Blessed by training

Hi all. I'm currently sitting on the verandah of the International Teams office watching the rain fall over Sydney. It's good to see the rain wet the ground! I am in my second week of iTeams Access training that is designed to prepare you for missions with International Teams. I have been so blessed to be here!

God is growing me, challenging me, exciting me and strengthening my vision for what he has in store for me. It's been really fun getting to know the others doing the training as we have lived in community over the past week. We are now staying in different locations around Sydney, but come together during the day at the iTeams training centre as a little tribe.

Today we have been learning about the local church and missions, which for me has been a good refresher of the concepts I have learned doing the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course.
Some of the most beneficial aspects of the last week have been putting together my personal philosophy of ministry - my own document of my core values, gifts, passions and ministry experience. This has been powerful in showing me the way God has worked in my life to shape me, growing me into the guy I am today and preparing me for the good works he has prepared for me to do (Ephesians 2:10). I also know that God definitely isn't finished with me and has lots of ways in which he still wants to grow me and change me which is exciting!

Here is a pic of the Access tribe up in the Blue Mountains!

Please keep praying for me throughout the training and I look forward to catching up with those of you at Balwyn Gospel Chapel on Sunday when I return!

Phil

Conversations organised by God

Hi all,

I've just returned from a great Easter weekend away at Belgrave Heights Convention where I was serving on the youth team with the OAC Ministries (www.oac.org.au). We had a great time sharing with the teenagers around the theme of "A better place" - looking forward to heaven and thinking about the kingdom of God now.

Anyway, after one of the evening sessions I was catching up with a couple of friends and waiting to speak to a missionary from Interserve when I was introduced to a guy called Flinder who is involved with Christian Union at Deakin. We were chatting, talking about the things we were involved in and he was telling me about his interest in teaching in the Catholic school system. When he heard that I was looking towards going to Mexico next year he asked me how much I knew about the Catholic Church. I said that I knew a few basic things about the Catholic church but hadn't got into it in a lot of depth. So we sat down and he shared with me a whole stack of really cool background and information about the Catholic church, where it's been, where it's at and how we can relate to people involved with the Catholic church. After chatting for ages, we prayed together and went on our way.

I was really encouraged by Flinder and his openness to have a great chat and share some of the things he is really passionate about. I was really excited that God gave me the opportunity to learn a bit more about the environment in which I'll be serving (Mexico is 89% nominally Roman Catholic - CIA World Factbook). I would really like to learn more about the Catholic church and get a really good grip on its background.

Back to work tomorrow, so better go!

PJ