Cliff College Festival 2008

This past weekend has seen Cliff College Festival come and go. It's an annual event at Cliff College, where I study, which happens every May bank holiday. Several thousand come, mostly Christians, and there is all sorts on offer, from various styles of worship and teaching to games, food, and so on. Every staff and every student gets involved, and volunteers come too. It's not surprising that some people come year after year, and that many camp in tents because the rooms are always full. The theme for this year's festival was renewing grace. Being a postgrad this year, my responsibilities were different than last year due to my workload, but I was fortunate to get involved in some ways (mainly physical work and puppet evangelism) as well as having time to experience some of the activities.

On the Saturday I worked with Puppets for Jesus. We did a workshop on how to use the puppets, including the do's and dont's of puppet ministry, and the chance for everyone who was interested to have a go with the puppets themselves. Everyone who came seemed to enjoy it, as did we! I was able to catch up with some friends and we were able also to pray with each other, which was a real blessing as we don't always have time to do that. The worship I went to that night was pretty flat to be honest but that was remedied by my friend Barney, who made some of his infamous spic noodles for a couple of us. After eating, Barney preached a seemingly impromptu (though definitely Spirit-led) sermon to us on what it is to follow Christ and pursue holiness. He must have preached at us in the kitchen for at least half an hour, but it was so powerful and so real that we wouldn't have wanted to stop him even if we could.

On the Sunday I went to all-age worship with a special friend, which was awesome. Not only do I enjoy kids songs, but the preach was powerful. The guy who preached was talking about Zacchaeus, the small tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus, so he had a tree on stage and climbed to the top of a step ladder next to it from hich he preached the whole sermon. 'I dare you to be different' was the message. Different like Zacchaues was when he met Jesus. Dare you be different for Jesus? All-age worship rocks. It's fun both fun and understandable. Just like church should always be. That afternoon, working with Puppets for Jesus again, we went to nearby Bakewell for 'Puppets in the Park.' Beginning with a crowd of about four people, after about forty-five minutes we ended up with around thirty-five. Steve Wild and Clarence the frog, along with Martin Mitchell and Sammy the frog-eating snake, provided a lot of entertainment, whilst we did a couple of sketches with songs interspersed between what the others were doing. Basicaly, people were drawn and seeds of the truth of the gospel were planted. Result!

That evening, instead of what would until a while ago have been an ACTS Open Mic Church event, there was 'Grace', an evening of testimony, in some ways similar to an open mic event. It was powerful. There was no sign-up system, and not an incredible amount of variety, but it was very powerful and God truly had His hand on it. Once one person had shared testimony of what God had been doing in their life, more followed. It was almost as though everyone there had something to share, for it was like a revolving door. Time flew, God spoke, and I believe everyone was blessed. Elizabeth Cumbest, a seventeen-year-old musician from Mississippi, was a real highlight. She lost a lot in Hurrican Katrina, and has released a beautiful, truly anointed album in order to raise money for the Seashore Mission UM Church over there. Look out for her. My friend Angie also shared testimony of how God has worked His healing in her life. I wanted to get up and share a zebra story I'd written but seriously, no one follows Angie. She is a walking miracle.

On the Monday morning I attended 'Presence'-a HUGE service on the terrace lawn, with Martyn Atkins, our current principal and president of the Methodist Conference, preaching. He is the third Cliff College ever to hold such a position, so it was quite a historical moment. Keeping in with the theme of the weekend, he preached about grace. That afternoon I joined some of Angie's youth group (all from Rochdale, where I used to live) to form a team for the football tournament. Unfortunately we were out in the first round as we needed to win and instead drew 0-0, but the guys on my team were awesome. I think they were all about 12 or below, but we dominated the game. I stopped the others having a shot on our goal whilst the other guys rained death on their goal, striking the post and crossbar several times, but sadly unable to score. It was fun while it lasted.

That evening was Soul Cafe, a cafe-style church from Derby. followed by Clarence's chat show, where the current director of evangelism, Steve Wild, and his flog Clarence, held their last chat show before they both move down to work in Cornwall. Cliff College will miss him (both of them) very much, as will I. Steve is the person who first encouraged me to use puppets in evangelism, and in fact is where my first zebra puppet, Eddie, came from. He is such a good, loving, genuine friend-in fact probably the most real person I know. He's the only person I know who can show physical affection for everyone he comes into contact with and not offend them, for such expressions of his love are common. I have heard this described as 'outrageous love.' And the things that Clarence says that people won't give Steve the chance to...this is the mark of one of the greatest evangelists anyone could ever meet. Clarence (and Steve) interviewed many people at the chat show, including former principal Howard Mellor, and it was a really special time, with Howard praying for Steve at the end regarding the next step in his ministry. The entire room had been blessed by Steve, both on that night and in the past. He means so much to us all. To see and feel the whole room united in prayer for Steve was awesome. It was such a privilege to be there.

The next day (Monday) was clear-up. Staff, students and volunteers were running everywhere after the visiotrs had left, carrying this, dragging that, taking this down, fixing that, etc. We were all shattered. I was feeling especially low and oppressed from many sides, which the tiredness didn't help. There were problems, even in friendships within college. In the end I rang a friend to ask for prayer. 'I know God is bigger than this and that most of it is in my head anyway and that God will see me through all these problems but...' and then I realised what I'd said. How dare I stick a 'but' after that? God IS bigger, than anything, and nothing is too hard for Him to deal with, therefore I needed to pick myself up from that and carry on in His strength. It's like I'd taken my shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16) and left it somewhere, meaning my faith had taken a blow and I had been unable to defend myself. This reminded me how important it is to spend quality time with God each morning and to dress myself in His armour before facing whatever the day may entail, instead of just rushing in and trying to do things by myself. So my friend prayed for me, and in the very act of affirmation ('God is able to help' etc.) I already had begun to feel better, for praise truly is a blow to the enemy. He can throw what he likes at us but he is truly beaten. That for me is the definition of grace-God allowing us to experience things we don't deserve, like the relationship with Him that Jesus made available to us when he kicked Satan's butt on the cross. And in realising this, sitting at home and getting ready for facing the future with God's guiding hand, guess what? I feel renewed.:)
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