From Edgar's Pen

The best of the good news first. Last Sunday two people came to faith and the Sunday before one person. Then during the last two weeks another seven people made a faith commitment to Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! We have been waiting for this for so long. God seems to think that we are ready to be used more in his kingdom. My estimate is that over the last twelve months there have been about 20-30 people who have come to faith through the ministry of Living Grace. Furthermore, we have shared the gospel far and wide with others beyond Toowoomba (Hopevale, Latvia, South Africa, Buderim, Kingaroy, etc.).

Living Grace is not a perfect congregation and there is room for improvement across the board. However, I hope that our newcomers feel welcome, find a small group and settle in our community. As I shared in our open congregational meeting a few weeks ago, my feeling is that John 15:1-8 is happening among us. There Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a person remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit … If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit … “

Over the last year we have been concentrating on knowing and doing the will of God, the deeper things of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. We have (and I have in my preaching) taken more seriously the Word of God in the Bible and thus “remained in Jesus and his words remained in us”. Now as we are connected more and more to the vine of Jesus Christ fruit is coming forth according to his promise.

My intention is to pursue this further and keep focusing on the vine. The more our church grows in conformity to the Word of God and the reality of the vine, the more we will be effective towards others. For instance, there is more to learn about the way Jesus did ministry. He preached the kingdom of God and at the same time always healed the sick and drove out unclean spirits. Is that the model for us even today? Then there is more to learn about prayer, etc.

Living Grace is a church that is alive. Lots and lots of people are engaged and serving in many different capacities – often unnoticed. I want to say “thank you” to everyone and express my appreciation for a rich partnership in the Gospel.

Over the last weeks we were also able to rejoice over our confirmees, the visitors from Martin Luther Primary school, the youth service with Pastor Les Holmes, the baptism of Nicola Bernoth, … God be praised. Serving together with you. Love Edgar.

Kingaroy Seminar

There were about sixty attendees at the Holy Spirit seminar in Kingaroy (16-17 November 2007). Most of them were local Lutherans but there were also a number of other Kingaroy Christians (e.g.: the pastor and two men from the Wesleyan Methodists) and more Lutherans from further afield (e.g.: Dalby). There was a solid contingent from Living Grace, Toowoomba and this provided valuable support.

The worship band was under the leadership of Cara Chamberlin who together with another singer came from the Christian Outreach Centre, Toowoomba. Adam Grant, a pastor from the Toowoomba City Church, was on the prayer team and thus further confirmed the united church flavour of the seminar. Especially after the pastors and leadership boards from across the city prayed for the trip on the previous Thursday night, we understood ouselves to be sent by the church of Toowoomba.

The seminar itself was received well with people hungering for more of God in their lives and in their churches. Most of them had never heard much teaching on the Holy Spirit before and even those that had been to John Wimber conferences etc. appreciated the foundational nature of the teaching.

There was one teenager who told his dad that he would only stay for the first session and then go home. However, after the first session he said that he might also stay for the second. Then, after the second session he thought that he might also stay for the third. In the end he attended the entire seminar and was blessed by what he heard.

At the end of the closing session we prayed for everyone to be filled or refilled with the Holy Spirit and at least one person received the gift of speaking in tongues with at least one other person receiving this gift the next day. More testimonies of what God did for others may be shared later.

For numerous people the seminar was only a beginning to get deeper into the things of the Spirit. The more they now keep learning to trust the Word of God, the more they will be able to receive from God by faith.

Senior Pastors' Retreat

A dozen senior pastors from multi-staff congregations of the Lutheran Church of Australia met for two days at Gympie, Queensland. This was an informal get-together for mutual encouragement and peer mentoring.

For me it was a privilege to be among colleagues whom I highly respect. We shared our personal stories and heard again from Pastor Steicke. At his recent mission trip to Uganda he and his team experienced demonic attacks with the same physical manifestations independently from each other and then God gave them the huge joy of answering their prayers with the opening of a blind man's eyes. Wow!

We do have an impact on each other. Every morning we journaled and Pastor John O'Keefe introduced this practice by saying that he had learned journaling at one of the previous senior pastors' retreats and it changed his life. While it took him months to internalize the habit, now he cannot wait to open his Bible and feed on the Word of God by journaling what God impresses on him.

The expertise of the other pastors in terms of strategic thinking, staff development, vision casting, etc. revealed my own shortcomings but at least I know now whom to ask for resources. Pastor Robin Stelzer supplied us with other resources from his son Tyson and in good Lutheran fashion we did enjoy the number of excellent reds at night.

In the final session we anointed each other with oil and prayed for each other. Then we were in for a surprise. One pastor got up and said that he usually never attempts to do this in a Lutheran environment but he feels that God has given him a message in tongues for the person in the middle and he also senses that someone else will have the interpretation of this message.

He proceeded to speak the message in tongues which we did not understand with our human minds but it sounded beautiful with strong non-Australian guttural tones. Then we waited and there was indeed another pastor who was prompted by God with an interpretation. The words were not outlandish in any way but simply very encouraging for the person receiving these words.

For many of us this was the first experience ever of hearing a word in tongues and then also hearing an interpretation of this word. However, we did not doubt that this was from God. What else is he going to do in our midst?

Making A Start

This is the first blog entry. The purpose of all blog entries will be to bring praise and glory to our God who has established us and is working among us. Furthermore, we want to encourage each other.

Last Sunday we were privileged to have about 30 children and their families from Martin Luther Primary School worshipping with us which made us a joyous crowd of more than 360. There is still room for more.

On that Sunday I happened to preach on Jesus feeding the 5000 families with only five loaves and two fish (Mark 6:30-44). In response to the message David Challenor (picture above) gave a spontaneous testimony at the early service (8am). He said that during the week he came home and asked the two teenage boys in his care whether they had dinner. They responded that they had a good feed and took plenty of food from the two plastic containers in the fridge.

However, that seemed improbable to David – even though he did not doubt the boys – because both containers were still filled to the brim. Is Jesus still multiplying food today? We believe so. Praise be to him.

I should add that David is a former bikie gang member with tattoos all over his solid frame body. These days God is using him as an amazing evangelist among the street kids, addicts, drug dealers, prostitutes and other broken people. He lives by faith and since he has been with us at Living Grace (almost a year now) I estimate that between 20 to 30 people have come to faith through him. One of our church families bought him a 12-seater bus which he fills with people and brings to church every Sunday. Please uphold him in your prayers.