[0:04]
Luke today we're talking about officer and particularly the fact that it's a new and growing area and you've had to establish all sorts of connection ministries how do you begin by connecting where there might not actually be a community to connect with yeah so I guess a lot of people would say that it's a disadvantage but I I said there's an advantage because one of the things I'm excited about is as a church we're growing up with the community and so from the very start of a community you've got a chance to kind of meet people and and connect with people and so that follow we've got a

[0:36]
great connection with local council and so from that connection ministries our booth because there's needs that are needing to be met in the community there's a lot of people but not a heap of infrastructure and so I think that's a real void for the church to come in and actually provide some of that so there's been a great opportunity for us so what sort of ministries have you started to connect to the key yeah so we've got a few main ministries so one is a breakfast club so we started that just before we began as a church and so at a local secondary college which was just starting in the very first year and we were able to get in there and start a

[1:06]
Breakfast Club so every Tuesday morning we go in there bright and early we cook pancakes we set up tables and chairs and we have some games on the on the table so it's a chance to sit with the kids get to know them build relationship connect and hopefully see a bridge built between the school and the youth group for a start and then eventually church so we're really I guess blessed to be in a school that love us being there and they really came for us to build that bridge and so just last week we put in a full-time chaplain at the school and so we're really excited about where that's going to go in this couple years you've

[1:37]
also done some ministry to connect with socially economically challenged people yeah so we've got a food vent so every Tuesday and Thursday night at Pakenham station which is a next station from officer there's a park there that's pretty notorious for you know drugs and alcohol and violence and they leave a little bit of prostitution and so in conversations with the council they said there's a real need there with homelessness and poverty and isolation and so we had an opportunity to go there and start a ministry so every Tuesday and Thursday night we have a big truck and we drive down there we set up gazebo

[2:10]
and tent and tables and chairs and barbecues and we've got four chefs and so we prepare food and we call it a place of food and friendship and we've also connected with orange sky and they do portable laundry so they can washing machines and dryers and then another organization called cleaners Casper and they've got a portable shower and so on the Tuesday not particularly we create a real community hub there and then the Thursday night was just us there as a church but that's been really great one of the great joys is I was talking to the guy from neighborhood watch that's

[2:41]
something else just recently and you heard that I oversee the band there and you sit off from my perspective in the six months since you've been there the parks become a much more safe place and even the Council of jumped on board now so they're saying to upgrade the park so they put in like a concrete path for us and and put up floodlights and and all those sorts of things because they see the value of what we're doing so it's been really great to connect with some of those really vulnerable people just last week on Facebook we have a local crime page and someone on the crime page

[3:11]
had posted a comment what happens at the station on Tuesday and Thursday night then we had about sixty comments and I didn't know any of the people commenting but just also positive about the work that's going on there and one young guy I said it if it wasn't for those guys I don't think I'd be alive now and for me just the power of the gospel in those really dark places it brought a brightly shines and so it's a real joy to journey with those people and we've seen half a dozen of them come to know the Lord now we've baptized a couple of them at church and Livni are connected as part

[3:43]
of a community where it's broken that cycle of isolation and so it's a real joy these all sound very much like very resource-intensive ministries how do you go about resourcing them yeah we just yesterday we looked at the finances and it's cost us over fifty thousand dollars so far for that project so it's buying a truck and getting all the equipment and all that sort of stuff so a lot of us funded by our church particularly the week to week stuff but we've also saw some grants from you know from back care and local counsel and in different places

[4:13]
like that so so far we've been able to cover most of the stuff that we've spent I just had a local building company ring me last week and he started by saying we've heard about what you do and we want to raise money for you so that's a great phone call to get at the end of the day and so yesterday I put a proposal together and they've just commit to 10 now a thousand dollars to pay for food for the next 12 months so it's one of those things the community have really got on board and so because it's a ministry that's making a difference people are willing to it to you know financially help out so it's been great it's not just dollars though

[4:45]
is it it's actually the people who also have to do the work how do you keep your church inspired do they stay inspired or do they feel sometimes worn out yeah definitely both I think it's one of those ministries when you see the results and you hear people's testimonies it's incredibly energizing and you think all the hard work rain hail or shine every Tuesday and there's our night of the year it's worth it when you see one person and go through the waters of baptism or give their life to the Lord and this is really energizing in that regard and also I think our church has grown because people are really excited about that kind of ministry I guess I I believe that the

[5:17]
Christian was a bit like a doorman army and they want to do something but then I know we're start so if you can provide opportunities they really want to do that so so that's been really energizing but it is a big job you know so it started off with just the church volunteers and that's probably not sustainable long term but we've run two training nights now and we've the local council and so we've just put a whole lot of community volunteers into the program it's a got about 90 volunteers there I want to think of the roster so managing that's difficult so we're just about to put someone on two days a week

[5:48]
to to manage the project for us so it sort of got to that stage pretty quickly but we want to be there for the long run so we're trying to put structures in place to make sure that our needs sustainable we know that you have your eye on eternity not just on dealing with the problems of today so how do you stop a social ministry overwhelming that over or goal I think I'd be really clear on your vision and I think you'll be really transparent about your vision and so for example when we got a grant from the council that's $5,000 but I had to sit down with them beforehand and say we're

[6:19]
a church we pray before we minister each night I said we're not on a soapbox they're yelling and screaming at people but our best-case scenario is that people ask us about Christianity and when they do we need to be really honest about that we're actually going to share our faith with them and the best-case scenario is that they'll actually connect with our church community and break that cycle of isolation so I think when you're honest about it and transparent about it I found people to be really open to that and intend to respect it so even in our training

[6:49]
nights we had community volunteers we make it clear that the start of every night we gather and pray and it's five-minute prayers that are for our prayer meeting but we just make it clear to our volunteers that we don't expect you to be involved in that you're welcome to be but we do ask that you respect it and so yeah I think just being really clear on what your vision is and if there's money coming with stringers strings attached then we won't take the money because we're there for like you said an eternal perspective to say people saved and transformed by the love of Christ so Luke thanks very much for your time

[7:35]
you