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

Summer Blast

Heres what I'm doing this summer - how about you?

Here are our 3 main events for 2011 - its going to be an awesome year so mark them in your diary now and start planning!!

Resonate Roadie - the pics

ROAD TRIP!!!!! We had a wicked time on our Resonate Roadie to Timaru the other weekend. There's nothing quite like jumping in a van with a whole bunch of randoms (ok so I knew everyone but really they are quite random!!) and enduring some of the crazy carnage that is involved with long distance travel. Being the only girl in the van also made thinkgs "interesting" - enough said. Seriously though we had a great time- it was awesome to catch up with the guys from Dunners, Timaru and Chch and Ps Leon Rakete from Equippers South was off the hook! Plus we were relly wel looked after by the guys from Timaru with the meanest suppers! If you didn't come with us then you really missed out!

But because I like to reminisce, and to help those of you reading on the interweb feel a bit of the Road Trip love heres some pics:)

Enjoy!

Keith in the van - the trip to Timaru was highly entertaining, but they say - what happens in the van stays in the van!

Simons mad as photography skills - watch out Andris Apse!!

Jairus in the van

We played some crazy games - it takes great concentration to cover yourself in sellotape!!
Haha Si!

Simon and his balloons - once they were taped on he had to race around the church twice. Very funny to watch!!

Sam & the awesome crew from Dunedin leading worship

Worship went off!!

Me and Lyds before driving back to our respective homes.

A very attractive (and single!!) Lydia (right) from Dunners and Shelom from Chch.

The morning after - these guys had all slept in the church (well if you can call it sleep!!) More like chaos and carnage!!

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

SNOW!!!

We've been turned into a winter wonderland! Things are a little crazy at the moment - this is the 3rd day in a row I have been holed up at home due to the crazy weather! Snow in September - its a first for me after 8 and a half years living in Invercargill.

But what an amazing thing it is. I absolutely love snow and have always felt ripped off in winter here because we don't normally get anything decent here. I grew up with snow days from school, power cuts cooking on the fire in the dark and a tonne of afternoons in the freezing cold skidding round on the motorbike and sledging. But now we have it!! Wahoo!

Church has been cancelled all over the city because the roads are too treacherous for travel, the Stadium in town - our provinces pride and joy, had its roof collapse under the weight of the snow and more rough weather is yet to come in. With all this crazy happenings not only here but throughout our nation - flooding in the north island, crazy winds in Auckland, tornadoes and the massive earthquake in Christchurch many peopleit is encouraging to know that we do not have to be afraid or live in fear because we have Jesus.

It says in the Bible (yes I am actually going to mention scripture!) that God is our refuge and so we should not be afraid.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging" Psalm 46:1-3
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust" Psalm 91:1-2

Even when the world around us is falling down and unpredictable we can rely on God. Place our faith and our trust in Him and we do not have to worry - we are in Gods hands. I'm not sure about you, but I would rather place my faith in the One who is unfailing than anything else!

"Lets do this thing..............."

So today is the first day of my big adventure. Sounds exciting huh? It is - and its pretty scarey!
So whats the haps I hear you ask? Well.............

You may have seen from the previous post I have recently been in Tonga on a missions trip. It was an incredibly impacting time for me - and not just from what I saw and experienced, but in the way that God spoke to me so clearly and challenged me.

My heart has always been to live a life of reckless abandonment for God. A life that is glorifying to God and impacts those around me. Well to be honest that wasn't really happening. It was more like a life of coasting through on a treadmill - repeating the steps and going nowhere. I had gotten comfortable. There was nothing wrong with my life - in fact I liked it. I was doing my thing, loving God, family and church. BUT God has more than that for me. He knows the potential within me - and YOU. He wants the best for us.

My dream for as long as I can remember has to be a photographer - to take amazing images that inspire people, challenge their worldview and change the world. I wanted to reach a generation of young people and see them become the person that God created them and designed them to be. To preach the gospel and see lives, cities and nations changed. As a young (yes I consider myself young!) mum with 2 small children that was kind of put in the "one day" basket. The place where I'll return to when its the right time, when the kids are grown and I have the resources to fund that kind of ministry. So in the meantime I opened a photography studio and started doing weddings and portraits as a way to "keep the dream alive" until I figured out how to make it work.

Well I have not been designed as an administrative type person in anyway! So the day to day stuff of running business did not come naturally to me in any way shape or form and was more stressful in ways I cannot express. Dont get me wrong, I love taking photographs of people, letting them express the beauty and uniqueness in the way God created them and capturing special occasions - it was a privilege and a fantastic creative outlet. But it wasn't the best that God has designed me for.

When in Tonga God breathed life into those dreams that I had put aside, that I didn't know how to make happen or how it would work with the family and stuff. And He just said to me "Come on Shannon, lets do this thing................................."

Come on lets do this thing. Crap.

"This thing" was to close down my photography studio and to come and volunteer at my church full time doing the creative design stuff - graphics, web, photography etc and build the young adults ministry, Resonate - which is you guys! God was calling me, giving me permission to step into the things that He has for me, to live the BEST life designed by Him and just saying "its now. Don't put it off, lets just do this together. Lets make it happen and change your world."

So here I am. Recklessly abandoning the path I have known in favour of one where I can only see a few steps ahead. Its scarey because my safety net is gone. I can no longer tell people I am "a photographer and have my own studio". The worlds idea of success and identity can no longer matter because I am living a life on the edge for Jesus, standing in the place He has designed for me. And to be honest, theres nowhere else I would rather be.

Come on lets do this thing.................

Branded Tonga

So recently a group of us were blessed enough to go to the Kingdom of Tonga for Branded Tonga, a youth conference and missions trip with Acts Churchs (the Church movement we are a part of). It was an amazing time! There was approx 75 of us from churches throughout NZ aged between 13 & 30 who converged on the island nation to help support the existing Equippers church there and to bring Gods message of hope and love to people. There was a small team of 7 of us from Invercargill who made the trip. We fundraised for months to make sure we made it - boy was it worth it!

Below are just few photo highlights of the trip. Enjoy!

Praying for team members before we head out into some of the villages surrounding Nuku'alofa. We went giving food, clothing and toys to families in the villages.

The boys (l-r) Bevan, Luke and Billy talking with a vanload of guys inviting them to one of our night rallies.

Alana talking with an elderly man on the streets of Nuku'alofa

The main town outreach at the wharf in Nuku'alofa. There were over a couple of thousand people there - it didn't seem like it but there were a heap of people hiding in the shadows listening to the message and responding to God.

The local markets in Nuku'alofa

On thOn the Saturday we had a chill out day at the beach - looks tropical ay!!! Crazy thing was it was warmer in the water than out!

Phil warming up by lunch

A cultural group came and performed for us - they were so amazing!!

The Invercargill Team at Equippers Tonga - Shan, Ray, Billy, Alana, Luke, Bevan and Phil.





Invers team!!!

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

Guest Blogger: Second Hand Experience

Yo, here's an email I received from one of our youth guys - man I love it when passion is poured out like this. Kudos to you man. - Ray out.

I've been thinking about what you wrote in your blog; when you implied Jesus was our best friend.
He is isn't he?

My best friend is the creator of the universe.

He's our best friend, father, teacher, counselor and God at the exact same time; something purely sensational. But he isn't in the way you view your peers as your best friend, he's more of a "best friend - celebrity". We have heard all about Him, the way he can raise the dead, cure the blind, and we've even been so far as to see him work in others. I've seen people healed, it's awesome. But when i say that people say; "yeah, I know people who know people who have seen legs grow longer in front of their eyes."

I know people who know people.

Now, I think it's fair to say that 90% of people at our church have devoted their life to God. I think it's fair to presume that of that 90%, 50% are completely immersed in their faith; they pray nightly and have no inhibitions in the way of their faith. But there's still that other 50%. The problem this 50% have, is that when they are worshipping, they feel his presence, but they don't feel it directed at them. They are merely in the room. Just witnesses. Bystanders. A friend of a friend of a great auntie's daughter will tell them that God has the ability to make people, in our day and age, with no medicine, drugs or hidden contraption be healed of cancer. We believe it, but we aren't 100% influenced by it.

God is great. 2 Corinthians 1:21 says "now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. he anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come."

He put his Spirit in our hearts.

Think about that for a moment.


His holy spirit can resurrect the dead, heal the blind, the sick and heck, make the universe. His spirit is in us. It doesn't take Stephen Hawking to realize that the spirit of God, through us, combined with our faith, our will and our love for one another gives us the power to move mountains.

This email doesn't really have a point, it just annoys me when people say ; "I can't." because they can.
When Jesus healed that blind woman (finding the verse will take 5 minutes and I'm lazy) he said "your faith has healed you."
Faith plus Holy spirit are both in everybody. With it we can move mountains, so we won't have to rely on "second hand experiences".

We spend to much time focusing on how much we have sinned. worrying, that our heart is bad. God is good, he is in our heart, therefore our heart is good. "I will give you a new heart and out a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone.." Ezek 36.26.
The heart is central. It matters - deeply. And our heart is good, as we have a new heart now, of God. There is a widespread belief among Christians today that the heart is desperately wicked - even after a person comes to Christ.
it is a crippling belief.
and it is untrue.

We have given our heart to God, we have a good heart. We now need to devote our life, our time and our praise to him, so we no longer have second hand experiences.


Cheers, Ben

Umbrella - eh eh eh?

Shout out to James Macpherson who I stole the link from. Great youth leader in our continent - check him out.

Why am I nostalgic?