Southend High Street hosts The People’s Bible

The normal tour of anything good usually avoids using Southend and I thought of ignoring that article of KJB, but when it mentioned Southend, my attention was taken.

Shortage of time was a problem and I did not have the experience of being involved in a campaign like this. So, I sent emails to Sohail and Love Southend colleagues who may have experience to set something like this up, asking for assistance.

Suddenly within 2-3 days everything kicked in and help was being requested on the Love Southend‘ message board for the day of the tour.

The day came and modern links worked alongside the Bible, once the portable media sources were plugged in, combining a 400 year old Bible and a computer. People were invited to write 2 verses onto a computer screen, with a modern media pen, which then fed the info to the computer and it appeared in the person’s handwriting style.

The verses were given to us and not chosen because some Biblical verses would have been ignored. Each person had their choice of old or new language of the verses. The individuality came when at the end of the verses each person could place their own individual mark, like a comment or a quick drawing. My comment was “the Bible will last longer than Eastenders or Corrie”. Each entry was shown within 2-3 minutes of being written and as there were two tours going on simultaneously, entries were appearing from Southend and Scotland.

Here is a video from the Launch Event at Edinburgh Castle, that also shows how The People’s Bible works:

The signing of the Bible was just one part of the day, but the day would have been a failure if the churches of Southend had not combined and representatives from the Baptists, Methodists, Christian bookshop, independent churches and others clicked well together! These people assisted the writers‘ in writing the verses and seeing them on the screen.

The day was successful because Paul Stennett, of the Christian bookshop, had been inspired to volunteer as chief organiser, with assistance from the various churches as above.

The Cornerstone played its own part, as my colleague of Love Southend, Dave Elcock, said ―We had a good day but it needed someone to give us a quiet push to get us going‖. Yes, he meant me. I have grown in confidence during the past year because the old me would have ignored it and said someone else would do it.

There was one story which shook me. While I was contributing, a man who did not believe in Jesus or God said, “I don’t believe in God, but he is trying to look after us all.” I wonder how many more people that day in late June had been affected by it in any way at all?

In my view the area outside the Odeon Cinema had not been used for a better activity for a long time. The general public of Southend had been joined in writing in the Bible with people like David Cameron, Prince Charles and the Archbishop of Canterbury also contributing. By now the tour has covered the country and finally the Queen will see a Bible, written by her people in the year 2011, in a special ceremony similar to when the King James version was launched 400 years ago.

Here is the promotional video used to promote the tour. Look out for famous names who took part throughout:

Yes, the Bible came to Southend with a successful linking of a 400 year old translation with new sources. I know that people have opinions of The King James version of the Bible, both pro and ante the language used and I was proud, as a member of The Cornerstone Church, Southend to be a part of this birthday party in Southend, alongside other Christian townspeople. The Bible can be seen at the People’s Bible website and my verses were Genesis 22, two verses about God telling Abraham to offer his son Isaac, as a sacrifice, on the altar.

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