Hi everyone,
Welcome once again to another week of online church. While Shelley and I haven't seen our interstate children and grandchildren 'in-person' for quite some time, we have "seen" them online regularly, which always makes us feel glad. The same is true with our church family. While we haven't personally seen many of you in quite a while, we have "seen" some of you online in Zoom chat rooms for various meetings (prayer meetings, leadership team meetings, some online ministry discussions, etc.) and I'm always glad to have those interactions. I know many of our people have been quite busy and proactive in touching base with those in our fellowship—especially those most at risk of feeling isolated and alone—but it's not just about waiting to get a call. We can also make a call to encourage and lift others and ourselves at the same time. I hope we've all been as proactive as we need to be to reduce any sense of isolation and loneliness that might creep into our lives as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.
It probably will not be a surprise to most of you that, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the Church Food Garden has not been officially operating over the past few months (like many other ministries and community projects). In addition, due to a serious ongoing health issue, Joe Garnham has stepped down from the leadership/oversight role of the Food Garden. The Food Garden’s ‘Steering Committee’ has now also been disbanded. For the Food Garden to have a future, it will require people with a heart and vision for it to step up and take responsibility for it. Most importantly, it will require a church member to replace Joe in the oversight role. Ideally, another small management committee would be formed, comprising mostly of people from our own church community.
There have been a number of new and exciting developments around here of late that I'd like to share with you to encourage you. First, a few people from the community (who are not part of our church) have been proactively enquiring about our Church Food Garden Project lately. That's encouraging. I've had to tell them that we'd love to see the Food Garden fire back up again, and for them to be involved in it, but that we need a member of our church to put their hand up to oversee that ministry first. If you have a passion for the Church Food Garden, and believe that God is calling you to head that important evangelistic/philanthropic ministry, then please see Pastor Rob or any of the other pastors and we can have a chat about it.
Besides that, I had a meeting recently with the Mayor and Cr. Megan James and a senior council department head about the two things I have a vision for and am passionate about: 1. Erecting a big blue neon cross on our land that can be seen all over town and especially by motorists travelling from the east into Dalby along the Warrego Highway; and 2. Establishing a Youth Drop-in Centre in the heart of town. All up, it was a positive meeting and I'm very encouraged at the prospects of getting those two passions of mine off the ground (so to speak). I believe they are both "game-changers" for our church and our town.
Lastly, the Ministry Leadership Team met last Wednesday evening to discuss (among other things) the restarting of our 'in-person' church gatherings on Sunday mornings. We have proposed a restart date of July 19 – that's next Sunday! If all goes well, and no set-backs occur in Queensland from the 'second wave' that's hitting Victoria, then today (July 12) will be the last time we have online church on a Sunday. But let me be completely honest with you and say that it will take quite a bit of work to make it happen and so we need lots of willing people to volunteer to make it happen between now and then. Folks, it's "all hands on deck", or else it probably won't be possible—as it's too much for a handful of people to accomplish, but not that difficult if we all pitch in to make it happen. We will provide you with details on how you can help and what needs to be done in the next few days.
But God is good, and I'm pretty excited about the future for us as a church. God bless.
Pastor Rob
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