing and much needed after the team being here. I stayed with a good friend that is now a missionary in Scotland. It was a sweet time of fellowship, relaxing with no computer around, time with the Lord and some site seeing. It was fun to just switch into my ‘travel photographer’ mode and get lost in the amazing sites of the old cities. Hopefully sometime soon I may even sell a few pics from this trip as a fund raiser. 

Stationery Card

Stationery Card

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