Direction-March2013-Taster

So that the world can hear Changing our music to connect better

Asking big to celebrate Elim’s centenary

Veteran evangelist George Verwer isn’t slowing down

Making waves with the gospel Preaching Christ to the surfers in France PLUS RT Kendall, Fabrice Muamba & Mark Pugh

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Still going into all the world

‘ I ING wa FR n E I r ted EDO ea to M W d G die IN C or od u HR d’ ’s nt IST il

Chris Cartwright and the goal to plant new churches

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DIRECTION

MARCH 2013 Issue 138 £1.70

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CONTENTS 5

EDITORIAL Watch your back, says John Glass

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LORD, MAKE ME THROUGH THIS Anne Calver put her trust in God when her unborn baby needed blood transfusions

31 I WANTED TO TAKE MY OWN LIFE Addicted to alcohol and desperate, Carolyn Hughes found the grace of God 32 DON’T NEGLECT RESPONSIBILITIES We must help refugees, says Nigel Tween

10 NEWS from Elim and the wider church

33 MUSIC REVIEWS with Ian Yates

12 OUT AND ABOUT WITH THE GS John Glass opens his diary

35 KEEP YOUR EYES FIXED ON JESUS Mark Pugh on life’s ups and downs

14 TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH At the age of 74, George Verwer is not slowing down when spreading the Word

36 DON’T FORGET INTERCESSION Retired evangelist Sandra O’Grady says intercession is missing from our prayers

18 MAKING MUSIC THAT MATTERS KT Musical Director Fabio D’Andrea reveals how the church is changing its tune

39 I LOST MY WAY AND PAID THE PRICE Football star Fabrice Muamba reveals how his church attendance is back on track

20 ELIM CHURCHES CHALLENGED Chris Cartwright and Elim’s Big Centenary Ask to plant new expressions of church

40 KNOW THE RISKS OF SKIN CANCER Dr Sharon Kane offers medical advice

25 A MOTHER’S BIG RESPONSIBILITY Being a mother and mentor is an important calling, says Julia Derbyshire in Aspire 26 MAKING WAVES WITH THE GOSPEL Richard Ellerington talks about planting a church for surfers in the South of France 28 SAVED FROM A SHARK ATTACK New Christian Nick Williams learned about miracles in very scary circumstances

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42 LORD, PLEASE LET ME FINISH WELL! Strong faith doesn’t shield us from soul searching, says Bible teacher RT Kendall 43 BOOK REVIEWS with Richard Dodge 44 THE BIG ISSUES ABOUT TITHING Elim minister Dominic De Souza looks at what the Bible has to say about tithing 49 ANSWERS with Phil Weaver 50 AND FINALLY with John Lancaster

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Church Direction Representatives: please advise any alterations to your order before the 10th of each month

Direction Magazine is the official publication of the Elim Pentecostal Church @elimpentecostal www.elim.org.uk 0845 302 6750

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Elim Pentecostal Church

Editor-in-Chief: John Glass, General Superintendent Publishers: Elim Pentecostal Church Elim International Centre, De Walden Road, West Malvern, Worcestershire, WR14 4DF Charity no. 251549 (England)

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in articles and news reports do not necessarily reflect the view of the Editor or the official position of the Elim Pentecostal Church.

The acceptance and publication of advertising does not indicate editorial endorsement. All submitted articles are subject to editing due to space restrictions.

By submitting articles, writers accept their articles may be edited.

Publishing agents: New Life Publishing Co, PO Box 777, Nottingham, NG11 6ZZ, England Tel: 0115 824 0777 Website: www.newlifepublishing.co.uk Email: editor@newlife.co.uk or orders@newlife.co.uk Printers: Buxton Press Limited, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE Back copies: previous issues are available while stocks last, at cover price plus £1.00 handling charge, incl. p&p, per order.

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DIRECTION

F I R S T WO R D S

Watch your back!

A remarkable thing occurred one morning on my way to the office. I was travelling behind a small lorry as we negotiated our way up a hill towards West Malvern. It was at that point that a black cat ran into the road – not only in the path of the lorry but between the two axles. As the vehicle neither swerved nor stopped, I concluded that the animal had come to the end of its nine lives.

However, to my amazement, it paused for a split second under the moving lorry and, with the deftness of a martial arts master, timed its exit with precision and escaped to the other side of the road unharmed. Its innate instinct for self-preservation secured its survival.

The reality is, however, that all the skills and instincts that humankind possesses are powerless to avoid premature decease in most circumstances. War would be one example. And this is not because of the vulnerability of those who have put their lives on the line in order to serve their country, for, statistically, if your nation is at war, the safest place to be is in the army given that more civilians die in a war zone than do soldiers.

When we take a wider lens to the subject and are forced to take in the possibility of illness and accidents, it could leave us with, at best, a sense of uncertainty and, at worst, a measure of foreboding.

But for the Christian that is not the case. A prominent politician whose life was under threat from his opponents was asked how he managed to sleep at night. His response was to quote the words of George Whitefield, who said, “We are immortal, until our work is done” – the essence of the quote, of course, being that the Christian

lives in submission to God’s timings and choices and not their own.

I recently spoke at a conference that was attended by hundreds of Christians from Iran who, because of a choice that they have made to follow Jesus, put their lives on the line and daily face imprisonment, torture and death. Why would anyone do this?

The cross supplies the answer. While the human instinct is to ‘watch your back’ the Lord Jesus ‘gives his back’. Isaiah prophesied that which was fulfilled in Christ: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6).

Jesus did not come to create a reputation, to secure a position or defend one; he came to give his life as a ransom for sinners – people like you and me.

Paul understood the significance of that when he wrote to the Church in Rome in chapter 12 verse 1: “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

The Message puts it like this: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.”

John Glass General Superintendent Elim Pentecostal Church

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CHRISTMAS PRESENCE Celebrating the season in the community New movies retell the old, old story  How the festive fractions add up  

PLUS BALANCING CAREER AND MUSIC MINISTRY

Top pianist Fabia D’Andrea on leading worship in church

SHADES OF GREY VS BLACK & WHITE Love, marriage and sex the way God made them

WHY GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK

It’s just me and God, says Elim mum Pat Cooke Rogers

My baby needed heart surgery ‘I’d have crumbled without my faith in Jesus’

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ALSO Mark & Nita Pugh talk relationships

NOVEMBER 2012 Issue 134 £1.70

SPE

CIAL

FOCUS

ISSUE

FAITH & FINANCE Why we need to rethink money Solving the debt headache Tithing isn’t giving God a tip!

PLUS DAY I WAS THROWN OUT OF CHURCH

Kissagram girl who kissed a preacher, then married one!

STAMPING OUT SLAVERY IN THE UK

How churches can help in the fight against trafficking

DISPELLING SUICIDE MYTHS

There can be a better day for you

Get your

So that the world can hear

Direction Magazine

Changing our music to connect better

Asking big to celebrate Elim’s centenary Chris Cartwright and the goal to plant new churches

ever y mon th

Still going into all the world Veteran evangelist George Verwer isn’t slowing down

Making waves with the gospel Preaching Christ to the surfers in France PLUS RT Kendall, Fabrice Muamba & Mark Pugh

FI N

Ethics aren’t a fad, argues Emma Greenwood

Why I take on Ironman challenges

MARCH 2013 Issue 138 £1.70

D ‘ I ING wa FR n E I r ted EDO ea to M W d G die IN C or od u HR d’ ’s nt IST il

DECEMBER 2012 Issue 135 £1.70

Call to ban so-called ‘infidelity services’ Dating agencies must be brought to book, says Lyndon Bowring

av VER in SA

Uncovering the numbers behind the verses

IN

THE BIBLE REALLY DOES ADD UP

Elim joins the smartphone revolution

Dire TIO fo ctor Ca N r C , Yo lv W hr ut e IT ist h r H

How NLT member Stuart Blount’s life was changed

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Mark Pugh talks about the future for Elim’s young people

SPIRIT HELPED ME STAND AT SCHOOL

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SERIOUS4GOD IS GATHERING MOMENTUM

Elim UK app is launched

B ‘I’m RIC E of walk M p in U pra owe g AM ye r o pro BA r’ f of

Elim GS John Glass unpacks fresh teaching for the New Year

FEBRUARY 2013 Issue 137 £1.70

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R PLUS RESOLVING TO LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH IN 2013

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New Sound of Hope for the Movement

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ELIM SOUND’S LATEST RELEASE

M Y A BA M B H IR IE ea an led AC S A ore af xia ter LE RE

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JANUARY 2013 Issue 136 £1.70

M Y A HE N A HowD R T T th I es ER BR e oc ca R E cu ped OR AK lt

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