News April 2011 – New Horizons

One thing about pioneering a work is that you are constantly doing something new, starting something or achieving a new mile stone. This has been a season of new things and new milestones, both personally and in the ministry. we want to share with you some of those new horizons that are opening up before us.

The Family Walsh

Personally, Jordy is in his last year at school, hopefully heading to university to study medicine, now a school prefect. He’s working hard at school, tennis and Starbucks in Rotorua. Gwyn hit a significant milestone and in celebration we all took a few days to celebrate in Sydney for a weekend , which was a blessing and great fun, thanks to all those who made that trip possible.

CCBI

In ministry, CCBI is about 8 weeks into our second semester, and this semester is so different from our first, this has been a season of ministry.This is the first weekend so far ,where we have not been on outreach or involved in serving is some capacity. We started with several beach outreaches in conjunction with Calvary Chapel Hamilton and Christian Surfers, the student body is out on the streets most weeks sharing the gospel in Rotorua, even today Josh Hughes is leading a team sharing the gospel on the streets of Auckland, the largest city on the North Island of New Zealand.

This has been a great season for ministry, and the pace does not slow, next week we will be hosting another first. Our first speakers week will begin on the 4th April – 8th April. Pastor Rod Thompson (CC Murietta Conference Centre), Pastor Andrew Russell (CC Melbourne, Australia), Pastor Kris Baines (CC Christchurch) and Pastor Nick Field (The Street , Wellington, New Zealand). We will have a series of messages and ministry based around the Book of Jonah and Second Corinthians. Please pray for the Lord to powerfully speaking into the lives of all those who attend.

We also look ahead to outreach week, in the first week of May, for the first time we will be taking a team to Sydney, Australia and Christchurch, New Zealand. I will be traveling to Japan for the week, to teach at a worship conference alongside Calvary Chapel Okinawa. The conference theme is “Worship in Hard Times” a theme that was chosen before the recent events that shattered Japan. Please pray for us as we seek to serve, bless and minister during this week.

This semester there are a huge number of challenges, all of them good. The student body is growing, both in number and in their spiritual lives. We are pretty much maxed out on space and accommodation at the Lakes Ranch Campus. We are at a maximum on our vehicles, all these difficulties are as a result of growth – What a great problem . Ultimately, we need the Lord’s wisdom for the future, for the Lord’s guidance and provision of a bigger place to host CCBI. We have released our dates for the september semester and already have students signing up. Please pray with us that the Lord would provide the resources we need.

Calvary Chapel Ladies Day Conference 2011: Rotorua & Christchurch

One of the new things we were able to help pioneer, a National Ladies day conference for Calvary Chapel, in conjunction with Calvary Chapel Hamilton and Rotorua. Pam Markey and Lisa Collins travelled down from Hungary to share at the conference which was based around the theme of “Being hidden in God“. In order to make the conference more accessible , we decided to have a day conference on each of the two islands of New Zealand. The North Island Conference was held in Rotorua and one week later the South Island Conference was held in the earthquake hit city of Christchurch, hosted by Calvary Chapel Christchurch.The response to both days has been overwhelming, with 125 ladies attending both days. During the day in Rotorua all the young men served during the day to facilitate all the ladies from the church and CCBI attending. The day was well received with many asking for another conference but this time a weekend . Pam has already expressed her heart to return, so prayerfully we are already considering the next step. The South Island conference was held in Christchurch a city still reeling from the earthquake.

It was a huge blessing to see some 45 women attend the Christchurch conference in the midst of the all too observable devastation, Praise the Lord for meeting the needs of His beloved. As part of the planning committee for the conferences, one of the highlights for me was to be able to help the senior pastors wives get away for the night before the conference, just to spend time together with Pam and minister to the Lord and to one another.

Once again, we want to thank you for your love, prayers,care and all your support as we co labour together, with out which we simply wouldn’t be here. We have updated our prayer and praise requests in an earlier post today, so please continue to pray for us and with us.

In Him

M&G