Thank you for your many
prayers and support. It’s been a busy couple of months but we
have great news to share with you!
It’s exciting times at ECW
and tomorrow is the culmination – finally we are moving into our
new home! The push has really been on the last few weeks and it
has been exciting to see the building really take shape
quickly. The last few weeks required a lot of final work to be
completed in order to move in this Sunday. Volunteers came from
all over: Our church members as well as some from our other
Wesleyan churches have really rallied together and it’s been a
hive of activity almost everyday. The hope and prayer has been
that we could have our first service in there on May 25th
as it will be Jeff Fussner’s last Sunday as our Interim Senior
Pastor. Pastor Richard Waugh and family will return on June 12
but the Fussners are leaving next week to go to the States for
General Conference and other business. It will still be a few
weeks before we can permanently move into the offices but on
Wednesday we got the word that we could use it for Sunday
morning services. So for the last couple of days there has been
even more excitement and more activity at the building.
Thursday night, our regular
worship team practice time was filled with an air of
anticipation and excitement as we gathered an extra large group
to participate in the special service. It was difficult to get
the work done and keep everyone on track because we were all so
giddy to be practicing in our new home. Add to that the tech
crew trying to set up the auditorium, people coming to help
clean and the building team and Servant Leaders meeting to make
final decisions on where to put things and what else was needed
in order to have the place fully functional. The atmosphere was
the same again last night as our SURGE worship team practiced
for their first time to lead worship at SURGE on Sunday night.
We’ve spent the last two years training musicians of all ages,
growing our worship ministries and this weekend is the highlight
to date.
Praise points:
- A
little over a month ago we had an exciting baptism service at
the beach. Three of our teens, leaders in our youth group, took
part. Emily Fussner and Samantha Tan were baptized and Lauren
Kerr shared her testimony of faith as a confirmation of the step
of faith her parents took for her in baptizing her as an
infant. Also a member of our worship team, our bass player,
Graham Lutge was baptized. And a new young adult at our church,
Tabatha MacDonald.
-
We’ve had a lot
of growth in our church over this past year, which is
significant considering the state of transition we’ve been in.
We are especially excited about the growing young adult
demographic. When we arrived in Sept 06 with Annie (another
Global Partners missionary) we doubled the young adult group at
ECW. This past year it has nearly tripled!
- Moving
into our new building this week even as one of our other
Wesleyan churches broke ground to begin construction on their
new church/community centre on Wednesday.
- We
have a couple of new Worship Leaders who have stepped up to the
task of leading services which will be especially necessary
during the months that Drew and I are out of the country
- We
are excitedly looking ahead to September when we will be able to
come home and visit with many of you and see our family. We
can’t wait to spend time with Drew’s family and see just how
much his niece and triplet nephews have grown (probably way too
much). And I’m super excited to be able to spend time with my
entire family. With one sister in Toronto, ON; one in
Indianapolis, IN; and one in Fredericton, NB and us over here
it’s a rare occasion to have all 17 of us in one place - and
this Christmas we will all be on a cruise together – what a huge
blessing!
Prayer Requests:
- Drew
has been quite sick for the last couple of weeks with a nasty
cold/flu bug that has been going around. It seems he is slowly
on the mend now. Please pray for full recovery soon.
- Next
weekend is our National Church Family Convention – “The
Gathering” - with Rev Dr Neville Gosman (a pastor from our home
district) as the key speaker. Drew will be running the
activities for the youth track and teaching one of the youth
seminars
- The
mother of one of our Worship Leaders at ECW passed away this
week. Please pray for comfort for her and her family as they
grieve.
- Continue
to pray as we finish up the renovations and submit consent forms
to the city council for the new building.
- At
the end of next week the Fussners and Hazel (our office
administrator) will be going away for a few weeks, which means
Drew and I will be left to hold down the fort - move the
offices, move house, and keep everything rolling at church and
in the office- until the Waugh’s return in 3 weeks. Please pray
for this transition time.
- As
soon as we finish with The Gathering and get moved into our new
building and new home and welcome the Waugh’s back we will need
to get serious in making plans for our trip home and our return
for a another two year commitment. Please pray for us as we
work on visas, airfare, travel plans, support raising, etc.
Please begin praying about what you may be willing to
contribute to another 2 years of service to the people of NZ and
East City Wesleyan Church. Expect more information on our
return and fundraising soon.
http://www.wesleyan.org.nz/index.htm (check out our WMCNZ
website to find out more about The Gathering and what else is
happening on the National Church level)
http://www.ecw.org.nz/index.htm (check out our EWC website
for pictures of the building process)
We’ve attached a couple of
pictures from our baptism service (we’ll try to send more soon)
Blessings,
Amy & Drew Donovan
