Pass It On has come and gone

The YOUTH WITH A MISSION TEAM has come and gone – but the results of this wonderful ministry to the Lockyer region will only be revealed in eternity.

It was such a blessing to us to have 50 young people full of faith, energy and serving hearts come to share in the valley. (Ps Barry Benz, Gatton Church of Christ).

From Gatton YWAM ran to Pittsworth and had a great time encouraging the people and churches and were really excited by the response from the youth in town.

The next run was from Pittsworth to Millmerran. This is only a short run of about 60km and so we arrived mid afternoon.

As the runners were making their way there an advance team was setting the big tent up in the middle of town ready for the week’s ministry. They drove to Millmerran late Saturday evening after the final night meeting in Pittsworth and shared and ministered in all the churches in Millmerran on Sunday morning.

Each week followed a similar schedule:

·         YWAM team took RI lessons in schools, and made contact with secondary students.

·         They ran after-school sports and activity programs on a local  soccer field and in the marquee.

·         They prayer walked or drove around town and surrounding townships asking for God’s blessing on people, land, local government and businesses.

Open meetings at night happened in the big tent – at Gatton Pastors Glen Cochrane from Nexus church in Brisbane, and Ian Shelton from Toowoomba preached powerful messages on the Fatherhood of God, and the importance of fathers in our ‘orphan generation’ community. Another evening saw a big crowd of young people in the tent for a high-energy night of fun, as well as a memorable message from YWAM director Dave Neibling, on living with forgiveness, honour and service.

The final night saw the ministry of ‘Island Breeze’ Family Barbecue and Concert draw a big crowd of about 400 people in Gatton.  Braving the conditions, they loved the spectacular dancers, especially the FIRE dances, as well as the testimonies of lives changed by God. It was very cold but the final night was attended by many non-Christian people and so we saw many sincere conversations at the end of the evening and one salvation which was encouraging.

Each night meeting finished with a warm cup of tea and country baked cakes which were always a favourite part of each night.  These baked cakes just mysteriously appear every day (from the many lovely rural church ladies) - just like manna every day!!

There have been some challenges along the way, cold nights on hard wooden floors, rain, lots of hard work but we loved it. It has been so much fun and so special to encourage and minister to so many people and children and so encouraging to create so many wonderful memories. Its inspiring to do those truly faith inspired things in life where you hold onto the word of the Lord and fight to flesh it out and bring it into the natural. A great experience for the 50 young Ywammers and this experience will speed up their leadership development significantly.

Many thanks to Bible League Australia for generously providing all of the Bibles that were given door to door to over a thousand homes throughout the Locker Valley.

On 17th June we completed the first 3 week leg of the Pass It On Tour and the team are now taking a well-deserved rest.

On 2nd September YWAM runners lace up again to run up to Dalby to begin the second leg of the tour in Dalby, Chinchilla and Roma.

Thank you for your prayers and support given.

Read more about our work on our website www.bibleleague.com.au