'Hop on the bus... God's on the move!'

By Alyson Reid

This is simply my story. It's a script that only God could write  - one that I'd never have chosen for myself and yet I totally love every day of this adventure with Him.

One regular autumn morning in 2009, just driving my 4 girls to school, I saw, in my mind, a vision of a children's choir that I felt was from God. They were singing so joyously, dancing and praising God and I felt He gave me the words 'Raise the Roof'.  It was so powerful that I was in floods of tears by the time I got to the school gate.  But I honestly had no desire whatsoever to begin a children's choir in Ballymena! So for 2 years I watched and waited, sensing there was more to come. In November 2011 I suffered a serious attack of pancreatitis and spent a week in hospital. When I was least expecting God to reveal His plans, I really believe He spoke to my heart again.

On the Friday evening that I was released from hospital I stopped at a friend's house on the way home and met a pastor from Uganda called Moses who was staying with them.   He told me about his work planting churches and building schools and that he had a children's choir who travelled the world raising awareness of the plight of vulnerable children in Uganda. The following Sunday Moses came to Causeway Coast Vineyard and afterwards we set off to see a robot milking parlour thanks to my husband Hugh! En route I played a kids worship CD in the car as we had loads of little girls in the back! When I heard 'Hop on the bus, God's on the move, there's a seat for me, there's a seat for you...' I was moved to tears again as I felt that was God revealing to me that his plan was for me to form a children's choir in Ballymena, then at some point He would bring over a choir of children from Uganda, these two choirs would sing together and through 'Raise the Roof' we would build a school in Uganda.

An enormous project! I hadn't a clue where to start! I'd never been on any mission trips overseas, I had no knowledge of Uganda, never mind how to build a school. The only thing I could offer was a "Yes Lord!"

So I gathered a group of friends round my kitchen table one Monday evening and decided to make a start. We concluded that in order to raise the £75,000 it would take to complete the project we would need to travel with the choir outside of Ballymena. I made a throw away comment 'Pity we couldn't find a bus over a hedge somewhere.' Three days later, I was in the car with my 4 girls and a friend on a really random errand, heading up a country road that I've never been on before or since, when to my absolute amazement I saw an old double decker bus peeping over a hedge in a junk yard. I drove in and told the owner my whole vision of how "I needed a bus which God would fill with singing children to build a school in Uganda!"

So Raise the Roof kids choir was formed in September 2012. Within seven months they were given their very own 30 year old Leyland double decker bus - (an exact replica of the one I felt God showed me in the junk yard because it needed to have a 'low deck' to fit into our cattle shed when not in use! God in the detail!) The bus was ferried over from England courtesy of Stena and sprayed our signature colour of bright yellow by Wrightbus, Ballymena - all as gifts in support of our project.  

In March 2013 the children sang at Stormont with The Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson  "Cast your burdens unto Jesus for He cares for you." We currently have over 70 children from all backgrounds and denominations who delight in meeting every Saturday afternoon in Ballymena to sing. They have given numerous concerts and are well on target to making this vision a reality.

In October 2013, through the African focussed charity, Fields of Life, our children had the opportunity to spend time and rehearse with a choir of young people from Uganda who were touring with Nathan Jess to build a school. We gave a joint concert in Coleraine Girls High School which was such a memorable experience for our children and the fulfilment of what God had spoken to me originally.  This is our God of 'the immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine!' (Ephesians 3:20)

When our children sing I can feel the Father's delight because He's building and creating something new - that's who He is, that's what He does best! He is building first in our own hearts, then, through the joy of young voices singing in a big yellow bus, vision and bigger dreams are spilling into the wider community and one day all the way to hundreds of children and their families in Uganda. Already our 7 year olds are asking what price is a ticket to Uganda.

God is on the move! What dreams and visions has He placed in you that makes your heart sing? It might not look like you'd planned! But take a risk .... hop on the bus.... there's a seat for me, there's a seat for YOU!