ON THE ROAD in Iford
Dear friends
 Thank you for supporting us at Wessex Filling Station by coming to meetings, or leaders lunches, getting involved and sharing details of upcoming events with your friends and churches.
Next Thursday 25th October, we have the second meeting in our autumn ON THE ROAD (OTR*) series at St Saviour's Church Iford, and Roy Crowne will be our speaker. As many of you are well aware Roy is no stranger to the area having trained at Moorlands College in the '80's and visited many times to speak at various events. He is truly a mighty man of God, and an encourager of people. Vicar Andy McPherson invited us to come to St Saviour's Church last year after hearing encouraging reports of last years OTR* series of meetings by member of his congregation.
HOPE Together:
 Roy set up HOPE Together in 2007 together with Mike Pilavachi (Soul Survivor) and Andy Hawthorne (The Message Trust) so that they could release churches and Christians to do the things that they were doing in making Jesus known to the masses. You can read Roy story of this time in his testimony which he allowed us to publish under Who is: Roy Crowne. 2008 saw the first HOPE initiative, and now ten years on we have been seeing churches all over the country getting involved with HOPE2018 ~ a year of Mission. As Roy comes to us he will share stories and testimonies of things that have happened nationally and look to the future of 2020. Recently he wrote:
"Since HOPE began with Hope08 we have been encouraging churches to do more together to make Jesus known with words and actions. Churches across the UK have been sowing seeds of the gospel faithfully through a rhythm of mission for the past 10 years. The Talking Jesus course is giving many people confidence to talk naturally about their faith. Now, we believe, it is time to prepare for an unprecedented harvest."
Advance Lambeth Palace:
 The week following our last excellent meeting at Lansdowne Church Woodbury Avenue, Roy met up with Yinka Oyekan - the speaker at Lansdowne - and with a hundred other evangelists, denominational leaders, and directors of various ministries, at Lambeth Palace. The meeting was arranged by Andy Hawthorne who spoke of wanting to "stir the church into greater levels of evangelism." Together the assembled leaders launched Advance 2020.
Advance 2020 is an evangelist movement which will actively promote, and stir up, the gift of the evangelist. Its aim is to give churches, ministries, and individuals, the opportunities and encouragement to reach the nation with the powerful hope of the gospel whilst supporting them in the process. This will gradually build towards a year of outreach throughout the UK in 2020. Roy told us:
"HOPE, together with a wide range of partner ministries and denominations, is preparing for 2020 and a ‘reaping year’. As the country goes through what we expect to be two difficult years politically, let’s be ready to offer the hope only Jesus can give. Jesus’ words seem timely: ‘Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.’"
United in our Worship:
 As we come to that time of year we know as All Hallows Eve (aka Halloween) St Saviour's church will be preparing for their Light Party. Throughout this week the church will be dressed according to this years underwater theme... so pack you goggles and snorkels and come and join us for a superb evening  where we intend to raise the roof with united praise and worship.
Worship will be led by St Saviour's worship leader, and member of the Wessex Filling Station worship team: Phil Smith aided by member of the Filling Station worship team who represent 5 different churches on this occasion!
Andy McPherson (pictured left) says of the evening:
 "Wessex Filling Station event takes place during the preparations for one of our major outreach events, the Light Party, an alternative to Halloween. We are looking forward to hearing Roy Crowne encourage us all in our evangelism and please join with the local church in praying for this event."
* Our hope in having OTR meetings is to partner with local churches across the area to encourage unity among churches, motivate church growth and personal Christian Commitment. Plus of course, excellent teaching form a conference class speaker. We have already had a request to visit a local church in the autumn of 2019! Praise God!
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