It was a week after Easter when the whole Church goes quiet that it happened. Greg Jones (RO for Vic/Tas) arrived on Kangaroo Island! And the difference between Greg and the 200,000 tourists we get every year is that he brought his wife Rhi with him – and his guitar and his amp and his mike and ….

The Dudley Singers

When it was first proposed that Greg would join us on what was our 5th Sunday Parish Service weekend, we puzzled over how best to use his talents. Should we have a concert perhaps? Where? When? Who else to involve? We eventually chose to book the Kingscote Town Hall for the Saturday evening. Our Parish Service was in Penneshaw, some 40 mins drive from Kingscote, at 11 on Sunday morning, so we thought we could use him there too. We decided to complicate this by commissioning our new Parish Council at the same time. Our worship was to be followed by lunch together and then another concert in Penneshaw on the Sunday afternoon. All this was duly put in place.

Then other opportunities began to open up. The local Gym was having their
1st birthday party on the Friday night. So we offered Greg’s talents as live music for the celebration. A great evening followed and this in turn led to a live interview on the local radio early on Saturday morning. The School Chaplains decided to schedule their School seminars for the Monday. As I had already committed myself to assisting them with PowerPoint production and projection, Greg came too, with his guitar. Four seminars in two schools. The first half of the day was at Parndana where BCA assists with the costs of providing the Chaplain with a grant. The second half was in Penneshaw where we have only recently been able to provide chaplaincy ministry.

The music brought smiles

Of course, the scheduled events still took place. The Saturday concert was very well attended and Greg roped in a local musician (music teacher from the school) to play along with him. The results were terrific. We also had the joy of hearing the Dudley Singers, an a capella group, who sang brackets between Greg’s performances. In the Sunday concert, the interludes were provided by Andrew McComb, playing a selection of pieces on the church organ.

It was a wonderful weekend of music but great though that was, it was still only a means to an end. That end was to share the good news of Jesus with other people. This Greg was able to do with the sharing of his story along with his music. Over these few days many, many people were touched by the Gospel. Some had their existing faith encouraged and strengthened. Others will have been challenged to rethink theirs. Some may not yet realise they have been touched. All of us look forward to a repeat performance – perhaps in 2009?

Mark Evans