TMS 2024 Final Festival: Proclaiming God's Story

Major Julian Watchorn reflects on joyful and stirring performance at the TMS 2024 final festival.

In a nutshell, the final festival of TMS 2024 demonstrated musical excellence, heartfelt worship, stirring performance and joyful enthusiasm. With a complement of 153 students and staff – the most for almost 20 years – and including students from France, Spain and Canada, the festival was a blessing from start to finish.

The students proclaimed God’s Story confidently. Starting with Peter Graham’s ‘Ad Optimum’, the Paul Sharman band began the festival magnificently, later contributing Martin Cordner’s exhilarating ‘Júbilo, Júbilo!’.

Vocal contributions included ‘Rejoice’ (Alan Williams), ‘Through It All I Choose to Serve the Saviour’, ‘I Will Sing’ (Michael Engelhardt) and ‘Authenticity’ (Rob Little/Andrew Wicker) with the reassuring message: ‘Jesus made it very clear – he wants me as I am.’

The contemporary worship option contributed ‘Praise!’, ‘Jesus our hope’, ‘Gratitude’ and ‘God Is in This Story’. Picking out the threads of forgiveness and love, the students and staff of the musical theatre option powerfully presented extracts from Les Misérables.

The Gavin Lamplough band played Sam Creamer’s ‘Golden Stairs’ and Steven Ponsford’s ‘The Day of the Lord’ with great aplomb.

There was an energetic performance by the timbrel group to Sam Creamer’s ‘Faith Is the Victory’ before Territorial Youth and Children’s Secretary Lieutenant Kat Whitmore brought a succinct, convincing message. She asked: Where do we fit into God’s Story? Who is holding the pen? God’s story is not over and neither is ours, she reminded everyone, and we need to let God be the author.

The musical contributions concluded with Ray Steadman- Allen’s ‘At the Edge of Time’, ‘We Have a Mission’ (Frank Reynolds/ Len Ballantine) and ‘Jubilate Deo’ (Psalm 100/ Andrew Wicker).

A wonderful afternoon was brought to a fitting close with the TMS Blessing in benediction.