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Update Letter - May 2007
Greetings Faithful Supporters!
A Quick Summary:
It’s been a while
since we have sent out a detailed support letter so this letter is
packed full of all the news that has gone on in the past 3 months.
I want to highlight at the beginning the news and encourage you to
take the time to read it all. I believe it will inspire you and
help you prayerfully support our ministry in NZ. We are in a
booming stage of growth!
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We have purchased a new building to serve as the church centre of
ECW and our national church office.
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We have seen great strides in our youth ministry - developing an
interactive web site (www.surge.org.nz),
new leaders joining in and the development of a youth identity
called SURGE!
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We had our first annual national youth camp which was a huge
success!
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Amy has found employment and is working toward new opportunities
for counseling while we prepare to move into a new home.
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Rev. Richard Waugh, the National Superintendent and senior pastor
of ECW will be leaving very soon for his year of study in the US.
Rev. Dr. Jeff Fussner will be stepping up to lead the church
during his absence.
Please take the time to read what
God is doing here in NZ in more detail!
Usually Amy has the privilege of
writing our updates but this time it’s coming from Drew. I want to
add a special thank you for your faithful support and remind you
that your prayers and finances are being used for the kingdom of God
in powerful ways.
There is so much to tell that I’m
not sure where to begin, but I will try to go in a chronological
order from the last update letter that was sent out to you. I also
want to encourage you to visit our website online at
www.addministries.com and our youth group website at
www.surge.org.nz (The youth site has a lot of photo’s of our
growing youth ministry and some of my teachings that I am sharing
with the teens.)
ECW Youth Ministry! S.U.R.G.E.
As you will remember, Amy and I came to NZ in order to help
establish a youth ministry in a secular country with one of the
highest teen suicide rates in the world. Our focus has been with
the East City Wesleyan anchor church in Auckland. When we arrived
we had about 10-14 teens involved and have made many changes and
expansions. We began hiring (the NZ term for renting) a building
that would allow us to grow, instead of meeting in our home, and saw
an increase in our average attendance to 17 before Christmas. In
January we began our Extreme Summer Challenge program and concluded
with a celebration in early February with 34 present. Our average
has continued to climb and now stands at 25-30 and we are seeing new
teenagers almost every week coming to Surge!
The current developments at SURGE
include the addition of 3 new adults to our support team who are
helping us significantly as our needs grow with the size of our
ministry. Their names are David Grant, Derene Els, and Graeme Els.
We are also starting a SURGE Servant Leaders team that will be
training in church leadership as well as participating in the
planning of SURGE events and projects for the future.
I’m currently in a long series of
messages called “The Climb – Reaching for the Highest Goal” (all
posted online) and I’m encouraging the teens to respond to the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ by reaching for the highest goal in their
Christian climb!
S.U.R.G.E.
The Surge name was chosen and voted on by the teens and has become
our program name and it defines our purpose. We have given each
letter a phrase that explains what Surge is about. They are:
S – Surrender in Worship,
acknowledging our focus on a willful surrender in worship to our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
U – Unite in Community,
acknowledging the need for the fellowship of believers in Jesus
Christ.
R – Respond in Devotion,
acknowledging our willingness to be diligent in spiritual growth and
discipleship
G – Gracious in Outreach,
acknowledging our passion to share Jesus Christ with the world
around us by dispensing His grace and truth in love!
E – Embody in Service,
acknowledging that Jesus was a willing servant and we need to model
Him in life being His hands and feet to the world!
IGNITE National Youth Camp!
In January the
National Wesleyan Church held its first annual National Youth Camp!
It was an exciting time as we planned a detailed camp for all the
teens in our 19 churches. I was honoured to be invited to share
God’s Word for the camp and did so on the theme of IGNITE. God
shared through me, how each of us will be consumed by something,
either by God or by sin and challenged the teens to be on fire for
God with passion and dedication. On Saturday night we gave
opportunity for teens to accept Christ or to dedicate themselves to
burning hot for Christ instead of smoldering in mediocrity and every
one of the 78 teens responded to that call. It was awesome and I
thank God that I was a part of it. You can read more about our camp
in the Wesleyan Vine Newsletter posted online now at
www.addministries.com/vine.pdf
ECW’s New Church Centre – The story of God’s amazing plan!
East
City Wesleyan Church has been in the process of finding a church
home for some time now and has finally made a purchase. These are
exciting days as the church begins preparations to move into our new
building. You can see photo’s of the building on our websites and
in the vine newsletter online as well. It’s a large spacious
building that will allow us to seat near 350 while providing office
space for ECW and the National Church.
The teens are enjoying the current
empty building since we are meeting there on Sunday evenings for
SURGE and have lots of room for games. (see our photos online at
www.surge.org.nz)
Read this inspiring story of how we came to own our building:
Several years ago, Jane St. George Waugh, architect and wife of Rev.
Richard Waugh, National Superintendent and Senior Pastor of ECW, had
her heart set on a building at 219 Burswood Dr. She prayed that ECW
would one day be able to purchase that building. However, when the
building was purchased by a clearance furniture store it seemed
unlikely. Without telling anyone, Jane continued to pray about the
building. One evening she even walked around it praying that God
would give us that land and she placed a Bible under a stone behind
the building and left it there as she prayed. Today we own that
building and it will soon be remodeled into a modern church centre
for use as East City Wesleyan’s place of worship and offices for the
national church!
You may remember that in September
we were seriously looking at another building and posted all sorts
of pictures online for you to look at. In November we shared with
you how a visit from the director of Wesleyan Investment Foundation
US encouraged our church to look elsewhere. It became apparent to
the church leadership that God wanted us to think bigger and better
and not be limited by financial constraints. In fact, God was also
prompting a financial partner to help us by offering one million
dollars with no interest in support of purchasing the right place
for us! God provided the means for us to purchase a much better
building with no more financial burden in the present. Now if I
back up a little bit it’s even more amazing. Before Amy and I
arrived the leadership of ECW had been praying about being good
stewards of their resources. During that time there was a bold
prayer request that God would grant them one million dollars to help
the building plans move forward. When that did not seem to be
happening the church moved forward within the more modest means God
had already made available. Just days before the unconditional
purchase of the other building, God blessed us with this million
dollar miracle. On top of that, the 219 Burswood Drive building
that Jane had prayed for years ago was now on the market once
again. God’s timing is perfect!
The building also sits right at the
entrance to a neighborhood that houses more than 600 families with
no other church in the area. We are formulating plans, prayer
walks, and outreach events to reach deep into the Burswood
community. Please pray for us as we reach out in the new local area
of our church centre.
Easter Celebrations at ECW
Easter was a special time at ECW and was highlighted by our first
official worship service in the new building. We were given consent
by city council only a few hours before we had hoped to meet in the
building. Everyone brought their own chairs or cushions and
gathered for a special Tenebrae service of shadows reflecting on the
death of Jesus Christ. It was a special and moving time of
scripture readings and music. We also held a sunrise service on the
highest landmark of our community and were blessed to watch the sun
rise on a beautiful autumn morning.
Amy’s Employment Status
Since we arrived Amy has been keeping busy helping in the youth and
music ministries of ECW, however Amy came to NZ with her gifts of
counseling and our goal was always to see her using those gifts to
help people here. That has proved to be much more difficult than we
anticipated due to the expectations of counselors here to have
studied national issues relating to the Pacific Island people and
the Maori people of NZ. But there is good news and it’s twofold.
First Amy has joined the management team for Life Growth Community
Trust, a community outreach branch of ECW led by Beth Fussner.
There are now plans in the works for the Trust to endorse and
support Amy in a counseling ministry here in Auckland. Please pray
for that to progress quickly. In the mean time Amy has gained
employment on a part time basis, for a Christian organization called
Masada Trust, a day program supporting individuals with
developmental disabilities. She is also looking into employment in
a secretarial part time position at ECW due to recent changes in our
office staff. We thank God for his blessings and provision and His
timing has been perfect in all these matters so far and we trust His
timing for the future.
The Worship Ministry of ECW -
It’s my “other”
ministry and passion at ECW!
It has been a wonderful experience working as the worship pastor of
ECW as well and God has been blessing our ministry in that area. It
was evident as we arrived in NZ that ECW was ready for some change
in the music department. They were growing as a church and needed
someone to lead their worship ministries into a new stage. In the
beginning we were recruiting new people and I raised the bar of
expectations and commitment considerably. The people have responded
with enthusiasm and dedication and it has shown in our ministries of
worship. We have a wonderful team of talented people who are
dedicated to being leaders in worship, including three new lead
worshippers who have taken on the responsibility of leading services
on a regular basis (Amy, Sue Woodward, and Cathy Sosoli). As a team
we are currently studying Darlene Zschech’s book ‘Extravagant
Worship’ to help us grow as authentic worshippers. (Check out our
website for notes on my recent “Authentic Worship” series). Please
pray for our worship ministries as we continue to grow, specifically
for a dedicated drummer and bass player.
Getting Ready to Move Forward!
One of the most significant changes coming up in the near future
will be the change in our pastoral staff. Before Amy and I came to
NZ, Rev. Richard Waugh, told us that he was applying for the Beeson
scholarship at Asbury Seminary and may leave us for a time to accept
that calling. The Beeson scholarship is a significant honour and
gift to the Waugh family and we are excited for this time of growth
they have before them. ECW has fully supported Richard in his plans
and he will leave us in only five short weeks to study in Kentucky
for one year. The gap this leaves in the church will be filled by
Dr. Rev. Jeff Fussner, our Global Partners Pacific area director,
who will assume the duties of senior pastor of ECW during Richard’s
absence. Please remember all of us in your prayers as this
significant year of progress will happen shortly. Pray for the
Waugh family who will move to the US for a year. They have 3
children who will have to transition into an entirely different
education system (they will be jumping ahead half a grade to fit
into the new system). Also pray for the Fussner’s who will be
taking on more responsibility in a critical time of growth for ECW.
Youth CoMission: Help us help you!
No we haven’t forgotten about you! We apologize for the lack of
happenings on the Youth CoMission front of our mission project and
we want to encourage you to give us some suggestions and feedback
into how we might help you make this more beneficial to your group.
Please understand that your financial support is valued and the
youth here appreciate it greatly. I encourage you to browse our
youth website and use anything from it that you can to show the
teens the impact their giving is having. Amy has also suggested
that you can have your youth group participate in our “Caption
Contest” online in support of the teen your youth group sponsors.
I’ll update the form online to help facilitate that. Thank you
again for your support!
Prayer Request Summary:
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Pray for the youth ministry of ECW: specifically for our new
“Servant Leaders” program that will see teens in the leadership of
the youth program.
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Pray for the Surge Support team that includes: Rev. Drew Donovan,
Amy Donovan, David Grant, Derene Els, and Graeme Els.
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Pray for the development and construction progress of our new
church centre so we can move in as soon as possible.
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Pray for Amy’s counseling ministry to flourish and for the two of
us as we serve in NZ. Specifically that God would enable us to do
what he wills with excellence, keeping us in good health.
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Pray for the Waugh family and their move to the United States in 5
weeks. Specifically for their three children: Simon (16), Theresa
(13), and Kristi (10) and their transition to new schools and a
new system.
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Dr. Jeff Fussner and his role change into the senior pastor
position of ECW while still juggling some area directors
responsibilities.
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The worship ministries need of a committed drummer and bass
player.
Blessings,
Drew & Amy Donovan
Missionaries in Auckland, NZ
www.addministries.com
www.surge.org.nz
amy@addministries.com |
