Newday

The vast camp with its massive tent housing 6,000 teenagers was bathed in sunlight when Wendy and I arrived. It was 32 degrees and everybody was extremely bright.

I was greeted with news that my son Joel had preached a magnificent sermon the night before on Honouring Your Parents (obviously I shall be watching to see how well he does!). But now it was my task to tell the gathered thousands the story of Newfrontiers.

When we closed the 30,000-strong Stoneleigh Bible Week in 2001, one thing that came to birth was Newday. Led by a new generation in their 20s and 30s and serving the thousands of teenagers in our ranks, those planning the week thought it would be good for the upcoming generation to be aware of our roots and history and be gripped by the promises that God has made us, so that they might fully embrace their destiny with faith and understanding.

The worship, led by Matt Redman on this particular evening, provided the massive crowd with opportunity to focus their heartfelt devotion on Jesus.

The next morning I was unprepared for the outstanding preaching of Stef Liston, who was taking his fourth study in the book of Revelation. I literally fought back the tears as I listened to Biblical passion fired by the Holy Spirit directed so forcefully to his captivated audience. I have never heard Babylon represented with such relevant edge, exposing her lust for the souls of people and yet her utter futility and ultimate destruction. To say that I am proud of our next generation is to understate things.

That evening, Adrian Holloway graphically proclaimed the gospel, but beforehand he invited three to give testimony to their very remarkable healings that happened on the site last year. He then prayed for the sick, inviting them to raise one hand to God and place the other on their sickness or pain. After his brief but authoritative prayer, hands were raised everywhere, acknowledging that they had been healed. Literally hundreds then poured forward for one-to-one interviews with the vast army of counsellors and then for the details to be handed to Dr Peter Carter. Some then came to the platform immediately to testify to extraordinary healings.

Immediately following the gospel presentation, hundreds more poured forward in response.

It was a phenomenal camp and I encourage you to take advantage of the Newday downloads which will soon be freely available.

Now I am leaving for Montana for about ten days of ministry and on my return go almost immediately to Southern France for a couple of weeks of holiday. So this blog will be very quiet for a while!