Promoted to Glory 2

I thought I would update you on the funerals I attended today. It is an interesting situation to be conducting a funeral whilst your wife is organising her mother's funeral in another state. Nevertheless God's grace is sufficient and I fulfilled the wishes of the dear soul who at 97 had gone to be with Jesus. It was good to receive the sympathy of former soldiers and the family of the deceased.

It was good to be with friends at the second funeral and also to be ministered to by them. It was even better to know that the deceased in that case had come to faith before he died. We had many conversations whilst we worked together but he was never ready to be saved at that time. General Eva Burrows had spent much time with Tony and I was overjoyed to hear her affirm his faith.

So as a day of over 41 Celsius comes to an end on a hectic day I can look back satisfied that it was good to be involved in 2 funerals today. Now tomorrow which should be a holiday means doing lots of work so that we can travel on Wednesday to be reunited with Jennifer and say farewell to our mother, mother-in-law and grandmother on Friday.

Promotion to Glory

I write to inform those who read this blog who know us that Jennifer's mother Mrs Ellen Nicks has been promoted to glory from her place in the Playford Corps of The Salvation Army. At this stage funeral details are unknown.

Jennifer is traveling with her sister Cathy Jackson, Wayne and their daughters Amanda and Sarah as I write. We will join her when details are known.

Ellen has had links with The Salvation Army in Elizabeth from its earliest days. Up until ill health intervened in the last few months she has served as the Home League Secretary for many years.

Your prayer support for the family is valued.

Peter

Catch up!! -personal

For all of you wonderful people who look every day, week or at least every now and again to see if I have recorded any wise thoughts or more probably what is happening at Doncaster, this is for you.
All I seem to be doing is trying to catch up. Catch up the paper work, catch up with correspondence, catch up with the tradesmen who promise quotes but never deliver, catch up with other officers who seem to have a holiday without actually having holidays, or even catch up on sleep. December has once again been a time to run. Everything except the promised quotes for airconditioning repairs has gone well, ie caroling, kettling, christmas welfare, Catherine's exams etc
Next year sees us starting the year with each of our children looking forward to new initiatives. Ben started teaching secondary English half way through last year. He goes to the Make Change conference in New Zealand during January and returns home to start the school year.
Pete moves to the Training College to live in February when he begins his year as a member of the 614 order. This is a huge challenge for him but one he is looking forward to. We'll miss him around the house but hopefully we'll be able to catch up with him fairly often.
Catherine commences a Child Care course at TAFE and while this is what she wants to do she won't be able to go to NZ with Ben and her friends.
I get to go to Sydney in a few weeks time for a training course led by IHQ personal about preparing for Disaster Relief training.
Jennifer is busy trying to keep up with the rest of us as well as the corps.
On Monday the Bureau of Meterology is predicting a day of 41 degrees celsius. I'm conducting a private Committal service at Fawkner Crematorium and then a Memorial service for one of our former soldiers at Moonee Ponds Corps. We left there 12 years ago but I'd promised Dulcie I'd do it when the time came.
On top of that Jennifer and I will be attending the funeral service of a friend and former Public Relations colleague later that same day.

Yes I know I haven't said much about the corps or God or the cricket or...
Maybe that will come later!
Peter

Connections 07

Please join in giving praise to God for a very special weekend held in Melbourne, Australia. Our Territorial Commander was given a vision from God of a very special set of commissioning/congress meetings which he termed Connections 07.Part of this weekend were two days of conference meetings which were attended by many people, including non-salvationist employees from our social centres. People from all over our territory gathered to learn and share together.Commissioners James and Carolyn Knaggs led God inspired and anointed Officers Councils. Most public meetings were marked by crowded Mercy Seats as people were saved and sactified. The Sunday afternoon meeting was marked by a sense of joy and excitement as 29 new captains received their first commissioned appointments. Included in this number were a significant number of Lieutenants along with the Cadets.Long term readers of the Forum will remember my Praise Reports from our days soldiering at the Ringwood Corps. Many of them contained comments about the Candidates within the corps. On Sunday 4 of these were commissioned. Sometimes I think that those years when Jennifer was the Recruiting Sergeant and I helped the Candidates prepare for the Training College were the most fruitful of our officership to date.On Saturday there was a giant march/parade/procession throughout the city followed by a Social Justice Rally in a public square, followed by both children's rallies and youth rallies. The people in the streets of Melbourne stopped to watch, listen and be involved in what the 3000 Salvos were doing. It was amazing to see children on the streets being given mini Army flags to wave and enjoying doing so. Salvo children ran from the parade to give these flags to their peers and then returned to join their parents in an act of witness. The streets of Melbourne have not seen this sort of thing from the Salvos for many years.Many bloggers from our territory have testified to their belief that God has started a significant work that will change our territory for the better.Here's the TC's blog for his view of Connections 07. http://tcspeak.blogspot.com
Praise God!

Peter

Back to the fight!

Jennifer and I have been experiencing that wonderful "F" word "Furlough" for the last 14 days. So today has seen lots of catching up, particularly on the email front.
Furlough aka holidays aka vacation has seen us catching up with family and a few friends.
One of the great activities we were able to attend was the Retirement Service of Majors Athol and Ursula Jackson. There were so many people we knew that were present to pay tribute to these good people's service as Salvation Army Officers, including Commissioners James and Carolyn Knaggs.
I was reminded and impressed by the memories of past appointments for these fine, hardworking officers. There were slides of people being involved in various activities at the variety of small and often difficult corps they led. Indeed many of these corps reached their peak under their leadership. I was reminded that there were no large or prestigious appointments amongst them. Immediately prior to retirement they had served as Chaplains to Retired Officers.
Serving and potential Salvation Army Officers have much to learn from Athol and Ursula about gaining the most from their people. Their ministry could be described as being about people. They worked with and alongside of people and people were touched by their ministry. They cultivated people and improved their corps appointments. People entered the Kingdom of God because of these hard working Overcomers.
"In the fight say does your heart grow weary?" are words from an old song. The answer must always be yes if we are putting our whole being into the fight. The people business is tiring. But Athol and Ursula remind us that we can through Christ, be more than overcomers.

Back to the fight! You've rested long enough!

WOW!!!!

Last Saturday evening we held an International dinner at our corps. This started off as a fellowship type activity for the corps so that people could get to know each other better. It ended up as perhaps a corps direction changing outreach opportunity.
While there was great support for the event from our regular attenders the large number of people who came was directly because of new people bringing their unchurched friends. The main organiser of the evening attended a local Primary School disco and spoke to heaps of parents about sending their children to a Reading Group at the corps. Some of these were followed up by a lady who attends the corps who made sure they came to the dinner as her friends.
Suddenly our lovely fellowship night for 50 or 60 people became a night for 125 people; a significant proportion of whom had never been in our building before.
The CO's worries about enough food proved fruitless as there was plenty of food left over. The miracle of the loaves and fish was repeated as people under the inspiration of God brought more food than they had indicated. Some corps people broke away from their friends to converse with the people they didn't know.
On Sunday we wondered if the greatness of the evening would translate into positive outcomes or negatives. The organiser had already suffered some unjust comments made to her before the event as well as an horrendous afternoon in other ways. On Sunday the comments were overwhelmingly positive. God was at work! One of the patriarchs of the corps, a godly well respected long term Salvationist, told the Bandmaster and his wife that it was the most exciting thing he had been to for a long time. Indeed he went so far as to indicate that if that was what we had to do to get people into the building then we ought to scrap all our traditional Salvationist ways and go that way.
Now the hard work begins! How do we build on this success? How do we follow the desires of the long term Salvos and the newer people and the very new people? Strangely the desires are all fairly similar. More of these type of events is the common thread. Such consensus can only be the work of God. This event has come at a time when the direction of the corps is continuing to swing strongly outward. No negatives at corps council about starting new community focussed groups, only lots of excitement at the possibilities.
Strangely I remember some people indicating to me that Friendship Evangelism wouldn't work at our corps. Maybe my preaching on building relationships with the lost and urging people to reach out into their community to make new friends is bearing fruit after all.
God, keep bringing the lost into the fold! Help us to lead them to Jesus!

Boost

This was the title of our Divisional Officers' Fellowship. A variety of speakers were designed to give us a boost. Plenty of time was scheduled to give us a physical boost as well by allowing for rest and recreation. Different speakers affect different people and some that were highly motivational didn't particularly inspire or motivate me at all. But some of the sharing by colleague officers was very helpful and my spirit certainly received a boost.

Today the mission of the Doncaster Corps received a boost with the installation of an Assistant Corps Officer. A good crowd gathered to witness Captain Dianne Gibbons being installed in that position. We see Dianne's appointment as a boost to the mission resources of the corps.

In the congregation was a young man who it turns out I'd had a telephone conversation with around last Christmas. When he hadn't arrived it had slipped my mind. He had also visited on our Planned Giving Pledging Sunday and left half way through. Today he was one of the last to leave the Hall. He is a guitarist. That means that God has given us a young Keyboard player and a guitarist within a few weeks. This certainly should be a boost to the musical resources of our corps.

One of the new families has just welcomed a brand new boy into their family. This is also a boost for the congregation. God knows what He is doing. Our new officer has a baby boy a month old. We now have 2 baby boys and a baby girl. God's plan is fairly clear to me. After a period of time when the corps had very few babies being born we now have the great opportunity to reach out to young families. 3 babies may not seem many but when you consider that each of these families has come to the corps within the last 8 months you can begin to sense my excitement.

Now we need some brass players and some singers and some leaders and some more converts and more soldiers and more money and more ...

Maybe God is providing what we need and we shouldn't run ahead of Him.
Thanks God for the various boosts! Please keep them coming!

Successes and failures

Throughout life we are faced with both successes and failures. Ministry is no different. There are people who respond to the call of the gospel and there are those who don't. There are those who allow us to pastor them and others who just don't relate to us or trust us at all.

Last week I wrote about a growing congregation. It seems that almost every time I write about new people coming or successes, I can guarantee either a poor congregation numerically or people leaving or a failure of some sort. On Sunday after well over a month of larger than average congregations we had dropped back by a third and most of those who were missing were the new people. Jennifer's children's message was adapted to big kids. The Youth Bible study also had less people than normal, despite an excellent guest speaker. Sunday School didn't even operate due to the absence of the children.

So are these failures or smaller congregations being used to teach me something about humility. Sometimes I think so! Then after a period of soul searching I recall that it is God that I glorify in the telling of the Doncaster story. For He is the one who has brought the people to His church. It is not my doing in any way, shape or form. Most of the people I invite haven't actually come.

Perhaps it is the result of the Evil One's work in order to frustrate some great plan of God's. Then I remember that he is a defeated being through the Cross of Jesus. Other times I realise that this is just part of life and ministry in an age where commitment is viewed differently. Church is OK unless there is a better offer.

Lord Jesus, build your Church!

Praise God!!!

Pentecost Sunday 2007 saw us focussing on the infilling and empowering of The Holy Spirit. I'd love to be able to say that He came in obvious power and that the Mercy Seat was lined with seekers. But I can't!

What I can say is that we had the biggest congregation for the year. 1/3 of these were people who weren't part of the corps at the start of last year. We may not be seeing lined Mercy Seats or people rushing to receive salvation or sanctification, but God is moving. He is drawing people to our corps. He is making them feel welcome. Now we need to do our part.

Come Holy Spirit with your empowering and anointing!

Time to catch up

The Red Shield Appeal is now almost over and I have time to breathe again. I guess I never actually stopped, it just felt like it. We tried hard but we just aren't going to reach last year's amount.
We've had an Assistant Officer appointed to join our team for which we praise God. We look forward to her joining us as a means of improving our mission.
My mother spent some time in hospital and has now returned home, hopefully OK.
Our eldest son, Ben had to miss Melbourne Staff Band practice amongst other things as he had pneumonia and almost end up in hospital. No wonder I'm tired! He's making a good recovery.
So as we mop up the Red Shield Appeal admin, I have the time to catch up on blogs and a few other things. I'm certainly looking forward to Officers' Fellowship in a few weeks and furlough in a month or maybe slightly more.

Now one of the things I regret is that I appear to have attracted some regular readers and I haven't given you anything to read lately. I sincerely apologise!

I'd love to know who you are!!!!!

Sacrificial giving or is that living

I've been thinking about the concept of sacrifice lately. I guess that's not so surprising when you think that we've had the Self Denial Appeal, Easter, Anzac Day and a Planned Giving Program all within a month.

I've preached on Sacrificial giving and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus for our salvation. I participated in a local Anzac Day service where we reflected on the sacrifice of young Australians that has seen then unborn generations living in freedom in this great country.

Emotion flows readily from me at most times, but I find it hard to hold in when I think of the sacrifices that people make for me and even more for the Kingdom of God. Many of the people of the corps have pledged sacrificially so that the mission of their corps might be enhanced. By doing so they are investing in the Kingdom of God.

I think of my parents and others who made sacrifices for me to be educated and in my parents' case the daily sacrifice they make by having their only child and only grandchildren living over 700 kilometres away. Family occasions see empty chairs for them. But we have been released to serve where God requires.

Then there is the verse from Romans 12 which reminds me of my responsibility for daily sacrificial living. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." (NIV)

What about living sacrificially for the Kingdom of God?

Conversations that lead to conversions

Today it was my turn to lead Home League. It was to be the spiritual meeting for Easter. I chose to focus on the Resurrection appearances recorded in John 20-21. The ladies were asked to think about what Jesus might have said to them. One chose to identify with Thomas and another began a lovely conversation about her own service.
After the meeting was over this lovely salvationist chose to tell me of her conversion some years before. She had been on the staff of the Senior Citizen's Residence in which she now resides. One of the officers had led her to Jesus and she had committed herself fully to the corps she had been attending. It is quite amazing what stories will be told when people are conversing. This lady had been greatly influenced by the officers she had worked with.
Conversations about almost any topic can be turned to talking about faith by people who are astute listeners and are willing to be led by The Holy Spirit. Indeed I often find that non-Christians are the ones who turn the conversation to matters of faith and this can allow me to talk about Jesus.

May God help us to grasp the opportunities He provides to talk about Him.

Another "F" word

A few posts ago I mused about words beginning with the letter F. I want to add another one to the list. Fellowship is a key factor in the Christian life. It would be really easy for me to avoid meeting people often. I cherish the time that is just for me and my family. Public holidays are normally mine and they are untouchable, barring emergencies, funerals etc.
Today we held the first Doncaster Corps Family Picnic for years. You can gather from the first paragraph that the idea wasn't mine. But what a good idea it was! God blessed us with beautiful weather and a happy crowd of people including one of the new families and a family that have been on the verge of dropping out.
It was great to sense the caring that was happening. It is a highlight of our current appointment that good things happen when people work and fellowship together. Pity about those who missed out! The rest of us were blessed.
Looks like becoming an annual event!!! I'll just have to work out when I can reclaim that time off.

He lives!

My Lord lives!!!
What a great reality, that Jesus who died to save me (and the whole world) is alive.
On Thursday night we gathered to recall the events in the life of Jesus. On Friday we thought again about the cross and the death of our Lord. These were both precious occasions, poorly attended, but special events for those who were present.
This morning at dawn we gathered with members from 2 local churches to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Then Jennifer reminded us that Jesus is alive. There was a great feeling in this morning's meeting. Not one of deep contemplation but of true celebration.
The question "Why look for the living among the dead?" is still relevant. There was a vibrancy in worship this morning that isn't always there. The living Lord Jesus was present with us! Nothing dead or dying today!

Priorities, priorities!

Busy, busy,busy - Christmas and Easter!!!! Why are they so busy? Why is it that so many other things crowd in to steal time at these two important times of the year?
So here I am tonight sitting in the office preparing for Good Friday instead of getting out a list of welfare clients for my wife to phone tomorrow to collect Easter eggs. Well now I'm writing this blog instead of preparing for Good Friday, which I was doing instead of getting out the list which I was doing instead of ... I'm sure you understand. We all live busy lives!

One of the blessings of working tonight is that the Melbourne Staff Band are rehearsing in our hall and I have the joy of listening to them. That almost makes the busyness worth it.

Well the sense of priorities is starting to say enough blogging for now. It is amazing how much blessing one can receive from reading blogs. I'm hoping to share some more blogs with you which are worth a regular read,soon

The "F" word

What a lot of words there are that commence with the letter"F". There's fifty, which is what I'm turning today. There's fragile, which is what our church is, according to some people. Too much is reliant on too few to make it happen. What would happen if someone left? Are fifty and fragile linked? Sometimes I think they are, but then I realise that 50 is a lot of experience and a lot (God willing) of living still to go.

What about Faith? Are faith and fragile linked? Or are they opposites? Perhaps when things appear fragile we need to exercise more faith. Maybe then the church will look more fruitful and more fantastic and more ...

For me I want to be seen as more faithful ie more full of faith. I'd also like to be more fruitful, but I guess that's in God's hands. Still there is much to be grateful for. Out of the 59 people present in worship this morning 20 have started attending since we were appointed here just fourteen months ago. That's fantastic! God is faithful!!!

Any more f words you can think of?

Follow me

In the Australia Southern Territory our Self Denial Appeal DVD has the words follow me on it. These simple words are just so profound when spoken by Jesus. On Sunday I felt led to use these words as the basis for the message. This started with the Macedonian call to Paul described in Acts 16. In this area we are based in there are many different nationalities. In our corps there are now a few different nationalities represented. God may call us to leave home and follow him but He has also bought a multi-racial fishing pond almost at our door.
I then moved on to talk about the call of the Lord to follow Him and be a fisher of men right where we are. I concluded with a simple talk about salvation in case God The Holy Spirit was moving in someone's heart and the need for growth. It was at this stage that people seemed to be listening the most and the words were flowing. That's a sure sign of God working! There was no visible response but the prayer of one of the soldiers showed me that God was working.

Now I have the opportunity to teach discipleship for the next few months. Does anyone have any ideas about what following Jesus really means, particularly for the long established Christian? I'll be happy for you to share them.

A day in the life of an australian corps officer

Today can't be described as an every week Tuesday but it has certainly been interesting. We are currently having a Planned Giving survey. Last night our corps council met to vote on whether we would ask the Public Relations Department to conduct a new program or not. Thank God they chose to vote yes. Otherwise , yours truly would have spent today planning months of extra work. Instead I only had to make one telephone call and sit in on a meeting with the great soldier who is going to chair the program. After the corps council meeting I was able to spend an encouraging 20 minutes with 2 of my local officers about Sunday School. God is bringing his plan about for this section. There are great opportunities opening up. Home to bed but I didn't sleep well and woke up way too early.

Off to the office to check the answering machine and emails and spend time with God. Then Jennifer arrived and we were able to do some administrative type work before the people for the Planned Giving meeting arrived. Made my phone call and received a positive response. God is good!!!

Then it was time to go to the local Primary school for our Kid's Hope mentoring session. This is a great program that a few of our corps folk are engaged in. Today I spent time with a grade 1 boy drawing pictures about the seasons. http://www.worldvision.com.au/getinvolved/kha/ will give you an idea of this great incarnational ministry.

Home for lunch and more admin. A quick trip to DHQ to arrange some financial business and then time to pick Catherine up from school. Home for a coffee and getting ready for Songster and Band Practice tonight.

Only God knows what He has in store for tonight.

The good news

Just in case there is anyone reading this blog who might want to know something about my life and that of my family , here's an update.

I've resigned from the Rotary Club of Forest Hill effective tomorrow. I am hoping to join the Rotary Club of Manningham, which will give me more networking opportunities and thus more witnessing opportunities in the area in which I live and minister. I've spent almost 6 years as a member of Forest Hill and served as president in 2005-06. It has been a difficult decision to make, but I believe it is a God directed one.

On Monday night I was presented with the regalia that goes with being named as a Paul Harris Fellow. This is recognition of my service as a rotarian and a salvationist. I am both honoured and humbled. I was even more humbled when a rotarian described me as having put a human face on religion. I hope that he means that he could see something of Jesus in me. That is always one of my aims in rotary; to let people see Jesus through me.

Both of our sons now have jobs although Ben's is only temporary. At least they will have some money and some activity during the day. Catherine will complete her secondary school career this year. Each of them are involved in the corps they attend, which is great for us to see. We have no desire to win the world and lose our children. So far God's grace has been sufficient.

And finally the air conditioner still isn't fixed, but at least it looks like we may be able to afford it now.

Adventurous living

Today we were privileged to have our Divisional Leaders Majors Ron and Robyn Clinch as our guest leaders. Robyn led worship with energy and enthusiasm and sensitivity as well. Ron used John 10:1-10 to urge us to live adventurously with and for Jesus. At the end of the address one of the newer members of the congregation knelt to pray with a salvationist at the Mercy Seat. Praise God!

It was an average size congregation. The significant factor was that a quarter of the congregation had only commenced attending since January 2006. The interesting factor for Major Ron was the spread of nationalities amongst these new people; Malaysian, Greek and Morroccan and Chinese with the Sudanese family absent.

Our previously very white anglo-saxon congregation has changed significantly and I don't even think we've noticed. God has brought these people to us and has helped them to fit in, despite our many failings.

Now if only people would stop aging and being sick and have other interests, the corps attendances might actually increase. I guess that's all in God's hands.

Yesterday I wrote a long catch up post that has completely disappeared. Hopefully this one survives!

The ups and downs of ministry

I've discovered over the years I've been an corps officer that often good things happening seems to alert the Devil to bring about bad things or at least major distractions. Here's an example - on the day one of our new attenders came to the Mercy Seat, the Sunday School leader told me she wouldn't be leading Sunday School anymore and might well be transfering to another corps. Now those 2 events aren't linked by anything other than the same day. The Sunday School leader has given great service and certainly deserves a break. But on a day when I ought to be celebrating God's moving I'm thinking about who can do Sunday School. Major distraction - still is, weeks later.

During this week I've been trying to get our airconditioning unit fixed. The estimated cost is $6000, which equates to $3000 more than we've got. That certainly is a distraction! Particularly with days of 38 C predicted. So I should have been waiting for the good thing to happen. When it did I was caught totally unaware. One of the young women in the corps told both Jennifer and I that she wanted to become a soldier. Now that's a major distraction from worrying about airconditioners and money. She also wants to work in Sunday School. I may end up forgetting myself and shout Hallelujah!

Our God is good!

I've discovered that the good things always far outweigh the bad, but the bad takes more time to forget. The Devil is a wily enemy, but God is stronger than His foes.

If... Then

Tomorrow is our first Sunday back from furlough. It is my privilege to present the Word of God. In the Australia Southern Territory we have been asked to give our people the opportunity of giving to a Drought Appeal that the Territory has launched. As we've been away the corps isn't aware and won't come prepared. So I'll present the need and we'll receive the gifts next Sunday instead.

I have for some time been contemplating the promise of God to Solomon and the people of Israel recorded in 2 Chronicles 7:14. Here it is "if my people, who are called by my name; will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will heal their land." New International Version

The preceding verse begins "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain..." shows why I have been thinking of this promise in relation to the drought. Is it applicable to today's drought? Is it drawing a long bow to liken the people of Australia to the people of Israel in the time of Solomon?

I have been shown some prophetic words in recent days which relate to the Christian Church in Australia and another which relates to The Salvation Army in the western world. Follow the link to Andrew Bale's blog and read the prophecy for yourself. I am not totally endorsing what Andrew says he was given by God, but it does tie in with the words related to the Church in Australia.

It seems that God is wanting to give me a message about my relationship with Him as well as the relationship the church I lead has with Him.

Chapter 6 of 2 Chronicles contains King Solomon's prayer. It too has this if we do this then God will do this feel about it.

It seems to me that God is calling His people to a return to intimacy with Him. He wants to have His people seeking his face in prayer and in all humility build a strong relationship with Him.

It also seems that He wants His people to return in repentance to obey Him.

I have no doubts that He wants to heal our land and restore His Church and build that part of the Universal Church that worships at Doncaster Salvation Army. But it seems that He may be wanting us to return Him to the throne of our lives.

Any thoughts?

Back to work!

So, furlough has ended and its back to work. Back to the many emails to be answered and the many envelopes to be opened, dealt with and filed. Why does it seem so much like running a business?

Proclaiming salvation, teaching holiness and soulwinning often seem so far removed from what I actually spend so much time doing that I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Over the last week or so God's been reminding me of some of the people who I've seen come to Jesus and be saved. In our first appointment there was the simple man who accepted Jesus as Saviour just like a little child. A few appointments later, there was the lady who responded at the end of a Christianity Explained course. There was JS who got saved in the morning meeting when I'd decided she was going to get saved that night. Funny that after hearing the gospel proclaimed for almost a year, and completing Christianity Explained, she only understood after she had given her heart to Jesus. Then there was BS who got saved in our farewell meeting after years of listening to the gospel, and the people in my Alpha group at Ringwood and... so many others.

What was I doing then that I'm not doing now? Have people changed, or is it God?

It is so sad when people who have been connected to a corps for years leave still unsaved. I don't believe God has changed, so I'd better keeep on going. I return to work facing the challenges, and there are many, convinced that we as a corps and I as the leader must proclaim salvation and win people for Jesus.

Rain, glorious rain!

Much of Australia has been experiencing a very bad drought. In Melbourne we have not been immune from this. Very little rain for months, high temperatures and raging bushfires in country areas have made life very difficult for many Victorians.
This morning I woke to hear a noise I had almost forgotten, rain on the roof. Praise God for His mercy and answered prayer! Any rain is a welcome sight. Even though the drought appears far from over, the rain we have had has been very welcome.
The rain made me think of how much God's people need the drought breaking rain in our own lives. I need it! My church needs it! The church at large needs revival rain to be poured out upon us.

Send it, Lord Jesus!

Marriage

Today (Jan 15) we celebrated our 26th Wedding Anniversary. Some of the details of the ceremony and the day have become a little hazy. Others are very clear.
We made our vows before God, our family and friends in the hall that I had grown up in, on the platform that 2 years earlier I had been farewelled from to enter the Training College. These were serious vows. We were committed to each other for life and to share in winning the world for Jesus.
Lots of things have changed in those 26 years. That Salvation Army Hall is no longer owned by The Salvation Army. My home corps no longer exists.

But some things remain constant, God's grace, our love for each other and our commitment to winning the world for Jesus are three important constants.

I just don't understand how Christians can say that they no longer love each other. Don't promises mean anythig anymore.

VCAC

It was my pleasure and privilege to attend the annual Victorian Creative Arts Camp last night. Each of our children were participating, for the first time. Ben, our eldest , has been a regular every year. This year he was the assistant Brass Band leader. Peter has attended a few times and took a week off work so he could go. He is a drummer and played in the Contemporary band. Catherine participated in Drama and Video. It was her first time. They all had a good time.

What a joy it is to have each of our children serving God!

Preaching and living

Here's some powerful words from today's reading.
15 "Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don't be impressed with charisma; look for character. 16 Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned."
Matt 7:15-16 (MSG)

I've discovered over my years as an officer and a preacher that who I am is much more important than what I say. The most important person for me to work at changing is me.

I try not to judge people by first impressions as it's only when you know a person that you are able to understand who they really are.

If I'm reflecting Jesus in my living then my words will be much more effective. If I'm not reflecting Jesus, it really doesn't matter what I say, because people will know it's all a sham anyway.

As a young officer I made a major blunder during a meeting when I allowed my temper to show. It took a lot of living to win back those I lost that night. Indeed it took a fatal illness and a lot of pastoral care to change the opinions of some. Others were more forgiving and wrote the episode off as growing pains.

I need people to look for character not charisma. Just as well God does.

Bible in a year

I have decided to encourage people to build their relationship with Jesus intentionally this year. Part of the way I am going to build my own relationship with Him is to systematically read through the Bible in this year. There are many ways of doing this. I'm using a CD that enables me to read a few chapters of the Old Testament and a chapter of the New Testament most days. I'm aiming to make this the first thing I do when I come to the office each day. 8 days so far and I've managed to make the reading each day.

Its been great to read through the stories of creation through to Abraham and see them come to life again. This morning I was reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew from The Message. Its certainly different but it does help to make it fresh and give new insights.

This blog will in some ways act as a journal as I reflect on verses that speak to me.

Holy people

I have a passion for preaching about holiness. Today my wife preached and one of our great soldiers complimented her on her gift of being able to make complicated concepts sound simple. She is a great teacher!

I've become quite emotional as I think about the saints at this corps. They show great faith in us as their leaders. They have followed our lead strongly. That's a scary thought, for me at least. When I think of their devotion to the cause of Christ the tears begin to well up in my eyes.

I would much rather follow some of them. They are great examples of holy living. One of our soldiers, a retired officer is so active within the corps. She was out at most of the caroling and kettling engagements. Today she celebrates her 60th anniversary of being commissioned as a Salvation Army Officer. She loves people. No wonder 2 of her children have followed their parents into officership.

I've begun to think that instead of preaching about holiness I should just ask her (and others) to stand and say "Here is a holy person. Copy them! Learn from them and allow The Holy Spirit to make you like them, because as you do you'll become more like Jesus."

It is a privilege beyond comparison to be the Corps Officer of such people.

New Beginnings

After weeks of thinking about adding to the blogging world I've decided to join in. In many ways I hope this site does just 2 things.I hope it helps people to find Jesus as their Saviour and it helps mt to clarify my own thoughts.

Peter Anderson
Proclaimer of Salvation