Whoops - dates wrong after Rolleston

Whoops...5th - 9th of Oct, should read November!!! (This is when we are in Rolleston). Then Fielding is also in November, as well as Whangarei & Kaikohe!!! Sorry...

travel nick & Karen; plus a leadership thought!!

Leadership always looks great from a distance and often we simply see the tip of the iceberg. But there is a huge amount of substance underneath. The underneath as I would call it has words like; endurance, perserverance, pain, exercising faith, praise, making tough decisions - some of them emotionally taxing, communicating & receiving from God daily, reading the Word daily, praying & fasting, exercising spiritual disciplines regularly!

We sometimes think there is a quick fix to this leadership journey, but there simply isn't!!

No wonder Jesus calls it labouring or work!! Matt 9:37-38. There are no short cuts. I've discovered many times we want leadership to be exercised under IDEAL conditions, whatever they are!!! In fact leadership comes to the fore when there are tough decisions to be made, resources are low or all one can see is darkness. Leadership needs to act and in faith begins to call the darkness night and light begins to dawn into the situation. Often there is not the ideal situation but there is the right time for leadership to act. That's the ART!! Many times I see people not act because they are waiting for the ideal conditions or they believe it will solve itself, or they are waiting for some conference, seminar or teaching, or they want it to be instantly solved by some magical act of?????

Leaders, it's always the right time to act,(whether it be prayer, fasting, talking with peers, waiting on God, etc etc) many times we don't have the ideal climate, welcome to the real world!!! Leaders create the right climate so that faith movement takes place...and light begins to dawn so that people see the way ahead! Amen!

Keep doing the stuff that people don't see, no matter what season you are in: Prayer, listening to God, imagining, dreaming, envisioning, prayer, fasting, prayer, imagining, listening, prayer, reading His Word, meditating, praising, giving thanks, thinking, praying, praising, worshipping, singing, confessing...

Anyway that's my thoughts for the week: Look below for where we are over the next few months!! Please pray for us...thanks.

• 13th September...we are with Mike & Sue Hayes at Mount Maunganui.
• The following week 19th - 26th Sept, we are in Queenstown with my brothers family from Christchurch. This is the first time we have ever been able to go away together. We are really looking forward to great times together in this fantastic part of the world.
• 27th Sept. we are at Eastside for a baby dedication, little Zara McConnell. A great family & very dear friends.
• 28th Sept - 1st Oct Acts ministries conference. This is always an excellent time of input, blessing & ministry to hundreds of people from around NZ & overseas. Actually we will have some friends here from Australia.
• Then we go to Whangarei & Kaikohe, 2nd - 7th. October with Paul & Sharon Buick & Mike & Raewyn Tohu - It's always a fantastic time in the north.
• It looks like Karen is going to Aussy on the 5th Oct. to help run a seminar with a friend & see family. I will join her in Brisbane on the 15th Oct thru till 27th. We will be with Nick & Lynn Watson's church.
• 10th - 12th Oct I am at Toko-vagus!!! Tokoroa! It's aways great to be with friends Lionel & Rebekah Smith.
• Then I'm off to Brisbane.
• 1st Novemeber we are in Pukekohe, with friends Craig & Jean Clements.
• 2nd - 4th November is VCI South, Vision Churches leaders are gathering in Christchurch. This will be a fantastic time...they always are. If you are in the South & want to come please email me & we will send you the details! Most should have them now, but if you haven't call me. 5th - 9th Oct we stay on to be with Scott & Giovana Tones, in Rolleston!!! Museums, food & Fun.
• 13th - 23rd it's Fielding with John & Jenny Sefton, then Palmerston North with Dale & Rachael Meecham. This will be an excellent time!!!
• Then the end of the month 27th - 30th Oct Whangarei & Kaikohe...

Thanks for praying...we do appreciate it. I'll be back soon for more updates. We have some very huge decisions to make in the next few weeks - I would appreciate your prayers...Thanks.

Look at this cool brochure from Mike Hayes @ Mt Maunganui

We're looking forward to coming to the Mt!!!

The Hights of Christchurch North!

What an awesome Family! We stayed with Warren & Jeanette & Matt & Peter &
Nicholas (you can guess who thought that was a great name!!!) for a whole week...
It was great fun! You boys are amazing!!! Jeanette practised her blood pressure taking skills
on us (there's hope for Karen, not so sure about Nick's) - Jeanette is going to India on a medical missions team in 2010. We were at their church prayer meeting where they prayed for a young man who is heading back to his country of birth as a missionary. His mum (with tears streaming down her face) knelt on the floor with her hands on his feet as she prayed! It was such a privilege. Keep up the great work Hight Family!

Christchurch, Rolleston, Westport

It was great to have a morning together last week with Christine & Steve Graham, Scott & Giovanna Tones, Warren & Jeanette Hight and also Bart & Rachael Siebelink from Westport. Taking time to encourage one another ~ discuss some of the "challenging moments" of church life and of course celebrate Rachael's birthday! She's only 25 and has 4 children under 5 AND Bart AND Westport Church... Well done Rachael - we're proud of you!