Hi Church,

Well, I’m only just recovering from a huge weekend with Men’s Camp Friday to Sunday and full service day Sunday, finishing off with Powerhouse Prayer and Worship. It’s probably that I’m feeling my age, turning 55 this week and trying to play beach soccer with blokes and kids decades younger then me. The legs just don’t move when the brain tells them to anymore. Anyway, days later they tell me I did way too much. Lol.

But let’s get back to what I shared on the weekend. It was truly a powerful time at Camp as we discussed what good fathering is all about and for the kids what it means for them to be positive sons and daughters. We also prophesied over just about everyone thanks to Paul and Justin. Also, thank you to Justin Pagotto, Michael Acland, and Doug Bollard who all shared their heart with good Bible teaching over the weekend.

One of the truths I wanted the Dad’s and Kids to see with their eyes and know with their heart was the importance of knowing who is their tribe. Sometimes the younger Dads can miss on a Sunday in context of the larger family that there are others the same as them at the same life stage. So to see us all together around the camp fire declaring I’m here for you, I see you, was very necessary. Of course, we take that into our larger church family and state that for everyone. The Kids had a moment too where they joined that circle around the campfire, and we said we are here for them. For their welfare and care and for their growth and journey in God.

My teaching at Camp and on Sunday included two major truth stories in the Bible. David hiding out at Adullam’s Cave in 1 Sam 22 and Nehemiah 2. David in his hiding from Saul managed to gather around himself a crew of people who started as discontent, indebt and distressed men and their families but as time progressed then became David’s mighty men. That transformation brought about the new kingdom under David which is an eternal Kingdom we all benefit from today as the descendant Jesus sits on the throne that has been established forever. That transformation happened as they went from individuals to a tribe, to a family to one body. In the New Testament we call it the Church.

Likewise for Nehemiah, he brought hope to a city broken and in distress with walls that were smashed and burnt and scattered. These walls were restored around Jerusalem in record time when families stood by each other protected each other and worked encouraging each other. Again, another picture of the church in the New Testament. Jesus is our Nehemiah as he gathers living stones that were broken and he turns them into a temple magnificent for his dwelling.  

The Church is the place for the broken the burnt out, the distressed, the indebt, and the discontent we must never forget that. For that’s the way we all came into Gods family. Sin destroyed us but God rescued and restored us. Taking us from nothing to a kingdom that will never end. Let’s encourage each other and find our place in this wonderful tribe. Let’s be there for each other, lets take our church forward not settling for the less but the more of what God wants in Port Macquarie and beyond.  

Love you Church

Ps Greg and Amanda

29th August 2023