Bringing Home the Prodigals

For the past few weeks I've been helping out at Focus on the Family alongside Wayne :) It's been my privilege to help with the coordination of "Bringing Home the Prodigals." Rob Parsons, director of Care for the Family in the U.K., is to bring a message to NZ that has already impacted thousands across the world.

Christchurch: Tuesday, 21 August - Majestic House - 7:30pm
Lower Hutt: Wednesday, 22 August - Lower Hutt Town Hall - 7:30pm
Tauranga: Thursday, 23 August - Holy Trinity - 7:30pm
Auckland: Saturday, 25 August - Auckland Town Hall - 7:30pm

"Stemming from the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, Bringing Home the Prodigals is a message of hope and reconciliation for those with prodigal sons, daughters, siblings, spouses, friends or parents... We’ve all been prodigals... Parsons discusses how we, individually and as a church, should treat prodigals who do come home. Will we be the father – waiting with open arms and unconditional love – or will we be the older brother – judging the prodigal and scorning the father’s love?"

BSF

"The heartbeat of BSF is the study of the Bible. And as your understanding of the Bible increases, you will find your relationship with God deepening."

Wayne and I have recently started attending the local mens and womens Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) classes on Monday evenings. BSF is an inter-denominational Bible study program that helps people in over 30 different countries gain a practical understanding of God and the Bible.

Inica, my wonderful friend in Aussie, has attended for five years and has often shared about how much she has learnt and grown through the daily questions for individual Bible study, weekly discussion groups, challenging lectures and study notes.

We've jumped in half way through a study of the book of Romans, one of BSF's seven yearlong studies. The other studies include Matthew, the Life of Moses, John, the History of Israel and the Minor Prophets, Acts of the Apostles, and Genesis.

We're already being challenged. It's such wonderful timing for me to start going along having just completed my studies at BCNZ, and Wayne is also very thankful for the encouragement to be in the Word daily seeking God.

Cell Phone vs. Bible

A friend from Focus just sent through this stirring challenge...

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bibles like we treat our cell phone? What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets? What if we flipped through it several times a day? What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it? What if we used it to receive messages from the text? What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it? What if we gave it to kids as gifts? What if we used it when we traveled? What if we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go..hmm, where is my Bible? Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill. Makes you stop and think "Where are my priorities?" And no dropped calls!

180kph Winds!

Over the past week we've had winds of up to 180kph go through the Auckland and Northland regions! When Wayne and I went up to Tapeka Point this weekend we found one of the trees in the backyard upturned, drains blocked, and excessive water flowing off the surrounding hills into the sea. Wayne loved the action and opportunity to drive our 4WD, while I feared flooding and land slips around each new corner of the road! We had a great few days eating our favourite spicy shrimp pizza from Russell, watching DVDs, doing Sudoku, fellowshipping at the oldest church in NZ, talking, praying and relaxing. Plus we had bonus action heading south... we stopped into Mangawhai to help Paddy as one of the doors of his shed had blown off to shatter his sliding door! Literally thousands of people have been affected by the recent weather and it's still raining and blowing!

"Healing the Masculine Soul"

Last weekend Focus on the Family put on a Men's Event with guest speaker Gordon Dalbey titled "Healing the Masculine Soul." Over 250 men gathered to hear God-inspired teaching on healthy father-son relationships... "Jesus came to heal this father-wound, by restoring relationship with the Father of all men." For more of Gordon's teaching please see www.abbafather.com

It was my privilege to help Wayne and the team at Focus on the Family host Gordon and his family visiting from the States. Wayne and I took them up north after church on Sunday. We visited Art of Cheese Cafe in Puhoi for lunch, Parry Kauri Park to see the grand 800 year old kauri, and to the Honey Centre for some local taste treats.

Joy and Anticipation

We witnessed two lots of friends wed this month. It was wonderful to hear such similar vows to ours spoken just three months after our wedding. We knew the joy and anticipation they felt as they committed their lives to one another. Wayne and I have just been away for a weekend together. I couldn't help but remember our honeymoon! I'm convinced our newly-wed friends will be making lifetime memories at this time too xx

Will Jesus Find Faith?

Luke 18: 1-8 The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

4 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Cluster Sunday

St Paul's had it's first "Cluster Sunday" yesterday. Instead of gathering together in corporate Celebration, we spread ourselves throughout Auckland at various locations to, in our case have a delicious brunch, or watch a movie, go ten pin bowling, dine out, engage in community action etc. We had quite a few new faces at our "Stradwick Cluster." It was great to get to know some more St Paul's folk in a relaxed home setting.

Clusters are made up of multiple small groups. We have a range of different clusters at St Paul's, with some based on geography and others life-stage. We gather monthy to spend time together and build community.

Small groups are now at the heart of the St Paul's community. We meet weekly or fortnightly in homes across Auckland. Each small group is also part of a cluster. Tomorrow night I'm leading our home group in a study of Ephesians 1:1-14. We will do an inductive study where, rather than teaching, I will facilitate the group in observing, interpreting and applying the passage. I'm so thankful that my studies at BCNZ are already serving to bless others in an area I'm passionate about - equipping others to learn from God's Word :)