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The Meltdown Retreat returns after a long wait, but this time to a completely different venue - Cefn Lea in Mid Wales. A risk taken there but definitely one worth taking; the event was incredible and went down superbly in the new venue!
Along with the amazing live bands, auction, prayer meetings, people, worship sets etc, that helped to make this weekend one to remember, there were the main seminars, spoken by Dave Williams, Jeff Scheetz, Jon Blaylock and Steve Speakman. All four were inspiring and so heart felt. Filled with absolute truth and conviction, which is exactly what is needed in today’s society, also which you‘ll find spoken about more deeply later in the article. All four based around the same thing too in one way or another: letting go of the wrong things, no matter how hard it may be at the time, and taking on the right things, no matter how scared or nervous you are because it‘ll be the best decision that you ever make; after all, the time is now! Many, many people were touched by the passionate words that were spoken by God through these men; what was said was definitely life changing and you would really had to have been there to fully understand and feel what was felt at the time. Yahweh’s (God’s) presence was truly in the room and throughout the weekend He spoke to everybody there.
It was great to meet people as they arrived on the Friday 1st April and just chill out while some of the Meltdown Team set up for the weekend ahead. Meltdown officially began at 7:30pm. The Christian heavy metal band, Back Pocket Prophet kicked off the night with a half hour set of pure metal, appreciated by many. They rocked the socks off all the metal fans there with some really heavy beats and with Paul May as their lead guitarist for this show, putting in some awesome guitar licks and solo‘s! Not long after, there was the evening meal. This was a really nice hour or so where everyone got to meet up again and even for the first time and just have a really great time together. After the catching up and getting to know each other, a five piece, Christian rock band called Risen From Ruins, brand new to the whole Meltdown scene as a band, played a half hour set of rock music with elements of metal in and judging by the reaction of the crowd and what was said, they went down very well! Keeping the rhythm and ending the night on a good note, Steve Speakman took the microphone and he and some of his fellow youth shared some pretty inspiring testimonies; the main message basically being: “The time is now!”. Also that, youth isn’t about your earthly age; it’s about your heart. The people from Steve Speakman’s church that did get up and share their testimonies were amazing and so inspiring; very well said and done. After these, there was a bit more chatting to folk and then off to bed for the exhausted, yet exhilarated, crowd and bands!
After such a great first night, you can imagine how excited everyone was to carry on with the weekend ahead, starting with the 8:15am prayer meeting the following morning and not waste a second more just laying around. Well actually, everyone was so tired from all of the excitement from the night before that they just wanted to stay in bed until the next live music show that night; but knowing how powerful and blessed that these early morning prayer meetings usually are, quite a lot of people turned up. It went on for half an hour and many great words were spoken. The people that attended came away refreshed and ready to go about the day ahead with a good attitude, especially towards breakfast time.
At 10:30am, the first worship band began their set. The band consisted of six people: Jon Blaylock (electric guitar, lead vocals), Dire Pitan (keys, vocals), Caroline Papillion (vocals), Rachel Mountifield (vocals), Joshua Manlises (drums) and Danielle Jervis (bass guitar). After about five songs of worship, Dave Williams stepped up to the mic to speak his main seminar and what a brilliant one it was. It was so forward and he really said what was on his heart. You could just tell that what was said was put into his heart by God and I for one was so happy that he said what he did! He basically spoke about different types of evangelism. Who does what? Who are the evangelists? What kinds of evangelism are there? Our individual responsibilities as evangelists and how we display ourselves in public and even out of public. Also, not to leave it all to the bands because the bands are just the messengers. Bands come, they share their message through music, and then they leave. They can’t stay forever to make sure that the seeds that do get planted into people’s hearts grow and bare fruits, and this is where you come in. He also spoke about facebook and what a pain it is, but also what a blessing it can be when used rightly and for the right things. Attitudes too, there are certain attitudes that you cannot have in a ministry band or in any kind of ministry, which some people do and is the reason why they don’t go anywhere in life and why the blessing of Yahweh (God) isn‘t upon them.
Now because the Meltdown Retreat isn’t your typical, busy, Christian conference type place, you get to chill out and relax and just have fun! So, after Dave’s inspiring message, everyone went off to do their own thing for a while and then went for lunch. In between important, life changing things like seminars and fun things like auctions, you could hear people from different bands jamming together, which I must say, was quite a treat to watch and to listen to. Speaking of auctions though, the Meltdown auction will be the best one that you ever go to! They sell anything, and I mean anything. From things like dirty, old socks, to things like people’s heads! Before you get any of the wrong idea’s, the heads are still connected to the bodies and are alive and well and are sold at their own will. It certainly is a one of a kind experience that once you‘ve been to, you won‘t want to miss again! What happens is this: you donate absolutely anything you like to the Meltdown staff, and they sell it, it’s as simple as that and hilarious to watch.
Not long after all the silliness of the auction, a very respected and well known guitarist, known as one of the best and all the way from the USA, Mr. Jeff Scheetz took to the stage! This was definitely a special time that he was so generous enough to share with everyone. His talent was really shown that afternoon and everybody had such a good time! This was partly thanks to Lisa Jane Incorvaia, who interviewed him. It was a really nice, laid back interview, lots of fun too which everyone, including the man himself, enjoyed! First of all, Jeff was asked a few questions by Lisa, then he went to play a couple of tracks; he was asked a few more questions by Lisa after his first set and then did a second set, ending the whole thing with a few awesome guitar solo’s and riff‘s. A very memorable half hour or so it was and after an unforgettable experience with Jeff, everyone was left to do as they pleased until the evening meal.
By the time everyone was all fed and watered, they were all ready and in the mood for the next set of live Christian metal/rock bands: Catapults, Rising From Death and FireFallDown! The night began and ended in that order, with a little surprise at the end, and was such a blast! All three bands were really great in their own ways. FireFallDown, electrifying as always, attempted to end their set early but there’s no fooling the metal heads, so, we encored them back onto the stage; nice try though lads! Catapults, being the newest and youngest band, were very good; well done guys! Rising From Death, so great to watch and personally, I loved the heavy music! Oh and of course, there was a little surprise after these bands played and that surprise was: Jeff Scheetz jamming with loads of people from different bands for agood length of time! The jam sessions were definitely one of the highlights from Meltdown. If you could describe them in one word, that word would be. . . AMAZING! He jammed with Dave Boyle and Ian Harris (a couple of members from Conduit), Ian Jervis (a member from Risen From Ruins), Jon Blaylock, (a member from FireFallDown) and even a few guys who weren’t in any of the bands that played there, such as Marc Ellison and Rich Styles; it was just incredible to watch and to listen to! |
