An interview with John Musgrave, Managing Director of Spring Harvest Holidays
How did you end up doing this role?
I worked for Spring Harvest, the main event in the UK, when Le Pas Opton was purchased nearly 30 years ago and set up Spring Harvest Holidays. While I didn’t work for SHH at that time I always wanted to. It was by chance that I caught up with Alan & Jenny Johnson who told me Steve May-Miller, who’d been the CEO for many years, was retiring. It was Alan’s vision to set up LPO; he encouraged me to apply and the rest is history!
What’s a typical holiday at LPO like?
We use the three words Relax, Refresh, and Renew to sum up our vision, and our guests tell us that this describes how they feel when they leave! There are many ways to relax at LPO, whether by the pool with a good book, by paddle on the river, or exploring the local area. For many the refreshment comes from spending time with friends and family over a meal, joining in with the weekly quiz, bingo or karaoke nights. Our spiritual programmes, with morning programmes for children, youth, and adults, and our evening all-age celebration are key to our vision for people to be renewed. To worship together, to hear God’s word, and share holiday time with other believers. Our spiritual programme and entertainment activities are totally optional, we’re offering a holiday, so there’s no typical way to holiday at LPO, but it appears that Relaxed, Refreshed, and Renewed guests are the results of a typical LPO Holiday.
How does the Christian content impact your guests?
God works in the lives of our guests in so many ways. We’ve seen many young children make new friends, learn about Jesus, and turn to Him at a young age. Our youth venues are a safe place many explore their faith, benefitting from time with other young Christians, realising there are others like them learning to love Jesus. For our adults, our morning Bible study is often the place they set aside the busyness of life and hear from God. Each week God pours out His blessing with words of wisdom and encouragement received, people healed, support offered and received. We always end each week thanking God – oh, and the worship times are awesome!
How do you relate to French churches?
We welcome French guests throughout the season, most booking through AGAPE Village and benefitting from a discounted price. Our programmes are in English and in our busy weeks we have people translating the talks into French via a headset system. The Perspectives church from Challans meets at LPO every Sunday and we benefit from their year-round prayer for the site, our team,and our ministry. We want our site to be a resource for the French church, a place where you can hold your own conferences and events knowing you can book a range of accommodation types that suit your group, with venues for meetings and all the facilities to enjoy, all in a place saturated in prayer. LPO is a place of prayer and worship, and we continue to pray for the French church and for God’s blessing on this beautiful country.
What can we pray for LPO?
Please pray for the safety and wellbeing of our guests and our team. Please pray for spiritual protection as we believe God is at work here and there are spiritual forces that wish to disrupt and destroy. Most of all please pray that God continues to work in the lives of all who come to LPO, with people of all ages making commitments, meeting with God, and leaving ready to continue to serve Him in their hometowns and churches.
