Lasts

This month has been nuts! So busy and so fulfilling.
I'm coming up on my last 2 weeks here in NZ. Time has flown by. It seems like since February time has just passed me up!

Lasts:

This past Sun. morning was my last time at a Sun. morning service here @ ECW.
This Sun. night was my last time leading worship @ ECW.
This past Fri. was my last youth group.

Upcoming:

This Fri. (tmrw, kicks off our Gathering (national family camp), I have the privilege of speaking at a youth seminar this weekend. Pray this goes well! Also, I'll be leading worship w/ some students from ECW at one of the children's worship sessions.

It's also been great having Josh Bowlin (Global Partners NZ)here. Good conversations. Really sweet guy. Planning on going white water rafting on Tuesday. Yeehaw! After the Gathering, the next Thursday-Sun, I am in Christchurch (South Island) to look at a possible church plant w/ a few other church leaders. Pretty cool stuff. Sun. night is my last ECW event. Pretty sad! Then the next Thursday (17th), I fly for the USA.

These are good times, trying my best to finish strong! But so excited to see all of you again!

-john

Update

Hello supporters!

Just wanted to sit down and give you a look into my last month here in New Zealand.
It's been a crazy one and is getting increasingly busy which is great! I'm really enjoying the new opportunities that are arising even in my last few weeks here.

Speaking: I've gotten the chance to start a series at our new Sun. night service called Re:Think" and will be finishing that up this Sun. night. I've been talking about how God's perspective changes people and how that affects the way we engage with our culture. Loving our neighbor starts with knowing our neighbor(Or neighbour, whichever you prefer). It's been a rewarding experience. Also, I've been asked to speak at our youth group and will be teaching on prayer/intimacy with Christ. I'm also going to share the vision of Claim Your Campus and see if we can get some more schools involved here. The Gathering, our national church camp, is coming up at the beginning of June and I've been asked to speak at one of the youth seminars as well!

Youth: After hitting record numbers a few weeks ago, we've seen a lot of new kids around youth group. We had an awesome Youth Sunday in which the youth led worship and did all the parts of the service on Sun. morning. I've also helped kick off our 2nd youth worship band which has been fun.

Those are a just a few things that have been going on and can't wait to meet with all of you and tell you stories in person!

Thank you for your support. Keep praying.

-john

More Pictures!

Top: Tairua, one of the prettiest places on earth

Middle: Speaking at our Sun. night service

Bottom: Me, with our 1st NZ Claim Your Campus prayer group

Pictures

Speaking at Sun. night service.

Jiu Jitsu at youth. Very spiritual.

All nighter.

Also, if we are friends on Facebook, there's quite a few pictures on there of this past month. If we're not friends, add me, I'm sure we'll get along just fine!

God is Always Good

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

I'll try and keep this short but much has happened since last month!

Youth: April has been a great month at SURGE (our middle school/high school program). We had over 80 students at our Dance Party outreach! The most students at any event in the church's history! So exciting. Our youth group is continuing to grow and just last week, I had the chance to lead worship and was so inspired by the passion and hearts of the students here. Just a few weeks ago, we took about 35 students on a special retreat to Waiwera and got to enjoy the ocean, swim in the thermal pools and grow closer as a group. Following that, we had a youth all-nighter which had about 40 kids, who took turns beating me up on the wrestling mats, playing some rugby, worshiping and studying the Word.

Re:Source (Sun night service): Our Re:source service is continuing to grow and become an awesome service. We've had up to 100 and as low as 36. One of the coolest things has been my chance to teach. Just a few weeks ago, I had the chance to speak and I loved it! I offered to speak anytime so I'm scheduled to speak May 16 & 23. I'm leading worship bi-weekly and have loved worshiping with the church.

Other cool things: I've been invited back to Botany Downs High School to speak at the weekly Christian group. They've also started a Claim Your Campus prayer group. 4 students meet every Wednesday to pray for their school. So awesome. 2 weekends ago, I was able to lead worship at Piha for one of the Nazarene Youth retreats. Such a beautiful place.

Just a few things that have happened this past month, but I'll save those stories for later.

Thank you for praying and supporting me. God has been good to me. I'm growing every day closer to my Creator.

-john

Good Days

These are exciting times.

So much has happened in the past few weeks. My Dad came to visit for a few days! It was awesome being with him. Great time to catch up. But I've been very busy! God is moving in a lot of different ways. Let me tell you about just a few of the things I've been doing recently.

Launch of our 'Re:source' service:

We just kicked off our new Sun. night service this past weekend. It was awesome. 85 people showed up! We had comedian Dave Wiggins come and laugh and share the Word with us. As well as an awesome cafe time after. This service was one of the key reasons I came to NZ. I've been working on the creative and worship side of things. It's been really awesome.

Community:

Over the past few weeks, I've had a lot of chances to interact within the local community. This past Monday, I spoke at Botany Downs College to the Impact Christian group. Focusing on prayer and how it can affect the community and their schools. It was a really great time, it looks like they will be joining the CYC vision. Yesterday, I was interviewed by the local paper talking about my journey here and to discuss the church and the new Re:source service. Also, last week met up w/ Mike Tryzinsky (director of YoungLife NZ).

Relationships:

This past month has been a great month! In terms of investing in the lives of students and young adults, God has opened so many doors to have conversations, share meals and just talk about Christ with many kids from the youth group and also young adults in our church. It has really stretched me and challenged me to not only see the doors God is opening but to walk through them. I've had some key conversations with people that have been on the fringe of church and have made many invites to our Re:source service.

These are really only a few things that I've been doing lately.

thank you for all your prayers and support

-john

Go NZ!

Paku Hill - Coramandel
Auckland Area Rally
Ignite Cabin 2A

Kia ora from NZ!

It's been way too long since I updated this and for that i'm sorry.

I would love to tell you about a couple awesome things i've been apart of these past couple weeks.

Ignite Camp.

I had the incredible privilege of being a head cabin leader at Ignite Camp. ECW had a group of about 30 students that attended. With about 200 students in total attendance. The weekend was full of team games, concert from the band Willet (from Maryland!) and speaking and worship times. The last night, I had the chance of leading 2 of the kids in my cabin to a new life with Christ. It was great. I thank God that He used me.

Auckland Area Rally.

About a week ago, around 180 students and leaders from the Nazarene & Wesleyan churches of Auckland to gather in worship and a special concert put on by Willet. http://www.willetonline.com/

I was in charge of all promotion and marketing for the event so I was excited when we had such a great turnout. It was a great time of hanging out and worshiping Christ together.

Those are just a few of the things that i've had the chance to be in a lead role in. God has been teaching me a lot about faithfulness. I've also been reading through the Gospels every week. I'm learning a lot about my beautiful Creator.

"Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others." - St. Augustine

thank you for all the support and prayer

-john