Phil’s Blog

This blog has been moved to our new church website. You can find it on www.redpointchurch.org

God bless

Phil

Well, I can’t believe it but our first week in the States is over and we are on our way to Atlanta this morning for the next leg of our trip.

LA has been great. We have been staying with Gil and Elmarie Odendaal from Saddleback church. Gil is the Global director of their HIV / AIDS initiatives so we have had some great discussions around social upliftment projects and the work that Saddleback is doing in Rwanda. We also got to attend a midweek worship meeting here, which was also great to be a part of.

The main reason for our visit to Saddleback was the Children’s ministry conference, which was very well run. The theme was Ps 78:72 about shepherding people with a pure heart and skillful hands. The conference covered aspects from leadership through working with volunteers to the programming and structure of their ministry. We also got to tour through all their facilities which we took photo’s of and also Video. All in all a great week, which we can unpack with others as we process it once we are home. Some of the key things that stood out for me were:

• Everyone in the church is encouraged to serve in some way as a part of their own spiritual growth. So their volunteer pool is always growing as people look for opportunities to grow - even the older children are serving with the younger kids.
• It is so obvious when a team is committed to one another and there is unity and mutual respect in the team. I feel Saddbleback has something of that here - the guys here are committed to unity and to working together and encouraging one another.
• The guys here think big and give it a good shot. If they are going to do something they go all out for it. They make some mistakes along the way, which is part of the journey but at the very least they are going to give it a go!

Speak to you soon from Atlanta!

I am writing this blog from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Leigh and I are sitting in Wimpy waiting for our flight to Washington Dulles - USA! We are on a whirl wind tour of 4 different churches in the States to learn, open ourselves wide to what God is doing and saying and enjoying the experiences and relationships along the way. Some of the words we have had in advance of this trip are to listen out for the still, small voice of God in the midst of the large and loud noises we will experience along the way, that God wants to enlarge us on this trip and that God blesses those who are a pilgrim people.

This is our agenda over the next few weeks:

• 5th to 10th October at Saddleback for Purpose Driven Children’s Ministry Conference
• 10th to 13th October at Northpoint Church for conference (We will be on the Home Group Track)
• 13th to 17th October at Bethel for Open Heavens Conference
• 17th to 19th October at Mars Hill for weekend
• 19th to 20th October with Leigh’s bridesmaid who she hasn’t seen for about 12 years
• 20th to 22nd October with Nathan and Michelle Robinson in North Carolina
• 23rd October arrive home

Will try to keep this blog posted with our news as we go.