Having said that, Rob’s is a natural speaker as he demonstrated
in Norwich during June when he spoke to around 1500 people at the March
For Jesus event held in Chapelfield Gardens as part of the millennium Pentecost
celebrations.
Rob was one of the founders of the March For Jesus event which started
13 years ago with a small gathering in Smithfield Meat Market in London
and ended this year with 12 million Christians across the globe marching
as a statement of their faith.
Rob feels that the start of the third millennium is a significant time
for the church: “Jesus is the real reason behind the Millennium celebrations.
The last two millennia without him would have been far different and far
worse and would have been a very bleak time,” argues Rob.
The Millennium celebrations are also the backdrop for Rob’s popular
new musical, Hopes and Dreams, which toured 30 towns and cities last year
and will see a further 600 productions all over the UK this year.
The musical is best known for the Millennium Prayer that Rob helped
to originate and set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. “We persuaded Cliff
Richard to record the song and it went on to be number one for three consecutive
weeks,” said Rob.
“It is really exciting to see that productions of Hopes and Dreams
are involving hundreds and thousands of people. Lots of them are looking
forward to our next musical which comes out in November and is called Dangerous
Journey and is a musical setting of Pilgrim’s Progress which will be coming
to Great Yarmouth.”
The musical Hopes and Dreams is based on Rob’s novel of the same name
which came out last year. It is the story of what happened to four characters
on Millennium Eve and morning, explained Rob.
“It was an attempt to look back through history to Celtic Christianity
and what it can teach us today. One of the characters was a New Ager and
I did a lot of research in New Age thought, culture and philosophy and
discovered that a lot of it is really a hunger for God and search for Jesus.
And in the end that character becomes a Christian.”
Rob turned to writing novels several years ago when he realised that
many Christians, let alone non-believers, |
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wouldn’t go near a theological book: “My publisher
challenged me to try to put the message that I was feeling strongly at
that time into the context of a novel,” he said. “I found they sold very
well and I have had a number of letters over the years from people who
have been challenged and even come to faith through them.”
He also writes more conventional books and his latest one is Sharing
Jesus in the New Millennium.
Over the last 15 years Rob has been involved with a Share Jesus movement
every summer in the UK. Its success has spawned similar movements in America
and Australia.
“I decided to put together all the experiences and learning curves
into a book so that people who wanted to do a mission or do evangelism
can learn from my often painful experiences of recent years,” said Rob.
“I think the book is most of all about waking the sleeping army. I
believe that in the UK church today there are tens of thousands of Christians
who really love Jesus and really are aflame in their faith but they don’t
really know how to tell others about Jesus or to put their faith into words.
“So what I am trying to do through this book is to mobilise that sleeping
army and get them moving out in his name.”
As if Rob did not have enough other things on his plate, he also presents
a Sunday morning radio show on the Christian Premier Radio in London.
“Every Sunday morning I get up at six o’clock and drive into central
London to present a two-hour programme and it is a real opportunity for
me to meet some of the great movers and shakers around in the world today
who are committed Christians.
“The audience is around 160-200,000 people so it is certainly a big
responsibility. In the last few weeks I have talked to Sir Brian Mulwhinney,
cabinet member Paul Boateng and former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken
who recently became a Christian before going to prison.
“Also Christians like Graham Kendrick and Chris Bowater and Christian
poets, actors and musicians. Every Sunday I get the opportunity to meet
people who really love Jesus and are trying to put that kind of expression
into their everyday work. The phone-ins we do and letters we get show an
amazing contact with churches across London and now Premier is on Sky Digital
on Channel 938 and is on the web. We get letters from all across the world
as a result of that.”
Web links: www.premier.org.uk
www.gmfj.org |
