Phil, 2020 has been a transformational year for Spring Harvest. What it was like for the team taking such a huge event online with less than a month’s notice?
It was about pioneering, perseverance and partnership. Spring Harvest takes 18 months to plan and everything was ready to go. It was a Friday, the first lorries were packed and we were making last-minute preparations. Then the difficult but inevitable decision was made – we needed to cancel and Butlin’s would shortly close their doors for several months. It was full lockdown, and not only did the event stop, but all the team left to work from home.
You had an events team raring to go, thousands of guests expecting to come – how did you manage that?
We took the weekend to think and pray, then on Monday we took the decision to take Spring Harvest online as “Spring Harvest Home”. All the speakers were asked to record their talks at home, using phones or laptops, then the team built Spring Harvest online. This sense of pioneering brought a lot of energy with it.
As Spring Harvest was the first Christian event to be told it couldn’t happen physically and the first to go online, there was no roadmap to follow! But in a crisis you have to adapt, so we learned fast, persevered, and took steps into the online world, where we’ve rapidly become pioneers able to help other organisations facing similar challenges.
How did people respond?
It was amazing. We had 187,000 devices connect to our YouTube channel. But in our house four of us watched on one device, so the number who watched it was definitely more than that. Our YouTube channel went from 1,700 subscribers to 33,000.
この記事は Direction Magazine の Christmas 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Direction Magazine の Christmas 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
‘Imagine Everyone On This Planet Is Your Equal'
David Beasley, Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning UN World Food Programme, reveals the words his work is founded on
God Sets The Example Of Adoption...
Many people have ruled themselves out for fostering or adoption when the system would rule them in, explains Krish Kandiah
The Work Of Missionaries In Lockdown
When lockdown brought Ian and Katie Moore’s mission work in Macedonia to a halt, they used the time to seek a refined vision for reaching their local area. They told Chris Rolfe their story
How Nurse Helped Acid Attack Model Find Faith
Katie Piper explains how a life-changing incident changed her life in more ways than she expected as she recovered in hospital
Big Challenges Issued At Online Conference
Elim’s first online theological conference examines how our understanding of the ‘End Times’ shapes our view of mission
Lockdown in London deepened my faith
Living alone in London may not have been what he dreamed about, but Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic says it has driven him closer to God
The Really Good News about new initiative!
Elim’s new online mission programme could be the biggest evangelistic outreach we’ve ever done, says national evangelist Mark Greenwood. As we gear up for Easter, he gives the lowdown on the campaign
It's the gospel of liberation, not renovation
When Jesus was 30 he went to the prison of sin, and knocked on the door. Satan opened that little window and said, “What do you want?” Jesus told him: “I have come to set the captives free!” A sermon by the late Reinhard Bonnke
The mystery of Skull Hill
Skull Hill is a rocky hill rising just outside the north wall of Jerusa-lem, not far from the Damascus Gate. It was given that name because of the striking resemblance to a human skull appearing on the weather-beaten formation of its southern face.
A decade of mission
With an Easter evangelism programme, the Elim Leaders Summit and a renewed call to mission, General Superintendent Chris Cartwright outlines Elim’s plans for 2021 and beyond