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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.