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Growing up I was
fascinated by song writing
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and I believe God's
given me some abilities
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and a passion in the area of music,
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so it's kind of natural that I've tried
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to take that to help share
the Christian message
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especially at Christmas.
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So, for the last 20-something years
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we've been working with
schools across Suffolk.
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We've been getting them to record
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and film singing Christmas songs
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and raising money for Tearfund.
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The three key aims we
had with the projects
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are one is actually sharing
Christian message at Christmas.
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Two is fundraising and thirdly
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is strengthening those relationships
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between schools and churches
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and between different schools as well.
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So, for me, Christmas
seems to be the one season
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where people are still very
open to the Christian message.
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So much of people's expectation is set up
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to almost hear a message,
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so that build up to Christmas
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is absolutely the key time
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to be telling the Christmas story.
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In terms of messaging,
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what we've tried to do is
craft the Christmas story
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into accessible, small elements.
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The last but one project
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was called "Waiting for Christmas"
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and it studied the five key characters
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in the Christmas story
and how each of them
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was waiting for Christmas
in a different way,
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so what we've been doing is using
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existing well-known, traditional,
seasonal Christmas songs
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but also writing a whole load of new songs
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that convey the truth
of the Christian message
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through the message of Christmas
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and it's just been incredibly rewarding
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to hear thousands of
children across this area
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singing those songs.
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And my experience of the
way the children react
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to being part of a media experience
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and being part of singing
fun, up tempo songs
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has meant that those have
been very, very good ways
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of gaining people's interest
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and engaging them and drawing them in.
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Do what you can do and do it well
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because I think doing
something that is credible
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is incredibly important
and I've seen many things
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where people have tired to do things
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that are too adventurous
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and when you lose credibility
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I think that doesn't
help sharing the message.
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One of the amazing things
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that's been an outcome of the project
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is seeing some children and families
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get much more involved in church
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and also come to faith as a result
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of having been involved.
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There's one particular family
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who got involved because their daughter
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was involved dancing and because of that
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they came along to the project,
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they started coming along to church
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and they came to faith
as a result of that.
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Jesus is the light of the world
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and I think we as Christians are called
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to share that light wherever we go
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and through these projects,
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this has been a fairly large-scale way
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that I've found in this area
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have been able to share the truth
02:50
and the light of Jesus to
these communities nearby.
