Impacted by God

As we celebrated our 8 years of leadership and ministry at the Noarlunga Corps today, we were so encouraged and blessed by who was present at our celebration service.  We saw friends and colleagues who have partnered with us in ministry, those whose lives have been radically transformed, those who are still exploring their faith journey and those who have invested into our lives and ministry.  In addition to our regular congregation, this included...

...local business leaders who have generously invested financially into our ministry
...community leaders who have supported programs and events organised by our church
...other church leaders with whom we have partnered in the gospel through combined church events
...a Congolese pastor who contributed to the spiritual development of our leaders
...a missionary family who we financially supported to go to Kazakhstan
...a bible college student who generously shared her mission experience with our short term mission teams
...a young man who we supported into a drug and alcohol recovery program
...our neighbours with whom we have built a supportive relationship between both families
...the school principal who has valued our input into the school community
...an athiest friend who cares enough about our friendship to sit through a worship service
...former church members who returned to offer their support for the next phase of our ministry
...close friends from Darwin who made time in their holiday schedule to be a part of our farewell
...a family we became close to as we journeyed with them through their time of loss and grief
...school teachers who invested into the lives of our children
...parents from our kids school who valued Vanessa's relationship and input into their lives
...the local federal member of parliament who affirmed the impact of our leadership in the community
...the RSL president who has appreciated our annual support of ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day

While those gathered graciously acknowledged the impact of our service, we honoured God  for the impact of the Holy Spirit in our lives and granting us the privilege of being used to serve our church and community.  Today, I saw the manifestation of Jeremiah 33:9 which has been the prophetic motivation behind our mission and ministry - "Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it." (Jeremiah 33:9)