Praise God! Many received the Good News in Teesside!

The final day of the festival went so well. Despite the forecast of showers and wind sufficient to significantly affect the evening programme, the day was dry throughout, the wind calmer than all week, and the only drops we felt came once everyone had gone home and the site was being cleared. These reminders of God’s provision are an indication of how deeply the Lord has been moving in Teesside this week through the work of the festival outreach.

Again, thousands of locals came to the park throughout the day, welcomed by hundreds of volunteers from the local united church, some who served passionately at several events throughout the week. So many locals who attended over the weekend expressed how grateful they are that a free event would be put on in Teesside. For many, to attend a festival or live music event would be financially impossible.

The Gospel was shared clearly from stages across the site in such creative ways. The BMX team shared from the ramps and the families team used a circus display to communicate God’s love. In the youth zone live music and DJ sets framed the Gospel and many of our artists from main stage took the opportunity to share testimonies that had a powerful impact. In many instances, it was members of our GNE team who spoke. Andrew’s message in the evening highlighted on the fact that we are not promised tomorrow, telling the story of the plane crash that he and his family survived. Across the weekend 27000 people attended the festival and 1685 responded to the Gospel throughout the festival week and weekend.

The festival closed with celebration and worship. There is so much to be thankful for and to continue to pray into. Ten percent of the local Christians have been trained in evangelism and the festival chair Stephen Sutton believes that there will be no time in history when the unity of the church was stronger across Teesside.

The prayer team that we established locally was made up of 31 people representing 13 churches, all with an appetite for a continued unity based intercessory network to cover commitments from the festival and the discipleship of new believers.

Congregations are mobilised and enthused, and the church of Teesside are eager continue working with us by establishing an E-team.

We work to ensure that there isn’t a void to fill as our team returns home. With the launch this week of our digital evangelism campaign that is targeting the area of Teesside though Facebook and Instagram, tens of thousands of unchurched people will be reminded of the transforming impact of God’s love. This will point anyone who is interested to find out more about Jesus, to one of the 44 Alpha courses that the church is hosting across the area in September.

We are so grateful to our supporters who have journeyed with us throughout this campaign. If you are new to the work of Palau and interested in partnering with us in the future you can do so either by setting up a monthly standing order or by giving a one-off donation, and signing up to receive our emails.

The opening day of Festival Teesside has been stunning. We shouldn’t be surprised but looking back on the day now it’s quite overwhelming to see how well the event went. Ten minutes before we opened the gates there were queues of people stretching around the park and back onto the roadside. Within half an hour of opening, the site came alive with the buzz of families and friends milling around the activities, stalls and stages. My review of the day is punctuated with little cameos: parents relaxing in deckchairs with children climbing over hay bales; crowds cheering as they watched stunts on the BMX ramps; a circus performer working from silks hung 20 feet from the ground; so many bouncy castles with eager kids swarming around the.  

The sun shone, the crowds came, and the church was out in force serving their community sharing the love of Jesus with people who had never met him before. The Gospel was declared in the Youth tent, in the family area and the skate ramps throughout the day, and then later in the evening Andrew spoke to the crowd from the main stage.

There is so much to be thankful for. People responded to the Gospel throughout the day. Please pray as we are about to launch into another day for protection over the site, energy for everyone involved and for many more people to come along tonight to experience this. God’s message is live and relevant to everyone. Might the site be a sanctuary where people experience His presence and God speaks personally to everyone.

To keep us to date with the latest work of the Palau Association, you can sign up to be part of our email list.

On Friday evening we held our final outreach event – the women’s event, Stories of Hope. Women across Teesside have been planning and preparing, praying and extending invitations for months now and finally, at 6pm, we were able to invite our guests on site for a seated high tea served beneath the wings of our stretch tent.

Leah Mcfall, an artist who became well known through BBCs The Voice performed for us but also shared her powerful testimony of how Jesus gave her the strength and hope to overcome the grief and disappointment of losing her sister. She followed this with a song that she wrote in response to God. It was incredibly moving and clearly spoke deeply to many people there. Wendy later shared the Gospel and led those who wanted to in a prayer of acceptance of Jesus. Thirty-seven women accepted Jesus for the first time and so many more indicated that last night they were recommitting their lives or that they wanted to find out more about Jesus.

It has been a week of incredible celebration. Over 1200 people have attended the 18 outreach events that we have been part of. across the region, with 233 people responding to the Gospel - 101 reaching out to Jesus for the first time. There is so much to praise God about already.

So now we head into Festival Teesside itself! The gates will be open from 2pm on Saturday and Sunday. Please support us in prayer this weekend. The region is fertile and the people are hungry!

A gear shift was felt as we moved into Thursday. Wednesday had been an exhausting and productive day of events, activity and interactions. But on Thursday the focus for almost the entire team shifted towards building the site. It is so encouraging to see it take shape and to be able to witness the interest of passersby. In fact, everywhere we go in Teesside people have heard about the festival and there seems to be a real excitement. So please pray that the right people come along, that families have a wonderful time, that the community as a whole benefits from the opportunity to meet together, but above all that the love of God is experienced by everyone there. 

Duggie Dug Dug ran more shows throughout the day for Primary school children, this time in Middlesborough Cathedral. The children are loving these events and hopefully many families will come along to the festival as a result.

In the evening the BMX team were invited by the Moses Project in Stockton to share the Gospel with the men they serve who suffer from addictions, homelessness and hopelessness. This is a kind-hearted ministry, and it was a particularly moving to witness a man who they have been praying for and serving for years reach out to Jesus last night.

The day’s work on site came to a head last night as we hosted the men’s event. Over 250 invited guests came for an evening of food, drink, comedy, and entertainment. There was such a relaxed atmosphere around fire pits, whiskey barrels and hay bales with an ice cream van for dessert and arcade games for fun.  Andrew spent the evening simply being a part of this and the evening concluded with him sharing the Gospel from the front. Twenty-five men responded on the night – how great is that! Books were given out to more, but each of those men were present and experienced the love of God, so let’s pray for the ongoing effect of the truth of Jesus.

Wednesday has been exceptionally busy with a broad range of outreach events across the region. When I first looked outside in the morning, I saw a team of volunteers in Festival Teesside branded vests preparing a church for a children’s event. This set the tone for the day for me. There was activity, service and events in pockets throughout the city as scores of the festival team alongside volunteers shared Jesus and invited people along to the festival.  

Andrew went to Holme House prison in the morning along with our BMX stunt crew. They spent time with 90 men of which 20 responded to the Gospel and many books were given out so please pray that God continues to speak to these men. 

In contrast, Wendy spoke at beautifully laid out afternoon tea to a room of over 40 senior citizens who had invited friends and neighbours to hear the Gospel.

Running concurrently to this were a couple of events led by our sponsors The Moses Project who work with men suffering from the effects of addiction. Similarly to the previous sessions we have run for the marginalised communities, those who attended were hugely receptive to the love of Jesus. Fifty percent of those who were there responded to the Gospel and are being invited personally to continue their journey at an Alpha course that will be run for that specific community.

Hundreds of primary school children attended sessions led by Duggie Dug Dug and Tom Rolf encouraging them all to come along to the festival at the weekend, and then after school we ran a large outreach at the skatepark in Preston Park.

The day concluded with an open-air student outreach held at a location backing onto the campus of Teesside University. The evening had an international feel to it with food, entertainment and live music from different cultures. It was a chilly evening but as the students came and sat in front of the stage it took on a street-food setting vibe. Towards the end of the night Andrew shared the Gospel and one girl who accepted Christ for the first time said that what struck her was that with Jesus, she would never again be alone. This speaks into so much of what we are seeing. We are coming across people who are carrying so much deep hurt, yet we have an outstanding opportunity to point them to Christ who we know is the only one who can truly heal at that level.

Today saw the beginning of the site build. Progress was at points threatened by rain and the possibility of wind but despite this the fencing went up to secure the site, tents were raised and generally the site began to take shape. The forecast is looking more promising for Wednesday, but we would really value your prayers for an improvement in the weather and an opportunity for the site to dry out.

Wendy led a team to Low Newton women’s prison in Durham where she had been invited in as a guest speaker by Junction 42 – an organisation that exists to see the lives of offenders and their communities visibly transformed by hope. The chapel was a bright and creative space, facilitated by a passionate team of chaplains and Junction 42 volunteers who serve the inmates throughout the week. Wendy’s message was one of hope describing the compassion that God has for each one of us. Thirty women attended – that equates to 10 percent of the prison’s population. They listened and participated and at times were visibly moved by what they heard. It’s hard to imagine how such broken lives could ever be transformed but one of the women in her 70’s shared with us how meeting Jesus through the work of the chaplaincy had turned her life around. The room was in silence when Wendy prayed, and 20 women raised their hands to say that they had responded to the Gospel. Almost all the women took the Made New and Stories of Hope books that we had taken in, and we pray that these will impact many women throughout the entire prison.

Andrew and Wendy finished the day by attending The Open Well in South Bank, a worshipping community for marginalised people. Again, the worship was vibrant and engaged and the individuals were attentive to all that was shared. Part of the DNA of these groups is that as soon as someone finds Jesus, they start to minister week by week to other people who come along. As a result, we heard many stories of heartbreak and break through to a level that simply amplifies the power of God. These are intimate but vibrant events. Twenty-one people came along, 5 of whom met Jesus for the first time. The night concluded with a beautiful, extended time of ministry. All of today’s photos came from this event.

Thank you for following our updates in the build-up to Festival Teesside. Over the weekend the LPA team arrived from our respective parts of the UK and US ready to kick off the week by meeting together with the Festival Core Team on Monday. There is an enthusiasm and confident expectation for what God is going to do in this region and a strong belief that the ripple effects from Festival Teesside will extend out forming part of people testimonies in 10-years’ time.

It was a beautiful afternoon connecting with one another as a complete team, sharing excitement and prayer. The church leaders here in Teesside are a faithful demonstration of the Kingdom’s unity. They have been sewing for years into their region but are now appreciative and excited for the opportunity to hold a large scale, region-wide outreach event in the North-East.   

Andrew and Wendy shared at an event where people from marginalised communities in one of the most deprived areas in Middlesborough regularly receive a meal and the opportunity for an evening off the streets. This is a pre-existing ministry serving the homeless and those suffering from addictions. Amongst the group were some who had already found Christ and had incredible testimonies of powerful encounters with Christ. We were warned of the likelihood of people leaving immediately after eating to avoid any form of ministry, but this just didn’t happen. A local leader with his guitar started singing and worship broke out in its rawest, most honest form. There was a joy in the place that felt inexplicable - but this is our God!

Andrew’s testimony and message of God’s radical love for all His children had a beautiful impact that seemed to resonate and relate to this community. Eight people responded to the Gospel and many more reached out for prayer. This is additional to the 45 responses that the team witnessed at several other similar events that were held last week by the local Festival Teesside team.

As we were packing up, one couple leaving for a night back on the streets told me that they felt full and ready to face another week. They had joy pouring from their faces.

Whilst this was going on, most of our team were meeting with over 600 volunteers and councillors at our final Festival Training event. It has been a tremendous start to the beginning of a week of outreach events that will culminate in the massive festival this weekend!

Please join with us and cover this season with prayer. Specifically, we would love you to pray for good weather until after the festival weekend. There has been a lot of rain, and the site conditions will only improve with a dry spell!

But also, please pray for those people who have been impacted by the Gospel already, and for many more hearts to be receptive to the Gospel at the various coming events.