When Michael Diaper invited the 'teenagers' to come and lead the meetings at Dudley for the YP Annual, I'm not sure he knew what he was letting himself in for. But, when 32 'teenagers' arrived at Dudley hall at 9.30 on Sunday morning, I think he got the idea. Birmingham Citadel SAY Group had arrived. We quickly took over the hall and set up for the morning meeting. As it was a YP Sunday, the meetings had a message which would be understood by all present. Sunday morning was 'The Weakest Link'.
With our own Anne Robinson in the form of Anna Lamplough, we followed the disciples through the last few days of Jesus' life. 'Anne' and the fellow disciples, along with some help from the congregation, delivered the verdict on 'The Weakest Link' in each round. In between each round there was music from Dudley Singing Company and YP Band. The Dudley Primary presented an item and then they received their prizes from the Primary Sergeant. The Citadel Youth Band added to the meeting with Lord I come to You as their piece for the meeting. The message was, that without the power of Jesus Christ in our lives, we are all Weak Links. In the grand final, Jesus and Peter were to battle it out. However it soon became obvious that Peter was struggling, and in an extraordinary event Jesus leant over on more than one occasion to give Peter the answer, proving that with Jesus beside us we are, in fact, The Strongest Link. Laura Daff summed this up perfectly in her testimony when she said that although we may feel like weak links, when we are away from our Christian friends we are strong links with Jesus' help.
The evening meeting was lead by Gavin Lamplough and Stephanie Day, this was the first meeting they had ever lead, although none would have guessed. They emphasised the need to talk to Jesus and tell him that we love Him and must make time for Him in our lives. A clear message to all of us. A special thanks to Alex Pearce who put together a great multimedia presentation for the day at very short notice.
We were well received by the corps folk at Dudley, and the hall was full for both meetings; many being the parents of young people at Dudley who do not attend regularly.