Putting our faith into action

Torchbearers Australia is a wonderful place to live learn and grow. Where ever we are on this 25 acre property we surrounded by God’s beautiful nature and His peace. A lot of our students particularly enjoy this especially as it’s a far cry from a world that’s pretty full-on at distracting us just about every minute of the day!

We love to build up our students in their faith and then sending them out to put it into action! Every week there are lots of ministries happening here in our local community – all offering our students lots of variety such as working with young kids, youth, street kids, church, or old folk!

This week I spoke to some of our students and asked them to give us a flavour of the activities they get up to. I started with a group of three girls Cari, Kristen and Shannon, all from Canada and all go to ‘Xgen’ the youth group of One Life Church in Moss Vale. They said that it runs every Friday night from about 7.30 until 9.00 and there’s a lot to get excited about. They love just hanging out with the young crowd of about 15 youngsters before they begin to worship with the band. Then their ‘on fire for Jesus’ youth leader, Scott Cummings, leads a game and shares a message. I asked Cari what she liked best about the night and she said, ‘I love the atmosphere, its great! And I’m impressed that the kids get along so well, (aged from about 13 – 20).’ Shannon and Kristen both said they liked Scott’s motto, ‘When you come to Xgen, bring a Bible, bring a notepad, bring a pen AND a friend!’ I have to say I rather like that too!

Our other neighbouring town is Bowral and that’s where Thomas and Cade, (also both from Canada), go to on Monday evenings from 5.30 – 7.15. Their destination is St Jude’s Anglican Church’s Boys Club where there are heaps of 7 – 13 year olds all wanting to cling on to their arms and their legs when ever they can. They said that the boys sometimes they get so carried away with the games that it’s hard for them to hear what’s being said so Cade and Thomas have to shout a lot!!! I asked Cade what was the best thing about the club and he said, ‘Bonding with the kids. One of the guys only has sisters so it’s good to be a big brother to him.’ How cool is that!

There’s always something going on here. With 24 young people the energy levels run pretty high and they certainly keep the staff on our toes. But I have to say that the energy we really need for all this work is the life of Jesus. This week I was talking to the class about spending Quiet Times with God. I used the titles of two Hillsong songs to make the point: ‘The more personal time we spend with God the stronger we are FROM THE INSIDE OUT so that when we are in the world and faced with temptations we’ll be able to say, ‘I’LL STAND’ without falling!’ I think they got it and I hope it may encourage you too!

I’m off on a conference tomorrow in Sydney for two days and among other speakers I’m looking forward to hearing Dr John Dickson talking on Humility, the essential leadership quality. That will definitely provoke our thinking!!

Oh, just one other thing, the students who did an awesome job at fund raising for the Bush fire victims made it into the Southern Highlands News – another great story of putting our faith into action!

Looking forward to catching up with you all next week. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

WOODSEY