The students arrive this Wednesday 7th December and will be with us until the Sunday so you might see them around as they go about their work.  Some of our members are going to host some of the students for accommodation and meals.  They’ll be in our loca primary and high schools,  doorknocking our local homes and handing out GNW and Christmas flyers at the train station.  You’ll also see them at Carols this Saturday and on the Sunday as they will be helping us with Kidz church before they leave us to go back to Sydney.

Please pray for their time with us. May we show our Love to them with not only hospitality but with thankfulness to our Lord that they have come to help us as we reach out to our community this Christmas!

The students are being billeted with some of our congregation members (thank you host families!) and will be involved in a number of different activities of our church as we seek to reach out to our community with the Gospel of Jesus. They will also assist us with Kids Church on Sunday. If you’d like to be involved in any aspect of the program we’d love to have you join us, particularly as we evangelise at the Supa Centre Tuggerah, door knock, letterbox drop, and hand out flyers at the train stations. The details are below…

10:30am Thursday 10th – doorknocking (meet at the office)

7am Friday 11th – Wyong, Tuggerah & Ourimbah train stations

9:15am Friday 11th – Letterbox drop (meet at the office)

2pm Friday 11th – doorknocking

Let’s pray for a great time for the students and that the Gospel will go out to our needy community!

Good News Week (GNW) is a 5 day kids holiday program Monday 4th -Friday 8th January, run by the Lakes church. GNW caters for kids of all ages.

MINIMITES  (Yr K-2) : ‘Where are we?’ – Come and join us in the library as books come to life! We will be meeting lots of exciting characters who will tell us all about Jesus and the things he did as we find our way through the book of luke.

KEENITES (Yr 3-6): ‘Get ready for a blast…’ – Join Dr. ka Boom and the Professor in the laboratory as we bring the perfect person to life…Jesus! Watch out for the explosions!

TEENS (Yr 7-12): ‘And so where’s Jesus?’ – What’s your real identity and how do you find it? Join us this week for the search.

Kids are welcome to come for one day or the whole week. The program runs from 9-11:30 each day and the cost is $4/child/day (or max $10/family/day). All the kid’s programs are coordinated by qualified children’s workers with a support team of trained volunteers. There is a mix of games, craft, puppets, teaching from the Bible and morning tea.

You can pre-register your child by downloading the form, completing it and handing in the collection bags on Sunday. Otherwise, you can register on the day.

During the week we also have an Adults Tent ‘The Watering Hole’, for parents, grandparents and friends to be spoilt while their children are participating in their program (creche and preschool tent also available for parents remaining on site). Tea and coffee and plenty of yummies will be served for a small donation. We will also hear from a number of different speakers on issues that relate to us, our family and community.

Here’s the program:

MONDAY: ‘Wrestling with Crocodiles’ – When raising kids feels like a fight to the death!
TUESDAY: ‘Crossing the Nullarbor’ – Surviving rocky relationships
WEDNESDAY: ‘Under the Southern Cross’ – Bush Tucker and the Great outdoors
THURSDAY: ‘I love To Have A Beer With Duncan’ – Reflections on mateship and the Australian spirit
FRIDAY: ‘The Great Aussie BBQ’ – Celebrate our great nation and enjoy a BBQ feast.

Good News Week concludes with church on Sunday 10th at Berkeley Vale High School and a Family Fun Day afterwards. It should be a lot of fun and we hope you can join us!

GNW2010 promo – short from The Lakes on Vimeo.

GNW2010 promo – main from The Lakes on Vimeo.

LOST Team Interviews from The Lakes on Vimeo.

Many Christians today attribute their conversion to the ‘59 Crusade including Christian leaders like Dr Peter Jensen, archbishop of Sydney. Moore College and many theological colleges had almost double the number of enrolments as a result of the Crusade and the graduates continue to minister around the world today. Missionary societies had more candidates than they had ever known. Even here at the Lakes there are people, like Betty & Jim Clark and Ian Mears, who were converted in the 59 Crusade.

Billy Graham is now over 90, still witnessing for Jesus Christ, and with a reputation, unlike some TV evangelists, untarnished after much media scrutiny. Thank you Billy Graham for telling us the gospel of Jesus Christ, challenging us to repent and believe. Thank you God for changing so many lives, using his faithful preaching.

To begin, I think we underestimate the influence we can have on those we come into contact with on a daily basis – the local shopkeeper, the neighbour, the workmate, and the visitor to our home. Be bold and speak a word about Jesus as you have opportunity. People are more interested than you think.

I am always amazed at the kinds of conversations I find myself in everyday situations (then again I am a Pastor!), at social gatherings or even throughout the course of conducting business at a shopping centre. I recently spoke with one retailer for half an hour as he discovered I worked for the church. He wasn’t a Christian but he had many questions and things he wanted to share as an outsider. On another recent occasion I struck up a conversation with a late night petrol station attendant and he asked me what I did for work. For the next 10 minutes we talked about the Christian faith and I had opportunity to give him a tract on how to become a Christian I keep in my glove box. I left the service station with him reading and considering the tract.

This year we have the ‘Essential Jesus’ Gospels to give away – even better! You never know when you might have opportunity to give one away. Recently, a man came to my door selling child sponsorship. We had a great conversation about why there is suffering in the world and what God has, is and will do about it. He told me he had considered the Christian faith in the past and spent a lot of time ‘on the road’ for his job. I asked him if he wanted to read Luke’s Gospel and he said ‘yes’. He left with a copy of ‘The Essential Jesus’ to read and think about it.

A couple of Sundays ago as part of our church doorknocking program Phil and I met a university student who when we asked if she would like a copy of Luke’s Gospel replied ‘Thanks, but I’ve already got one!’ She was given one at Easter at the local train station! Pray that she reads it and discovers who Jesus is.

Making the most of opportunities in your life is not rocket science. Try these steps:

1. Pray for opportunities
2. Look for opportunities
3. Be bold – you only live once, and the time is short!
4. Trust God for the results & meet some new people in the process!

If you have a good story why not share it on our website by posting a comment. I’d love to hear how you’re going in making Jesus known in your world.

How will it work? Over the course of about 40 days, professional and high quality advertisements aimed at different sectors of the community will promote the person of Jesus, the one who promised ‘life to the full!’ (John 10:10) and invite people to consider his claims found in Luke’s Gospel.

Enquirers who respond to a Freecall number will receive a booklet containing information on knowing Jesus and Luke’s Gospel. They will also be given details of their nearest registered ‘Jesus All About Life’ church where they can get further assistance. Churches will also be able to purchase booklets to give away to their non-Christian contacts and are encouraged to equip their congregations to make the most of conversational opportunities during the campaign, as well as being prepared to follow up enquirers.

Combining media saturation with personal invitation and local church evangelism, this is an evangelistic strategy we can be excited about! But we need to prepare to make the most of it.

As a church we’re signed up as a registered church. Between now and September we need to be thinking and praying about ways in which we can seize the opportunity the media campaign will afford us. There will be a heightened awareness of Jesus that raises questions that the advertising won’t answer – Who is Jesus? What did he say? What did he come to do? What relevance does he have for my life? As a congregation we will need to be prepared to welcome new people who have been prompted to consider Jesus.

As individuals we will need to think about how we can initiate conversation using the advertising as a launching pad to move them closer to knowing him. Above all, we need to pray that God will by His Spirit open the eyes of many to see Jesus for who He is and welcome them into life to the full!

I look forward to this exciting opportunity with you and welcome any comments or suggestions you may have.