Prayer & Praise September 2014

It’s been a relatively short period of time since our last update, but so many things seems to have happened. This is not uncommon with the start of a new semester we have seen many tremendous answers to prayer already, even though the semester is only a few weeks old. We also want to ask to your prayers for  upcoming outreaches. As next week, starting on Friday, 26th September, the whole of CCBI will be on outreach and we covet your prayers.

Praise reports.

• Praise the Lord for provision of housing for Tom and Jen Cooper, who joined us here on staff at the beginning of the semester.
• Praise the Lord for the provision of housing for Sam and Hannah stockill, who also joined us at the beginning of the semester.
• Praise the Lord  for the provision of a car for Sam and Hannah to use, donated to us by someone who is not even a believer.
• Praise the Lord for the generous provision for the Walsh family to obtain another vehicle and get back on the road.
• Praise the Lord for additional accommodation provided by the Ranch, not only has the ranch provided us with additional accommodation on site for staff, but they have opened up a brand-new dining hall for us as we have outgrown our current dining location in the retreat centre.
• Praise the Lord for providing speakers for the upcoming equip conference, this will be a national conference for Calvary Chapel and we are very grateful to have Pastor Dave Shirley (CCBC), Pastor Luis Solis (CC Kearney, NJ) and Pastor Fernando Ortiz (Mile High Calvary, Denver), who will be sharing the word with not only the student body but believers from all over New Zealand and hopefully the region.
• Praise the Lord for the salvation of Marshall, one of our student teams without sharing the gospel on the streets of Rotorua  and were privileged to see a young man called Marshall gave his life to Christ. Please keep Marshall in prayer as he begins his new life in Christ.

 Prayer requests.

• Please pray for our outreach teams from CCBI as they commence a 10 day outreach from Friday, 26 September. We will have one team serving alongside calvary chapel Wellington, providing a VBS during the school holidays. We will have one team serving here on site at Lakes Ranch, providing camp counsellors for the kids camp. Jason Colbeth, One of our team here, will be leading the Bible studies and teaching from the word each day during the week. Please keep him in prayer and teams as they serve in this ministry of sharing God’s word with the youth of New Zealand. Pastor Jake Wilmoth, will be leading a third team to Melbourne in Australia, they will be serving alongside Calvary Chapel Melbourne and serving at the youth camp for the church. Jake will be teaching from God’s word during the week along with Tom Cooper who will be leading worship for the youth camp. I will be visiting a new church plant in Adelaide Australia, before joining the team at Phillip Island, Melbourne. Please keep me in prayer as they seek to encourage and minister to the team in Adelaide and Melbourne.
• Please pray the Lord would pour out His Spirit and use his words powerfully to shape the lives of those we encounter.
• Pray for the Equip conference, which will be taking place 3rd-7th  November here at Lakes Ranch.  This has traditionally been our speakers week, but with this conference being adopted by a wider audience from Calvary Chapel in New Zealand, after discussion with the national leadership, we felt that this conference should become a national ministry conference, designed to encourage and exhort anyone who wants to grow in the word and in ministry. We have sent out invitations to over the 24 different locations across the Pacific rim. This is a real step of faith for us, both financially and logistically. We have a small but very dedicated team, but personally in ourselves, we do not have the resources for this. We are excited by this opportunity to trust the Lord and already many from around the region are expressing interest at coming and sitting under God’s word. Please pray with us the Lord would pour His spirit on this event as we seek to pioneer a national ministry  and missions conference for the Pacific region.  Please pray for the Pastors, who will be teaching at the conference,that the Lord would guide their hearts in His Word that we may grow strong in the things of Christ.
•  Please pray for the team here as we adjust to growth in the ministry and some of the new logistical challenges in working with a new dining hall and accommodation.

Please stand with us in these things, both praising the Lord for what He has done and with great expectation of what He will yet do.  Psalm 2:8

M & G