Supporter News

FOCUS Leadership Team Meeting Structure

2010-05-16T22:44:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who is way too smart. He's not easy to impress. He was impressed by my 'naff' way of running a FOCUS leadership meeting. He thinks I should blog it. So here goes.

1. Teaching.

I teach a 'why we do what we do' at FOCUS from the Bible (otherwise they'll get assumed and then get forgotten and then opposed when they resurface).

2. Training.

We read a paper on an aspect of Asian culture and reflect on it theologically and pastorally.

3. Tips.

I give a tip or ask the leaders to give a tip on relating to Asians and/or people in general. I often skip this because I'm behind time.

4. Telling.

I tell the leaders all that has been happening with FOCUS while they were hard at work with their study or jobs.

5. Talking.

We discuss a couple of FOCUS items I've prepared and / or items they've prepared.

Impressed?

Horrible things happen to students in Sandy Bay

2010-05-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

hi luke

i get beaten up infront of ur hse

exactly

22:30Me

1 lord st?

i moved

22:30Ferray

yea

22:30Me

to 102

22:30Ferray

i was shouting

22:30Me

york

22:31Ferray

owh

my mistake

lol

22:31Me

oh mate im sorrt

so you were yelling for help

outside my old house?

22:31Ferray

yea

22:31Me

oh dear

22:31Ferray

i dont think i can go focus anymore

i need transportation to go bek

22:31Me

sure

yeah

22:31Ferray

cuz its too dangerous

22:31Me

too scared

i c

22:32Ferray

yea

22:32Me

why did they beat you up?

22:32Ferray

yesterday 9.20pm

when i nearly reach my hse

22:33Me

why?

what did you do?

did you do anything to make them angry?

22:34Ferray

i just push two of em away

and ran to mc donalds

i was bleeding like crazy

22:34Me

oh yuck

so why did they start hurting you?

why did they start it?

22:34Ferray

do u know wads to do with swollen face?

22:34Me

ice?

22:35Ferray

ice?

i tot hot egg?

i mean hot hard boil egg

22:35Me

really?

ive never heard that

so tell me

were you walking home from Uni?

22:35Ferray

i dont know anything

they hit me for fun

i dont know who are they

and i dont know why

22:36Me

did they get caught by police?

22:36Ferray

22:36Me

were they uni students?

22:37Ferray

i dont think so

i dont know em

and they dont know me

they ask me if i need a taxi to go home

and i said its ok

i felt amiss

so i started to run

he chase me and ask me again and i say itsok thx

22:38Me

really?

so they hit you

and tried to be kind to you?

22:38Ferray

and he grabbed my jacket and bag and suddenly 5 people appear frm no where and start bash me up

22:38Me

i see

22:38Ferray

yea

22:38Me

thats really horrible

did they just punch you once?

in the face?

22:41Ferray

nt just one

i get 2 broken bone on cheek

1 broken bone on my nose

and 3 stitches

22:41Me

oh dear

22:42Ferray

ahhh...

22:42Me

i heard someone got beaten up at the uni as well

22:42Ferray

yea

hope u warn focus people esspecially sam

22:42Me

i will

22:42Ferray

cuz he always walk alone

22:42Me

mmm

22:43Ferray

do not walk alone at night

22:43Me

alright

are the police investigating it?

22:44Ferray

yea

ii went to police station just now

22:44Me

good.

i can't believe it happens in sandy bay

were the guys young?

did they look poor?

dont worry

im sure you dont want to talk about it anymore

im really sorry

its horrible

you should tell international student services about it too

the uni needs to know about this stuff

22:47Ferray

i dun mind if u talk abt it

erm ... they r in their 20s

and i suspect its the same group dat bash up 4 others students

dat happen on last friday and wed

night as well

22:48Me

oh dear

22:48Ferray

they r nt poor

nt drunkers

they bash for fun

22:48Me

mmmm

22:50Ferray

so, can u arrange transport for me to go and back from focus every fri?

i feel boring at home

and i need to attend church to did some pray

22:51Me

of course mate

it would be my pleasure

22:51Ferray

kk thx

22:51Me

just remind me on Friday Night

22:51Ferray

my hse is just beside the law building

Contacting International Students with Sumin

2010-04-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone even reads this blog anymore. I doesn't really matter... I just had to get this down. Sumin is from Korea and she is the dream contact maker. She laughs at me when I try to do it because Im so bad at it. She is a shy lady, but give her some fliers and a clipboard and she becomes a super power extrovert.

Here is my guess at what Sumin would say are the rules of contacting:

1. Don't let any international student get past you.

2. Greet them with a loud and friendly 'Hello!!! Im ____' (Try to sound like they are your best friend).

3. If you are chatting to your contacting parter and a student walks by, stop your conversation and go after the student.

4. If your partner lets a student go past him, yell at him to make contact with them even if you are in the middle of a contacting another international student.

5. When someone keeps walking past you, after you've introduced yourself, catch up with them, and walk alongside them to finish your invitation (preferably so close you brush arm).

6. Be friendly and cute. Pretend you didn't realise that they are not interested.

7. Even if the student doesn't sound interested in your group, ask them if they want to give you their contact information.

8. If you meet someone you haven't seen in years, say hello to them and get their contact details down too.

9. If you meet someone who hasn't been seen at FOCUS in some time, ask them if they're coming tonight.

10. End your conversation with 'see you tonight!' (loudly).

Handing our fliers works... in China

2010-04-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I met a Chinese girl for coffee. She had asked me to baptize her and so I wanted to find out exactly what she meant. I asked her how she came to believe in God (the Chinese people we meet at FOCUS are mainly atheists). She explained that she found a flier in her doorway at home in China that told her about God and his work for her through Jesus, so she believed in God. Simple. That was five years ago. Since then she hasn't been to church much nor has she read much of the Bible,and it seems that this is because she didn't know any better. I offered to arrange for her to meet with one of our leaders and learn about the new life that she began five years ago. She was very excited about the opportunity.

AFES UTAS staff meeting

2010-04-18T20:41:00.001-07:00

Every week AFES staff on UTAS get together for an hour.

Our campus director works hard to make these meetings interesting and useful. I really like them as they encourage me to think big and beyond my little world of FOCUS. Usually I'll come away from our meetings feeling encouraged and excited about a new idea or having been reminded of something that I had foolishly forgotten.

A nice snippet of the UTAS world... for you Sydney peeps...

2010-03-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Do I need a tight relationship with a family church?

2010-03-22T19:43:00.001-07:00

So FOCUS seeks to care for International Students holistically; we have a priority, of course, on caring for them in ways that will benefit them eternally, but its very important to us that we give them fun, food and try to do social / cultural things every couple of weeks. They're lonely, bored and missing their families; some of them have never had a true family (as we would recognize it) and so have a very deep loneliness indeed.

Last week I met with a guy who does the same thing as me in another state. He works tightly with a large family church that has a number of older families and elderly couples . He can easily offer his students; meals in Aussie family homes, travel with Aussie families, ESL lessons, mentoring etc. These relationships provide not only for the physical needs of the students, they very often and naturally lend themselves to dealing with spiritual matters too.

My church is a uni student / young worker / young family (i.e. newborns) church. It would be unrealistic of me to expect a similar kind of support from them for FOCUS TAS.

Do I need to go find a family church of a similar demographic to link in with?

Our website

2010-03-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

I spend too much of my time here : http://focustas.org/ and not HERE... blogging...

Want to support a FOCUS project?

2010-03-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

At the moment I'm making calls to my supporters to ask them to prayerfully consider helping FOCUS by supporting these projects. Its hard making calls because they need to happen at night... just when I like to put my feet up.

a. FOCUS budget - $5,300

Orientation weeks, resources, snacks, rice, cutlery, cups, plates, returnee follow up....

b. Conference costs - $2,000

Students don’t have a lot of money to ask them to pay for anything above their tuition fees and living expenses is a big ask, this year we’re asking them to pay $120 to come on our first MYC. As this will not include transport or running costs, this is also included in this figure.

c. Office space at AFES HQ.- $5,000

As of April this year we'll move to a smaller house and so I would like to move to AFES HQ (5 mins walk from here). From there I can run my meetings too.

Orientation Week Report

2010-02-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

FOCUS' o-week this year was really encouraging. The leadership team made it quite different to last year. They have very quickly understood that FOCUS is theirs and that they are FOCUS. This meant that I didn't need to plead for them to come and make contacts, it meant that I didn't need to give them jobs to do at the BBQ etc.

The welcome BBQ was the highlight of the week in many ways, as it was very well attended (100 people) and went very smoothly.

A slight disappointment for me (though not for the leaders) was Friday Night FOCUS being so small; I expected 100+ but it was lower than last year with not even 50 people turning up. Also a lot of FOCUS 2009 students were absent. That said the meeting went very well and again the leaders worked hard and owned it.

One touching story to leave you with; After my introduction to FOCUS talk (while a game was being played in another room) a new Chinese student came to me with tears in his eyes. All this talk of God reminded him of his grandmother in China who has a terminal illness. She is a strong Christian. He said he wanted to help her but didn't know how. He said he wanted to come to God but thought he wasn't good enough. At this point all the other students returned. I said I'd talk to him after the evening was over. He left before we could continue the conversation.

Please pray with me that I can have an opportunity to follow this up.

Have a look at focustas.org - its our new website and their are some pics there for you to enjoy.

Building a leadership team

2010-02-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

Currently I have five leaders signed up. I am working hard at getting another two. One of the final two is a Singaporean guy who is a mature Christian and I think has a teaching gift (in very early stages but I reckon its there). This leadership team will change FOCUS in exciting an unpredictable ways.

I'm still back in 2009.

2010-01-18T17:30:00.001-08:00

I started work yesterday after a months holiday. As I didn't get time to reflect on FOCUS 2009, I'm trying to do a bit of it now. I can't wait to start on 2010 though...

Here are some questions I think I'll use in some way or form over the next week (thanks David Allen).

DAVID'S COACHING TIPS

For those of you who want more form and structure, here are some questions that can guide you in your 2009 review and 2010 goal setting. When I go through these kinds of questions I like to consider my answers in several areas:

Physical
Emotional
Mental
Spiritual
Financial
Family
Community Service
Fun / creativity / recreation

COMPLETING AND REMEMBERING 2009

Review the list of all completed projects
What was your biggest triumph in 2009?
What was the smartest decision you made in 2009?
What one word best sums up and describes your 2009 experience?
What was the greatest lesson you learned in 2009?
What was the most loving service you performed in 2009?
What is your biggest piece of unfinished business in 2009?
What are you most happy about completing in 2009?
Who were the three people that had the greatest impact on your life in 2009?
What was the biggest risk you took in 2009?
What was the biggest surprise in 2009?
What important relationship improved the most in 2009?
What compliment would you liked to have received in 2009?
What compliment would you liked to have given in 2009?
What else do you need to do or say to be complete with 2009?

CREATING THE NEW YEAR

What would you like to be your biggest triumph in 2010?
What advice would you like to give yourself in 2010?
What is the major effort you are planning to improve your financial results in 2010?
What would you be most happy about completing in 2010?
What major indulgence are you willing to experience in 2010?
What would you most like to change about yourself in 2010?
What are you looking forward to learning in 2010?
What do you think your biggest risk will be in 2010?
What about your work, are you most committed to changing and improving in 2010?
What is one as yet undeveloped talent you are willing to explore in 2010?
What brings you the most joy and how are you going to do or have more of that in 2010?
Who or what, other than yourself, are you most committed to loving and serving in 2010?
What one word would you like to have as your theme in 2010?

...oh... one last interesting thing before I sign off...

2009-12-17T11:13:00.001-08:00

a look at Korean Christianity from the inside:

i really miss FOCUS bible study.. i thought there are lots and lots of opportunity to learn bible in Korea but..... not really.. the word 'bible study' is kinda dominated by 'cult people'. when i say i want to study bible or i want to be in a bible study group or somthing like this, people in church think i'm realated in cult!
so terrible...
well anyway~~please pray for Korea :)

signing off for a month...

2009-12-16T18:09:00.001-08:00

...thanks for reading over the year... lets catch up late Jan after my holidays ok?

its been an amazing year for FOCUS and very hard to put a stop to it, but i must rest... good enough for God...good enough for me. Thank you Lord.

Some interesting work to do...#2

2009-11-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

I've got to meet with a guy who said he became a Christian at an Aussie church he visited on Sunday morning. Of course the Aussies got really excited and crowded him, leaving him embarrassed and hiding in the toilet while they tried to find him to pray for him. I don't fully know what happened. But I do know that Asians will often say things like 'I want to become a Christian' (meaning that becoming a Christian looks like a nice thing to do) and 'I am becoming a Christian' (meaning that they can feel some kind of change occurring in them...it could be anything from beginning to believe the gospel through to they are being kinder to other people).

Some interesting work to do...

2009-11-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

I'm about to go and meet with a guy who wants me to help him become a Christian. Cool eh? well... thats not all I have to do. I need to tell him to stay away from FOCUS women and stop collecting everyone's details. The women are scared of him and even the guys try to avoid him. Dealing with this will not be fun.

Marshal stole my Bible study group...

2009-11-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

So last night. Big Bible Study 20+ ppl. I break the group into groups of 4 or 5 people. I sit down to run my group of Sam (Korea), Su (China), Tony (Vietnam) and Marshal (China)...only to find that it had already started with Marshal at the helm! I smiled, then I laughed and then I left the room without any of them noticing. After that I was listening outside the room. He was doing well, having fun with it but leading and teaching. He's only been a Christian for a year. I'd have never picked him as a 'self starter'. At the end of his Bible study, which was on John 3:16, the men were asking him about the 'birds and the bees' and I heard him answer many questions with confidence, my favorite answer being; 'no definitely not.'

After the Bible study I caught Marshal for a few seconds and he said 'it felt really good...i'd like to do it again if you trust me.'

Pretty great hey?

Could he be a leader for 2010? nah too early right?

Hmmm...

Movie Night

2009-11-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

Last night we watched Gran Torino. 30+ people in my lounge room. Lots of laughing and crying. What a great movie! It was especially great for FOCUS because of the culture clashes all through it. If you can stomach lots of swearing its a must see for all international students groups...especially with their australian (anglo) friends!

FOCUS mission report.

2009-11-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

This is mission FOCUS style.

Its a good way to do mission... but not as 'laid back' as I had hoped.

I decided that I should not only use mission to reach the non-Christian International students but also to grow the new-Christians hothouse style. So, today we had Bible study at 9am, Two Ways to Live Training at 10am, Coffee and Conversation at 11am.

Its a pretty tiring way to start the day and I don't get much feedback from those who are on the receiving end. They are mostly mainland Chinese guys who have taken the #1 position on my 'nationalities that I can't work out' chart. As my annoying love language is affirmation, I'm finding it draining.

In addition, often we're doing events at night (like fishing... see above) so the days feel very long.

If you want to take a closer look at what we're doing... join our Facebook group or failing that visit our blog.

I don't like phone calls but they are the secret to making this support raising thing work.

2009-11-02T19:26:00.001-08:00

I love playing with the latest toys, some I can hold in my hand like an iPhone, others I look at on my PC screen, but I don't mind...I'll play with it and imagine how it could help me do what I do better (or in a more fun, empowering way). Anyway, I thought I could leave phone calls behind. I though phone calls were so last century. I was wrong. I need to be on that phone calling my supporters and inviting them to things that way or suddenly I will be shocked to find that I no longer have any supporters.

It took me travelling to Sydney and running a poorly attended supporters night to learn this. Why do I always have to learn the hard way?

...Now I'm worried about whether I should be using telegrams...

Sam Kim

2009-11-02T19:23:00.001-08:00

I have a supporter called Sam Kim. I can write his name up here because everyone knows at least three Sam Kims, and therefore I'm not publicly humiliating him or leaving him vulnerable to spamming. Anyway, Sam Kim supports FOCUS but he doesn't check this blog. I'm writing this as a reward for him. I hope all my supporters check this blog because I want them to be personally, emotionally and very deliberately connected to the work.

...the dreams are back...

2009-10-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

Next year, I hope and pray, will be an 'ownership and delegation year' for FOCUS.

My dream is to have a team of leaders and to give them exciting, thought consuming and weighty official roles within FOCUS.

Our FOCUS main meeting is often 'the Luke Show' (starring Luke), I don't like this for all the obvious reasons (not the least being when I feel flat FOCUS feels flat). It IS nice having that much control over things; less work for me, easier to do quality control etc. But I would like to shift my role next year and empower others to do what I've been doing (only much much better) and to dream up and do things I should have been doing.

My only barrier to my plan is finding male leaders as I don't want to have a 'Charles Angels' leadership team - so please pray.

answered prayer!

2009-10-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

A struggling new Christian that many of my supporters have been praying for has just emailed me this:

"I have been ignoring a true friend [Jesus] and living a selfish and unholy life for a quarter of century...i think it's the time now! I'm sick of living a life further and further away from God!! it's just like moving away from a friend who's always been there for me all the time in my life..I remember when I was a child I felt I was pretty close to him..

anyway, you're right, a half Christian is non Christian. I want to change now. Actually i am getting pretty interested on the Bible now but I need someone to translate it into normal English for me to understand...you're the best person to do it but I know you're busy. and friday's Bible study is not enough for me, apart from socialising and milk-tea making time I just get a hour to study bible. I wonder if i can make another time with you to study more about the bible? I know the answer will be yes, thanks in advance and truly appreciate it.."

His story is amazing... he is from mainland China but his 90+ year old grandfather is a Christian! and this has helped him to take the gospel seriously!

a Korean evangelist?

2009-10-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Doori has returned to Korea. Before she left I taught her and Annette a gospel presentation and then asked them to translate and personalise it. A week ago I emailed her and asked her how she was going with using it.

Here is what she wrote back:

Hi Luke :) i'm doing okay! thanks :) how are you?
yes i still remember 'two ways to live' Yeah~~
haha..
well, but i haven't shared it with many people. i've shared it with my brother and mother, and some of my church friends.
and i'm waiting for one of my friends.. i tried to tell her about gospel when i really didn't know about gospel. so i couldn't really tell her.
but i will..! soon hehe..
Oh! and i'll be in Tasmania in 2010 Feb. haha~ see? i told you i'm gonna go back XD.
but im quite worried about my english. i haven't used english for such a long time :P.

Doori

Supernatural Occurrences and International Students...

2009-10-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

A new Christian friend, who has been struggling with the demands that Jesus places on his followers (c.f. Mark 8:31ff), just sent me an email about a series of strange 'out of the ordinary' occurrences that have been happening to him...all culminating in a clear message telling him that he needs to decide which path he's going to follow. It was numbers, voices and finally a TV set that wouldn't let him switch over from a sermon.

Two weeks before this happened I had another Christian friend struggling in a similar area; he had insomnia and graphic 'hellish' visions leading him to a similar place in his thinking.

Now, these two guys are very normal, intelligent and dear friends; I will not be suggesting they go and see a doctor any time soon... so what did I do with these guys???

In my circles we try not to get excited about this kind of thing. Which I think is good. The rationale is that if we emphasize subjective experiences we will move people away from the objective truth of the Bible. However, in my experience these bizarre, confusing and unpredictable experiences can actually encourage people to see the word of God a place of refuge.

So... with both these guys I've looked for how what they've seen is better explained in the Bible, which has been pretty straight forward actually.

It will be very interesting to see what results from all of this!

my first step towards replacing myself...

2009-10-12T14:13:00.000-07:00

Eating pies at the footy on a plate with a fork.

2009-10-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

I just realised that in the photo below, Jerry is eating a pie at the grand final party on a plate with a fork. This is a bit wrong isn't it? The experience reminded me of how I feel when I'm watching Miyazaki's anime.

I like Hayao Miyazaki's anime. But when I watch his movies I'm unsettled by how something is just not quite right; the setting, the characters and often even the plot are very familiar and comfortable...but something is just not quite right. I gather thats because he's coming from a different worldview to me; as a Japanese guy he has his roots in the Shinto religion. You see this influence more obviously in movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

Anyway, Jerry with the fork... i'll have to have a chat with him about that...he's part of a Judeo-Christian culture now... we just don't do that.

Look at this cancelled Bible study...

2009-10-07T16:20:00.001-07:00

I cancelled the Bible study last night at 7:11pm (the study was to start at 8pm and people are usually quite late) because I felt that people were not keen (a couple of regulars said they had work to do) and honestly... I felt like a night off. God had other plans...at about 7.45pm the people started arriving ...seven of these people are not Christians!

April says...

2009-10-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

April is very sociable... she likes to have lunch with her friends. But lunch with Marshal (1 year old Christian from China) is different; Marshal likes to pray before he eats lunch. April says she also has lunch with other guys who have been Christians for many years...but they don't pray before lunch.

This makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

FOCUS mission

2009-10-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

NTE has two parts; the conference and then the mission. The mission component requires the different student groups to travel to unfamiliar territory and help a local church to do a mission in the area. However, my boss, Sam Green, has given me permission to follow the example of some other FOCUS groups in Victoria. They do it locally and before NTE. This will not only mean that I can get a lot of the FOCUS students involved (and so challenged and stretched in their following of Jesus) but also I can build up FOCUS through our efforts.

Im not exactly sure how the later will work in that many of the students we contact will be returning home shortly after our mission (our mission will run over November and the students will return in early December) and FOCUS is pretty much closed down over December and January. I assume that you get them to come along to your meetings and get a nice taste of what its like, get their contact details and then remind them once they return in February to come back for more good times.

Another way to support FOCUS

2009-10-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

I sent an email out to my supporters asking if they'd like to send some of the FOCUS students to NTE. Two people said yes and so now I'll have some friends coming with me in December. Fun!

Marshal and Jerry will, God willing, come on the adventure with me!

FOCUS team issues

2009-09-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

Last year in December it became apparent that the leadership team I had selected would not work. So I settled for a 'team' of helpers; a lower level of commitment on both their part to FOCUS and my part to them. This has worked fine all year.

On Friday night at around 9pm after our main meeting I realized that all my 'team' except for Joel had left without saying goodbye. A small thing you might say. I think its indicative of a deeper problem. Currently FOCUS has 8-15 Aussies turn up each week to help (when there are only 8 on the team officially). The extra help is great for the FOCUS main meeting running smoothly, but long term I wonder if it will damage us? I think my team feels they are not important to the ministry, I think my team is confused by the seemingly non-existent line between the FOCUS team member and the FOCUS drop in unannounced helper.

Yet another weird issue in ministry brought to you by FOCUS.

...that's international student work for you!

2009-09-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hey, luke.

I'm Su, the guy from China. Could I bring two my friends to the fellowshio this friday?
I'm every intresting in the stroy about the Juese. See u this weekend.

National Director for FOCUS AFES

2009-09-13T19:13:00.001-07:00

This is my boss. I like him a lot. A quiet unassuming man.
Here he is trying to get all FOCUS international students around Australia along to NTE. I doubt we'll get any from FOCUS UTAS as it too expensive...but I'll try :-)

The guys I will work with next year...

2009-08-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

http://utasufc.blogspot.com/2009/04/staff.html

I really like these guys. Both extremely different to me, which is a good thing.

Mike is the new boy on campus (but the old boy and mate in ministry). He has the amazing ability to mix work and pleasure and make 'mate time' 'ministry time'. Often when I'm with friends the gear change is very noisy when we swtich from 'isn't it a lovely day' to 'how was FOCUS last night'. Its never this way with Mike.

Sam and I have already worked together for a year and its been great getting to know and respect each other. Last week we were stuck in a car together for 6 hours the others day. During this time I realised that we both have a keen interest in hunting for food (I have never done it, I just like the idea of it).

10 Reasons I feel happy at 11pm @ night.

2009-08-26T05:56:00.001-07:00

...I just experienced:

1. A baby Christian who prays deep prayers.

2. A baby Christian who asks deep questions.

3. A non-Christian who seems to be becoming a Christian before my eyes.

4. A student who did a FB post about being excited about coming to Bible study.

5. A sister in Christ in tumultuous times who is content.

6. A friend to go fliering with tomorrow.

7. A new non Christian at Bible study who was keen the whole night.

8. Two non-Christians who are dedicated to an intense Bible study.

9. Two non-Christians who watched part of a testimony and now want the you-tube link to watch it when they get home.

10. A young punk brother in Christ who wants to get his hands dirty in ministry.

...this makes me happy...

2009-08-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Question:

Hey,
I was wondering if any of you guys would like to meet up each week to read and discuss a bit of the Bible?
I think it would take 30 mins.
Let me know if you're keen.
Luke

Answer:

I really enjoyed read bible, cause I am reading God's words. I would like to, and I am in.

Jerry

...just get to the point!

2009-08-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

"Pedanticness is a good thing. Christians always assume too much of each other’s communicative competence. "

Shem and his worm

2009-08-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

Fund Raising Revelry

2009-08-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

I just found out from AFES HQ that im a little short of my wage this year.

I don't like having to raise my own funds, but here are 5 reasons its very good for me:

1. I'm forced to network, which churches (and not just para-churches) should do too but often don't because their denomination creates their network for them (and don't even think about going outside of it! ;-)). Networking is good for sharing resources, getting a better picture of what's going on and is often really encouraging as you see different people from different walks of life following our Lord.

2. (Related to the above) I'm motivated to keep in contact with friends who were once a big part of my life, but due to 'the way of all flesh' would normally have 'dropped off the radar'.

3. It encourages an entreprenerial spirit in me which flows into how I do the other parts of my job.

4. Its really exquisitely uncomfortable and so I'm being pushed out of mediocrisy.

5. It creates a deep ownership; 'I built this company up from nothing' (yet -1 Cor 3:7).

its going to be alright...

2009-08-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

...ive been back for a week from having two weeks holidays (which ended out being one week of chucking a sickee and one week of holidays) and those two weeks really did the trick. I'm over the disappointment of o-week2 yeilding poor results and I'm now ready to work hard with what I've got.

Here is one thing I'm looking forward to toying with. I want to start interviewing my internationals. This is for two reasons:

1.Even though it feels like an impossible task, I need to get into the head of the international student. I want to relate better to them in my planning, preaching, discussions, casual conversations etc.

2. If it works it could be a less awkward way of 'doing coffee' with them. There would less awkward silences or at least when there were silences they would seem to be a part of the interview process and not because the relationship was struggling.

Jerry's Baptism

Look at these photos closely and you'll see that not all went smoothly with this baptism. It went well... but there was a knocked head and coughing and spluttering.

My secret weapon!

2009-07-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

O-Week... or blow week?

2009-07-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

O-week was fantastic because I had about 7 international and 1 Aussie willing to help at almost any time. We got about 40 contacts but must have given out hundreds of fliers. We had a stall and yummy lolly bags.

We were really 'on the ball' too... in the right places at the right times.

I even made sexy looking lanyards... yes lanyards...

After all our effort I was hoping for 100 students (based on last semester and the sucess of the week). However, we got about 20!... what went wrong?

1. Students are now scared to go out when its dark (due to the recent tradgedy)

2. It was cold.

3. ...

MYC attendance

2009-07-12T17:45:00.001-07:00

I was a bit dissapointed that only four international students came to MYC this year. There were about 50 Aussies. A Japanese Christian who was part of FOCUS UNSW when it had just begun enouraged me by saying that they had a simiar situation for a number of years until it became 'the thing to do'. However, the national AFES FOCUS director just sent me a prayer letter in which he included his international student attendance at their MYC; 5-6 internationals 300-400 Aussies. Is this just something I have to get used to in being a FOCUS worker?

AFES staff workers conference

2009-06-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

Following my weekend with supporters I went to the national staffworkers conference for AFES. This was great. We covered areas like; preaching, what is the gospel and ethics.

My favourite part of the conference was the three afternoon sessions where I was able to gather with the other FOCUS workers throughout Australia and explore FOCUS specific topics. I felt a little frustrated that I will have to wait another year to do something like this.

The national director of FOCUS AFES is an amazing guy. He has an incredible amount of knowledge with regard to FOCUS work and has had a lot of experience. If I could get access to his mind I could save myself so much time and pain. During one of the afternoon seminars workers started sharing experiences and the director joined in... it was a beautiful moment... and I need so much more of it.

Visiting Supporters in Sydney

2009-06-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

This is Ian. He likes to drink tea with me in cafes that serve you tea in glass tea pots with flowers on them. I met with Ian and some other supporters of FOCUS the weekend before last. It was really heart warming, not only because we usually met over a bowl of spicey soup but also because they were really keen to keep up with me and keep up the support.

Teaching 'Two Ways to Live' in Korean

2009-06-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

I've been taking Annette and Doori through the Two Ways to Live course. It's been a lot of fun over the past two weeks especially as I've been encouraging them to change their English explanation of the gospel into their own words in their own language. Doori is returning to Korea in two weeks, so lets pray that she is given lots of opportunities to speak the message to her non-Christian friends.

'ministers' need Google offices

2009-06-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've just discovered how the workers at the various Google HQs spend their working hours. They slave away in places like this.

Why? because creativity is integral to Google doing what they do. They need to push the envelope... think of what we'd like before we like it...

I think creativity is integral to doing what I do and integral to doing what most ministers do...

So If you're a minister, I think you need to get more creative, I think you need a workplace like this:

Right now I'm brainstorming how I can do this to my study. Already its pretty sweet... lounge chair, big windows, surrounded by trees... but maybe I need a lava lamp... or an igloo?

1 Corinthians

2009-05-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

We're doing 1 Corinthians at FOCUS at the moment. Its pretty weird doing that book with so many non-Christians. Exposing the reality of sin in the church feels all wrong. It feels like you're giving people some good reasons for not becoming Christians. Yet the incredible thing is that in doing this with non-christians you're actually showing that you believe what the book (especially chs 1-4) teaches; 1 Corinthians 1:31 "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Im a hat guy

2009-05-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my new hat.

Its wool and warm.

I am now a hat guy.

However, I am not a 'hat guy' in the urban dictionary sense of the word, as I am not very noisy and stopped watching wrestling 15 years ago.

another Christian? hmm....

2009-05-19T02:41:00.000-07:00

I asked all FOCUS Christians to come to a prayer meeting.

Jerry an 'almost Christian' said he was coming.

I asked Jerry? are you a Christian? Tell me more!

He said:

dear luck:
It is a gradual process, step by step. It happened in every song,every discussion, and every bible studying. More specificly, it occured in johnar chapter studying. It is serious. As a Christian, he dosen't miss Christian meeting.

devout
Jerry

Never a dull moment...

FOCUS supports overseas mission

2009-05-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Two of the people I meet with often are planning to go off and reach unreached people groups with the gospel. For one of them this activity might mean imprisonment and even death.

Please pray for these two future missionaries... and pray for Jan and I as we seek to prepare them for this crucial but fairly daunting role.

What impresses the Reverend David Jones?

2009-04-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

David Jones is a a big boy on the Tasmanian church planting scene. He is even known and loved on that island north of Tasmania! He's Welsh, he yells in his preaching, speaks around the world... generally a very impressive guy (though not so impressive that he has mastered the internet and will find this blog site...so don't tell him). Anyway... wanna know what this impressive guy is impressed with?

The always very busy Reverend David Jones is impressed with... FOCUS;

'I really enjoyed being there and would like to come more often if that’s OK with you. Its a great exercise to have to speak to people who know nothing.'

He loves it!... you'd love it too... you should come along sometime!

I am rubbish at fliering.

2009-04-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

I know that fliering internationals is so easy and fun compared to fliering Aussies. But I've grown a bit cold to it all. For a start I didn't want to go out by myself today... so i asked my brother to come with me and hold my hand. Tim and I went out and as soon as he had a hand full of fliers he sprung into action. Tim should be my fliering man... the guy who gets the fliers out and gets other people who help him with the task. He was amazing and kept going once we'd prayed and gone our separate ways. Its not my first time for me to be shocked at my lack of drive for fliering. When I went out with some SMBC students they worked like machines for 1/2 hr and got a page full of contacts!... I am rubbish at fliering. Can u do it for me?

Easter weekend away

2009-04-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'd like to fill you in on how the weekend away went.

It was, as usual, a bit of an emotional rollercoaster!

The week before I thought we'd have 30+ people and a 12 seater van.

The day before we had 12 people and no van.

The hour before we had 14 people and three cars.

Welcome to international student ministry! :-)

Why the huge drop off?

3 men from mainland China thought that the idea of a weekend away sounded a bit scarey.

1 person had stomach pains the day before and her friend had to take care of her.

10 people had too much uni work to do.

a couple of people got weekend jobs. etc etc.

Nonetheless... it was a fun weekend.

We looked at the true meaning of Easter by exploring the gospel.

We watched two DVD to compliment our exploration.

We ate a lot of Korean food.

We enjoyed the beach.

We had 5 non-Christians and 9 Christians. I'm not really sure what was happening in people's minds and hearts... they were all so quiet! and reserved! So stay tuned on this one. One of the non-Christians prayed 'the prayer' but we're yet to chat about what that meant for him. I got a call from one of the Christians yesterday who said that before going away on the camp he was always sceptical about the life of Jesus, where now he has greater confidence. I got an sms from another Christian telling me that one of the Christians on the weekend away is in a cult!

Obviously God was working and doing great things in people... im just not exactly sure about the details right now...

two hour sermon prep

2009-04-06T03:14:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I preached a sermon that took me two hours to prepare. It wasn't amazing but it still 'worked', i.e did what sermons should do. As my mate Dan said to me there is something in the underprepared sermon that needs to be in every sermon. I felt free and empowered, I felt like I was relating and speaking to people while at the same time proclaiming the word of God. A weird experience. I look forward to a day when I can spend two days writing a sermon but then am able to feel the same way about what I have written as I did with that two hour scribble.

Roller Coaster of Love

2009-03-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

...sorry for slack blogging...im repenting i promise...weekly from now on ok?

I had a brief blah at some mates this morning about this subject. Let me blah at you. Ministry and perhaps especially campus ministry is tiring. emotionally tiring. sometimes exhausting. Yesterday was a wild ride but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Panic about having to preach a sermon. Tweak that sermon. Preach that sermon. Voluntarily expose my human weakness as part of that sermon. Hear positive feedback. Think Im great. Think Im rubbish. Go home. Work or rest? hmm? do both. Get message from new Christian saying he doesnt want to be a part of anything Christian for a while. Angry, sad. Write sms. Delette sms. Get self control. Write gracious sms. Send sms. Get more depressing sms back- worse than I thought. Reel. Pray. Reel. Look fwd to church. Look fwd to looking after the international students there. Remember (almost) no internationals go to my church anymore coz they got scared off by difficult teaching from the cobwebbed parts of the OT. Contemplate not going to church. Realise I need ministering to. Get excited. Look fwd to church.

etc. etc. I could go on.

You can see the pattern. Its a roller coaster of love. A love of God and the priviledge of serving him in such a 'direct' (if i can say that)... a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows that come with the territory...

Sometimes I wanna pray that God will make me task orientated or make my forehead hard as flint... but theres enough of that in my circles.

hmmmmm

Our first meeting

2009-03-10T03:16:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Have a look at these photos of our first meeting this year.

I was pretty worried that we would loose most of our 70+ contacts from orientation week, mostly because I delayed our main meeting by two weeks. To keep the students biting I ran a BBQ, a potluck dinner and two afternoon teas... these worked to varying degrees.

Two weeks is way too long to make people wait for an event that they only have a little interest in. Our main meeting needs to be within a few days of meeting the students. I made the same mistake last year too! never again!

...anyway God in His grace blessed the gathering with 50+ internationals (a number of whom i did not invite), good music, fun games and a 10 minute talk from me.

Lots of improvements to be made though... and I can't wait!

Orientation and enrollment week!

2009-02-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I am too excited about next week. I need valium or something. It could be the most encouraging, invigorating and life changing week of the year... or you might read a post here next week from a very broken little campus worker.

700 first years will be on campus next week.

I don't feel equal to the task... but I'll have a good crack at it.

Have a look at what we're doing:

Monday

8-9.30- train helpers, put up posters, chalk, prepare for fliering

9.30-10.30- Fliering /contacting

11am- set up table in activity centre for societies expo

12-1.30pm- some people flier and some people stand behind table at expo

1.30-2pm- Set up afternoon tea spot

2-3.30pm- English afternoon tea - to welcome new students and tell them some more about FOCUS

Tuesday

12-2pm- Fliering and contacting

Wednesday

10.30-11.30pm- Fliering and contacting

2.30-3.30pm- Fliering and contacting

Thursday

10.30-11.30pm- Fliering and contacting

2.30-3.30pm- Fliering and contacting

Friday

10.30-11.30pm- Fliering and contacting

12pm-2pm - FOCUS reunion BBQ spot in the bush.

2.30-3.30pm- Fliering and contacting

Please pray for LOTS of contacts who will be committed to FOCUS this year!

I love Nick

2009-02-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

I should be paying Nick hundreds of dollars for his work. Its always brilliant. He's a perfectionist too, which bodes well for me but not so well for him as he works through his lunch hour and after work to get FOCUS graphics and posters just right. This is our new logo... like it?

What about those who haven't heard the gospel?

2009-01-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

This is a very common question among international students, I think its probably the most common. And when it's asked its not a born out of a desire to dismiss Christianity nor is it even born out of a desire to 'road test' it, rather it comes from an ever present awareness that the student does not exist in isolation but is a part of a family, a community and a nationality.

When an international student asks this they're saying ' what about my mum and dad and grandma and aunty Fei?' or 'are you saying my whole people are under God's wrath?'; at the risk of trying to sound smart and failing miserably... they are collectivists not individualists like the majority of Aussies I know.

An international student who really understands that 'if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.' (Rom 10:9) sees the way for them to be saved but becomes immediately concerned for implications for their family, their community and their people.

Now, granted that this is a big question for internationals and that the answer nearly almost always needs to be 'pastoral'... i'm on the hunt for some gentle but solid resources to help me to speak well about the subject.

Today I bought Tim Keller's 'The reason for God' and Tiessen's 'Who can be saved?'. Do you have any other suggestions to help me out? I'd like to listen to an MP3 if you have some up your sleeve...

Thanks!

Hello!

2009-01-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

Its 2009 and the end of my first week of work. I had lots of fun but I also suffered the dissapointment of realising that my hope for a leadership team will not be realised this year (unless God does something very unexpected)... im sure 2009 has a lot more fun and a lot more dissapointment to come.

One of the most exhilarating things about being the lone leader of a work is that it stand or falls based on what you do. Of course its God who makes things grow, and its all about God's grace... but you know what I mean.... If I choose to NOT go on campus during o-week I will impact the whole year ahead; it will be a substandard year of international student ministry. To be honest as I think about it its enough to bring on an anxiety attack. Yes, yes, i know the positive side of this is i have so much freedom and its so easy to change things, so easy do news things, so easy to start things, so easy to stop things... but that doesnt take away from the fact that often it feel pretty lonely and not a bit scarey!

I miss my leadership team!!!!

Here's a fun note to end things on: FOCUS is now called UCF and i.b.m has taken their name, and now we're called the Fellowship of Overseas Christian University Students. SO when you think FOCUS think international ok?

:-)

See you in 2009! ToT

2008-12-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Here is a cheeky trick I learned from Jolly. Instead of post

ing something new and fresh in addition to the newsletter you've just sent out... post the newsletter on your blog!

So here's my supporter news letter... i've inserted some pics you haven't seen to keep you interested.

I think it’s safe to say that the year has ended on a high... but figuratively and literally!...we’ve just moved house to Mount Nelson which is very pretty but its colder and windier than our usual Sandy Bay way of life. The house and block are also really nice, but it’s going to be interesting when it comes to getting to Uni and back... I assume it will be a 20 minute walk down and a 40 minute walk back.

i.b.m

i.b.m finished with a big celebration of the year that was. It was well attended and great fun! We played some games and enjoyed food from around the world. I addressed the group with a speech about my experience of the year and hinted at some of my plans for i.b.m in 2009. One of my plans for 2009 i.b.m is to change the name to FOCUS. Confused? Im sure! As is often the case, Tasmania is a bit behind the times; AFES international groups are normally called FOCUS. So FOCUS will surrender its name and both groups will get in sync with the rest of the country. Now you need to think of FOCUS as standing for the Fellowship of Overseas Christian University Students!

Over the month of December a small group of very eager international students continue to meet in my home, and some of the team members have been taking the students off for adventures around Tasmania. We’ll start the year again with a weekly leaders group

at the end of January and then i.b.m (now FOCUS) will begin at the end of February with a weekend away.

Studies in Melbourne

The Presbyterian College in Victoria have been very good to me and have bent over backwards to help me pursue ordination. Part of this was two weeks of intensives over there. I was really worried about Jan having to look after the boys. However my extended family and our church were very supportive and so at the end of week one thin

gs were looking good. Until... Jan called on Sunday morning and said her back was really hurting and she was having trouble breathing. She went into hospital and was told she probably had a blood clot. So...that was the end of my time in Melbourne. On returning I was very happy to learn that there was no blood clot and that her condition would greatly improve over the next few days. Even though I missed half of the intensives, the college were very kind and showed me how I could make up for it.

...this is me, my double chin and the boys

The Family

Moving house has been a bit traumatic. Can you believe we moved twice in a week? Once into my parents house and then from there to here. We have vowed to move only once more and never again... well, not for 10 years or so... Josiah and Shem dealt reasonably well with it; Shem woke up more than usual during the night, Josiah needed to have lots of in-depth conversations about where home was. I was a bit worried about being able to show hospitality to university students, but our Bible study group has been very happy to travel all the way up to our new home. Having students in our home is always such fun for the boys, invigorating for Jan and a blessing to our home and family life in general. Shem enjoys being cute and dancing with the students, while Josiah enjoys correcting their English. Our home is a little more crowded now that we’ve chosen to take in an international student. But she’s a great boarder to have live with us; she works hard to be a part of the family, helps around the home and really enjoys our rowdy boys.

What now?...

Students have three months off...so do staffworkers get three months off? Not at all. I think I shall have three weeks off in January. But December is pondering, prayer and planning month (Let’s call it ‘P’ month). I have been waiting for this part of the year all year. I was meant to take time to ‘P’ at the beginning of the year, but typical Luke... I got too excited and launched in reaction rather than proaction (if i can create a new word). I gather that many church leaders would say to me ‘enjoy taking the time to ‘P’ while you can, once things get bigger you’ll never have that luxury’. I hope they’re wrong. It seems to me that this phase of the year can mean the difference between a ‘pushing the envelope’ ministry and a maintenance ministry. Many ministers also tell me that they’re not the planning, big picture type of minister... I wonder if they’ve just been too busy all their years of ministry to stop and ‘P’? I have to be careful, I AM very new at this....but I can’t wait to ‘P’.

You?

How are you doing? I hope we’re in regular contact. I hope we have more than a ‘one way’ supporter relationship. If you’d like to increase your level of commitment, whether with prayer, finance or even just levels of communication, please email or phone me.

I hope you have a happy Christmas and may God bless your efforts to glorify Him in 2009.

Your brother,

Luke

I want to be a missionary!

2008-12-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

Imagine if international student work could get the same profile as overseas mission!?! A couple of churches here in Hobart call me their missionary.... which serves to lift the profile no end! But i'd love people to be as excited and romanced about international student ministry as they are about overseas missions.

When some Tassies see an Asian girl holding hands with an Aussie (anglo) guy, they think and sometimes say 'thats only because he can't get an Australian girl to like him'...well, sometimes I get the impression that people think that of international student workers; 'thats only because he can't cut it with the locals'. I hope I'm wrong. International student work is the new way to reach the world and as such deserves at least as high a profile as overseas mission...

I want to be a better preacher!

2008-12-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

...this week I've been enjoying thinking over the year and looking forward to next year. In preparation for next year I've been thinking about my preaching and Tim Keller has been helping me to do this. I'm really not happy with my preaching, even though, on and off, I've been doing it for almost eight years! I'm also not happy with a lot of the preaching I hear nowadays either. I think Keller would say the problem with my sermons is that they're only half done when I deliver them. I spend all my time on exegesis and being 'faithful to the text' and not enough time thinking through preaching to the heart. If you're a preacher, have a listen to this lecture by Tim... you'll be unsettled at points and flat out disagree at others I reckon... but I think you need to hear it and act on it. I certainly do... In fact this lecture is going on my 'once a year' checklist.

We've found a house!

2008-11-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map
We've found a lovely house in Mount Nelson. True, It IS filthy (if you don't believe me ask the carpet cleaner who cleaned the floors for us...he was shocked...and not only by the two urine stains on the lounge room floor). But its got a great backyard for the children and for a garden, also i like its design...a bit like a tree house with lots of wood and windows. So we're very happy to have a home! I'm a little worried that its location might pose a challenge on the hospitality front; I always want to have a home that is readily accessible to students; easy walk to uni...not so easy on the way back (unless you've had a lot of practice mountain climbing).

anyway, for the most part... happy days! :-)

Dark Days

2008-11-20T16:29:00.000-08:00

This is going to sound a little jarring in the light of the previous post. But right now the Hansard family are under a dark cloud. Things have been hard for us of late. Remember the Melbourne trip? well, it was cut short by a sickness in the family. Jan woke up one morning with a tearfully sore back and struggling to breathe. It got worse throughout the day, so over the phone I told her to go to the emergency ward. They made her wait a long time and then told her she probably has a blot clot!... which is life threatening. Needless to say, I booked a flight and came home.
It wasn't a blood clot it was a back so damaged that it had caused her lung cavity to become inflammed! Over the days and some physio she got better and better... she's at work now... things are ok.

BUT this sickness was combined with the stress of not knowing where we're going to live after our rent expires. We are packing today and tomorrow, but we still have nowhere to go, so we're going to stay with my parents. Jan and I love them dearly, but my mum is quite feisty... and a typical mother-in-law to Jan. Poor thing! It feels very yucky being homeless when a wife an children are involved. This is addition to the usual yuckiness having to move house every year or so!

So please pray. God has some great purpose behind this uncomfortable situation... but right now we really have no idea whats going on!

Ending on a Bang

2008-11-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

...thats it... its all over for 2008. Last night we had a party to finish off the year. I did a speech. We ate exotic food (provided by the students). We played a game. We talked. We took photos.
Attendance was good, which is what you want for your final gathering... we don't like whimpers. We ended on a high. People were literally asking for more. One lady was really about missing out on the entire year and promised to come next year (I hope she didn't think every week was a party like last night!).

So, you ask, whats the plan for the next three months between now and uni starting up? Well, December is evaluation and planning month (and...hehe... a little unofficial international student Bible study group...shhhhh!). Then I'll take the first couple of weeks of January as holiday. The last week or so of January and the first bit of February will possibly see a pre-i.b.m group start up in preparation for i.b.m proper beginning at the end of February.

Im really excited about 2009... and the students are too... good times ahead I think.

Heading off to Melbourne

2008-10-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

*sigh* I'm not a big fan of moving about like this. I have lots of lovely things i'd like to be doing over the next three weeks, but actually what I will be doing is study study study. I'm going to Melbourne for some theological intensives next week and this week I need to prepare for them. This is with a view to getting ordained into the Presbuterian church. I love being an AFES staff worker, but some older godly men have encouraged me to do this in preparation for what the future may hold.

However,Its unfortunate that i have to study at this time as our new Christian friend is leaving in three weeks to live for two months in Sydney. He's been so busy with exams that he hasnt been to i.b.m or been able to meet with me for some time(this is normal).

Its unfortunate that a dear Christian sister who has been an integral part of i.b.m over the year will leave as soon as I get back.

Its unfortunate that there are so many non-Christian international students that i could be inviting to i.b.m over that period... students who would be very happy to come along and see what Christianity is all about.

Its at these times that so much comfort can be found in the truth that gathering the nations is primarily God's work and that his blessing to me is to let me be a part of the action from time to time.

God please keep up the good work while I'm away, as I know you will.

Revelation 5:8-10 And when the Lamb had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before Him, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."

Heading off to Sydney

2008-10-15T18:37:00.001-07:00

I'm going to Sydney tomorrow and while Im really excited about it....I feel a bit yucky about it too. I don't like leaving my family behind. It will be lovely to see friends/ supporters but It feels wrong to leave Jan, battling it out with the boys down here. To make matters worse two weeks after I return I have to leave for Melbourne to confront lecturers whose work I have not started and to do intensives for courses that I have not prepared for.
Still... don't let me make you think I'm feeling down. God keeps doing incredible things for/to/with/around me. Yesterday something so breathtakingly moving happened to me that i don't want to blog about it, because I can't do it justice. Suffice it to say I met someone who really knows the cost of following our Lord.
...if the lack of detail frustrates you... arrange to meet me face to face and i'll fill you in...
:-D Luke

Reciprocity

2008-10-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

Im working at making a video of i.b.m to show you (my supporter) what you're actually supporting. As much as I'd love you to come and see for yourself I understand that you live too far away or are too busy or are a bit worried that you might disturb the sensitive vibe. So here's another way of visiting... watch my presentation!

Its been really nice to look at i.b.m somewhat objectively (through the lense of a video camera!), but what has been especially pleasant and affirming is stopping to learn what our what key members think about the ministry. I've just finished interviewing some Christian Korean women; in the interview one of them confesses to wanting to do international student ministry back on her home campus in her home country as a result of seeing the ministry of i.b.m!

Banging the Drum

2008-09-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

My preaching gigs are pretty much over for the year and so its now time to put my back into support raising again. *sigh*. As much as its uncomfortable and difficult, it also provides an opportunity to mix with people you wouldn't normally mix with and to go to places you wouldn't normally be found in. For example, this photo is evidence that I was a guest speaker at a 'mature' mens gathering.

These men are from many different churches, but what unites them is a love for our LORD and a love for....wait for it... singing! they love to sing. They sing well and even gave me one of their CDs to say thanks for coming. I was grateful for the opportunity to promote international student work and call on them to support me in what i'm doing.

With a view to working for AFES next year, It looks like i'll be needing $15,000 to replace the trusts and the like who have given once off. My friend Sam (also a staff worker on UTAS) tells me to expect some of my supporters to withdraw their support each year... so thats a bit scarey too!

Im currently thinking through how to ask 'once off' supporters to support for another year (other than blogging about it ...heheh...). Hand written letter? phone call? personal visit? I don't want it to be awkward for them....hmmm....If you have any hot tips... please comment!

This week why don't you have a look at Thursday:

2008-09-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

...big day out

2008-09-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday was HUGE in my little mind. Preparing a presentation, preparing a Bible study, Flyering, preaching, back to preparing the presentation, back to preparing the Bible study, setting up i.b.m and iCafe, running a Bible study, presenting a presentation.... home at 11pm! The day was full of 'wins'... preaching was good (badly attended... but well received in the way we want our sermons to be received), i.b.m was good (20 sts despite a number of regulars being absent...a nice short crisp study...), iCafe was good (23 sts and lots of laughs).

Not many church workers get to meet with 15-20 non-Christians every week... but this experience is a normal Thursday in the life for someone involved with i.b.m. A friend from Sydney last night was amazed and excited to sit with a group of non-Christians, most of whom were either thinking seriously about or very near to accepting the Christian belief. One of our committed non-Christians approached me last night to ask if we could start meeting together and talk through some Christian apologetics.

International student ministry is a very different world isn't it?

(p.s. if you wanna see what we did at iCafe go and have a look at the i.b.m blog)

A concerned reader...

2008-08-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

A good and well respected friend emailed me his comments on my latest post:

Read your latest blog and thought I’d reply. Doing ministry and serving others is not an easy job sometimes. I have been stretched to my limits of hospitality and it is hard to keep it all in perspective when it happens. When does loving like Jesus sacrificially and turning the other cheek for the sake of the Gospel and being firm and saying no start? I can see that the Koreans were rude to you and unappreciative of the efforts to cook them a meal. But I wonder if taking your frustrations out at them in a public forum like your blog is the right place to write up these things. Maybe a better way would have been to have a quiet word about etiquette and telling them that thanking the hosts and explaining that what they did was rude. This would be harder than venting your frustrations on the blog. But what will happen if they read this about them?

Maybe some discretion is needed when complaining about people that you are serving; on tables with a Gospel attitude or teaching them the truth of Jesus.

I like what he is saying.
So... i'd like you to understand a little bit about my mindset in blogging...
1. I'm writing with a specific bunch of uni-sts, young workers, young families in mind who go to my Sydney home church.
2. I'm writing to expose my humanity and weakness as well as to inform people of what is happening in my ministry.
3. I'm using it as a bit of a diary... so often i just write how i'm thinking and feeling at that moment.
4. Its my hope and prayer that the posts encourage you and motivate you to love and live for Christ more and more. This can be done with loading posts full of Bible verses and sermonettes, but I think it can also be done by seeing the power of our Lord working through frail humanity.

What do you think?

p.s. ...with regard to my 'frustrated post'. I have spoken to the ladies and one of them was quite apologetic. I also didn't mean to make them the focus of the post... i wanted you to know how i felt in that situation and appreciate my strange idiosyncrasies...

Gochujang on Stefatho

2008-08-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

So... last night... i cooked for i.b.m... around 5 hours of cooking and maybe $25 later I had created 'stefatho' - a delicious Greek stew.

Usually Australians from different churches around Hobart cook for us, but we are a short of cooks at the moment... so im doing it a bit. Now, often at ibm we have Australian takes on classic 'Asian' dishes as our lovely supporters attempt to cook food that is homely for our international students. For this reason I bought a massive tub of gochujang as the food can benefit from this addition from time to time (a big mistake).

When Thursday night rolled around, I was quite excited about giving the students a bit of an education in a non-Asian cuisine. The other cook turned up right on time with her contribution...she'd had a bash at butter chicken and sweet and sour pork... both of which were delicious. So the students had a treat on their hands... three delicious dishes on some plump fresh rice.

Things went wrong when someone put out the gotchujang... i could see what was going to happen... so i quickly moved to remove it from the room... too late! A young korean lady (often very rude and unappreciative) caught me and said 'Gotchujang!' and stuck her hand out. I was sprung. I explained to her 'uh, gotchujang is not good with this food'... she quickly picked up her bowl of food and thrust it at me- 'no!' she said (meaning she didnt want to eat it if she couldnt put gotchujang on it). I took the bowl from her outstretched hand and then thought... 'oh whats the point!' and so returned the gotchjang and gave her back her bowl. She spooned a tablespoon full of it into the middle of her butterchicken/ sweet and sour pork/ stefatho dish and then.... and then.... then... began to stir and mix and stir.... grrr grrr!
What makes this tale even more miserable is that then another Korean saw her (he too is known for his 'i'm only here for the food' attitude) and followed her example! I could take it no longer... I sat down and starred into my own bowel of culinary delight and tried to close out the evil that was occurring all around me...*sigh* who ever said international student ministry to Koreans was easy?

The numbers game

2008-08-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Heya, Just thought i'd let you know that last night we had 19 students turn up to ibm and 10 Aussies (incl jan and boyz). I know I shouldnt play the numbers game, i know i know... but its a good sign isnt it? People are inviting their friends because they believe its a good thing. The study went well too... despite the complexity of explaining the triune God in creation. The series is called Jesus and Genesis... i've called it a 'rewind' coz we've just done Genesis 1-3 without much obvious mention of Jesus at all (of course in reality he was very much mentioned as we spoke about the power and glory of the Word right? perhaps i should say the incarnate Word was not mentioned much? ;-)
Anyway, for you Koreans and Australian-Koreans out there I expect you love supporting this work. I'm thinking about changing the name to k.b.m; it was 3/4 Koreans last night. Also, I think you lot should love me even more as on Wednesday night I was called by a Korean pastor at the local Uniting Church who wants me to be a fill in for him when he can't preach at his church! So my ministry is very Korean focused...very! (still no dinner invitations though! ;-).
Keep praying God is doing really good things among us!

Mid Year Conference

2008-07-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

I feel I should also let you know how our MYC went... you ARE curious right? Well, I was very surprised to find that 7 international students from i.b.m went and that they had a really good time. It was hard for them on the English level... i tried hard to prep them before they went. Seminars and electives were especially difficult. But they enjoyed the Bible studies and Talks... but I think the most rewarding part for them was the relationships initiated with Australians. I also organised a regular meeting with them during free time to follow up the things they had learned so far during the day.
A really special moment was had during the talent night, where the Korean ladies sang and played piano... you could have heard a pin drop when they finished. They, of course, won the competition... easily. Part of the reason this event was so special was that for those few moments it was the Australian's who felt the communication barrier most accutely, we were the ones who could not understand them and we were the worse for it. Strangely, this communication struggle created more effective communication as the Aussie's felt they had shared in the daily challenges of being a language learner. It was also a really positive event because the Koreans were able to contribute something to the conference and so felt more a part of the action from then on.
Here is some feedback i got from them:

"Big big event on the cross : I already knew how important the death of Jesus is. but i realised it has super meaning!!
especially, God showed us his justification and made us justified. i decided to read books about that someday,, hehe" Seol-Ae

and

"Although I am living in Hobart, meeting local people is not easy as not a university student but an English learner. But luckily I can meet Tasmanians thanks to FOCUS, Church members and IBM. Thank you for giving me a chance to participate in MYC. It was so valuable to me." Amy

Postering Works?

2008-07-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hiya... long time no blog eh? sorry about that!

The hottest news off the press is that postering actually works! I have never had much faith in the practice... I mean, I knew it worked for getting the brand out there and for informing people of changes of locations, big events and the like... but it appears that it ALSO works for getting people along to meetings where they can gather with Christians and see and hear the gospel. Last night two people came along because they saw the posters!

FYI i.b.m is averaging <15 internationals and 9 Australian 'helpers'. This is exciting because:
1) The 15 international students are committed and keen and at least half are not Christians... this might not seem huge but it is when you recognise that our less regular (i.e. those that come every second week) attenders are somewhere around the 30 mark... its a big thing that God is doing among us! By comparison we are doing better than the Australian group (not thats its a competition, remember i work with them too, but i want you to get things in perspective), FOCUS only manages to get around 15 people along to their meetings twice a week and they are all mature Christians who attend.
2) Half of the Aussies that come were not invited but forced themselves upon i.b.m. because it is such an exciting thing to be a part of... I mean where else can an Australian be taught the Bible for an hour and a half, helping others to understand it along the way, and then have evangelistic opportunities straight afterward?

Aren't you glad to be partnering with us in this work? we couldn't do it without your prayers and money.

By the way, if you haven't said hello for a while why not comment on this post or send me an email to touch base?

A strange time of year...

2008-06-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Most student groups would stop running at this time of year... however ibm continues... full of life and vigor. You might remember that I said I wanted to major on degree students this year, rather than English language students? Well, the English language students found us anyway and its due to their presence that ibm continues over study period and exam time. By God's grace among them there are a number of people who are really keen to learn and consider our faith.

Oh... random interesting bit of news... I met up with one of our 'team' members a couple of days ago (I call them the team because I don't want to place the responsibility of being leaders upon them just yet) and i was amazed and encouraged to hear what he has been doing behind my back. He's a fairly young Christian, so I guess he doesn't know that we generally broadcast this sort of thing... but he'd been taking students from 'ibm' through an introduction to Christianity course.

Thats enough for now... off to meet with Lucas... who has recently been approached by Mormons telling him to come to their church. Its time to tell him about the multiplicity of gods, universal salvation and holy underpants that they forgot to mention.

...permission to think outside of the box now?

2008-05-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

I know I should try and lay a little low this year... you know... don't push the envelope. I've got to be long term, which means using 2008 as 'the settling in year'....but... i've been thinking of starting an International Cafe... that's pretty tame isn't it? nothing revolutionary there? especially seeing as it wasn't even my idea... it was Damon's (my 'Yoda', physician and dear friend).

A good International Cafe has first and foremost 'good vibes'
We create these by having nice sounds, smells and sights; music and laughter, coffee and 'ethnic' food, happy faces and intriguing events.
It must be a comfortable place where people can build relationships with one another.

Our aims will be:
1) to care for the lonely, bored, 'dis-placed' international student by providing a fun and informative evening.
2) to make the student's decision as to whether to come to 'ibm' more about their interest in Christianity and less about the shock of meeting a chubby, 30 year old balding man who wants them to come to a group that has nothing to do with old laptops.

What do you think?

2008-04-06T18:34:00.001-07:00

Family

We are all well, very well actually. Though Jan and I continue to have the frustration of blocked ears owing to taking a flight with a cold, it cannot suppress the pleasure of living space, fresh air, bush and water views. The boys are growing as you would expect. Shem is enjoying a new winging stage and has decided his two favourite words are ‘digger’ and ‘gocky’ (by which he means chocolate/choccy- Jan’s fault not mine). Josiah is currently working hard at staying in bed all night (as opposed to waking every two hours and requesting bread, milk, play time etc.), because he knows the reward that awaits him after seven successful entire nights in bed.

FOCUS

While my role with FOCUS is somewhat undefined, I think I’m quite happy to leave it that way. In addition to preaching 1/3 of the sermons, I have been trying to support Sam in any way he needs. It’s been a challenge for both Sam and I trying to work out how we can work together. Sam has been going it alone for so long and is naturally a very hard working task driven man, whereas I am a more relational, emotionally driven individual. I have been impressed how hard Sam has been working of late to be all things to all men in working with me.

International Bible Meeting

Things are off to an exciting start. We have a lovely new location (Sandy Bay Baptist church- Sandy Bay Road) and a regular group of non-Christians coming together to meet with the Aussie team. The majority come from Vietnam and China and all have come with a desire to learn about Christianity through studying the Bible. This is owing to our honesty with the students that we have contacted thus far; rather than luring them into our gathering with promises of friendship and good food, we have told them that we seek first and foremost to teach them the Bible. I think this has meant substantially lower numbers, but those we do have are eager for God’s word. Strangely along with being excited that international students are coming to study the Bible, I’m also really pleased to have so many Australians coming each week to help out. The Aussies do an amazing job of being warm and accepting to our international friends. It is great for their Christian lives to be meeting with non-Christians so often, in addition I’m sure that as they seek to help the international students understand God’s word they are also coming to a better understanding of it themselves.

The challenge with where we are at right now is working out how to make contact with Christian international students. Some of you will remember that my goal for this year is to build a core of five Christians that will continue with us over into 2009. So far we have none... and I’m not sure of the way forward. All the same it is a great problem to have; lots of non-Christian contact. Another challenge I face is working out how to show Christ’s love is a holistic sense. We recognise that our job is primarily to teach them God’s word and we do this well. However we must not neglect to help people who are so needy for friendship and support while they study in a very foreign land. In many ways it is easy to give up a couple of hours a week to teach the word of God, but ? Or helping someone to move house? Or listening to their problems with living in Tasmania? We must not ignore our duty of care.

The Logo

2008-03-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

This is our brand. We're trying to get it known around campus. Originally I thought that the three leaves were just another cool peice of random graphic design that fell from the mind of our graphic designer onto the page. BUT oh how wrong I was... he labored and brainstormed over the Scriptures for some time to come up with this idea... the three leaves are acutally palm branches referred to in Revelation 7:9-10.

'After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Beautiful isnt it? so it turns out that our logo is pregnant with meaning. It stands for our conviction that this is the end for humanity; everyone from everywhere (even outside Australia!) and all times will gather around our God and his lamb and praise him for the salvation they will enjoy in utter fullness from that day on. It also drives our mission to see people gathered from those places where very little opportunity is available to hear of the Lordship of the lamb ... it does say 'all tribes and peoples and languages' doesn't it?

SO those who gather are not just those who have democracy, religious freedom, a Christian heritage, church buildings in every suburb and are drowning in Christian resources, RATHER there will also be those from socialist countries like China and Vietnam who don't share our religious freedom. These people are the regulars at 'ibm' at the moment, the mainland Chinese and the Vietnamese... please pray for them.... that they might be ones standing next to you as you gather around our God and his lamb at the end.

pros and cons

2008-03-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Heya! Are you ok? I am... but my ear is blocked for the fourth day after travelling on a plane with a cold... dont do it! its not worth it!
'ibm' (international bible meeting) is going well though some challenges have arrisen:
PROS: 15 non-Christians eager to study the Bible
an eager team of Anglos supporting Damon and my leadership
a nice new location... basically in Hobart's china town (if we could ever claim a china town)
good vibes so far
CONS: too many non-Christians! is that a con? well ...only in that I wanted to get a couple of Christians to form a core for us (see below). Do you know I've only met two over my first year contacting weeks? a bit hard to come by (or too easily lured into established groups).
too many exciting things to try - im sposed to be just towing the party line for this year... its very hard...
Too many 'unity' questions arising- they seem nice...certainly brothers and sisters... but can i work with them? how closely? etc.

anyway... better get going to FOCUS... bye!

our new location =>

oh... and pray for 'the 5' (see below) i don't know how i will find them now that first year contacting weeks are over! pray hard!

big leadership decisions over a fondue pot

2008-02-21T19:50:00.001-08:00

Ok... heres something more fun...
this is the ibm leadership team... here we are making big leadership decisions over a fondue pot...

As those who have been in my Bible studies can testify, meetings are a lot more fun when senses other than your ears are aroused. The nice smell of chocolate, the ambient lighting, the touch of exotic fruit dripping warm chocolate on your fingers...

It was so good, that even when it was all over... Robbie Couldnt help digging up the pieces of fruit that had been lost in the chocolate over the night!

5 mature Christians

2008-02-21T19:09:00.000-08:00

Over the past six years our international work has been thrust into world of evangelism. How can someone ignore the questioning 'mainland Chinese' student who asks 'what is Christianity? what do you believe?' Our evangelistic focus has been great for getting the message out to a great number of people (with varying responses of course). But it has not served us well for building a core or a community; we find that if people become Christians they leave shortly after or are not mature enough to be fully committed. And just when we've thought, 'we've got to focus more on finding overseas Christians and building them up' along comes another needy curious student with many important questions about Christ and the cycle begins again...tell them the gospel, they accept or reject it, they go home, tell them the gospel...etc...

My hope is to break the cycle this year. Damon and I are on the look-out for 5 mature Christians. Our hope and prayer is that they will be early on in their studies (and hence planing to stay with us for a good few years) and eager to live a full Christian life while staying here in Tasmania. They will hopefully be with us to start subsequent accademic years, and hopefully start to out-number us Anglos. If we can't find them among the new students this year (or if they join the other Christian organisations) my plan to approach some of these organisations (that share the same convictions as we do) and ask them if they are able to supply one or more of 'the 5'.

Can you please pray about this? If God says 'yes' it will really help us to build a sustainable international work...and long term will actually work out better for evangelism.

Leadership Relationships

2008-02-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

So far I've been having lots of meetings. But meetings mean people and people (usually) mean relationships and relationships are my forte. Not that I am great at building great relationships with everyone.... but I enjoy relationships and they really intrige me. I have very different relationships with the three people below. However I hope that with time, and lots of meetings, all of these relationships will share one characteristic; namely, depth. I have been having a couple of meetings each day with varying degrees of productivity. They are always an adventure, and always very tiring.

The most treasured of these meetings have been with Damon Richardson. He is a friend with whom I have already had the pleasure of working with for over three years. He will be basically teaching me to do what I did three years ago before I went to college and forgot how to minister to people. He will be working part time alongside me with the International students. Our relationship will have some challenges however as he will be working part time as a doctor to pays an dear and old his bills, where I will be full-time on campus. Please pray that I will not expect too much of Damon in terms of campus work hours (bearing in mind that he is also a husband, father, and doctor) and that we really complement each other in our working together.

I've also been meeting with Sam Green (the senior staff worker) and getting in touch with the ebbs and flows of campus life more generally. Sam is a curious guy; he has a very big brain that operates unlike anyone I've ever met. We have very different personalities and abilities and so my not so secret agenda is becoming his friend. I've been shown that I don't need to be his friend to work well with him... but it's really important to me (and i think to God) that the work we do is a joy and a deep partnership and not just something to get done and get on with the next thing to do. I've learnt a lot about myself in the process of working out how to work with him. Please pray for God's blessing on deepening our relationship.

Mike Jolly (pictured his with his wife Christine) and I have also had many an emotive rant at each other. I appreciate Jolly for his passion for campus work. Though he is the little MTS worker he has a heart bigger than all three of us for evangelism on campus. He has been a great help to me as I have been trying to think through how I will do work among the Australians while working for the most part with Internationals. I hope that I can help Jolly's fantastic ideas for campus ministry become reality. I also hope that I can encourage him in his 'on the ground' emphasis.

It begins

2008-01-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hi,
this is the beginning of my life as a blogger... my hope is to use this site as the way to communicate with my supporters.
Right now I have Hebrew vocabulary sprawled out before me and am feeling a little sad about just how much vocab you have to know to be able to read the OT in its original language. Subsequently I now find myself creating a blog... its a coping mechanism... feel like a failure in one area...'accidentally' start doing something more rewarding....hmmmm.....
This is my wife:

She is a delight to me and makes me laugh all the time. She is smart and quiet, though she can be feisty and unpredictable (hence the pink wig). Feisty though she be my boys (see below) are way too strong and too active for her... that said she does a great job of keeping them alive.

This is Josiah (3 years old):

...looks sweet doesnt he? hmmmm.... He's a constant joker and entertainer... never quiet and doesnt like sleeping (i guess coz that requires him to be quiet). Having him in your home is like unleashing a tornado... but a very funny and conversational tornado.

This is Shem (15 months old):

Shem does like sleeping. He also enjoy having a sit down and then standing up and sitting and standing and sitting. His best friend is tinky winky but then he quite enjoys finding a bag full of nappy grossness and carrying that around the house on his adventures.

...wow you found the new hidden photos!!...