Highlights 2010
Walking into Hamilton Road Presbyterian on Friday night you could feel the excitement and the expectation that, once again, God was going to show up and do amazing things at Autumn Soul. And He did! Our theme this year was ‘The Inconvenient Truth’. We were challenged to inconvenience ourselves for God, to step outside our comfort zones to share His incredible love with others.
The session on Friday evening opened with a call to worship reminding us of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. The band led us in worship, and it was great to experience freedom in worship right from the beginning of the weekend. Some members of the Autumn Soul committee spoke to us about how God had called them to inconvenience themselves for Him recently, and how they and others had been blessed through that. It was so encouraging to hear how God can take our normal, everyday activities and use them to show His love. Our speaker for Autumn Soul 2010 was Patrick Regan, who heads up the ministry XLP in London, working to show young people that there are ways out of the culture of violence that they’ve been brought up in. Patrick spoke to us about the way that God had inconvenienced Himself in order to show His love for us, and challenged us to think about how far we would go to show that love to others. On Friday the Late Night Extras included ‘Neon Madness’, along with the Sports Cafe, The Love Lounge cafe and the Bring Your Own cafe – we danced, we laughed, we ate, and we had a great time!
Saturday morning saw hundreds of young people pile into the Sanctuary for worship. We had a few laughs when a drama group from Ballinamallard took to the stage, showing us the story of Jesus calling His disciples. We saw how they inconvenienced themselves to follow Him. Patrick shared some of his testimony with us, as well as the story of XLP. We were encouraged that God can use all of us, no matter how inadequate or unqualified we feel. After the session we were given a great opportunity to put what we’d learnt into practice as the whole Autumn Soul community went on a Prayer Walk around Bangor. As we left the church we were anointed, a practical way of demonstrating that God was with us as we went. The prayer walk gave us an opportunity to spend time in our youth groups praying for different areas of Bangor. At one point we all met in the marina to pray, and it was an amazing sight to see so many people on their knees before God in such a public place. We also had the opportunity to go out and bless the people of Bangor in different ways, for example paying for their car parking ticket, and asking people if they had anything they would like us to pray for. The response we had was so positive, and it was so encouraging to hear stories later in the weekend about how people had been touched by God through the simple things we’d done.
Seminars were next on the agenda, and once again there was a great selection that covered issues really relevant to young people, so a huge thank you to everyone who organised and took these. After lunch it was time for the Big Sing, which was led by the Overflow band. It was so clear that God was present, and we had a time where we were given the opportunity to speak out words that God gave us, words that were encouraging, strengthening and comforting. The rest of the afternoon was taken up by Workshops, giving people a chance to develop their God-given talents, and discover some new ones! These included choir, dance and cheerleading workshops, Extreme Dodgeball, Shuttle Craze and the Table Tennis Championship 2010.
Saturday night’s session began with worship led by the Autumn Soul band, and a hearing time similar to that in the Big Sing. We were then treated to a story called ‘You are Special’ by Max Lucado. One of my highlights of the weekend was the ‘cardboard testimonies’ that came next. Many familiar faces took to the stage, including members of the committee, the band, stewards and youth leaders. Each had a piece of cardboard, and on it was written what they used to be, or some of the struggles they faced. When each person walked across the stage they showed us the other side of their piece of cardboard, on which was written who God had transformed them into.
It was very moving to see these familiar faces admit their struggles so honestly, and to see how God had worked in them and changed them. We were overwhelmed with the depth of God’s love and grace for each of us, and this was obvious when everyone rose to their feet giving a huge round of applause, tears on many faces. Patrick spoke about how we as a church need to have a transforming impact on our culture and communities. He challenged us to inconvenience ourselves by serving the broken, fighting for justice and caring for the weak, the poor and the marginalised. Many people responded by kneeling before God, asking Him to use them and give them the strength and courage to accept this challenge. Worship was followed by ‘The Masquerade’ as part of the Late Night Extras.
Our Sunday morning session included worship, drama, and the choir formed in Saturday’s workshop showcasing their talents! Jo from XLP shared with us the importance of reading God’s Word and knowing His truth for our lives, and her top tips for delving into it. We then split up into guys and girls for a Bible study, which everyone benefited hugely from despite our tiredness! We had a great brunch of hotdogs and bacon butties, and then we headed back for closing worship. Patrick encouraged us to surrender our fears to God and grasp every opportunity we get to share His love. We had the opportunity to write our own ‘cardboard testimonies’, putting into words how God had moved and transformed us during Autumn Soul. We finished up by praising God, asking Him to “fill us up and send us out”.
A massive amount of work goes into Autumn Soul each year, and this year was no exception. I want to say a huge thank you to all who were involved – the committee, the band, the people who took seminars and workshops, the prayer ministry team, Patrick our speaker, those who set up the Prayer Room, those who decorated the Sanctuary, the technical people, the leaders who brought their groups and basically everyone who was there! And most importantly, thank you to our Heavenly Father who once again touched hearts and changed lives.
- Hannah Stewart