News Details
Posted date: 21 Dec 2012
CVM 'Christmas' News
That was the year that was ...
As we approach the end of another year, we wanted to say a massive ‘Thank You’ to all those who have supported us financially, prayerfully and practically at grass roots level during 2012. We also thought we would let you know about some of the successes with projects that we have been involved with this year and what’s on the horizon for 2013.
Defenders
Over 700 copies were used all across the country, with an estimated 40,000 people watching it. The feedback has been really positive:
“We showed ‘Pegasus Bridge’, and it had a considerable impact for different people in different waysâ€
“We used ‘Life on the Ocean Waves’ and ‘Pegasus Bridge’. It really connected with people, and many commented how refreshing it was to discuss being a Christian in the Forces rather than skirting round this on Remembrance Dayâ€
The DVD pack is still available (click here) for you to use with your group, why not plan now to use it on Sun 30 June when the country will be thinking about the Military with Armed Forces Day being on Sat 29 June.
Grass Roots across the UK
Work has continued apace around the country, 30 new groups have signed up to partner with us during 2012, making a total of 520 across the UK! Steve Martin and Ben Harding have visited dozens of Churches / groups across England and are looking to appoint numerous Area / City CVM reps. CVM Team London (Rob, Tony and Suneel) are developing a strategy to reach blokes right across the capital, forging links with several of the larger churches in our ‘Olympic city’. We have undertaken 12 regional days along with 4 combined ‘Courageous’ days with New Wine. Next year sees the start of the Crazy Way tour ... another 12 days of CVM madness and challenge across all the regions. For details click here. All this is resulting in Churches grabbing the idea that they CAN reach out to their mates in a cringe free and effective way with the Gospel message.
Spud Murphy, our man in Northern Ireland, has recently secured an amazing partnership with Ulster Rugby, with opportunities to obtain discounted tickets for games and then host follow up meetings with guys from the team talking about their faith in Jesus … for more info click here Pray that this really takes off in 2013 and we see more blokes meeting Jesus!
Scotland, under the leadership of Stephen McGuire, saw its first Regional Day and the prayer is to grow this to 4 in 2013. Stephen has also secured a partnership with Scottish Christian Broadcast, which will heavily promote the CVM message north of the border. For more info click here.
MLJ has been active in Wales, starting an outreach to young guys in KoKo Gorilaz nightclub in Cardiff, connecting with the skating & student community – some of these guys are close to making decisions for Christ. Pray particularly that the Codelife movement will continue to gain momentum in Wales in 2013.
Eddie James and his team continue to seek ways to engage with our more mature supporters with CVM 50 Plus, equipping them in their ministry and encouraging mentoring of the younger generation. 2013 will see the launch of new on-line discussion forums and the option of seminars for older guys at some of our Tour dates.
There is so much more; battles against things like the porn industry continue to be fought at all sorts of levels; we are really excited about growing plans for online evangelism; further volumes of the highly successful ‘The Manual’ need to be written and published (one guy said: ‘The Manual should carry a health warning! God speaks from it and challenges us to be men. I’m up for it’); 2013 will see the publication of the ‘Code Bible’ for blokes; the Demolition Squad came into being bringing apologetics to the masses under the guidance of Jonathan Sherwin & Andy Kind … then there is the work in Cambodia, India, Canada and South Africa … we could continue!
The Gathering in June saw 800 blokes meet together in a field for a memorable weekend – especially for the 45 who made a commitment to Christ … but next year we have even bigger plans for 1100 attendees, more stuff and many more blokes getting to know Jesus for the first time – which of course is why CVM exists, to introduce men in the UK to Jesus!
On Saturday 23 February we will be holding a Strategic Prayer & Praise Day in Chesterfield, please join us for this important annual event and a chance to have a tour of our head office, 'The Hub'.
And finally, we are exploring with organisations such as Jesus.net and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association a partnership to reach men using the internet. That’s one of the reasons for our Christmas appeal, so that we have enough funds to deliver a project that could reach hundreds of thousands of men.
2012 has seen a huge growth in the demand for CVM’s time and resources, and to release Carl and the rest of the core team to do what they do best, we are looking forward to welcoming Steve Martin as our new ‘Operations Director’ from January. Of course we are so thankful to God for all these positive moves … but what’s the catch? The catch is all this takes resourcing, and there is so much more we could do if we had the dosh. Will you stand with us??? give to our Christmas appeal here
A blessed and peaceful Christmas to you and those whom you love!
Cheers
