Well, well, well

Hey Guys,

Dave here. Ray, for some unbelievably awesome reason, had asked me start posting the odd update on the blog. So looks like I'm gonna be a Christchurch correspondent, which should be fun. :) I'd just like to say a big thanks for letting me hang out with you guys over the last few weeks I've been down, it was great to see all of you again! I'm heading home tomorrow, (on the bus! whee!!!) but before I go I'm helpin out with the album tour tonight, which is gonna rock! (I reckon so anyway, if I'm wrong, may flying pigs smite me with baskets full of brussel sprouts.)

Something Shane said last night really hitme, that our church is a restoring place, and that's what ICC has been for me the last few times I've been down. Those of you who've hear my testimony know that over the last few years or so, my spiritual walk took some serious deviation.I'm now back on track, (praise god) and this was mostly due to the completely unjudging atmosphere that I found at church. You guys have no idea how lucky you are being in such an awesome house of God. Having been away from it, I can honestly say it's very hard to find a church where god moves as awesomely as he does at ICC.

Gotta go help set up now,

See You guys tonight! (or else)

Dave

Seen and not heard?

Shane has been with us now for three weeks, and his Discovering your Design programme is going to revolutionise the way we introduce people to our community.

Recently, in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and Spiritual Language seminar, he made some really relevant comments about women speaking in the church, taken from 1 Corinthians 14. It really stresses the importance of taking biblical passages in context, and checking Hebraic sources.

Essentially, women are absolutely able to speak in churches. In the context of this passage (1 Corinthians 14), the word for woman is WIFE, and is talking about how wives should not humiliate their husbands in public places like churches by disagreeing with the point they are making, or prophetic words they are bringing. Instead, it would be more appropriate to voice their doubts at home.

To the right is a podcast copy of some of the points Shane Willard was making if you'd like to hear for yourself. Click on "Reson8rs update - Spiritual Language" to hear part of his excellent message. Thanks to Shane for making this available.

Bono Acceptance Speech

This is easily one of the most riveting speeches I have heard or seen. It smacks of Martin Luther King Jr., and I believe will become one of the classic speeches of our time. Have a look.

Ray

1000 Views!!!

Hola from Peru!

Hey guys, how’s life?? Did you have a good Easter? Didn’t see a single chocolate egg here (and no mention of giant bunny rabbits either). Actually, the Easter traditions here are... very different... Each village takes its “dead Jesus” idol (which is usually displayed in the Catholic church) and they parade it around the town on the Friday, remembering his death. But there’s no fiestas on the Sunday to celebrate his resurrection…. Like, THE most important part of Easter!

Hey go to http://www.sim.org/ to see that the Cotahuasi canyon does actually exist! It’s the mission website, and there’s a feature article about the work here in my very own village. Click on the “Deep Need in Cotahuasi” image, top left corner. The girl in the photo is my roommate (a few years back, when they first met her in one of the villages). It’s a good read J

I have finally made friends - and I can actually understand enough to have real conversations YAY! I went to visit this one friend I've made, Carmen. I've started helping teach her mum how to read (she had a pretty rough childhood, and being the girl child was never given the opportunity to learn to read). She took me on this big long walk to her family's farm. She took me around the whole thing, all the fields, stopping so I could taste like every fruit you could imagine. One of the yummiest fruits I've eaten here is called "tuna", which is the fruit that grows on a cactus. and it is SOOO yummy. Except I bit into one she gave me... and it had a cactus needle in it ..! The needle was about an inch long, and it pierced into my tongue and got stuck! Arrrggh! I'd only ever heard of that happening to one other woman, and she went to the hospital here in Cotahuasi, and they said "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do" and sent her away! Fortunately I managed to pull it out, no damage done Whew! So I can now say I got my tongue pierced in Peru haha

I'm finally finding my place in ministry, and loving doing kids work. We go out to these tiny rural villages each week, round up all the kids and then do a programme with them for a couple hours - songs, teach them from the Bible, crafts, games, and just generally hangin with the crazy cats. I'm now in charge of running the kids ministry... which has been a huge challenge trying to run it in Spanish. It's made me really have to rely on God - and, as always, He comes through every time The hard thing now is that I'm leaving this town in less than 2 weeks, just when I'm really starting to get settled. Will be hard to say goodbye (I don't think goodbye's ever get easier, and I've done my fair share of them!)... but at the same time I'm looking forward to moving on to Abancay, where I'll be until August.

To my prayer supporters, I'd really appreciate your prayers as I prepare to leave here and move on to a new place (April 22). It'll be unsettling leaving here and trying to find my feet again in a new place... and it involves a 13 hour drive at high altitude to get there!

Keep in touch, and may you (yes, YOU) be blessed mightily by our awesome God!!

love, Lynda xoxoxo

Reson8rs Update and Asher!!

Hey!

Finally, everyone can see my new baby boy - Asher Raymond - born 9.52am on 30 March 2007 which is absolutely fantastic! Charlie's coping pretty well - loves being a big sister, but isn't liking not having ALL the attention :).

Shannon's doing pretty well - the labour was a bit easier on shannon than last time (we went in about 6 am).

Below is a copy of the next podcast episode - they will get better, I promise. If there's anyone who'd like to share their testimony in this way, I'd love to podcast it.

Ray

Assimilation and other Star Trek references...

For those Reson8rs who are now further abroad, Pastor Shane Willard is back with us for most of April, and is taking us through the process of "Assimilation" (Click here for what I first though assimilation was - my bad, and once again showing my geek status...). Assimilation is the name which Shane calls getting people discipled and connected right from the first time they enter our Church. It's about giving people every opportunity to be connected and needed. And, to me, it seems it will also encourage people to do life together.

The sessions we have had so far in the "Discovering your design" programme have just been phenomenal (and we are only up to session one!). As well as that, from what some of the other guys have been saying, the messages he has brought particularly on sunday mornings would be well worth getting the cd for. email office@christiancentre.org.nz to get a copy sent to you (because Bron is a legend :) )

Also, on Shane's website, he has now posted several messages which are available for free download, including the excellent "Bowl or Birthright" message that we talked about for quite some time after last year. You can get them here.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to ask Shane for an interview, which I'll podcast if it all goes well, but at this stage he has around 150 interviews to conduct in the next three weeks as part of the assimilation process so it might be an understatement to say he's a busy man!

It is awesome that we have access to someone with such a phenomenal teaching gift, and just goes to show what a brilliant place we are a part of.

Ray

PS Baby photos are coming soon! Sorry Lynda in particular, but also anyone else who has been hanging out to see asher!

All flashed up!!!

Hey,
Have a look at some of the new whiz bangy things we now have available - podcasts, the notices from the sunday services, the maploco tracker map down the bottom! It's all so we as resonaters can keep connected, whether we're near, or far. I hope you love it!