Speakers, Worship Leaders and Performers 2011
The following people have accepted invitations to join the ROOTS team:
Celebration Speakers
The Right Reverend Graham Cray
Graham Cray is the Archbishop’ Missioner and Leader of the Fresh Expressions team. Fresh Expressions encourages new forms of church for a fast changing world, working with Christians from a variety of denominations and traditions. The initiative has resulted in hundreds of new congregations being formed alongside more traditional churches.
He was consecrated in March 2001 when he became the Bishop of Maidstone and the Bishop for Mission in the Diocese of Canterbury. Before this, he was Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, a Church of England theological college, after fourteen years as vicar of St Micheal-le-Belfrey, York.
His special concerns are the engagement of the Gospel with contemporary culture, youth ministry and the theology of renewal. He has been chairman of the Greenbelt Festival and is currently the chairman of the Soul Survivor Trust. He chaired the working party which wrote the Mission Shaped church report on church planting and fresh expressions of church. He chairs the Church of England Working Party on Pioneer Ministry (Lay and ordained).
Graham Cray will be speaking on ‘The Canvas’ of the Bible in our Adult Celebration on Sunday night, and also taking a seminar on Sunday afternoon.
Dr Krish Kandiah
Krish is Executive Director: Churches in Mission and England Director for the UK Evangelical Alliance. He is also part of the theme development group for Spring Harvest, an external examiner for Oak Hall College and Associate Research Fellow at London School of Theology. Prior to this Dr Kandiah was the Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and also Tutor in Mission and Evangelism at Wycliffe Hall. He was also a member of the Oxford University Theology faculty.
Krish has worked with students and in UK with Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, and in Albania with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, before becoming a pastor of a multi-cultural church in Harrow. He is still a regular speaker at university missions, and has a wider experience in evangelism and cross cultural mission.
Krish is currently chairman of Bible Fresh, a movement of churches, agencies, colleges and festivals seeking to encourage and inspire churches across the UK to a greater confidence and appetite for the Word of God. Their vision is to make 2011 a year of the Bible to help individuals and the whole church gain greater skill in handling the scriptures and a greater passion for hearing and obeying the bible.
Krish will be speaking on ‘The Story’ of the Bible in our Adult Celebration on Saturday night, and also taking a seminar on Saturday afternoon.
Commissioner John Matear
John and Elizabeth Matear met at the Salvation Army’s International Training College in London during 1976 and married in 1978.
From 1977 – May 2001, their Salvation Army officer service was spent in the United Kingdom serving as Corps Officers in Godalming, Reading, Hove and Chester-le-Street. Appointments as Divisional Youth Secretaries from 1987 – 1990 and Territorial Church Growth Consultants from 1990 – 1994 were based in Yorkshire.
John further served as Divisional Director for Field Programme and Elizabeth as Divisional Director for Personnel in the Yorkshire Division from 1994 – 1997. Appointments within the personnel department at Territorial Headquarters from 1997 – 1999 were followed by Divisional Leadership appointments to the East Midlands Division based in Nottingham from 1999 – 2001, John as Divisional Commander and Elizabeth as Divisional Director of Women’s Ministries.
From June 2001 to March 2006, Colonels John and Elizabeth Matear served as Territorial Commander and Territorial President of Women’s Ministries, respectively, for the Caribbean Territory which comprised fifteen countries.
On the 1 February 2006, announcement was made of the Matears promotion to the rank of Commissioner and appointment as Territorial Leaders of the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland, effective 2 April 2006.
John’s experience prior to officership was in business and commerce, whilst Elizabeth holds a Diploma in Social Sciences and a Certificate in Employment Law. The Matears testify to God’s equipping for ministry with spiritual gifts that include teaching, pastoring, evangelism, administration and leadership.
Elizabeth, in addition to her appointment as Territorial President of Women’s Ministries, became the Moderator of the Free Churches Group in April 2007. This is a four year appointment. In addition Elizabeth is Co-President of Churches Together in England which brings involvement and participation in a wide church scene and engagement with government.
John will be speaking on ‘The Stage’ in the Adult Celebration on Sunday morning, and Elizabeth will be our speaker for the Auditory Approach each morning.
Major Judith Payne
Judith is the Director of the School for In-Service Training and Development (SISTAD). Based at the William Booth College, SISTAD supports Salvation Army work by providing in-service training and learning opportunities for officers, employees and volunteers. The vision is for each individual to engage in life-long learning and for the Salvation Army to become a learning organisation to continue to fulfil its mission in the 21st century.
Judith spoke at ROOTS 2010 in the Personal Holiness Seminar, giving teaching on how to develop a personal lifestyle of holiness. She will be speaking on ‘The Journey’ in our final Monday Adult Celebration.
Liz Babbs
Liz Babbs is an award-winning author, poet, performer, broadcaster, retreat leader, spiritual director and creative prayer consultant. Liz worked as a secondary school teacher but became ill with M.E. (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) from which she was healed through prayer. She now writes and speaks internationally on issues of health, self-help and spirituality.
Liz works as a mission partner based at St Nic’s Church, Nottingham. Her aim is to communicate Christ creatively through media, publications and performance. She specialises in exploring new ways to engage with our spiritual culture. She has been described as ‘an expert in relaxation and meditation’ and has led stress-busting sessions at major conferences, festivals and book stores, as well as on radio and TV. She is passionate about intimacy with God and trains worship leaders how to enhance worship through Bible meditation.
As a professional performer, Liz has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She loves comedy and is training in stand-up and is currently touring her one-woman show Licensed to Chill.
Liz will be speaking on ‘The Poetry’ of the Bible in the Adult Celebration on Friday night. She will also be helping us write our own poetry in the Kinaesthetic Approach, and taking part in the Lyfe Cafe.
Stuart Watson
Stuart is a member of The Salvation Army at Kirkcaldy Corps in the East Scotland Division. He graduated as a Tuba player from the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and later gained a Masters in Biblical Studies from the University of St Andrews. He subsequently worked in education, based first of all at The Salvation Army’s William Booth College, School for Officer Training, in London, and then in Los Angeles. He has been a guest speaker at events around the UK and in Holland, Denmark and Latvia.
He returned home in 2009 to resume working as a freelance musician. Typical work engagements currently include musical direction of theatrical productions, performing on keyboards, tuba and accordion in the orchestra pit, or on stage, playing piano for dance exams, and most recently writing an original score for Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s first ever pantomime. A number of his songs, compositions and arrangements have been published in the UK Territory’s brass band journals and in the choral series, Sing to the Lord. The International Staff Band have regularly featured his composition Psalm 91 in their repertoire, and the International Staff Songsters have recorded the songs, Three Love Letters and Introit: From Psalm 24, both of which are collaborations with Rob Little.
Stuart is also a regular contributor to the American Instrumental Ensemble Series and Sing Praise, both published by The Salvation Army in the United States.
Stuart will be speaking on ‘The Score’ of the Bible in the Adult Celebration on Saturday morning.
Celebration Worship Leader
Noel Richards
Noel has been part of the UK Christian music scene for more than 35 years and has written many worship songs. Perhaps the best known of these is ‘All Heaven Declares’, which he co-wrote with his wife Tricia. He has played in more than 30 nations and led worship at many events throughout the UK, Europe and beyond.
In January 2000 he played before 66,000 people at the Millennium Stadium, Wales, an event which was broadcast live to at least 5 million people in the UK. He was also one of the organisers behind ‘Champion of the World’ at Wembley Stadium in June 1997. This event attracted almost 45,000 people. In July 2006 he led an international worship/prayer gathering at the Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany that gathered 25,000 participants and attendees from more than 42 nations. In October 2009 and January 2010, Noel featured on the BBC TV programme ‘Songs of Praise’.
Although Noel carries a vision for stadium worship, he is very much committed to working with local churches and the gatherings they organise. He also seeks to encourage worshippers and songwriters worldwide and to this end has established an online worship community/resource website called www.worshipjourneal.com
We are delighted that Noel will be returning to ROOTS and leading us in worship at our adult celebrations, and for a praise party on Sunday night.
Performers
Abby Guinness
Abby is an experienced performer who trained at RWCMD. Formerly a member of the Lacey Theatre Company Abby has performed at many events and led drama training courses.
Abby is now Head of Creative Arts for Spring Harvest. She has recently become a writer. Her first book ‘The Word of the Wives’ has been well received and enjoyed.
Abby will be performing a series of monologues from ‘The Word of the Wives’ in our entertainment programme as well as contributing dramas and readings to our celebrations and leading a drama workshop in our Equip Seminar programme.
Adrian Plass
Adrian is a writer and speaker who has produced over thirty books in the last twenty years. The best known of these is probably ‘The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass’, a gentle satire on the modern church, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide. Other books include biography, novels, short stories, a fictionalised account of the author’s experiences as a residential child care worker, and collections of poems and sketches.
Adrian describes himself as a bemused Anglican. He has been demand as a speaker in venues as varied as prisons, schools, churches, festivals, literary dinners and theatrical settings. His work also includes contributions to national and local radio and television. His live presentations combine humour, poetry, and story telling, largely revolving around his own inadequacies and struggles as a Christian and human being. We’re looking forward to hearing from Adrian in our entertainment programme.