April Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Many would counsel that there is a danger in writing a newsletter at 3 am in the morning. The fact that I wrote both “3 am” and “in the morning” would give some the impression that I may not be functioning at full capacity. Others may think that we must be so overwhelmed that this is the only time we have to write. Few would think that it could be due to the fact that today, or really yesterday, was “hug an Australian day” here in the US, and though I am not really complaining, I received very few hugs. I could argue that it is really the prime time of the day in Australia to be writing newsletters and though my body resides in Philly, the rest of me is still in Oz and I would be crazy to try and write this at any other time. I will leave you to muse over this, and also to ponder why you didn’t seek out more Aussies today.

I would like to thank all of you for the support that has been pouring in, both in prayer, in help, and in finances. For those of you who could follow our budget we sent out last time, you saw how we lowered our financial goals, despite increased expenses. I was tired of feeling like we were failing in this. Well, go figure, not only are we on track to meet the new goal, we are actually surpassing the previous higher goals. I am tempted to lower it even further to see if it is just a fluke (this sentence is a joke). I am a little nervous writing this, wondering if it may make people think twice about support, but we have always been honest with you, and so we want you to share in this joy.

In the same vein, the other areas of ministry are overflowing. We have told you of the church growth, from 40 on a Sunday to 120 plus now. Easter Sunday we had 220 people (including children) and 20 or so people accepting Christ over the weekend. To what do we attribute this growth? God, your prayers, and faithful people. With growth happening much more rapidly than we expected we are faced with many good challenges. Now I am not just saying good challenges because I am supposed to, you know me better than that. There are bad challenges and good challenges. Going from our Emma as the only child in the nursery, to 12 in the nursery is great, but a challenge. People are coming in hurting. The hurting is a problem, the fact they are coming is good. Where better to go if you are in pain than to the Healer?

We have challenges not only in the new people but in those there when we arrived. I don’t want to say these are the bad challenges, but they are tougher. Really tough. Some deep issues exist. Layers must be peeled back to expose the heart. It is a sad reality that the longer someone has been in the church, the better they are at hiding their issues. I struggle with how the church in general functions, not just our church. I wonder why people come sometimes. I read Acts 2 and ask what happened to take us from there to here. This probably isn’t the right place for my thoughts on that, but I could send you a piece I wrote on that recently or you could check our website.

Joyce and I were privileged to attend a marriage conference recently and it has helped us a lot in growing together. The hardest part was admitting that I was there to work on our issues, not to “check it out for the ministry”. We spend so much time dealing with other people’s problems that it can be hard to work on our own. I think we have, and have had, an amazing marriage, but we have issues, struggles, yes even fights.

March was a birthday month for us. Saiyeh turned 7 at the beginning of the month and Melanie turned 5 at the end of the month. Emma kept waiting for it to be her birthday and it seems as if she also turned another year old as she amazes us at her growth. When making the invitation list we were struck by the blessing of being surrounded by so many friends. Our girls are blessed by having lots of adults who love them and want to be a part of their lives. As parents this means a lot to us and we value these relationships that have been built over the years.

I will leave you with a story of a young man I recently met. He seemed like a good kid (all relative I know). His mum had just starting coming out, and was excited. He was acting up one Sunday and I had to speak to him about not respecting the teachers. The following week things got worse and his youth leader asked me if I could deal with the situation. We spoke to his mum who then rebuked him. He sat outside the Sanctuary and I could see such deep pain in him. I sat beside him and began to talk gently to him (yes, I can be gentle, on occasion). The more I talked, the more pain I saw. A tear ran down his cheek. Then I saw the anger. I backed my chair up, knowing the anger was not at me, but that I was the one there. In an instant he exploded. I stood, unsure if he would try and hit me. He picked up a chair and we just looked at each other. At this point others left the room. The young man threw the chair across the room and ran out. I went and got his mum and we found him. The next day I took him out to eat, went to a store, just hung out. We talked about cars and bike, building and food. He told me he liked mathematics at school. I came to learn later that he cannot read or write, at 14. He has no father around but has had many father figures in and out of his life. Though he is a real person, his story could be that of many of the new people coming. He needs real counseling. He needs education. He needs a father. More than anything else he needs to know there is a God, and He loves him. I’m not sure why I am telling you this, maybe just to release some of my own pain and feelings of helplessness. As in so much of what we have been called to do, I have no answers, but we are here. Our church is neither the answer nor the destination. It is merely the compass pointing the way.


In His Service,

Coz, for the family