From The Rainbow to Icejacked to Red Dagger

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

From The Rainbow to Icejacked to Red Dagger
The fascinating story of Adrian Hawkes and how our lives have collided once again
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

LONDON, UK (ANS) -- I first met Adrian Hawkes back in the mid-sixties in Birmingham, England, when he brought his Ribbons of Faith outreach team to my father's little church, the Sparkbrook Mission, in Birmingham, England.

Adrian Hawkes is Icejacked

The female members of his team from the Sparkbrook Elim Church seemed rather glamorous for this rather dour area of England's second city, wearing colourful sashes and singing modern songs, and then Adrian brought a challenge for our church start going out into the community with the Gospel.

We were so stirred up by his sermon, that soon my sister Ruth and myself, and my wife Norma, started The Messengers, which grew very quickly to about 60 members. We would go out each Saturday night to the local pubs and coffee bars with the Good News of Jesus Christ, and soon we partnered with the Ribbons of Faith, and other groups in Birmingham, to start the Late Night Special in the huge but empty Lloyds Bank Building each Saturday night.

Then Canon Bryan Green, a liberal evangelical who was sometimes described as "the Anglican Billy Graham," invited us to start a Sunday night outreach in St. Martin's Church in the Bull Ring, Birmingham called "The Late Night Special."

Adrian and Pauline on their wedding day. Dan Wooding is behind Adrian in the picture

When Adrian married Pauline, his lovely wife, he asked me to be best man at his wedding and, of course, I agreed.

Not long afterwards, Norma and I had become involved in working with drug addicts at All Saints Hospital in Winson Green, and this developed, with the help of some local businessmen, into the start of Hill Farm, Europe's first drug rehabilitation farm. We were Hill Farm's first wardens.

After we left the farm, our family moved to London in 1968 where I became the chief reporter with The Christian, Billy Graham's newspaper there and shortly afterwards, Adrian and Pauline moved to Middlesbrough to run an Elim Church there.

Then, in 1974 he and Pauline moved to north London where they took over the famous rock venue, The Rainbow, to establish a unique church there. The Rainbow had hosted hundreds of shows, including several of the Beatles Christmas concerts, and also had David Bowie performing as Ziggy Stardust, as well as Queen, Cat Stevens and Jimi Hendrix, to name just a few of scores of rock luminaries who performed there.

In June, 1982, Norma, myself, and our two boys, Andrew and Peter, moved to Southern California, but Adrian stayed in North London to pioneer a unique series of ministries, including those to asylum seekers in the capital city. He has also planted multi-racial churches all over the world. Having travelled extensively -- he has just returned from Venezuela -- he has started many schools, vocational training centers, orphanages and support for vulnerable people. He has ongoing work in Africa and Sri Lanka as well as working with leaders in many other countries.

Cover of Adrian's novel

Adrian is the author of five other books, but now our lives have collided again as both of us have recently released our first novels. Mine is called Red Dagger (www.lulu.com/product/11050174?cid=060610_en_email_SUMMERREAD305 ) and Adrian's is called Icejacked, which you can get at his website --www.adrianhawkes.co.uk.

So why did he write it?

"I am fascinated at the way that things are changing in our world with items like mobile phones and the Internet, and how they quickly have become part of our normal world as if they had always been there and always will be," he said.

"In my travels I was captivated by how those who have not seen new technology, or young people who have lived in third world situations and never been to a big city or flown on a plane, nevertheless when they do get the opportunity within days they are using it all like it was normal.

"I often see refugees in their first two day coming into the UK with nothing, being absorbed by everything they see, and in one week their whole dress style has changed a mobile phone is on hand and they want to learn to access the Internet.

Cover of Dan's novel

"I am very aware that sometime fiction is more persuasive in changing things and I remember that some books have had powerful effect on nations and cultures. Take 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' for starters; that fiction book had a powerful effect."

So bearing that in mine, Adrian told me about the plot:

"An Iceman is found, and he is thrown into a new environment; a world that he does not understand; and he finds everything very strange," he said. "But alongside that, he is holding onto values that do not change because of technology and advancement, are his value real and lasting.

"Also alongside that is the hidden plot of that asked the question: have some things really changed as much as we think they have, such as slavery? Where are we with that today? One of the central characters is trying to work it out in the middle of that are those who seem so genuine, but are they really cheats?"

Our novels are both very different, as mine is partly based in Gaza, but I am delighted that Adrian has also been able to try his hand at fiction. So again, if you would like to get a copy of Icejacked, just go to: www.adrianhawkes.co.uk

 

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and theASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his aut obiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel "Red Dagger" which is available this link.