Press Release: 13th May 2010

During the weekend of 30th April to 3rd May, over a thousand Christians of all denominations from around the country made their way to Eastbourne for the start of a weekend of Bible teaching, worship and fellowship. The Congress Theatre was the venue and the main key note speaker was Alistair Begg, originally from Scotland but now senior pastor at Parkside church near Cleveland, Ohio. He was a hit with the delegates who had gathered from all points of the compass, with many from churches around Bedford and Norwich as well as Kent, Hampshire and the local churches of East and West Sussex. Alistair delivered in depth teaching on 1 Corinthians in a mix of a Scottish burr and an American twang but with real humour that was very popularly received. The main theme for this year’s event had the title, “Glory in the Cross”.

"Glory in the Cross"

Other speakers over the weekend included Greg Haslam, of Westminster Chapel, who gave a challenging message about church unity; Mike Ovey, Principal of Oak Hill College, gave a series of seminars about the cross; Joel Virgo, son of Terry who was at last year’s event, spoke on Psalm 42 and 43; and former Rector of All Souls Langham Place and retired Bishop of Chester showed that at nearly eighty, Michael Baughen still has what it takes. He told everyone there in the final session that it was really a commissioning service as everyone returned home and he dared everyone there to tell people who asked that they had been to a Bible conference about the Cross of Jesus Christ.

A disappointment was that senior evangelical statesman Jim Packer, had had to cancel due to the ash cloud. His place was taken by Dr Gerald Bray giving a series of popular, lively and entertaining seminars on the Puritans. There’s words you don’t often associate with that subject, but everyone who attended came away full of praise and enthusiasm thanks to Dr Bray’s knowledge of the subject which he delivered in an entertaining, humorous style which brought the subject alive and put into a modern context.

After the Saturday evening celebration Lou Fellingham and Phatfish took the stage in a stand alone concert, when delegates were joined by Phatfish followers and holiday makers there just to enjoy the music. Lou wowed the audience with her heady mix of rock, ballads and faith. She and singer/ songwriter Stuart Townend led the worship regularly through the weekend. Lou is soon to release her new album. She is also due to release her third child soon as she was around 32 weeks pregnant!

After the Sunday morning when leaders of the conference were preaching in local churches delegates weren’t allowed a chance to sleep off their lunches as more seminars kicked in in the afternoon. In the main auditorium Tricia Marnham and Andrea Williams, hotfoot from a Radio 4 appearance that morning spoke powerfully on about the battle for truth and the increasing secularisation of our nation and its laws. Andrea is a part of Christian Concern for our Nation (CCFON) and the Christian Legal Centre (CLC). Andrea spoke about the recent ruling about Gary McFarlane's case against Relate, as well as issues of abortion, euthanasia and how Christians are marginalised, lose their jobs and are harassed for taking a stand on matters of Christian faith and conscience. She said that the Church had been silent for too long and that it needs to speak out. She also urged people to sign up for the Westminster Declaration which was on one of the stands in the exhibition hall of the conference.

After that the stage was set for a Question and Answer session. Andrea was joined by Mike Ovey, Alastair Begg and the Bishop of Lewes, the Rt Rev Wallace Benn, who is also Chairman of the Bible by the Beach trust. The session covered a number of subjects such as faith, doubt, Hell, unbelieving spouses, as well as returning to the Gary McFarlane judgement. Andrea repeated her call that for the Church it’s a wake up call.

The Sunday evening celebration was thrown open to anyone and many local churches closed so that they could come to the event which led to the theatre being virtually packed with around 1200 people, including the local Conservative candidate Nigel Waterson. Bishop Benn whose idea the event was which is now in its second year says, “It’s been our vision to see the Congress Theatre full and overflowing and we reached the full stage on Sunday night. And if for the whole event we could be that full it would be wonderful.” As well as the worship there was a video shown from Bishop Ben Kwashi, who had spoken at last year’s event, about life for the Christians living in Jos and including a moving report on the terrible events there in January of this year with the violence among Christians and Muslims. Bishop Wallace Benn gave an address on John 18 which reminded the congregation that God’s word is not spin.

As well as the adult events, there was also a packed programme of youth and children’s events which were all well attended. For the Sunday evening they all had their own celebration events and an event called “Curious!” was a free event to any young people who wanted to come. Around 350 young people gathered for worship, teaching and games, with around twenty young people making a commitment for Christ at the end of the evening.

“Equipping the saints and building the Church”

The Monday rounded off the seminars and main teaching with still people booking in for the event. The final celebration had a message from Michael Baughen who told the delegates that they should all be going back, “Evangelically fatter and Evangelistically fitter!”

David Bourne, Vicar of Hailsham and Executive Chairman of Bible by the Beach says that the main aim of Bible by the Beach is “Equipping the saints and building the Church”. Bishop Benn, Chairman of the Trust said that their idea had been to provide an event with quality Bible teaching, as there was nothing else of its kind in the South East. For many in this part of the country events like Word Alive are too far for many to travel to. He said, “The Bible is life changing and what we hope it has achieved, is that the teaching of the Bible by the Holy Spirit applied to people’s hearts will change lives and as they go home will change churches and change families in all sorts of situations as people live out their faith.” Plans are already in hand for Bible by the Beach 2011 when the theme will be ‘Resurrection People’. The dates will be 29th April to 2nd May 2011, and speakers already booked are Archbishop Greg Venables, and Kent and Barbara Hughes. More information and bookings on www.biblebythebeach.org

BIBLE BY THE BEACH 30 APRIL – 3 MAY 2010 EASTBOURNE

Bible by the Beach will again take place over the first May Bank Holiday weekend in 2010 in and around the Congress Theatre complex in Eastbourne. Huge enthusiasm was received from all who attended the launch event in 2009, and the next one promises to be even better! It seeks to bring excellence in Bible teaching at a popular level, with modern lively praise, as well as a wide range of seminars and a full youth and children’s programme.

The theme for the weekend is ‘Glory in the Cross’, and speakers include Alistair Begg, who will be leading the key Bible expositions, Jim Packer, Greg Haslam, Mike Ovey and Michael Baughen, with a number of others. Sung worship will be led by Stuart Townend, and Lou Fellingham and Phatfish are featuring in a late Saturday night concert. A free Sunday evening celebration with an international theme is open to all local churches.

As this is not a campus event, people can make their own arrangements locally for accommodation over the holiday weekend. Full details can be found on the website www.biblebythebeach.org

This family friendly event seeks to bring excellent accessible Bible teaching, which will encourage and help local churches, to a lovely location in the South East of England at a reasonable cost. It is hoped and prayed for that this event will be a real help to all the churches of Sussex.

Alistair Begg is senior pastor of Parkside Church, near Cleveland, Ohio. He'll be coming to speak next year, giving the main Bible readings under the theme 'The Glory of Christ in the Cross'. Alistair is currently in the UK, speaking at the Living Word conference in Portsmouth.

All the talks from Bible by the Beach are now available to download for just £1 in the BBTB store. To give you a taste of what you missed out on at BBTB 2009, and in anticipation of more great teaching in 2010, we've made some talks available for free download:

Wallace Benn - The Magnificence of Jesus

Stef Liston -  What's the big deal?

Enjoy!

A short video interview with Archbishop Ben Kwashi, finding out who he is and how he came to be at Bible by the Beach...

One of the great features of Bible by the Beach is the support for the local church in the Eastbourne area. Some churches were able to receive a guest speaker from the conference and welcomed in visiting delegates to their morning services. You can download the talks from these services:

Paul Williams  -  St. John's Polegate

Wallace Benn  -  Edgmond Evangelical

Simon Vibert  -  St. Mary's Hailsham

John Cheeseman  -  Holy Trinity

Ben Kwashi  -  Kings Church

Ben Kwashi  -  All Saints

Dave Fenton  -  Victoria Baptist

It was a great joy to be joined by Archbishop Ben Kwashi at Bible by the Beach. On Sunday morning he spoke at Kings Church and at All Saints Church in Eastbourne.

You can now download both video and audio from his talks at Kings, entitled "Speak to the Rock - Lessons in Obedience".

Download Audio (MP3)

Download Video (MP4)

Watch Video Online

Commenting on how Bible by the Beach had gone, Bishop Wallace Benn, who was responsible for organising the event together with other local ministers, said ‘It was a fabulous first event and the feedback has been hugely positive. We can build on the enthusiasm for the event now in future years.’

We are already planning next year's event and hope to have Alistair Begg giving the main Bible readings, with worship led by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

Speaking on the dangers of idolatry - both inside and outside the Church - Oakhill principal Mike Ovey said that when Christians use the phrase, 'I like to think of God as..' what we are really doing is idolatry. God made man in His image: but by using this phrase and by carrying it through, we are coming up with our own images of God: a 'terrifying reversal'. 'We frame our own reality, our own gods and we are manipulated as we do it. The "gods" that we make start to run us. We are married to our false faiths and this opens us up to the demonic ... but the true nature of human existence is that we are made in the image of God and we should be like Him.'    

Moving on to consider what a world without the knowledge of God Looks like, Mike Ovey quoted G K Chesterton's assertion that 'the modern world is full of the Christian values gone mad ... gone mad because they have been isolated and left to wander at will'. He said 'If one virtue cannot restrain another virtue, you have a world of many "gods" and a war between those different values.' There has to be a supreme God to integrate those values, he said, in order for them to work in harmony.