Tony Cummings visited Harrogate and Skegness to catch some of the sights and sounds of the long-running worship and teaching events SPRING HARVEST

I sip a drink of orange squaxh and talk to John, who it turns out is The Paul Mirfin Band's biggest fan. John has travelled all the way up from Surrey to attend Spring Harvest Harrogate for the day, to catch the performance this evening of Yorkshire's much-loved Americana team. He'd first encountered the band when he found himself turning on to listen to UCB and hearing Mirfin's powerful testimony. That and the track UCB played got John listening regularly to the station but stopped listening when it became obvious that that radio play was a one-off and that the PMB hadn't made it to the UCB playlist. John and I decide that we'll go off to the Main Celebration together in the Auditorium.

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Elim Sound

Clearly the Auditorium Celebration is the focal point of the whole Spring Harvest event and soon there is a throng filling the auditorium, though I can't help but note that it isn't full, three-quarters at most, and I wonder again whether there's going to be an announcement that this brave new Spring Harvest venture, still only in its second year, is going to go the same way as Big Church Day Out North, which finished after just two years of financial loss. Such ponderings are put immediately to one side though when the worship starts and Elim Sound are soon in full flow.

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I often tell Cross Rhythms reviewers when faced with a worship album that one needs to somehow enter into its essence to see whether one can discern an anointing from God. There are no such theological difficulties in such attempts here. The live worship that punches out from the main stage is truly electrifying, there is top-rate singing and playing, the songs have been wisely chosen, but above everything the whole congregation loses all sense of a band playing a set and becomes a worshipping throng pouring out their adoration to the King of Kings. Words and phrases leap from the songs with a power that even the most skilled songwriter could only have dreamed of. "Holy Spirit making us new" expresses what is happening. The comperes come on stage to announce that after a day's deliberations via a series of conference calls, the Essential Christian board have decided to commit to the Spring Harvest Harrogate 2020. This announcement is greeted with a roar of appreciation of such tumultuous volume that it feels like a foretaste for the 2020 Harrogate when this auditorium will be absolutely crammed. There follows a rendition of "In Christ Alone", which merges into "Cornerstone". Then comes a clever Riding Lights sketch where a couple of female Pharisees wittily demonstrate all the wrong ways to pray. But then we're back with worship and Elim Sound hit their pinnacle. The short sentences echo around the auditorium with a resonance and power which leaves a grizzled music writer like myself groping for words. "Way-maker/Miracle worker/Promise keeper/Light in the darkness/My God, that is who you are." When preacher Kingsley Appiagyei makes his way to the mic, he fulsomely acknowledges the stunning worship which everyone has experienced.

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In truth, the tangible presence of God is so powerfully present, I would be quite content to sit in my seat simply basking in the warm, sweet presence of the Lord. But God has other ideas. The Rev Kingsley Appiagyei is the senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Churches in London and Accra, and the former president of the Baptist Union Of Great Britain. After charmingly apologising for his strong Ghanaian accent (the organisers have thoughtfully provided subtitles on the giant screen for those who might struggle with it), the good reverend, after cracking a rib-tickling joke, then launches into a thrilling and potentially historic message. Down the years I've heard many sermons on the theme of the need for the British Church to pray for revival. But I've never heard such exhortations bite home with such power as this. The reverend's message takes on church unity ("I see a day dawning when all denominational barriers will be broken down"); it echoes Psalm 2 ("Why do the nations rage against the Lord's people?"); it pinpoints our prayers ("Take the control of the hearts and minds of our politicians"); and it concludes with the utterance of a prophet ("Revival will come to the UK and will spread to Europe"). Rev Appiagyei's message closes with a call to those who have been challenged by the Lord and are prepared to commit to daily prayer for revival to step forward. Hundreds upon hundreds of people clamber out of their seats, clogging every aisle to take up this challenge. As I make my way out of the auditorium, I find myself uttering up a prayer of gratitude to the Lord for what I've witnessed here. This evening, I believe, will one day go into church history books.

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Paul Mirfin Band

The Paul Mirfin Band are in full flight at the After Hours Entertainment (9:30-10:30 in Hall H). And although the band aren't used to playing to a seated audience, they're clearly connecting with Joe Punter and at the end a few brave souls are even on their feet and dancing to the irresistible rhythms of "This Train". No wonder RnR magazine have enthused about the band's debut album, 'Ancient Roads'. These guys, propelled by banjo, fiddle and some biting electric guitar, are the perfect forte for Paul's gnarled bluesy voice. If the songs from 'Ancient Roads' sound good, particularly the Cross Rhythms radio hit "Send The Rain" on which guest rapper Tre makes a deliciously unlikely appearance, the new ones on their soon-to-be released EP are even better. The whistly-haunting "Nothing" grips the crowd, while their radical rethinking of the traditional song "Ain't No Grave" is better than the versions recorded by Johnny Cash and recently Bethel Music, which is saying something, and these Yorkshire journeymen have even added a guest female singer to add some firey vocals to a wonderful song. I look across to John, the man who's travelled 230 or so miles to see this concert, and he's letting out the same noises and jerking movements that he'd shown during the Spring Harvest Celebration an hour before. Clearly John, like others in the crowd, was finding more than simply rocking Americana entertainment in Mr Mirfin's songs of abandonment to the King.

SKEGNESS DAY TWO - TUESDAY 16TH APRIL

I've only been onsite five minutes and already I'm seeing a demonstration of radical Christian servanthood. Charlie Price, Head of Sales & Marketing at Essential Christian - the charity which organises Spring Harvest - is carrying my seriously heavy bags to the chalet I've been allotted. The chalet turns out to be far more luxurious than the rather primitive ones I remember back in the '80s when I was a behind-the-scenes Spring Harvest worker. And any Hi-De-Hi stereotypes are well and truly dismissed once Charlie shows me round the Butlins site. Clearly Butlins have spent a small fortune in erecting a luxurious fun palace, where bowling alleys, bars and all manner of food outlets are there to woo the holidaymaker. Charlie tells me that Butlins have reported that the takings in their bars during Spring Harvest time are at an all-time low, but they don't mind too much as new records have been achieved in the coffee shop takings.

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I walk around the book sales area and briefly ponder whether I can afford to buy Pete Greig's How To Pray book. Pete, the instigator of the 24/7 prayer movement, has long been something of a hero of mine, since I first experienced his powerful ministry at the Big Church Day Out. He is actually set to preach at one of the Big Top celebrations. I also gaze with interest at a couple of books by Justin Welby. Minutes before, I had learnt the Archbishop of Canterbury had spoken at the Minehead Spring Harvest and after his talk, 100 or so people made commitments or recommitments to the Lord. Wonderful to hear.

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