So many people said it to me, and it was also my experience – this was the best Detling yet.  Most of the time the weather was absolutely beautiful.  The only rain that fell came in a period of one and a half hours, and was the most concentrated downpour I’ve ever experienced. 

It began as Andrew White was telling us about life under bombardment in Baghdad.  His response to the astonishing sound of the rain falling was ‘Now I’m beginning to feel at home.’  It continued for an hour and a half and was so torrential that our stewards felt they could not allow people to leave the building, because it would be too dangerous.  Our children were brought back in (soaking wet), and a kind of ‘Blitz’ mentality developed.

Jonathan Veira did an amazing impromptu concert.  Some, whose tents had been totally soaked, slept in the John Hendry building (normally a restaurant).  Someone looking at Detling hill from across the valley said that it seemed to be crowned with lightning.  All in all, it felt as though it was a prophetic sign. The following day, the water disappeared astonishingly quickly. 

I believe the teaching we received from Mike Murphy and also from preachers like Andrew White, Adrian Plass and Kyle Horner, was absolutely outstanding, as well as the nightly concerts from Jonathan Veira.

For me personally, God did something regarding my expectation of his provision.  We knew before the camp began that we needed to raise £100,000.  We took an offering on the Sunday night and that was just under £4,000.  £96,000 to go!  We took another offering on the Wednesday - £48,000 came in, in pledges and gifts, plus promises of monthly giving amounting to about £5,000 for the coming year.  It was a great response, but I knew that meant we still had at least £42,000 to go. 

Strangely, I felt at peace.  I went to sleep, hardly consciously thinking about it.  At 5 in the morning I sat up in bed in the horse box in which I was sleeping!, saying out loud ‘I know, that I know, that I know’.  What did I know?  I knew that God was going to enable us to meet the target.  I saw myself standing on stage announcing ‘We made it!’ 

As I sat there, I felt that God gave me the concept of another offering entitled ‘Closing the Gap’.  I wrote a response form ‘I believe in the Detling Conference.  I want it to flourish.  Here is my contribution towards Closing the Gap.’  The office did a magnificent job of getting the forms out on time. I invited people to contribute, and at the end of the day I was able to announce that the entire offerings over the course of the Conference had amounted to a total of £130,000, including Gift Aid. 

In the past, we have always come to the end of a Conference knowing that we had insufficient funds to get through the coming year.  Our dedicated staff have sometimes not known when they would get paid.  With this offering, God has lifted us onto a new level, and we can begin to plan for the future in a way that is really exciting.

I want to say a huge thank you to everybody that responded and give testimony to the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, in moving people to respond.  Halleluia!