Keith Urban "gets" Christmas

Christmas is really all about giving. And more specifically giving to others who can’t give back to you. Keith Urban get this. Last Saturday whilst buying a guitar for himself in a Brisbane store Keith noticed a teenage boy testing out a Fuzz Pedal. According to the Brisbane Times the music store owner Tim Brennan said to the ABC:

“Keith came back down the counter and was chatting away and had picked out a guitar he liked. He had heard the kid trying out the pedal for some time and he just leaned over and whispered, ‘How much is the pedal that kid’s looking at?’ “I said, ‘It’s $450, it’s not a cheap one’, and he just whispered, ‘Put it on my card.’

“Obviously I was quite shocked.

“I said, ‘Do you want me to tell him?’, and he said, ‘No, wait ’til I leave.’”

Mr Brennan said as the Caboolture country rock singer made his way out the door, he simply shook the teen’s hand, said Merry Christmas and left.

That my friends is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is when we remembering the amazing gift God gave us when he sent His one and only Son to be born in a cattle shed in Israel 2000 odd years ago. I appreciate the way Keith Urban "gets" it.

Goodbye to the Team from Georgia

This morning Engage Church says a very sad goodbye to the Mission Team from Georgia, USA.
As I look back over the last week I am reminded of the incredible fact that the good news of Jesus changes people’s lives. As we have shared and served the community of Brisbane people have been deeply impacted forever. Not only people who might have heard the good news for the first time, but the people of Engage City Church. We have been so encouraged and strengthened by the Crosspointe Team.
Thank you Pastor David. The people of Engage Church and Brisbane have been impacted deeply and eternally because of the love of your team. We will miss having y’all around y’hear, but knowing that a powerful partnership has been reinforced in the good news of Jesus. I look forward to joining with you and CrossPointe in seeing people from many nations come to know God’s love and forgiveness in the days and years ahead.

Bono on Jesus

"I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep sh**. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins on the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to defend my own religiosity." -Bono

Engaging and Serving Brisbane

On Sunday afternoon seventeen Georgians (USA) arrived to serve the people of Brisbane. Over the last two days it has been fantastic to see the heart and character of these men and women as they have fought through jet lag and embracing a different culture. I feel privileged to be able to serve alongside them as we seek to share the love and truth of Jesus with the people of Brisbane.

As we talked with people of Woolloongabba this morning it was amazing to hear the repeated concerns of adults about the needs of the youth and the homeless. It was encouraging to connect with so many "Brisbanites" today and I look forward to continuing to serve with my Georgian friends tomorrow and for the rest of the week.

Collision 7

This is the email I sent out to the Engage Team after our amazing night...

Hey there Team,
Again, another great night together. It was great to have Chris and Sam along for the first time, I'm actually struck by how many godly, Jesus hearted MEN that God is connecting together at Engage City Church. The seeming lack of men passionate about stepping up and leading the church has been something heavy on my heart for years and I reckon it is flamin exciting to see so many real, honest, Aussie Blokes who are laser focused on honoring and following their Leader Jesus. Another highlight was the time of praying together, great stuff. We don't just pray for the work, prayer is where 'the work' happens.

Lee, thank you for sharing your heart with honesty and such clarity. I know the group was impacted, strengthened, encouraged and challenged to see people far from God engaged with Jesus by it. You are an amazing woman of God and it is tremendous to hear of God's hand of grace in your life and your families lives.

A couple of things:
Next week as we discussed last night we will be meeting not at .... but at the Music Cafe at West End from 5.30pm. If you can't make it along it would be great if you could let me know just so we're not worried about those who don't turn up... you never know what might happen in West End, people have ended up in Karaoke Bars :) I am working on a plan for baby sitting at our house for those who may want to come but have kids, again please let me know.
Thanks to those who have handed in their blue card forms, I appreciate it heaps.
Look out for an email in the next few days with a list of things people can volunteer to help with.
A couple of people asked for the details for giving to the church plant last night, here are the details, I thank you for those who already have committed to giving so generously and regularly to Engage. Giving details: ....

Finally Mike needs some help to fill up some rented skips at his place. The plan is for a bunch of us travel over this Saturday morning and help out from 10-12. Mike is shouting lunch and 'refreshments' for everyone. It will be a great time to be Aussie blokes and get down and dirty with some yard work. If you can give the bloke a hand this Saturday, please email him at - ... or phone ... so he knows how many to cater for. Thanks.

Again, keep praying and asking God to fill us with Spirit and grant us boldness to speak and live out His word in this city. Love you all and am blown away that I get to serve with you all in this work of Jesus.

Will Henderson

Going and Inviting

Let us never divide the 'church' over those who are attractional and those who are missional. It has always been both and. As followers of Jesus we need to be always, always constantly living out our faith and hope in Jesus wherever we find ourselves. That is the real missionary heart of Jesus that pulses within us. At the same time it has always been the heart of Jesus for His followers to seek to 'invite' others to engage with Him and the life He offers. Jesus repeatedly invited people who were far from to “come, follow Me.”

Collision 6 Review

Well on Wednesday Night we had our 6th Launch Team Meeting. We call them “Collision” meetings where the aim is to provide an environment where community and vision can “collide.”

It is great to see the Engage Team continue to grow. The vision is clear and the mission is simple. We exist to see people who are far from God engage with Jesus and the life He offers.

A few people have asked us what do we do at our “Collision” meetings. Good question. We begin the time just hanging out and having dinner together. Nerida has done an amazing job with this and everyone loves the Barbies, Southern Chicken, Mexican nights etc that she has created and delivered. We then usually have some sort of “Icebreaker” where we share our names etc. Austin then leads us in a time of prayer and praise. We always have someone share their story of how they met Jesus and started to follow Him. We always open up our Bibles and read God’s word together. At the moment we are working on Luke – Acts and seeing how Jesus began and continues His mission through His followers. Vision time, praise time, prayer time, sharing time.

A simple night, but it seems that Jesus is really at work in and through it.