![\"Veselinka](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/images_news-2020_Veselinka-holding-book_edited.jpg\" "\\"Veselinka")
<\/a>To Veselinka Be\u010dejac that is all a bit of a surprise. She took over as a reluctant Sabbath School superintendent at the beginning of 2019. \u201cI thought, why not ask three or four people just to share their stories, maybe once a month,\u201d she said. However, she filled every Sabbath in January and found the testimonies so powerful that she decided to make it a central part of worship throughout the year.<\/p>\n\u201cThe church is spellbound, we are breathing like a real family, we know so very much more about each other and value each other far more now we know the paths travelled,\u201d she confessed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been really powerful and moving,\u201d agrees Patrick Johnson, Trans-European Division Ministerial Association secretary. Part of his portfolio also cares for Sabbath School. \u201cI\u2019ve seen great emotion, crying, laughter and lots of hugging. We don\u2019t realise how powerful stories really are, and how they can bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to recognise, God is at work in our midst, just as He was in the world of the Bible characters,\u201d adds Newbold\u2019s senior pastor, Marcel Ghioalda. He has become passionate about the project confessing, \u201cas we listen to each other\u2019s stories, we identify God\u2019s fingerprints. There is no proof of His existence greater than one\u2019s personal story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working tirelessly, Be\u010dejac has collected together 48 of the 2019 testimonies and published them in a book, Great things God has done<\/em>. \u201cIt is a labour of love,\u201d she says with a beaming smile. \u201cI just want to pass on the blessings my fellow members and I have enjoyed this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Retired pastors and professors also share their secrets. Dr Harry Leonard, a much-loved former head of Newbold\u2019s history department, shared that he was brought up with no Christian background at all. Nobody in his small village cared about church. His questioning started when the younger brother of one of his school friends died at age 12. Leonard went to the funeral, and then felt impressed to seek out a church. The only one he knew of was the Adventist church \u2013 the church his former piano teacher attended. He went there, immediately felt he belonged, and despite his passion for Saturday cricket, never looked back.<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in a world where sharing personal stories is powerful yet neglected at the same time,\u201d Pastor Ghioalda states. \u201cTaking the time to share during the Sabbath School programme, as well as capturing them in a book, is a corporate testament of God\u2019s presence in the life of the Newbold community. This anthology of Divine Presence is something which binds us together as a faith community.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the first chapter and you know God can change even the worst of lives. Slavko came from a highly dysfunctional family with a drunken violent father. As he grew older, Slavko was no better and brought fear to the village. Civil war gave a focus to his hatred\u2026 yet through the ministry of an old lady, his life was miraculously changed \u2013 and his baptism in a local river brought a crowd of disbelieving spectators, astonished at how such an evil person could be transformed.<\/p>\n Another lady, who is going through extreme difficulties, phoned Be\u010dejac to tell her that, \u201cshe felt so much better reading the experiences and was lifted up.\u201d That kind of response is commonplace.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are stories displaying God\u2019s powerful intervention in people\u2019s lives through healing, encouragement, support, rescue, guidance, difficulties, and more,\u201d Ghioalda states. \u201cThere is a story for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n As the project continues into 2020, he sees the power in capturing such stories. \u201cIt will be wonderful if our initiative continues to inspire others, to recognise, celebrate and encourage one another through storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n In a church of around 1,000 attendees, life can become insular. Newbold had already been working on a successful photography project, \u2018Humans of Newbold<\/a>\u2019. Sabbath School department and this new book are now taking it a stage further.<\/p>\n To find out more about Newbold church, visit their Facebook Page<\/a>. The church is an integral part of the campus of Newbold College of Higher Education<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>While incidentally demonstrating the highly diverse, multicultural nature of Newbold\u2019s membership, readers find themselves captivated by stories of a Hindu living in South America who finds release from a harsh life when a friend introduces her to Christianity, or a young French girl who turns against God as a teen, but who rediscovers him when she moves to London where a friend, and a dream, slowly and patiently draw her back.<\/p>\n<\/a>Such stories are powerful, and the book is already making an impact. One of Newbold\u2019s oldest members is now very frail in hospital. He was so thrilled with his copy that he is telling all the staff about it. He asked for several more copies so that he could share.<\/p>\n<\/a>Great things He has done<\/em> is available for purchase from Newbold Church for a donation of \u00a35.00 or more, plus postage. To gain your copy email: veselinkasekabecejac@yahoo.com<\/a>. All profits are donated to support programmes for Newbold church community youth.<\/p>\n
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