weeks it has been! We started the race just the beginning of this month
and it has truly felt like a race. Along with having no internet near
the beginning to very limited internet now, we’ve also been working very
long days and finding ourselves incredibly busy.
After launch week we left Matamata, New Zealand and came to Tauranga,
where we’ve already done more types of ministry than I’m sure any of us
expected we would encounter in the first month. We’ve stayed on the
north island and probably won’t be visiting the south island at all,
even though we repeatedly hear how beautiful it is. The north island is
beautiful, lush, hilly farmland covered with an unusual mix of grassy
hillsides and tropical landscapes. Some of the main industries of the
north island are sheep farming and orchards of all kinds. We’ve woken up
to the sounds of deranged cattle, crazy winged creatures that we think
are birds (their sounds are like no birds we’ve heard before), and we
think we’ve heard an armadillo or two. We’ve been assured that New
Zealand is entirely safe, which is to say there are no creatures here
that will eat us, and also no snakes (which has Catherine breathing
continual sighs of relief). We’re waiting to catch up with the really
crazy animals in Africa. 🙂
Our team of 6 (Team Glo) is here in Tauranga at Faith Bible College
where we are tenting for the month, along with 3 other teams (about 6
people in each team) and we are all working together on our project
here. Other teams have been dispatched for other ministries around New
Zealand, including backpacking evangelism along some of the most highly
traveled trails in the world, children’s camps, and working during the
night to pick up people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol
and bring them to a safe place to detox, eat and hear about Christ. Our
ministry has been one of the best, in our opinion. Our 4 teams started
out in Tauranga by spending four hours of prayer and worship at the
Tauranga House of Prayer, followed by hard work to improve the church
campus from about 12-5 for one week. This week our ministry has shifted
and we have been working with Youth With A Mission to put on their 50th
anniversary Jubilee Conference which began Sunday and ended today around
12PM. Then another conference began at the same location that will run
from today through Friday. We’ve been working between 12-15 hour days
this whole week since Sunday and taking care of things like security for
the conference, ushering attenders, working with children, and many
other things. The second conference is what really has us and the New
Zealanders excited. The 4 hour prayer meetings we attended happen every
week but the last few months they have been particularly focused on a
conference called The Call 2 All (www.call2all.org). Here’s a quick bit
of background: New Zealand was, until recently, a strong leader in the
christian world. They’ve been known for sending out passionate
missionaries, some who basically instituted the underground church
movement in Vietnam, as well as changing many of the ways that we
worship in song. In the last few years, however, many in society have
become very antagonistic towards the gospel. For a video project we
attempted to ask a few New Zealanders for thier opinion of heaven and
most of the responses we got were extremely negative and many seemed to
feel that we were disturbing things and causing trouble just by asking
questions. You can imagine how hard evangelism and church work would be
in that context. The Call 2 All is a cry for revival in New Zealand and
many are waiting in expectation for God to move in a huge way. The 4
hour prayer meetings we have gone to have been filled with Kiwis (New
Zealanders) crying out for God to rescue their nation. At the conference
is the largest world map in the world. They’ve stretched it out in a
field and people are walking across the map, standing and praying in
specific countries. One man told us the most powerful image hew saw this
first night of the conference was children dancing across the nations
in worship. These people are longing for a move of God and passionate
for His presence. We’re working hard to enable them to make this a
powerful time of calling on God for a new revelation of His nature and a
new wave of missions and worship springing out of New Zealand.
Pray with us for the revival of New Zealand and for God to intervene
and change the spirit of this nation. Also pray for us for energy and
provision. We so appreciate those of you who have given gifts lately and
we will try to address you more personally soon. Until then, know you
are already making an impact and we are part of what may be historical
change in a small but powerful country.
On the journey together,
