Back in harness!

Well, I'm back from the exhibition in Cardiff which was a success in many different ways. The fellowship was tremendous! The concerts were great!

There were two choirs, one on the Tuesday evening and one on the Wednesday, each different from the other, and yet each using their extensive talents to praise the Lord with not only their voices but plainly their hearts as well. At the first of the concerts we were treated to more traditional Gospel singing by the Cardiff Gospel Male Voice Praise Choir, with many hymns that we all recognised plus a few that were not perhaps so well known to some people. On the second evening we were treated to a wonderful evening by the Bethesda Church Choir, a mixed choir of varying talent but all with a tremendous enthusiasm both for the Lord and for singing. This was a very different evening to the first, and we were treated to some lively singing that shouted 'HAPPINESS' as loud as they could. By that I mean that it was impossible to listen to them and not come away with a tremendous sense of joy from being there.

A real treat was that both concerts also included the internationally renowned Welsh harpist, Bethan Myfanwy Hughes, and Bethan interspersed the choirs numbers with either instrumental numbers on the full concert size harp or else accompanied the harp with her beautiful voice. It was a truly magical event, made more so by the inclusion of interviews with some of the exhibitors, a flute solo by one of the exhibitors, and also a rendition of The Aaronic Blessing, written and sung by Vivienne Oates who accompanied herself on the guitar. You can purchase her recordings from Anchor Recordings. The whole evening left one almost breathless! What a privilege it was to have been there. AND, as an added bonus, Bethan Myfanwy Hughes agreed to sign to Sheer Joy Music, so look for some fabulous recordings of her harp-playing and singing to come very soon on the Sheer Joy Music site.

A very moving moment was when the exhibition organiser, Rev Roy Weaver of Decade Ministries, unfurled one of his amazing 'Wallpaper Rolls' whilst Bethan played and sang the Louis Armstrong hit number, What a wonderful world. Roy really earns his sobriquet of 'The Wallpaper Man'! I first met him about eight or nine years ago when he came to my church to take part in the service, unrolling his wallpaper messages as he did so. If you ask him how long the sermon will be his usual answer is "About ten metres!" If you are in the UK and you've never experienced Roy's ministry first-hand, then I recommend you to book him for an appearance in your Sunday Morning Worship Service or to contact him to find out when he might be in your area. It will be a decision that you'll certainly not regret.

Why not follow some of the links in this post and find out a little more for yourself dear reader?