Talk Preps, Talks, & Talking

Anyone who knows me knows I like to talk. And these days, God has been making good use of the gift for gab that he gave me. Much of my time is taken up with preparing for various talks. Over the last few months, my speaking engagements have included:

Student Outreach to the World: Our university ministry chapters at University of Sydney and Macquarie University do not have their own campus pastors this year, so I have been a regular, filling in for them. After their weekly worship times, I'm able to join the students for dinner at nearby food courts -- more talking, and building connections with the university students, answering their questions, etc. Recent talks (sermons -- but I'm not ordained) at each of them have included:

24 Karat Hope -- 1 Peter 1:3-9
Lessons in Obedience -- Jonah 1-4
When I Doubt -- Luke 7:18-28

Equip 315 (our new evangelism training ministry at Harbour City Church): In our last quarterly event, I demonstrated a full presentation of the gospel, using the Evangelism Explosion model.

Topical Bible Study (monthly event at Harbour City Church): I recently spoke on "Engaging with Cults," a talk I had previously done at the SOW summer camp in January.

SOW Leadership Training: I was asked to speak this past week on Evangelism -- what it is, and why it's important right now for university students.

Growth Group: I recently started to co-host/co-lead a men's growth group from Harbour City Church. On months when I host the group, I also lead the discussion on the past Sunday's sermon, and facilitate our prayer time.

City Sanctum: Our current quarterly theme is "When Work gets Difficult." Recent talks included "Building Resilience into our Work," and "Burnout." We will have a guest speaker next week for our May meeting. Dr. David Hilmers is a former US Marine Corps pilot, NASA astronaut (4 missions to space on the space shuttles), and now a medical doctor, frequently traveling the world to provide humanitarian aid in developing nations. Incidentally, he's also a fellow native Iowan! David and his wife, Alice, attend Harbour City Church in Sydney.

As our Harbour City Church pastor, and MTW team leader, began a much needed sabbatical this week, I've been assigned to fill the pulput next week Sunday, May 12. My assigned passage is 2 Peter 1:16-21. I appreciate your prayers for my prep and delivery, so that it will be a blessing to our people.

Preparing these talks can be exhausting, as doing research is not necessarily my forte. But I am seeing the blessing, particularly that the sermon preps are for me personally, as I listen to various pastors preaching on these passages and explore through some commentaries.

Prayer Point

My primary prayer point this month is for our church and MTW team: that God will bless and sustain us during the next five months as our pastor and missionary team leader and his family take a much-needed sabbatical. Pray too for them, Jim & Claudia Jung, that they will be refreshed and well-equipped upon their return to minister in Sydney for many more years.

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Global Missions Conference

Do you love missions, hearing about the working of God around the world, supporting missionaries? Do you ever sense a calling to be more involved in missions, as a sender, advocator, prayer, or perhaps to go yourself?

Make plans to attend the 2024 Global Missions Conference, November 1-3, in Atlanta, GA.

MTW missionaries from around the world will be speaking on various topics, and keynote speakers will include MTW Coordinator Lloyd Kim, PCA pastor Russ Whitfield, and others.

I've been asked to lead a panel breakout session about serving overseas as single missionaries, so I hope to see many of you there!

Register by May 31 for an early registration discount. Group prices are also available. (Click image below.)

Island to Island

My MTW Sydney co-worker and I spent Easter weekend in Samoa, attending a "Resurrection Conference" at a church planted just a year earlier. The church is a partner in our MTW "Island to Island Partnership," a ministry to spur on the work of the gospel in a number of island nations in the South Pacific.

A highlight of the weekend was singing with the Samoan people. They are known for their singing, especially in their native Samoan language. Check out the video below of "It is Well," and from the YouTube video you should be able to navigate to one of five other similar videos.

February 12 Missionary Update

"Unashamed" at SOW Camp

I recently spent a week at the summer camp for our university ministry. Student Outreach to the World (SOW) actually preceded Harbour City Church by a few years, and has grown into a ministry at five Sydney universities.

About 100 students attended the five day event at a Bible camp located in a rural area near Sydney. The theme was "Unashamed," from Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

The keynote speaker was Chad Brewer, the assistant coordinator for RUF International & Global. He spoke on evangelism, giving many great examples of God working through him and his wife in the lives of their own families.

I spoke twice at summer camp, once on "Engaging with Cults," and "Calling and Vocation." But more importantly I was so encouraged by many conversations with uni students at various places in their spiritual walks.

City Sanctum

Since relaunching City Sanctum in September, we have had five monthly dinner events. Our theme for the first quarter of 2024 is "Healthy Work Habits." In January, I spoke on procrastination, and in February on "Work Hard or Work Smart?"

Attendance has seen a slow increase, with 14 participants at both of our 2024 events, including several new people from outside of Harbour City Church.

Calendar

February 13

I'll be flying to Japan for one week. This will hopefully be my last "must leave Australia every 90 days visa trip." The first several days will be spent in Chiba, helping missionary friend Matt Chase with demolition work; his team has bought an old house, next door to his family's house, to be used for university ministry. The latter days will be spent with friends in Osaka.

February 24
For City Sanctum's second "Equip 315" quarterly event, I'll be teaching on the basics to cover when sharing the gospel.

February 29
For HCC's monthly "Topical Bible Study," I'll be teaching part two of "Handling Difficult Questions" when sharing the gospel.

Prayer Point

Pray that our HCC church members and City Sanctum participants will be equipped to share the gospel in their every day lives.