The annual southern Gold Coast CoolyRocksOn Church Service yesterday (Sunday 9 June) was a blast at the local TwinTowns Uniting Church (Coolangatta).
The CoolyRocksOn festival of Rock’n’Roll and vintage cars has been running for many years in Coolangatta bringing in a hundred thousand visitors, - it is a national cultural event. Visitors come from every State of Australia and even overseas.
The CoolyRocksOn Church Service was originally hosted by the local Anglican Church until the building was shut down due to asbestos and it went into abeyance for two years until a taxi driver, (a board member of CoolyRocksOn) asked Dr Mark Tronson the Australian cricket team chaplain 17 years (ret) to reinstitute it.
The then CoolyRocksOn CEO Bob Newman visited Mark Tronson and the CoolyRocksOn Church Service was reinstituted in a large marque six years ago (packed out). It was run by Dr Tronson for four years and he handed it on to the local Uniting Church last year.
It is a major community event with much acclaim. The CoolyRocksOn Church Service is a part of these festivities.
2019 – A Blast
The Band led by James Walton from Living Temple Christian Church (Tugun Baptist) were sensational –
The band was made up of musicians James, Jim and Tony, drummer Kenneth (Papua New Guinea) and singers Jasmine, Gloria and Jemma.
They played several groups of Gospel songs, three at first, then four after the bible reading, then two near the end and a further two as congregants moved to the hall for a cuppa.
Reverend Debra Pinkerton gave an illustrative message with the bring screen showing numerous photos of the 60’s (CoolyRocksOn is a nostalgic festival of vintage cars and rock’n’roll) and being Pentecost Sunday homed in on the change that Christ’s message brought to the world and down to us today.
Another remarkable CoolyRocksOn Church Service.
Zach Radloff was on the audio consul. Zach has a degree in IT and has been writing IT for Christian Today for seven years as part of the young writer program.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html