December 2023 Missionary Newsletter

City Sanctum Up & Running Thank you for your prayers for the relaunch of City Sanctum. We were able to relaunch in September and had subsequent meetings in October & November. Our theme for our first three months was "God's plan for work," using Tim Keller's book Every Good Endeavor. I spoke on the first and third parts of the book, while Harbour City Church pastor and MTW Sydney team leader Jim Jung spoke on the second part. Part 1: God's plan for work -- designed good, with dignity in all work, for our good and the betterment of society. Part 2: Our problems with work -- our sin brought a curse upon our work, and we use our work for selfish goals. Part 3: The gospel and work -- how God can redeem our work, and we as Christians can impact God's world through the work he gives us. (See audio links below if you'd like to listen to any of these.) Our attendance has been steady at 11-12 per meeting so far, largely from Harbour City Church. And we are quite happy with our restaurant venue, which allows us to grill our own steaks for $10 off the menu cost, and just has a pleasant vibe for our purposes. The theme for the first quarter of 2024 City Sanctum meetings will focus on work habits, discussing procrastination in our January meeting. Please pray that the talks will be beneficial to attendees, and that they will invite their not yet saved workmates who can encounter this "back door" entry to the Christian faith. We also implemented our first quarterly evangelism training event, calling it "Equip 315," using 1 Peter 3:15 for our theme: "...always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." In our Equip 315 events, I will be sharing various methods of sharing the gospel. In November, I focused on how to discern whether our prospect is likely already a Christian or is in need of hearing the gospel, and how to "earn the right" to share the gospel, using the Evangelism Explosion model (video link below).  14 people attended the November Equip 315, including one young man who has been attending our church for a couple of years but is not yet a Christian. We have had a number of conversations in recent months about the gospel and his resistance to embracing the promises of God. End of Year Giving Thank you so much to all those who have been partnering with me in the gospel by way of financial contributions. Missionaries do not go out without such partnering. I also am so thankful for those who regularly lift me up in prayer. Missionaries cannot be effective without their prayer warriors. If you would like to make an end of year contribution, I do appreciate your consideration. You can make an online contribution by clicking on the photo below. Follow FB Group for more regular updates Calendar Thursday, January 11 City Sanctum meeting Topic: Procrastination Jan. 29 - Feb. 2 SOW university ministry summer camp (I'll be speaking on discerning a calling into ministry) Thursday, February 8 City Sanctum meeting Saturday, February 24 Equip 315 training Prayer Points   Praise God for his blessings on the re-launch of City Sanctum, and the first Equip 315 event. Pray that he will grow the ministry to be a blessing to our members and to reach many lost with the hope of the gospel. Pray for my preparation of upcoming talks including the "procrastination" talk for City Sanctum, and the university ministry talk on "discerning a calling into ministry." Pray for a couple of young men at HCC who I am mentoring. Topical Bible Study Harbour City Church holds quarterly "TBS" events. In November, I was asked to speak on "Handling Difficult Questions" when sharing our faith. I had prepared to address 17 different common objections; surveying our attendees during the event, I had time to speak on just three, including "Why does God allow bad things to happen," "The church is full of hypocrites," and "I don't believe the Bible." (Video link below) Filling the Pulpit With HCC's two pastors both out of the country earlier this month, it fell upon me to fill the pulpit one Sunday. I was assigned "Zechariah's Song as part of our Advent series on "The Songs of Christmas." (Video link below) Bali Surf Camp With my current visa, I must exit Australia every 90 days. In September, I took the opportunity to attend a five day surf camp in Bali. I was relieved that I wasn't too old to learn (although I'm certainly still very much a beginner); but even better than the surfing, God allowed me so many opportunities to share the gospel! Of particular joy was sharing with a 20 year old young man from Munich who is half Jewish and half Chinese. Colin is a very bright young man and was very curious about the Bible, having forgotten most of what he had learned studying for his bar mitzvah. He asked many questions. Please pray that he will continue to seek after the God of his fathers.

Links to above mentioned speaking engagements: September City Sanctum: Every Good Endeavor, Pt. 1 (audio only) October City Sanctum: Every Good Endeavor, Pt. 2 (audio only) November City Sanctum: Every Good Endeavor, Pt. 3 (audio only) Equip 315: Earning the Right to Share the Gospel (video) TBS: Handling Difficult Questions (video - note that there's no audio until 3:23) Sermon: Zechariah's Prophecy (video)

September 2023 Missionary Newsletter

City Sanctum Set to Relaunch! Covid restrictions were rough on Australians, and on City Sanctum as well. With tight restrictions on public meetings (or even leaving one's home at all), City Sanctum met via Zoom for some time. But as people became "Zoomed out," and as I was unable to enter Australia to assume leadership of the ministry, the difficult decision was made in July 2021 to take a hiatus. And now, more than two years later, City Sanctum is about to relaunch! In early 2023, a new City Sanctum steering committee was recruited, and we've been meeting regularly to pray, dream, and plan our relaunch. The previous steering committee laid a strong foundation, upon which we've been able to build. City Sanctum will largely look very much like it always has, but a couple of changes we are excited about include: New location: previously, City Sanctum met in the Sydney CBD (central business district), near the famous opera house. Our new location is a restaurant near our church. When City Sanctum members bring friends to our new location, it's more likely that they also live nearby and could come to Harbour City Church as well. Quarterly training: one of City Sanctum's goals has always been to help its members navigate an increasingly secular work world and to be ambassadors of Christ in their daily lives. Our new quarterly training will equip members with skills to share the gospel with their co-workers, to answer their difficult questions, etc. The theme for the remainder of 2023 is "God's plan for work," using Tim Keller's book Every Good Endeavor. On Thursday, September 14, at our relaunch event, participants will enjoy a free dinner (compliments of an MTW grant), and then I'll be speaking on the first section of Keller's book. Please pray for our ministry: that we will have a good turnout on Thursday; that the talk will be a blessing to the participants and their efforts to work as for the Lord; that City Sanctum will be a place where non-Christians will encounter the God who made them and loves them; and that City Sanctum participants will be equipped as missionaries within their workplaces and communities. THANK YOU for your continued prayers and partnership in the gospel! Church Renovations   Little did I know, when renovating my basement apartment during Covid, that those skills would be so useful in Sydney as well! Over the last few months, a significant portion of my time has involved construction work in the warehouse where Harbour City Church meets. Improvements included building an AV mezzanine above an existing block of rooms, constructing a new, larger children's classroom, as well as a cry room with a large window into the worship area. The renovation work was a great time of building relationships with church volunteers and teaching some of them a few useful skills.   Calendar   September 14 Relaunch of City Sanctum September 15-16 Harbour City Church session & staff retreat (local) September 18-23 Vacation in Bali: This is a 90 day "must exit the country due to my visa" trip.  I will be taking surfing lessons (hoping I'm not too old to learn!), and planning to put that skill to use with the surf club at my church. October 19-24 Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) for a family wedding. November 13-19 MTW leadership training in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

May 19, 2023

Ministry in the Small Things Believe it or not, it has been 10+ months since I arrived in Sydney. I'm feeling more and more at home here, especially as relationships deepen and ministry opportunities increase. Effective ministry often happens in the unplanned occurrences of life. Of course we must live our lives -- plan our lives -- in such a way to encourage those unplanned occurrences. Some of my opportunities lately include: I started a bicycling club at Harbour City Church.  Our third outing is this weekend, and so far has been a great opportunity to deepen relationships and to invite unsaved friends. Each member of Harbour City Church staff spoke on various topics at our recent church retreat under the theme "Fully known, truly loved." Relationships in my men's growth group are deepening.  I'm encouraged by the transparency of the young men. I spoke on "handling difficulty questions" about the gospel at a recent university ministry event. THANK YOU for your continued prayers and partnership in the gospel! Calendar June 8-26 I'll be in the States for the PCA General Assembly in Memphis (6/12-15), with a quick weekend in Jackson prior to GA, and then some time in Iowa with my mom. Prayer Points City Sanctum: A new steering committee has been recruited and started meeting earlier this month. We anticipate rebooting ministry meetings in August. Australian Visa: Pray that my application for a two year worker's visa will be approved soon. Application was submitted several weeks ago. Island to Island Forum: Praise God for a successful gathering of ministries in the South Pacific island nations. It was an encouraging time of dreaming and planning for cooperation in ministry to strengthen the churches of the region. WPC National Assembly: Praise God for the opportunity to attend the recent Westminster denominational meetings in Brisbane, learning much about the challenges and opportunities within our partnering denomination. 2023 Missions Trip: Pray for development of a church missions trip I will lead at the end of the year -- location and ministry.

March 9, 2023

Am I Called to Go? "How do I know if God is calling me to missions?" "Discerning a particular call to missions starts with recognizing that every Christian has been called to participate in God's mission to reconcile the world to himself." "While it's true that participating in God's mission does not require all of us to travel to distant places, finishing the mission [of reaching every tribe, people, and nation] means that some of us must [go]." These three quotes are from a 2017 Gospel Coalition article by missionary Lucas Burton. I encourage you to read it in full here (about a five minute read). I recently had the opportunity to speak on this very topic at the 2023 SOW summer camp. With 120 university students, we had five days to delve into God's word, sing his praises, meet in small groups, and have a lot of good camp fun! Please pray that the students will prayerfully discern God's calling upon their lives, and whether that is to serve him here in Sydney, or outside of their culture to far flung peoples around the world. Island to Island Forum I will be assisting with the Island to Island Partnership (I2I) Forum next week in Fiji. You may recall I traveled there is September to help find a location for this forum. The many tiny nations of the Pacific Ocean were largely Christianized in the 19th and 20th centuries, but have since been victims to all the common heresies of the day (prosperity gospel, liberal theology, etc.) as well as many cults. Four Presbyterian denominations from the US, Australia, and New Zealand formed I2I to gather gospel-centered ministries from these nations in an effort to revitalize the local churches. The forum will be the first in-person meeting with representatives from four of the larger Oceanic nations (Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa and Vanuatu). Please pray that beneficial partnerships will be built toward the revitalization of the Oceanic churches. City Sanctum Update   An informational dinner was held on February 9 for those wanting to learn more about the re-boot of the City Sanctum ministry. From this group and others at Harbour City Church, I am working to form a new steering committee. Once formed, we will together seek God's guidance in laying the foundations for City Sanctum, and implementing the re-boot of regular meetings. The vision for City Sanctum is to guide city workers as they navigate the intersection of being Christians in an increasingly secular world. Recruiting steering committee members is proving to be a slow process. However it is providing opportunities to meet with HCC members and to discuss their roles within the life of the church. Calendar March 15-20 Island to Island Forum in Fiji (This is one of my required "leave Australia every 90 days" tourist visa trips.) June 13-16 PCA General Assembly Memphis, TN Prayer Points   Pray for the City Sanctum ministry and the formation of the new steering committee. Pray for the Island to Island Forum, and that it will be a blessing to the ministries on the islands and will serve to revitalize the churches. Pray that I will be granted a two year visa in order to continue serving in Sydney. My current tourist visa will expire in July. Pray for the university students from SOW camp as they seek to discern their roles in God's gospel mandate, whether at home or abroad.

January 2023 Update

Japan Vision Trip Report I am thrilled to report on a very successful vision trip to Japan back in December! What made it very successful? Was it fun? Yes. Did I have a great time seeing old friends and teammates? Yes. But much more important than either of those, our Sydney group was challenged as we were exposed to a wide variety of missionary activities, all with the purpose of sharing the good news of God's free gift of salvation! From December 5 through 15, I facilitated a vision trip, guiding four young adults from Harbour City Church through five cities and visiting missionaries from ten different missionary teams. Some of our highlights included: university ministry dinner with about 30 students in Nagoya; touring Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya; engaging English language learners in Osaka; visiting an art gallery operated by MTW missionaries and learning how the arts can be used to connect with people and to share the hope of the gospel; worshipping at a bilingual church in Sendai; learning about church planting and various outreach ministries in Chiba, Tokyo, and Nagoya; hearing a Juilliard School of Music organist and missionary and learning more about ministry opportunities using the creative arts; teaching the children at a Christian school in Chiba about Australia. Our Sydney team was encouraged as we learned how God is working in Japan, and several participants are considering what it might look like for them to potentially live and minister overseas. Please pray that God will use this vision trip to impact the lives of the trip participants here in Sydney, but also their impact in missions around the world, whether that is through their own support of missions or their own getting up and going overseas. Thank you for your prayers & partnership in the gospel! Follow FB Group Forward to a Friend Calendar Jan. 30 - Feb. 2 I will be a presenter at our university ministry summer camp, speaking on "Am I Called to Go?"   February 9 We will hold an informational dinner for those interested in participating in, or potentially helping to lead City Sanctum. "CS" is a ministry to city workers that has been on hiatus for nearly two years due to Covid. Our vision is to be an outreach ministry, while equipping our church members with personal evangelism skills.   March 15-20 I will be assisting with the Island to Island conference, connecting Reformed pastors and ministries from the nations of the South Pacific islands. In these tiny countries, pastors often feel especially isolated and discouraged. The conference is in Fiji, and will also serve to reset my Australian tourist visa for another 90 days. Prayer Points   Praise God for a very successful Japan vision trip! Pray that God will call one or more of the participants to overseas ministry. Pray for the university ministry summer camp to be a spiritual blessing for the participants. Pray for each of the speakers, including myself, that God will speak through us. Pray for the City Sanctum informational dinner on February 9, and that God will rebuild this ministry to be effective in calling the lost and equipping the redeemed. Pray for two-month intern applicants to serve with our Sydney team in July-August. These are typically university students from the US & Canada.