TRASH

We decided we needed a catchy name or acronym for our youth group so after lots of think music and a few very bad ideas I came up with TRASH. Now I can already hear some of you saying what ??? but as I said it was thought out as an acronym, the meaning of TRASH is "???". We are running a competition at Youth Group so I will post the name after next weeks event ! Now I hope none of you have ever heard of this name before as I would like it to be unique but even if it is not I think it is pretty darn good.
Our first night for the year is 29th February so I would appreciate your prayerful support as we set out to make God real to these kids.
I am not sure if I will be able to post another blog for a couple of weeks as we head off to Royal Parade( for those of you who may not know this is The Salvation Army's Officer Training College) for a two week intensive training.
If anyone has any comments or feedback on the name I would be interested to hear it.
I pray that God will be real to you in the environment that you find yourself in this week, and that you may have peace and faith as you go about your daily life.

Pastor or Leader

Recently through a lot of the material we are reading and studying the concept has continually been surfacing are we as officers being called to be leaders or pastors/shepherds. I know a lot of what is being taught now points towards leadership and getting others to follow your vision, I am leaning to the fact that most of our people and I believe most of the community in which we live now are looking for someone to take time to care for them, to take an interest in them and to show them the true meaning of Christian Love. I believe if we do this people will follow so leadership takes care of itself.

We are so worried about putting process in place for this and that,and to make sure that we know what we should be doing and how we should be leading people that I think we have walked away from the most important principal, Jesus showed us an example of a Christian Shepherd. Jesus built friendships, he took time to get to know people on their level, he took time to teach and to listen. I don't think Jesus ever said I will let others do the caring I have to "be up the tree".

I don't know maybe I have got this wrong, if you think so let me know. I would be interested in others thoughts. In the meantime I am going to try and build relationships with people and lead the way I believe Jesus taught us to, by building relationships with people on their level and taking the time to care.

Priorities

Now without sharing too much of my really personal stuff here the last couple of weeks have been really tough when it comes to money and getting by. It seems like everyday we have another bill to pay or another unexpected expense come our way. At times this all seems too much and it is hard to not get down and let these things affect our personality and our day to day relationships with each other. Sue will tell you the thing we argue about the most is money ( I am not saying we argue all the time by the way that is not true) it creates pressures and struggles that make Satan happy.
Through this time I am finding that it is important to set priorities. It is easy just to pay this and that to ease some pressure but that can then create more pressure because you should have been doing this first etc etc... Through the 24/7 prayer time we have had at the corps I have really been challenged to set priorities; to give to God first, and to trust God for the provisions to look after the rest. We are still better off than half the population of the world, we have a great house to sleep in, we have clothes to wear, we have food to eat, and most importantly we have each other and the love we share.
May you thank God today for His provisions and look at the valuable commodities you have in your life and give them the priority that they deserve.

Living Waters

I have had the privilege of leading a time of study with the leaders from the Ignite group over the last couple of days. Now for those of you saying WHO ?? Ignite is a holiday program for high school kids run by Scripture Union which takes place for a week here in Warrnambool. It has been great to share with these guys and to get a feel for their passion and desire to share the message of God with the kids they encounter.

Yesterday after the study and a time of sharing we all separated for some personal quiet time. Now I am not always a visual type of guy but as I was leaning against a wall of the old Presbyterian Church looking out over the city of Warrnambool I was struck by something that I saw. I was looking at the beautiful blue water of the ocean just in front of me ( it looked like I could reach out and touch it) when I looked down and the ground I was standing on was barren,dry and had large cracks running through it. The water was so close yet was unable to reach the land that so desperately needs it.I started to think about the city in front of me and the people in the community who were searching for the real meaning of life, searching for a purpose, searching for friends, searching for a reason to live and I know that reason. I have a relationship with that God, I can show them a hope and a future, I can bring them the water they need. I began to pray that God would help me to be the water that quenches this dry community, that through me and our church that God would restore the grass to this dry land, that it may be prepared for a future harvest.

Please Lord let me bring water to the thirsty, friendship to the lonely, hope to the downcast, and You to this community.

New Years Resolutions

Are you one of those people that make a New Years Resolution and then forget about it by February 1st (if not before !), I must admit in my life I have done this a few times. It seems every year I decide I must do something about my weight, but every year it grows and my hairline recedes. Sometimes we don't keep our resolutions because we set the bar too high; this year I am going to get debt free and save $5000, this year I am going to lose 25 kilos etc etc.

Maybe we need to set small realistic targets to meet regularly during the year , and then by the end we will see big results.

The reason for this discussion is we had our Corps Senior Leadership day apart on Saturday. This was a great time of laying out plans for the coming years, reporting on how our individual areas of management were going, working out where we wanted to focus in the coming year and setting goals. However I found myself thinking on Saturday night when doing my devotions that this was not like our loose New Years Resolutions, these were not things hatched in five minutes at midnight on the 31st. These were plans and directions that were based in prayer had been thought about, discussed, dissected, and then agreed upon as the way best for us to spend our energies and resources. I believe that these were Gods plans not the plans of man.

It is now our chief objective to make sure that we work diligently and to the best of our talents to achieve these plans we have put in place.

One of the keys to the success of this day was the prayer that went into this both before and during the day apart. I am excited about the coming weeks as we enter into 24/7 prayer this coming weekend, I believe that this will be a time of healing, a time of restoration, a time of challenge, a time when the seeds will be sown for prodigals to return and I believe the start of Revival. You can really sense the Spirit of God moving in and through the Warrnambool Corps and I believe and pray that this coming 24/7 prayer will only fan that flame and encourage our people to impact the community in which they live and work.