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26 February 2013

Brooklyn Tabernacle pastor, Jim Cymbala 'honoured' to meet UK leaders

Pastor Jim Cymbala of New York's famous Brooklyn Tabernacle church was the keynote speaker at A Time for Refreshment held in Westminster Central Hall for more than 700 church leaders on Friday, 22 February.

During the conference, which was hosted by Crossing London, Pastor Cymbala drew on his personal experiences of leading a church in inner-city New York and delivered a powerful message declaring that people need "a baptism of love".

Pastor Cymbala's message included clips from the video Miracle of Hope which includes testimonies from prisoners' lives being transformed by God while serving time inside a maximum security prison.

Commenting on his visit to the UK, Pastor Cymbala said: "I am honoured to be invited to speak to pastors and Christian leaders in London this week. We need a specific word from the Lord and God will encourage and strengthen us as we seek Him together. We will worship and pray and see an outpouring of God's grace in our lives."

Pastor Cymbala has served at the Brooklyn Tabernacle church for over 40 years during which time the diverse congregation has grown to more than 10,000. Situated in the heart of downtown Brooklyn, the church helps meet the spiritual and physical needs of the local inner-city area through a range of different transformative ministries. They serve the homeless population by going into various shelters, alcohol treatment centres and drug rehabilitation programmes, and run a ministry matching donations of furniture, appliances and electronics with those in need of them.

The world-famous Brooklyn Tabernacle choir made up of 280 mostly untrained singers, has previously won six Grammy awards, recorded numerous albums and performed in Carnegie Hall in New York.

The conference was part of Crossing London's aim to encourage and equip leaders in preparation for a year of mission. Leaders came together from different denominations, cultures and ethnicities to listen to Pastor Cymbala, Dave Bilborough and Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, soloist Karen Melendez.

Crossing London is a mission throughout 2013 to encourage Christian leaders in London, equip Christians to speak confidently about their faith, engage local communities through the church and for people all over London to be given the opportunity to encounter Jesus.