Living by Hells Gate

No… I’m not being presumptuous about our place in the greater spiritual battle, at the bottom of our road is Hells gate , a thermal spar , which oozes steam from the geothermal activity here in Rotorua. But seriously…. Spiritual warfare has been on my mind recently. (Slick transition don’t you think ? – I liked it)

Let me explain, since arriving in New Zealand, The Church was damaged by fire, our finances are being severely tested, our container arrived missing box 52 and a whole bunch of broken things, Jordan required a trip to the ER for stitches closing two gashes on his face on the first day of an evangelistic camp, the church was broken into last week and a whole host of things were stolen including computers, digital projector and hard disk that contained all of the files and software we need for the Bible school.

This is my thought, Ephesians 6 : 11 STAND !!!!!! , Four times in the space of 3 verses, the command, the encouragement is to stand, interestingly enough not fight !!! – What struck me forcefully, is that the ability to stand is determined by what you wear. Put on the whole armour that you may be able to stand. Dressed in armour our role is not to fight but to stand, for The Victory was won , The Battle was sealed, The Triumph gained.

New Things !!!

With us

We have a place to live, after a great deal of emotional trauma, we have moved into a small apartment on Lakes Ranch, affectionately know as the Cave!!! . It was a real issue of surrender for us to live here on site, especially for Becky, who just want to live in a normal house on normal street, hard decisions , there were tears and that was just me , but we believe this is the right place to be 🙂

Jordy had stitches and is currently auditioning for the Phantom of the Opera, lead role I believe, tough first day as a leader on an evangelical kids camp and he ends up at the ER , we are glad that he only needed stitches. Scars will inevitably make him more attractive to girls!!!! He is doing well as you can see in the later Photograph!!!

Jordy also had his 16th Birthday , next learning to drive in NZ!!!!

Becky going back to school for her last term at Mokoia , before High School, so there are some real decisions to be made, we would appreciate your prayers in this regard. Becky’s experience so far has been great and she really is thriving in what she calls “her dose of real life”.

Christmas is coming and it is spring, we are confused, go figure……. nothing more to be said. Nice view from the Cave though!!

With the Ministry

CCBI

We have finished the CCBI web site (www.ccbi.ac.nz), we now have dates for our first semester (Feb10 – June 4 2010) , prices and sample of classes, application forms. So now we wait upon the Lord and see whom He will bring, scary and exciting all in the same breath.

CCBI now has facebook – so you can catch up with us, be friends with us via
facebook, our aim is to try and give everyone a sample of what life and ministry is like on the central plateau of New Zealand, check out the photos.

We have few folks who would like to serve with us here in CCBI, Jake & Tecla Wilmoth and Mel Lunt are all praying about joining us to hep for the new semester. Please keep them in prayer as they seek the Lord about this.

Mark will be teaching one of the messages at the Pastors conference on the Kapiti Coast over October 19th-21st. Please pray for anointing and a real message to the pastors, also that they will be excited and catch the vision for the bible school here in New Zealand. On the weekend before the conference , Mark will be sharing at CC Wellington and visiting the Street Church, Wellington to share more about CCBI.

Check out the ministry of Calvary Chapel in New Zealand www.calvarychapel.co.nz

Ranch Ministry

Living here on site at Lakes Ranch , has led to a few opportunities to minister, especially over the last few weeks, during the Horse camp and the Kids camp, in particular. Jordy and Becky have both being serving in different capacities at the kids Camp. These are good old fashioned Gospel camps, where many young souls come to know Christ.

I was asked to share a word with the camp leaders earlier this week, this led to leading worship for the leaders during their nightly meeting and I have just been invited to share the teaching for the leadership preparation and development weekend in November, as they prepare for the next camps in the New Year. I am so blessed to get these opportunities to minister to young men and women who are and will be future leaders in New Zealand.

Church Ministry

I continue to teach the midweek Study here in CC Rotorua, we are currently in Nehemiah chapter 9, Gwyn and I also do the worship for this study. Everyone seems to be getting a little more used to us and that is a blessing.

Gwyn continues to meet with the ladies of CC Hamilton and CC Rotorua , to help out and lead worship for these two studies. The ladies are already preparing for a Christmas tea that Gwyn will be sharing at.

Foundations of leadership

This is a new venture here at the church, we have started a monthly study with some of the key guys from the church here to invest in them in the realm of leadership. Each man completes a study over the month listens to a few tapes, this months subject is the Call to the Ministry.

We meet for the first time on Sunday night, the 11th October, share a meal, fellowship with one another around the word. Please lift this new venture up in prayer.

We appreciate your love and prayer thanks for taking time to read this and standing with us in the ministry.

Philippians 1:6

M & G