Beirut, Lebanon

It was a great privilege to be invited to speak at a leadership Conference in Beirut, Lebanon. The pictures depict the main worship leader at the Conference and in the second photo (from left to right) Pastor Chaddy - senior minister of Abundant Life Church, Chris Jones Elim's International Mission director, Pastor Said, myself, Chris Whitehead, Chiswick Elim and one of the Elders of the church.

On the first day we visited pastor Said's church which has a school, clinic and orphanage that care primarily for Muslim Hezbollah children. In the evening I spoke at the largest Pentecostal Church in Lebanon of which Pastor Chaddy is the senior minister.

Throughout Saturday, a leadership Conference took place for people from a variety of denominations. This was my first time in Lebanon and very quickly I learned of the warmth and hospitality of these great people.

The country, as most people are aware, has endured a painful history of war and conflict that have taken many lives. Two days after our team left the country the coalition government collapsed which does not augur well for the freedom of the Gospel in this strategic part pf the Middle East. Please pray for the courageous church in Lebanon and all its people.

Salisbury Elim

Salisbury Elim is a warm and welcoming family church that through the the adjacent building called 'The Factory' solidly connects with the local community. My visit coincided with the announcement that the pastor Gordon Malcolm, and his wife Jackie, would be leaving to take up a pastorate at a Pentecostal church in Canada.

Beauty for Ashes Conference

Sally Livingstone leads the three Livingstone House centres that minister to those who have suffered from the effects of addictive substances. The Beauty for Ashes Conference was held at Birmingham Christian Centre and it was a pleasure to accept the invitation to speak at the first of Sally's Conferences. The worship was lead by the remarkable Godfrey Birtle. The young men who have been 'radically saved' and are at the heart of this remarkable ministry brought their own spiritual energy to this day long conference. It was a powerful day.

Wembley Christian Centre

How does she do it? Apart from leading a successful dental practice, Sokemun Ho is the pastor of Wembley Christian Centre - an Elim church and part of the London City network under the auspices of Kensington Temple.

I was present to preach at a special community service at which several community leaders were present. Brent is referred to as the most diverse borough in Britain. Pastor Sokemun expressed her churches appreciation for the community leaders, prayed with them and presented them with plaques to commemorate their presence with us. This included the current mayor, the previous mayor, head of the fire service, a representative of the police force and business leaders.

I cannot commend too highly the leadership that Sokemon Ho continues to give to the church in Wembley. She is one of our finest women pastors.

One of the greatest joys of my role is meeting our leaders during regional leadership Conferences and, given that fourteen years of our ministry has been spent in Scotland, it was a particular delight to spend two days with our pastors north of the border.

Despite the worst weather for many years with snow closing airports throughout the country and the roads being treacherous, there was an almost total turnout - one or two being absent only because it was physically impossible to get through.

Close friend, NLT member and Regional leader for the area, Kevin Peat (pictured here with his wife Margaret) invited Marilyn and I to join them and their pastors at a four star venue at Strathclyde Country park for the two days together.

St Helens Elim

I enjoyed an excellent Sunday with Phlip Fell and the team at St. Helens. Like so many of our churches across the UK, St Helens has realised that the purpose of the church is to to have a positive effect in local community and to see evangelism as going to where the people are - rather than reducing its impact to the limited ghetto of Sunday services. They also have a healthy and vibrant interaction with other churches in the surrounding area. At the close of the morning service the whole of the church stayed behind for a three course meal during which I learned of an exciting initiative that was being taken to hold services in a local pub. Well done St. Helens for thinking out of the box and getting out of the box.

AoG Regional Day

I very much enjoyed conducting two days of leadership meetings with around eighty leaders from our sister fellowship the Assemblies of God. The venue was Exeter and the meetings were convened by Regional leader for the area, Tim Robertson.

There was a great atmosphere right from the start and there was a wide spectrum of leaders ranging from those who are emerging in pastoral roles through to those who have given many years of exceptional service within their denomination.

There was a fantastic buzz in all the meetings that auger very well for the future and I would want to thank them for the warm and honouring way that I was received during my two days with them.

Elim Bethnal Green

Always love being at Elim Bethnal Green, London with senior pastor Richard Jama and his wife Toyin. This is a lively and enthusiastic church at the heart of the capital.

The service featured the church's excellent choir and following the service I enjoyed time with the wider leadership of the church over a meal. If you live in the Bethnal Green area this would be a great church to make your spiritual home.

Burton on Trent

Robert and Julie Styles have done a phenomenal job since coming to Burton on Trent eleven years ago.

One of Rob's passions during his time there has been to network with other churches in the town and to ensure that the Elim church serves the community in every way that it can. He, and the tremendous leadership team he has around him, have fulfilled this objective with distinction.

The church itself has been modified to accommodate the growing congregation by the addition of two galleries but the building (pictured above) that I was present to participate in the opening of was on the opposite side of the road and aptly named 'The Corner'.

This facility, built to a very high standard, and for the use of the church and the community is one of the nominations for 'Best new buildings in Burton'.

Two church members who had been there since the church was opened fifty years ago cut the ribbon and present for the service was the Member of Parliament for the area, Andrew Griffiths who is pictured on the centre front row between Rob Styles and myself.

The Burton Story will feature more fully in a future edition of Direction.

Chelmsford Elim

On the previous occasion that I spoke at Chelmsford Elim the morning service was packed to capacity. On this visit I was invited to bring the same message to two morning services that took place at 9:15 am and 11:15 am to accommodate the ever growing congregation.

Mike and Elizabeth Sherwood have been among our closest friends for over forty years. I first met them when we were Bible college students in 1968. Mike has served as a Regional leader in the past as well as serving for many years on the National Leadership Team. He is one of our Movement's most gifted leaders.

Our visit coincided with the announcement of courageous extension plans which that week were being presented to the congregation for acceptance.

After the second meeting of the morning Marilyn and I enjoyed lunch with the entire pastoral team and their spouses before returning home. It had been a great day with a great church.

Summit Confrence

The Summit Conference held in the phenomenal Conference Centre in Telford will be reported on in depth in other parts of the magazine but had to feature on this page given that it was two of the best days I have experienced in the past twelve months.

Five hundred of our leaders assembled to hear speaks such as Malcolm Duncan, Mark Green, Mile Pillavachi among others. Elim Sound led the worship and made a great contribution to the Conference. My special thanks to the organisers of the event Nigel Tween, Mark Pugh, Gary Gibbs and Chris Jones.

The Bridge

The Bridge is the name given to a group of around thirty people who I invite to our International Centre in Malvern on two occasions during the year. Although most are from our larger churches in the cities the group constitutes a cross-section of our Movement in terms of ethnicity and gender and there are people present from rural areas as well as towns. The 32 who gathered on the first of these meetings represent a congregations totalling over 17,000 of the 67,000 Elim people in the UK.

The purpose of the group is to form a connection between the work that the NLT and myself are doing and what is being accomplished in the most important part of our Movement - the local church. It was great to interact with the high quality of leaders that are typical of the those who lead our churches across the country.

Cape Town, South Africa

Forty years ago Billy Graham convened a conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, to address the issue of Global Evangelism. Twenty years later a second conference was held for the same reason in Manilla.

Lausanne III took place in Cape Town, South Africa and I was invited as one of the participants. The buget for the eight days was £6 million - half of which was dedicated to providing bursaries so that people in economically challenged parts of the world could attend.

Four thousand people gathered from one hundred and ninety countries and the whole proceeding was translated into 28 languages via the booths of the interpreters and the headphones of the delegates.

Among the most moving moments of the congress was the opening night where we learned that, at the last minute, the Chinese government had refused the Chinese delegation visas while putting them all under house arrest - emphasising the continued persecution of the Church under Communism. Despite the harassment of the government the church continues to explode with many millions of Christians coming to faith in Christ in recent years.

As an act of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in China, all 4000 delegates stepped away from their chairs at a signal from the platform to send out the message, "There is a place for you at this conference even though you have been denied the opportunity to take it."

During the same service a teenage girl from north Korea told how her family had become Christians in one of the most closed and brutal nations in the world. Her father had 'disappeared' but she was going to return to the country to reach people for Christ even though it would mean almost certain martyrdom.

Much of the worship was Pentecostal in style though on the last evening a communion service was led by the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda.

Every possible means of communication imaginable was used during the week including - preaching, drama, mime, dance (traditional and contemporary) music and state-of-the-art computer graphics.

Despite increased persecution around the world, the Church is unstoppable

Kensington Temple

Kensington Temple, London, is Elim's largest church and under the leadership of senior minister Colin Dye continues to grow in numbers and depth. Over the years it has spawned a network of congregations around the capital which are designated 'London City Church'. I always look forward to the time in year when I spend an evening with all the highly committed and motivated leaders from KT.

Acocks Green - Birmingham

Twenty three years ago George Canty, the 99 year old pastor who featured on this page recently, pioneer the church in Acocks Green. In the years that followed the church underwent a period of decline and by the time that Jamys Carter and his wife, Dr. Emma Carter, arrived at the church five years ago there was only a handful of people there.

During the time that Jamys has been the pastor there has been a transformation both numerically and spiritually. The clear impression that I had of the fellowship was that of a large church that was small at the moment. The DNA of growth is already in the church which now covers a wide spectrum of age ranges.

Marilyn and I immensely enjoyed our time there. All the ingredients for continued development are already in place and we wish this church well.

Aldershot

It was a pleasure to speak at the opening of the extension of the church building in Aldershot. Also participating in the service was David Campbell, Regional Leader for the area, and present a number of Elim ministers in the locality who joined with the local congregation and invited guests for this service of celebration

Mike and Sylvia Keeping have done a wonderful job since taking over the pastorate in Aldershot and, as he paid tribute to the work of others in bringing the church to this point, tribute was also paid to him for the leadership and personal sacrifice that had been involved in reaching this stage in the churches development. Mike is a bi-vocational minister whose secular role involves working on the building of Britain's latest aircraft carrier.

Alex Tee - celebrating his life

A memorial service to commemorate the life and ministry of Alex Tee was attended by hundreds of people at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Manchester.

Alexander Tee had been an Elim minister for an astonishing 58 years. During that period he had planted numerous churches around the UK, been national Youth Director (when I was in my teens), President of the Movement and apart from pastoring several key churches had served on Elim's Executive Council for a total of twelve years.

Tribute was paid to Winifred Tee who had served with him throughout his ministry and to Margaret and Sharon his two daughters. The service was convened by his son-in-law Paul Hallam, senior minister of LCC and the preacher was Malcolm Hathaway, pastor of our Southport Church where Alex had lived in retirement. I brought a tribute on behalf of the Movement. A more in depth account of this special service will be published in a future edition of Direction.

Irish Ordination Service

Each year I preach at the ordination service for those pastors in the province who have successfully completed their 'minister in training' period. On this occasion the venue was the newly refurbished Hillsborough Elim church which was packed to capacity for this special event.

Featured in the photo, top row, are David Campbell and Simon Foster (NLT members) and Eric McComb the Irish Superintendent. On the bottom row are the ordinands together with their partners. Left to right Richard Preston, Geoffrey Moore, Jonathan McKee, John Fitzimmons and David Galvin. All present wished these ministers well on their continued ministry in Ireland.

Teen Challenge

One of the highlights of my month was without doubt my visit to the Teen Challenge HQ outside Swansea and to spend time with its Executive Director, and Elim Minister, Jay Fallon

Jay and Fiona Fallon are passionate about caring for and discipling young people who have suffered by involvement with addictive and controlling substances - most especially illegal drugs.

I was not surprised by the extent of their work but I was hugely impressed by the way that the facilities have been maintained to the very highest standards of build quality and equipment. Jay believes this to be central to the culture of personal affirmation of all who attend there.

During my visit I toured both the women's and men's separate residences, a market garden and a factory unit - the latter two which provided the skills training that is part of the program.

A focal point would have been witnessing a seminar conducted by Fiona for police officers at which a number of the residents gave clear testimony of the change in their life-style subsequent to their encounter with Christ via the ministry of the centre,

I cannot commend too highly the work that Jay, Fiona and their team around the UK are doing.

Paris

This was my fourth visit to the remarkable L'Evidence church in the centre of Paris pastored by Francois Forschel. I say remarkable because there are up to two thousand people worshipping in the church every Sunday in multiple and parallel services that cater for French, African, Russian, Portuguese and Romanian people.

I was invited to speak at a youth service on the Saturday evening that was followed by ministry at three services on the following day. The first was the French Service, the second to a French-speaking African congregation and finally to six hundred Romanian Pentecostals who gathered in the evening.