RESONATE RED FROGS ROADIE TO DUNNERS!!

So its the season for Road tripping!!
So next weekend we are heading to Dunedin to meet up with the
Southlife Crew and Andy Gourley, founder of Red Frogs. If you are looking at coming on our Schoolies mission in November then you seriously need to consider trying to make it this weekend!

Details are a bit sketchy at the moment but we will let you guys know what we do and update you as we find out more:)
Heres what we know though:

We are leaving ICC either Friday night after Vibe or early Saturday morning (depending on what time everything starts on Sat morning.)

The awesome Stacey Shaw is going to source some cool as billets for us to stay with so we have some sweet accommodation. It might only be a couch so bring you sleeping bag!

Andy is speaking on the Saturday at Southlife and then we are going to help out the Red Frogs Crew at some OUSA events on Sat night. We are going to stay Sat night and go to Southlife for the AM service as Andy is preaching. We will be back in Invers in time for our 6pm service with Nick and Karen Klinkenberg - you don't want to miss this!!

Cost:

Travel is $15. You will need to bring some money to cover meals for the weekend. As for the sessions with Andy we are unsure but will let you know as soon as we do:)

Any more info just get in touch with Shan:)

As with Revo Tour Roadie we need definite replies as to whether going or not in order to secure beds and seats in the van. A maybe on facebook will be counted as a no!

Resonate Mystery HUB

Tuesday night is Resonate HUB. (Whats HUB you ask? The third Tuesday of every month all the Resonate connects get together and hang out:) ) This time is our mystery HUB! Its going to be a crazy fun night - Resonate style!!

So a couple of things you need to know:

We are meeting at church at 7pm on Tuesday night. You need to bring $5 and make sure you don't eat tea before you come:) This will be a great night to bring your mates to as well!!

See you there!!

Winter Blast

Summer was a blast and winter is all set to be too!! Join us for our Resonate Winter Blast - 2 days in the amazing Queenstown filled with snow, God, coffee, mates and hanging out!!


Important Info

Dates 13-14 August 2011 (its a Sat/Sun)
Location Lakeland Park, Kelvin Heights Queenstown
Cost $60 (includes transport, accommodation etc)

What to Bring: We are staying in the GORGEOUS chalets at Lakeland but you still need to bring a sleeping bag, pillow and stuff to keep you warm.
Clothes (always a good start!), Bible, pen & paper, water bottle, toiletries, money for lunch on Sunday, coffee and snacks during travel & anything else that you may think you need:) Leave behind the drugs & alcohol. Also bring pizza toppings for our Pizza Fest on Sat night!!

Leaving Invercargill Christian Centre nine AM on the Sat (meeting at 8.30AM)
Returning Sun night (time dependent on coffee stops -but in time for the evening service)

Quick lowdown on events:
Sat - Leave for QTown where a meriad of fun and chilling out ensues
Sat Evening - Pizza making fest (bring pizza toppings!!) Resonate bonding, God time and craziness!!
Sun- Hang out in Qtown - go out for lunch (bring money for this!!) more fun and chilling!!
Travel home with plenty of coffee


Registrations and payment need to be into the Church office by Thursday 11 August. See Shan more for more info to register. Email to shannon@christiancentre.org.nz

Its gonna be a BLAST!!

Pearls & Sundae Lovin'

We are relaunching Resonate Girls connect on a new night at Jess's sweet new pad and its gona be awesome! If you are between the ages of 18-30 years in Invercargill and are looking for an amazing young adults ministry then you should check us out! Resonate Girls is an awesome place to come and meet other like-minded crazy cats who are on fire for God and discovering what it means to walk out their journey as the incredible and beautiful woman God has created them to be!

Pearls and Summer lovin' is going to be a fun night of ice-cream madness and girlie goodness, so bring along your friends and some ice-cream toppings! We have the gorgeous Carol Chin Poy sharing some pearls of wisdom - she has an incredible testimony and has a heart to see women empowered and embracing who God created them to be. She runs the Eve-olution Womens Ministry at the Invercargill Christian Centre and is not to be missed!!

For more info about Pearls & Sundae Lovin' or Resonate Girls feel free to email me @ shannon@christiancentre.org.nz

watch this space....

We have been dreaming and scheming and have some pretty exciting things in the works!!! So watch this space!

(ok so I'll be nice and give you a quick heads up on some of the exciting things. Get you pens ready and mark these dates in your diary now!

18- 21 July - Get Smart Conference Christchurch
13-14 August - Winter Blast, Queenstown
3 September - Sex, Lies & Resonate
18-29 November - Red Frogs Schoolies Mission Trip, Gold Coast Australia

More info and other exciting stuff coming soon!!

Fuel Conference

Wow how to describe Fuel Conference? I have once again been wrecked by the amazing love and grace that is to be found in Jesus, and challenged beyond belief about my time here on this earth and what I choose to do with it!

Fuel Conference is our annual youth conference here at the Invercargill Christian Centre and unlike most youth conferences which have a strong leadership focus, ours is purely Holy Spirit. We had the incredible Ps Caleb Murdoch of Elim Christian Centre in Auckland as our guest speaker. Ps Caleb has an amazing passion for things of the Spirit and a desire to see young people impact their world for Christ. He brought a message that showed the supernatural power and importance of Gods Word - a huge challenge for those of us who aren't avid Bible readers!

More than 100 people attended Fuel and it was so amazing to see young teens - some as young as 12 and 13, losing themselves in Gods presence and embracing all that He has for them. Below is a snippet of some photos to give you an idea about the happenings over the weekend. If you couldn't make it this year them make sure you get along to Fuel 2012!!

Enjoy

Cam rapping it up - BOOM! Worship was off the hook!

Worship was so powerful!


Shanan our illustrious MC

Tim from Timaru!! Tim is the youth pastor at the Elim Church there and boosted down to Invers after his own youth on friday night. They saw over 50 young people give their hearts to God, AMAZING!! Hes a young guy but we learned so much from his servant heart in the time he hung out with us.


Ps Caleb Murdoch preaching at Fuel. He carries an amazing message!



Hope you enjoyed these!! See you next year at Fuel!!

SIT Orientation Week!!

Summer Blast - Yes it was!!

To sum it up Summer Blast could only be described as one word - EPIC!!

We had such an amazing time - big fun, big sky and even bigger God. A huge ups to the awesome people who helped make it happen, and to everyone who came.

Below are just a few pics from our night under the stars. When I get hold of them I will post some of the others:)

Trying our hand at Curling at the Indoor Rink in Naseby - was so cold I got an ice cream headache!!
Our illustrious leader Ray getting his curling on.

A bit of volleyball action in the campsite.

Our campsite when we slept under the stars - no pics of the stars but the incredible beauty won't be forgotten!!

Becca chilling on top of Dinosaur Rock

Bet you wish you made it now!!! Don't worry - we have Winter Blast coming up in August! See you there!

Shan

Resonate Roadie!!!

Hey guys of you want to join us for am awesome road trip get in touch to find out more info or to book your seat in the van - shannon@christiancentre.org.nz

Hearing Gods Voice

The voice of God is that secret voice unheard by any other ear,

which our own ear, opened by the Spirit of God recognizes with joy.

Charles Spurgeon

One of the things that I often have people ask me is how do I know if God is speaking to me? How do we know God’s voice?

Good question!

Hearing Gods voice is one of the things that I was so unsure of – what if it’s not God its just me? What if I get it wrong? How do I know its Him?

To be honest I don’t think there’s an easy one-stop-shop easy answer, but it all comes down to relationship. As I have grown closer to God and developed my relationship with Him I have come to learn how He speaks to me. Each of us are created uniquely so it makes sense that the way God speaks to us may be different to the away he speaks to someone else.

"My sheep listen to my voice;

I know them, and they follow me."

-- John 10:27

God knows the best way to speak to me. I am a visual person – images and pictures speak to me far greater than reading the Bible or listening to a preacher. But for others, reading the Bible can really speak to them. Neither are more right than the other – they are both just as valid.

When our kids were born, even as babies they recognized mine and Rays voices. They'd spent the whole time in the womb listening to us talk to them. They knew who we were and it would comfort them. When they were upset we could settle them just by our voice because they knew it was us.

As we get to know God more we learn to recognize His voice. I realize this sounds all too simplistic but its true.

There are many different ways in which God can speak to us. I would love it if God would just use massive sky-writing or a big booming voice from heaven like he did when Jesus was baptized but unfortunately it never seems to happen!! I know people who God speaks to them through impressions, a whisper, feelings, numbers - I even have one friend who God uses Physics equations! How crazy is that?

Benny Johnson from Bethel Church said recently at Manifest Presence Conference in Auckland that "God's not English, but English is one of the ways He can speak to us. God's not Russian but Russian is one of the ways He can speak to us." The same applies to pictures, numbers, feelings, impressions etc. They are all just a tool that God can use to communicate with us.

How awesome it is to know that God can to speak to us in a way that works for us - regardless of language!

I want to encourage you, as you spend time developing your relationship with God - it will become easier to recognise His voice. Take some time and chill with Him today.

Shan

O week 2010

Hey guys,

If you are new here (in Southland or on the blog), click to find out what we're all about! We've got some exciting activities planned for SIT OWeek 2010 in Southland. Hopefully you saw us around @ the SIT Market Day and grabbed some info that obviously led you to here!

On Tuesday we'll be on campus providing a free barbie ( the sausage kind not the doll) during the chilled music festivities and generally hanging out being cool.!

This week we have some awesome things happening in the life of Resonate - Tuesday connect is up and running, 7.30pm at Shan and Rays. If you are aged between 18-25ish and are looking for a place to connect with other Jesus freaks then we're the place to be!

Wednesay night Resonate Girls kicks off for the year with a coffee and dessert night at the Invercargill Christian Centre. This is going to be an awesome chance to hang out with some really cool chicks, as well as have a great munch on YUMMY food. Resonate girls runs fortnightly on a Wednesday nite so come along this week to find what we're all about!

PLus on top all that we have amazing guests Ps Clark and Ann Taylor from Brisbane speaking this weekend at the Christian Centre. These guys are legendary and are definately worth coming along to hear. Service times are Fri 7pm, Sat 7pm and Sunday 10am and 6pm - all at the Christian Centre Leet St Campus.

Anywho hope you have a fantastic and blessed 2010 and we here at Resonate look forward to catching up and hanging with you!!

Shan

Branded Take Over

Branded was an absolutely phenomenal weekend just held at Southlife Church, Dunedin. For those of you who have never been or heard of it, Branded is the Acts Churches NZ South Island youth conference.

One of the things that came through strongly was a new focus towards young adults, 18-30 year olds, recognising that often we find they enter into this stage of life only to become old and boring. Hope no one is offended by that!!!

But really its true and its one of the frustrating things I have seen happen continuously over the past 7 years I have done Resonate. People are all excited and passionate about making a difference for God and living a life of significance but only until they graduate. Once that happens its time for them to "grow up, get a haircut and get a real job." Their new focus finding a spouse, getting a good job, and having babies. Don't get me wrong, these are all good things (and I have them too), but suddenly they are too old for being involved in youth or jumping up and down a little. I don't know about you but I think that sucks!!! I so don't want to live a boring life where I do what society says I should be doing at this stage of my life.

In fact I want to be living a passionate life, be significant for God in reaching a generation and be able to look back at the end of my life and have no regrets, no "what if " moments.

We often look at youth and talk about how alcohol, drugs and sex are such a distraction for them, pulling them away from their Purpose in God, but in realilty the white picket fence can be just as distracting for us young adults.

My challenge to you is to don't become so focused about the things this world says are important that you forget about the call and purpose God has placed within you.

Something to consider

Well so it's been a little while since I have posted - sorry for being so slack!!

Life for the average Reson8r has been pretty busy, and I have been no exception. Between work, study, family and church it's difficult at times to take a few moments for myself let alone jump on the computer and write about how busy we are!! But it has got me thinking.

How often do we actually take the times to appreciate the little things? Sounds cliched I know but in all honesty I find that sometimes I get so busy doing the work for God that I forget to actually spend time with God. Which is crazy because when you love someone and are in relationship with them then you should actually want to spend time with them.

Imagine being best friends with somebody but you don't actually talk to them, hang out them or even answer the phone each time they call you.

In fact you ignore them completely - except maybe when your world falls apart and then you need a shoulder to cry on. But you still consider yourselves to be best friends and believe you have an amazing, understanding, loving relationship because you just happen to do things on behalf of that person.

Lets be honest , real relationships don't actally work that way. But yet how often are we like that with God?

We spend so much time doing stuff in His name, and for the church, but in essence we are so far removed from God it's not funny. We don't hang out with Him, we don't talk to Him unless we want something and we certainly don't listen when He has something to say. Would we even recognise His voice at the other end of the line if he called?

There is a saying my old youth leader used to have - "If the devil can't make you bad he'll make you busy." Often we allow our busyness get in the way of whats really important - RELATIONSHIP.

I don't know about you but when it comes my turn to go hang with Jesus in eternity I want to know that I am going to be hanging with my best friend, not a random accquaintance. I don't want to get so hung up on serving Him that I forget to know Him.

What about you? Do your priorities lie in the doing of Jesus or your relationship with Him?

Revival Pics

OK guys so as promised here are a few shots from when we had Roy and Melanie Fields here the other week. It was a phenomenal time of worship and God really switched something in the Spirit. It was like taking a 60 watt light bulb and then shoving 2000 volts of electricity through it to see what would happen - things will never be the same again!!!!

SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE

Singers Band in Worship
Worship led by Roy Fields. You can't really see but Church

was PACKED out.

Pastor Ian (with Dayle in background) deep in worship

SUNDAY EVENING SERVICE

Love this shot!!!! Resonator Lulu and members of the ministry team during the evening service.

Southern River pastor Danny Steel (centre) responding to a call for healing while Melanie Fields (right) prays.

Melanie Fields praying for people during an altar call.

Associate pastor Grant hanging with his kids after the evening service. (It was 11.5pm and they just got their second wind!!)

Revival Weekend

Wow what an amazing weekend we just had with the amazing Roy andMelanie Fields. If you ever doubted Revival was in the air then those doubts should be well and truely gone now!!!

For those of you who aren't aware, Roy and Melanie led the worship at the Lakeland Outpouring and are a phenomenal couple who carry an incredible passion to see God move in miraculous ways transforming lives and seeing Revival break out across the globe. These are just a couple of pics from the weekend and we will have testimonies and stuff coming soone:)

Shan

Let us feed u!!!!!

Hey Guys,

Yep its here again! The Resonate $2 Student feed. If you haven't worked it out by now it gonna be a regular occurance - like real regular, like every 2 weeks, fornightly or bi-monthly (however you want to look at it!)

So get involved!! Tell your class mates, your workmates, your neighbour, your nana, WHOEVER!! Bring them along and enjoy our scrumptious, yummy (and may I add healthy - who would a thought it was possible to taste good and not make you rot?)

Just make sure you let us know you are coming - we would hate for you to miss out!!

O Week Highlight

Well so Orientation Week is over and now it's into the everyday grind of study, work and of course plenty of play. We have had an awesome, if not crazy, hectic, random, and most all fun time hanging with you guys. Big thanks to everyone who has helped out over the last few days.

We have some pics to give you a bit of a taste of some of the fun - this is the first time I have tried to upload multiple images so just bear with me if it looks a bit rough!!!


- The 3rd Annual Ninja Parade was a HIT!!!! Ninjas turned out in droves to celebrate their heritage while a small crowd eagerly awaited their appearance. Video footage still to be uploaded complete with exclusive interview with someone who has actually seen a ninja - once.





Apparently they spotted a ninja. Turns out was a false alarm - someone shot a seagull.....





Jai hanging on campus........

Resonate freshers Richard, Tiwa and Josh ->

mmmmm coffee........






So there are some of the highlights from O Week. But don't fear thats not the end of it for the year. We have heaps of stuff in the pipeline for 2009, plus of course connect groups are up and running. Come along and join us for a coffee.

Oh and if you see any of us around campus, come say hi:)

Shan

Mmm, coffee...

Hope you enjoyed your coffee today... if you've found yourself here, you might be wondering who we are. If you need the short and skinny... we're a group of committed 18-20something Christians from Invercargill Christian Centre who are just wanting to serve our local student and young worker community. Here's some of the stuff we've got coming up:

This is going to be a great chance to connect and kit out your flat. Also we've got the $2 feed coming up tomorrow night:We've got a rocking Friday Service to follow. If you are currently looking for a new church home while you are down here in the south, check us out!

Finally for all the gamers in the house, we're running an XBox Lan on Saturday Night @ Hawthorndale Christian Centre. It's from 5-10, and it's at 32 Freeview Avenue. Click here for more info (video).

Anyways, if you are new... welcome to the Ends of the Earth!

Just do it

Today I am the queen of procrastination.

I have a mountain (unfortunately not really an exaggeration!) of work that I should be doing, papers, figures and text books all over my office, assignments due in, and goodness knows what else but it is all very important & I am avoiding it all like the plaque.

I fell asleep on top of my desk before and considered as I awoke in my pool of drool that I lock the door, turn off the light and curl up under my desk (out of site in case anyone walks past cos oh my gosh how embarrassing!) and go to sleep.

But I didn't. I kinda wish I had. Maybe I wouldn't be so tired now. or maybe I would have be busted and looked like an idiot!

It has been 3 hours since I was last productive in my work today. In that time I have checked my facebook and bebo, looked at the comments on my photography website, had lunch and then something else to eat, said hi to Phil in the tech cafe, pondered over the new bilboard outside SIT (which featured Phil in make up- ok so it was for Cats) checked my facebook (cos a lot can change in 20 minutes) paced in my office, peeled an orange, drank 3 bottles of water and subsequently visited the loo a lot more than I would have liked (and probably more than the people whose offices I have to continuously walk past to get there.)

So. yeah I got a lot done today.

So you're reading this and going well if you have work to do and its important then why don't you just do it? Why are you on the blog?

Good point......

But no, I have a reason for being here (ok so to begin with I was reading a friends blog and then I thought I should see whats been happening here and well ,you get the picture..) This has got me thinking though - along with reading another awesome blog post yesterday Be strong and courageous (http://www.mnssams.blogspot.co.nz/) Why do we always put off the things we know that we should be doing? Likes of our homework or doing the dishes or changing opur undies (hey I don't have a problem with it! Its good to be clean). Think about it. how many times this week have you procrastinated? How about today? was it worth it?

If we can so easily put off the little everyday things, the ordinary things, then how do we react when God gives us something big and extraordinary to do? Will we recognise the significance, the priviledge , how amazing it is that He trusts us - you and me- with something lifechanging for us and others!

But how would we treat it? Will we have to tell God sorry we are unavailable because we are behind in our homework, the house is dirty and we have yet to change our undies - can He call back later at a more convenient time? What if there is no convenient time because we put off so much of the small things that we don't get time for the big stuff? What if its only a split second of a window of opportunity? What it we miis out? What if we aren't prepared?

And if we can't be trusted to do the small things, is our character ready for the larger ones?

hmmmm... interesting thoughts.

I think its time I did some work:)

[RT: edited so spaces were littler... love you honey...]

Bourke - a few thoughts & a broken heart.....

My heart has broken. Well and truly gut wrenchingly, utterly shattered, and broken so much that the usual cure of sticky tape and super glue will not do. My eyes have laid witness to a dispair, a hurt, a brokeness that run so deep it was bred into the very blood of generation. It was a sight I never would have believed in a nation so beautiful and similar and "civilised" as ours, but my eyes did not deceive me, what I saw was true.

But no matter how deep my grief, God's is deeper. No matter how badly my heart breaks, God's breaks more. In the places and people I see brokeness, despair and pain, God sees HOPE.

Four of us from Invercargill joined with the guys from Highway Christian Church in Ulladulla (Australia) to help at REACH 08 - a conference with a complete missions focus and a desire to see God to move in a new way. We were equipped as the army of God to go into the community and show love as Chirst loved us in a real and practical way.

Bourke, NSW Australia is a beautiful outback town and to look at it I really wondered if what I had been told was as bad as what I had been led to believe. But closer inspection showed me a deep level of dysfunction and hurt. Almost every house in town was surrounded by high metal fences, with an almost as big dog, the main street at night looked like an industrial area with big garage doors and windows barred and then in the Aboriginal "missions" the houses were nice and normal but then you saw the smashed glass and boarded up windows.

And the kids. The beautiful children who knew no different from what they lived in everyday. 3, 4, and 5 year old children who are on the streets at all times of the night, abused and taking drugs and alcohol like they were lollies, whose idea of a good time was stealing cars and then burning them.

But despite it all, God is in that place.

You could see Him in the smiles of the children, in the fresh greening of the ground that had been drought-stricken for years, in the passion and perserverence and faith of the Christians in Bourke who had been faithfully praying for and serving in their community.

God was seen on the lives of young children, as small as 4,5 and 6 years old, as they stood silent and still in His presence. He was there in the midst as 200+ young people from throughout New South Wales, wider Australia and New Zealand stood and worshiped Him freely, separated not by race or circumstances but united in love as the whanau of God.

God was in the riverbed as the drunked, just released from prison, wandered aimlessly with his bottle of booze. He was there when he was struck by the power of the Holy Spirit and set free from his sin and pain, and came into the Kingsom of Heaven.

My time in Bourke has shown me a fraction of the heartbeat of God. Jesus died for these people, each and everyone of them, of us, saved or unsaved, black or white, male or female, old or young. We are not different. We are all seen the same through the eyes of God - His children.

I am still processing what I saw, what God has done and is doing in Bourke, and in me. It is beyond our comprehension to know how deeply God mourns over the blood shed there in the name of "civilised people" and government policy. How His heart aches for the children of Bourke, many who have never known a fathers love, a tender touch or a kind word.

But God IS in that place. And He is moving. Heaven linked with earth during the time Reach 08 was in Bourke, and even though we have left there, God hasn't.

Heaven hasn't.

Hope hasn't.

God is in that place, and He is moving. It begins with HOPE........