BIBLE BY THE BEACH 30 APRIL – 3 MAY 2010 EASTBOURNE

Bible by the Beach will again take place over the first May Bank Holiday weekend in 2010 in and around the Congress Theatre complex in Eastbourne. Huge enthusiasm was received from all who attended the launch event in 2009, and the next one promises to be even better! It seeks to bring excellence in Bible teaching at a popular level, with modern lively praise, as well as a wide range of seminars and a full youth and children’s programme.

The theme for the weekend is ‘Glory in the Cross’, and speakers include Alistair Begg, who will be leading the key Bible expositions, Jim Packer, Greg Haslam, Mike Ovey and Michael Baughen, with a number of others. Sung worship will be led by Stuart Townend, and Lou Fellingham and Phatfish are featuring in a late Saturday night concert. A free Sunday evening celebration with an international theme is open to all local churches.

As this is not a campus event, people can make their own arrangements locally for accommodation over the holiday weekend. Full details can be found on the website www.biblebythebeach.org

This family friendly event seeks to bring excellent accessible Bible teaching, which will encourage and help local churches, to a lovely location in the South East of England at a reasonable cost. It is hoped and prayed for that this event will be a real help to all the churches of Sussex.

Alistair Begg is senior pastor of Parkside Church, near Cleveland, Ohio. He'll be coming to speak next year, giving the main Bible readings under the theme 'The Glory of Christ in the Cross'. Alistair is currently in the UK, speaking at the Living Word conference in Portsmouth.

All the talks from Bible by the Beach are now available to download for just £1 in the BBTB store. To give you a taste of what you missed out on at BBTB 2009, and in anticipation of more great teaching in 2010, we've made some talks available for free download:

Wallace Benn - The Magnificence of Jesus

Stef Liston -  What's the big deal?

Enjoy!

A short video interview with Archbishop Ben Kwashi, finding out who he is and how he came to be at Bible by the Beach...

One of the great features of Bible by the Beach is the support for the local church in the Eastbourne area. Some churches were able to receive a guest speaker from the conference and welcomed in visiting delegates to their morning services. You can download the talks from these services:

Paul Williams  -  St. John's Polegate

Wallace Benn  -  Edgmond Evangelical

Simon Vibert  -  St. Mary's Hailsham

John Cheeseman  -  Holy Trinity

Ben Kwashi  -  Kings Church

Ben Kwashi  -  All Saints

Dave Fenton  -  Victoria Baptist

It was a great joy to be joined by Archbishop Ben Kwashi at Bible by the Beach. On Sunday morning he spoke at Kings Church and at All Saints Church in Eastbourne.

You can now download both video and audio from his talks at Kings, entitled "Speak to the Rock - Lessons in Obedience".

Download Audio (MP3)

Download Video (MP4)

Watch Video Online

Commenting on how Bible by the Beach had gone, Bishop Wallace Benn, who was responsible for organising the event together with other local ministers, said ‘It was a fabulous first event and the feedback has been hugely positive. We can build on the enthusiasm for the event now in future years.’

We are already planning next year's event and hope to have Alistair Begg giving the main Bible readings, with worship led by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

Speaking on the dangers of idolatry - both inside and outside the Church - Oakhill principal Mike Ovey said that when Christians use the phrase, 'I like to think of God as..' what we are really doing is idolatry. God made man in His image: but by using this phrase and by carrying it through, we are coming up with our own images of God: a 'terrifying reversal'. 'We frame our own reality, our own gods and we are manipulated as we do it. The "gods" that we make start to run us. We are married to our false faiths and this opens us up to the demonic ... but the true nature of human existence is that we are made in the image of God and we should be like Him.'    

Moving on to consider what a world without the knowledge of God Looks like, Mike Ovey quoted G K Chesterton's assertion that 'the modern world is full of the Christian values gone mad ... gone mad because they have been isolated and left to wander at will'. He said 'If one virtue cannot restrain another virtue, you have a world of many "gods" and a war between those different values.' There has to be a supreme God to integrate those values, he said, in order for them to work in harmony.    

Is our Christianity too 'safe', challenged Paul Williams, vicar of Christ church, Fulwood, who was giving the Bible readings at Bible by the Beach. Impressing on his audience the need to be wholehearted in living out their faith, he added that our motivation for doing so had to be our appreciation of the mercy of God - and that this is often lacking in a culture where 'so often I don't think that God's response to me is merciful - I think it is what I deserve. Listen to the ads on

the TV - they're always telling you how fantastic you are. "You're worth it, you're Number One, you're amazing." If I believe that, then the gospel will have no real impact on me. .. I'll be thinking to myself, of course God sent His Son to rescue me from hell - because I'm worth it, I'm amazing. And so it's no surprise that as the church in Britain seems reluctant to preach sin, Christians in Britain opt for a cosy, comfortable Christianity.'

Speaking on the first night of Bible by the beach, Bishop Wallace Benn preached on the magnificence of Jesus and said 'This Lord Jesus deserves never to be marginalised, never to be included in a pick and mix, never to find His glory pulled down by being compared to anything or anyone else. God's purpose is that He might be first in everything ... Jesus must be Lord in the lives of His own children, with a sovereignity that brooks no rivals. He can have no competition.'