Jars of clay

2 Corinthians 4:5-7
⁵For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

On the 28th and 29th of May, I attended and was involved in the Sonlife seminar - Jars of Clay (Vaso de barro). I both served at the seminar helping to set-up and playing drums for the alabanza and took the "Come and See" course which covers the first 29 years of Jesus' life.This was an awesome time of seeing God bring together a group of about 60-70 young leaders to worship Him, learn more about Jesus and be equipped to be and make disciples. I praise God for what He is doing here in Latin America to equip a new generation to be disciple-makers and live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today's world.

Some of the most impacting things for me were seeing the deep obedience to God of Mary and Joseph as parents of Jesus and the full implications of the way Jesus entered the world in the society both cultural and religious of that day. Also it has been impacting me in my study of the life of Jesus in God's word, the amazing mystery of the complete humanity and complete divinity of Jesus Christ.

I pray that you too will be challenged to take a fresh look at the Jesus of the Bible, God's Son who humbled himself and became a human being to save us from our sin, show us what God is like and reconcile us to a restored relationship with God.

Wrapping up training

A cool photo of some of us at training.
I'm here with my friends sharing about how to use a blog! It's lots of fun and a great way to keep in touch!



Everyone is having fun... except for Bill... he's a bit grumpy this afternoon ;-) Only joking!!

Teamwork!

Check it out! This is our team's winning baloon tower that we built during a team-building exercise today. It was really interesting to debrief the exercise as we had a team that worked really well together. During the course we have been talking about different personality types and have all completed a Myers-Briggs personality type assessment. It was interesting to be in a group that was weighted with "Feelers" over "Thinkers" and had a mix of other personality characteristics. We all looked after each other and had a lot of fun working together! It's really handy to talk about our personality types with others, especially those who you work in a team with to understand how others think and feel. It's not a chance to pigeon-hole people, but to understand more of how they approach life, challenges and how they get their energy. For anyone that's interested, I identify most closely as an ENFP...

Training is going really well and is continuing to provide some new insights as well as revising some lessons I've heard before. I've met a stack of really cool people and I'm excited to see how others are getting prepared to go to places all over the world to serve God.

If you're into it, please keep praying for me as the course stretches and challenges us that I would be able to learn and grow.

Hasta luego amigos ;-)

Off to training

Ok, so lots of posts today, but this one is short... I'm just about to get ready and leave for Transition Training. The course is designed to help build my skills for making an effective transition into another culture. The course runs from the 2nd to 18th of January, so I'll pretty much be out of circulation during this time as it is residential and runs six days per week.

If you're into praying, I would really appreciate it if you would pray for me during this time of training and preparation that God would teach me the things that I need to do to prepare and that I would draw nearer to God at the training. I would also appreciate if you would pray with me for my partnership team to come together to support me financially and specifically in prayer as I go to Mexico. I have had many people express an interest and desire to partner with me, but I need those people to follow through and send in a response form to International Teams so that all the logistics come together.

God bless you in 2008 and I look forward to sharing the journey of life together in 2008 and beyond!

MILL's done!

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your prayers and interest in my journey. God continues to be faithful and loving even when life gets hectic and full on - how great is our God! I was encouraged last week to get a note from one of the team members in Queretaro saying that they were looking forward to March next year when I would be in Mexico - wow!

I've just completed the eight day Maximum Impact Language Learning course out at Equip Training in Kangaroo Ground. This course provided some great tools and techniques to assist with language learning as well as being good fun. I had a great time during the course catching up with other International Teams missionaries and meeting a stack of great people going out to other places around the world. I had fun talking Spanish with one of the course leaders and sharing some stories of the funny language faux pais (spelling?) I had made whilst in Mexico last year. It was particularly cool to share and pray for one another on the final day of the course.

I also had Friday off work (following the course) and went snowboarding at Mount Buller with some friends. It was great to get away and have a day of "real" leave as I've been using all my holidays to attend training courses lately!

I'm back at work on Monday to face the intensity and busyness of corporate life again so I would appreciate your prayers for strength and focus particularly over the next week. The next step in my preparation is to attend the Partnership Development workshop from July 9 - 13, again at Kangaroo Ground.

I'd love you to pray specifically for:

• My transition back into work in the coming week
• Continued focus on God and the journey ahead in the midst of work pressures
• The Shift missions event on July 22 that I'm responsible for organising - that things would come together for this
• Me to be consistently shining a light in my workplace, particularly over the next six months as people see me prepare to serve God overseas

Thanks again for journeying with me. I do find it really encouraging to have people interested and praying for me - it really excites me when I'm asked how things are going or to get an email letting me know some news about your journey wherever that may be.

God bless,
Phil

The next step - MILL

Ok, so what's MILL - it stands for Maximum Impact Language Learning. For me, this is the next step on my journey as I work towards serving in Mexico. On Tuesday I'll commence the MILL course run by Equip Training (Wycliffe) for two weeks. This course will equip me with tools and techniques to learn language effectively.

Since I last blogged, life has been pretty hectic with LOTS on at work that has been keeping me very busy. I've been travelling up to Sydney a fair bit which has been interesting but also kept me fairly tired.

I look forward to taking a couple of weeks to really focus on learning and preparation for my time of mission service and I'm praying that God will really challenge, stretch and equip me over the next couple of weeks.

It's been exciting to hear stories from another International Teams intern from Australia who just returned from spending three months in Queretaro. She absolutely loved Mexico and God used her to be a blessing over there.

Please continue to pray for my journey and I look forward to catching up with you over the coming weeks and months.

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