Welcome Back...

Its been a while. Life is good here in late summer New Zealand. Plenty of sun, but not too hot; family staying with us; good friends and good things going on with ministry.

Sunday night we started our new series: "Get the Attitude". Its a play on words based on a long running "Scratch Ticket" which uses a "Get the Kiwi Attitude" creative concept. The commercials are hilarious eg. the trout fisherman who bungies off a bridge so as to catch trout from the river below with his bare hands. Or the farmer whose milk kept on getting stolen by a passing runner - until he replaced it with a similar looking product sourced from the male of the species rather than the female (yes that ran on National TV). So we're doing our own ads as we counterpoint it with Jesus' attitude - The Beatitudes. We had fun breaking the message down into different components and then teaching each part seated (as Jesus did) from different locations around the auditorium. Our commercial for this week was a guy whose TV remote batteries dies, so he grabs a remote control car controller - but instead of using the batteries he drives the car across the room to his friend and then lures him back by following the car to change the channel. It was pretty funny.

We've had a great couple of weeks at the gathering. Last week we had a dedication to which heaps of family and friends had been invited. Many were impacted. This week we had some returning visitors who look to be making an investment with us. Nice.

Saturday morning was a humbling experience for us - 4 people from the cessionIcommunity turned up to clean our house and mow the lawns. We do this for all our families with newborns but I guess it was nice to be on the receiving end. Made a real difference for us. I told my Life cell the other night - "I'd go to this church just to sweep the floors its so cool." Guess that really underlines it. Good test for pastors: Would you go to your church if you weren't paid to?!

We're off on holiday this week - managed to score some free accommodation on the scenic Corommandel peninsula. Will be great to take the in-laws to see this part of the country and to have a relaxing time away. Its been a busy but rewarding start to the year. So this comes at just the right time to provide some refreshment for the next leg of the journey.

The wee boy is doing well. We're having Poppa Chris dedicate him while he is here which will be special for us as a family. He has a new All Black soft toy which he is encouragingly interested in! It will be great not to have to live vicariously through my son...

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