WOW!
That about sums it up!
If you’ve been watching my Facebook status updates, or go to/know people who go to KingsGate Community Church in Peterborough, you will be aware that this weekend just gone we had the BBC broadcast LIVE from the Church for one of their 3 annual services. They only broadcast live for Easter, Christmas and Pentecost – with the Pentecost service being this one.
It was a huge blessing, opportunity, opening and challenge for the Church and all involved – with months of organisation, rehearsal, jiggery-pokery and all sorts going on to ensure that it all went smoothly, professionally and still looked like the KingsGate we know and love. The main priority of it all though was to ensure that God was able to be glorified, praised, raised up and that homes would be impacted by the Holy Spirit through what Dave Smith preached, the worship team sang, the testimonies declared and more.
The weekend was crazy – busy didn’t seem to fully express what the weekend was like but it was all good fun. When the rehearsal took place the air tingled with anticipation and excitement as we fully took in what we were doing. When we went LIVE it was even more moving and amazing, I found myself welling up as I took it all in but managed to keep in control 😉
I was involved with the KingsGate Production Department looking after the sound and visuals within the childrens room that got featured during the second song (and you can see our eldest son a few times!!!) and it was such a thrill being involved in it all.
Of course we let loads of people know about it, and our daughter told all her friends etc – but nobody anticipated the response that we got.
BBC crew members were moved, some close to tears, by what they saw, heard and felt. Emails came in (and are still coming in) from people who were challenged, changed, touched and more in the UK. The Church has even had emails from Holland, Belgium, Germany and Spain as it turned out that the broadcast was also sent to the Armed Forces TV channel so was seen as far afield as the Falkland Islands!
Then there was probably the biggest surprise of all – Chris Moyles, Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ, actually talked for 6 1/2 minutes about the service. 7.7 Million listeners heard Chris saying that he watched the program and it was “the most fascinating thing I’ve seen for a long time” and “I’ve never seen anything like that it Britain” and “it was amazing” and “been to gigs with less atmosphere” and “this is unbelievable” and “very uplifting” and “I want to go”
The ripples from this are still being felt from this and it is so exciting to be a part of.
If you haven’t seen it – or want to watch it again – you can catch it on the BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kvgmt/Thats_the_Spirit!/
Update: It’s now no longer available on iPlayer but you can find it on YouTube by searching for KingsGate Community Church
Please check it out!
