Creation Fest 2014 - what an amazing week it was... A week (but also weeks and months leading up to it) where I've been blessed to meet and work alongside wonderful, godly people, experience how the Lord's grace and strength is sufficient in every situation, serve beautiful "little people" which so quickly creep into your heart, hear great testimonies from people and see the Lord's hand at work in people's life!
My experience of Creation Fest this year was a little bit different than my previous two years where my days were mostly spent planning and managing the Creation Kids Venues... 508 kids (age 5 to 11) attended through the week with the average daily morning session attendance of about 230 kids. Our theme for this year was International Spy Academy where we trained agents (kids) to know, love and live for the One True God... We uncovered counterfeits and learned that there is only ONE TRUE GOD! We looked at one of God's fingerprints... that He is uniquely (and mind-blowing) 1 God, but 3 Persons... And which agent do not love to crack some codes and discover some of the wonderful attributes of God? It was days filled with worship, games, crafts, guest bands, Creation Fest Kids got talent - and each day ended with a "visit" to the mission field of Bible Translation! There was a wonderful team of volunteers that worked faithfully in the Kids Tent every day and I wouldn't have been able to do it without them.
The highlights were definitely the stories that these volunteers told of how the Lord was working in the lives of the kids. Over 20 kids made commitments to follow Jesus for the first time and almost 30 made a re-commitment. After making a first time commitment to follow Jesus, this particular 8 year old boy was walking with his dad to their tent and said to his dad: "Now that I'm a Christian, I should probably be more kind to my cousin". I found it so encouraging that this 8 year old boy knew that your life looks different when you follow Jesus. This little agent-in-training not only learned about God but also learned to love and live for the One True God. "Just one touch from the King changes everything..." because in Jesus we are "new creations, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
Creation Fest 2014 bands were once again brilliant. Over 30 bands played during the week and the Big Shed was filled every night with great line ups. Some of my favourite evening highlights were Bellarive, an American band that made their Creation Fest debut, the open mic night in the Tube (Youth) Venue and the last night of worship, testimonies and thanks giving.
However, as one would expect, not everything went according to plan! Now for a planner like me, that's tough. Some of it was big, and some small... Our Kids Crafts shipment never made it to Creation Fest, which meant I had to plan and prepare a new craft for the kids every evening. A number of the volunteers fell ill during the week unable to serve and one day, 10 minutes before I had to teach, I had to rush off to the ambulance with two of the boys after a not-so-serious head on collision during a game... But in this time, I could learn from the life of Nehemiah how individuals, believers, pitched in and did the work together to accomplish something and I experience how the Lord "keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Him, because he trusts in You"
Thank you to all of you that prayed for me, the Kids ministry, Creation Fest and the team during this time... I would like to end my Creation Fest 2014 blog with the chorus of one of Shell Perris' songs:
It’s You [Jesus] I choose to live for. On You I will depend.
Your dying breath has brought me life.
I’ll serve You ‘til the end.
When this life brings me trouble and all I have is gone,
I’ll stand and sing, “My Saviour King.”
Together we are one.
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