Re Magazine

Re

BUILT ON A SOLID

FOUNDATIONDominic Yeo talks about the

success of his Singapore church

RELAUNCH Movement’s not stuck in a rut God’s in the business of relaunching Reigniting a fire in your heart

John Partington The TV presenter who gave the authorities the needle

Gary Rucci What does it take to become a visionary?

February - March 2012Issue 1

RhydianRoberts

X Factor star reveals how he found peace

during the show’s final

online

Re Online is the official magazine of Assemblies of God GB

Editor in Chief: John Partington

The purpose of Assemblies of God is to give every man, woman and child the op-portunity of understanding the gospel and to provide a church where they can grow and develop in ministry for the glory of God.

Re Online is published by Assemblies of God Incorporated, PO Box 7634, Nottingham, NG11 6ZY. Tel: 0115 921 7272 Email: [email protected]

Publishing agents: New Life Publishing CoWrite to: Re Online, PO Box 777, Nottingham, NG11 6ZZ. Tel: 0115 824 0777 Email: [email protected]

All content is copyright and must not be repro-duced without prior written permission from the Editor. Submitted articles are subject to editing. By submitting articles you accept this to be the case.

Features

LAST WORD with Andrew Smith

GiRL POWeR With Kate Kent

Regulars08

2520 LeADeRSHiP DOC

Dr John Andrews answers questions about leadership

03Pastor Dominic Yeo will speak at the AoG leadership conference 2012, and explains what he’s learned from running a church

BUiLT ON A SOLiD FOUNDATiON...

14AOG National Leader John Partington looks at a letter from American TV presenter Ben Stein about White House ‘holiday trees’

GiViNG THe NeeDLe TO THe AUTHORiTieS

09History’s pages are loaded with examples of inventors and pioneers. But what does it take to become a visionary asks Gary Rucci

CASTiNG AND CARRYiNG

13While waiting to hear of his fate on hit TV show The X Factor, Rhydian Roberts found peace from worship songs on his MP3 player

i WAS WiReD FOR SOUND AT AUDiTiON

ReContents

Editorial

Welcome to Re Online! I don’t know about you, but if there is

one thing that I enjoy immensely it is new things. New clothes are always nice to wear, buying a new magazine or book is always enjoyable, and not so long ago I bought a new car – what a thrill and pleasure that was!

Of course, we are now a cou-ple of months into a ‘new’ year, and I guess many of those resolu-tions are already broken, or, at best, sorely tested. How quickly the newness of our promises or commitments fade and end up left on that mountain of good intentions. But let’s make 2012 our best year ever by promising to pray more, read the Bible more and do the work of the evangelist more by witnessing about our faith in Christ and what he has done for us.

Today however, I am thrilled to announce that the production of our magazine Re is being commu-nicated and presented in a totally new and exciting way.

Older people, like myself, sadly may have preferred the ‘printed paper’ format, but nothing stays the same, and with each new generation fashion, cultures, aspirations and even countries change to reflect the present day trends. It is exactly the same with our official Assemblies of God magazine – without change it would have become a dinosaur

with an ever-decreasing reader-ship. But we’ve gladly created something new. Still full of news, articles and relevant up-to-date information, the NLT (National Leadership Team) is determined to not get stuck in any rut, and therefore offers to all who go to our website, the opportunity of freely reading this great, in-house magazine. Yes, I like new things, and I like this new format, even though it may not sit easily with me or my generation.

In Revelation 21:5 Jesus de-clares, ‘Behold I make ALL THINGS new , and salvation is described as the ‘new’ birth. Jesus himself declared it when he said, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ By far the greatest ‘new’ thing I have ever experienced was the ‘new’ birth, and my earnest prayer is that each of us rises to the challenge of sharing our faith with those who are still outside the family of God.

Be encouraged and blessed, and I trust you’ll soon get used to reading our fellowship magazine in this ‘new’ format. Last month I assured you this publication would contain much more than the previous style, and you must be sure to check our new website, www.aog.org.uk for extra news and information on what God is doing in our Movement.Your Friend, John

17Believers should be gutted for the gospel and be willing to move wholeheartedly in their quest for souls, says Tim Roberts

GUTTeD FOR THe GOSPeL

22The modern church leader does much more than preaching on a Sunday but, says Ian Watson, ask God to increase your capacity

WHiCH HAT ARe YOU WeARiNG TODAY?

13 22

ISSN 2049-2014

aDvertise in Re Online – contact Stephen Russell 0115 921 7272

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S ingapore could well be called the land of the mega-church, and

Dominic Yeo’s Trinity Christian Centre is one of the largest of them all. With a regular, growing attendance of 6,500 people weekly, 1,000 of whom are lay leaders, Dominic is well versed in handling the unique pressures of success.

‘By God’s grace I lead one of the largest churches in Singapore,’ he says. Whilst he’s clearly reliant on the Al-mighty for the astounding effect of the church he leads, Dominic is also well-informed and clearly aware of what it takes to run such a large organisation.

‘In every denomination in Singapore there are a couple of mega-churches above 4,000 and a couple of independ-ent churches in the 10,000 and above range. Looking at it geographically, it looks huge compared to many other countries,’ he concedes.

‘But I think one of the reasons is historical, in that Singapore has been the recipient of missionary efforts in

the past. And I think, because of being beneficiaries of that experience, the Singapore churches have had really strong foundations, enabling us to grow the way we have, keeping to the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

‘I think the other reason is be-cause of the redemptive purpose and gift in Singapore. I must say that the churches in Singapore, particularly the mega-churches, have been able to corporatise the church.’

While this may seem a controversial claim, Dominic is not about to back down. Having accepted many would shun this concept, he explains, ‘Most people have kept to the position that the church is an organism, not an organisation, but I think the true view is that we ought to be an organised organism.’

Whatever one believes about the tension between the organised and the organic, it’s clear for all to see that Dominic has hit on a formula, which has found favour and raked in some serious crowds. For Dominic, how-ever, it’s been a case of clear intent. ‘People from all walks of life come into

Pastor Dominic Yeo will be speaking at the AoG annual leadership conference this year. Re Online caught up with him to find out what he’s learned from running a large church in Singapore

Built on a solid foundation

'Most people have kept

to the position that the

church is an organism,

not an organisation'

http://www.trinity.net/aboutus/leadership/

the church,’ he explains. ‘Predominantly, historically we have been ministering to those in the lower income group. But as the gospel reaches out to the larger frame of humanity, we find the corporates com-ing into the church. When they come into the church and they see that it is not well organised – first impression counts. That impacts their faith as well.

‘The bigger churches have learned this lesson and we have learned to corpo-ratise. We are helping other churches to grow as well in the sense of bringing corporate order into the life-stream of the church, to organise it with the leadership giftings therein.’

Whilst Trinity Christian Centre is clearly seeking to make an impact across the classes, they’re very keen to retain their strong social outreach element. ‘What you will find is that most of the people who come into the church now are of the mid-dle and upper middle income bracket and they support the church. As a result of the finance that has come into the church, it has been able to become a testimony of contribution to the community. A lot of these people see it as a philanthropic positioning, but we are just fulfilling the social gospel.’

With many people, though, come many problems! While AoG Singapore has cast off its historic ‘poor church’ tag and is now able to make more of a difference to those in dire financial straits, the burden of success could well weigh heavy on Dominic’s slight shoulders. ‘People say the mega-church means you have mega-resources, but it also means you have mega-problems,’ he laughs.

‘One way of coping with the demands of a growing church is learning to take time out for personal retreat to hear from God so that we can continue to be a prophetic mouthpiece. I think that is demanded of us.

‘I think another thing is that as the church grows in stature, there is an ongo-ing evolution in the organisational struc-ture. We must not be afraid to restructure and recalibrate for greater growth. Our structure either strangulates or our struc-ture releases for greater growth.

‘In this sense, there’s a need to restruc-ture into a team ministry from a point man ministry, because the institution of God remains long after the man has gone. I think the demands of a growing minis-try mean you need to bring people into the right place to form teams and not be afraid to bring stronger leaders on board.

As leaders of growing churches, we don’t have all the necessary skills, so it’s impor-tant to bring the right core competencies together to compensate.’

Dominic’s relentlessly driven approach to maximising his effectiveness as a leader has seen him snapped up as the new leader of AoG Singapore in addition to his ‘day job’ at Trinity Christian Centre, and that adds another element to the impor-tance of his team. ‘My concept of team ministry is that everyone has the ability

to speak into the formation of the idea and take ownership of the process for the implementation of the vision,’ he says. ‘The other part of team ministry is to do with the fact that the congregation cannot see me as the only leader.’

‘What if I’m hospitalised? What if I’m away? There must be others on the team who are seen as clear leaders who can stand forth and speak. Here in Trinity, I’m not the only preacher. I’m one of a team of preachers. Everyone recognises me

4 cover contents

as the lead minister, but they see the strength of the team around me.

‘The third dimension of team ministry has to do with mutual submission. This means that if one member of the team has been assigned the lead in a specific area, the rest of us submit to him. People can see that we give respect to the one who is leading. We are not hierarchical.’

When it comes to keys that he’s picked up along this unusual ministerial

path, Dominic’s focus is dominated by one thing: listening. ‘Number one would be to ensure that I really hear from God,’ he says with disarming simplicity. ‘Num-ber two would be take time to really listen to people.

‘I think if we’re here to be servant leaders to serve the Master and the peo-ple, it’s very necessary to take time to hear them. The problem with us strong leaders is that we tend to know where

Leisure Centre

Dominic’s taste in novels is thoroughly legal: ‘John Grisham, Robert

Ludlam, judicial or covert CIA. I enjoy movies – science fiction. I listen to a very wide range of music from

classical through to gospel.’

Dominic preaching at Trinity Christian

Centre in Singapore

contents cover 5

we are going and we want to implement it without thinking that there are people

around us who might not know where we are going and taking the time to

hear them out.’It’s a recurring theme among

many leaders that we each need to hear the voice of God for our-selves, but Dominic is very practi-cal in his outworking of this rather

mystical suggestion. ‘God speaks to us in many, many different ways,’ he

begins. ‘For me one of the predomi-nant ways is for me to go away on a three

day retreat just by myself. During my time away, I will feel a certain direction, or a

certain message for the year and I’ll write all of this down. When I come back I’m still hearing, but it’s important to make sure that I’m hearing correctly and so I submit this to my leadership team. These are my key ministry pastors.

‘At Trinity we have 66 pastoral staff and I submit what I have heard to four of them. These four form the senior pastor’s office in our leadership structure, and I submit to them what I have heard from God. Very often there is a resounding, “Yes!” because it resonates in their hearts. If there is no sense of resonance then we take time to pray through it.’

From there on, vision at Trinity is shared with the pastoral staff, and then the congregation. Dominic is not afraid to be wrong though, and feedback is solicited from the wider pastoral staff as well. ‘Sometimes, it is not that I did not hear correctly, but it is a matter of timing,’ he explains.

‘The folks will say, “We are not sure that this is good for the now”. So in a sense I have learned that it’s not just God speaking to me: God has to speak to the team, because we are in it together. That

helps me to navigate the mystical “hear-ing the voice of God,” thing. We want it to come into a practical system because God is a God of order and there should be affirmation and confirmation.’

Proving himself a master of understate-ment, Dominic mentions in passing that he also ‘happened to be elected as the General Superintendent of AoG Singa-pore’. Having completed a one-year term initially, he has in fact been re-elected for another two-year run and also serves as the general secretary of the Asia Pacific Superintendents’ fellowship.

What with the mega responsibilities of life at Trinity, taking on responsibility for a Movement was never likely to be a bed of roses, but Dominic is quick to point to his team’s efforts in releasing him to serve. ‘By God’s grace, Trinity has got a very strong pastoral as well as ministry gift team and the church board and the congregation have made a decision col-lectively that they will release me to do what is needed to help the AoG move to the next level.’

Meet the family‘I’ve been married to the same woman for the last 24 years – Chin Inn. I met her very many years ago in church and I’m just head over heels about her. We’ve got two kids – Natalie who is 20 and studies psychology and applied drama and my son, Matthaeus is 16 years old and doing his Cambridge exams this year.’

that’s oddWhen you ask Dominic what the strang-

est thing he’s ever eaten is, there’s a pause. ‘That’s a tough one,’ he replies eventually. ‘I’ve been to about 40 countries and eaten some

strange stuff. One of the ones I remember was steamed rice worms from the paddy fields.

They look greeny-blue and I remember biting into them and out comes the

juices!’

'We've 66 pastoral staff

and I submit what I hear

from God to four of them'

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contents cover 7

http://www.aog.org.uk/index.php?option=com_eventbooking&view=category&Itemid=212

Saying is true: nothing's new under the sun

GIRL POWER

I ’ve heard it said so many times, ‘When was the last time you did something for the first

time?’ That’s all well and good, but sometimes I think, ‘Why do we always have to be looking for the new?’

Why do we have to constantly have our brain juices creatively dripping? Why can’t we just reinvent the wheel and dupli-cate some things that have already been created or optimised by others? Surely if something’s worked in the past – and worked well – can we not just try and bring it back again?

And that’s when God whispered into my spirit and said... ‘Kate – sure you can!’

Now I don’t know about you – but that came as a revelation to me – it was like a breath of fresh air! I don’t know what kind of job you do? Office work, manual, nurse or full-time mum? But in the season I’m in, I work for Re Online and run a con-temporary church, and in both settings it can often feel as though I always need to be on the lookout for the next new thing, the next big story, the next creative wave, the latest technology, the most up-to-date video clip to show or the most current ‘hip’ worship song to sing etc. But I’ve actually come to realise that some-times this is just the enemy strategically throwing some distraction techniques my way which takes my focus from keeping the main thing the main thing! Because you know what? We don’t always have to

be grappling for new ideas... sometimes what’s worked well in the past is just as good and current and funky enough for the now!

The wisest man who ever lived told us in Ecclesiastes 1: 8-10, ‘All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new?” It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.’

Many companies go through relaunch initiatives. Just recently Marks and

Spencer decided to open a flagship store in Paris – some ten years after they quit trading there; Oprah Winfrey is said to be preparing a $15 million relaunch for her struggling television network; the CBeebies website has just done a relaunch and so has our very own Re Online in this new format.

Why not take some time to think about, reflect and ponder upon those areas of your life that you possibly need to relaunch yourself in? Perhaps it’s time for you to do something you’ve done before instead of trying to invent something

new? As women we go through plenty of seasons in life and as they come and go we will, from time to time, find ourselves having to face a relaunch, which simply means we find ourselves having to start again or set something in motion again or make something available again.

It could be sorting out our shape after pregnancy and seeing the relaunch of a wardrobe as we slim back down to what we looked like pre-baby weight; or it could be that all your children are now at school which sees you relaunching yourself back into a career you may have taken a break from; or you may feel that God is calling you back to a ministry area you used to head up or be a part of, and for some of you, it may even be relaunch-ing a relationship, be it with friends, fam-ily and/or God.

Whatever it may be, God is the God of second chances – he’s in the business of relaunching us every time we mess up and say sorry, and if he can give us another go time and time again, I think we should be able to give some things a go that we may have thought were dead and buried.

When I used to run a youth group we took our young people through a 28-day HABITS course which was an acronym for Hanging out with God, getting some Accountability, memorising the Bible, getting Involved in the church, sharing our Testimonies and Studying the scriptures. What a timeless principle – I think it’s time we brought it back! Happy relaunching.

It’s good to make changes, but sometimes we need to return to the proven and successful aspects of life, says Kate Kent

'God is the God of second

chances... he's in the

business of relaunching'

8 cover contents

http://www.the-rock.org.uk/Who-s-Who/kate-kent-senior-leader.html

Casting

and

Carrying

The power of a well-articulated and compelling vision is undeniable. History’s pages are loaded with thousands of examples – pioneers, explorers, reformers, authors and inventors that have shaped the world. But what does it take to become a visionary? Gary Rucci explains

contents cover 9


God wanted to accomplish in Jerusalem grew in clarity within Nehemiah’s heart. Are we really aware of the needs in our communities? Are we casting vision that is disconnected from the realities of the community in which we live?

Someone once described vision as ‘foresight with insight based on hindsight’. Strategic vision appreciates the historical journey of a community, is acutely aware of their current situation and can see what the possibilities are for them in the future.

Vision is a clear mental picture of a preferable future. It is describing and de-claring what a person, people group, com-munity or nation can become. When Jesus met Peter he wasn’t Peter the rock, he was Simon the reed. Abram the exalted father became Abraham, the father of many. Ja-cob the deceiver became Israel the Prince with God. God is the ultimate optimist, he always sees our potential.

What future do you prefer for your community or city? Have you described it, clarified it and written it down? The prophet Habakkuk was instructed by God to ‘write the vision and make it plain on tablets, so that he may run who reads it’. Please note vision attracts followers and progress comes to those who have articu-lated and clarified what their vision is.

We often wrongly think that God only speaks in big picture terms; that he is vague in describing his plans for us. This is a misconception. Consider the intricately detailed instructions given to Noah for building an ark, to Moses for preparing a tabernacle and to David for the construc-tion of the temple. It’s true God is creative, mosaic and panoramic in language, but our God is also accurate and detailed, nothing escapes his attention. He is not just a God of the ‘what to do’, but also the ‘how to do’.

Vision lifts people’s eyes off today’s realities and points them towards tomor-row’s possibilities. Your vision should inspire people to greatness, to see beyond the mundane and mediocre and to moti-vate them to think higher and go further. It should add a Kingdom perspective to their daily life. It should have enough clarity to inspire them to take immediate and inten-tional action.

If you read the next two chapters of Nehemiah you will witness strategic leadership at work. People were posi-tioned, teams were built and resources were released. He clearly articulated a way forward for everyone. That’s why the walls were rebuilt in 52 days. Not because he was prophetic, but because he was strate-gic. As we cast vision for the future of AoG

R esearcher and author George Barna describes vision as a ‘clear mental picture of

a preferable future’. Visionaries are seers. They see past the circumstances, beyond the horizon and into the future. They look through a lens which has a kingdom autofocus, continually imagining what could be if God were in control.

I have been constantly instructed and inspired by the story of Nehemiah. We can learn some valuable lessons about casting vision from the first two chapters of this ancient book.

Vision starts with dissatisfaction

Nehemiah was deeply and profoundly affected by what he heard and saw at Jeru-salem. All visionaries respond passionately to a cause, a crisis or catastrophe. When David the young shepherd heard how Goliath was threatening the future of his nation he cried out in defiance, ‘Is there not a cause?’

Vision often begins with the inability to accept things the way they are. The visionary leader is angry at the status quo and finds it hard to accept the acceptable. Consider Wilberforce and his fight against slavery, Luther King Junior and his fight for equality, or Mandela and his fight for freedom.

Most visions manifest themselves as solutions to problems, improvements to life and breakthrough innovations that benefit a multitude of people and leave a legacy for generations to enjoy. In this regard vision has been described as ‘the solution to the problem that everyone else has learned to live with’.

We cannot accept the irreligious trend away from Church and the rejection of Christianity as being normal and accept-able. As disciples and leaders we cannot be satisfied with dwindling numbers and decreasing churches across our country. Great Britain needs Jesus! The statistics paint a grim picture of the moral state of our society. May we again be provoked by

what we hear, impassioned by what we see and pushed out of our comfort zones by what we witness.

Vision is God given

True vision is birthed in you by God through prayer. Seven times in the first two chapters of Nehemiah it makes reference to him praying. Moses went to a mountain top to receive his vision, Habakkuk to a watchtower, Jesus to a wilderness, Peter to a rooftop. We all need to find that place where God imparts vision into our hearts. God-given vision is redemptive by nature. It seeks to buy back

and reclaim what is rightfully God’s. All divinely inspired visions are in some way linked to God’s master plan of rescuing the world. Nehemiah’s vision was much more than rebuilding a wall; it was re-establishing a nation. Israel was ordained and commissioned by God to be a light to all nations. It is through these people that God would eventually introduce the Saviour of the world.

Tommy Barnett, pastor of First As-sembly Phoenix and leader of the Dream Centre in Los Angeles, said, ‘When a vision is in synchronisation with God’s eternal plan it succeeds.’ However, many vi-sions fail to reap results because they are rooted in personal ambition rather than kingdom advancement. Many leaders are giving first class allegiance to second class causes. Their vision is too self centred, too small and too safe to inspire followers or attract the favour of God.

Vision grows in clarity

Nehemiah surveyed the broken down walls of Jerusalem. He analysed the situa-tion and sought God for a strategy. What

'Vision is a clear mental picture of a preferable

future. It is describing and declaring what a person,

people group, community or nation can become.'

10 cover contents

GB, we must be strategic. Vision without implementation is nothing more than a noble intention. It must demand action and buy-in from all of us. It will require sacrifice and effort.

Vision is incarnated

All visionaries embrace and embody the change they want to see in their world. They not only speak it but they model it. Visionaries take personal responsibility for the cause they are promoting.

I am convinced that nothing changes in the world until someone takes the issue personally. Someone has to take owner-ship, count the cost and intentionally bring about positive change. In this regard Jesus stands out as the supreme example. He alone came to seek and save the lost; not to condemn the world but to save it from sin. His sacrifice is the pivotal point in his-tory and altered the eternal destiny of humankind.

We cannot divorce ourselves from the chaos in our communities. We cannot sit on the periphery Sunday after Sunday pre-tending to care or merely verbalising our concern. We must engage our communi-ties and demonstrate the love, kindness and forgiveness that comes with knowing Christ. We must model for them what the kingdom of God looks like and what our communities could be if we embraced his master plan.

Incarnation is the most powerful form of communication. When God wanted to show the world what he was really like, he came from the heavens in human form. He was incarnated; he put on flesh. Likewise, we must incarnate the message of Christ to our communities. I love the way Eugene Peterson renders the verse in John 1:14: ‘The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood’.

Vision is not just slogans and rhetoric. It’s about words and deeds. It’s more than intentions; it’s about actions. Whatever hopes and aspirations we may have about the future of our churches in Great Britain, it is not enough to pray, preach and pro-gramme – we must model the life of Christ to our communities.

Vision is cast

Vision is powerless unless it has been propagated. How can vision help anyone if it’s hidden in a filing cabinet, or on a wall down a corridor or worse still, inside a heart? Vision must be communicated to those it is meant to help. The various methods and mechanics of vision casting

are well documented. It is not the aim of this article to speak on that. However, whatever methods are employed there is a universal principle in vision casting – it is consistent.

It is consistent with God’s plan. It is not changing year by year. It has legacy and longevity of influence in mind. It is consist-ent with the season you are in. Everything works in seasons. Therefore our priorities in any given season can change without losing sight of the vision. And finally it is consistently communicated. Not just on ‘vision Sunday’ at the beginning of the year, but all year long, it is declared.

Without a vision people perish. Ameri-can Helen Keller said the only thing worse than being blind is having no vision. Let’s give our communities our vision of a pref-erable future.

'Vision without implementation is

nothing more than a noble intention.'

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http://www.matterseyhall.com/

http://www.matterseyhall.com/

star talk

X -Factor star Rhydian Roberts put God on his iPod – and went on to hit the big time.

The Welsh singer calmly tuned in to a worship song as he waited off set to hear if he was going through to the finals.

Despite the pressure of having a TV camera in his face, Rhydian, 28, says he cared more about God’s decision than Dannii Minogue’s verdict on his perfor-mance.

‘I just thought, “It’s no big deal; I’m get-ting judged by a mere mortal. It doesn’t matter,”’ he says.

‘I said to God, “You love me; that’s all that matters. That means more to me than anything else. I don’t want to do this if it isn’t your will.”’ Rhydian says he and

the other competitors were told to wait in a corridor and listen to their iPods so they could not hear the reaction of the person who went to meet the judge.

‘I had a praise section on my iPod and thought I’d listen to that,’ he adds.

‘So I just sat there having this time of prayer – you can watch me on the replays when I was called and Dannii said, “You’re through to the next round.”’

Since his success on The X Factor in 2007, Rhydian has clocked up huge record sales, enjoyed sell-out concerts including one at the Albert Hall, and has starred in a number of West End roles.

He has recently set up a charity helping children in Africa.

But whatever he does on any stage across the world, the classically trained singer has one simple rule – Jesus always

comes first. He adds, ‘What I notice is that when you really connect and give every-thing to God, it is then that he answers your prayers. He really does, because I have felt a huge amount of joy.

‘I feel blessed when I consider what he has given me. Jesus is my hero. I want to be like him.

‘Before I became a Christian I wanted to rip people’s heads off. I would even say, “I hate that person”, but I don’t say that anymore. My faith makes me act differ-ently. I love them instead.

‘But I’ve realised that I’m never going to be perfect. As humans we all fall short.

‘But what’s amazing about Jesus is that he was a human who was perfect. He served others. He was compassionate and humble. He could talk to everybody. I’d like to be like that.”

Wired forSOUND

While waiting to hear of his fate on hit TV show The X

Factor, Rhydian Roberts found peace listening to

worship songs on his MP3 player

contents cover 13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HEGOmx4Krg&feature=relmfu

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas trees as ‘holiday trees’ for the first

time last year, which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein (inset above), to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries, including Great Britain, as it does to America.

Perhaps it is time that more Christians took their pens in their hand and wrote some hard-hitting letters like this. As the well known saying goes, ‘It only takes good men to remain silent for darkness and evil to increase.’

Let us once again become a ‘voice’ into our communities, cities and even the country. A dying world demands that we speak out, and our Saviour commands that we do!

John

PS: Perhaps we could start by forwarding Ben’s letter to everyone we know, including newspaper editors, civic dignitaries and politicians.

Giving the authorities the needle!❛

My confession... I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish, and it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit

up, bejewelled trees, Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way? Where

14 cover contents


did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebri-ties came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little dif-ferent. This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was inter-viewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman he is, I believe he has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us his blessing and his protection if we demand he leave us alone?’ In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings etc, I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare – she was

murdered; her body found a few years ago, complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then some-one said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neigh-bour as yourself... and we said OK.

Then Dr Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little person-alities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem – Dr Spock’s son committed suicide. We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said okay.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘We reap what we sow’.

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but

question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene ar-ticles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?Funny how when you forward this mes-

sage, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what a bad shape the world is in.

My best regards, honestly and respectfully

Ben Stein

Giving the authorities the needle!

The White House’s decision to call Christmas

trees ‘holiday trees’ sparked

a forthright response from

Ben Stein, pictured far left

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GUTTED FORTHE GOSPELBelievers should be gutted for the gospel and be willing to move wholeheartedly in their quest for souls, says Tim Roberts

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• C S LewisBrilliant communicator

• John Stott‘� e most respected minister in the world’

• Benson IdahosaSpiritual colossus who toppled witchcraft

• Katharina� e lady who learned to tame Martin Luther

• Oswald SmithSpiritual outpouring

• Derek PrinceHow a healing miracle led to faith in Christ

PLUS Top scientist argues that faith is rational

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http://www.watfordcommunitychurch.org/seniorleadershipteam.html

I t had been just a week or two since my wife, Helen, and I had stepped into senior leadership

here at Watford Community Church. The sense of inadequacy and uncertainty was immense; overwhelming enough to inspire some very early morning prayer walks around Watford ‘doing a Nehemiah’ and surveying the walls of the town we’d been called to serve. I remember sitting on a cold brick plinth before dawn at the foot of Watford High Street praying, listening... wondering.

As I prayed I heard an almost audible heartbeat, a slow thumping pulse. Under the streetlight I began to write in my journal about what I heard; it must be the heartbeat of the Lord, his love for the town, something like that? But as I listened some more, I sensed the Father prompting me to consider the heartbeat of the town. What he revealed to me was the blood-flow of the people of Watford and the pace was slow, laboured and struggling. I remember praying with tears, a knot in my stomach. God cares deeply about the health of this place, the destiny of these people, and he wanted me to share his care that my town was dying. The Father’s

heart is broken for the heartbroken, and in that moment in 1998 he wanted to share that concern with me.

Over the last 13 years of leading here I confess to have served with various levels of compassion. Sometimes I have been overtaken with interest in the internal workings of the church. Other times I have become over occupied with an ever lengthening list of complex pastoral con-cerns for people who know enough of the Bible to live differently and yet they don’t. And all the time, my community is labour-ing for spiritual breath.

My indifference was profoundly inter-rupted during a prayer meeting a few years ago. As we prayed I saw two patients in hospital gurneys. One had a team of people around him conducting cosmetic surgery, aided by expensive monitoring equipment, surgical expertise and coop-eration. In the other gurney I saw a patient suffering a heart attack, thrashing around on the bed, alone, unattended, gasping for breath. And in this vision I tried to help the dying man recover, crying out from the depths of my gut to the medical team to pay attention to this urgent catastrophe. ‘Help him!’ It was a truly distressing vision of the sinful disregard of the plight of the lost.

How can we ignore those around us and do nothing about their need? As James

writes, ‘Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it’ (James 4:17).

The question to us all, today, is this... will we continually allow ourselves to be gutted for the sake of the gospel, moved in our innermost being with compassion for the communities we serve?

One of my favourite Greek words is ‘splagchnizomai’, not only because it is so tricky to pronounce without spitting – clear the space in front of you and then say ‘splankh-ne-zo-mi’! – but because of the intensity it carries to describe the feel-ings Jesus had for the lost and the broken. So often in the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life we see him described as experienc-ing ‘splagchnizomai’. What does it mean? It means, moved with compassion. It describes a turning of the bowels, a twist-ing of the internal organs, a deep sense of sickness so strong that it moves the sufferer to action. Jesus was often ‘gutted’ by witnessing and feeling the suffering and need of others, responding to alleviate that pain with a miracle of deliverance, healing or provision.

You see, the difference between pity and compassion is distance, and following in Jesus’ footsteps means to feel what he feels for the lost and broken around us and be moved into positive action, up close and personal, to alleviate their

18 cover contents

hunger and need. One of the profound examples of Jesus’ compassion for the multitudes is in Matthew 15:32-39. Here Jesus is moving into ministry amongst the non-Jewish community and after a three-day campaign of signs and wonders in the wilderness Jesus gathers the 12 around him and says, ‘I’ve got that knot in my stomach again, guys… these people are going to faint if we don’t give them food to eat.’

Jesus was moved with compassion by the hunger of the people around him. He expected his disciples to do something about this, and asks for them to bring all the food they can find. Matthew explains that they found not only the bread Jesus asked for – seven loaves – but some small fish as well. They brought all they had found, not one hidden loaf was left in the crowd. And what they had gathered was enough to feed the 12 for sure! How tempting it might have been for the hun-gry disciples after days on the sun-baked hillside to tuck into what they’d found.

But no, Jesus’ compassion requires us to give our all to him, everything we have, for a miracle of multiplication. In this instance Jesus thanks his Father in heaven for the open handed submission of the people and then involves his disciples in the distribution of enough food to satisfy 10,000 hungry gentiles. What strikes me

about the account of the feeding of the 4,000 gentiles – compared to the accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 Jews – is that Jesus has to point out the people’s hunger. He gathers his men and says, ‘Look, can you see their need, that their journey ahead is endangered? I feel for them.’

So what about you and I today, where we are called to live and serve? Do we care enough about the hunger of our communi-ties? Do we see the need? Are we gutted at the sight and thought of the spiritual, physical, educational, emotional and relational starvation around us? There is a harsh reality to the world we live in today – hunger surrounds us. If you are living in a place of poverty maybe that hunger is a physical need for food. In other places it is a hunger for a home, a starvation of peace, desperation for dignity, a pining for purpose. Either way, sin has a grip on mil-lions of hearts and they long for Jesus, the bread of Heaven. They need to tap into the endless supply of the Saviour and it is our joyous privilege – if we are willing to work with him – to distribute the delights of the Father’s abundance. To rephrase Edmund Burke’s famous quote, ‘All that is required for evil to prevail is for Jesus’ men to do nothing.’ Perhaps you are a believer

who often prayer walks your community to hear what Jesus is saying about the people he died to save? Maybe you’re already involved wholeheartedly in reaching the lost, whatever the cost, and moved by Jesus’ compassion for the many. If so, be encouraged and allow the Holy Spirit to share with you even more the depths of his love for the hungry.

However, you may be reading this aware that too much of your life is like the medics around that cosmetic surgery patient, doctoring up what isn’t broken, making your church or ministry a bit shinier, better organised, as if polishing up what isn’t tarnished. May the Lord convict us that while we fiddle with trivia our com-munities are gasping for the breath of God. They are facing a lost eternity without Christ and their starvation will be eternal without him.

I pray that Assemblies of God GB might be a Movement moved with compassion! I pray that every church member, elder, minister and missionary would live every day gripped with the love of Jesus for oth-ers. In obedience to him alone, as we bring him everything we have, may we share in miracle after miracle of supernatural provi-sion for our villages, towns and cities.

Gutted? I hope so.

The question to us all, today, is this... will we continually allow ourselves to begutted for the sake of the gospel, movedin our innermost being with compassionfor the communities we serve?

contents cover 19

Repurposing your church is a challenge

I believe God is asking me to repurpose our church but I don’t know where to start. Can you help?

To repurpose anything can be a challenge, so it must not be a journey undertaken lightly. It’s important long before we go public with any desire to repurpose that we have done the hard work in private in prayer, planning and preparation. Ad-dressing the following issues will help to make a start.

Why do you want to repurpose? It’s important that you are able to answer this to yourself and to those close to you, because as soon as you put your vision out there, someone is going to ask why? Why do we need to change? Why are we going in this direction? Why not just stay the way we are? Followers will ask these things of us, not because they are bad or against us, but because they want to know that we know why we are doing it and asking them to join the revolution. So do you know why?

What are you repurposing to? Anybody can dismantle, but not everyone can build. Anyone can say what’s wrong with an organisation, but not everyone can fix it. If we are going to dismantle, change or move away from our current position, we need to offer our followers a better alter-native. It’s not necessary to have every detail of every step, but it is important to be able to see clearly the next step and maybe a few others after that.

Who is going to help you achieve it? We can’t always lead such change alone, so

who is going to help you? Identify those with a heart like yours, initiate a con-versation with them and invite them to help you make the journey. Get the right people in the right place and the journey will be far easier!

How are you going to do it? The more we are able to lay out a clear and achieva-ble strategy for our followers, the quicker we will help them move. Long journeys are made up of short steps, and it’s our job as leaders to show what the steps are and help people take them.

As a leader, what do you do when you’ve been praying for a member of your congregation to be baptised in the Holy Spirit for years but they still can’t speak in tongues? It’s important that we encourage every believer to be filled with the Spirit as an essential part of life and witness as a Jesus follower. For me speaking in tongues remains the best initial evidence that a person has been filled with the Spirit, even though I would concede it’s not the only one. If someone has been seeking the Spirit for a while but doesn’t speak in tongues there are a number of things we can consider that might help.

Patience not pressure – take the pres-sure off them so that it doesn’t dominate. Don’t let it become the focus of the jour-ney. Help them to concentrate on spiritual routines, service opportunities and friend-ship connections. Ask for help – some-times bringing someone in from outside

the church can be a key, especially if they are confident in this area of ministry.

Ask them not only to pray for the person, but to also assist you. Learn from them and in an environment of trust, invite them in to minister to the person or the church – it just might work.

People are telling me I need to have a thicker skin because I take the loss of church members very personally. How can I toughen up on this issue?It’s one thing to develop a thicker skin but we must be careful not to develop a thicker heart.

Over the years as a leader I have discovered that certain things can be reconciled and worked out and other things are tensions which need to be man-aged. When people have left the church I lead I’ve tried to help myself by asking and answering the following questions. Sometimes by myself, sometimes with the help of good friends and leaders. So here they are:

Why did they really leave? Deal in facts not fiction!

Was there anything I/we could have done to help them?

What can be learned from this experi-ence as both a leader and a church?

Having worked through these ques-tions I give myself permission to move on. One thing I’ve learned over the years, I can’t afford to go AWOL even though oth-ers do... life goes on!

LEADERSHIP DOC

John Andrews answers more of your questions in this month’s column

20 cover contents



LEADERSHIP DOC

contents cover 21

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Which hat are you wearing today?

22 cover contents

‘Which hat are you wearing today?’ ‘You’ll need to put

a different hat on to deal with this situation’ and ‘How do you stay sane with all this stuff?’ are just some of the comments and questions I frequently get asked due to the fact that I live and operate in a number of different roles to fulfil the different ministries I am involved with.

This is something I have done for many years, but over this last couple of years it has grown in its intensity.

In earlier years of ministry, in the day of district councils and regions, my

ministry included involvement in church planting teams, executive teams and

regional superintendency etc. How-ever, in these past couple of years

another level of ministry has kicked in. The roles I have been involved with over recent years include:

1. Leading the Bridge Church in Bolton with a great

team which I have done for the past 21 years.

2. For the past 10 years I’ve been part of the World Ministries team oversee-ing missionaries in different parts of the world such as Africa North and Western Europe, whilst more recently I’ve enjoyed being the right hand guy to leader Dave Russon overseeing area directors.

3. Serving on AoG’s National Leader-ship Team and board of directors in the role as assistant to the National Leader, and also helping co-ordinate the move to make Mattersey our National Ministry Centre. These roles also lead to involve-ment in Mattersey’s Senior Leadership Team and being part of AoG’s finance team.

Then, more importantly than any of these, I have to stay busy at keeping a good family life with my wife Sue and three special children who are mainly not at home now. It’s interesting that I haven’t particularly gone looking for any

of these roles – I suppose it’s more like they have come looking for me. Some people do believe that you don’t look for leadership but it seeks you out.

Also, I am aware that often people want the role, title or authority of leader-ship but not necessarily the responsibility. The fact is, authority only comes with responsibility.

Sue and I have authority over our children because of our responsibility, but occasionally we have been on holiday and left them with friends who immediately had responsibility for them and automati-cally had authority over them – it was delegated from Sue and I.

It’s difficult to answer the initial ques-tions regarding the hows and the process of moving from one role into another. In fact, I don’t see them as different hats or roles but simply getting on with life, doing

what I can to help wherever possible and giving my best to each function using the knowledge, wisdom and skills that I have learned over the past 30 years in church leadership.

Of course, you need to:• Be well organised.• Plan your time well. Someone once said, ‘We all have 24 hours in each day so our days are like identical suitcases, however, some pack more into them than others.’• Operate with honesty and integrity – doing the right thing, and authenticity – doing what you said you would do!• Not be a man pleaser otherwise you will tie yourself in knots trying to keep everybody happy.• Not allow yourself to be manipulated by controlling people or close friends.• Avoid politics.• Realise everyone else has an opinion as

well as you, and that there can be more than one right way of doing something and more than one right answer. I do like to prefix my comments quite often with the words, ‘In my opinion’, because that’s what it is.• Do your best to deliver what you promise.• Ask God daily for wisdom.• Do your best to keep yourself healthy, in other words... eat well, sleep well, take breaks and holidays and don’t make excuses for them when you do!

Obviously, there are many other con-siderations I have had to make in order to be able to address all the roles I am involved with, but a key concept that I do sincerely believe in is the need to con-stantly ask God to increase my capacity.

Most of the stuff I do from local church to national roles I could have never envis-aged myself doing knowing my natural make up, demeanour, personality and character traits. However, God chooses to use who he chooses. In the Bible there are many non-obvious choices and appoint-ments. I have come to firmly believe that if we ask God, he will increase our capac-ity to take on what we once couldn’t. In my own case, I have seen my capacity very obviously increase which has clearly been an ongoing miracle.

A couple of years ago I was privileged to be shown the flight simulator of a Har-rier Jump Jet. I was then allowed to sit in a classroom where the future pilots were being taught. I was told that the instruc-tors could quickly assess which pilots would be capable of flying the Harriers. I asked the question, ‘Was the determining factor the speed of their reactions?’ and was promptly and very clearly told, ‘No! It’s all about their capacity; their capacity to do all the other stuff in air combat at the same time as flying the jet.’

For all of us in church leadership with its many challenges, demands and pressures, when it seems you can’t take, handle or cope with any more, then it’s always a good time to ask God to increase your capacity. I can guarantee if he’s done it for me then he can do it for you.

The modern church leader does more than preaching on a Sunday but, according to Ian Watson, the key is to ask God to increase our capacity

'God chooses who he wants to. In the Bible there are many appointments that are not obvious...'

contents cover 23



24 cover contents

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NEW LIFEThe retired magistrate giving hope to prostitutes SEE

CENTRE PAGES

FORMER student Beth Tash is returning to the nightclubs she used to dance in – to tell club-bers about Jesus.

Beth, 27, has been appointed ‘pioneer min-ister to the night time economy’ by churches in Leeds. Former club-ber Beth has lived in the city for nine years but scrapped boozing when she became a believer.

She said: “Everyone that is out and about at night is loved by God but doesn’t know it yet.

“I’ve seen the change in my life brought about by knowing that God loves me, and that ’s what I want for other people.

“I want them to know that they are loved by an

incredible God who will-never let them down. We can have a relationship with him by following Jesus – and he can turn our lives around.”

Beth’s role involves talking to staff in clubs and bars, building up links with city centre churches and bringing a “message of life and a mission of love” to revellers.

A r c h d e a c o n o f Leeds Peter Burrows, who helped create the role, said: “If you go into Leeds on any Friday or Saturday night and see the huge number of young people coming into the city, it is obvi-ous that the Church isn’t engaging with the club culture.”

Healing miracle left me up Tempo!

TOP rap artist MC Tempo loved music so much it made him go deaf.

But a miracle healing not only gave him back his hearing – it also saved him from suicide.

MC – real name Mark Edwards – is one of Eu-rope’s budding hip-hop stars.

He is a regular on Radio 1 and has played along-side Judge Jules and Tim Westwood.

However, the Brighton-based artist became deaf in his left ear after an il-legal rave.

It was the low point of a downward spiral, which began with MC’s parents splitting up when he was 11. He was thrown out ● Continued on Page 2

RAVE HAD LEFT RAP STAR DEAF

by James Hastings

HEARING AFTER

HEALING... MC Tempo

was deaf in one ear

Clubbers are told of Lord of Dance

SHARING FAITH...

Beth Tash

My faith is everything to me, says Miss USA... SEE

PAGE 3


to meto meto meto meto me



CENTRE PAGES
















RAVE HAD LEFT RAP STAR DEAFby James Hastings

HEARING AFTER

HEALING... MC Tempo

was deaf in one ear


SHARING FAITH...

Beth Tash


PAGE 3

NOVEMBER 2011 • Issue 213

NEW LIFE

Healing miracle left meup Tempo!


My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is everything everything everything everything to meto meto meto meto meto meMiss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...


NEW LIFE



My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is everything everything everything everything to meto meto meto meto meto meto meto meMiss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...



CENTRE PAGES

FORMER student Beth Tash is returning to the nightclubs she used to dance in – to tell club-bers about Jesus.Beth, 27, has been appointed ‘pioneer min-ister to the night time economy’ by churches in Leeds. Former club-ber Beth has lived in the city for nine years but scrapped boozing when she became a believer. She said: “Everyone that is out and about at night is loved by God but doesn’t know it yet. “I’ve seen the change in my life brought about by knowing that God loves me, and that ’s what I want for other people.


incredible God who will-never let them down. We can have a relationship with him by following Jesus – and he can turn our lives around.”Beth’s role involves talking to staff in clubs and bars, building up links with city centre churches and bringing a “message of life and a mission of love” to revellers.



TOP rap artist MC Tempo loved music so much it made him go deaf. But a miracle healing not only gave him back his hearing – it also saved him from suicide.MC – real name Mark Edwards – is one of Eu-rope’s budding hip-hop stars.

He is a regular on Radio 1 and has played along-side Judge Jules and Tim Westwood.However, the Brighton-based artist became deaf in his left ear after an il-legal rave.



HEARING AFTER

HEALING... MC Tempo

was deaf in one ear


SHARING FAITH...

Beth Tash

NOVEMBER 2011 • Issue 213 GOOD NEWS STORIES

The retired The retired magistrate giving hope to prostitutesto prostitutes

NOVEMBER 2011 • Issue 213 40p GOOD NEWS STORIES


PAGE 3NEW LIFE

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God wants to reignite a fire in your heart

I t’s a privilege to write the ‘last word’ article for the very first ever edition of Re Online. The

theme ‘relaunch’ has run through this edition and the word simply means: ‘To set in motion again.’

As I reflected on this, I believe the Holy Spirit dropped a Scripture into my heart from Romans 12:11: ‘Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serv-ing the Lord.’ I felt the Lord say that there are many things that need re-adjusting and setting in motion again in our lives as we seek to serve him this year. For some, it’s our spiritual passion for Jesus.

Christian missionary Brother Andrew once said, ‘It’s easier to cool down a fanatic than heat up a corpse. One person with a passionate belief is worth 99 with only a passing interest.’ We can blame our lack of spiritual zeal at times on so many things; we can hide behind our culture and point to our natural reservation as British citizens, when all the time it’s our passion for Jesus that has waned.

A British university recently sponsored someone to do a PhD in body language. He was funded to travel the world and

observe the amount of touch and contact that took place in different countries in cafe-style situations. Every time there was physical contact such as a touch or a hug, he would click a counter. The results were staggering... in Latin America there were 168 clicks per hour, in Italy – 110; France – 30/40, USA – less than 10, and when he came to survey people here in Great Britain he got the shock of his life. Not one single touch was recorded in 60 minutes.

The message being sent out was very clear – no-one is allowed to invade our space – not even God. Yet the reality is that God wants to come and light a fire again in the hearts of many all over this nation, he wants to relaunch and reignite a Holy Spirit fire and passion in his people.

As a young Christian, George White-field prayed, ‘Lord, make me an extraor-dinary Christian.’ History records that he regularly arose at 4am in preparation for preaching at 5am. Between the ages of 22 and 55 he preached between 30-40,000 sermons, travelling thousands of miles on horseback in the process. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean 13 times to preach to North American Indians even when his health was poor. His final sermon saw him

carried off his horse to a platform. Unable to climb the steps, the Spirit of God came upon him and he preached for two and a half hours. One local minister said, ‘I’ve never heard him better.’

Why and how could he do such a thing? I believe there was a fire burning in his spirit ignited by the living God. As Nicolas Von Zinzendorf – leader of the Moravian revival – once said, ‘I have one passion and one passion only – it is Jesus Christ!’

It’s my prayer today that God would reignite a desire, a passion and an enthusi-asm for Jesus and the ministry to which he has called us. Oh that many would be re-launched into the centre of the will of God for their lives. Let us burn with zeal like never before. Let us not be like the Chris-tians that AW Tozer once wrote about when he said, ‘The average temperature of many Christian churches is so low that if a normal Christian walked in, we’d say, “He’s got a fever.”’

As someone who is useless in the kitch-en and regularly burns things, let me close by saying this – it’s better to let things boil over occasionally than never ever come to the boil! Keep burning for Jesus and watch him build his Church!

LAST WORD

God wants to relaunch us into his will as we are set on fire by the Holy Spirit, says Andrew Smith

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CENTRE PAGES

















by James Hastings

HEARING AFTER

HEALING... MC Tempo

was deaf in one ear


SHARING FAITH...

Beth Tash


PAGE 3


to meto meto meto meto me



CENTRE PAGES

















HEARING AFTER

HEALING... MC Tempo

was deaf in one ear


SHARING FAITH...

Beth Tash


PAGE 3


NEW LIFE



My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is everything everything everything everything to meto meto meto meto meto meMiss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...


NEW LIFE



My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is My faith is everything everything everything everything to meto meto meto meto meto meto meto meMiss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...Miss USA...



CENTRE PAGES

FORMER student Beth Tash is returning to the nightclubs she used to dance in – to tell club-bers about Jesus.Beth, 27, has been appointed ‘pioneer min-ister to the night time economy’ by churches in Leeds. Former club-ber Beth has lived in the city for nine years but scrapped boozing when she became a believer. She said: “Everyone that is out and about at night is loved by God but doesn’t know it yet. “I’ve seen the change in my life brought about by knowing that God loves me, and that ’s what I want for other people.


incredible God who will-never let them down. We can have a relationship with him by following Jesus – and he can turn our lives around.”Beth’s role involves talking to staff in clubs and bars, building up links with city centre churches and bringing a “message of life and a mission of love” to revellers.



TOP rap artist MC Tempo loved music so much it made him go deaf. But a miracle healing not only gave him back his hearing – it also saved him from suicide.MC – real name Mark Edwards – is one of Eu-rope’s budding hip-hop stars.

He is a regular on Radio 1 and has played along-side Judge Jules and Tim Westwood.However, the Brighton-based artist became deaf in his left ear after an il-legal rave.



HEARING AFTER

HEALING... MC Tempo

was deaf in one ear


SHARING FAITH...

Beth Tash

NOVEMBER 2011 • Issue 213 GOOD NEWS STORIES

The retired The retired magistrate giving hope to prostitutesto prostitutes

NOVEMBER 2011 • Issue 213 40p GOOD NEWS STORIES


PAGE 3NEW LIFE

Britain’s best outreach newspaper

ORDER YOUR NEW LIFE NEWSPAPERS TODAYTel: 0115 824 0777 Email: [email protected] Web: www.newlife.co.ukor return this coupon to: New Life Publishing, PO Box 777, Nottingham NG11 6ZZ

Yes, I would like to order _________ copies at a cost of £ _________ Regular monthly order

Name: _________________________________ Church: ________________________________Address: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Postcode: ________________________________Tel: ______________________________________ Email: ________________________________All copies will be supplied with an invoice on 30 days net credit terms. New Life Publishing would like to keep you updated with details of our products and special offers. If you would prefer not to hear from us, please tick this box


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