GOD IS MOVING IN THIS PLACE

Hi there, friends of i58!
Well, what a week we've had! Without doubt the biggest thrill was when we saw God move in an incredible way. On Friday I suggested to the students that we raise $1250 to buy a new guitar as we have 22 taking lessons. I asked them to have faith to believe that God would honour the time span we would set. Nathan boldly said, 'Four days', while the rest of the students said up to three weeks. Well, we collected our loose change and made a start - we were off! The next day while we were preparing the Conference Hall for our SN@C presentation on Sunday night I suggested we auction the drawings that last week's lecturer had made and left for us. So, at the end of SN@C the auction began. The first of seven pictures raised a staggering $105. WOW! But that was just the beginning! The bidding just kept going up and up! One sold for $300 and the final drawing of an eagle went for $400! We raised $1312!!! How GENEROUS is God. We have now ordered TWO guitars and all of us have been encouraged in our faith journey with God.
As our faith increases we desire to see more of Jesus and that inevitably means less of us. Sometimes when we focus on less of ourselves we actually do the reverse so the BEST way to go is always MORE of Jesus! In this week's lectures our Director, Haldane Rowan, is teaching on the Beattitudes, (Matthew 5-7). The buzz words that are going around the students are, 'Empty ourselves - just like Jesus did - so we can be filled with the Holy Spirit'. I think Jesus said it clearly in Luke 9:24, 'For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it'. I'm proud that we have a student body who is seeking to do just that and bless you to do the same!
The other big news this week is that our school announced to the community that it was no longer pursuing the sale of the property. This has been welcomed by the community who enjoy our interaction and support of many local ministries. Our challenge now is to update our facilities. With God's help we are eager to get started!
One last piece of news - I plan to take another mission trip to Hong Kong this April and have shared with the students what it will involve - next week I'll announce the team! Exciting times ahead for us all.
Now over to Colton:


Hello Everyone,
First off, we all had our first taste of the community this week through participating in local ministries. The one I am a part of is an after-school program for children in primary school. They call it Fun House, and boy is it ever fun (and a little bit wild). We get children with heaps of energy, and we get the chance to work in their lives, even if it is for just 2 hours a week.

As Woodsey said, we also had a crazy success in our art auction Sunday night. To think that we raised all the money for the guitar in one night just blows my mind. It is great to see God work in unexpected ways. Here is a picture of the highest priced piece that went for $400, purchased by our very own Brendan Johnson.

The sun is shining once again today! (it seems to always shine on work day) and that means one thing: perfect time to go to the beach. 3 of the 4 family groups are headed off to the sand and surf today for an evening of relaxation and a delicious BBQ. It will be my first time to the beach in Australia and I can’t wait to get there.

God Bless and have a great week!

STEVE aka WOODSEY & COLTON

MOVING FORWARD

Hi there, friends of i58!

The transition into the new i58 website is going great and this week's blog is moving in the new direction too. I will include a 'spiritual nugget' as part of what I'll share, add a cool photo and introduce to you Colton Whelpton, a current student who will be writing the student comment every week.

First up, the news of whether our Bible School will be moving or not is going to be announced publicly on Sunday, so I'll post a blog with the news so you can hear it first here - the big question is 'Queensland or NSW?' Sounds like a State of Origin comment!

Next hot topic is who will go to Hong Kong? We are planning another mission trip to Hong Kong this April and right now the students are praying about it to see if God is leading them to sacrifice their two week break and serve the poor in HK. Again, we'll keep you posted about our progress.

Spiritually, the topic of the moment is trusting God. He has brought our student body together but the question still remains, 'Now what?' It takes faith to believe in the things we cannot yet see, (Hebrews 11.1). As we keep living in the moment, responding to God's leading, whether its talking, listening, learning, praying or whatever, we are putting more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together, and then suddenly we can begin to see the big picture and its very exciting. This whole process is about trusting God that in all things He works for the good of those who love him, (Romans 8:29).

Over to Colton:

Hello Everyone!
10 days into the semester, and all I can say is wow! First off, we had our very first SN@C (Sunday Night @ Capers) and it was HUGE. Everyone had heaps of fun playing games, worshiping God and really just getting to know each other.

The sun finally came out after a week of rain and cloud. ☺ To celebrate a group of us raced off to the nearest swimming hole and went cliff jumping. We got to enjoy some gorgeous weather and an exciting jump. (Hope you enjoy the picture of Cody's jump)

I was also just blown away by Girls/ Guys Night last Friday. We were given the opportunity to bond as a community by sharing a part of our own story with the group. The openness that the guys showed really surprised and encouraged me. Even though I’ve only known everyone for a week or two, we are already feel like family.

HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK!

STEVE aka WOODSEY and Colton

GREAT start to the new semester 2010

Hi there!

The blog is up and running once again and we have lots of news to share about what's been happening here at Capernwray Australia!

First up, we have 31 new students and 2 returning students and together we've had the most incredible start to our semester. Can you believe it - the same afternoon the new students arrived they started playing ball games on our soccer field and learnt each others names as they were doing it!!! AMAZING! No need for name tags!! One big happy family from day one!!!

As well as lots of new students we have had lots of new faces join the staff, some full-time and others for only a day. We just love that we're one big family and all contributing towards the same end - living the gospel driven life. That might be a new expression to you, but its one that we want to keep coming back to this semester to keep the students aware of the BIG adventure we have in Christ everyday and the amazing opportunities/responsibilities that it brings.

During the first week we usually go to the beach, but this year the weather has been so wet that we went to Hang Dog - the indoor climbing wall centre. We had great fun learning who was the strongest to learning who was more monkey-like!! It ended with a BBQ followed by demolishing two enormous water melons in a very short space of time!

The students all seem to have adjusted well to their new home and family and lifestyle. They have also heard some great lectures from our principal, the Rev Neil Bernard, on The Revelation of God in the book of Hebrews. Next week the students will put this new knowledge to work as they prepare their Bible Studies.

This weekend we have our separate times for guys and girls. Again, one group usually goes camping but as the weather is still very wet we'll be having some great Aussie food and entertainment inside. Camping can wait for another week!

The last thing I wanted to mention was that the i58 website is having a make-over and publish the new look in March. At that point the blog will also have a bit of a change to include photos.

Well, that's about it for now. May Jesus be honoured in all we do and say!

Until the next post, God bless,

STEVE aka WOODSEY

PRAC WEEK HERE WE COME!

The Prac Week season has begun! This is when we head out in small teams to serve the community through the church and para-church organisations. This semester one team left just yesterday for Cooma, to serve the church and our team leaves tomorrow to serve with the Salvation Army in Sydney. Just to give us a heads up for working with the disadvantaged our team began the week spending two days working alongside the clients at Mission Australia's Triple Care Farm. This is a drug rehab for 16-24 year olds and it's situated about half an hour from us on 100 acres of beautiful farm land. We made some really good friendships there and on Wednesday we invited them back to work with us on our property. Six came and we had a great morning of work followed by a delicious lunch and then a trip into Bowral to enjoy a GREAT coffee. This is real ministry. A lot of the clients find it hard to talk about everyday stuff, instead they talk about their 'party' lifestyle so we encouraged them as we spoke of things like food, cars, movies and music and even computers! It was great and we look forward to returning before the end of term to build up these friendships.

A lot of the work we do is all about building relationships. This is what Jesus did - all ministry should be through relationship - that's the difference Jesus makes! We go to give and there's a lot of love that we can share from Jesus. We always top ourselves up by having a Quiet Time at the start of everyday so that all that we do is the outflow of our own relationship with Jesus. Our aim is to be led by the Spirit in all that we do and simply join in with what God is already doing. Sounds easy but often we can get in the way!!

At TCF it was interesting that as we helped them to paint their chicken pens it was very easy to strike up conversations. Our guys were able to share lots of what we do and what we believe in a very easy going environment. We were also able to learn lots about the backgrounds of the clients. Somehow it seems unfair that they have had to face so much heartache and hurt in their lives, but we believe whatever their experiences, there's nothing that Jesus cannot redeem them from or forgive. God loves to use all our experiences for his glory and maybe help us to relate to others who have experienced the same as us.

In a little over a week I'll be able to share a lot of the stories of our team experiences and encourage you how Jesus is using us to make a difference in this world. I already know that even though we go to give we will also receive so much more - just wait and see...

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND A TERRIFIC WEEK!

STEVE aka WOODSEY

REPORT: Hong Kong Mission Trip September 2009

Going to Hong Kong with a mission trip for the second time this year was a huge blessing. Not only did we raise all our travel money with relative ease, but we also had a bounty of cash to donate which, when added to what we gave in April came to way over HK$100,000. This we gave with much joy to the Building Project, which consisted of a prayer sanctuary, a swimming pool, and a school building. This is a wonderful confirmation of the fruit of the partnership that we have enjoyed with St Stephen’s Society for the past five years.

Speaking to the three guys who went - Thane, Thomas and Jordan - it was clear that that three things impacted them the most; the lifestyle of worship, the commitment to a personal relationship with Jesus and the huge sense of community. Here are some stories that describe something of what they experienced.

We lived in a community at Shing Mun Springs that consisted of a little over 200 people who were either dedicated Christian staff or recovering drug addicts looking for new life in Jesus. There were five main housing blocks in which we all lived. The staff was made up of singles and married couples, many had babies and there were lots of children.

The daily routine would begin at 7.30am when we would start with exercise followed by breakfast, then onto Quiet Time for an hour followed by worship ministry and sharing. Often during these Spirit-filled ministry times the brothers, (the name given to recovering drug addicts), would be healed of physical and emotional wounds. After a short break there would be time to do the household chores before lunch and in the afternoon there would be more work and recreation. Each evening consisted of worship, ministry, and sharing with social time before bed at 10.00pm.

Some of the house leaders would change up the daily routine which gave an amazing result – virtually during the normal course of the day we were able to hear the heartfelt cries of worship coming from somewhere!

At Shing Mun Springs prayer also seemed to be continuous. The ‘new boys’, (the name given to any new brother coming into the house), would receive round the clock prayer and care for ten days. During this time of ‘detox’ many would sleep peacefully and be ministered to by the Holy Spirit. In fact, we prayed for all the needs of our community – all through the day! It was very refreshing to see prayer as a way of life and an obvious foundation to the effective ministry of St Stephen’s Society.

Joe Joe was one of our robust helpers in Block 4. He had entered the community some years earlier looking much like a skeleton with only seven days to live due to cancer. He was given round the clock care and prayer and he attended the worship sessions whenever he had the strength. He was healed. He is now reunited with his family and serves at Shing Mun Springs with the Father’s love and gives much hope to all the brothers.
One of the things we did which the brothers particularly enjoyed was organizing a Western Food Night. Our team along with two helpers shopped for over six hours in all the local markets to return and prepare the biggest Mexican meal that has ever been seen at Shing Mun Springs. We calmly chopped tomatoes, sliced lettuce, cooked mince, and put sauces into bowls while the tortillas were warming in the sun. The result almost transformed our houses into restaurants! Over 100 people were fed until they were full! We felt so satisfied to see the happy faces of everyone and the joy that we had brought in this way.

The evening progressed to worship and Jordan presented some of his own songs. He taught the guys one of them and you would have thought that they were all fluent English speakers! Jesus was in everything! Thomas then showed a video of the Torchbearer’s community sending a message in Chinese - the brothers thought it was wonderful. They responded with an equally uplifting message for us back at school – all soaked in a spirit of gratefulness and fun. We will all remember that evening forever!

After two weeks we returned home having made lots of friends and having touched lots of hearts. Our aim was to go to give and we were satisfied that our mission was accomplished. During our time we realized that no matter what our role, whether upfront or unseen, our purpose is always to use the gifts God has given us to serve His Kingdom purposes. As we stepped out in faith to do this and sowed into rich soil we left as much better people for it – totally inspired, tired but refreshed and eager to learn more and give more. All glory to God!

THE FIRST DAY OF A WHOLE NEW ADVENTURE!

Today is the start of two-week break and, 'YES!' is the cry from our students!! Weeks of hard work are now rewarded with a few weeks to recharge and refresh! And what better place to do it than in Australia! It is no surprise that most of our students are traveling north to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, beaches and opportunities of sharing their faith with fellow travellers. It's a whole new adventure! No more doing things because they are scheduled, but now its a question of the heart - and how their hearts have been growing to serve Jesus! I'm looking forward to hearing the stories when everyone gets back and I'll post a few to share with you.
Two of our students will be traveling overseas to Hong Kong. This is our second opportunity to go to New Boy House, (with St. Stephen's Society), to serve guys who are coming off drugs and looking for new life in Jesus. Thane and Thomas are going with Jordan from our community along with myself. We have spent many hours in training to be ready for a whole new adventure - different culture, different language, different food, different way of life BUT the same Jesus working through all of them! This is a ministry that transforms lives and as we serve with them we are transformed too. I will be very excited to tell you some of our stories in our next post too. Please help us by praying for a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ as that will help us with everything we do! You might like to know that with all the fund-raising that we did this year for St. Stephen's we will have given them just over HK$100,000 towards their building fund. We thank God for using us in this way.
In our school there are lots of other things going on while the students are away. We have the Women's REfresh Conference this weekend, followed by a group of people next weekend from an Indonesian church and they are followed by the Kairos Prison Ministry who will be serving the ladies in the local Berrima Jail. For the people who stay behind it is another whole new adventure! Life is never dull with Jesus!
So, with this news update I'll close. I will be posting some updates on the i58 facebook page for anyone who would like to follow our progress in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, have a great couple of weeks and I'll look forward to sharing those stories with you then.
GOD BLESS
STEVE aka WOODSEY

BENEFIT ALL ROUND

Hi Everyone!

Last weekend was amazing! We had the Benefit Night for Missions and Ministry on Saturday and our regular knockout SN@C programme on Sunday. Some of our fantastic supporters came to both events and had a most blessed time.
The students worked incredibly hard to transform the Conference Hall into the most inviting place with great decor, relaxing music along with coffee tables decorated with candles, chocolate money, snakes (sweet ones for the kids!) along with drink and dessert menus! All our guests were waited on by our wonderful students who served up home-made mouth watering cakes with a choice of fresh coffee, hot chocolate or flavoured tea. The guys had the best time presenting the cakes on large white plates that left lots of room for creative presentation!
While this was going on Mark and Sheree went around the tables talking to our guests and Mark also sold some handmade cards by Alyssa from last term, (thanks Alyssa!). We were all doing our bit!
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the 'goodies' and were ready for the entertainment to start soon after eight. Jordan Worner kicked us off by singing one of the songs from his new album DECIDED, then Christie sang a few songs accompanied by guitar while Prue and I played the Ashokan Farewell for two violins. And that's not all! Jon gave us the most incredible drum solo lasting over eight minutes and then we had Sheree and Jordan round things off with the song 'Lucky' - how awesome!!!
Then came the auction of our student's gifts and talents led by Michael Kime, a regular SN@C attendee. He looked the part in his white cowboy hat and what with his fast talking we weren't always sure whether our students were stocky men or beefy cows! Nonetheless, the bids just kept coming and we raised heaps of money!
Altogether, our Benefit Night was a huge success with lots of fun had by all and we raised a little short of our target of $2,000. A huge THANK YOU to all that came along with all the students, staff and friends who made it all possible!
And the following night we were out welcoming our guests once again, only this time for SN@C - and it was amazing, with a great presentation focusing on forgiveness.
What a weekend!! Lots of life and lots of love. We experience both a great deal here.
More news next week, which will be the last week of term. We'll have a break as I three guys and myself will be off to Hong Kong for our Mission trip to serve with St Stephen's Society.
Goodbye for now and I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!! GOD BLESS!
STEVE aka WOODSEY