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Turning Lockdown Frowns Upside-down

Nate hosts our weekly online gathering from a studio setup in our garage.

We hope this update finds you safe and well. Things are so uncertain these days, but our challenge is to continually refocus on our hope in Jesus. When we do, we become "like a mountain that cannot be shaken but endures forever" (Psalm 125:1). Our goal is to be strong like this for our children, for our church community, and for the wider community around us in Auckland. We certainly don't get it right all the time, but what we can do is return to our Father everyday and ask Him to remind us that we will endure when we rest in His strength. "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forever more" (Psalm 125:2).

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Finn on a Zoom call with 51 of his classmates.

Nate rehearses with some of the CNW band before NZ announced its plans for social distancing last week.

A rare trip out of the house to our local beach for some fresh air and a picnic.

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We're Doing Our Bit.
Here are a few of the things we've been doing to let our little lights shine...

• Connecting with Neighbours. Before New Zealand's lockdown started last week, we went door to door asking our neighbours if they'd like to join a private Facebook group for the households on street. Everyone happily accepted the invitation and even began adding neighbours on an adjacent street. The goal of this group is to provide a platform where we can stay connected to each other during the lockdown, offer to help anyone in need, or even ask for help. All while we still keeping our distance.

• Connecting with our Children. Like a lot of parents, we're now also teachers. Distance learning is a challenge to say the least, so we're taking it easy and making sure we take time away from our work (and the kids' school work) each day to focus on family togetherness. Frisbee in the street and board games inside feature for us most days.

• Connecting with our Church Family. We're into our third week of filming our online church services from our homes. Our church gathers every Sunday morning at 10 am NZT at https://cnw.online.church. Our online platform features a live chat section which we've been using in creative ways to encourage interaction during our gathering. We're also holding two midweek opportunities to connect online, and for the first time ever, we can invite all of YOU to join us for church! If you're keen, here are the times:

  • Sunday 10 am Gathering (Saturdays at 6pm EST)

  • Tuesday 10 am Devo with Nate (Mondays at 6pm EST)

    • Live on Church Northwest FB and Insta accounts

  • Thursday 7 pm Bible Study (Thursdays at 3am EST)

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Rechurch Turns 10 Years Old!
In other news, our first church plant in Christchurch, New Zealand just celebrated it's 10th anniversary! It's hard to believe we've been doing this for that long. Since we couldn't be with them in person for the big day, we were asked to send a video with our birthday wishes. Here's what we said...

An Eventful Summer

The CNW worship band leads several congregations in worship during the Northwest Church Collective.

An Eventful Summer

From Christmas events in Auckland in early December, to family and church Christmas gatherings in the USA, to summertime events back in New Zealand, the last couple of months certainly have been a bit of a whirlwind. Here are the highlights. Just to live dangerously for a moment, let's start with our most recent events and work backwards...

Church Northwest Kicks Off Worship Services in 2020
After taking a break from the regular routine in order to make space for summertime gatherings, CNW worship services kicked off again last week in our usual gathering place - Te Manawa. It was great to see familiar faces and several new faces in the crowd. Our kids ministry has expanded into three groups for Sunday morning and we're already close to capacity. Please pray for more space for the kids!

Northwest Church Collective
We want to see local churches unite more often because we believe we’re better together and we believe it speaks well to the community around us. That’s exactly what we did on a very warm morning last month. Church Northwest initiated and coordinated the gathering as a way of reaching out to other Jesus followers around us. Everyone agreed it would be great to team up more often so we plan to put on more events like this in northwest Auckland in the future.

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Festival One
Our summer tradition of attending the only Christian music festival in New Zealand continued this year, alongside some of our best mates. It was cool to spend some quality time with our church planting compadres, the Taylors, as well. The highlight of the festival was a toss up between Lauren Daigle's first NZ concert and Rapture Ruckus' final concert ever.

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Christmas in the USA
As was foreshadowed in our previous update, we got to spend Christmas with family for the first time in 13 years! While the trip was peppered with sickness, an injury, and a conspicuous lack of snow, we did cherish our time together. Nate also took the opportunity to lead worship at three of our supporting churches and update them about the work here in NZ.

Nate and his dad enjoy the best arena ice cream in the SEC at Rupp Arena during the epic UK/Louisville match-up. It was the perfect Christmas gift and a cherished memory for them both.

Christmas with Whitney's family was an event. We loved spending time with this now massive group. Bill and Tami have 12 grandchildren who are all pictured in this rare complete family photograph.

Nate and bother-in-law, Ryan Morrow, enjoyed playing music together at several events during our visit. Here they are playing a Māori song at Worthington Christian Church in Columbus, OH.

Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$245,000 (91%)

Family Update
The baby of our family isn't much of a baby anymore. 😭 Finn turned six years old on the 3rd of February. He's enjoying his second year of school now. He's even come to the book-reading-party, following in the footsteps of his older siblings who can't keep their noses out of books these days.

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PRAYER REQUESTS / PRAISES

New Families
Praise God that He is bringing new families to Church Northwest. Pray that He'll continue to entrust us with more people and that we'll see people running with our vision of being a church community that helps each other take next steps toward Jesus. 

Health Issues
Nate is in need of surgery to correct a hernia, which came about during our trip to the USA. Pray that the surgery is approved and covered by socialised healthcare in NZ. Much more devastating health issues are affecting several of our friends, three of which are young men who all have terminal colorectal cancer. Please pray for healing and for their families to cope with such devastating circumstances.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she was diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma two years ago. Praise God that she's finished most of her clinical trial and is in remission. Please pray that she remains in remission and that her bloodwork numbers improve.

Our Family
Pray for encouraging, positive friendships for all of us. Pray for good health and that we can be a light in our community. Pray for Nate and Whitney to be able to navigate parenting challenges in a godly way as the kids get older (we have two tweens!!).

Unity
One of our core values that we can't afford to lose sight of is our commitment to unity among the church leadership and among all church members. This is what Jesus prayed for for all of us in John 17 that we would be one with each other just like he is one with the Father. We recently watched an excellent teaching series by Andy Stanley based on these verses, and we encourage you all to watch as well (search "Talking Points Andy Stanley" on YouTube, or click here).

Church Plant Progress
Pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be involved in Church Northwest. Pray that we follow God's leading and that He will provide the workers, opportunities, and strategies we need for reaping the spiritual harvest in Northwest Auckland.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

I'll Be Home for Christmas ❄️

Above: Nate and the Northwest Worship Collective at a local Christmas event last night.

We're so excited to be getting on a plane on Thursday bound for the USA. On this unusually short visit, we'll be visiting family over the next few weeks. This is the first time we've spent Christmas with our families in 13 years! We're so blessed and grateful for the unexpected generosity of a few people that made this trip possible.

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Christmas On the Point

For the past four years we've been involved in an outdoor community event in our corner of Auckland where families and friends come together to share some food, sing Christmas carols, hear the story of Christmas, and even visit with Santa. The event has gained a lot of interest in the community. This year we were expecting up to 1,000 people to attend, but a dodgy weather forecast forced us to move indoors. It wasn't quite the event we had planned, but Nate had fun playing through the set with a group of local musicians he's been developing into a "worship collective." The plan is to gather these and other musicians on a regular basis for local events.

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Carols at Rosedale Village

As has been our tradition over the past few years, we teamed up with our friends at Shore Community Church to sing Christmas Carols with the elderly at a local retirement village. We love mingling with them, hearing their stories, and having the kids involved. They were all smiles.

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Visitors from Harvester Christian Church

One of Church Northwest's supporting churches paid us a visit last month. Doyle Roth - Senior Pastor at Harvest Christian Church, his wife Jean, and four other church members stopped by New Zealand on their way back from a mission trip in Indonesia. It was so good to see them, to show them around our beautiful city, and to have them experience one of our church services for themselves. Nate's parents planted Harvester in 1980 and Doyle was the first associate pastor there, so we had fun reminiscing about days gone by at a church that has now grown into a megachurch in St. Charles, MO.

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$245,000 (91%)

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Family Update

Someone had a birthday in November. In fact, two someones! Whitney and her twin sister celebrated their birthday together for the first time in over a decade. Courtney and her husband, Devon, made the trip all the way to New Zealand for their 40th. It was so good to see these two spending quality time together again.

Meanwhile, our kids have been busy with school, extracurriculars, and friends. Here are a few highlights...

Finn was thankful for several things as we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends.

Left: Lane and her bff at her first overnight school camping trip.
Right: Henry and his basketball team celebrating another winning season this year.

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Prayer Requests.

Safe Travels
Please pray that we'll make it safely to all of our holiday destinations. We'll be driving back and forth between families over the next few weeks. We haven't driven on snowy roads in a long time!

New Families
Praise God that He is bringing new families to Church Northwest. Pray that He'll continue to entrust us with more people and that we'll see people running with our vision of being a church community that helps each other take next steps toward Jesus.

Venue
We've decided to stay put in our current venue until further notice. It seems God has us in the right place at the right time. Pray that our core church members will give sacrificially so we can reach our goal of becoming a self-sustaining church over the next few years.

Our Family
Pray for good health through the winter months, and good friends for our kids.

Unity
One of our core values that we can't afford to lose sight of is our commitment to unity among the church leadership and among all church members. This is what Jesus prayed for for all of us in John 17: that we would be one with each other just like he is one with the Father. We want our love for each other to be so real that people will see it and then believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Church Plant Progress
Pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be involved in Church Northwest. Pray that we follow God's leading and that He will provide the workers, opportunities, and strategies we need for reaping the spiritual harvest in Northwest Auckland.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she was diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma two years ago. Praise God that she's still in full remission. However, this type of cancer usually returns quickly, so please pray for continued success with her clinical trial.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

A New Video + Great News!

Hear our heart for creating a welcoming community at Church Northwest as you view some beautiful scenery just minutes away from our church.

Haere Mai.

We'd love you to take just a couple of minutes to view the above video. This is a project Nate has been working on for several months now. The beautiful drone footage was provided by our mate, Kenny, who came for a visit with one of our wonderful supporting churches. Our mate, Carey, from Church Northwest recorded the voiceover. She also read the script at our opening church service back in July. The script is our adaptation of something Whitney found on an instagram post from @brownkids, used with permission. And the music is "Forgiven" from Bethel Music's Without Words album.

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Nate was asked to help lead the GLOW Worship Night, a combined churches event in Auckland last weekend. It was a beautiful evening of authentic, spirit-filled worship.

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"I felt good when my sister and I got our bags and things. My mum and dad are looking for a house cos we live in a motel. When they don't have any money, they have to ask around."

- student, age 7

CNW recently contributed to the local back to school project, which is run by friends of ours. We were so pleased by the response of the people in our church. After highlighting the project on just one Sunday, we were able to contribute over $2000 as a church.

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Fundraising Update - Getting Closer!

While we have started a church and we are starting to see the congregation take ownership both financially and with the week to week operations of the church, we're still dependent on financial help from outside the church to get us setup for long-term sustainability. Recently we received confirmation of another $20K donation to our five-year financial plan, which gets us to 91% of our goal! CNW is so grateful to our supporters, prayer warriors, and cheerleaders. God often provides for and sustains His people through His people. 🙌🏼

Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$245,000 (91%)

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Family Update
Finn was pleased to get to lead his very first workshop at his school last month. New Zealand schools are big on giving kids opportunities to teach other kids. The idea is that kids who learn to lead and work with others, will be better prepared for working relationships in the future. Little Finn couldn't wait to be a leader for the first time. He taught two groups of five to make their very own cardboard dragons - his own design. ☺️

Early Days

Church Northwest: Meeting together, eating together.

Though it's early days, we're beginning to see our young church develop a sense of togetherness and community. We recently invited people to come and eat together as we talked about the significance of the passover meal. All the kids were in the service (and we have plenty of little ones) so as you'd expect there was an element of chaos. But the idea was a winner for developing a sense of community, and for the culinary arts. Included in our church venue is a full-size industrial kitchen. And since one of our members is an ex-chef, we served up some lovely New Zealand lamb and fresh home-made unleavened bread. It was a tasty and unique way to do church together.

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One Family At A Time
Church growth has been slow but steady lately. While church attendance has its highs and lows from week to week, God has been bringing us new families from the community around us regularly. We've done a small amount of marketing around the mall where we meet, but the majority of our new people come either because they were invited by someone or because they happened to be in the library/community hub on a Sunday morning and thought they'd pop in and check it out.

Meanwhile, Auckland's Northwest continues to expand with infrastructure, new homes, and new businesses popping up every month. We know we're in the right place at the right time. God is doing His thing in His time.

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This script was read at our launch and puts our church's welcoming heart into words:

Kia ora koutou. Nau mai, haere mai. (Greetings, welcome)

Take a moment to settle in. Take a deep breath. You are welcome here. 
Haere mai.

We welcome your curiosity and open hearts right alongside your hesitations and exhaustion with religion. We welcome your joy and cheerfulness as well as your sadness and anxiety. Your outgoing conversation is welcome here. Your introverted timidity is welcome here. We welcome you at whatever level of mental and physical wellness you are currently functioning.

Your culture is welcome. Your ethnic origin is welcome. Your race, your accent, the food you ate as a kid, and the food you’d much rather have now; all of the complexities that make up your cultural identity are all welcome here.

Haere mai.

Your whole self is welcome here. Your greatest successes and deepest failures are all welcome here. That thing you don’t want us to know about - it’s welcome here too. No, it doesn’t scare us. And yes, we’ve got stuff too.

We welcome your humour and your silent contemplation. We welcome the parts of you that are still figuring it all out.

We welcome you in your weakness.
We welcome you in your privilege.
We welcome you in your grief.
We welcome you in your guilt and in your shame.

You are welcome here.

Haere mai.

Come as you are.
Sit.
Be.
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. (Greetings to you all)

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Family Update
"My rock" was a game I (Nate) used to play with my dad when I was a little boy. Basically, we'd just find the biggest rock around, stand on top of it and shout, "my rock!" Then the other person would knock you off the rock and claim it for their own. Lane and Finn and I found our own big rocks near the ocean on a rainy, wintery day in August and played our own version of the game. Meanwhile, Henry, being the indoorsy type like his mum, stayed home and did some baking with Whitney.

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

We Have Lift-Off

Church Northwest's first weekly service on 28 July.

On the 28th of July Church Northwest launched into weekly services. As you can see in the photos, we do have a fair amount of interest and support for the church. It was an encouraging day. But we've also had our fair share of discouragement to date and we reckon that's just part of the deal. We figure planting a church is like having a baby or getting married - you're never really ready for it, but when the time comes you have to find a way to make it work. We're right in the thick of finding a way to make it work.

Planting churches is also a faith building exercise. It usually doesn't come easy. This is probably by design. As things get more difficult, the need to draw nearer to God and trust Him more becomes greater. One challenge we're facing at the moment isn't a new one to many churches: we need more help. The harvest is ripe here but the workers are few. So let's pray to the Lord of the harvest and ask Him to send more workers to our churches.

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A Welcoming Church
When starting a new church it's interesting to see what sort of personality emerges. There's a uniqueness or an identity as a church body that presents itself in the early days. At CNW we're seeing relational warmth and genuine welcome rising to the surface. The following words which were read out at church last week highlight this value:

Kia ora koutou. Nau mai, haere mai. (Greetings, welcome)

Take a moment to settle in. Take a deep breath. You are welcome here. 
Haere mai.

We welcome your curiosity and open hearts right alongside your hesitations and exhaustion with religion. We welcome your joy and cheerfulness as well as your sadness and anxiety. Your outgoing conversation is welcome here. Your introverted timidity is welcome here. We welcome you at whatever level of mental and physical wellness you are currently functioning.

Your culture is welcome. Your ethnic origin is welcome. Your race, your accent, the food you ate as a kid, and the food you’d much rather have now; all of the complexities that make up your cultural identity are all welcome here.

Haere mai.

Your whole self is welcome here. Your greatest successes and deepest failures are all welcome here. That thing you don’t want us to know about - it’s welcome here too. No, it doesn’t scare us. And yes, we’ve got stuff too.

We welcome your humour and your silent contemplation. We welcome the parts of you that are still figuring it all out.

We welcome you in your weakness.
We welcome you in your privilege.
We welcome you in your grief.
We welcome you in your guilt and in your shame.

You are welcome here.

Haere mai.

Come as you are.
Sit.
Be.
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. (Greetings to you all)

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CNW Purpose Statement
Church Northwest: Helping each other take the next step towards Jesus—a community defined by a growing faith, an authentic love for all people, and an active hope for Northwest Auckland and beyond.

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One of our partnering churches recently paid us a visit and created this video about our ministry. Have a wee keek!

Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

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Family Update
June was a big month for our wee family. Lane turned eleven on the 16th and Henry turned nine on the 25th. We're so proud of both of them. Recently Henry has asked about becoming a Christian and following in his sister's footsteps with baptism. He's even taken it upon himself to write out the reasons why he wants to be baptised. Stay tuned!

Church is Poppin’

Henry and Finn and their mates at church

Church Northwest Pop-Up #2

On the 26th of May we held our second pop-up service at Te Manawa Community Centre in northwest Auckland. The purpose of these pop-up services is two-fold: to help us create momentum with a core group, and to give us some practical experience putting on services in our new location. So far it's working - we have made improvements with our service logistics, and our core group continues to grow month to month. Our next service is 23 June - please keep it in your prayers!

Lane recites the Bible verse for the morning.

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Upcoming Dates

• June 23rd: Pop-Up Church #3

• July 28th: Church Launch - Weekly Services begin

CNW Purpose Statement
Church Northwest: Helping each other take the next step towards Jesus—a community defined by a growing faith, an authentic love for all people, and an active hope for Northwest Auckland and beyond.

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One of our partnering churches recently paid us a visit and created this video about our ministry. Have a wee keek!

---

Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

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Family Update

While we're planting a church, we're also a busy family of 5 and our kids never seem to stop growing! Thank you for your prayers for our family - they mean a lot to us!

• Finn (5) has started school this past month (in NZ, children can start school throughout the year, once they've turned five) and is so excited to learn to read and make new friends.

• Henry will turn 9 this month! He is into Bey Blades and drawing/writing his own comic book stories. He is in his second year of piano lessons, and has also started taking swim lessons.

• Lane will turn 11 this month! We can't believe our baby girl is now a "tween" and growing so quickly that her feet are nearly as big as her mum's! She has started violin lessons this year, and loves to read and write stories. She is currently working on a school project to submit an entry into a national film competition for school children.  

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Prayer Requests. 

Venue
Our current venue is in an ideal location, but is presenting us with some financial and logistical dilemmas. Please pray for wisdom as we decide how to deal with these difficulties - whether to stay in our current venue and employ some creative solutions, or to look for a new location. This is a big decision that could greatly impact the future of the church, so we ask you to join us in prayer for this.

Our Family
Pray for good health through the winter months, and good friends for our kids.

Unity
One of our core values that we can't afford to lose sight of is our commitment to unity among the church leadership and among all church members. This is what Jesus prayed for for all of us in John 17: that we would be one with each other just like he is one with the Father. We want our love for each other to be so real that people will see it and then believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Church Plant Progress
Pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be involved in Church Northwest. Pray that we follow God's leading and that He will provide the workers, opportunities, and strategies we need for reaping the spiritual harvest in Northwest Auckland.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she was diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma two years ago. Praise God that she's still in full remission. However, this type of cancer usually returns quickly, so please pray for continued success with her clinical trial.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can…

Pop-Up Church #1

Church Northwest’s first monthly pop-up service is in the books.

"Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain." -Psalm 127:1
As the task list threatened to overwhelm in the days leading up to our first monthly pop-up church service, we kept reminding ourselves that we're just walking into this one...it's a test run...we don't have to have it all together. And we didn't have it all together. And it was beautiful. The truth is that we'll never need to have it all together. If we're relying on God to build and lead His church, job one is to stay connected to Jesus...to stay connected to the Vine. Sure we'll need to work on the trellis from time to time (the trellis being any structure that facilitates the true purpose of the church: vine growth). But without the Vine the trellis is pointless. 

So we had our chance to put a bit of our trellis to the test: A/V setup, kids check-in, the band, an app-based bulletin, etc. And of course we have some adjustments to make before our next service. But the big win was how we connected to the Vine...together. Seeing all of our people in the same room (about 70 in total) connecting with one another, praying and worshipping together, learning together, and just being together was beautiful. God has given us a special group of people. And because of our highly visible location, we had three people walk in and join us on the morning :-). We haven't promoted the church to the wider community yet and we're already growing. God is building His house.

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Retreat at Whakata
One of our supporting churches has gone above and beyond for us as is apparently the norm for them. Dr. Ashley Goad of Shreveport, LA arranged for a team of seven to fly to New Zealand just to be with us, to take care of us and our kids, and to give us rest. They rented a retreat house called Whakata Country Retreat - only a 15 minute drive from our home. "Whakata" in Te Reo Māori means "rest." We were joined by church planters from around the area as well as a team from Australia. We ate together, encouraged one another, worshipped God together, and rested. We're so grateful for this team and can't wait to do it again next year.

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Timeline

• May 26th: Pop-Up Church 2

• June 23rd: Pop-Up Church 3

• July 28th: Church Launch, Weekly Services begin

Purpose Statement
Church Northwest: Helping each other take the next step towards Jesus—a community defined by a growing faith, an authentic love for all people, and an active hope for Northwest Auckland and beyond.
 

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

---

Still laughing.

Family Update
We're still laughing. Planting a church is hard. Planting a church while raising kids is harder. But it's all happening and we're still laughing. That is significant. And it's no mystery as to why. It's only because God provides. He provides for our family financially through many of you who are reading these words. He provides for our family by surrounding us with the right people to encourage and challenge us. He provides for our family by sending passionate and skilled servants to us who are taking a massive load off of us from an administrative perspective. So we can still laugh. We still take time to take care of ourselves and our kids. And most importantly, we're still being held by a Father who loves and cares for us more than any of us know. Thank God.

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Prayer Requests. 

PRAISE: CNW is Growing
Over our three gatherings to date, our core group has grown from 30 people to around 60 now! We're very blessed to have such great people to help us bring the hope of Jesus to Northwest Auckland. We'll be promoting our church to the wider community in July. We can't wait to see who God bring through our doors.

Unity
One of our core values that we can't afford to lose sight of is our commitment to unity among the church leadership and among all church members. This is what Jesus prayed for for all of us in John 17: that we would be one with each other just like he is one with the Father. We want our love for each other to be so real that people will see it and then believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Church Plant Progress
Pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be involved in Church Northwest. Pray that we follow God's leading and that He will provide the workers, opportunities, and strategies we need for reaping the spiritual harvest in Northwest Auckland.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she was diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma two years ago. Praise God that she's still in full remission. However, this type of cancer usually returns quickly, so please pray for continued success with her clinical trial.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

Our Family
Pray for good health and positive friendships.

Answered Prayer

We were devastated by the shootings in Christchurch on 15 March. Please keep the entire city in your prayers.

The venue that we've been asking you to pray about for months now (pictured below) has finally been made available to our church. We're still working out some of the details including which spaces we will be able to use within the building and which times we want to use them. The location is ideal for a church plant - very visible and adjacent to busy shops and restaurants in a growing area. Local Māori leadership have gifted the name "Te Manawa" to the building which means "the heart." Te Manawa includes a library and plenty of space for hire and for casual use. As a bonus, we can use their business hub as a workspace free of charge and even pay to book private rooms for meetings throughout the week. Please continue to pray for a positive relationship between Church Northwest and Auckland Council, who owns and operates Te Manawa.

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Introduction Evening
On the 10th of March we held an Introduction Evening for people to meet the leadership of Church Northwest, express their interest, learn about CNW's purpose and core values, and ask questions. A total of 42 people (including kids and some visitors) turned up that evening. Several were there on behalf of multiple other family members and we're aware of other families who are interested but couldn't make it that evening. So it looks like we have a solid core from which to grow Church Northwest. We'll have a better picture of who is with us at our next gathering on the 7th of April, which will take place at our new venue.

Nate and Hamish share the vision for Church Northwest at our Introduction Evening.

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Timeline

• April 7th: Dedication Evening. This is a gathering of everyone who wants to be involved. Here we will share a picnic together on the grass in front of Te Manawa, and dedicate the new church to God through prayer and worship.

• April 28th: Monthly services begin

• July 28th: Church Launch, Weekly Services begin

Purpose Statement
Church Northwest: Helping each other take the next step towards Jesus—a community defined by a growing faith, an authentic love for all people, and an active hope for Northwest Auckland and beyond.
 

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

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Family Update
Our three kids, Lane (10), Henry (8), and Finn (5) keep us on our toes every day. If we're not busy with the details of setting up Church Northwest or meeting with potential church members, you'll probably find us tending to the kiddos in some way. Lane has picked back up with violin and French lessons while Henry is excelling as a piano student. Finn is still in kindy (preschool) two days a week and is becoming a little fish because of his weekly swimming lessons. It's a tough gig, but we do feel lucky to be their parents. Please ask God to give us patience and wisdom as we do our best to provide a family in which these little people can grow and thrive.

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Prayer Requests. 

PRAISE: Church Venue
We've locked in our top choice for a venue for CNW! Thank God with us for providing this space. Please also continue to pray for a positive working relationship between our church and Auckland Council who operate the facility.

Unity
One of our core values that we can't afford to lose sight of is our commitment to unity among the church leadership and among all church members. This is what Jesus prayed for for all of us in John 17: that we would be one with each other just like he is one with the Father. We want our love for each other to be so real that people will see it and then believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Church Plant Progress
Pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be involved in Church Northwest. Pray that we follow God's leading and that He will provide the workers, opportunities, and strategies we need for reaping the spiritual harvest in Northwest Auckland.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she was diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma two years ago. Praise God that she's still in full remission. However, this type of cancer usually returns quickly, so please pray for continued success with her clinical trial.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

Our Family
Pray for good health and positive friendships.

Going Live

Reuben Munn praying with the Church Northwest team last Sunday.

Click to view our latest promo video followed by a ten minute interview with our team at Shore last Sunday...

Introduction Evening
We're working toward holding weekly services open to the entire community at the end of July, but the next step is to build a core team of people committed to helping us grow a church. To that end, we're holding an Introduction Evening this Sunday for anyone who wants to know more, express interest, ask questions, or commit to joining us. Please pray that God uses this event to build His church.

Purpose Statement
Church Northwest: Helping each other take the next step towards Jesus—a community defined by a growing faith, an authentic love for all people, and an active hope for Northwest Auckland and beyond.

Timeline

• March 10th: Introduction Evening. Here we will share our vision, and ask people to pray about whether God is calling them to be involved in the church plant. 

  • Rest of March: Follow up with interested individuals and families to share more 

• April 7th: Opening Celebration. This is a gathering of everyone who wants to be involved. Here we will dedicate the new church to God, share more detail of our vision and values, and outline more of our plan and timeline.

• April 28th: Monthly services begin

• July 28th: Church Launch, Weekly Services begin

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

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They're still best mates...but they won't admit it 😉

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Prayer Requests. 

PRAISE: Church Plant Venue
Our top venue option now has a name: Te Manawa (which means "the heart" in Māori). We've been told that the council will make bookings open to the public by the end of March, at which point we'll be free to log in and lock it in! Please keep praying!

PRAISE: Church Plant Progress
We're so grateful to God for bringing us this far. Continue to pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be heavily involved in our NW Auckland church plant. Please pray that we follow God's leading in this, and that He will provide the workers and opportunities we need for the spiritual harvest.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she has been diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Praise God that she's still in full remission. However, this type of cancer usually returns quickly, so please pray for continued success with her clinical trial.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

Our Family
Pray for good health and positive friendships.

⏰ The Countdown Begins

Check out our startup website: churchnorthwest.nz

The Countdown Begins

For our team, the past several months have been full of preparation, anticipation, prayer and even more waiting. Last week our leadership team transitioned from a board of trustees to an eldership, and just last night we approved some exciting details that we'd love to share with you.

Church Northwest
A church name is an interesting concept. While in many respects it is far less important than the type of community we actually become, it is still the first contact many in the community will have with us. We therefore thought it best to have a name that was simple, meaningful, and clear— especially to non-Christians. During our little market research project, this name did strike people as simple and logical, but what really won us over was one non-Christian person who had the observation that it seemed less intense than some of the other options, which might appeal to someone who was unsure about coming along.

Purpose Statement
Church Northwest: Helping each other take our next step towards Jesus—a community defined by a growing faith, an authentic love for all people, and an active hope for Northwest Auckland and beyond.

Timeline

• Feb 24th: Shore Community Church to hear details about the new church. 

• March 10th: Information Evening. Here we will share our vision, and ask people to pray about whether God is calling them to be involved in the church plant. 

  • Rest of March: Follow up with interested individuals and families to share more

• April 7th: Opening Celebration. This is a gathering of everyone who wants to be involved. Here we will dedicate the new church to God, share more detail of our vision and values, and outline more of our plan and timeline.

• April 28th: Monthly services begin

• July 28th: Weekly Services begin

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A Wedding at Māori Bay
Nate recently had the privilege of doing the music at the wedding of some friends of ours in an iconic location. It was a windy day, but the weather was otherwise gorgeous for this Samoan-Australian union.

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A Season of Visitors
We've been blessed with two sets of visitors in February and more to come in April this year. Living 8,000 miles away from overseas friends and family has been prohibitive for many would-be visitors over the past ten years, but it seems 2019 will be the exception. Ted and Kelley (Sarge), friends of ours from Indianapolis, stayed with us last week. And this week Whitney's brother Ben, his wife Emmy and their two kids are with us. It's a privilege to live here but it becomes even more apparent when we take the time to show visitors the splendour of New Zealand.

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

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Family Update.

Finn is five years old! He's excited to go to "big school" with his brother and sister starting in April. He's a very affectionate boy - always wanting hugs that last a long time. He's also quite the lego builder these days. He can spend a whole day working on fairly complex builds. We're so blessed to have this beautiful boy in our lives. Happy birthday Finny!

Finny is five!

🌞 An Eventful Summer

Christmas Eve at Shore CC

2019 is going to be a HUGE year for our ministry in New Zealand. The ball is rolling on so many details now for our new church, and we're so excited to tell you more over the coming updates, so watch this space! But first, we can't miss the massive December we had, so let's take a quick look over the month...

A Relaxing Christmas Eve at Shore
Over the past few years, Christmas Eve at Shore Community Church has been evolving into a full-on family-friendly, free-range-kids sort of event. So we decided to go all in and welcome the church Whanau (family) into a living-room type vibe this year complete with Christmas jammies, song requests, and random stories and Christmas memories (pictured above). It was heaps of fun.

A Record-Breaking Outreach Event
We also teamed up with a local church group in our new church target area to host Christmas on the Point, an outreach event with live music, carols-singing, great food, and a visit from Santa. Over the past three years attendance at this event has steadily climbed. This year the outdoor amphitheatre was packed with families enjoying food, music, sunshine, and neighbours. And as a bonus, the crowd of over 550 people heard about our new church starting just down the road this year. Here's hoping some seeds were planted!

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Spending time with the Elderly
We realise that Christmas can be a difficult time of year for some - especially the lonely. So we put the kids and a guitar in the van and met some friends at a local village for the elderly to try and bring some joy to a sometimes lonely place. It was a privilege to see smiles on faces, to hear joyful singing, and especially to watch our kids relate so well to people ten times their age.

A Time to Connect
Once the big day is over, summertime in New Zealand brings a fantastic opportunity to spend quality time with friends and neighbours who haven't decided to travel over the holidays. All you need is a beach, a BBQ, and a few board games and you're set for days of fun!

Our life group Christmas party

Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

If you are interested in getting involved as a financial partner with a one-time, tax-deductible gift, please visit this website and follow the instructions.

Family Update.

Now that we've been a family with children for over ten years, we've developed a few holiday traditions of our own. In addition to the ones mentioned above, we like to go ten-pin bowling on Christmas Eve and bake Christmas cookies to take to our neighbours as a wee Christmas prezzy. It's a simple way to connect with those around us and to get the kids focused on serving others.

Baking cookies for our neighbours

🏆 Two BIG WINS

Shore Community Church, Auckland, New Zealand

Our first win in November comes in the form of a massive boost in fundraising for our church plant. A church in Shreveport, LA has come to the party with a three-year commitment that has our committed total up to $225K (83% of our five-year church plant need). We'll need to see more of these funds arriving in our NZ church bank account earlier in the piece as our fundraising plan is front-heavy: the need will decrease as we grow and move toward self-sustainability as a young church at year six. If you'd like to learn more about this or help us reach our goal, head on over to churchplant.nz and make a donation. And as always, your prayers are much appreciated. God is providing!

Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$225,000 (83%)

If you are interested in getting involved as a financial partner with a one-time, tax-deductible gift, please visit this website and follow the instructions.

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Winning with Families in the Community
Nate and Henry recently celebrated a championship win with the Hobsonville Point Primary School under 9s basketball team. Coaching basketball has been a great way for us to connect with other families at the primary school. Nate and two other basketball dads pitched in to teach the kids some basketball fundamentals this season. We also took the opportunity to teach the kids respect for each other and for opponents. After our big win last week, we had a chance to catch up and celebrate with the other families in the team. We're hoping to have more and more opportunities like these to be a light in the community and to develop relationships that God can use for His purposes.

🏀 This season's champions of the local under 9's league!

It's a busy time of year. We'll be helping to host and lead this event in our community next Sunday plus two other Christmas events before the big day!

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Family Update.

Summertime has arrived in New Zealand. If you're reading this in the northern hemisphere you probably don't want to hear this, but it is warm and glorious. But it's also quite busy...for now. December in New Zealand is packed with events in the race toward Christmas Day. After that, we're all spent and ready for a holiday. So most of January is quiet and calm.

Our family faces new hurdles every year as the kids keep growing up and getting involved in new activities, sporting events, and friendships. We've been juggling swimming lessons, piano lessons, and basketball for the past several months. When you add school and church commitments into the mix, we're at capacity. Please pray for wisdom for us as we navigate and edit life. As a family, we want to choose to give our time to people and causes that make the greatest impact toward God's calling for us in this life.

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Prayer Requests. 

🔵 Church Plant Venue
The manager at our venue of choice has now been hired! Just a week into the job, the manager got in touch with us and set up a meeting. It was a great first chat and while there are still some key areas that need to be developed before we can sign a contract, the ball is rolling and seems to bouncing in our favour. Keep praying for this please!

Our Teammates
The Taylors Our teammates - Hamish & Molly Taylor - are back in NZ with us, and we're loving getting to spend time with them. They now have 34% of their monthly funding to raise, so please pray that they gain some ongoing financial partners. If you'd like to help, you can find out how here.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she has been diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Praise God that she's still in full remission. However, this type of cancer usually returns quickly, so please pray for continued success with her clinical trial.

Church Plant Progress
Continue to pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be heavily involved in our NW Auckland church plant. Please pray that we follow God's leading in this, and that He will provide the workers and opportunities we need for the spiritual harvest.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

Our Family
Pray for good health and positive friendships.

Manifesto.

Dreams on a whiteboard: preparing a vision to develop with our elders and then our church.

Have you ever had a feeling like you know something big is coming soon and you've been given the gift of a moment or a season to prepare well for it? Our church planting team is in that season now. To rush headlong into planning and executing a strategy before considering your unique position, your calling, your convictions, and/or your passions could be a critical mistake. And as church planters, if you move too quickly too soon, you run the risk of losing buy-in from the larger group or worse yet "planning God out of the equation." We're currently tackling these issues and loving every moment of it. Soon we'll be presenting a draft vision for our new church to our elders, developing it further with them, and then bringing it to the wider church core group for further input and to brainstorm strategies of how to implement the vision as a church. Your prayers during this process are so important, so please join us in asking God to do His thing!

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Nate leads worship at the Multiply NZ Conference.

Multiply Church Planting Conference
Nate and Hamish recently attended a church planting conference in Auckland with church leaders from around New Zealand and guest speakers from Australia, the UK, and Kenya. Nate was asked to help lead worship for the event, which opened doors for more networking among other churches and church planters. The conference came at a perfect time for challenging and refreshing us as church planters in dreaming mode. We have a sense that God is pushing us to increase our faith and to loosen our grip on the controls of how this is going to play out. We know He's called us to plant multiple churches. And it seems He's asking us to take more risks and raise the bar. So pray with us and watch this space!

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$145,000 (54%)

If you are interested in getting involved as a financial partner with a one-time, tax-deductible gift, please visit this website and follow the instructions.

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This cutie. Finn loves having a "coffee" with Daddy in this local train-car cafe.

Family Update.

Springtime is always an exciting season around our house. The promise of warmer days and Christmas joy looms in the air as the countdown is updated daily on our family chalkboard. And Halloween dress-ups bring a sense of fun and make-believe. But this year, even royalty came knocking on the door (of our city 😉) as we were paid a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. That's right - we're talking about Harry and Meghan. We did our best to play it cool with the rest of the usually nonchalant kiwi folk as the royals passed by on the viaduct, an arms-length away. It's rather silly, really. They're just people after all. But I must admit it was a bit fun to see the look on our daughter's face as she waved hello to a real-life prince.

Playing it cool and greeting our royal guests in Auckland with friends.

It's Official 🙌🏼

Our initial leadership team + families

Things Just Got Real

The past month has been full of firsts. Our long term relationship with Shore Community Church has led to an official memo of understanding for church plant development and the formation of an initial leadership team. We're also seeking to add at least one more trustee to our number, thus forming an eldership for our church plant. It's finally happening!

We've also been granted charitable (non-profit) status for our trust, we've opened a bank account and have begun receiving funds in NZ, we've hired an accountant, and we've begun regular trustees meetings. The next steps are much more exciting and include developing and sharing our vision, forming a core group, choosing a church name, and then rolling it all out to the people of Northwest Auckland. Please keep all of this in your prayers!

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Westgate Multipurpose Facility
Many of you have been praying about the potential for us to use this ideal facility for our church gatherings. While we're still waiting for management to be hired so we can begin an official relationship and submit our application, we have been informed that we're the only church group interested and that they regularly rent their facilities to churches. We've also received a few photos from the inside of the developing auditorium...

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Redefining "Pastoral" Counselling
Nate has been dedicating some of his work week to one-on-one discipleship and mentoring. In a few cases his role in the relationship has turned to counsellor, a role he welcomes since gaining further education in the field. Interestingly, he's found himself in the position of counsellor to a number of local pastors who are faced with current challenges or the ghosts of past hardships. Since he's grown up in a ministry family and is a pastor himself, this seems to be a niche of counselling that he can influence with ease and regularity. Pray for God to lead him to the right people, to give him wisdom, and to continue to "fill his well" in regular quiet time and sessions with his own mentor.

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Church Plant Funding Update

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$145,000 (54%)

If you are interested in getting involved as a financial partner with a one-time, tax-deductible gift, please visit this website and follow the instructions.

The next generation of church planters?

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Family Update.

School holidays have come just in time. Not only does the daily school drop off and pick up come to a halt for two weeks, extracurriculars do as well. That leaves extra time for the kids to explore the beauty of the New Zealand countryside and enjoy a few "jammy" days at home. Last week Nate took the week off to be at home with the family. We explored the coast north of Auckland, visited a quaint farmers market, and enjoyed extra rest. We're thankful for the work God has given us to do, but we're so grateful for the ability to get away and recharge from time to time.

Going Viral & Gathering Leaders

Springtime in Auckland

Since our return from the states seven weeks ago we've reentered the rhythms of family, school, and ministry life. Our focus leading up to the launch of our new church is one of preparation. We're preparing our own hearts and minds through focused study and soul care, we're deepening current relationships and engaging in new ones, and we're accomplishing some of the many tasks associated with church planting. But we believe deeply that the most important work being done now is one you can help with. Prayer. Would you join us? Ask God to continue to guide us and provide what is needed to set up a church that stands the test of time and is honouring to the King we lift high.

Honouring Māori Culture
We're passionate about understanding and honouring Māori culture (the indigenous people of New Zealand). So the overwhelmingly positive response to this video from the New Zealand community and specifically the Māori people warmed our hearts. The video shows Nate leading American kids from one of our supporting churches in a Māori waiata (a spiritual hymn). This waiata is based on the angels' proclamation of Jesus' birth in Luke 2. Surprisingly, the video has been viewed over 132,000 times and has been shared and talked about positively in social media by thousands and even by a popular secular radio station. All for the honour of the King...Tinorangatiratanga.

Surrounded by Kiwi Leaders
From the moment we were called to this project we had a passion to hand it over to local kiwi leadership from day one. So our church planting team and the eldership at Shore Community Church have been "putting in the hard yards" to make sure this happens. We're close to being able to hand the baton to our eldership team which will include both Nate and our team leader, Hamish Taylor. Once that happens we'll be able to move forward in a number of critical ways. Please pray for God to lead us and to call the leaders He has prepared for this role.

Nate Interviewed on "Hope is Here"
We were honoured to have our family and ministry in New Zealand featured on a radio show called Hope is Here with Greg Horn. If you'd like to learn about how we were called to New Zealand or about the spiritual state of the nation, listen to the first of the three interviews. And while you're at it, subscribe to Hope is Here! Greg's show generally focuses on his own personal journey of overcoming some of the obstacles that caused him pain and shame and helping others to do the same. You can subscribe on Podbean or iTunes.

Nate and another dad coaching basketball

Music time at Shore's school holiday program

Church Plant Funding Update
As many of you know, we were not just connecting with our personal financial partners, we also had to spend time raising start-up funds for the church plant.
Here's where we are:

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$145,000 (54%)

If you are interested in getting involved as a financial partner with a one-time, tax-deductible gift, please visit this website and follow the instructions.

Family Update.

This month we celebrate 16 years of marriage. We recently ran the numbers and learned that the time we've been together is now the majority of the time we've been alive! It's hard to even imagine a time when we didn't know our other half. Our 16 years has been full of major life events - some that brought joy and some that brought stress. Each event was a stepping stone...an opportunity to learn and grow. And with the help of godly counsel and a whole lot of grace, we've grown closer and closer to one another. These days we often look at each other and wonder how we got so lucky. God has been good to us. OK we'll stop now.

Celebrating 16 years of marriage 

Back Home

A recap of furlough and what's next for us...

at Auckland International Airport

Kia ora koutou! Greetings from Auckland, where we have returned from our 3 months of furlough work in the USA and are settling back into our home and routine. If you are new to our email list, then welcome! There are links at the bottom of the email for additional ways to connect with us, such as Facebook and Instagram.

It's mid-winter here, so we've packed away our shorts and jandals and have pulled out the woollies...there's nothing like a freezing cold toilet seat to wake you up in the morning!

Here's a recap of what we got up to for the second half of our furlough...

vacation with all the cousins...so many cousins

Wait...where's Kenny?

these generous families donated over $10,000 to our ministry during a week of VBS!

We were overwhelmed with how God provided for our needs on this trip. From free transportation, to inexpensive accomodation, to all of the families who opened their homes and hearts to ours - God truly is able to do more than we can ask or imagine!

Church Plant Funding Update
As many of you know, we were not just connecting with our personal financial partners, we also had to spend time raising start-up funds for the church plant.
Here's where we are:

Our Goal:
$270,000
This amount covers start-up purchases as well as operating costs for the first five years, on a diminishing basis. This does not include our salary or personal ministry expenses.

Current Commitments:
$145,000 (54%)

If you are interested in getting involved as a financial partner with a one-time, tax-deductible gift, please visit this website and follow the instructions.

Family Update.
The kids have returned to school for Term 3 of their school year (NZ has year-round schooling, from February through mid-December). They're also joining in with some extra activities, such as choir, basketball, and piano lessons. It's a busy time for us as a family, but we enjoy exploring what the kids enjoy. Henry loves to bake with mum (probably so he can taste-test things along the way), so one of our first activities after we returned from furlough was to make banana bread together. Nothing makes a house smell like home like banana bread baking in the oven!

Lane and Henry both celebrated birthdays in June!

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Prayer Requests.

Praise: Financial Provision
Praise God that He has provided enough funding to cover the costs of our furlough, as well as increasing our monthly partnerships. He is so, so good to us.

Our Teammates: The Taylors
Our teammates - Hamish & Molly Taylor - are back in NZ with us, and we're loving getting to spend time with them. They still have about 60% of their monthly funding to raise, so please pray that they gain some ongoing financial partners. If you'd like to help, you can find out how here.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she has been diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Praise God that she's now in full remission! However, this type of cancer usually returns quickly, so please pray for continued success with her clinical trial, and for her white blood cell count to increase.

Tami Meaige (Whitney's mum)
Pray for continued strength and healing as she recovers from treatment for breast cancer.

Potential Church Plant Venue
Please pray for favour with the developing community centre management in NW Auckland. It's looking more and more promising. We expect to find out by November if our request to use the auditorium has been approved.

Praise: Church Plant Progress
We've secured a solid partnership with Shore Community Church. Continue to pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be heavily involved in our NW Auckland church plant. Please pray that we follow God's leading in this, and that He will provide the workers and opportunities we need for the spiritual harvest.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

Our Family
Pray for good health and positive friendships.

People & Places

Mother's Day with Whitney's family

The Halfway Mark
Kia ora koutou! Greetings from Ohio, where it has finally started to feel like Spring and Summer. The first few weeks of our furlough were full of cold temperatures that had us breaking out our woollies, but it is finally warming up here in the midwest, and we are loving the sunshine!

It's hard to believe that we are already nearly at the halfway point of our furlough, but time is flying by as we spend our days visiting our partnering churches all over Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Here's where we've been so far...

We've had a lot of fun already and look forward to visiting with many more of you! Here's where we'll be over the next two months:

May 20
MeadowView Church of Christ (Frazeysburg, OH)
East 40 Church of Christ (Zanesville, OH)

May 30-31
Church Plant Fundraising
FUMC (Shreveport, LA)

June 1-3
Church Plant Fundraising
Harvester Christian Church (St. Louis, MO)

June 10
Bedford Acres Christian Church (Paris, KY)

June 24
Stanton Christian Church (Stanton, KY)

July 8
Worthington Christian Church (Columbus, OH)

July 8-13
VBS: Worthington Christian Church (Columbus, OH)

July 17
Return to New Zealand

More details

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Family Update.
The kids have been thoroughly enjoying spending time with the grandparents, aunties and uncles, and of course their cousins. They've also had the chance to rekindle some friendships from previous furloughs - it always makes them feel so special when people remember them.

One thing that a lot of people don't realise about church planting is that the children of the planters go through just as much transition and upheaval as their parents do, but often lack the vocabulary and understanding to articulate the myriad of thoughts and feelings that come along with such an unusual occupation. When we leave a church home to start a new one, the kids have to leave their church and friends behind, too. When we move to a new city or a new neighbourhood, the kids have to say goodbye to their home and their favourite places, too. We often feel like we have little control over when and where and how these churches get started, but our kids have even less. It's our job as their parents to help them understand the reasons we make these decisions and go through these changes, but we love it when other people take an interest in them and invest in them as well. We're facing yet another transition in the near future as we go all-in with this new church plant. And even though this lifestyle is the norm for our kids, we know there will be some changes involved that will be difficult for them. We ask that you pray for them and for us as we navigate this season of parenthood. 

Above: At the Indianapolis Children's Museum with our friends, the Veeches.

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Prayer Requests.

Praise: Financial Provision
Praise God that we have received some financial gifts that have been a huge help in covering some ongoing ministry costs, as well as the cost of our furlough. These donations have come from both churches and individuals, and the timing has been perfect. We are constantly amazed at God's ability to provide for our needs through our relationship with Him, as well as our relationships with each other.

Our Teammates: The Taylors
Our teammates - Hamish & Molly Taylor - are currently in the States as well with their three boys, visiting family and raising funds for the church plant and for their own salary. They will head back to NZ next month, so please pray for success in fundraising, for safe travels, and for wonderful memories to be made.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she has been diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. She has recently suffered from a bacterial infection, please pray for a quick recovery and for continued success with her clinical trial.

Tami Meaige (Whitney's mum)
Praise: Tami recently had some follow-up tests done and they have come back clear, showing no remaining cancer cells! 🎉

Safe Travel
Pray that we'll continue to manage furlough well as a family and that the planes, trains, and automobiles we'll be travelling on will arrive to their destinations safely.

Potential Church Plant Venue
Please pray for favour with the developing community centre management. We have been advised that they've taken note of our interest but we will need to wait until later in the year to formally apply to lease the auditorium.

Praise: Church Plant Progress
We've secured a solid partnership with Shore Community Church. Continue to pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be heavily involved in our NW Auckland church plant. Please pray that we follow God's leading in this, and that He will provide the workers and opportunities we need for the spiritual harvest.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

Our Family
Pray for good health and positive friendships.

USA Schedule

USA Schedule.
Kia ora koutou! We take to the skies in just a few days so we're busy packing bags and tying up loose ends around here. We're planning for the weather to actually feel like Spring when we arrive, but to be honest, it's not looking good according to the snow-filled photos we're seeing on social media. I'm sure the kids would appreciate seeing snow though. Between family gatherings, church visits, worship leading, and church plant fundraising, our furlough schedule is full of events this time around. Have a look below to see what we'll be up to. We'd love to see your lovely faces if you're in the area! Reply to this email if you'd like to catch up over a coffee!

April 22
North Terrace Church of Christ (Zanesville, OH)

April 29
Northview Christian Church (Danville, IN)

May 6
Greenwood Christian Church (Greenwood, IN)

May 13
Mother's Day

May 20
MeadowView Church of Christ (Frazeysburg, OH)

June 3
Church Plant Fundraising

June 10
Bedford Acres Christian Church (Paris, KY)

June 17
Father's Day

July 8
Worthington Christian Church (Columbus, OH)

July 8-13
VBS: Worthington Christian Church (Columbus, OH)

July 17
Return to New Zealand

More details →

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Looking Back.
As we journey full-speed-ahead toward our next church plant in Auckland, another chapter in the story has concluded. On Easter Sunday Nate led worship one final time as an official worship leader with Shore Community Church. After showing the above video, pastor Reuben Munn also interviewed our whole family on stage about what's next for us and then prayed for us together with the church. It was an honour to have the chance to talk to the church about our plans for visiting our amazing support base in the USA as well as our return to Auckland to plant the next church with Shore's own Hamish and Molly Taylor. While we will be nearby and have plans to collaborate with Shore throughout the next chapter, our main focus will be on the church plant rather than on Shore CC upon our return to New Zealand in July.

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Family Update.
T E N  Y E A R S  O L D ??!!  We recently threw an early 10th birthday party for Lane. She doesn't actually turn 10 until June when we're in the USA, but since it's such a big milestone and she'll be away from her friends on her actual birthday, we thought we'd let her have an early birthday party before our departure. An avid tree-climber, she decided to invite some of her closest friends to a wall-climbing facility in Auckland for her party. Many of her friends have emigrated to Auckland from Asian or European countries so she's currently learning bits of Mandarin and Korean in order to keep up :-).

Lane's (early) 10th birthday party with her NZ friends.

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Prayer Requests.

Elaine Hutchison (Nate's mum)
Please pray for Elaine as she has been diagnosed stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. The doctors are happy with the progression and results of the treatment she's receiving as part of a clinical trial. Recent test results show that she is near remission but some evidence of cancer remains in two areas of her body. Pray for full remission and that her blood count will rebound soon.

Tami Meaige (Whitney's mum)
Tami has recently completed her treatment for stage 1 breast cancer. She is getting stronger and is expected to recover fully, praise God!

Safe Travel
We're off to the USA on Thursday this week! Pray that we'll manage the transition as a family well and that the planes, trains, and automobiles we'll travelling on will arrive to their destinations safely.

Potential Church Plant Venue
Please pray for favour with the developing community centre management. We have been advised that they've taken note of our interest but we will need to wait until later in the year to formally apply to lease the auditorium.

Fundraising
Please pray for our teammates, Hamish and Molly Taylor as they raise their salary and as we join them in raising additional church plant funds. We've got a big journey ahead of us! If you'd like to join Hamish in Molly in their journey, you can catch up with them here.

Praise: Church Plant Progress
We've secured a solid partnership with Shore Community Church. Continue to pray that God will stir the hearts of the individuals he's chosen to be heavily involved in our NW Auckland church plant. Please pray that we follow God's leading in this, and that He will provide the workers and opportunities we need for the spiritual harvest.

Financial Partnership
Please pray for our financial partnerships to remain strong, that God will provide for what we need, and that we will be good stewards of what He provides. If you'd like to help, you can donate here.

Our Family
Pray for good health and positive friendships. The transition to our new house wasn't easy. Please pray for peace and a sense of belonging in our new home.