Hit & Miss

7/7/2010

Hit: Dunedin hosts the “world’s steepest street.”

Miss: The challenge is to drink a milkshake before running up it. I will post pictures of the street hopefully no milkshake incidents will occur.

Our team is slowly connecting on campus. So far our contacts have been pretty spotty as we try to connect with people. We’ve spread ourselves thin so that we can know where to take root in friendships. For me, ministry here can be like going on a date in the 7^th grade – unfamiliar, awkward at times, and wishing you knew better how things are supposed to work. We keep putting ourselves out there everyday, going wherever students are. It’s a great process, but we have exactly one month left! Please take a sec to pray for us to find our niches here on campus with just the right students.

- Sam Metzger

Hit: Everybody walks everywhere

Miss: “When walking down the street, it is abnormal to pass people on the right side of the side walk.”

Today, the implication of being in New Zealand coincided with the verse in Acts 1:8 which states “..you will be my witnesses...to the end of the earth.” We are practically near the “end of the earth” by being in New Zealand. It is amazing to see how God is bringing the truth of the gospel into the entire world as He promised! God is gathering a people from every tribe, language, and nation to worship Him forever. Also, the demographic on campus and in Grace Church is quite interesting. It is common to meet people from other countries like Nigeria, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the South Pacific Islands. This campus seems to be an attractive place to study and has the potential of raising up laborers that could easily go into all the world by students simply going back home.

- Ben Fennell

Miss: Apparently Rat-tails, Mullets, Jorts, and short shorts haven’t gone out of style since the 70’s because Kiwi’s think they are all still sweet as.

The Church body here has been super encouraging so far. Everyone we have met has been super encouraging, from the farmer we stayed with for a couple of days to young couples, and the elderly. The church here looks totally different than most churches in the states. It’s not the obvious things like size, building type, and worship style that are so inspiring. The culture here has left no trace of complacent Christianity.

Everyone in the church is passionate about seeing the Gospel go out. From Gavin the farmer whom we stayed with; by loving on the shearers as Christ did the Samaritan woman, to Bill sharing with his coworker, Austin (a former catholic ,now atheist) with patience knowing that it might be years before God changes his heart .

As can clearly be seen, the saints are being equipped through expository preaching to go out and preach the Gospel, not just inviting lost friends to church so that the pastor can do it. They own up and take responsibility to Acts 1:8. They are sharing the gospel in the workplace and neighborhoods and have a heart to see it reach the ends of the earth.

There is real fellowship, people don’t rush out the door as soon as the sermons over to get a bite to eat or catch the game; they sit around and talk about Christ and what he is doing. These people live out Hebrews 10:24 to the T. Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

The Kiwis’s in this church are passionate about taking the gospel out of the Church and onto the campus, and into the workplace so that people will come to worship the one true living God because of His Mercy and Grace. I hope that this description of the Church here would encourage and spur everyone on as much as it has encouraged us.

-Kyle Morris