WE ARE BACK IN ACTION!

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a blog - apologies to our regular readers. Hope you will like the new-look i58 now that it has 'flash' technology! Thank you all for your patience!
I'm on the road at the moment as Torchbearers Australia is looking to set up a Mission Trip in an Aboriginal community for next Easter. This is an exciting time! We are looking to God to show us where He would like us to be. I am traveling with Tony, a student from last semester, and we are visiting various churches who have great connections with their indigenous communities. We've been to Port Macquarie, Tweed Heads, Moree and tomorrow we will go to Dubbo. So far we've seen some GREAT work going on and I think we'll have to pray and use lots of discernment to know where God would like us to serve. More news about this will follow once we get back and report to Dave and Neil. I just have to say that the hospitality that has been extended to us has been outstanding! People have been SO kind to us. And while we have been traveling we have enjoyed some new sights - we took some photos and the best of these I'll put on our facebook page.
Other news from our school is that there is a lot of baking going on right now!! We are holding a Benefit Night on 12th September for Missions and Ministry which will support our mission trip to Hong Kong on 28th and also help students who need help with their school fees. The evening includes desert and drinks plus entertainment and the main attraction will be the auction of the special gifts and talents of all our students! Most of the talents involve a fair bit of muscle, (gardening, cleaning, farm work etc) but others include help with IT, speaking German and baby sitting! How great is that! We hope to raise $2,000. I am impressed to hear from the students, (even though I'm on the road), that my flat now resembles a bakery!!
Lots of good stuff is happening at school - all part of a 'normal' week; GREAT teaching from our director, Dave, on the first book of Peter, GREAT family nights with trips to two local bowling allies and GREAT Guys and Girls nights with great bonding and praying.
I'm looking forward to sharing more news of life at our Bible School next week. Meanwhile, HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
STEVE aka WOODSEY

GOD AT WORK BIG TIME!

WOW! Only into our second week and each of us is feeling God's hand upon us in a very special way. Part of the wonder of God is that He knows each of us individually and where we are at. What amazes us that through the teaching of His Word, through one person speaking, everyone can receive a personal revelation from God. We have countless testimonies of this happening already. Students are peeling back so much of who they are so that the God of all reality can be their reality and together we can walk in that reality of GRACE, LOVE and UNITY. A huge thanks to Dave Sharman, our Director, who has been teaching from the book of Ephesians this week - mate! God has used you mightily!

I guess the other big news this week is that Keith Walters, the former student who designed the i58 website is coming here to upgrade the website. He only has a few days to spend with us but we hope he will not only achieve his goal but also enjoy some good hang out time with all the new students!! Thanks Keith for your amazing gift to us - and for flying in all the way from Texas!!

Last Sunday was our first SN@C of the new season and it went off with real passion as the team introduced the new students, played some crazy games and led us into a great message of GRACE. This combined with great worship meant that everyone there was well and truly fed and went home blessed! That's the way we like it. Thanks to all the local community who support us and be part of this amazing time together!

This week the theme of the SN@C is 'gossip' and it is viewed from the context of community - looking at what builds it and what tears it down. What an awesome reminder to all of us about our responsibility, not just to ourselves but to the wider community for the building up of the body of Christ - can't wait to see their presentation. If you can, come and join us and, as we say each week, BRING A FRIEND!

Well, it may be Friday, but there's so much to look forward to this weekend. Tomorrow night we are taking a bus load of people to Hillsong to hear their evening service and, as usual, enjoy a meal at Mackers on the way home! Some of the students are going into MacArthur to watch a movie and do some shopping. Oh, and tonight, I have a bunch of guys coming over for a dinner. Tim, our Greek Masterchef and I have come up with a menu and this arvo we'll be putting it all together. Love it!!

So, as I close, I wish you all a GREAT weekend and hope to hear from some of you either in the comments or on our i58 page on facebook! Why not check out our new photos!!!

God bless,
STEVE aka WOODSEY

BACK IN ACTION

One of the most exciting days for the staff at Torchbearers Australia is the day the students arrive. For some of them it is returning home, (after already completing one semester with us), and for others it is a whole new adventure about to begin.

During any break we have the time to relax and refresh and in a way, that only makes us more excited to greet our new family and start our journey of doing life together in this beautiful place that God has blessed us with.

So, they're here!! They all arrived safe and sound and have come from all over the globe; America, Canada, (of course), England, Germany and many different parts of Australia. And for the first time in over eight years we have more guys than girls!! What amazing times are in store for all of us as we learn to enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ!

Already the students have been given lectures by our Principal, the Rev. Neil Bernard, on Christ in Hebrews, as well as having been given a great grounding in the ways we operate here. To break this up a bit we all went out as a family on Wednesday night to HANG DOG which is an indoor rock climbing centre in Woolongong. We all loved it; some preferred to traverse, belay, or talk but most loved the climbing itself, whether it was straight up or going round various ledges or just 'hanging out' in the bat cave, (excuse the pun!!). And let's not forget the great conversations that were going on in the bus - even though we were a little tired going there we were certainly fired up on the way back!

Last night we split the guys and the girls to have our regular Thursday night prayer groups. Here we bond with our own gender, have a focus and then pray and the guys then split into prayer triplets. It was a great time to get to know each other better AND pray together and for each other. For the staff this is a way of life but for our students this is the start of establishing healthy spiritual habits that may last a lifetime.

So today, Friday we finish the first week with the guys going camping and the girls have a 'fun night in' doing whatever it is that girls do!! The guys will be sitting around a great fire, eating some terrific food - one of the Aussie students is half Greek so we'll be eating Greek food par excellence - and looking at the stars as we share stories and just enjoy the GREAT Aussie outback.

So we are back in action and God is very much working in our lives already. Our first SN@C is on Sunday and already our first team is roaring to go with a programme that will get us getting to know each other with lots of fun and hearing a GREAT message on grace.

How good is that for a first week at Torchbearers Australia! Wish you were here? Just get in touch and join us for what will undoubtedly be another GREAT semester!
Good bless,
STEVE, aka Woodsey

GOD IS DOING AMAZING THINGS THROUGH US

Hi everyone! Seems like a lot of time has passed since I last wrote and for sure, a lot of things have been happening in the lives of the Torchbearers community! As you know, the school went on what we call Prac Week a few weeks ago. So let me give you a bit of a run down on the time out. If you want to check out any photos, go to the i58 page on facebook to see heaps of pictures.

Without a doubt the highlight of the Nowra Prac Week was the Saturday Night Youth Event, organised by their local Anglican church who they had been working with along with all the local schools, some Christian and some not. Here, following the message our team did a drama to music, (drime). It showed how the world can have such a hold on us and only Jesus can set us free. After this there was an appeal to the youth and between 25 and 30 gave their lives to Jesus and our students had the privilege to lead them to Christ. They said it was awesome. When we got the news from them we all celebrated too. How worthwhile is it to become passionate about Jesus and go out to those who need Him and be used mightily to extend the Kingdom!

The other Prac Week team worked with the poor on the streets of Sydney with the Salvation Army. It’s not always easy to adjust to working with the poor but this team had Jesus paving the way! Their report included comments like, ‘I was taken outside of my comfort zone and realised that it wasn’t so uncomfortable’ and ‘God showed me how He sees these people – they are His creation who He dearly loves’. I could not have asked for more. Our work included a lot of cleaning homes for the poor with such grateful responses such as, ‘I felt like a Princess in my own home’. I was very proud of the team and praised them for how much they had all grown. They all said that they wanted to do something to serve the poor when they return to their home churches – how good is that!

The very next weekend following our few days off after Prac Week I took 12 students and community members to the Salvation Army’s Winter Sleep-out. It was an amazing experience together with about 300 other young people who all had a heart to do something to raise the profile of the 32,000 street sleepers in Australia today. Kevin Rudd is committed to halving this number and we are happy to support this cause. No one was too cold and we experienced lots of ‘live’ entertainment from TV personalities, Miss New South Wales and also a street kid Rapper who stole the show with his hard hitting message of moving on in Christ no matter what – His stage name is Supernal and his everyday name is Dwayne. We had got to know him on Prac Week and after our sleep-out he came back to stay with us for a week.

We had the most awesome week with Dwayne and his buddy Stephen. They loved every moment with us and thought they were in heaven except they could see that our grounds had weeds!! Dwayne is hoping to join us next semester – how good would that be!!!

Our SN@C (Sunday Night At Capers) was absolutely AMAZING last week – the power of God swept the place and touched lives in a way we have not seen before. Lots of people were moved to tears, received prayer and one guy gave his life to Jesus! Praise God. We had record numbers – over 100 and this week there is the promise of even more people coming. We heard from one youth club that they would be bringing out their whole group from Robertson!! We are so blessed!


The end is very much in sight and we are all reflecting on an absolutely life-transforming semester and looking ahead to the transition back into the world of family, work or study.

I’ll sign off now and report back at the end of the semester.

HAVE THE BEST WEEKEND

STEVE aka WOODSEY

READY TO GO!

This will be the last blog post for a couple of weeks as the whole school is about to move out into the wider community to serve in various ways. One team is heading south to work with the Anglican Church in Nowra and the other team is going to Sydney to serve with the Salvation Army and their street ministry.

So here’s a run down of some of the highlights over the last week. First up, our lecturer this week was Satish John, the Director of Torchbearers in India. The students were very impressed by his stories as he expounded on ‘The Servanthood of the Believer.’ This timing of these lectures was perfect – the week before heading out for Prac Week.

Here’s a few alternative stories; some of the girls went over to the Briars for a coffee and they got the giggles when then saw an elderly lady fall asleep on the sofa – Kelsy said, ‘You could see right up her nose!’ All the students enjoyed our Thursday morning breakfast as we had porridge for the first time this autumn (fall). We also had lots of other goodies like dates, yoghurt, sultanas and a fruit platter as we broke up into our Prac Week teams to enjoy a time of bonding! Oh yes, and how could I forget, we have three new additions to the school – three miniature ponies grazing in our paddocks – they are a great hit with the students, especially the girls! And for the guys, the latest update is that Thane and Cade have changed the name of their car from Thade to M – if you want to know what ask them on the i58 page on facebook.

Talking to the students, the highlight of the week was most definitely going to Sydney to help the Salvation Army collect for the Red Shield Appeal. We left at 7.30 in the morning in the pouring rain, wondering if we would ever return the same, when suddenly as we passed Campbelltown the sun began to shine brilliantly. What a perfect day! We arrived at the Street Level Church to be given our uniforms, (something like a red pinafore with the Salvos’ logo), and then sent out into teams of about six. We had one of our SN@CERS, Zac Barr join us, to help collect all the money. We started around 9.30 and went straight through until 4.30. Once we had finished, the Salvos estimated that we had collected $12,000 - $15,000, not bad for a whole day’s work. I have to say, I was very proud of the students who went – they worked very hard and as well as collecting so much money they also had great team work and enjoyed themselves heaps.

Well, tonight is SN@C, the last for a couple of weeks so we are expecting a huge crowd. The team have been working hard, as usual, ready to make an impact with the gospel message on all who come.

Oh, just one last piece of news. Following the huge success of the Hong Kong Mission Trip we have decided to go again in September. I am so excited about this and am looking forward to what God will teach us as we step out to put our faith into action to build into the lives of the poor.

Well, until I write again, enjoy wonderful times with Jesus,

STEVE aka WOODSEY

EVERY WEEK IS A BIG WEEK!

Hi everyone! Sometimes I wonder what I might write the following week, then when Thursday comes there’s so much that’s happened in this wonderful community at school that I have to think about what to include! Sometimes we get great surprises like this week when Rod came to visit. He is our former Property Manager who I wrote about a while ago who sadly lost his wife Elizabeth and two sons, James and Matthew to the Victorian bush fires in Marysville. As he and his wife met here he wanted to come back to relive some wonderful memories and shed some tears as part of his grieving. He shared with the students on Thursday morning and it was an awesome testimony of how Jesus has personally walked with him through his “Job” experience without being bitter and instead being filled with the joy of the Lord – truly remarkable.
And on to something completely different! Last Friday the guys discovered the sauna on campus and totally got into putting new life into it. So on Saturday evening the fire was stoked and the steam came pouring out! All the guys enjoyed one of the best experiences of a sauna they have ever had. And tonight, which is our regular ‘Guy’s night’, (where one of them shares on a topic of the day and then we break up into prayer triplets), we are going to hold in the sauna – different for sure and lots of fun! It’ll be the first time that we’ve been so clean as we start our prayer triplets!!!
Last week our principal, Neil, taught on the ‘Life of David’ and the students just loved it. So this week the Bible Studies, which are presented by the students in their respective family group, were based on themes from that teaching. Our students gave great presentations which built up each family – they are growing so much that it seems easy to do all these things that last term seemed so difficult!
And now onto this weekend, which is a little special. One family group will be taking a hike to the Blue Mountains and then a whole bus load will go to the Acer Arena to watch an AFL game. The students and sooo excited about that!!! Also, on Sunday I will be taking some students to Narrabeem Baptist Church to give a special presentation. Alyssa and Jordan will sing three songs as part of the service and at the end we will have a chance to chat with the people about Torchbearers. We have also been invited out to lunch – how cool is that!
Then it’s back to school in time to practise for another SN@C. Alyssa and Jordan are leading the worship on Sunday so they will be relying on Jesus for lots of strength!
Yesterday our secretary, Katie, went off to Germany to be at the wedding of two of our former students, one of whom she mentored while she was here for a year. We love being part of the lives of the friends we make here and it is such a privilege to be invited to so many weddings even if we can’t go to all of them. We send our love and God’s blessings on Sam and Damaris and they look forward to their BIG day.
And lastly, I spoke to Keith this week, he’s the American former student who created the i58 website, and we are planning lots of new things for the website – so be excited lots of good things are being planned especially for you!
All in all another BIG week at school where our students are continually being stretched to grow – how awesome is that!
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
STEVE aka WOODSEY

BACK IN ACTION

Well, the term is well underway. All the students have settled back after their mid term break and are now preparing to go on Prac Week in just over two weeks. Haven’t written the blog since returning from Hong Kong as there’s a been quite a lot of things to catch up with. The Hong Kong Mission Trip Report is now complete and I’ll attach it at the end of this blog – it was truly a life transforming experience.

First up, though, have to say that we loved hearing each other’s stories of how God had been so faithful to the whole student body during two week break. Our God is truly an AWESOME God! Stephen was the only student who didn’t come back as he was dealing with a family issue over the break. We hope to see him return to school any week now. We are in touch with him and he is doing well and missing us!

Traditionally, on the first Friday back we have a Guy’s Night and a Girl’s Night. This term the girls opted for a night in watching a movie while the guys made the most of our new student Jon’s help to stay in Sydney at the Marriott. It was quite a treat and brought home our love of saunas. As I write this the guys have just had their first sauna on campus by resurrecting the sauna at the back of the hay shed - how good is that! This week’s guy’s group will be led by Cade – in the sauna – and I’m sure he’ll give us something to sweat about!

Getting back to the more serious stuff, our focus is now moving onto Prac Week. We have two teams; one will be going to work with the Salvation Army in Sydney serving the poor while the other will go to the Anglican Church in Nowra and serve all kinds of church ministries and build up relationship with the youth.

We hope that as we step our to serve we might attract many young Australians to take time out here at Torchbearers to be built up in the knowledge, experience of serving and relationship with Jesus - it's such a great place to grow.

Our SN@Cs, (Sunday Night @ Capers) have been going from strength to strength. Last week week had 60 from the community join us for a great presentation sharing all about New Life in Jesus. This week the theme is Grace, Mercy and Justice. The large number of local people who now come is a great testimony of the incredibly creative ways in which the students work to make these SN@Cs happen combined with a GREAT commitment. Well done all the students!!!!!!!!!

Well now its time to post the HK update. Hope you’ve enjoyed the latest from us and are inspired by all what God is doing in our lives. Catch you all next week.

STEVE

HONG KONG MISSION TRIP APRIL 2009

Well, we’re back and we had the most amazing time. Here are some quotes from the guys:

Carl “I’d never before experienced God work so much in my life”

Jess “The Lord really opened my eyes to His grace”

Tony “Hearing God speak so clearly was amazing”

As trip leader these quotes are a reward in itself but to have witnessed these guys serve the Lord and be used in such strategic ways will always be a source of encouragement to me. Enthusiasm was something that just burst out of these guys. It was like from the moment they met the community in New Boy House they had a passion to share the love of Christ with them. This came out in such a variety of ways; playing games, sport, going on recreation, doing housework, worshipping together, praying for each other and just plain hanging out. And all this without being able to speak Cantonese! How does this happen? Well, as Jess said, there was a lot of grace around. Not even language prevented them from serving with all their hearts.

For me, going back again is a huge privilege. I’m able to reconnect with many
people, (both helpers and brothers), and show that the love we come to share is ongoing. It’s interesting that our guys experienced so much of the love of our Father through everyone in the New Boy House community.

I’d like to share a few stories and then move on to some of the challenges, highlights and effects of this ministry on us now that we are back at school.

First up, here’s the incredible story of an Aussie guy, (former addict who loved Jesus), who had gone to NBH to find new life. We pick up his story on our first day. He had been there for a few weeks and was quite unsettled and wanted to go back to Australia. He found us being there quite an encouragement. As we built a relationship with him and talked life into him he gradually peeled back and with the help and encouragement of everyone else he let Jesus do a mighty work in his life. He had had quite a troubled past and had an issue of not being able to forgive his father. As the days rolled by he said he was ready to forgive and the ensuing prayer session led to an amazing revelation of Jesus ‘taking out the thorn in his heart’ which had been the cause of so much pain. It led to a total transformation in this young man’s countenance and a new passion in his heart to stay and learn how to help others with similar problems. Praise God!

Our ‘Western Food Night’ was quite the event. We decided to cook Kentucky Style Chicken with chips, ketchup and bread and butter. We ordered the food from the market a few days in advance and got some good deals, after all we were cooking for over 100 people! We had two woks and about four hours to pull off this amazing feat! It started with a surprise – we couldn’t tell what temperature the oil was at in the wok so when we put in the chicken the next thing we knew was a thick black fog everywhere.

The brothers, who had put their trust in us came running out as though the house was on fire!! From that moment on we had all the best cooks there, ready at hand to help with anything – how marvellous! Together we cooked 360 pieces of chicken, 150 potatoes worth of chips and buttered ten loaves of bread! The meal was served with Coke and followed by ice-cream. The whole night was a HUGE success and a terrific memory of the Lord’s blessing.

In all we did we made friendships, some very close indeed. Oddly, Jess and Tony made particular friends with the older guys and Carl and I made close friends with the younger guys. We all miss our new found friends and the good times that we shared with them.

Our guys were well prepared for living in a new culture and responding to the work. One of our challenges was to meet up every day as we were split up into two teams. This mostly worked during the lunch break when we could share a Mars bar and pray for each other. These times were so encouraging. It was a little tough for Tony as he really struggled with the Chinese food even though he could eat the rice. Often after breakfast he and Jess would slip round the back of the house to eat a chocolate bar for lots of energy. One of the helpers asked to see if they had a smoking problem!!

One highlight of the trip was the worship sessions (twice a day in NBH). With about 40 guys singing with all their hearts to the rhythm of the guitar, it was quite an overwhelming experience. God showed up in power and we always had such beautiful times of prayer where a lot of the brothers would be healed. Indeed, when we were at the Drug Addict’s meeting the Lord revealed He was there to heal the sick and one crippled lady stood up and danced before us completely healed! I particularly liked going on the street one night to feed the poor. We went to the ‘church’ under a flyover where over 200 people gathered. They sang worship songs, prayed for each other’s needs and were then given rice boxes.

Now we are back at school we are full of the joy of the Lord. We have shared our stories with many groups and know that we have truly touched lives. We are more aware of God’s presence in our own lives and are responding to what He is doing to allow us to grow into the likeness of his Son Jesus Christ.
From the stories that we’ve shared there is a great interest for another trip to NBH this year – for that we’ll just have to see what the Lord has for us.

We are so grateful to everyone who helped us financially and prayerfully. We left a gift of $12,000AU for St Stephen’s Society’s new buildings project. Jackie was surprised and delighted and sent her heartfelt thanks to all of us who contributed to make the New Boy House community thrive.


STEVE WOODS April 2009