I’m very pleased to announce the arrival of Oliver George Simpkin on May 27. 8 lbs. and rising. Why give The Times all my money when I can announce his birth for free in Evangelicals Now?! I’d also like to announce that Oliver has already been given his first tambourine. Philly and I are hoping that it will be his last. No kazoos either, please.
At the start of the academic year, I asked for prayer for students at the various music colleges. This is a mission field in which we’ve seen three or four new births this year. We’re full of praise because Jesus has proved himself powerful to save young men and women as they’ve heard and believed the gospel. With all the pressures they face, we have had to rely on the power of the Word of God to be brought home to their hearts by the Holy Spirit. We’ve been humbled by our own weaknesses in proclaiming that gospel, but Jesus has shown his strength through our weaknesses time after time. He is faithful to his promises to save.
Making it as performers
Once they have left college, many of these musicians try to make it as performers in the wider world. What we try to do at St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, London, is to ground music students as firmly as possible in the Word of God while they have a semblance of order to their lives. Then, when they start out on their careers, we work with them on a more individual level, reading the Bible together one-to-one. The reason for this is that their performances are invariably in the evenings, so that it is hard to commit to midweek Bible studies. Also, if a show is running for weeks at a time, or if there is a tour, then consistent Christian fellowship dwindles very rapidly.
