Otaki Ministry Update

Where to begin! God is so amazing. I think that sums it up. :)

Along with all the fun and exploration we've been so blessed by since our time in New Zealand, the icing on the cake is really being a family member of our church community, "the HUB church". On Sunday, March 25, we launched our new name at our Harvest Fest outreach!

The new sign I designed :)
"the HUB church, Jesus in the Community"

As you know, we started our men's and ladies bible studies in February and they've been going really great! It's honestly been better than we even hoped for! We more than doubled in Tuesday night attendance and God has been working in each of our hearts, minds and spirits in such an exciting way. NO GOING BACK! This round of studies wraps up in two weeks and then we will move into a new series of studies that are yet to be decided on. I really need to get Torre to blog about his experiences at work and the church!!! The men's bible study has been going really amazing so I want to get him on here to tell you about it. 

A little help perhaps? Maybe just one email, each day, from each of you would get the point across. :) 

Check out the study material for your church or home group:

For the Ladies:

"So Long Insecurity, you've been a bad friend to us" by Beth Moore

For the Men:

"Honor Begins at Home", by Michael Catt, Stephen Kendrick, and Alex Kendrick

(From the creators of "Fireproof" and "Courageous")

*It just stared raining. :)

Last month we hosted a Harvest Fest outreach for the community. Although it wasn't what I had hoped for in numbers, it was a really great time of connecting and family fun! We had a beautiful shared lunch, a bouncy castle, face painting, games for the children and a really gorgeous pumpkin patch photo booth that my friend, Karen, painted!

March 28 to April 1, we had Pastor Pat Sparrow and his ministry team visiting from Shouts of Grace Church in Grover Beach, CA! Mike went to Ministry School with John, Pat's son, in Auckland, NZ. John, their Youth Pastor, and their Children's Pastor, Josiah, stayed with me and Torre and Pat and his Men's Ministry leader, Wayne, stayed with Mike and Helen. Pat has a powerful Prophetic ministry so it was an incredibly encouraging and uplifting to hear what God had given him to share with each of us. 

The following week was a whirl wind of events! Mike and Helen went away for three days with their youngest, Jacob, to a Leadership Summit in Lake Taupo, and I had their two oldest, Amber, 9, and Zac, 6! They got back on Wednesday night and then left about an hour and a half later to Wellington to catch their flight up to Auckland for SHOUT over the weekend. About two hours after they returned Torre and I left for Wellington as well to be there for our 6 AM flight to Sydney for Easter weekend. We had planned on driving to Wellington in the morning but our car has been a bit questionable lately so we had a friend drive us to the train station so we could take the train to Welli. 

We went to Sydney to visit our dear friends Anna, Andre and Elle for Easter! Anna is from Sydney but we actually met them in Boston at REUNION. They were in our community group in the Back Bay and ended up moving back to Sydney about a week after we arrived in NZ, so we were very eager to head North for a visit! Needless to say, the trip was tons of fun and Sydney is really beautiful! The weather was perfect...thanks God!...and Elle is growing so much. More on Sydney to come with the pics. :)

Easter Sunday @ Hillsong Australia!

Saturday, April 28, we will have our first Annual Otaki Health Screening Day organized and hosted by the HUB church! Torre and Mike had the idea to offer a health awareness day for the community and have been busy bringing it all together. (Mike worked as a Head Nurse before he became a Pastor).  God is definitely at work here because he has brought all kinds of Physicians and people in the medical field to volunteer, not just from Otaki, but from several surrounding cities/regions!!! Torre is blown away by the response! One of the medical screening trucks that travels all around is scheduled to be in Otaki the following Monday and they "just happened" to be arriving the night before our Health Day and have agreed to bring the truck and do screening for free! Praise God!

Please add this outreach to your prayer list and ask God to use it in a mighty way to show the families of Otaki that there is a God that cares for them and that he has brought people to Otaki to love them, encourage them, lend a helping hand, and to show them that Jesus is the only way, the only truth and our only hope.

Prayer Requests:

• There is great physical/natural need in the community of Otaki and there is currently very little work available here. Over 300 families signed up for welfare just in the last two months and the manager at the food bank said that it is the highest she's ever seen it. Please pray for God's favor over the town of Otaki. That as God brings revival and redemption to the hearts of Otaki, that we would also begin to see a renewal of resources, land, economy, etc. 
• Please pray for miraculous funding to continue to flood into the church community so we are better able and equip to help provide for the physical and spiritual needs of our local community.
• the HUB church has begun to raise funds for a new extension to be built next to our existing building. There is a very old house currently next door, the Tasman house, and it is rotten, full of wood warms and about to fall down. The leadership team has decided that although we don't yet see the financial provisions for this project that it is time, through faith, to pursue a new building that will not only provide a safer environment for ministry but the additional space needed to continue to grow and reach out into our community. Our "Buy a Brick" Campaign is in full swing! Please pray about partnering with us on this journey and investing into not just a building but a community.
  
  

• Please pray that God will continue to bring mature Christ followers into the HUB church. We are very much in need of more Leadership/Ministry workers and those who have a heart and passion to serve God through serving his church.
• We can see a Single Parents Ministry developing at the HUB church! This is very exciting! Please pray for the women and men who have found themselves to be the mom, dad and solo provider for their families. I can't imagine how draining it must be to be in that position so we would like to do everything we can to bring emotional, physical and spiritual support to the parents/families here Otaki. Please pray over the children who are struggling as well. Do you have a passion to help single parents? Please pray about a monthly sponsorship for one or more of the single parents we are currently ministering to at the HUB church.

There is plenty more where that came from, so please continue to pray ultimately for God's will to be done, for His love to shine out of our lives to our community, for salvation, discipleship and Jesus to be the center of it all!