Life Happens

Can't believe it has been so long since my last post. Must be because of daylight savings!! Add in to that the Christmas mayhem, and I have myself a pretty good excuse!!


Since October, things have changed a little. There are some transitioning changes in leadership which has resulted in me spending a bit more of my time in the office lately than what was originally planned. NTM is an organisation not unlike any other. Leadership teams are somewhat dynamic in their makeup and operation. Ours here is going through a slight metamorphosis, with the upcoming AGM reulting in 2 of the 4 members standing down (as per the constitution).


The challenge still remains to maintain a focus on the Lord. Even with a realtively new team, we are required to provide leadership to the community. And with a new team makeup, we are looking at implementing a few operational changes that are more easily transitioned at a time like this. A number of the new initiatives were desired by the previous team, but they have challenging to practice. With God's grace, we are hopeful that we can adopt them at this time.


In order to effect this we are seeking some external leadership input to help us find a new way and be accountable to it.


Di is very busy doing some external consultancy, promoting new mentor-leadership progammes for 2009, and being involved with our new NTM curriculum and course development for 2010.


Please be praying and thanking the Lord for some of the following: -

• Jason living with us is a real blessing and sanity-saver


• For Di and I to keep a balanced life-style, and not be all encompassed by the 'urgency' of ministry


• For a great time with Jason and Craig at Christmas


• For Scott, who can't make it up here


• For our leadership team as they take their place in the community here


• For our support levels


• A huge thank you prayer for those who do support us financially and prayerfully

Have a great Christmas and a wonderful beginning to 2010. I wonder what God has in store for each of us?

Mentoring

A large part of what we do here at Laurieton is around impacting people’s lives.

One of those ways is by mentoring some families and individuals involved here at Laurieton.
Mentoring is a powerful tool, especially in a community like NTM Laurieton. We are able to track with some student families as they journey towards being involved in cross-cultural church planting. As we have lived overseas for a number of years, we can encourage and challenge them as they seek to apply the principles they are learning from the training.

The areas where we seek to be involved in lives are often areas that have been highlighted by the training. Much of the training is relational and practical in its nature and lends itself to examining your own life and relationship with the Lord.

So we support them with this process of exploring God in who they are – discovering how attitudes impact others; how they hold their opinions without being offensive to others; how they allow their personality to work in the team, not being either too abrasive or too fearful.
We also are able to journey with some staff on campus as they seek to continue to grow in the Lord and apply His principles to their lives.

Di has studied mentoring in depth and as a mentor trainer, is still bringing me up to speed with many of the skills and requirements for the role. We find ourselves very satisfied and challenged by this ministry. We try and sit down with each couple regularly, and then man to man and lady to lady regularly also.

What a privilege to be able to be used in a real way in people’s lives.

And in the same vein, I (Phil) also have a mentor. He is someone I meet with regularly to talk to about me and the issues arising in my life. He is someone outside of the NTM community that can offer me an objective perspective for any issue that may be mission-related. He is a gift sent from God for me – understands me and is not frightened to speak into my life.

Continue to pray for us: -

· as we continue to seek God’s direction in life
· in raising our support level
· in inputting into our sons’ lives
· in impacting people in a positive way
· and in building community and relationships

Thanks again for your support, encouragement and for being our teammates on this journey.

Last Week

Phil was involved in NTM Board meetings at Laurieton last Tuesday and Wednesday. These are regular monthly meetings where the Board members meet to discuss an agenda, and also to pray and encourage each other, and to determine the Lord’s direction for the organisation.

Much of our discussion was around how to attract a new batch of qualified staff to the missionary training course. We are holding off on an intake in 2009 so as to be ready for a new 2-year course beginning in 2010. As the course is extended from 18 months to 2 years in duration, we will require more staff and with the addition of more Biblical studies units, people who are gifted in teaching that material.

Please be praying with us on this issue in particular, and for God’s wisdom in general as we endeavour to lead well.

Di and I both continue to have a role in mentoring some of the student families. This is a privilege and enjoyable opportunity to input into lives in a very real way.

Continue to pray for us health-wise. Phil is feeling better in terms of his high blood pressure, but Di is very much struggling to sleep well.

Thank you for your continued support. For those who give, we are truly blessed, and for those who pray, we are honoured to represent you in this ministry of reaching unreached people groups.

Below are a couple of excerpts from just 2 of the many works in the world. You have brothers and sisters in Christ in these remote areas because of the faithfulness of these people who went and are serving. Isn’t it a privilege to be a part of the team?

Papua New Guinea – ” Missionaries and tribal co-workers finished checking the Simbari translation of Acts this week. One Simbari man who helped with the project said, "The Bible in our language is hitting me right in the heart."”

Mexico – “Missionaries Andrew and Anne Marie Ferguson had a decision to make. After praying and consulting a doctor, their decision to wait proved to be the right one and a boy with a possible scorpion bite recovered. Praise God for giving wisdom and providing a doctor's input.” (Andrew is also a Taswegian, and has no medical training, but is faced with challenges like this frequently – please pray for them).

For more info on these and other real-life stories, check out the NTM website at www.au.ntm.org

Canberra

We were invited to Belconnen Baptist Church (BBC) in Canberra to share about the work of NTM. This is a large church with a great missional mind-set. Our involvement was to be over their mission’s week.

We sat down with their mission’s team leader and event’s coordinator about 6 months prior, to work out what actual events we were involved in, and what the emphasis might be.

The way BBC structured their mission week was to have a theme of missions run through their normal programme, with a few special events thrown in – a celebratory dinner for some retiring missionaries, a ladies evening, and a men’s breakfast.

Our discussions determined our calendar to look like this: -

Wednesday, Young Adults, Phil and Di presenting
Thursday, Ladies Night, Di presenting
Friday, Dinner for retiring missionaries
Saturday, Men’s breakfast, Phil presenting
Saturday Evening service, Di presenting
Sunday Morning service, Di presenting
Sunday Second Morning service, Di presenting
Sunday Evening service, Di presenting

Things changed a little as we entered into the week, but that was no problem (Wednesday evening was cancelled, and Phil was involved in a mid-week group on Thursday night).

I have to say, that Di was impressive. She went as prepared as she could be, but was able to modify her presentation on the run, depending on the group she was speaking to. I could have sat and listened to her all day – she was inspiring. The feedback has been positive, and we appreciate that. The reality will be in how it impacts people’s lives in a real way.

Thank you for praying with us in terms of our ministry.

I know I said in the last Blog that we will not be getting around too much for the remainder of this year, but I am feeling a little better now, and would have the energy to do it. So if anyone anywhere would like to have us share, please feel free to contact us.

I am still working part-time to make ends meet, but it really doesn’t work in terms of ministry. Please be praying with us as we try and find ways forward financially and trust the Lord to meet our needs. We want to play our part, and trust Him in doing it.

Thanks again for your support and prayers. It is great to have you as part of the team.

Time out for a week

Another beautiful day in Wallaby Gully! Apart from a mongrel head cold, I am enjoying being laid back. Di has been busy taking photos (imagine that!!).

We are taking a weeks break before heading back to NTM after our Canberra trip. To be involved in the church there for a few days was truly a blessing.

I am spending the rest of the year involved at Board level, and with some of the leadership training and support, and with the Board of Studies. I will also be back doing some part-time funeral work to make ends meet.

Di will be continuing to grow her consultancy and mentoring, and still be involved in those roles within NTM.

We are not in a position to wander around the countryside yet, although forays out there would be great. In other words, we are open to share as and when we can, but will not be on the road for the next few months as we thought we may be.

Continue to pray for us as we seek God in our lives. We want to walk through doors that He opens, not ones we open. We want to be true to the goal of pleasing God, and wise in the way we go about it.

I am feeling a bit better health-wise, but am very wary about overdoing it. We are headed up to Brisbane in a couple of weeks for Craig's 21st, and will be bringing Jason home with us. Looking forward to both events.

We ae so grateful to you who support us. Your prayers and support are what make our journey possible. We praise God for you and your part in reaching unreached people groups.

Transitioning

We just had NTM Aust Board meetings in Sydney for a couple of days. It was a really good time, and spiritually enlightening for us as a team. Be praying for us as leaders in this community that we will trust the Lord in knowing how to lead.


My (Phil) health is still not wonderful. My blood pressure is coming down a bit, but still has a fair way to go. Please be praying that I will do all I can do to correct this situation, and that the doctors can determine the reason for it.


Di and I are at a point in our ministry where we recognise that our financial stragey in coming to NTM is not working. We came up here thinking that we could do part-time work to support our ministry. This sounded good at the time, but in reality all it is doing is overloading us, and dragging us both down emotionally, physically and spiritually.


As a result, we are going to spend the next 4 weeks transitioning out of our main ministries and freeing ourselves up to hit the road and do what is known as "partnership development". We are going to get around churches and share the work and see what God can do to raise our support.


We desire to invest in churches or groups of christians to know more about the extreme work of reaching unreached people groups. Ideally, we plan to offer a consultancy for churches providing information, tools and resources to assist them in caring for their missionaries well, and to help them as they track in the area of missions, local and overseas.


We are currently working on a bit of a schedule for getting around, and will post it as we develop it. If there is anyone that would like us to visit personally, or have us visit a small group or church, all you have to do is let us know. It doesn't matter where you live, we may be able to find a way to get there (they say that I need to do a lot more walking right now!!!).

Board Meetings for Phil and Board of Studies Meetings for Di as part of our roles here at NTM Headquarters this past week.
Please pray for us as we both take part in decision-making and direction shaping roles within this organisation.
Our desire is to be shaped and directed by God as individuals and as a team.
Health issues are still slowing the pace of Phil's involvement and prayer is appreciated as there has been no change for the better as yet.