NorthPoint - July, 2012

Pathfinders mark 30 years of expeditions

On the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in June, more than 500 Pathfinders, directors and others took part in the 30th year of Pathfinder expeditions organised by the North New South Wales (NNSW) Conference.

Gilbert Evans from Bray Park Adventist Church was given a framed plaque from the Youth Ministries Department to recognise his participation in all 30 expeditions — one as a club leader and the other 29 helping out with the expeditions run in that time.

This year’s expedition had the theme of Joseph, with both northern and southern groups of Pathfinders learning about Joseph’s life and relationship with God.

Pathfinders from the northern part of NNSW — with the addition of a group of Year 10 students from Kempsey Adventist School and one Pathfinder group from Nambour, Queensland — held their expedition at Demon Fault. Daryl and Ros Camps were the coordinators for the northern expedition.

Rick Hergenhan, Assistant Director of Youth Ministries for the NNSW Conference, took part in the northern region’s expedition and says there were around 12 clubs and 215 people there in total. “The northern expedition was a safe weekend,” says Rick. “We were really blessed with the mild weather.”

Rick was the speaker for the Sabbath morning and reminded attendees that no matter what’s going on in life, God is there for us. He got the children to dress up and act out the story as he told it. After the Sabbath talk, the four grades — A, B, C and D — separated for their hikes. These all went well, and the group met back at the main camp on the Monday before going home.

Pathfinders in the south of the conference had their expedition at Yengo National Park, with eight clubs and 365 people attending. Although there were some cold nights, the group was blessed with fine weather until the final day of expedition, when there was some light drizzle. Pastor Jeff Parker, Director of Youth Ministries for the NNSW Conference, says, “The unique thing about this was that all around us — Gosford, Sydney and Newcastle — had pouring rain on that weekend, but we didn’t. But when we got into the cars at the end of expedition, it bucketed down.”

Alan Bates gave the Sabbath morning talk at the top of Big Yengo, which all of the Pathfinders hiked to the top of. Following the talk, grades A through to D split up to undertake their hikes.

Bob and Helen Stubberfield coordinated the southern expedition weekend, together (Continued on page 2)

OUR CONFERENCE From the President: In all

your ways,

acknowledge Him

This is what the wise man said in Proverbs 3:6, and I think we don’t do this enough. Behind everything that is good in your life, there is God.

As you read this month’s NorthPoint, I want you to do something different for me. Spend time thanking God for what He is doing in the lives of our people. Read through the inspiring stories that Adele has so professionally put together. Stop and pray, thanking God for what He is doing — and for what He is planning to do. Just spend a brief moment to thank, praise and ask for even more.

I think God for what He is doing in the lives of our younger members! As I read this month’s edition, I was struck by the number of stories that directly relate to what our youth are doing for God. I believe we are witnessing the start of a great revival — and the youth lead it. May we all uphold this movement of the Spirit in prayer, and in words of support and encouragement.

I thank God for the renewed focus on outreach and mission. What a wonderful Saviour we have to share with the world. It is so exciting to see that a great interest in spiritual things is developing in our community. To see the eager members who want to learn how to share their faith makes my heart glad.

Our schools are also becoming such powerful influences in their communities — not just for education, but as places to commit your life to Christ.

I thank God that He is love, and that we are able to love one another. The Safe Places Training is about loving our kids enough and making churches the safe places they should be. We can really be thankful for the professional way that our church is tackling this most important issue.

I am sure you get my point. Let’s get on our knees and thank God for all that He has done — and ask Him for even greater things than these.

— Pastor Justin Lawman

Pathfinders mark 30 years of Expeditions

(Continued from page 1)

with the assistance of a big team of volunteers from the Central Coast. Pastor Parker says that Sanitarium also generously supplied 2500 litres of water, packed into So Good cartons, for the Pathfinders. This was important, because there was minimal access to clean, fresh water at the national park.

Pastor Parker says of the expedition, “The feeling at the end of it was that people were impressed. It was a good time for the kids, who gave us so many positive comments over the weekend. Even though the kids had to hike all day and it’s winter, there was a great vibe. We also got to enjoy some very scenic views on hikes.

“The whole concept of expedition is to take kids into the bush, and show them the beauty of God through nature and worship. People come back absolutely inspired and changed.”

— Adele Nash

Photos courtesy of Pastor Jeff Parker and Rick Hergenhan

New e-Giving site launched

The South Pacific Division has launched a new e-Giving site, meaning use of the current e-Giving site will close on 2 July. The new address for the site is https:// egiving.org.au. There is a link on the North New South Wales (NNSW) Conference’s home page — nnsw.adventist.org.au — to the new e-Giving site. Information about how to set up a new account and recurring deduction is also available under the e-Giving drop-down menu on the NNSW site.

Russell Halliday, Chief Financial Officer for the NNSW Conference, says the new e-Giving site has a number of positive features that will make the experience more user-friendly, with four simple steps to making a payment.

“One of the problems with the old site was that once you set up a recurring donation, it was set for life — it couldn’t be changed easily without technical support,” says Russell. “The new site overcomes this issue, and enables users to create an account they can log on to securely, and manage, edit and change their donation details. They can also still make one-off donations without logging on, as always.”

Users with a log-in will also be able to access records of their past transactions and receive receipts by email.

Around The Traps, a weekly e-newsletter from the NNSW Conference President Pastor Justin Lawman, is now available. To subscribe, email northpoint@adventist. org.au with the words “E-newsletter subscription” in the subject line.

Russell has contacted all donors who used the old e-Giving site and provided them with instructions on how to migrate to the new system. “During July, if all users can migrate across, it would be great,” he says. “If they need any help doing this, they can contact Glenda Jeffries here at the Conference Office on (02) 4951 8088.”

He adds, “We’ve also been advised that B-Pay functionality is very close. We will provide more information about this when it is available.”

The old e-Giving site was popular, receiving between $50,000 and $70,000 in tithe and offerings per month from church members in NNSW. Church members will still be able to pay tithe at their local churches using the tithe envelopes provided.

— Adele Nash with Russell Halliday

OUR CONFERENCE

“Moving” theme for Women’s Ministry retreat

The second challenge was to find their personal ministry and pursue it. They learnt the importance of being passionate, of how mastery has a big part to play in how well they carry out ministry, a purpose in what they do and the importance of celebrating the small achievements along the way.

The third challenge was to have courage and arm themselves for their journey. They were told they need to deal with problems that come into their journey, as these are little pictures of the Great Controversy. Exploring how Nehemiah handled problems that he encountered provided ideas on how attendees could handle theirs.

The fourth and final challenge was to practice discernment in their lives. Attitude and wisdom are closely linked, and show what choices individuals have made — what people do shows others what God is like. Nehemiah acted wisely in handling the problems and the people. He continued to learn, make changes and encouraged people to contribute to the greater mission.

It was just the right kind of weekend — with beautiful sunny weather — on 18 to 20 May for a group of 50 women to enjoy a Women’s Ministry retreat at Yarrahapinni. With a theme of “Moving,” the women had gathered to learn to move as the Holy Spirit led. Bev Christian, a lecturer at Avondale College, was there to show them how. Everything on the weekend was aimed at encouraging this, from the little gifts each woman was given when she arrived, to the prayer room that was set up beautifully with a cross, a tomb with a stone rolled back and cloth leading from the cross to tomb to heaven. There was a jar for prayer requests, which the women then prayed for at the end of the weekend. The gifts were put together by Lynelda Tippo, Director of Women’s Ministry for the North New South Wales Conference, and her team. Bev took attendees on a journey with Nehemiah as he went from living in Babylon to rebuilding Jerusalem. They learnt, as Nehemiah had, to have integrity and to see their destination — having a vision and finding out the mission God has in mind for them before starting on the journey — as the first challenge.

There were also two practical sessions — the first was a spiritual discussion about what the gifts of the Holy Spirit are and the second taught attendees how to find a simple, everyday object they might carry with them and use in prayer.

The women were blessed by special song services led by the One Nation Church from Wallsend, and also enjoyed items presented by Malvinas Penland. Time was also provided for walking on the beach and closing Sabbath while overlooking the water. Great meals were prepared, and women enjoyed making and renewing friendships.

The Saturday night also was a time for a night of fun, with everyone encouraged to participate in the progressive boardgame night planned by Julie Thompson and Barbara Parkins. Lynelda and her sister Doreen contributed by taking groups outside during the games sessions and teaching them a “silly song” with actions, which they then performed for everyone else. The weekend, which was enjoyed by attendees, concluded with a prayer circle, sharing contact details, prayers and goodbyes.

— Julie Thompson

Arnie’s Shack DVD 2 launched at Avondale Memorial

On Sabbath, 16 June, DVD 2 in the Arnie’s Shack series was launched at Avondale Memorial Church. The standard satellite-length episodes were filmed over the past 12 months in Cooranbong, with additional footage taken in New Zealand, Vanuatu and a number of other locations around the South Pacific Division (SPD).

The launch happened in the evening, and featured a mini concert, songs from the DVD, a Balloon Kaboom! segment and a variety of other elements of the Arnie’s Shack series. Pastor Daron Pratt, Director of Children’s Ministries for the North New South Wales Conference and presenter of the Balloon Kaboom! segments featured in the Arnie’s Shack series, gave a prayer of dedication for the DVDs with Julie Weslake, Director of Children’s Ministries for the SPD.

Pastor Pratt says, “The Arnie’s Shack characters have become favourites with children from around the division. The main aim of the series is to promote strong Christian family values. The DVD features the participation of 90 different children — acting, playing a part, talking with Arnie, singing or doing some sort of craft. It’s great to see so many children involved.”

The series is available in nearly all of the countries of the world via satellite, and is filmed by Rob and Kimberly Houliston and their team in Cooranbong. Almost all of the puppet voices are provided by Rob, with his son Trent helping out. “Rob and his family — along with the occasional extra — have done a wonderful job in providing the voices that really make the characters come to life,” says Pastor Pratt.

— Adele Nash

Arnie’s Shack DVDs and merchandise are available at Adventist Book Centres.

OUR CONFERENCE

ARV officially opens Felled Timber Creek Walk in Cooranbong

They came on scooters, walkers, a golf buggy and on foot to participate in the opening of the latest addition to the walking tracks around the Avondale Estate. The Avondale Retirement Village (ARV) officially opened the Felled Timber Creek Walk in June. Church and community members are encouraged to use this track, which has its starting point under the Dora Creek bridge.

The launch included an address by Dr Darren Morton from Avondale College on the importance of fitness. He expressed his excitement about this addition to the eight kilometres of tracks around the Avondale Estate. “The exciting thing about this track is it connect Boys Walk to the north side of Cooranbong,” says Dr Morton, who supported the development of the track with his brother Dr Jason Morton. It is part of a commitment to improving all of the walks on the Estate.

Pastor Bill Cross spoke about the vision he, along with the Garden Committee, had in restoring this historic track. “It’s a safe method of getting to the other side of Freemans Drive. It’s also a pleasant walk along the creek among the trees on a sunny day — and if you’re lucky, you might spot a platypus!”

Pastor Les Coombs previously restored this track in the 1980s.

A mixture of ARV residents then walked and rode scooters along the 750-metre-long track, which heads north along Dora Creek and then along Felled Timber Creek. Nature and historical enthusiasts Dr Terry Annable and ARV neighbour Barry Plane hosted a walk, sharing their wealth of information.

This track also provides a very important link between the Alton Villa side of Avondale Retirement Village and the Kressville Lodge side of the village without crossing the busy Freemans Drive.

— Lorin Bradford (with additional content from Josh Dye)

Photos courtesy of Pastor Ken Duke and Lagani Gairo

OUR CHURCHES

Zone crew runs Blue Hills youth rally

On 25 and 26 May, Blue Hills College hosted a youth rally for all the youth in the Summerland region. The rally was run by the Zone crew from Alstonville and Lismore Churches. Alstonville and Lismore youth have the privilege of having Glendon Harris and Jeanine Bougaardt as part of their group. They run a monthly youth meeting held on Friday nights called Zone.

They are supported by a team who all do a fantastic job, ranging from singing, playing instruments, drama team, icebreaker crew to sound guys. Zone is an effective ministry to many young people who study at Blue Hills College, with many who attend coming from a non-Adventist or non-Christian background.

Customarily at each Zone event, a guest speaker is brought in to share a devotional thought, and at this Zone it was no different. Lachlan Townend, who is a part of the chaplaincy team at Tweed Valley Adventist College, came down to share two Spiritfilled messages, one on the Friday night and the other on the Sabbath.

All those who heard his messages and saw his passion were blessed. God used him in a mighty way as he shared with them the messages of Christ crucified and the victory that is in store for every believer who holds on to Jesus through faith.

Attendees said it was great to see a young man of God stand up and make a difference, showing that the way they live their lives can be the greatest witness they have in the world. Lachlan is living the testimony that can be attributed to God and touches many young people’s lives through his work.

— Ashley Smith

Churches work together in lead-up to outreach

Raymond Terrace and Maitland Adventist Churches will conduct evangelistic series later this year, and groundwork is already being done in the lead-up to these series. Pastor Vadim Butov, senior pastor at Avondale Memorial Adventist Church, will run the outreach at Raymond Terrace, which starts on 13 October.

Memorial Church members are working with Raymond Terrace, assisting with the delivery of DVDs and letterboxing material to homes around the town. Members of Raymond Terrace Church have also been to Memorial Church to promote their outreach program. Those members have recently become Adventists, joining the church after searching for a faith community that promoted programs uplifting Jesus. “It encourages us to keep going by reminding us that there are people waiting for us,” says Pastor Esava Koro, who ministers to Raymond Terrace and Maitland.

Working with other churches to reach their communities is nothing new for Memorial Church and its members. Pastor Butov says, “I have always believed that bigger churches should help smaller ones. With Avondale Memorial having more than 1000 members, it’s our obligation to assist others. We worked with a number of other churches in 2010 and 2011, including Woy Woy, Wyee, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour.”

He adds, “We want to do groundwork in Raymond Terrace to soften the soil of people’s hearts. Our philosophy is to nurture the universal world approach in believers. This is why we believe in overseas evangelism as well — more than 100 people went overseas for outreach programs from Avondale Memorial in 2011.

“On all levels of church membership, the gifts and talents of our members need to be utilised. We believe in the inside–out mentality — this was propagated at the 2008 Big Camp, which had the theme of “Inside Out.” We believe we need to work from the inside out, driving attention from inside the church to external factors.”

He notes that Cooranbong is a strongly Adventist town, which provides encouragement to assist other towns with smaller numbers of Adventists. “We have to go beyond its limits to help overseas and in smaller churches. This will help to realise the potential of the church, and help make it a healthy body of Christ. I appeal to bigger churches — please go out and help other churches. Enlarge your vision,” Pastor Butov says.

Pastor Justin Lawman, President of the North New South Wales Conference, says, “It’s great to see our churches working together to reach out to those around them.”

— Adele Nash

Raymond Terrace members give thanks

The National Day of Thanksgiving has become an annual event in Australia. It’s a time for people to show appreciation to those who contribute to making their communities safe and happy places.

To participate in this occasion, individual members of Raymond Terrace Adventist Church thanked their postmen, neighbours and others during the week, and on Sabbath, 26 May took morning tea to the local police station as a way of saying thank you for the service they provide to the community.

The look of surprise and delight on the face of the duty police officer at the desk showed that appreciation does not often come their way.

— Mary Fedorow

OUR CHURCHES

Safe Places Training continues around NNSW

Safe Places Training, launched in this conference last year at Lakeside Adventist Church (see December 2011 NorthPoint), has continued to educate people around North New South Wales (NNSW).

Two churches from the western region of the conference completed a Safe Places Training workshop on 10 June, led by Pastor Peter Cousins. The training was conducted at the Gunnedah Church hall. Pastor David Fletcher, who ministers to the Gunnedah and Coonabarabran Churches, says, “As the local pastor, I can say I was thrilled with the response by the local churches. Some attendees travelled approximately two hours to the venue, and all contributed to the discussions, providing valuable feedback and illustrations related to the modules presented.”

There was a shared desire to commit to maintaining a safe church environment, and to look for ways to implement safeguards for vulnerable people in the church. “Pastor Cousins was an excellent presenter,” says Pastor Fletcher. “He was able to relate to the practical challenges of the local church and assist the vibrant group with practical, realistic and achievable steps to improving the safety of our local churches.”

On 2 and 3 June, 60 people from Central Coast Community Church (CCCC) attended training hosted by Pastor Daron Pratt, Children’s Ministries Director for the NNSW Conference. Training covered many areas, including identifying vulnerable people, duty of care, and understanding various types of abuse and the appropriate responses to them.

Ensuring safe practices exist, providing safe physical and emotional environments, and responding to incidents were also covered during the five hours of training.

Pastor Pratt attended CCCC on the Sabbath and participated in Kids Church. He praised the work being done at CCCC in the areas of Kids Church, leadership teams and spiritual gifts.

CCCC’s minister Pastor Wayne Krause thanked Pastor Pratt for taking time to lead the biggest Safe Places Training to happen yet in the conference. He adds, “I am so proud of our church and their commitment to ‘Changing and Growing Lives with Jesus Christ.’ We want our church to be a safe place for anyone who might want to experience our journey.”

— NorthPoint/David Fletcher/Wayne Krause

OUR CHURCHES

ARISE answers the big questions at Kingscliff

It has been an intense and exciting few months at Kingscliff Adventist Church, with the ARISE team visiting from Oregon, USA.

Led by Pastor David Asscherick, ARISE conducted two programs in tandem — one for the community, and another for church members.

Why God? Answers for Life’s Big Questions, was a 12-part evangelism series that started on 11 May, and addressed questions such as “Why do children suffer?” “What happens when I die?” and “Is the world going to end?”

Pastor Asscherick says the idea was to present a short series that answered some of the major and consistent questions he hears people asking during his travels.

“I didn’t want it to take 20 or so meetings. It needed to be something reasonably bitesize that people could walk away from and say OK, those are good answers. Of course the major point was to introduce them to Jesus, so the answers to the questions were biblical, but framed in the kind of language and ideas that secular people might find appealing,” he says.

The first part of the series was held at the Tweed Civic Centre and then the meetings were moved to Kingscliff Church. A comprehensive promotional campaign was held in the lead-up to the event. Several door-knocks were carried out and thousands of flyers were distributed throughout the community — many by a group of teens who were difficult to miss as they wandered around busy shopping centres and beaches in their bright orange Why God? T-shirts!

Church members also invited their friends and family. More than 330 people attended on opening night, with a healthy mixture of Christians, atheists and agnostics. Pastor Asscherick’s energetic, informative and entertaining style had the desired effect, and on the following night, the numbers grew.

Rob Kilburn-Stoyko attended the meetings and says that getting such concentrated knowledge in a short amount of time was incredible.

“David just hit home on a lot of issues and answered a lot of questions for me as well. I’m fairly new to the world of Seventh-Day Adventists and the more I learn, the more I feel that I belong. In my search to understand the Bible and understand religion in general, he really answered my questions, especially about heaven, hell and purgatory. Plus I learnt many facts about the early church and Jesus himself,” he says.

It was the first time that Pastor Asscherick had presented this series and he’s planning to continue it overseas, with three more Why God? events scheduled over the next 12 months. He hopes to improve the series.

“Developmentally, I think that it’s only halfway there. I think the concept Why God? is there, the questions are the right questions, and the direction of the answers that we provide is right — the biblical direction — however the series needs some new illustrations to fasten it more securely to secular culture,” he says.

He’s also considering adding more practical questions like “How can I have a better marriage?”

Despite admitting that the program needs some fine-tuning, Pastor Asscherick believes that the inaugural Why God? series was a success.

“The way that I tend to think about success is maybe a little different to some people,” he says. “I just ask myself if I did the best that I could do under the circumstances and was I open to what the Spirit was doing, and if the answer to those two questions is yes, then I think that for my part I have done everything that I can do to be successful. Ultimately I think that success is something that God does. We’ve seen lots of people come. These are fresh people off the street, who have come to hear a biblical message. Well, that’s thrilling, and furthermore, the church has been galvanised by it.”

The Why God? meetings were conducted over the weekends, allowing for ARISE Church Training (ACT) to be held on weeknights. The aim of ACT was to educate church members in practical soul-winning techniques.

Pastor Asscherick says ACT was basically a sequel to the Bible Boot Camp that ARISE

ran at Kingscliff in the first half of last year.

“It was just showing people how to put legs on the lessons of Scripture and feet on the faith that they have, and helping them to communicate with the people around them. The instruction was very practical, but also very biblically sound and I was super happy with the way that it went,” he says.

ARISE’s Jeffrey Rosario and Matt Parra — the Evangelism Director for the North New South Wales Conference — also presented classes, and inspired many of the 100 people who attended.

Steve Teale was one of them. “I’ve only been in the church for just under two years now, so it was all new for me,” says Steve. “A friend got me the ticket to come and after the first night I knew I really wanted to be there. It was awesome. I’ve realised that I need to be bold and just get out there and start sharing the Word, and that’s something I really want to do now.”

Sam Bonello has done a four-month course with ARISE in the USA, yet says he still gained so much from the program at Kingscliff.

“I’ve learned that there are lots of different topics we can study to be ready to talk about with people just in conversation. We need to think about the people we have daily interaction with and the sorts of things that they’re interested in, and then to study that out in the Bible, in a bblical context. So rather than having a whole lot of studies up our sleeve, we can prepare more specifically for the people we’re ministering to,” he says.

Thrillingly, while the ARISE team was in Kingscliff, six young people were baptised by Pastor Asscherick and Kingscliff’s own Pastor Marcus Mundall, while another 12 indicated that they too would like to commit themselves to Christ.

Aside from the official events, various social get togethers were also held, including Sabbath picnics and dinner nights, enabling church members to get to know the ARISE team and their families. Of course, there was plenty of surfing and skateboarding for Pastor Asscherick, and even a surprise farewell and 40th birthday party for him (even though he doesn’t celebrate his milestone until August)!

“In many ways Kingscliff has been a real blessing to our international ministry because it gives us a foothold in a place of really friendly, beautiful people that we can just really connect with,” says Pastor Asscherick. “There’s not a spirit of criticism, it’s a really open spirit where we can relate to people in a way that they feel like friends, but they’re also learning. It’s been a real stepping-stone for us internationally and it’s opening up doors all over Australia, so it’s very exciting,” he says.

As a testament to that, Pastor Asscherick has already decided to run another program at Kingscliff around the same time next year. Not that anyone had to twist his arm — he loves Australia (almost as much as he loves New Zealand)! “Oh yeah!” he says. “If we were given the opportunity to move here — which we just recently have been given that opportunity — it would be tough to say no to. So it’s definitely something that we really will pray seriously about.”

— Summer Lockley

OUR CHURCHES

CCCC celebrates 10 years of Kids Church

On the last Sabbath in April, Central Coast Community Church (CCCC) celebrated 10 years of Kids Church. Attendees — including visitors from Lismore, Port Macquarie and Goulburn — were taken back in time as Trish Williams, Children’s Ministries Leader for CCCC, hosted a “This Is Your Life” program.

Pioneers of CCCC Children’s Ministries include Nadine Lemke and Rosalie Needham, who recruited kids from the local caravan park. Rosalie spoke of her first Wyong experience when there were only 11 people at the church, including visitors. Sylvia Stilinovic was remembered for her giant rocket and huge snake called “Snuffy,” which kids would engage with as they went to KAT (Kids’ Activity Time). Laurel Ansell also spoke of the days when the group met at Chittaway Public School and serving with her mum Adrienne. Through small group ministry, she has connected with 40 community children. Songs by Rob and Kimberly Houliston were sung.

Karen Price took up the challenge of running Kids Church after Pastor Wayne Krause asked her to consider the program. She recalled how she agonised over the decision before ringing Trish to ask for help. The goal of Kids Church was to replicate big church, but with more fun. It also extended to Big Camp with a variety of programs there. It was fitting for past Prayer Ministry Leader Danielle Steel (who now resides in Thailand) to talk with God for the group as they move forward.

Paul Simonsen was thanked for his years of service, including hours dedicated to video production. His work on “Friends” was a highlight of the day. Melissa Sanburg was also thanked for her work with rosters. Zac Williams interviewed Josh and Marcus Goodwin, and honoured the two men who have had a big impact on his life. Josh and Marcus are just two of the people blessed by Kids Church.

Each pioneer was given a “Community of Faith” award. One of the special moments appeared out of nowhere when Levi Hitchick ran to Trish for an impromptu hug, and gave her the last “Community of Faith” award. The final word belonged to Trish who said, “How long should we go on? We should give up when God does. And that’s never!”

— John and Melissa Sanburg

OUR CHURCHES

Wallsend’s 101 Sabbath School celebrates fourth year

Wallsend Adventist Church’s 101 Sabbath School has marked its fourth year, with the series starting for the year on 14 April. According to Wallsend Church’s Pastor John Denne (pictured, left, with his wife Lyn), around 17 people attend the class each week.

The name 101 indicates it is a basic introduction. “It’s an abbreviation for Life Matters 101,” says Pastor Denne. “The expression ‘101’ has really caught on at Wallsend.”

The group caters for regular attendees who bring their friends, those who have attended from other seminars the church has run for the community, parents of students at Macquarie College, and those seeking spiritual integrity, meaning and relevance for the Bible in modern living. Pastor Denne says the class is also open to Wallsend members who want to “brush up on what we believe, and who also want to share their faith effectively.”

101 Sabbath School is conducted in a seminar style, with participants seated at tables. They have hosts and hostesses who greet people and provide refreshments and materials, including a free seminar Bible. “We always begin with prayer — the universal language,” says Pastor Denne. He has developed a series of lessons and PowerPoint presentations to accompany them for 101. The first lessons focus on “Why we can trust the Bible,” before progressing to “Why we can trust Christ.”

The group then explores a series on “How then should we live?” Questions can be asked at any point throughout the seminars. “We have lots of laughs,” says Pastor Denne. He is assisted in the series by Dr David Fox, who completed the series last year. Pastor Denne describes Dr Fox as his “apprentice.”

The evangelistic presentation style for 101 is deliberate.

“In a time-poor culture, we need to look at ways to utilize time in the most productive way,” Pastor Denne says. “By having an evangelistic group in Sabbath School time, members can bring family and friends to a series without having another time commitment during the week. This was also a motivation for commencing a ‘Pastor’s Class’ in Sabbath School time.”

Of the Pastor’s Class, Pastor Denne says, “I’ve conducted a ‘Pastor’s Class’ in Sabbath School for many years, and have encouraged other pastors to do so. Ellen White said in Counsels on Sabbath School Work that ‘The Sabbath School, if rightly conducted is one of God’s great instrumentalities to bring souls to a knowledge of the truth (p 115).’ This statement encouraged me to think about how to do that for adults. Having a ‘Pastor’s Class’ was the result.”

— Adele Nash/John Denne

Eighteen+ Camp leads to baptism decision

On Sabbath, 16 June, Natasha Kenealy was baptised into membership at the Wyee Adventist Church by Pastor Jeff Parker, Director of Youth Ministries for the North New South Wales Conference. Her decision to be baptised was made at the Eighteen+ Camp held over Easter this year.

“While she had been involved with the church most of her life, she had never made a commitment to publicly follow Jesus,” says Pastor Parker. “Tash had tears in her eyes when she came up to me and asked for baptism while at Eighteen+ — I could see that the Holy Spirit was moving in her life in a mighty way from what she had been hearing during the camp.”

Natasha is part of a small group of young people who regularly meet for Bible study. They have been meeting for some months. Pastor Parker notes that her desire for baptism was inspired from a move from “head knowledge to heart action, and to publicly show her love for Jesus Christ.”

A good number of young people attended the baptism, and the opportunity was given for those in attendance to give words of thanks and encouragement to Natasha. “It was awesome to hear the words of encouragement and love that were shared,” says Pastor Parker. “This is why we do youth ministry — to see young people connect with Jesus Christ and commit their lives to serve Him.”

— Adele Nash/Jeff Parker

Three friends baptised at Toronto

Three friends made a commitment to Jesus recently at Toronto Adventist Church. Annie Drewer (pictured, left) was baptised by Pastor Aaron Jeffries, and twins Teagan and Breanna Gray (pictured, below) were baptised by their uncle, Pastor Graham Chapman, on Sabbath afternoon, 21 April. Their cousin Simon Gigliotti, a theology student from Avondale College, studied with the twins and was present in the font for their baptism. A large crowd of friends and relatives came to the baptism, which helped to make it a special day for all three girls.

— Michelle Down

Avondale School’s new admin building opened by local MP

The new administration hub at the centre of Avondale School’s campus has been completed and moved in to. Mayor of Lake Macquarie City Council and Independent Member of Parliament, Greg Piper performed the official opening on Friday, 18 May.

Mayor Piper provided a brief history, making special note of the boardroom table, which was commissioned by a local Morisset company. The impressive piece of furniture is fashioned from spotted gum and weighs 700 kilograms.

When the building process finished, Avondale School Principal Dr David Faull was able to finally say good-bye to the temporary demountable office he had worked in for years. “It was almost surreal to see that ‘life’ hoisted into the air by a huge crane and trucked away,” he says.

At the opening, Avondale School’s prefects and captains welcomed and directed the large crowd. Other students were also involved, performing a saxophone and trombone ensemble item and singing. The hospitality students made and served delightful culinary snacks, which were greatly appreciated.

The completion of the admin building marks the end of a 10-year-long stay in several demountables that have housed staff, including Dr Faull. He described the six-by-three metre temporary office as “basic” and simply there to get the job done.

As well as containing the principal’s new office and a state-of-the-art boardroom, the admin building houses the Registration Office, Business Office and Goods Inwards. There is also storage space for archival records and a history room, with displays of significant school events and artifacts.

The new facility is located right at the entrance to the school and is settled between the primary and secondary campuses. Dr Faull sees it as refreshingly quiet and private, and looks forward to making good use of the designated boardroom.

A new canteen, which meets industry standards and is fully equipped, adjoins the facility and will be an exciting new feature for staff and students. Overall, it has been a great step forward for Avondale School and this special occasion reflected that.

“The new space is like starting a new job. We have more people to work with who are all part of the Avondale School team,” says Dr Faull.

— Susan Rogers

OUR SCHOOLS

The Great Controversy theme for Currawah WOSE

From Tuesday, 15 May to Friday, 18 May, Pastor Jeff Parker, Director of Youth Ministries for the North New South Wales Conference, ran a Week of Spiritual Emphasis (WOSE) program at Currawah Aboriginal Adventist College. Pastor Parker says, “The theme for the week was the battle going on over our lives — the Great Controversy, explained in kids’ language.”

To introduce the theme to the Currawah students, Pastor Parker spoke about a battle he witnessed as a child between two tribes in Papua New Guinea. He also got some of the children to arm-wrestle each other. This led to encouraging the students to put on the full armour of God (Ephesians 6:11) and to drink the Living Water (John 4:14) as they battle against Satan.

There were three night worships and one morning worship that explored this theme, and focused on the way in which God is not only willing, but is also able to forgive us for our sins. Although there was the focus on the battle between good and evil, Pastor Parker also emphasised the importance of a relationship with God. “It can be tough,” he says. “But as we become better friends with God, it becomes easier.”

Using a lot of video clips, stories and visual illustrations, Pastor Parker says the students focused on his presentations “like you wouldn’t believe.” He adds, “The teachers and staff at Currawah do an amazing job. When you’ve got 29 kids and none of them are Adventist, what a mission that is!”

Each afternoon of the WOSE program saw Pastor Parker get one-third of the students involved in the Pinnacle Challenge. “They loved it,” says Pastor Parker. “It really stretched them. A lot thought they couldn’t do it, but discovered they could. It helps kids overcome vulnerabilities.”

— Adele Nash

OUR SCHOOLS

Pyjamas and dreams at Macquarie College’s FLAG Week

Macquarie College’s Junior School had Fun Learning About God (FLAG Week) in early June as Pastor David Edgren took the students on a journey through “dreams” with the theme of “I Want To See Jesus.”

The stage was set up with a big bed, where Pastor Edgren would wake up from dreams to take the worship for the students. Pastor Edgren says, “I was in my PJs all week. I had a dream each day and we got to meet different Bible characters as we did a weeklong Bible study on Micah 6:8. On the Monday, we met Micah, who taught us the verse. Then over the next three days, we met Malcus (who taught us about justice), Mary (who taught us about mercy), Peter (who taught us about humility) and Jesus, who told me His favourite story — mine! The invitation was: Would you like to hear Jesus tell you His favourite parts of your story one day? He loves you and is longing to tell you the joy He takes in you!”

Pastor Edgren would start each day with the same line about a dream he had just had, and by the third day, the kids were starting to say it with him.

Macquarie College’s chaplain Brad Rea put together a short video for each day that introduced the theme. He asked several students what they thought the theme word meant. He also organised four students to lead out in prayer every day.

Each day, approximately 20 Year 5 and 6 students were involved in the worship band, led by Jane Mitchell (Junior School music teacher) and Jacob McElevey (Junior School sport and IT teacher). On the Friday, all the students who had participated during FLAG Week filled the stage to sing the five songs voted as the favourites by the students.

There was also a daily activity called “Bible Quiz-o-rama,” where Brad asked a series of questions to three selected students. Three teachers were asked to choose a student from their class to participate. The winner would receive one of Pastor Edgren’s “thinking caps.”

All of the “thinking caps” were different colours and had “thinking cap” embroidered on it. On the Friday night, three students were teamed up with one of their parents and Pastor Jeff Parker, Director of Youth Ministries for the North New South Wales Conference, and his son Leighton were the winners.

The Friday night program was the concluding event for the week. Families were invited to a dinner in the Wallsend Church with the theme of Pyjama Party. Everyone came dressed in their PJs and had a great meal catered by Wallsend Church. This was an event hosted by the Junior School teachers and staff, and the catering and pastoral teams of Wallsend Church.

“I talked to the parents about being the storytellers in their children’s lives at the Friday night program,” says Pastor Edgren. “On the Sabbath at Wallsend, I told the dragon story and challenged the audience to be God’s storytellers. It was a great week!”

— Alysha Lock/Adele Nash

Avondale School hosts “Land of the Pharoahs” exhibition

During the week of 18–22 June, Avondale Students had the opportunity to admire a large collection of artifacts and information about ancient Egypt. The foyer of Avondale School’s iCentre was filled with historic data representing significant moments in archaeology and in the discovery of evidence for Egypt’s ancient civilization.

Dr Wayne French, chaplain at Avondale College and an associate pastor at College Church, brought his personal collection of artifacts to be shared with the school community. His passion for history and dedication to sharing his knowledge has lead him to collect the items over many years. Key areas covered in the exhibition include Tutankhamen, the Table of Writing, archaeology and stories of the New Kingdom. The benefit to the students and staff has been widespread, with Dr French delivering

talks to the Year 11 and 12 Ancient history classes, the senior Religious Studies classes and even the primary students.

For the younger ones, Dr French’s animated delivery made the content very interesting. He simplified the concepts in the history being displayed and made links to biblical stories that the students were familiar with.

A huge collection of pottery, including canopic jars, were in the collection. Canopic jars were made to hold the internal organs of Egyptian kings. Students were wowed by a panoramic representation of Tutankhamen’s tomb with artwork, precious artifacts and informative blurbs. Other features included a one-third-actual-size replica of the Rosetta Stone, which was integral in leading scholars to decipher Egyptian script. Genuine examples of New Testament papyrus were also on display with a representation of a segment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These components were part of a segment on writing and language that Dr French focused on.

Significant burial rituals were included with a large sculpture of Anubis on display. Anubis was the Egyptian god of the dead and was found guarding Tutankhamen’s treasury room. The first object found at the discovery of the tomb was the “wishing cup” named by archaeologist Howard Carter.

Students were particularly interested in the crossovers between ancient Egyptian history and events, stories and ideas that are represented in the Old Testament. The exhibition provided them with a means of visualising key components of Egyptian belief and culture.

— Susan Rogers

GraceLink curriculum continues to link our children to

Once of the awesome things that I have appreciated over the years as I have grown up in the church is the unity of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church at study. No matter where you travel in the world, you can attend an Adventist Church Sabbath School and participate in a discussion of that week’s Sabbath School lesson, which is the same one you have been studying.

I personally believe that there is a blessing for us as a church and as individuals as we meet together to discuss our study of God’s word. These lessons are written by Adventist scholars and theologians to enhance our study of particular passages and themes. It would be a sad day for the church if we lose this unique feature. The other beauty of our Sabbath School lesson system is that age-appropriate quarterlies are written for every person, from birth to the grave. GraceLink is part of this lesson system, and is the only approved children’s Sabbath School curriculum written by the General Conference Sabbath School to facilitate the learning and spiritual growth of our children. This should be a key priority of all our churches. Being Adventist means that we have some distinctive biblical perspectives and practices, and so it makes sense that we have a specific, designated quarterly for our children embraced by the worldwide church.

The GraceLink curriculum was written in response to the Valuegenesis studies of the late 1980s. Those studies showed that a sizeable majority of Adventist youth had poorly developed faith, did not understand the good news of the Gospel, and believed their salvation was basically determined by their conduct. This was cause for concern for our leaders. Children need to have a head knowledge, but more important is that they have a heart connection. The result was the development of this exciting curriculum. The name GraceLink was chosen based on the following quote: “You may . . . link yourself to the throne of God by the golden chain of grace and truth” (Ellen White, 2 Selected Messages, p 318).

The GraceLink curriculum develops four of the most important aspects of the Christian life as lenses for Bible study. These are grace, worship, community and service. The priorities of GraceLink are as follows

• Bible-based lessons — the Bible story plus Bible study.

• Ellen G White material as a background to each lesson story.

• Christ is central to every story and lesson.

• Adventist fundamental beliefs are taught, as developmentally appropriate.

Jesus

• Developing a relationship with Jesus is a priority.

• Memorisation of Scripture is encouraged.

• Christian values and lifestyle are portrayed as appealing.

• Deep-thinking questions encourage a deepheart connection with Jesus.

The beauty of GraceLink is that it has been written to appeal to all learning styles, actively engages children in the story and involves total hour teaching around a main learning point each week. A Bible timeline is available for each Sabbath School room, which allows children to build their big picture centring on a God of love and grace. This understanding helps promote a faith that sticks in the hearts of our children.

Recent exciting resources developed in Australia add to the GraceLink experience and help to drive the lessons home. These include GraceLink@home activities for Beginners and Kindergarten levels — based around the rhythms of family life — and the recently-launched Table Talk tins, which are also based around the dynamics of GraceLink (Table Talk is available at Adventist Book Centres).

Another development has been animated Bible stories for the lesson. These are currently available for Sabbath Schools and churches to use as an evangelistic outreach to reach the community, and to grow your Sabbath School.

Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II, once said, “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.” The 14-year GraceLink curriculum provides a chain of destiny for your children and links them to the Throne of Grace, one link at a time. What more do you really want for your children? If your church is not using the total hour GraceLink curriculum, then what are you waiting for? Link your children to Jesus today.

— Daron Pratt

For GraceLink enqueries, further information and/or training, contact Daron Pratt, Director of Children’s Ministries for the North New South Wales Conference, via dpratt@adventist.org.au.

Book Review: The Perfect Lamb

If you’ve met Pastor David Edgren (better known as Dave), you’d know that he’s got a great way with words, and is a talented storyteller. He’s also a good writer, and his latest book, called The Perfect Lamb, has just been released.

Nathan Brown, book editor for the Signs Publishing Company, says, “A good storyteller can take a well-known story and make it fresh, at the same time as adapting it to the story’s intended audience. That’s what Dave has done in retelling the story of Jesus’ death in a creative and engaging way for younger readers.”

With such a great summation of the book, you could probably give up reading this right now — and head straight to reading the book itself. But the title promised a review of The Perfect Lamb, so keep reading.

We meet Rufus, who is 11 years old and has to look after his family’s sheep, on the first page of the story. We also meet Rufus’s best friend, Sammy — a little lamb. And

it’s not long before it seems their friendship will be broken up, because Rufus’s father has taken Sammy to the temple for the family’s yearly sacrifice. He is the perfect lamb for the family’s sacrifice.

But things don’t go to plan. For a start, there are challenges at the temple. Then on the way home, father is forced to make a detour that leads to an encounter with Jesus, leading Sammy, Rufus and his Father find the Perfect Lamb instead.

At 74 pages in length, this book is based around the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and is aimed at a younger readership.

However, older readers will also find something in the story that touches them. The Perfect Lamb also has a small Bible study and discussion guide at the conclusion. This covers Bible passages that prophesy Jesus’ death, as well as exploring texts that tell the story of it. The questions posed also allow for interesting personal reflection, and encourage the reader to think more about our Perfect Lamb — Jesus.

— Adele Nash