News Details
Posted date: 18 Jun 2013
Grand Challenge
The highlight of our mission here at CVM is hearing the stories of men finding faith through our grassroots network. It is massively encouraging to see the grassroots network grow, mature and multiply. We now have more than 500 men’s groups meeting weekly across the UK to support and inspire men who haven’t yet encountered the good news.
As you know, one of the trademarks of the CVM movement is ‘excellence’. We want to produce excellent resources to equip you guys on the ground. For this to happen, we are constantly praying for men to raise funds for our national efforts in evangelism.
With this in mind we launched The Grand Challenge, asking every CVM group to plan and carry out a charity event to raise at least £1000.
Here are some stories of men doing just that…
Riding 137 miles Coast to coast (Whitehaven to Sunderland) over 3 days: Aaron Smith tells us his story…
“I was inspired about CVM after seeing Carl last summer at the Keswick convention. I had never heard of CVM before and what Carl shared with the group was so enlightening and after chatting with the other guy I went to see Carl with, we knew that what you guys are trying to achieve is massively important. Reaching men for Christ is a hard thing to do but a massively important thing to do.
I got an e-mail from CVM asking if people would be willing to do something to raise £1000 towards the work. I e-mailed some of the guys at the church I am a part of (Duke Street Church, Sutton Coldfield) and after a few e-mails back and forth, a guy called Mitch Ball suggested we do a coast to coast bike ride. I immediately said yes and thought ‘how hard could this be?’. We completed the 137 mile route over three days, some of the most stunning views you will see over the lake district and mountains. Stunning. It was a tough ride, sore legs, complete tiredness which resulted in us all going to bed at 8pm on the first night and missing the champions league final because we couldn’t keep our eyes open.
We arrived in Sunderland on the Monday at around 130pm, tired, sore but massively happy we had completed the challenge. 11 guys, most of whom had never met, encouraging each other, sharing stories and sharing our faith and making some long lasting friendships, having a wonderful time. Completely worth every mile to raise money for such an excellent and worthwhile organisation as CVM – we have, with gift aid, just passed the £1000.00 mark which I am so happy about. If people still want to donate click here... "
Running 53 miles in the Highland Fling Race: James Goodship shares his story…
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“A month has passed since I completed the HOKA Highland Fling Race and I would like to thank you for your contribution to my chosen Charity, Christian Vision for Men. I have raised £765 and made a much needed step towards raising funds to support growth of the ministry in Scotland.
I completed the race in 12:30:09 and finished 276th of 416 finishers, whilst I had hoped for a finish inside 10 hours the enormity of the challenge and the elation (plus a great locally brewed beer!) at the finish mean that I am very happy with my first ultramarathon even though a considerable amount of walking was necessary!
It took best part of 3 days before I could walk normally again and for much of that I had to walk backwards downstairs and resort to the lift for a couple of days at the office. Now the blisters have healed I am keen to get back up to speed…a sub 45min 10k and 3:30 marathon on the cards for 2013 but I will leave the ultras for the time being!â€
If you want to get involved you can read more in this PDF leaflet (download here) where you can get lots of tips on what to do, how to raise the money, and how to have lots of fun doing it!
Go for it guys. Surprise yourselves!
