Corio Winter Mission Update

Corio Winter Mission Update

Pop-Up Church

We had one of the best ever outdoor services in June with a beautiful sense of the Presence of God, of love, awe and friendship. It was a smaller gathering in the cold, but we feel we should keep going monthly for the time-being. In the photo, Christine is leading a drama - street theatre about Jesus. 

Kids Club
Once again we had Kids Club in our home and 10 locals came and heard the gospel, played games and had food and fellowship. We talked about the Discipleship Course we're starting in July and there was a really good response. We're following up all those interested in following Jesus this month and getting as many as possible for the Cross Training course.

The video below gives you a taste of Kids Club where we are using drama to explore issues like stealing, smoking and peer-pressure. We then steer the kids to the Bible and declare that Jesus is the best friend you could ever have. 

Discipleship Course - "Cross Training"

We have decided to run a discipleship course for unchurched kids in Term 3! Thank you for praying. We will call it "Cross Training". It will run for three Fridays. Then there will be a two week break and then it will go for another three Fridays. We have a team, a prospectus and we're now contacting all those who have expressed the desire to follow Jesus.

Intergenerational Prayer Engagement

The Lord showed me that to assign every child attending "Cross Training" a prayer mentor from the older folks at Bethel Christian Fellowship - our church. I hope to facilitate a meeting of the children and their Prayer Mentors at the Graduation at the end of Term 3. Please continue to pray for this ambitious project. 

Sandra Steps Back

I need to mention that Sandra Harvey is no longer working closely with us. She has felt that God has called her to step down from Kids Club and helping me with running the team. She is still connected with us, but is not taking a central role at this time. Thanks for praying. The Lord moves in mysterious ways :)

New Ideas under consideration

I'd value your prayers about hosting a conference on new models of church. I'm also considering a sizeable Christmas Tree-Planting event with several guest organisations and I'm trying to arrange a training video with YWAM folks. Please pray we'll get the God ideas not the Good ideas. 

Drumming in Band
I'm playing drums in a 9 piece band! Here is a photo of our second gig together at the Geelong Boat House - It's a fish n chip shop which floats upon the water! It is such a great hobby the Lord has given me where I can have so much fun in such a short time.

Prayer Remains Central
Here is a photo of where I pray 3-4 times per week. I feel to stress we are not trying to build an organisation. Rather we seek to impact the unreached with the love and Word of God. Here the medium is the message: intimate, personal, loving. 

A hard-working, unglamorous month

Keep on doing the right things

Brian Pickering

While Pastor Paul Hills has been away, I have been acting senior pastor with many responsibilities. Here's my latest sermon on: "Stop Complaining". I also helped host Brian Pickering from the Australian Prayer Network - Watchman School of Intercession in the Bellarine Peninsula.

Pop-Up Church - Small but significant

We had about 20 in our team and had done extensive publicity, but the day was very cold and the locals who usually come were not there. Only about 10 locals came, but those who did seemed drawn by God as they were deeply touched and refreshed by the Lord. 

Please ask God to show us if we need to change anything or even stop this ministry in future. We didn't have time for photos.

Super Sunday Kids Club - Wow! Quite amazing!

It was a cold day but sure enough about 15 children and parents enjoyed games in the park and then came through the gate and inside the house. We performed a drama on peer pressure which really spoke to them and then found Bible passages about true friends. We sang songs and taught a memory verse: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you". 

When we spoke about a weekly course to learn to actually follow Jesus, they seemed enthusiastic and one of the fathers' said, "Friday Church". So please continue to pray about how we might run a discipling program for those who are wanting to go further with us and the Lord. We are thinking of starting in Term 3. 

Playgroup - Smaller than usual

A friend takes story time

Attendance is down but the quality is up. We're seeing a great response to the Christian teaching and Christine is also teaching English to the parents. In the photo, our friend Lesley is reading the story.

Tree Planting in July

Please pray for God's way as we seek to work the local council to host another Tree Planting in July. 

Determined, but flexible.

The cold weather is testing our resolve so we need to be more determined than ever. At the same time, we must be soft-hearted to feel the breath of the Spirit, to move with His will. Please continue pray as we all feel revival is coming, hearts are softening and people are turning. Thank you.

3rd Anniversary Edition

Christine's Birthday Ferry Ride

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

I can't believe its three years since we launched Little Miracles Home Group Corio. Some people say it takes 7 years to 'work out what you're doing in ministry', but thanks to God an to you for praying as we seem to be getting quite a few things right with our Mission in Corio.

Discipling Kids - Our New Focus?

Today I'm asking you to pray for God's kingdom to come in power among the children who are deciding to follow Jesus. Approximately 10 children have strongly indicated they want to follow Jesus and we feel our Heavenly Father's heart calling us to lead them into a healthy relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit; to grow them from small Christians to big strong Christian leaders. Please pray for Father God's wisdom, power and love to manifest as we discuss and plan how to shift our focus to discipling those who feel the call to follow God. 

Honouring Pastor Paul Hills

Our lead Pastor, Paul Hills has been in the role 12 years and he's hungrier for Jesus than ever. We honoured him and his wife Karen last Sunday with kind words and a generous gift. So good to get the small things right! He insists on following Jesus - a great role model.

Pop-Up Church is Growing Quickly

Locals invited their friends and my radio interview encouraged newcomers so we had about 50 people early April for our best ever Pop-Up Church. Healthy, warm-hearted Christians making friends with the drunks, drop-outs and druggies. This warms our Father's heart. The crew from One In Christ Church sang powerfully, moving the crowd. Here is a video to give you a better idea of what we got up to!

Super Sunday Kids Club - Tree Planting

Easter Tree Planting Festival

As I'm sure you know, during the cooler months we focus our kids outreach on Tree-Planting. This brings us into contact with new families, expanding our intake. This month we planted in a tiny, neglected park, McKinley Ave Reserve, Corio, with a permit from the City of Greater Geelong. Over 40 people came to the event and heard the Easter Message with a reenactment of Jesus' death & resurrection and an opportunity to receive a prayer of blessing. 

Here is a very short video of the event, shortened by a camera malfunction.

Personal Testimony of God's Sanctifying Power

I cannot overstate how grateful I am for your prayers and the power of God to better His willing workers. For a long time I have judged the churches inadequacies from my place of self-righteousness. Recently it came to a head. God showed me I was right in my judgement. They were not doing the right thing. But then He showed me I wasn't doing the right thing either. We are all wrong. The idealism which brings us to Jesus must give way to maturity which sees all our mutual faults and gets on with the mission regardless. What a freeing lesson.

A Break in Brisbane

We took a week off camping around Brisbane and visiting Christine's family. It was wonderful reading about Keith Green and Nancy Alcorn from our rented camper van. 

Beautiful Relationships Abound

Play Group is so beautiful
God is using the Play Group as a strong spiritual ministry. The group is growing with about 20 each session and we are seeing so many beautiful acts of God bringing life and health and peace to these migrants and their children. And the  non-Christian are singing the God songs!

Kids Club - Amazing

22 people attended our 2nd Kids Club and listened to the teaching of the Word. We had a strong team of 7 leaders who all contributed passionately and by the Spirit. Several of the kids can't read and one kid has been completely expelled from the school system at age 13. Since we changed to monthly from weekly gatherings, we've noticed everyone seems thirstier! Here is a short video of the Kids Club highlights.

 

Introducing Sandra Harvey - Admin Assistant

Thank you for praying God would grow our team, because we have a strong team now and Sandra Harvey is stepping up to help with administration, leadership and ministry. She is a prophetess who is passionate about sharing the love of Jesus. She is experienced in event management and is a good friend of me and Christine. 

Here is short video introducing Sandra Harvey. Please pray for her.

Pop-Up Church in Labuan Square Norlane
We hosted our 2nd monthly Pop-Up Church in March and were blessed by a local Filipino Church joining us in the outreach. Here is a video of our 2nd Pop-Up church. Our next one is this Saturday so please pray for salvations and discipleship and the team growing in faith and power to bring revival. 

Prayer Seminar with Ps Check Chia

During March we helped host the Journey in Prayer with legend pastor Check Chia. It was so good to sit under a very wise and accomplished teacher/intercessor. He really impressed upon us the importance of FASTING to draw closer the our Heavenly Father and encouraged us to GO FOR IT like never before. We had 100 people from 20 churches learning more powerful prayer. Such a big win for Geelong. 

Easter Tree-Planting Festival

On Easter Sunday we're hosting a Tree-Planting Festival and outreach in McKinley Ave Reserve Corio. It is a tiny park but we hope to bring some love, hope and friendship to the area as we host a fun family day. Please pray for salvations and Jesus' love to be manifest. 

Free Publicity

Praise God I have an open door at the radio station 96Three. Here is an interview I did to publicise the Pop-Up Church and the Prayer Seminar to give you a taste of what's going on. 

My Best Sermon Ever

I wanted to share this teaching with you, my best ever. It is on Jesus' call on us to be fruitful. I call it Hyper Yield. I hope you like it!

Finally - Spread the Word

If you think this is worth sharing to encourage someone to press on for revival, then feel free to share it with them.

Thank you for being a crucial part of this exciting adventure. We couldn't do it without YOU! 

Two new ministries launched

Super Sunday Kids Club Begins!

I'm so grateful for God's wisdom and the prayer support of many people behind the switch from weekly Family Pizza Nights to monthly Super Sunday Kids Club where we focus more fully on teaching the kids to follow Jesus. We are also fulfilling all legal requirements to host the children in a supervised environment for 2 hours. Parents can drop them off, sign in and come back to 5pm.

We have a team of 7 leaders and have decided to continue monthly for this year as best we can. 

Here is a video of the February Kids Club 

Please pray for real salvations and true and effective discipleship from Kids Club in 2022. Thank you :)

Easter Tree-Planting Festival Coming Up

Please pray for God's wisdom and enabling as we plan a significant Easter event. Currently I have permission from the council to plant trees in McKinley Ave Reserve (pictured below). I seek to couple this with a dramatisation of Jesus' death and resurrection and have some games and food. Our regular Kids Club kids and leaders will be there plus we'll outreach into the locals around the park to spread the word. I think the Lord will give us more evangelists to join our crew. 

Pop-Up Church begins!

In February we created our first ever "Pop-Up Church". First time we called it 'church' and we think many people came because it was church. It ignited a hunger in them. Our pattern is group prayer, singing, words/testimonies, then we have a break and go into the crowd and pray for miracles for people saying, "God wants to show you His love for you by doing a miracle in your life. What do you think God wants to do in your life?" 

Because we're well known and trusted, we find people are open and ready to bare their souls to us to pray when we approach them like this. After the service is over, we have fish and chips with the locals and build friendships over a meal.

Play Group is growing beautifully

Yesterday we had our second biggest playgroup ever  (23) with more newies than regulars! Thank you for praying as this is a significant ministry confirming their faith and being a lovely witness to unbelievers. I'm thankful that we have so many refugees from Myanmar who are genuinely needy and that they are soaking up the Christian teaching hungrily. And Christine has started helping them overtly with English. 

No Man is Greater Than His Prayer Life - Loenard Ravenhill

As the Lord calls me forward and upward into leadership and governance, to be a powerful evangelist, the more I have to pray, the more I have to pray. This picture shows a lonely, narrow path at Avalon Beach which I share with solitary fishermen and my faithful hounds, my prayer-dogs. This is the engine room of revival. The path gets narrower the further you go along! You have to give up lust, greed, sloth, selfishness, fear, small-mindedness, etc....

Have I not commanded you? Be Strong and Courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1: 9

Planning and Reflection

January was a holiday month but we had one very important planning meeting with seven core team members. We planned to step up our evangelism in Term 1, 2022 with two main projects.

Super Sunday Kids Club: 

Every second Sunday at our home in a large marquee, we will have games, competitions, songs, drama, craft and teaching to try to begin discipling the 7-12 year old local kids.

Labbo Pop Up Church: 

Every second Saturday at Labuan Square we will host 'church' and build relationships of love involving individual prayer, preaching, worship, testimonies.

This all begins in February, so next post will be much more interesting.

End of Year Christmas Special

Introduction

Thank you so much for being part of the success of Little Miracles Home Group Corio in 2021. To help keep me on track and you well-informed, here is a review of the year's ministries focusing on learning how to love our neighbours better. I'm so excited about next year and the opportunities we have to bring the gospel more effectively and efficiently to the people of Corio and help lead the church in a growing season of outreach and revival and I hope and trust you can be part it!

The Importance of Intercessors

I am wildly grateful for the Intercessors who literally cut the trail upon which we've walked since coming to Corio in April 2019 and nothing of value would have been achieved without their prayer. But more importantly, I thank those who have gone before, who have prayed for revival, for unity in the church, for the Holy Spirit to bring the Presence of God thickly in the streets and homes of this disadvantaged suburb to turn people's hearts to Jesus. Now it's up to us to play our part.

The Vital Statistics for 2021 and since the beginning - April 2019

I'm including the numbers because I think one goal is to 'reach' everyone in our postcode 3214 with the gospel. There are about 40,000 people in our postcode. This is how we're tracking so far. I'll do it again next year. This is a fairly solid estimate:

                                                        Numbers for 2021

                                    Family          Tree         Harvest        Play        Leaders

                                    Pizza         Planting      Team          Group      Dinners

                                    Nights

Events held                    24                  4              20              23             2

People engaged             50                150           120             30             50  

Total people                                                                                            

Engaged since 4/19       60                 220           120            30            60   

Total unsaved reached since beginning: 400 

Total - Trees Growing: 70   Parks Planted: 2  Intercessors Backing Ministry: 35

                                                       

Tree Planting - We're a "Christian Nature Group"!

Despite Covid, we've hosted 4 events this year and currently have 70 eucalyptus trees growing nicely in two parks. Vandalism is still a problem, but far less a problem than in the past because of our community engagement model. Cooperation with the council is high and we've learned a lot from our last major Tree Planting Festival and Christmas Show.                     Video of Christmas Tree Planting

Our team debrief and telephoning participants revealed important learning. This time we didn't have live music and it wasn't needed. We didn't have the Lion's Club BBQ and didn't need it. We had gifts, but they weren't important. The trees weren't even important drivers for our guests. 

Tree Planting & Christmas Show

This time, the guests loved playing together and making friends. They enjoyed tug-o-war, stilts, three-legged race and egg-and-spoon. They loved the Cheezel and ice-cream game and they didn't even mention the full throttle gospel presentation and worship. They said they loved the event and would like to come to another one. Local Pastor Steve Greenslade was a fabulous leader in the kids events. 

Looking Ahead for future Tree Planting Events

Over the years we have a built a strong, trusting relationship with the City of Greater Geelong. As a Christian Nature Group, we are committed to plant trees in all the small neglected parks in Corio over the coming years and to use the opportunity to create grassroots community festivals. Alongside the tree planting, the focus is to maximise the impact of the gospel and 'draw the children on' in Christ. Establish a fun event, with check in, music, publicity, games and get skilled ministers of the word to bring the gospel up to the crowd with laughter and skill. I will try to funnel the new-comers from these future events to our regular events at home.

Family Pizza Nights

Family Pizza Nights

This year we hosted 24 events and engaged 50 locals. Each evening we cooked together, usually making pizzas, played some games and then learned about God. During the year I felt I couldn't continue and the very next week the Lord provided two new leaders to teach the Word. I learned from this that my job is to set up events and get the crowd and the Lord will provide skilled folk to teach the people. The year ended with several amazing nights when 10 to 13 kids would sit quietly as we taught about Jesus. This really is a dream come true.

Looking Ahead to Future Events

Next year I believe God is calling us to focus more on teaching younger kids about Jesus with more of a focus on big events. Could you please join with me in praying about "Super Sunday Kids Club". Replacing weekly Family Pizza Nights, we would host Kids Club once a month on Sunday afternoon at our home in Corio with a marquee and full scale performance, music, dancing, games, food, prizes. Less frequent means more special and my crew will be fresher and more eager with a monthly focus rather than every week. Plus focusing on younger kids means getting them before they go off the rails and drawing them on in Christ - a Kids Church? This change also means engaging a lot more kids.

Harvest Team

Carols at Labuan Square

What an amazing story. Last January the Lord gave me a strong vision to start a church-wide outreach group. He said He'd give me people to lead and so we got started using 'Jesus at the Door' but soon learned the best way is to host events so we hosted a small rally then a Carols event which exceeded all our expectations. We have built relationships with the locals and then brought in skilled and passionate Christians to bring the Word. We hosted 20 events and engaged roughly 120 non-Christians this year through Harvest Team events.

Looking Ahead to Future Events

I believe the Lord has told me to host monthly 'church events' for the folks at a small local shopping square called Labuan Square next year from a vacant shop at the square. I can run these events without a council permit so we can easily bring the church to the people, people God has put us in loving contact with. Again, the focus is on maximising the fact that we have 30 non-Christians quietly listening! Please pray we will bring the Kingdom of God in Power. These are hungry, needy folks. 

Play Group

This year we started the playgroup and hosted 23 events and engaged 30 folks with an average attendance of 14. We have developed a lovely culture together with lots of singing, learning about Jesus and prayer as well as creativity, play and nurture.

 We have mainly Karen migrants with one Chinese family and a blended Indonesian family. It is such a joy to help these young families learn to enjoy education and Christianity. Next year we will change the day to Friday and advertise more and try to attract Anglo children who need training before school. We will also start the mornings with singing because this releases more joy and unity over the group and they love singing. 

Inspiring the Wider Church

Part of my vision is to inspire to the wider church so that more of us can love our neighbour, particularly to the poor. I have done three radio interviews this year with 96Three on outreach and preached several sermons at Bethel Christian Fellowship on loving our neighbour and learning to bring the gospel to the poor. People have received the teaching really well and many new folks have joined our outreach endeavours as it seems we've stepped into a context fully prepared by the Lord. We also send out an Evangelism Prayer List to enable intercessors to pray people into the kingdom.

Unity in the North

We hosted two Leaders' Dinners this year and we are connecting with many church leaders and intercessors through Pastor Paul Hills' monthly prayer gatherings. Our outreach events are also bringing in Christians from many churches to work together. Sharing this blog is a tool to inspire Aussie Christians to love their neighbours and evangelise. Despite this, I acutely feel the loss of relationship and connection which is happening too as we go forward. Many churches are uninterested and a bit negative about what we're doing. Some close people I thought would come alongside, seem uninterested. 

On a Personal Note

I am being paid just under $400 per week from Bethel Christian Fellowship where I am the Assistant Pastor with lots of admin and spiritual leadership responsibilities, which I absolutely love. Christine is working 3-4 days per week with the Australian Bureau of Statistics and we are madly in love. We are passionate gardeners and Christine is raising new chickens. 

The Big Picture

Christine and I have been in Corio two-and-a-half years and we've made a good start in building for revival. We are learning to serve God better every day and we're totally blessed by what He is doing. But we have to be tough because we're asking Christians to focus on others within a context of an attractional church culture - where Christians come to church to receive. This is a massive shift and I come back to the idea that 'if they wanted to do outreach, they would'. Loving others is very difficult but it is God's requirement of us; to be fruitful. So it will take years of persistent service to build an army of skilled outreach workers and advocates; people who get that revival mission in Australia is God's call on us right now. That means every church goer giving their lives to lift others up and sharing with the poor the triumph of Jesus Christ as the time runs out for each of us. Let us teach the children to follow our Saviour with increasing skill, effectiveness and efficiency. 

How to Help

Photo of borrowed goods

We are largely self-supporting, but if you'd like to help, here are some simple things we need for ministry in the new year:

• Marquee $100 (second hand 6 x 3m)
• Wood to make stilts $70*
• Tug-o-War Rope $100*
• Stationary for publicity and events $100
• Get involved or recommend a friend: We provide solid covering for frontline operatives in a very needy area with strong prayer backing. 

* pictured here when borrowed from Hawthorn West Baptist Church

Finally

Thank you for sharing the journey with us and for praying. Please continue to hold us up in prayer and please drop me a line if you have any prophetic words or wisdom for us. And if you have any friends who would like to receive our monthly blog, please give me their email and I'll include them in the list. Or forward this along. 

If you don't want to receive this in future, please let me know.

Financial Support

BSB: 013259   ACC: 248826009

When we pray for non-Christians in LOVE, God moves in POWER.