Women and Men who inspire us - Gareth Hides

Gareth Hides is a 24-year old evangelist, singer-songwriter (www.garethides.com) married to Sarah, and working with charity k180 (www.k180.org) in West London. Today Gareth tells us about Kathy, who has inspired him…

The Associate Minister at my old Church in Canada, Kathy Dahmer, has been a great encourager and inspiration in my life. The church that I went to encouraged the young people to plan and produce a musical/play every year. Kathy headed these plays up and gave me a small role (with lines and a solo song to sing) the first year I auditioned. She encouraged me in this and gave me space to grow and develop in acting and performing. A few years later, with many of the young people in their late teens, Kathy dreamed bigger and took on the task of directing the musical “Godspell”, with our young cast. I auditioned (on reflection this was a bit out of my depth) for the role of Jesus and Kathy gave me the part. It was such hard work, as the part demanded that I learn most of the lines in the play as wellas learn several songs. However, the show was so powerful and God used it mightily. We did several free performances for the community at our church and were featured in the local press. The show presents the good news of Jesus in such a fun and poignant way – it was great to be part of this project! Kathy always dreams bigger and though I moved with my family back to the UK in 2004, she proposed the cast reunite for a week of shows in England, as a mission project. In the summer of 2005, the whole Canadian cast, band and choir flew over and we took over the local theatre. After I finished my A-levels, several years later, I decided that I wanted to become a professional actor and prayed a dangerous prayer to God. Within 3 months of moving to London to audition and sell ice creams at a West End theatre, I had landed a professional acting job. I worked as a professional actor for 2 ½ years, latterly with Saltmine Theatre Company, communicating my faith through acting and performance. This can all be traced back to Kathy’s leadership in Canada, investing time and energy in galvanizing a group of young people to use their gifts for God’s glory. She has since been called by God into ordained ministry and is the minister in the United Church of Canada. It’s exciting to see God use and develop her leadership in this new chapter. Though I now work as an evangelist and am not acting as much anymore, Kathy demonstrated to me, through leading by example, how to invest in the lives of others and to dream big for Jesus!

Comments

[Tammy Gagnon]

Thanks for sharing Gareth!