Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Wherever you are; whatever you are doing I hope you have a great day and time of celebration. We were on top of Mt Eden at dawn this morning which was really fun. The services today have been wonderful times of celebration. See you next Sunday

Cover it

As mentioned at the AGM we are well under way in an exciting process to sharpen our vision and priorities as we look to the future.  As part of this we are also seeking to clarify the staff team roles for the next phase. Evan Williams, a congregation member is helping us with this process and we are making great headway under his guidance. Evan was formerly the managing partner and chairman of Chapman Tripp and now focusses on private equity investments and so it is great to have his expertise in this process. I would appreciate it if you would pray for us as we do this. Please pray for God’s guidance and wisdom. As I said at the AGM we will be speaking about this more next month.  There is nothing sinister here!
I hope you all have a good weekend. I am not sure what Bex and I are up to but no doubt it will involve running around the park, chasing bikes, and stopping our youngest sticking his fingers in plug sockets.

AGM : FUNTASTIC!

Thank you to all of those who came to the AGM last Thursday. What a brilliant night! I loved having the opportunity to connect with many of you for the first time since coming back from study leave. I also loved hearing Dino and Paul’s reports and their reflections on arriving in New Zealand and how they are finding the church.  Murray, in his role as treasurer also did his normal outstanding job. Also a big thank you to all who worked hard behind the scenes to make the night such fun. If you missed the night, do please listen to my verbal report as it contains important information regarding the present season we are in as a church and what are priorities are for the immediate future. You can listen here (www.stpauls.org.nz/Growing/Talks/Listening.aspx). 

The week that was...

Let’s continue to keep all of the people of Christchurch in our prayers. I thought the service in Hagley Park in the city last Friday was a wonderful time of mourning, encouragement and hope. I thought Peter Beck’s (the Dean of the Christchurch Cathedral); comments that the service was one step of many in a long journey of healing and restoration were also very helpful.
I attended the Auckland service on Friday night at the museum in the Domain along with many of you. Both Len Brown and Bishop Ross spoke very well. I liked Ross’s threefold call to pray, financially give, and then go. He himself has been down there in his capacity as a volunteer fireman. We will be exploring whether now would be a good time to send a team of volunteers down to Christchurch. As you know, previous advice has been that sending such a team is premature.
Thank you to everyone who made the Homecoming Dance so much fun not least Jeremy White who organized the whole evening. R.E.S.P.E.C.T Jeremy. It went off! Thank you and well done!
Let's also be praying for all those in Japan and Libya who are also facing very challenging circumstances.
Please also do pray for Dino and I. We are presently airborne and heading for Sydney where we are doing a church leaders day for New Wine. Tonight we are leading a combined churches evening. We will let you know how we get on on Sunday. See you then.