Mission 2010!

So, it's now less than 2 weeks until we invaid (in a good way) Cowes again!

We get underway on January 2nd with a carnival night at the pier in Cowes, and then we'll have our morning program from Sunday 3rd - Saturday 9th at Erehwon Point also in Cowes. This year's theme is Question Mark, so we'll be exploring some of the stories of Jesus' life as written by Mark. We'll also have the traditional serial drama, this year staring a girl named Milly who leads a double life and has to save Phillip Island from an evil genius! sounds exciting huh?

Like last year we'll be updating this blog regularly with stories of what's been going on and with some prayer points from the team.

Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Please...?

We can has a new post about a certain baby pls?

Fun Run Day for All

Hello All,

Kilsyth South Baptist Church is having the annual Victorian Baptist Fun Run. The Fun Run is held every year and is on the first Saturday in March this year the date will be the 7th. The event involves 6km Run, 11km Run, 16km Run, 6km Walk.

We invite you to come and walk, jog, run or just be a part of the fun. All entrants are in the running for great prizes, The course follows the scenic Dandenong Creek walking track, and is open to individual entrants who may choose the short or a longer course, and to teams who may run the 16km as a relay event.

If your not in the mood for exercise there are also stalls setup of crafts, cakes, plants, food, kids face painting.

The sign in for the run is open from 7.30am – 8.45am, this is to register and get a number to pin on, the actual race starts at 9:00am. The stalls will be open during and after the race.

Those who are interested the fees for the run/walk are
Individual Entrant – 11km, 16km: Adults $10.00 Under 15 years old $ 5.00
Individual Entrant – 6km Adults $ 5.00 Under 15 years old$ 5.00
Relay Team (2-10 members) Adult team $50.00 Under 15 years old team $40.00

I will be entering the event, sadly only to walk the 6km it as I have not done enough training to run this year so you are welcome to join me, or if you are energetic go for the run.

If you are wanting more details our church website is www.ksbc.org.au there is a fun run form posted on there that you can download and pre-fill, or you can fill it out on the day.

Hope to see you there!

Thanks
David Conrau
Kilsyth

Youth Service UPDATED!!!

Hey everybody!!!

Kilsyth South Baptist Church is having a youth service this Sunday night at 6. Its not going to be like any regular service though because our youth pastor has asked us to run it as a beach mission program. There are 5 people from our church that were on beach missions including me, Dave and Laura from cowes, then my sister, Erena from balnarring and Ruth from tidal river. Because we only have 4 (Laura cant make it :( we need more people to help out with the service so if you're interested let me know and we were just going to get together before the service on Sunday AT 2 O'CLOCK to run through whats going to happen but here's a basis overveiw:

Whats going to happen:
Dave and Ruth are going to mc
Songs (banana song, knife fork spoon spatula cha cha cha :), rainbow song, star in God's eyes and the Jesus loves me rap)
Bible story is zachesus (i cant spell)
Memory verse
A drama (making it up from scatch on sunday)
The drama we did at cowes baptist on the Sunday morning (our last day)
so those that are getting involved don't forget 2:00 on this sunday arvo!!!!! this is ur invite so just get back to me if ur a yes!
cant wait to see u all again!!! Oh and anyone that doesn't want to get involved, still come because we would love to have u there.

Meagan
Kilsyth

Dan, Dan, the Doughnut Man to Krispy Kremes

Dearest DOUGH,

I am NUTS about you

Everytime I see you,

My eyes turn bigger than my stomach

And my stomach makes strange noises

You look so good I could eat you.....

Literally.

Your hole fits the hole in my stomach,

like we were made for each other.

Truly yours forever,

Dan the Doughnut Man



(fiction by nanette on request of dotto and daveo)

Urban Summer

Sleep for all!

Woot!!

Mitcham Baptist youth is running urban summer next week monday to friday (19-23)

Thats me (Bryce), Holly, Melissa, Greg, Sherida (possibly), Leonie (my sister) and anyone else you might possibly know.

So, if u wanna rock up, we are running a cafe from 2-5 in the mon-fri afternoons, with a kids program going from 2-3:45. So if u have a free afternoon, come along and see us.

There will be soccer, pool, table tennis, wii, music, air hockey, foosball, food and drinks (and whatever else ive forgotten)

It would be great to catch up with u guys, and i believe the general consensus is that we shall have an almost team reunion on the 23rd (friday). Cafe opens at 2, there will be BBQ dinner for sale, and it stays open till 10 (only on friday). It would be great to see everyone again!

There is now a team blogger account (see email), so keep us all posted on what is happening
- also, there are rumours of a possible website- but u didnt hear it from me

much love and missingness,

Bryce

Blessed be the Name of the Lord

Well well well! What a week! There are so many blessings we have been privileged to be around, I'm not sure where to start.
Our program ended last night with one of the biggest nights ever! Two major drama productions, a bible story, memory verse, songs and of course games! That all in an hour and a half!
The most important highlight of the night was Melissa's explanation of John 3:16. It was a mini miracle! The whole lawn area seemed to go quiet, the 30 or so kids on the tarp in front leaned forward listening intently as the Gospel was presented simply and concisely. PTL (praise the Lord)
it was awesome!
After some games and chatting to parents, we gave away around 25 CDs with kids games, memory verses, songs and the Gospel message. I'm sure we raised some eyebrows as the 13 teams members gathered in open public view to express our praise to God! This was His mission, He has brought us through some tricky situations, He has drawn us so close together, He has opened doors to hearts of many families, He has created a vision of greater things to come and He has been Glorified!
I'll be facing work tonight with a heart full of intimate moments I could never express in words, examples of God's greatness that leave me speechless and a fire in the belly that I pray will intensify and spread to those I meet.
To finish, I'd like to remind our team of our first devo together.

John 2:6 - 11

6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^[a]

7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.

8Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

We have seen Jesus reveal His glory this past week, and would love to share more stories. However for the full picture maybe you need to been down at Cowes filling jars? :p

Matt Moran

Canterbury Gardens Community Church

Girls will be girls (Day 7)

Everyone loves a good laugh, especially at the expense of us girls…so keep reading

I guess ill start with our temporary home, a 10-man green tent located approximately ½ metre from the guys’ tent. It’s late at night, and very dark (may I add that the boys stole all the extension chords for electricity with the excuse that we had the better tent). We rummage around trying to find lost hairbrushes and shampoo and then stumble out of the tent to wait in line for the showers. It’s our turn, and if you were brave enough you could walk into the bathroom to the sound of running water and hysterical giggles. Add another cup of bravery, and you could remain there for an additional 20 minutes with no change in the atmosphere and no signs that the running water would stop running. But if you were smart, you could follow one of us that settled with just brushing our teeth and witness us walking right into the screen door of the tent due to the fact it is practically invisible in bright daylight, and definitely invisible in the black night. If you were a lunatic, you could follow us inside and listen as we were embarrassingly daring enough to stutter a ‘is anyone in here?’ and be answered in silence. If you were the brave one who waited in the bathroom for the showers to come to a dramatic end of disappointed sighs and big yawns, you could remain for another twenty minutes of hair-drying and straightening and then follow these strange creatures back to the tent, where you would be blinded by the sudden lights shot at your eyes (not mentioning whose was the brightest and most frustrating ) and endure the million “who is it?” ’s in 5 different pitches. Sniffing the air you might also catch a whiff of WeetBix and dirty nappies (if you were Laura, anyhow). Yet once we were all safely inside, snuggled up, with lights out and zipped lips, you could listen to the strange noises which began to surround us, from an obvious direction – the guys’ tent – and hear the snores as we soon all fell asleep, since none of us really could be bothered straining our ears to listen to Family Guy at 11pm.

Stay for another 8 hours, and you could hear 7 different alarms going off at the same time, and muffled sighs and yawns as, half-asleep, we turned them off. Wait about another five minutes, and you could hear the alarms go off again. Repeat the routine a few more times, and you have a bunch of groggy, droopy-eyed females tripping out to the bathroom ten minutes after breakfast was scheduled to start.

14 hours later, and we start all over again. Maybe if you were sneaky and quiet enough, you could stay in the corner and witness a few guys tiptoe-ing in with evil grins on their evil faces, armed with shaving cream. However, you might be dissapointed when you saw them all run out when some of us muttered in our sleep about American accents (and a mysterious person whose name rhymed with 'lark').

i could go a step further and tell you what happens a metre away in the guys tent, but i dont think you really want to know. neither do i.

much love,
Nanette Brown
Canterbury Gardens Community Church

A night in the life of a tent peg - Day 4

My head hurts.

Me and my friends are really sick of being used for absolutely anything the silly SUFM leaders need to tie down.

I ask you, do you really need 8 pegs for a tarp, another 2 to tie down the puppet stage, several more to hold down the curtain, and many many more to stop that annoying banner flying away? Lets be rational, that’s a lot of pegs, and those SUFMers are rather handy with the bane of our existence (the mallet).

I suppose we do kind of reap the benefits though, we get front row seats for all the programs, morning and night. Take last night for example. We were having a nice rest through the afternoon after a stressful (but still great) morning, when we were rudely awakened to set up for the night program. I got the best seat last night, I was pegged into the middle of the front of the blue tarp! I didn’t miss a single piece of the action. Poor old P-19 though, he ended up still in the peg bag, he didn’t get used at all. Even though he claims he actually wanted the extra rest, we all know he hates missing any part of the program.

Well anyway, first (after a bit of duck duck goose - I got stood on) there was this really silly song about a knife and a fork and a spoon and a spatula (no mention of the higher order of metallic utensils- sniff!). Then Nanny-cool and Matty-not-cool (looking very silly with a tie and high pants) came on and Matty-not-cool tried to be cool ect. Then we heard from Noami and Dave, about how God always listens to us, even to our thoughts, which is good for me and my buddies- no mouths and all. Then we had some more songs, but I didn’t understand one. The main theme was “no matter how you sneeze, God loves you the same” but I never really got the idea of sneezing, what is wrong with the stuff inside you? Why does it need to be expelled? Maybe when I grow up into a pole I might understand… Anyway, then we had Matilda and Ollie the puppets (P-4 was in prime position for that) and Ollie went fishing when he wasn’t supposed too, and he was so hungry he ate worms, but then he went back and his mum welcomed him home! Can you imagine eating worms? I can’t… well, I can’t imagine eating anything but dirt, but that’s not the point (mmm dirt… we had some nice clay last night, really high class stuff). After another few silly songs the best part of the night came! It was time for BATMAN AND ROBIN!!! Woot! I got a bit teary when Robin left Batman (well, I would if I could have) but I was cheering (in my mind) along with everyone else when he went back. They are such a pair… And then there was the Joker… hes funny…especially when Robin was trying to catch him but he kept getting away (I got stood on a few more times). And then, just as I was getting settled in, and chatting up some of the local minerals, it was time to pack up, and the SUFMers were pulling us out of the ground and packing everything up.

I love being part of a team. Although to you all us pegs might look the same, really we are all different, and have varying strengths and weaknesses. I am amazed at the bunch of pegs we have this year, and the way that we all work together to do whatever needs doing. If the banner needs to be secured, someone is there. If the tents are falling over through the hard wind, all us pegs pull our weight, and the whole tent stays up. It’s a bit like what I heard the SUFMers talking about earlier yesterday, with the one body and many parts, and we all help and hold in different ways towards the same goal.

Well, today is rest day for us pegs, a chance to shine ourselves up for tomorrow, and get all our fibres where they should be. I hope we come back strong tomorrow for another fantastic program.

Yours truly, P-15

He gives and takes away!

Morning everyone!
He gives and takes away has become our hearts cry as we seek to serve and honour our God, let me explain.
Evening day 2.
After such fantastic programs the night and morning before, we moved towards the next program with confidence. It bombed! Big time! Very low numbers, forgetting parts the wheels felt like they were falling off. Or so we thought.
Maybe we lost some of our focus on God, or maybe the Lord was teaching us just how much we need to rely on Him. Either way, He gives and takes away.
Our worship time that night was one of the most real times in my life, as we searched for the programing reasons for our demise, Craig(team parent) pointed us towards our reliance on God, and faithfulness to Him despite the outcome.

Morning day 3
How great is our God!
Almost as a direct contrast to our evening before, we put God first, trusted His leading and ...
We filled the tarp with both parents and kids! Our stories flowed! We were funny! Jesus was declared! AWESOME!
It really has been an example to us all of just how much we need to alter our lives to make sure God is in control!
Please keep praying for the team!

Day 2- Last night

Hey guys just filling you in on the awesome time we had last night!!! It was really great to see God's hand working through us all as we become more and more comfortable as a group.

So after the morning program on day 1, there were 3 of us taking the long way back to the campsite because we decided to walk up mainstreet to do a bit more advertising. This is where we found out that there was actually going to be a night market that was being held in the exact place we were supposed to be having our program! This did throw us a little, however with God's help we were able to not only have a great time with the kids, but we were also able to do a bit of advertising. All of this had obviously worked because we had a really great turn out at this mornings program (as already mentioned by bryce).

There were a lot of people down at the night market last night and although we only had a little patch of grass to work with, we still managed to turn some heads and atract a crowd. We had activities for the kids which included filling balloons with sand (stress balls) and of corse our clowns making whatever balloon animals the kids wanted, and yes this ment whatever because bryce ended up making a dinosaur! To atract the crowd, we had myself, dan and matt m jamming on flute (me), bongos (dan) and guitar (matt).

Overall it was a great night, we had a large group of kids at our patch of grass and it was great to see some of them back again this morning.

by meagan- kilsyth south baptist church

Day Two- Random

I came on Beach Mission to step out of my comfort zone...

It is 1:36 in the afternoon, and the whole team has siesta from after lunch (1 ish) to 3:45, and we can do whatever we want.

I am sitting on my bed,by myself in the 10 man tent (which could fit 15 if needed), surrounded by the junk of the other 4 guys I share it with.

The sun is shining, the wireless internet is working, and I am listening to a choice selection of worship songs on our 5.1 surround sound system (thats 5 speakers and a subwoofer) connected to another laptop on the other side of the tent (courtesy of stretch).

There is a folder full of dvds on the floor, which is consuming much (Oh well) needed sleeping time, and my stomach is full from the excellent lunch dished up by our fabulous cooks.

Out of my comfort zone....

Out of comfort....

Somethings not quite right here...

Luxurious settings aside, God is working amazingly here, and i really am being challenged and stretched, and always growing.

Last night I was dressed up as a clown (scary according to the team kids) and we went down to the night market with more clowns, lots of balloons and many many fliers to publicize what we are doing, and I could almost feel Gods hand apon our work (for more information see the . soontobe blog above by meagan). Yesterday morning was a bit slow, but this morning we had so many kids that we hadnt even prepared enough craft materials! If thats not God, i dont know what is...

Our team has come together like peanut butter and marshmallows, and even though this was my biggest doubt coming into the mission, i am as happy as can be. I was thinking yesterday over lunch, and i realised that i had only known the majority of these people for 24 hours, and i fitted in like a bear in a bowl of soup!

Everyone is getting along (for now), and this thrown together bunch is fast becoming a team
If that isnt God, i dont know what is...

To finish up, i want to quote the best book in the world (not LOTR)

Proverbs 16:3 says

"Commit to the Lord in everything you do, and your plans will suceed"

I really think this verse is showing itself in what were doing here, becuase we are a bunch of christians who are willing to commit everything we do to God, and for the moment at least, we are suceeding!

Keep on praying,

Bryce- Mitcham Baptist Church

PS. I do have to put in the note that although the girls have 7 in their tent, it has got to smell better than this!

Day One - Morning Program

Hey all, thanks for checking up on our progress!
First morning 10.45am we gathered at Erehwon point setting up for our first program. Beginning with creation and the account of Jesus at the wedding at Cana, through drama, song and general silliness we had a fantastic opportunity to share the love of Jesus with around 30 kids. A great start to Cowes Mission '09

Ready Set....

Hey all,
Well thanks to God and His answers to prayer, we are all ready for Mission Cowes '09!
We have 13 leaders from 6 churches, 4 parents, 6 kids and not 1 but 2 cooks. It has been amazing to see how everything has come together and we're looking forward to how the next 8 days goes.
Please continue to remember us in your prayers as we meet with holiday makers and locals alike seeking to show Christ to them.
Get ready for tomorrow's blog...we will have photos!