Festival Teesside, featuring evangelist Andrew Palau, was ‘a massive success’ and the ‘fruition of 15 years of hard work,’ says mission organiser Stephen Sutton.
Sutton, who is pastor of Beacon Baptist Church, Middlesborough, also said that the gospel seed had been sown and that local churches were now deploying ‘the skills of the harvest field’ which the Palau team provided.
Seventy Teesside churches (more than half calling themselves evangelical) united behind the week-long event, which culminated in the free Festival, with music, at Stewart Park in the city from 8-9 June. The total of 18 Festival events included men’s and women’s events, action sports - such as the stunt biker pictured below, family fun activities and food trucks. More than 600 local churchgoers were trained in evangelism beforehand and 900 volunteers were signed up to take part – all representing a large percentage of the 6–7,000 or so people in the area who normally attend church on a Sunday.
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