The Lord has been doing much in my heart to confirm our direction and give me peace about serving in Townsville with YWAM for this season of our lives. Since we arrived, I’ve been really searching for God’s purpose in bringing us to Townsville and how our connection with YWAM could be apart of it all. I mentioned that we were praying about starting a Bible study in our home on Sundays and we’re still praying. In the meantime though, we’ve been attending a local church fellowship in the central district of the city called, Townsville Central City Mission an affiliate of the Uniting Church of Australia. This denomination is quite vast is Australia and as I understand it varies drastically from one congregation to another. Some are extremely liberal in theology even to the point of rejecting the inspiration of the scriptures and allowing practicing homosexuals to serve as pastors and elders, to much more conservative and evangelically traditional. As I’m told, the Uniting churches in the state of Queensland tend to be more conservative and this specific fellowship certainly leans that way, as a result we feel we’re in agreement on most things spiritually. We were introduced to this church by some friends from the YWAM base and felt really accepted from the start. We’ve attended other churches on our stay but this one has been a good fit in that it is biblically based, somewhat contemporary in style of worship though there are a few hymns included (Cameron especially likes this), it is very family oriented with attendees ranging in age from newborn to the elderly, even folks in their eighties and nineties! It’s conveniently located (just a few miles away and on the opposite side of Castle Hill from our house) and is strongly missions minded and inviting of the various minorities such as Pacific Islanders, Southeast Asians, and of course Aboriginals. They also offer their facility on Sundays to a South Korean fellowship. We’ve really connected well with the congregation and felt a unity in their heart for city outreach and international missions. I’ve begun attending a men’s fellowship on Tuesday mornings and have been asked, to my delight, to produce curriculum for a study through the book of Ephesians, I can’t wait to see how the discussion go! The Church is on a scheduled reading through the scriptures on Sundays, but the morning message is not often chapter by chapter and verse by verse as we are used to, nonetheless we’re blessed to be in a good, loving fellowship and we’re praying for God’s will in growing together with them. Who knows what God will do in this new relationship…

Recently Ryan and Aurbry participated in an event at the church called “40 Hour Famine”. The purpose was for the kids to experience in a small degree what it’s like to live as a kid in a third world country. Throughout their over-night stay they and their young friends got to bake bread and make butter from scratch, see the sights at the local dump to get a whiff of what it would be like to live and work there as many children do around the world. They made beaded jewelry like many do who’re stuck in sweatshops, had to make creative shelters with materials that the parents had strewn about creating a post cyclone scene. They carried water in buckets around the neighborhood and ate only a couple spoonfuls of plain rice for dinner and experienced hunger through the night and into the next day as they didn’t eat until after lunch. Overall, both were really blessed by the experience and agree that they have a better understanding of life in other countries.
Saturday was another day of outreach for me as I took part in Youth Street teams. Ours is called Skate Team 1:21 in honor of Phil. 1: 21 where Paul bravely states, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” We had 8 or 9 kids this time and headed out of town to the area called the northern beaches, about a twenty minute drive. It was nice to get out and see some new sights as we have only been skating near by and at the base. It was another graffitied cement park in a small community with a KFC fast food restaurant right next door. It’s brutal to exercise and have that smell wafting through the air. The park was packed with local kids, mostly scooting and riding bikes. A local kid and I were the only ones skating until the end when a couple more locals showed up. For the most part it was controlled chaos as everyone did their own thing. I was pretty overwhelmed by all the people and resigned myself to mostly just watching all the action. There were certainly some impressively gifted athletes out there but it was also evident that all the dangers that I faced as a kid were alive and well. I’m not referring to the dangers of hitting the cement or other kids. There were older kids there slamming power drinks, smoking, and generally carrying on setting a bad example for the younger ones. It’s not a surprise nor is it an unnatural thing but one where I can see myself in them when I was their age. All I wanted was to have fun, skate well, and be respected and accepted by my peers. What I didn’t realize was that I was seeking acceptance from the wrong source, people. The acceptance that I needed was from God. His acceptance and love is unconditional and consistent where all other avenues come up short. His love is perfect and without end. I always try to be conscious of any opportunity to shine the light of Jesus into the lives of the guys I see at the parks but what’s utmost in my mind are the lives of the kids that God has me overseeing. They’re all really great kids and the Lord has opened some neat occasions to connect with them on their level. When I see the moves that some of these kids are doing now, I realize just how anciently unskilled I am yet, there’s still the connection that is made regardless of whether I’m a skater or scooter or biker and I pray that the Lord will use that connection to influence their lives for His good.