New Zealand creationists volunteer at major music festival
by Mike Cook
Published: 20 April 2010(GMT+10)
From Left to right Ross Peeters (CMI Staffer) and from Hamilton Support group Peter
Dennis, Mike Cook and John Thorpe
Parachute is the largest Christian music festival in the Southern Hemisphere
and occurs at the end of January each year. Starting from humble beginnings in 1990,
the event has grown steadily and now attracts around 25,000–30,000 people
each year. This year, 2010 marked the 20th anniversary. Although the
central theme of the festival is music, there are many other events including drama,
seminars and exhibits.
Inspired by the ‘Curious Earth’ street outreach featured back in
Creation magazine issue 29(4) the CMI Hamilton Support Group1 stepped out in faith and
in January 2008 had a stand for the first time at Parachute 08 with the same theme
of ‘Curious Earth’. This was a real success and a great learning exercise
on which to build. By sharing our experiences in this article, we hope it will inspire
other groups around the world to take part in similar outreaches at Christian music
festivals, using quality CMI materials.
Last year, 2009, was a significant year in evolutionary circles with the 200th
anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth being strongly promoted. So, for Parachute
09, the Support Group felt that a significant increase in presence was called for.
Again in faith we reserved a double site in a large exhibition marquee shared by
several evangelistic, training and overseas mission organisations. Taking this opportunity
to respond, the CMI stand had prominent posters and material acknowledging Darwin’s
influence and prompting the question: “If Darwin knew what we do today, would
he still have formulated his theory of evolution?” This was of course a major
theme for CMI and other creation ministries world-wide.
Many youth leaders, teachers and evangelists visited the creation display
Other major topics which are used each year are dinosaurs, the Flood and Ark, biology,
geology and most importantly, the vital need to have a creation basis for our Christian
faith and witness. The CMI stand attracts many visitors over the four days. Prayer
requests for key people to reach (link
and feed) are amazingly answered. Many youth leaders, teachers and evangelists
have visited and we are able to give each of them resources and encouragement to
impact particularly the youth in their sphere of influence. For example, over NZ$2500
worth of booklets, brochures and Creation magazine back issues were given
away at Parachute 09. A number of visitors sign up for the free
lnfo Bytes email newsletter and/or the
Creation magazine.
We have met many people keen to hear the creation message and have their questions
answered.
This year, for Parachute 10, we chose the theme of ‘The Heavens Declare’.
This astronomical focus was in response to the recent upsurge in interest in UFO’s,
extra-terrestrial life etc following from the recent major movie releases ‘Avatar’
and ‘2012’. We joined forces with a like-minded couple who
have their own apologetics ministry and who also have a 1/90th scale
Ark model. The combination of our stands was a very effective partnership that really
had an impact.
Keen to hear
Every year we have met many people keen to hear the creation message and have their
questions answered. One of the Hamilton CMI Support Group members is a high-school
science teacher and he is able to interest and draw in high-school-and university-age
passers-by. Provocative posters made from Creation magazine articles are
always great conversation starters. Subjects like the vegetarian lion, ‘fresh’
dinosaur tissue and the real Ark promote lively discussion. Openings for potential
opportunities to speak to youth groups and minister in churches arise.
Stefan & Debbie Kitshoff at their stand adjoining ours, with the Ark model (lid open) talking with enthusiastic visitors.
The role of Support Groups in doing such activities is to avoid placing an additional
financial burden directly on the ministry organisation which is of course using
resources all the time to ‘churn out the information’. So in the months
leading up to the event, a platform of prayer was built. This especially emphasised
the need for divine appointments, prepared hearts and being able to reach the ‘influencers’.
We are pleased to report that donations from a range of supporters beforehand and
from visitors to the stand at the event and discounted resources means that the
costs have always been met.
We are sure that many lives will be impacted as the resources and messages that
are given away are read and passed on. We are always blessed to be a part of what
God is doing to raise up a generation who will change their world by, the Lord willing,
getting back to the truth of His Word. We are already planning our promotion at
next year’s festival.2
We would encourage our like-minded colleagues in all parts of the world to consider
such festival openings, in collaboration with your national CMI office, as tremendous
opportunities exist to reach the next generation for Him.
Related articles
References
- “Support groups” is a concept in Australia and
NZ in which dedicated volunteers keen to assist the ministry of CMI band together
in a semiformal fashion. When there is a visiting CMI speaker, for instance, their
help is invaluable in book setup and sales. In the US, for example, existing creation
clubs and societies have to date been fulfilling similar functions in fraternal
cooperation, which is immensely appreciated. Return to text.
- Parachute has expanded into Australia with starter concerts
in Sydney and Brisbane in 2009. Return to text.
| They say you can’t go home again. I don’t know where that came from, but it can’t be true. Creation.com is my home page and I go there every day. How about you? Support CMI.  | | |
|
