October’s episode is now available for download. Listen on your computer, your phone or your iPod. And it’s completely free!

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What’s in the October 2011 episode?

Joining Ian Henderson in the studio is Andy Hawthorne who shares stories from the summer festivals and his personal reactions to the riots at the start of August: ‘There’s so much that needs to be done to offer young people a better way… life to the full in Christ.’

Eden is one of the answers, and Andy talks about our huge vision for 80 new Edens by the end of 2015 and the mass mobilisation of people needed to accomplish it.

There’s also the latest news from the Message Enterprise Centre, our brand new Genetik course and a look ahead to our plans for the Message’s 20th anniversary next year.

Simon Sullivan from Reflex joins us and tells some amazing stories from his work in the prisons around the North West.

He also lets us in on some of his plans for the future, including a new course called Peacemakers and a new drama production based on the Prodigal Son together with In Yer Face: ‘It’s about values… The way I see it, you’re putting values in them for when they get out.’

And Ryan and Christina from Twelve24 are in the studio, back from a busy summer with stories and highlights from Detling and other festivals.

Plus find out about their new EP, Better Words (Available now! In exchange for money!): ‘We felt that God wanted to speak better words into young people’s lives.’

Listen (and subscribe) to the Flow Podcast in iTunes

Listen to latest teaching and media from The Message on the main Message Podcast

Come and see for yourselves what goes on at Message HQ and find out more about our exciting plans for the future!

At our Open Day on Saturday 2 July you can hear the latest vision from Andy Hawthorne, sing along with our bands, engage with In Yer Face Theatre Company, come on board our mobile youth club, the Eden Bus, enjoy street games with the Eden teams and break out with Reflex.

There is also an opportunity to go behind the scenes, meeting the crew that keeps The Message on the road, including our creative and technical staff who will be hosting fun activities and sharing with you what goes on day to day. Plus there will be free food, drinks and ice creams and prizes to be won along the way.

It all starts at 11am and goes on until 3pm and is a must for all friends of The Message – and it’s completely free of charge. It would be great if you’re able to tell us you’ll be coming, but you don’t need to book and can turn up on the day.

For further information, please email Jo Nicholson at: jo.nicholson@message.org.uk

Twelve24′s recent stint in Coventry school Grace Academy has attracted great feedback from students and teachers alike.

Students of the specialist business and enterprise academy were asked to agree or disagree with several statements at the end of the week. When asked whether they agreed with  ‘I understand more about what the word “Grace” means’, 67% did. To ‘I understand the importance of forgiveness’, 71% agreed.

The band got involved with lessons assemblies and the after-school Quest group using a mix of teaching and performance to a mix of year groups. Their themes for the week were respect, grace and forgiveness and self-image.

‘What a fantastic week we had with Twelve24!’ wrote a local schools worker. ‘We saw many young people make decisions on the night and many have followed through other school activities. Our after-school Quest group has grown and one of the students who came to the Q&A session with Twelve24 has since been to church for the first time ever.

‘Another girl that [band member] Christina spoke to on the evening of the Q&A session walked home, prayed and gave her life to Jesus and danced all the way home. There is a growing group of students who I keep hearing about as starting journeys with God – it’s great and exciting stuff. We are now looking to plant a church here from the new year.’

Twelve24 are currently in the studio working on a new EP. Follow updates from Twelve24 on Facebook.

So which is it; light-as-in-not-heavy or light-as-in-not-dark? Whichever way you read it, the title of the latest LZ7 released by Fierce, on October 25th, is bang on. With twelve tracks (plus two bonus remixes of the impossibly good YouTube sensation ‘This Little Light’) their label debut is their strongest, brightest and most dynamic work yet.

All summer long the Shine Your Light campaign has been raising the bar on social action. And having adopted ‘This Little Light’ as its anthem of choice, by the time the single was released to the mainstream at the end of September, it charted straight away at number 26. There’s still more to come from LZ7; a band that are about to step up a gear. With its passion, its range, its ability to connect and the simple fact that the songs are so good, Light is just the album to do it with.

Let’s take the light-as-in-not-dark line. Apples don’t fall far from the tree, and LZ7 follow in the footsteps of the legendary Message bands The Worldwide Message Tribe, blush and others. ‘Light’ is as evangelistic as the sun is hot, with every song drawing the listener back to the source of it all. At times that means being direct – like the songs ‘Four Points’ and ‘Fall At Your Feet’ – but LZ7 know how to turn a decent pop lyric too, and songs like ‘Ditto’, ‘Greatest Day’ and ‘Dance This Night Away’ bring all the power of the gospel in a unique way.

But what about the light-as-in-not-heavy thing? Surely LZ7 haven’t ditched the grime in favour of sugar-sweet europop? Don’t worry, they haven’t. They’re still just as much a Beastie Boys/Dizzee Rascal/N-Dubz mash-up, and get the opening seconds of ‘Superstar’, ‘Come Alive’ and the heart-shredding ‘Four Points’ up loud enough and your sub-woofers will testify in force. But there’s something light, flexible and nimble about the way that ‘Light’ moves throughout its 53 minutes. One track they’re getting you head-nodding to a confession of sin, the next they’re plugging your feet into the mains in celebration of salvation. ‘Light’ moves around the floor with all the freedom that lies at the heart of the gospel.

The album was executively produced by brothers Jorge and Obi Mhondera (WhistleJacket) and Lindz West, who teamed up with a variety of different production teams, and fused them with LZ7″s authentic writing skills for an electric combination. Fierce Distribution! is just as excited about the next few steps for LZ7 as the band are. Keep your eyes open to see what happens next.

The album is available now at www.messagetrading.co.uk

Four exceptional youngsters and a pioneering group from Greater Manchester are to be honoured on Friday at our third annual Urban Hero Awards.

The awards recognise young people who have made exceptional contributions to their local communities over the last year – or have bravely overcome a major obstacle in their lives.

All of the nominees have been directly impacted by the work of The Message Trust, a Christian charity working with the hardest-to-reach young people in Greater Manchester’s schools, communities and prisons.

Five category winners have already been named as winners of the Achiever, Champion, Courage, Inspiration and Volunteer Awards.

They include a former drug dealer now helping young offenders in prisons; a school drop-out now back in full-time education; and a notorious community trouble-maker who is now an active local volunteer. A pioneering group which worked together to help combat antisocial behaviour among young people in Oldham is also receiving a special award.

The overall Urban Hero of the Year will be named and presented with their award at a glitzy red carpet ceremony at the Palace Hotel, Manchester.

This is the third year the Urban Hero Awards have taken place. In 2008, teenager Anthony Martindale from Harpurhey scooped the award for services to his local community. Last year, Stephanie North from Openshaw (pictured above) won the award for courageously pursuing justice in the face of bullying and threats to her family.

The event, which will feature performances from In Yer Face, Twelve24 and Lz7 is sponsored by Stagecoach and a host of north west businesses: Wigwam, Safe Records Management, Stephensons, The Grand and Jurang.

***

What makes our schools bands different from ‘regular’ bands? We look back at the history and impact of our schools work, from The World Wide Message Tribe to Twelve24.

Back in 1988, Andy Hawthorne and his brother Simon ran a week-long youth mission at the Manchester Apollo. Thousands of young people turned up and hundreds responded – clearly God was at work.

Soon after, Mark Pennells approached Andy and Simon and started to work with them full-time in schools, singing and taking lessons, whilst music producer Zarc Porter honed his skills by working with Manchester’s popular rave bands in his home-built studio. What followed was ‘The Message to Schools’, a team dedicated to taking the gospel into Manchester’s schools, and a fore-runner of today’s Message Trust.

In 1992 Andy joined Mark as a rapper and communicator and Zarc as a producer and formed The World Wide Message Tribe (WWMT).

Andy explained their vision in an interview with Cross Rhythms in 1993, ‘God has called us to work in Manchester’s schools. There are so many kids here for us to reach with the gospel. Our long term aim is to have more than one team working in the area. We want our music to be as good as possible, but everything is a servant to evangelism.’

Over the next twelve years, the WWMT (just ‘The Tribe’ by 2001) performed in hundreds of schools weeks, concerts and festivals, released ten albums and led thousands to Jesus. The line-up changed over the years, as did their sound (and their outfits), but their vision remained the same: to share the good news in a relevant, meaningful way, to as many young people as possible.

In another interview in 1997, Andy Hawthorne commented, ‘All this stuff can easily become religion: trying to be funky, getting new haircuts and clothes, pushing the boundaries…it becomes the focus. If that’s an end in itself, it’s rubbish…it’s whether Jesus is at the centre of it. That’s what really matters.’

As the ministry developed, the band become overwhelmed by the number of requests to go into schools. In 2001, a second band, Blush, was formed to help cope with demand. The band is made up of young women who have a heart for teenage girls and takes lessons on issues such as self-esteem and ‘real beauty’.

In 2004, The Tribe took their final bow, but their influence didn’t stop there. Ex-band member Tim Owen took on the dream of forming a training centre (called ‘Genetik: The Tribe Academy) for potential new youth workers, musicians, and communicators. Tim and fellow ex-band members Lindz West and Andy Hawthorne regularly teach at the centre, which has seen two new bands form: LZ7 (fronted by Lindz) and Twelve24.

LZ7, formed in 2005, use a fusion of hip-hop, rock, free running and DJing in their shows. Two albums in, the band are planning an assault on the pop charts later this year: ‘This Little Light’, a song from their latest album ‘Gasoline’, has already received well over a hundred thousand views on YouTube and was used in a government-backed youth initiative, Shine.

Front man Lindz West comments, ‘When we’re in schools or at gigs, we want to be the best rappers, singers, drummers or DJs we can be, so that more people will get the opportunity to hear about our awesome God. We want young people to see, from our shows, that it is possible to live your dream and use the skills God’s given you in a positive way.’

Our newest band, Twelve24, are picking up the trail blazed by The Tribe, Blush and LZ7. They are named after John 12:24, where it says, ‘unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’ The band is made up of three 20-somethings fresh out of the Genetik training programme.

Band mentor Tim Owen comments, ‘They’re taking the big issue facing young people today and hitting them head-on…they’re not watering down the gospel. They are committed to the young people of Manchester…their passion is growing by the day.’

In a culture where success is determined by how much money you earn, and how popular you are, The Tribe, LZ7, Blush and Twelve24 come as a shining light in the darkness. With a heart for showing young people that they are loved, and with Jesus at their centre, these bands show that they care more about the young people of Manchester than about selling records or rising to fame.

*Get The Message in your school*

You’re just one call away from having one of our bands or theatre company coming to your local high school. If you’re a church, please ask email Alan Saunders. For schools, please email Nathan Milnes. Our contact number is 0161 946 2300.

***

The 2009-10 school year looks set to be the busiest year by far for our bands and theatre company working in Greater Manchester’s schools.

A total of 75 schools weeks are planned for LZ7, Blush, Twelve24 and In Yer Face next year and we are working harder than ever to ensure that the majority of schools weeks are done in partnership with local churches.

Check out the ‘Day in The Life with Nathan Milnes’ story for a behind-the-scenes look at our schools work in action. And there’s more.  Look out in the new year for news of our biggest ever evangelism event in Manchester. We can’t say too much yet but it’s going to be… big.

Also next year, we are attempting to get the LZ7 anthem This Little Light into the UK charts, not so that the boys can be stars but so that we can reach even more young people. ‘White label’ versions of the track will appear in clubs from the summer and a release is scheduled for next autumn.

Manchester born and bred, Nathan Milnes has been part of The Message team for seven years, working first as Eden Team Leader in Failsworth and now leading our outreach in schools.

***

7.30am

Early start today… we’ve got Blush, LZ7 and In Yer Face all in schools across Manchester this week. I arrive at a high school to check in with LZ7 and to meet the link teacher. Our church contact is also around all this week, helping establish a really strong relationship with the school. The sound check goes OK and after a few small tweaks to the timetable, I head off.

9am

Back to the office in time for Staff Prayers. I love this part of the job – what other job starts the day with prayer?

10am

Time to check emails, return a couple of phone calls and log on to Facebook. This isn’t a chance to check my own page (well maybe a cheeky peek!) but to check all the bands’ pages – it’s a great way for us to keep in touch and answer questions from past school weeks. We also use Facebook to continue follow-up with young people and encourage them to get along to church.

11am

Update meeting with Alan Saunders. Alan and I work closely together on finding local churches that want to do mission in their local high school. Our goal is to run every schools week as a partnership with a church because they are absolutely vital in providing prayer, follow-up and finance.

Alan tells me he has met with a local church leader who is excited about a possible schools week but they are struggling with one aspect: it’s likely to cost £1,500 and they can’t afford to pay for it. We agree to go back to them and say that we’ll find a way to make it work: the opportunity for mission is too good to let it pass by. We’ll say to them to raise what they can and we will underwrite the rest.

12.30pm

Head off to Starbucks to meet up with a local youth leader to catch up with them and find out what’s going on within their church and youth ministry. I try to meet with youth leaders across the city as much as possible.

2pm

Find a quiet space in the office (not easy to be honest!) to do some prep for a church I’m speaking at on Sunday. When a church decides to partner with us on a schools week we’re committed to helping the whole church buy into the vision of a schools week and pray for it. I will be preaching about mission and the call we have to tell people about Jesus.

4pm

Get on the phone to find out numbers for an upcoming curry night for youth leaders. We do these quarterly for youth leaders in the area to network and get some quality input that will benefit them and their ministry. It is a fact that all youth leaders love a good curry.

5.15pm

Snatch a few minutes off before the evening gets going.

6.30pm

Arrive at Costa Coffee. Tonight we’re doing the second part of a four week follow-up course for young people who became Christians at a recent Unleashed gig nearby. We like to do these at neutral venues like coffee shops where kids can feel relaxed. We always do it in partnership with the local church. We talk through the programme and the team prays together.

7.30pm

About forty young people have arrived and are sipping drinks and chatting. The programme kicks off, led by the local youth leaders and with contributions from the Message team. The girls are particularly excited that a couple of guys from LZ7 have put in an appearance!

Tonight we’re looking at more of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and how to live as a Christian. You can tell that the young people are really responding to the talk and building quality relationships with the youth leaders. At the end of the four weeks we hope that most of the young people will feel really at home with the local church and become members of the youth group.

9pm

The young people have gone so there’s just time for a quick debrief about the evening and to share encouraging stories from our small groups. We then pray for the young people and do the job that everyone loves… pack-down!

9.30pm

The day is done and I’m on my way home.

***

Get The Message in your school

You’re only one call away from having one of our bands or theatre company coming to your local high school. If you’re a church,
 please contact Alan Saunders. For schools, contact Nathan Milnes.
 Or call 0161 946 2300.

***

Message bands LZ7, Blush and Twelve24 spent time in six schools in the area, taking lessons and running workshops.

The gig, hosted by Ian Henderson and Nathan Milnes, featured performances from each of the bands including a moving performance of ‘The Avenue’, a track from Twelve24′s new album, by band member Ryan. A total of 95 young people texted a response at the end of the show, and have been given the opportunity to take part in a four-week follow up course.

The first follow-up session took place this Wednesday (October 20) at The Hub, a Community Centre in Altrincham. The sessions, run in partnership with youth leaders from local churches, will look at issues such as ‘Who is Jesus?’, ‘What is a Christian?’, ‘Building a relationship with Jesus’ and ‘Church and the importance of church in a Christian life’.

The schools weeks and subsequent gig were carried out in partnership with local churches, in an effort to provide the young people and their schools with a well-rounded and positive experience.

These two weeks are just the latest in a series of schools weeks happening across Manchester this year, part of our busiest year in schools ever.

A total of 22 confirmed schools weeks are already booked in with another four potential weeks in the pipeline for LZ7, Blush, Twelve24 and In Yer Face.

‘It’s really exciting to see the demand for our schools teams this autumn,’ comments Nathan Milnes, the Message’s schools outreach coordinator. ‘We want to keep this pace up for the rest of the year which means that more young people than ever are going to benefit from our positive message.‘

In 2008, our teams were received by a total of 38 schools and an estimated 40,000 pupils, delivering excellent RE and PHSE lessons, assemblies, extracurricular activities and concerts.

Here are just some of the positive comments they received:

‘These are “real life” Christians talking about their faith … pupils were engaged and focused. A positive input without alienating non-Christian children. You made our pupils feel valued by listening and taking an interest in who they are.’ Ann Robinson, Head of R.E at Hathershaw College of Technology and Sport.

‘The week they spent in school was excellent. Their energy, enthusiasm, commitment, faith and professionalism were immediately apparent.’ Vincent Ryder, Acting Curriculum Leader for R.E at North Chadderton School.

‘Very professional – in assemblies, lessons and around the school. We would welcome you back anytime!’ Mr. G J Ward, Headteacher, Macclesfield High School.

‘I was delighted with the work of LZ7 in our school. They were able to engage all ages in their assemblies and RE lessons. The enthusiasm and energy they put into all their work was remarkable.’ Mr T. J Gartside, Headmaster, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys.

To express an interest in having one of our teams visit your school, contact Nathan Milnes.

If you’re a church looking to partner with us on schools work, please contact Alan Saunders.