Saturday 7th June 2008 was the third Christian Vision for Men (CVM) North East Men’s Day hosted by Northallerton New Life Baptist Church.
It was great to see over 120 guys meeting together to worship and be encouraged. The only women in the building were part of NLBC’s catering team who did an amazing job of filling us up with ‘man-food’. One of the team let us know at the end of the day that they had found the sound of men singing and worshipping together positively exhilarating!
Barry Thompson and the worship team from NLBC lead us in great times of singing. We sang from the new 'Strength will rise' to the old ' Crown Him with many crowns' - something for everyone and all in a tremendous atmosphere of worship. Throughout the day a prayer team was in action for those who wanted ministry.
The morning message was brought by Steve Redman from the Ark in York who told us about Shammah, a man who had everything against him but he still stood up to be counted and his actions have become more famous than his name. We were encouraged to be the men that God is looking for and not to lose ground.
There was a choice of three seminars before lunch – ‘Fatherhood’ by Gary Everatt from York, ‘Men of Influence’ by Steve Redman and ‘Pornography’ by Carl Beech, National Director of CVM. Each hit home, and empowered men to be more effective in these key areas.
After a lunch that legends are made of, Eddie James North East Co-ordinator for CVM interviewed three guys about their experience with God. We heard stories of how God had worked in the lives of ordinary men – no one will forget Ian overpowering a Rottweiler, Peter's breakfast antics or John’s campaign to give 5000 pairs of football boots to young South African boys.
We also had a go and speed-networking. The difference between this and speed-dating was made extremely clear! We moved around the room having 3 ½ minutes to get to know someone we had never met before. After we had met 4 new people we sat down for the main afternoon message.
In the last session Carl Beech talked about breaking through failure, dealing with our sin and pushing through the pain to win. We took communion together and the sense of unity was tremendous as we worshipped God at the cross.
Ministry from the day is downloadable from our Mp3 section or can be purchased on CD from New Life Baptist Church.
Next year the date of the celebration will be April 25th 2009 at Northallerton New Life Baptist Church.