rocky presbyterian church

I know it’s early but we want this year’s convention to be even bigger than our first one.  The theme for the 2010 convention is Christ Alone and our speakers are Luke Tattersall who pastors a presbyterian church in Parramatta (Sydney) and Leigh Trevaskis who lectures at the Queensland Theological College.  The Convention in being held at St.Andrew’s Ministry and Conference centre in Rockhampton over the May long weekend (May 1-3).  You can register online now at www.cqcc.org.au and make sure you tell your friends.

With the audio of our Bible Talks being very popular (surprisingly popular) starting with Exodus we are now going to post a pdf copy of the talk manuscripts for download (all the Exodus talks are now available).  You can downloaded them from the same place where you hear the talks. The only thing as the writer of the scripts I wanted to say is please bear in mind as you read them that they were written to be spoken and not read and any spelling mistakes need to be remembered in the same vein. Otherwise enjoy!!  We really hope they are useful for you as you love and serve the Risen Lord Jesus.

Mike

It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas – the trees are up in the Rockhampton department stores and the fake snow looks even more ridiculous in a Central Queensland tropical summer.  Christmas is great!  Great time to eat salted meats, give and receive presents that no one really wants or needs (unless you buy them yourself!) and of course, remind people of God’s greatest gift to mankind – his Son Jesus who came as a baby but died as a man on the Cross.  Christmas is also a gift to the church! A great opportunity to invite our friends and neigbours to come and hear about God’s gift to them in Jesus.  This year at st.andrews rockhampton we are not going to kick the gift horse in the mouth.  As you can see the flyers are printed and ready to be delivered to the people in your neighbourhood.   Please make sure you talk to Allan this Sunday and grab some flyers and deliver them in your street.

Our new Bible talk series on Exodus has started.  It’s an 8 week series of talks and small group studies.  Exodus is a great book which introduces us to Moses, the Law and covers the classic kids’ bible stories of the burning bush and the crossing of the red sea but Exodus is more than just a great story! Most people think the hero of the book is Moses but the real hero of the is God, who hears the cries of his people in slavery and remembers his promises and against the hard heart of Pharaoh and with an unlikely saviour in Moses delivers Israel from her slavery.  Join us at st.andrews as we hear how the Old Testament still speaks to us today and how in Jesus God has also delivered us from our slavery to sin, to death and Hell.  We’d love to have you come along to church we meet in the Rockhampton city centre on Sundays at 9am and 6.30pm.  If you are in Rocky – please come and join us.  If you can’t get here then please keep checking our website to hear the Exodus talks.

ALL ABOARD!  Sorry that was a bit lame.  But this isn’t!  This saturday at church at 8am we will begin the first of our saturday morning train-ing events.  This time we will be looking at how to lead church.  Welcoming people, setting the tone for the meeting, directing people to the Bible and getting them to begin engaging with God. Its more than just the announcement!!  If you’d like to lead church or have a go at it then make sure you come along this Saturday for the train!  Yes, at that time of morning there will be coffee (and pastries – I hope) let Mike know if you are coming.  mike@rockypc.org.au

Starting this Sunday at Rockhampton Presbyterian Church we begin a new Bible Talk series on James | The Ugly Truth.  It’s not that the truth is ugly it that when we look at our lives in the light of the truth the book of James speaks we realize how ugly we are and how desperately we need Jesus to change us.  James forces us to take a long hard look into the mirror. This book is not for the faint-hearted or for those who think being a christian is about being “nice”.  Listen James doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to highlighting our own personal inconsistencies and neither will these bible talks.

If you live in Rocky why not come along and join us or if you can’t get to church with us you can listen to our talks here under the bible talks tab.

Well its holiday time for this little black duck and as you can see from the pictures we are heading off to Cairns.  I’m preaching at the Cairns Presbyterian Church Camp July 16-18 at Camp Tinaroo doing 4 talks from Revelation 1-3 and then preaching at the morning and evening church services at Cairns Presbyterian Church in the city, also from Revelation 1-3 from the series I did earlier this year called The Church Jesus Wants. It’s kind of exciting for me personally to be going to Cairns, and preaching at the church there – it’s were I first heard the gospel and came to faith in Jesus when I was 17 years-old.  So, to be returning there to preach is really quite a thrill and a humbling honour.  We have two weeks holiday in Cairns following the Camp, and apart from reconnecting with my family, I’m hoping to do as little as possible so we can return home refreshed and renewed to serve Jesus faithfully in reaching our City of Rockhampton with the gospel.

Cairns Presbyterian Church

For those of you who are interested thought I’d throw up some stats for you about how our website is tracking…

From May 14 to June 15 we have had 281 visits on our site from 9 different countries.  Australia tops the list with 257 hits and Queenslanders viewed us the most with 217 visits

32.74% of those were new visitors and 67.26% of you are a loyal bunch (thanks). That’s just this month!

Currently on our site there are 23 different Bible talks by 5 preachers (Mike O’Connor, Phil Campbell, Anthony Petterson, Bruce Winter, Peter Eckersley) with a combined download total (at this point) of 3529.  The most downloaded talk is the Church In Ephesus by Mike O’Connor which has had 523 downloads.  These numbers don’t include podcasts.

Pretty Cool huh?

Well its June.  Can you believe it?  After what has been a massive 5 months to date with a mission, a convention, new small groups and a new youth group, gearing up at the University – things seem to be slowing down (a tad).  Time to reflect and time to plan ahead.  Corinne and I have been in Rocky now for 12 months this week.  It’s been a great year and we’ve seen God do some amazing things already. People becoming Christians, Christians growing in their love of Jesus, People motivated to do ministry. Our church has grown numerically and spiritually I think, the opportunities for gospel with new relationships are many and exciting – we haven’t began to scratch the surface yet!   In what has been a big year, I’m thankful to God for this mission field he has given us.  We love Rocky and we love living here (especially in Winter!) and I’m looking forward to what the next 12 months brings us.   We will finish our current Bible talk series In My Place later this month and then we take holidays after I speak at the Cairns Church Camp in July.

It’s conference time. The Queensland Presbyterian State Assembly starts in Brisbane on Sunday June 21st and runs for the week.  The Cairns Church Camp in on in July and then 2 weeks holidays (did I mention that I was having a holiday?)  and then after holidays down to Sydney for the Embers To A Flame Conference and then 1 weeks study leave.  After all of that we start a new Bible Talk Series on Exodus which I’m looking forward to – it will be good to do some preaching though a book of the Bible again after a few topical series.

Please pray for us, give thanks to God for the things he is doing here in Central Queensland and in our city Rockhampton.  If you are visiting or you live in Rocky please come and join us one Sunday  - we’d love to meet you!

Mike

Our small group studies are now available online for you to download and to use for your self or your church.  The new series In My Place and our previous series The Church Jesus Wants are now up and available for you. Like everything we offer it to you for free and we pray that it might be useful for you as you grow to know and love Jesus.  We do ask that if you are using them for your church that you let us know so we can be encouraged too.