Newlife Church Plant Brisbane

Will and Nerida are Moving!

2007-04-16T23:00:00.000+10:00

Sorry to cause any inconvenience but Nerida and I are moving our home in Cyber-space to here. It just makes it easier for everyone to find us and it reduces any confusion that might have arised from the name of the old site. Hope you drop in from time to time.

Annual leave wrap up

2007-04-16T15:40:00.000+10:00

Well back on deck after taking the last of my annual leave for 2006 and I guess you don't really appreciate time off until you are in the midst of it. Highlights were the chance to catch up with my sister Mary and her son Isaac before they headed back to the U S of A. We miss you.
Nerida and I also had a great time away for three restful days on the beautiful Gold Coast while my Mum and Dad babysat the kids.
I also went and watched 300 (by myself) and I thought it was great. I definately wouldn't recommend anyone underage going as it is very violent etc but the storyline is powerful and has real depth in speaking to our generation about values, discipline and courage to stand firm till the end. Hmmm Jesus had a bit to say about those very issues to His disciples in Matthew 24:9-14.
Anyway I just so happened to trip over this interesting article regarding the movie 300 by the Sydney Anglicans - check it out here.
Anyway all in all it was a great time to catch up with family. Gotta do it more often. End Post.

Newlife's Easter Saturday Community Outreach Wrap Up

2007-04-07T14:59:00.000+10:00

Well if Friday was good this morning was even better. It was great yesterday to come together as Christians to celebrate together our unity in the Lord Jesus BUT it was fantastic to see the hand of God at work today as the people of Newlife went OUT and shared the good news with our community in a words and kind deeds.
Thanks to everyone who made the effort to serve the people of our community this morning. I know God approves.
In Luke 15 Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples that "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
Jesus' heart broke for the lost.
When we grow in our faith it is only natural that the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will impress on our hearts the need to share the good news with the lost and disconnected in our community. Thanks to you all for being serious about sharing your faith with a world lost without Jesus.
I now commit to prayer for tomorrow.
Will you pray too? Better yet- pray AND bring a friend.

Combined service @ USQ Wrap Up

2007-04-06T11:46:00.000+10:00

Well I reckon it's an understatement to say that the Easter Friday Service at the USQ went well.
It was flippin awesome!
God certainly showed His sovereign hand in it all as He spoke a concistent Christ Centred Message through the songs (yay Newlife Music team), the prayers, the sermon... everything. It was a great testimony to His goodness to us and the true unity that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

Let's keep Praying for Easter

2007-04-05T07:43:00.000+10:00

Jesus teaches us how to pray in Luke 11.
He wants us to pray specifically and continually, never giving up.
He also assures us that God wants to pour out His Holy Spirit on us so we can live lives of love and holiness. Lives that are empowered to 'Go' and share the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection with others.

PLEASE PRAY for EVERYTHING that's going on over the Easter Weekend. We've been praying but let us not get weary doing good, even more so as we know the day of His return is one day nearer than it was when we went to bed last night.

Pray and Invite Someone... trust that God wants to use you.

Newlife in the NEWS

2007-04-04T08:21:00.000+10:00

Here's a couple of links to the online edition of the Springfield News promoting our Easter Events.
Click here for the awesome front page!
Click here for the wrap up on page 4.
WOW God is certainly at work in everything, and His word is getting out, it can't be stopped. Why not take the opportunity and time to connect with your neighbors and invite them to one of our Easter Events.

Newlife Easter Events 2007

2007-04-03T16:16:00.000+10:00

Hey Easter is here. Or nearly here. Anticipation levels are rising and we're praying that God will use us, all of us at Newlife to share His love, His message of forgiveness and hope with our community this Easter.

Good Friday - Combined Service 9am University of Southern QLD, Main Auditorium
Easter Saturday - Easter Eggstravaganza at Spring Lakes District Park. Beginning with a pancake breakfast at 8am, followed by Easter Egg Hunts from 8.30am, it will be a great day for the Newlife Family as we show the Love of God to our community in a simple way... by serving them and pointing to Jesus.
Easter Sunday - Sunday Service 9am at the University of Southern QLD, level 3 main auditorium.

Don't just come, bring a friend!

easter video Ridge Stone

2007-04-03T08:07:00.000+10:00

Check out this clip. It's the crew from Ridge Stone Church having some fun promoting their Easter Services.

Newlife Beach Camp 2007

2007-04-01T17:00:00.001+10:00

Well I'm sitting back home burnt, tired, red eyed and yet extremely satisfied with the way that our Beach Camp went this past weekend. Overall the weekend was a great success, apart from minor mishaps like the rec centre omitting to tell us that there was NO cabin 11 in reality but there was one on their official camp sheet (it was like an episode of the X files)??? Nerida and I have got to say that this camp was right up there with the best camps we've ever been on. Don't know if that's got to do with the relaxed laid back approach to the timetable or the people who attended or both but everyone who went had a good time and we all learnt stuff about following God and we all were encouraged and challenged by Pastor Bob Burnett's talks from the gospels. Props go out to a heap of people who made big efforts to be there and live the gospel with others in community. As my youth pastor told me many years ago camps have a tendancy of knocking the rouch edges off people in a way that Sunday church just can't.

Jane and Kirsty, I'm sorry you had to go home early. Thanks also to the Faith, Jess, Steve, Ian, John Shield, Sam, Jack, Sonya and Beth for making the camp go so well. I know I've missed out important people but before I go I wanna give a BIG shout out to the 'Par Boys' (not the Bra Boys... but close) for coming along, I trust the surf of the Sunny Coast was up to your standard... ;)

Ridge Stone Easter Promo Video

2007-03-30T06:02:00.000+10:00

Check this video out, Gary and the 'Stoners have yet again pulled something out of the hat. ;)

Happy Easter to y-all in Canton, Georgia, U S of A.

Why Church Plant?

2007-03-30T05:27:00.000+10:00

I've been asked a couple of times why do I call my blog "Newlife Church Plant Brisbane"? My answer is simply this, I'm convinced that Jesus Christ is the risen Son of God, sitting in glory with God the Father. Jesus humbled Himself, set aside His Glory and was born of the Virgin Mary, lived, served willingly died upon a cross to deal with your and my sin. He then rose from the dead on the third day. He humbly did all this so that mankind might have the opportunity to repent, place our faith in Him and be made right with God the Father. Jesus has told us that "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as testiment to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14)
Jesus has plainly told us the state of play. He has given His followers His Spirit. He tells us now to 'go and share the good news to everyone everywhere.'
The daily question I have to deal with is, is Jesus God & do I trust Him with my life?
If I do then I will humbly and joyfully join Him in His mission whilst there are those who have not yet heard the good news. Church planting, whether it is continually replanting and relaunching existing congregations or launching new ones is fundamental to the achievement of this mission Jesus has called us to. At Newlife Church we aimed to be relaunching regularly. Staying focused, flexible and committed to growing in our relationship with Jesus and sharing Him with the disconnected in our community.

Big Props to the 'atchurch team'

2007-03-28T21:55:00.001+10:00

Hey if you've arrived here through our website you're aware of the neat fresh site that we've got. Well props where props due and I'd like to give a big shout out to the 'atchurch' crew. Sarah and the crew from atchurch have always been super creative, supportive and just plain patient with us at Newlife. Check them out they're well worth the visit.

Bono, truth, the Gospel and us provin' our faith by our deeds!

2007-03-28T21:25:00.000+10:00

I just watched this clip with Bono steppin up into the pulpit and bringing it home about Jesus and His love and concern for the poor. I've always loved U2, right from my early days being sent from the family farm (no music & heaps of love) to boarding school (heaps of music...). Bono had a way of cutting through the rubbish to the heart of matters for me back then... and I reckon nothings changed. Bono has a knack of telling the truth to his generation without being labled as some kind of 'religious nut.' I pray that Bono and the U2 crew keep telling the truth - that Jesus followers must "prove their repentance by their deeds! (see Acts 26:20)." Bono in this clip is just statin the bleedin obvious. Sometimes I wish I was born Irish, only for a second then I remember that being an Aussie is heaps more potent!

Love must be proved in our actions.

How to keep the LOST out...

2007-03-28T17:07:00.000+10:00

Here's 10 good ways to keep the LOST out of your church...

As for us at Newlife we're going to keep working hard at being inclusive to the disconnected. It's simply not negotiable when it comes to following Jesus (Luke 15 & 1 Corinthians 14).

Thanks to Church Redone for the 10.

1. Don’t have a website : This is the information age, even 107 year old women have blogs, but not your church. No church website, no blog, no flickr account, and don’t podcast your sermons. Knowledge is power and providing me easy access to information about your church might empower me to learn more or even visit. So even if you must have a website, make sure it is poorly designed, lacking in information, hard to navigate, out of date and doesn’t have an rss feed to make things even remotely easy for me.

2. Be completely inactive in the community : If you’re not doing anything in the community then no one will talk about your church. That makes it a lot harder for me to accidentally find out anything useful. So don’t serve the community or partner with other churches or non-profits. In fact it’s really just best if you stay completely inward-focused and don’t do anything missional in your city.
3. Don’t answer your phone : Regardless of what time I call (weekday, weekend, morning, afternoon, evening) don’t answer the phone and don’t have an answering machine or voice mail for me to leave a message or prayer request. If you do have voice mail, don’t include your website address, service times or directions to your church on your message, and don’t ever answer the phone on Sunday mornings. That way when I’m lost en route to service, I’ll have no choice but to drive around aimlessly until I give up and go home.

4. Allow misinformation : Sometimes you just can’t prevent denominations or directories from listing information about your church. When contact information changes, don’t tell them about the update. You can save time by providing them incorrect information initially and for added confusion make sure each directory lists different information about your church, all of it wrong.

5. Lack clear signage : Even if I’m determined to visit your church, you have several on site options to discourage me. The first is to play hide and seek. Is your church in a nondescript building or on a street with several other churches? Have absolutely no signage; none, whatsoever. Except maybe on the mailbox, where you abbreviate things beyond comprehension. If you run a Christian school, put up a 10′ x 14′ sign just for it, so I’ll be led to believe the building is only a school.
6. Have insufficient parking/seating : Other discouraging on-site options are lack of adequate parking and seating. Does your church seat 200? Only have 30 parking spaces. Been running at capacity for weeks or months? Don’t start another service, so that there will be standing room only. Have visitors’ parking? Put it in the corner of the lot away from the entrance. Have adequate parking? Don’t stripe the lot or have parking attendants; chaos is best. Have adequate seating? Make it as uncomfortable as possible.
7. Ignore Visitors : Despite your best efforts I have found and attended your church. In fact, I even filled out a visitor’s card requesting more information. Don’t acknowledge my visit in any way. Don’t call me, don’t send me a thank you card, don’t answer any of my questions or give me any information about how to become involved or learn more about Jesus. Also don’t have any literature available to provide visitors and don’t train your volunteers to be courteous or helpful in anyway.
8. Respond half-heartedly to inquiries : If responding to information requests at all, do so extremely slowly and only partially. Wait 1 week or more to return emails or phone calls and if I ask several questions, don’t answer them all. Instead just tell me I should come to a service to find out more. That saves you a couple minutes of response time and makes you look very busy and important. Whatever you do, do not start a dialogue with me.
9. Be evasive about your beliefs : When I ask a direct question about the church’s beliefs, ignore the question or act like you don’t understand and then start telling me about your denomination or church programs. For “What We Believe”, only include the Nicene Creed on your website or literature. If I’m adamant about wanting positional clarity, instead tell me about the love of Jesus and how Christianity isn’t about division. For those times you do answer my questions, act offended that I would even ask, then try and make me feel stupid or sinful for questioning you.
10. Lie to me : When all else fails, simply lie to me about your church. You might just get a few weeks of attendance out of me before I learn the truth. Are you denominationally affiliated? Don’t mention it ever and talk about how independent you are when I find out. Being on mission is important to me, so make it sound like all 500 of your members are actively involved in serving the city, even though you don’t give a single cent to local missions and never talk about it from the pulpit, because you actually hate the city and it’s sinful people. Lastly, spend a lot of time telling me how you are distinctive from other churches, even though you’re not.

Easter is just around the corner!

2007-03-27T22:18:00.001+10:00

Well it's just a bit under two weeks till Easter!

And things are ramping up for the biggest weekend of the year for Newlife Church. We're busy planning our Easter Saturday 'Eggstravaganza' where the church hosts its annual outreach event to Springfield. Starting with a pancake breakfast at 8am we then go onto a a short gospel talk for the kids (led by Pastor Will) followed by a number of age appropriate Easter Egg hunts. The 2007 Newlife Easter Outreach is not to be missed - we had around 300 adults and kids at the event last year and we're trusting for more for this year with over 3000 eggs organised for the big day!

Love is in the Air!

2007-03-24T11:42:00.000+10:00

Today my sister Sarah marries her beloved Hugh. I am totally stoked for them. Nerida is jittery and on edge and the kids are having their afternoon nap and it's only 10.30am! We're all amped and ready to cheer them on this arvo. We pray God's richest blessing on you and both have a great honeymoon :)

Gary Lamb and Marketing to LAUNCH!

2007-03-22T20:01:00.000+10:00

We've been working through the best way to market the launch of our second congregation (6 May 2007) and I reckon Gary Lamb's thoughts on the subject here are really worth looking at, chewing over and doing!

Sharing Christ @ Staines Memorial College

2007-03-22T08:17:00.000+10:00

This morning I have the privilege of attending Staines Memorial College, Springfield. I'm really looking forward to talking to the staff and kids from God's Word and encouraging them to know and follow Jesus. I'll post my thoughts later.

Redeemers Vision for New York & the World

2007-03-20T08:43:00.000+10:00

Sometimes it's just good to sit back and listen to what God is doing out there in His world. I've really been encouraged by Tim Keller's passion and enthusiasm for following Jesus and giving his life to reach out to the lost in New York City and beyond. And for those who would say it's all happening because of Tim, I just can't see how any movement (much less a church planting movement) can be created or sustained by any one person. It's just impossible. Sure he can give his life to serve God, but each church planted must be lead by fresh leaders, that's where the real ministry of 2 Timothy2:2 has to kick in.

Check out the vision Redeemer Pressie's chasing here.

Other resources are being added regularly here.

Sunday Breakdown

2007-03-18T16:27:00.000+10:00

Well today was another real encouragement to me and the crew who make up Newlife Church. The meeting at Springfield went well and it was good to have a little bit more room to move today but we miss all the internationals and uni students. The music team once again did a great job and it was good to have a new song introduced this morning.
Then it was over to Graceville for the second congregation. It also went exceptionally well with 46 attending. The main thing that needs to be worked through is the sound and technical issues associated with the music. Other than that it was a great morning and it was good to work through the book of James, chapter 2 together.

Newlife International Congregation Preview Service No 4

2007-03-17T09:02:00.000+10:00

Join us this Sunday 11.55 at Graceville Presbyterian Church, Banks Street Graceville.
We’d love for you to be our special guest this Sunday!
Church Service will be followed by lunch and activities at Southbank.
11.55 Church Service
12.55 Lunch together
2.30 Coffee at Southbank
3.30 Cricket at Southbank

Nick Cave & Jesus

2007-03-15T18:02:00.000+10:00

Nick Cave is an awesome songwriter and famous for his music created with the “Bad Seeds.” However few people are aware of Nick’s encounter with Jesus a few years ago. It seems to me that Jesus made an impact, an impression that's still being worked through. In his latest work Grinderman Nick writes in the song Go Tell The Women: “We are scientists, we go do genetics, we leave the religion to the psychos and fanantics.”
When questioned as to his feelings about modern Christianity being hijacked by an lunatic fringe Nick replied,

“I have certain tendencies in that direction and it is hard work having them and admitting to having them these days. I’m sad about the decline of the Christian religion. It’s sad that it seems to no longer be a functioning religion and it has no relevance any more. There is a message in there that I think is the relevant and right message, but unfortunately the whole idea of Christianity is so tainted these days that it is an anathema.”
I’d love to have a coffee with Nick and pick his brain further on this one… hmmm.
Now I’m not sure where Nick’s at on his journey with Jesus, but you can get a bit more of an idea of the issues he was working through here in his introduction to the Gospel of Mark for a re-release of the KJV Bible.
(The Sunday Mail – “Cowboy Nick on the line.” Music News, March 11 2004, p4.)

Orion Shopping Centre Opens Today

2007-03-15T10:55:00.000+10:00

Nerida and I just arrived back from represnting Newlife Church at the official prayer for the Orion SC. a big shout out to our man Councillor David Morrison! He did a great job on behalf of the local churches and certainly pulled no punches about pointing to Jesus as the source of peace and blessing. Check out the Orion website here.

It's amazing to be a part of a church that's been placed by God so strategically right in the heart of this new satellite city that is Greater Springfield. I just can't wait to see what God is going to do not only on the next few weeks but over the next few years as we keep focused on sharing Jesus with our community.

By the way stay tuned over the few weeks as I share a massive part of the vision that God is unfolding at Newlife. I can hardly hold it in... gotta go.

stop press - Springfield Community Oasis

2007-03-14T08:40:00.000+10:00

For those who are interested here's an article just arrived on my desk on one of our neighbour chuches Springfield Community Oasis. Interesting read. Props go out to the Churches of Christ for being the only denomination with the vision to step out and buy land prior to the development of the Springfield Region. Brett Swan and the Oasis Crew are in a prime position with ample tools to get out and really reap a harvest for Jesus... go for it guys!
Hmmmm... key thought for me... 'Vision coupled with strategy is really the hard part. And the results speak for themselves."

Scott Whitaker and Momentum

2007-03-14T08:16:00.000+10:00

For those who aren't aware, Scott Whitaker has some great insights regarding leadership, vision and momentum. I read this post last year, and for me it was gold back then. But as I've seen how this can work out in reality I'm convinced that Scott's right.

Momentum is a result of...
"Discomfort --> Fed by Vision -->Ignited by Anticipation -->Led by Change = Momentum"

Stop and think about any movement that has momentum (we see this in politics all the time), and then think about the factors that have lead up to the movement. There's always a discomfort or lack of ease with the status quo. This leads to a fresh vision for how things should and could be. This vision when communicated to others results in anticipation for change and action to bring about change which leads to forward movement towards the vision and the Big Mo.

Thanks Scott. By the way check out this podcast where he unpacks it all further with Nelson Searcy.