Early mornings, late nights, hundreds of young people hearing the Good News!
On Sunday 8th November the Check it Out team set out on a three week schools mission tour to Oban, Hawick and Bradford where they would be presenting lessons and assemblies during each week, culminating in a concert where the gospel message could be shared.
The Check it Out team
Week one – Oban
Invited by H2O (Hope 2 Oban) and Scripture Union, the Check it Out team headed up north to Oban on the west coast of Scotland, a stone’s throw from the Isle of Mull. In this tiny town the school (Oban High School) actually has a huge catchment area and there is a population of 1100 pupils aged 11-18 so it promised to be an exciting week
On Monday morning the team were in school at 8am setting up in the assembly hall which turned out to be a great venue. Two and a half hours later they were ready for an influx of 200 incredibly excited S1s (that’s year 8 in English money). They listened really well to all the team had to say about our amazing God and how they have experienced a real relationship with him; they laughed in all the right places and joined in at exactly the right moments. It was a really good start and we were excited about the potential for the rest of the week.
S3 & S4 were slightly more reserved but still joined in well and listened intently as LaRoche shared with them how he had really experienced God in his life, making a real change, taking away addictions and proving beyond any doubt that He is real. This story made a real impact on them, as did the answers to some of the questions the young students were asking the team, such as: ‘What made you become a Christian?’, ‘Did God really create the world in seven days?’, ‘Do you believe in evolution?’, ‘What made you join a Christian band?’. This provided opportunity for the team to share their faith and their own personal stories about how Jesus makes all the difference.
The whole team was challenged this week by questions each lesson and had opportunity to share about what Jesus has done in their lives. There has been some real interest and we pray that the answers given will have made an impact in their lives.
On the day of the concert (Thursday) the team were hoping for great things although there was a worry as to whether people would actually make it to the event as the catchment area is so huge, however the School Assembly hall was packed out with over 150 unchurch youth! They were so enthusiastic, thoroughly enjoying every minute. The band was fantastic and doing an amazing job after a long day, full of energy and exuberance. Diversion entertained the crowd with thrills, spills and After8s.
Friday was a day with a real difference for the S3s at Oban High School. A special conference day had been planned for them by H2O, which was looking at the whole subject of conflict resolution.
Andy talked about the opportunity to forgive in any conflict situation and God’s ultimate gift of forgiveness to each one of us.
‘It was an excellent day’, according to the Senior Teacher. He was so complimentary, saying it was the best conference he’d ever been involved in. A really high accolade from someone who had pretty high expectations and who ended up videoing ‘All About Abi’ because it was so brilliant!! He now wants to show it to the other 140 students who missed out!!
Week two – Hawich
Reluctantly the team left all their brand new ‘Obanite’ friends and headed down southeast towards Hawick in the Scottish borders. Having had such a brilliant week with them the drizzle reflected the feeling of sadness as they said goodbye. However spirits soon lifted as they drank in the breathtaking views, travelling the windy way through mountains and valleys around Loch Lomond and on down towards Glasgow.
Once again the week had been co-ordinated by Scripture Union and our contact was Esther Bailey.
Sunday was a busy day with involvement in three services, the first one being at Burnfoot Parish Church at 10am. Andy was invited to share what they would be doing at the High school. He talked about the theme of peace and what they would be facing the following week.
On Monday morning it felt like we were leaving home before we’d gone to bed – with queues for the showers starting at 4.30 in the morning!!! Everyone was on time though and we were at school by 6.30 ready to set up. We were set up within the 2.5 hours and ready to take the S5/S6s assembly, which went brilliantly. Music lessons followed with an equally encouraging response.
Taste
A fantastic week of assemblies, music lessons, drama performances and plenty of time to get to know the students followed – all went brilliantly with the youngsters completely engaged with all that was going on. There were great opportunities for the team to share their testimonies which really impacted a great number of the young people.
Diversion performing 'All About Abi'
And then came the rain…
Thursday promised to be a really good day with the anticipation of the concert, a full day of lessons and the potential to meet another load of young people and chat about our faith. All that was until the team woke up!!! The wind and rain was whipping around the house and it was clear that it had been raining for many hours over night.
They headed for the school in the driving rain and picked up the rest of the team. It wasn’t until they got to the school that we realised that Andrew Keel was unwell… When it came to soundchecking the drums – there was no drummer!!! Keel had run out to the toilet, and was clearly too ill to remain in school and so we prayed for him, did the assembly and then one of the ministers drove him home. LaRoche volunteered to play drums – he was brilliant and did an amazing job, for a DJ!!! Jack stood in for Keel in running the technical cues for ‘All about Abi’, he too was excellent.
The team hadn’t really noticed the rising water levels outside until a teacher announced that a bus would be transporting rural kids back home immediately after lesson 3… They began to realise that numbers might be down for the concert due to the rain but that didn’t dampen their enthusiasm. At lunchtime some of the team caught up with some of the S4 pupils they’d been chatting to at the beginning of the week who had decided that Jesus didn’t exist, now they were beginning to be convinced and even asked how they could become Christians.
At 2.30pm the team were told that the concert was being cancelled in an attempt to protect the young people with the river waters rising – it could prove too dangerous for them coming to the school tonight. It was possible to re-schedule it for Friday morning as an extended assembly though.
Well what a brilliant end to the week. After the disappointment of a cancelled concert last night the team arrived in school on Friday morning full of anticipation as they prepared to perform for the whole of S1. It was a brilliant opportunity. The head had encouraged them to pull no punches but to share the same message that they would have shared at an evening event.
We pray that God will really speak to the students in the school about what they have seen and heard, that they will really understand and respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. A Check it Out group is starting the following week and we hope that many will go to that to find out more.
Week three – Bradford
So with two great weeks in the bag, the Check it Out team headed down to Bradford for their third and final week of this tour.
Andy Clark
This was a week with a difference as the invitation came the head of RE at Immanuel School in Bradford. He is a committed Christian who used to teach previous Taste drummer, Lukey D and invited us to this Church of England school in an attempt to challenge his students again with the reality of the gospel. He saw this as an opportunity to meet young Christians with a story which will hopefully encourage and inspire his students to ‘check it out’ as they are brought down for Music, RE and drama lessons during the week.
Monday morning was the final mega-early morning of the tour. At 6.20am the team were sat outside the school waiting for the RE teacher to turn up and open up. New start, new school, new opportunities.
It was a phenomenal week with loads of lessons and assemblies and many of the pupils hanging around at lunchtime. The main challenge was that because so many turned up to the lunchtime event (too many for the size of the hall) the head decided that they wanted to ticket the concert on Thursday and limit numbers.
It was an amazing concert though with getting on for 150 young people and loads responding to Andy’s gospel message. Please pray that they will take it seriously and go to the Check it Out group on Tuesday lunchtimes at Immanuel.