Great is Thy Faithfulness

I just returned from being away these last few days at an international evangelism conference I was asked to speak at and it was held up at the Mount Tamborine Conference centre. I found out the Lausanne confluence of evangelism was started by Billy Graham back around 1974.

My topic was “communicating your Message during times of Crisis and controversy “ I made sure everyone at the conference received a copy of the August edition of Vision’s The Word for today and the Newsletter and spoke a lot about how vision is a wonderful platform to help millions of Australians look to God daily especially in troubled times.

Last week a number of you asked about my trip overseas and how the special 30 year celebration went with Debby Gass and UCB in the UK and all of their amazing team and volunteers. I told you I would send the video link to you, so here it is the recording of Great is Thy Faithfulness” 30 year celebration of the word for Today with UCB. There was around 2,000 people who came from all over the UK and beyond to fill the wonderful Bethel Church Conference centre just near Birmingham.

Behind the main stage and podium was a large choir of nearly 200 volunteer singers that comprised of readers and supporters from all across the country and on this evening was the first time they all sang together.

They also had some really gifted and talented musicians and worship leaders including some from the UCB Kingdom Academy that we learned about during our week with the UCB UK team. It was really incredible to watch and listen to as they led us into the presence of God and the atmosphere was electric. You would have been forgiven for thinking they had been rehearsing and singing together for months . Any way it was truly an amazing evening of celebration.

They did some outside broadcasting from the venue earlier in the afternoon during a special VIP luncheon the UCB UK supporters. And Debby Gass was also interviewed telling the story of how Bob and Debby Gass became involved in writing the Word for Today I put a few happy snaps below.

For me and our UCB family It was extra special to have the remaining founder Hal Short and his wife Annette who flew all the way from Auckland NZ for the event. Debby Gass, who very seldom if ever does public speaking , made an inspiring exception because of her wanting to honour her late husband Robert Gass who was Promoted to glory 5 years ago in 2019, and also to celebrate the 30 year enduring partnership with UCB.

After Bob was diagnosed with cancer he wrote 10 more years of readings for The word for Today before he passed away. Debby shared that when she and Bob were married the Bishop prophecised that Bob , who was a very popular and in demand evangelist and teacher , would reach many people through his writing than his preaching. At that time Bob wasn’t writing anything.

So we still have 3 more years of fresh content no one has read before, what a legacy gift he left us. Debby Gass starts her address around 1 hour 5 minutes into this wonderful night of Praise, testimonies and worship . She speaks just after the MC shows the first edition of The Word for Today that was produced as a special commemorative 30 year reproduction that was given to each of the attendees of the event.

The original edition was printed 30 years ago in a small garage like space back in April 1994 and only 3,500 were printed in that first edition.

Our first edition of The Word for Today was printed the following year in Australia and in New Zealand and was published in 1995.

I have included a selfie below of me reading it at my uncles place a few days later in his nice sunny garden conservative. Fortunately the whole celebration event was recorded as well as streamed live across the world , so we can all watch it in our own time.

Blessings in Jesus.

Ian Worby