Also, on Saturday, Phil Parkin, now retired but formerly part of the CMM office staff, led A Grain of Mustard Seed in a day at Elmdon Methodist Church. The 30 strong choir did a fantastic job, and an audience of 40-50 enjoyed the final performance. Phil has not conducted anything since his retirement from the CMM choir, and he says he was a little rusty, but soon remembered how to conduct. He loved having the baton back in his hands - watch out world!
This blog catalogues the life and times of Christian Music Ministries. Ever wondered what life is like in the CMM Office? What is Roger working on at the moment? What are our hopes, dreams and prayer requests? Read on!
Tuesday 30 October 2007
An old classic...
Also, on Saturday, Phil Parkin, now retired but formerly part of the CMM office staff, led A Grain of Mustard Seed in a day at Elmdon Methodist Church. The 30 strong choir did a fantastic job, and an audience of 40-50 enjoyed the final performance. Phil has not conducted anything since his retirement from the CMM choir, and he says he was a little rusty, but soon remembered how to conduct. He loved having the baton back in his hands - watch out world!
Friday 26 October 2007
The smallest event...
On Tuesday I spoke at a small meeting at Ellen Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. There were about 20 there, and I tried out my sermon for Sunday, interspersing it with a few songs.
At the beginning, a young Muslim lady came in, and sat down and listened. She didn't join in with the songs at all of course, but she seemed content to sit and wait.
At the end she was asked if she'd found the meeting different to her expectations. Surprisingly, she said, "No. I came in expecting to find peace, and I found peace."
Praise God.
Thursday 25 October 2007
Treloyhan Manor
The CMM team for the occasion was Roger, Annie, Helen, Ann Steer and Bill Carpenter, and we were joined by the Christian Guild hosts for the week, Ivor and Anne Cresswell.
After a wonderful full cooked breakfast, the usual pattern of events involved some bible teaching led by Roger based upon themes from the musical, followed by a choir rehearsal led by Helen and Annie. The afternoons were free, and then the evening meal left us all a bit full for the evening's entertainments - a games evening, a praise party, and an informal agape.
The scratch choir worked really hard, and it paid off with a superb performance on the Friday evening to an audience of over 30 (all the hall could hold!). The evening was led well by Bill and Ann as Sam and Debbie, the Innkeeper and his wife. The other soloists - Mike, Mike, Ray, Ann, Gill and Pauline also were wonderful, and were beautifully accompanied by a string section of Ali (violin) and Annie (viola).
It is always a real priviledge to be part of the leadership team for a CMM music week, spending time sharing with and ministering to the different guests. We have 8 music weeks lined up for 2008:
Whitby 10-15 Feb, Rhos on Sea 7-11 Apr, Grange-over-Sands 24-31 May, Harnhill 14-18 July, Bognor Regis 21-25 July, Lee Abbey 2-9 August, Scargill 16-23 August, St. Ives 6-13 September.
If you are interested in coming to any of these, please email Helen for further details: helen@cmm.org.uk
Photos: Treloyhan Manor, St. Ives; some of the delegates at the final rehearsal; the CMM team; Annie and Ali - the string section.
Thursday 11 October 2007
Multi-tasking...
Photos - Roger, Annie and Helen in action!
Tuesday 9 October 2007
An unexpected trip to the seaside...
Friday 5 October 2007
India Report
Here's some excerpts from Roger's report on his trip to India:
"Accompanied by DEVON BROWN and ANN STEER, two of our regular Soloists, we set out on a long arduous journey lasting about 20 hours. Missing a nights sleep, and 4 ½ hours in time, we arrived at Kerala and immediately were joined by MIKE & BARBARA ROWARTH, who came out from UK a week earlier. Very soon we were rehearsing THE INN CROWD.
"It was a joy to meet up again with the “Family Harmony” Choir. They are a wonderful group of very friendly and welcoming folk, who made us feel very much at home. The “World Premiere” of THE INN CROWD was presented at CMS College Hall and approximately 500 people came to watch."
And then in Vellore...
"The Chapel meetings were a challenge for me, having to wait each sentence for the translation. But the translator was a wonderful Christian man, and we all knew he was capturing the true impact of what I was trying to say. After the second meeting a small Hindu lady came and knelt before me, asking for prayer. This as just the start! As the days went on more and more came in this way, even Patients were brought down from the Wards by Nurses. Never before have I felt quite so reliant on God turning up in power!
"The final Production was tremendous, with over 1000 people crowded into the auditorium. The Choir were magnificent, and the Dancers, about 20 of them, thrilled us with their “Indian style” movements. The local soloists, who complemented the UK Team of Devon and Ann did extremely well, and the “Indian World Premiere” of JAIL BREAK crowned an amazing two weeks of ministry."
Read the full report at http://groups.msn.com/RogerJones/india07fullreport.msnw
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Earn CMM some money!!!
1. Go to the cmm homepage: www.cmm.org.uk
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page
3. Click on the easyfundraising banner
4. Register as a user
Whenever you do any online shopping, first go to the easyfundraising site, log on, and then follow the links to get to your desired shop, whether it's Amazon, Ebay, HMV, etc etc. Apparently they'll donate a small percentage of the money you spend to CMM.
5. Click on easysearch on the left hand side of the easyfundraising page
6. Follow the instructions
7. Make it your homepage or your default search engine, or both!
Whenever you search online for anything, easysearch will make a small donation to CMM from those who have sponsored links. The search engine is Yahoo, which is just as good as any other search engines.
Happy shopping and surfing!
Monday 1 October 2007
A triple header...
Photo: Some of The Inn Crowd Soloists at the recording day: Simon, Helen, Katie and Devon