Cornwall Celebrates

The October Cornwall Celebrates was in Camborne. Kernowyouth's reporter Phil Hadley was there to sample the experience...

A crowd of over 100 people of all ages comfortably filled the Elim Centre in Camborne on Saturday 11th October. The bi-monthly praise and worship event was in town and people had travelled from as far as Liskeard, Bodmin and St Ives to be there. Although sharing the same name this event is not the BBC Radio Cornwall programme on tour! The age audience ranged from 8 to 80, and included a significant number of teenagers. There was an expectant buzz as the start time drew near.

The evening started with a time of worship led by the band from the Elim Centre. They started with a couple of songs that involved actions such as "Blessed be the name of the Lord" and "We are marching in the light of God". This instantly got everyone relaxed and involved. The band included a mouth organ, accordian as well as the usual drums and guitars.

Elim pastor Mike Hooper then interviewed Pete Stanton about his new project under the umbrella of the Kernow Trust. This is called "Rhythms of Life" and is a community based drumming and musical worskhop that will go into schools, community halls and youth groups. It seeks to develop youngsters self esteem through achievement through rhythm.

"Independent Harriet" was the sketch performed by Dramarama - a local drama group made up of young people aged either side of the primary/secondary divide. The amusing sketch was well performed as two narrators unfurled the tale of a girl who always wanted to do things her way. This had some amusing consequences until she took the same independent attitude when faced with Christ's offer of forgiveness and the eternal implications of rejecting his salvation. The youngsters got a powerful message across well.

The Cornwall Celebrates House Band then took the stage and led a further time of worship. Songs included "Hungry", "There is a place" and "Blessed be your name". The band included a sax player to good effect with some impressive solos. During this time of worship an offering was taken which amounted to £158 and was given to the "Rhythms of Life" ministry.

The evening was rounded off by the Rev Steve Wild who spoke on "Promises". He illustrated his talk by using some puppets, but went on to challenge the audience that as Jesus keeps his promise in Matthew 28 to be 'with us always to the end of the age', do we keep our promises to Him? He touched on promises of service, of marriage and then used the story of Jepthah in Judges 11 to say as a church we have become comfortable when we could be free.

The Cornwall Celebrates Band brought the evening to a close with a rousing version of "Jesus, friend of sinners". This had been a good evening, with plenty of variety. God commands the blessing when his people join together in praise and worship. Check out the What's On page for details of the forthcoming Cornwall Celebrates events through 2004.

Check out the Cornwall Celebrates Photo Gallery for more shots of the action from Camborne