David Vaughan at Hailsham Gospel Mission (HGM) treated the community to some rock 'n' roll entertainment with Rockin' Mike. Read about David's initiative below:

During a walk along Eastbourne seafront with friends I discovered that one was a member of a local church music group with Mike Howell, who is also a professional singer. Mike's repertoire is rock 'n' roll music from the 1950s and 60s and he gives regular performances at nursing homes, care homes and local community centres.

I had been thinking of ways in which HGM could extend its programme of outreach events and decided to discuss the idea of asking Mike to give an evening performance at the church with the church elders, Martin Brown and Dave Sweetman. My initial concern was that they might not consider this an appropriate setting, but I was wrong! The idea was met with great enthusiasm by Martin and Dave, and well supported by our congregation.

So, I got in touch with Mike and he readily agreed to come along and sing for us. He has a wide variety of material from such artists as Buddy Holly, Eddy Cochran, Cliff Richard and, of course, Elvis! The songs are all sung to original backing tracks and his stage outfits and presentation are in keeping with the period.

Mike's first visit was in April last year. The church was decorated with musical notes and old album covers, and a team of volunteers worked hard to cook and serve a tasty hot meal and pudding. Tables and chairs were laid out and we asked our church members to bring along family and friends from outside of the church. 

I am sure I shared my personal trepidation with our elders as the hall filled with people, as to whether the evening would go down well. I need not have worried because as soon as Mike got started, the smiling faces of our audience confirmed we had a winner on our hands! Indeed, such was the success of the evening, a later church meeting called for a vote of thanks and asked for a repeat performance!

Hence in October, as part of the Harvest Festival celebrations, Mike was asked back for a second performance. Once again, our team pulled out all the stops to decorate the church in rock 'n' roll style, and help to make it as welcoming as possible.

Mike performed to an audience of around 50 people, which included roughly half that were not regular members of our church. And because evening was unseasonably warm, we opened up the doors and invited some passers-by to join us. It wasn't long before the tables were pushed back and there was some energetic jiving, including our 96 year-old church member Len!

I appreciate some readers may be thinking 'What has all this got to do with our love of Jesus and His teaching?' But I am reminded that the Gospel is full of stories where Jesus made it his mission to talk to ordinary folk in the places he visited - with publicans, fishermen and beggars among them. He invited all of us to knock on His door and enter His Kingdom and our mission is to do the same. We welcome all comers with a prayer and celebrate Psalm 150, where David urged his people to praise God with singing and all manner of musical instruments.

We were also delighted to hear Mike incorporate some well-known Gospel songs from the period in his act, inviting us to join in with singing, including 'How Great Thou Art' recorded by Elvis.

The experience has inspired me to say that if you are thinking of reaching out to people in your town or local area, don't be afraid to step 'outside of the box' of everyday church activities!

 

(Pic of Rockin' Mike is from his Facebook page)