Encounter

Hey peeps. I'm still doing just fine and learning a LOT of things. I pray that you are as well.

Right now, Hillsong Church is on the last day of Encounter, which is the youth conference that they put on every. It starts on Thursday night and lasts until Saturday night (tonight). Which means that for the past 3 days, I have had 16 hour days of work. So far, I've moved lights all over the place, cleaned up stage, changed bulbs, wrapped cables, and ran the spotlight. Currently, I'm sitting in rehearsal by my trusty spotlight, waiting for the musicians to get done and the speaker can come on stage. I love production and everything involved so far.
Yesterday, I was blessed by Anthony with the knowledge of how to make a really good and cheap sandwich. There's a local butchery and bakery that sell rolls and roast beef so that I can make a really filling roast beef sandwich for under $2. Plus, I just love sandwiches, so this is incredibly exciting for me.

This Thursday at Sisterhood, all campuses combined and so did the kids as well. In the homeschool age where I volunteer, I had the opportunity to lead a blind kid around for awhile, keep him company during a movie, and help him play Wii. He is very interested in drumming and was showing me his skills on the college drum set. I'm really happy that his parents are allowing him to have this really creative outlet and I'm excited for what he's going to do in the future. This coming Friday is a one-day event called Kidsfest. Going against my normal self, I decided to be a group leader for Kidsfest. This means that I'll be hanging out with a lot of kids all day and just having fun and running around. I'm really excited to see how God will work through me into the lives of these kids.

Also coming up is college break, which is a week long and is very similar to spring break back home. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do for it yet, but I'll probably go to the City and the beaches and the zoo with anthony and Matt. I'm looking forward to having a week off, but I'll probably be doing a crazy amount of things every day, just like normal.

I expect that I'll be updating more regularly as God continues to work on my diligence and work ethic as I continue in production. Please continue to pray for me to be a good impact on these kids and to learn things efficiently and allow God to teach me what he wants me to learn. I pray for y'all back home and I'd love to know how you're all going.

Lately

Hello everyone! Sorry that I've taken so long to update. I have a really hard time sitting down and recounting the adventures of the day. However, the Lord has been working on my diligence so here we go!

Dave has officially moved out. He flew to San Diego to stay with Junior for a week and then is headed back to Dallas to work and hang out with his parents. He is currently unsure of whether he will be returning, so we had a farewell party for him. We are currently down to 3 guys living in a house meant for 5. Junior just received his work visa, so he should be here in a few weeks. Dave has been incredibly helpful for the past 2 months and has provided much needed knowledge in just about everything. I am sad that he left, but wish him the best. Since Dave left the country, he blessed me with a really great deal on his phone and also hooked us up with a really cheap television. We moved all of the couches from Dave's room into the living room, set up the TV and set up stage blacks over the windows and watched the Lions play the Chiefs on Monday with 8 guys from my worship Band. So far, it's the most American I've felt since I've been here.

The new song list for the next performance is also out. We perform on the 31st of October and have 8 songs, which are:
Pick Up the Phone - Dragonette
Driftwood - Travis

Distant Sun - Brook Fraser

These Walls - Teddy Geiger

You Found Me - The Fray

I'm Singing - Kari Jobe

That's What You Get - Paramore

Extraordinary - Mandy Moore
The hardest part about the next performance is that we only have 3 classes before rehearsal, which means that most of the rehearsals will be totally student led and planned. I think that our band is up to the challenge though.

For the past two weeks, I've been attending lighting production team nights. Under the tutelage of the main lighting guys for Hillsong/Hillsong United, I've been learning how to set up, program, and perform light shows. It has been an incredible experience so far and is definitely something that I am looking forward to serving in wherever I can. Tomorrow, I'm assisting in doing lighting for the Powerhouse service. I'm very excited to start programming shows and really serving in whatever God has for me as far as lighting goes.

On a more serious note, a friend of Matt's died recently in a motorcycle accident. Please pray for Matt and the other people who were close to his friend.

Thank you all so much for continuing to pray for me and push me along God's path. I am learning a LOT over here and can't wait to bring back the skills and knowledge that I've gained here and put them into immediate use back home. 

Name

"God said to him, 'Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.'" -Genesis 35:10

Hey friends! I sorry that I haven't posted anything in awhile. Most of my time has been spent taking care of housemate Dave and taking naps to recover from whatever sickness that I caught.

For the past week, Dave has been bedridden with a double ear infection which prompts him to throw up with any sort of motion. Within the past two days, Dave has made remarkable recovery and has been able to prepare things for his flight back home. However, because of the recent infection, his doctor has ordered his flight to be delayed for at least a week. Which means that I'll be able to hang out with him for another week yet!

When I woke up on Sunday morning to go to Macquarie, I felt awful. I had a fever, the chills, aches and pains, as well as a cough. Thanks to your prayer, when I woke up Monday morning, almost everything was gone. I still have a weird cough which makes my voice do some funny things, but I'm far on the road to recovery.

Since coming to Australia, I have been given many names. The reasoning for this is probably because Australians like to shorten just about everything, so having to remember two names is really an inconvenience. When I first arrived, Junior decided to name me "Moose", since I'm from some place near Canada. Matt insists on calling me John, just because he knows that it bugs me. Dave has decided to call me "The Epistle". This came about after he couldn't remember my exact name, but knew that I was named after 2 of the 4 gospels. Rather than try and guess which ones, he settled with Epistle. At Merrylands, I received the name, "Stick". I'm not entirely sure why I was labeled this, but it probably has something to do with my natural tendency to "stick" with a job until the end. Dave has also decided to start calling me Marcus. No explanation there at all. Gotta love Dave.

Around campus, I'm mostly known as "That guy that plays piano" or "that one guy that asks good questions in New Testament Introduction". However, today I was renamed by the guys who run the sisterhood primary class. Apparently, they thought that John Mark takes too long to say, so they introduced me to everyone as "John Mark Junior Senior Ben Ben.....Luke....Ben." I have to say, it's pretty catchy. However, if I ever wanted to have business cards made, I'd probably run into a few issues.

Thank you all for praying for me to be healed. I am very far on the road to recovery and wouldn't be here without you. Things coming up: Building a Youth Center this Saturday, Macquarie Sunday, Rebecca's basketball game Sunday, First band performance Monday (please pray for that).

Love

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." - 2 Corinthians 5:14

Hello friends and relatives! As it turns to spring over here in Australia, my thoughts are being brought back to my friends starting college in the United States. I've been praying for each one of you to be surrounded by mentors and friends who will bring you up rather than pull you down. College has been incredible for me so far and I can only hope the same for you.

This week, I've been learning about sacrificial love. Christ devoted his life to serving us and accepting the punishment meant for our sins. The commandments that he gives to us are to first love the Lord God with all heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

On Saturday, I volunteered once again with Hillsong Maintenance to paint lines in the car park. The place where I was painting is affectionately referred to as "Siberia" because of it is incredibly far from absolutely anything. During which I received many lessons from Ariah and Clayton as we talked about everything from theology to chemistry and everything in between. It is a huge blessing and answer to prayer to have such strong christian mentors to help prepare me for the next stages in my life.

This week, after serving at Macquarie running the monitor board and setting up stage, I was given the opportunity to help a woman move from her house to another. The woman is in the middle of going through a divorce and her husband has decided to suddenly move away and leave her with a house which she can not pay for. So, Sunday afternoon, I spent 8 hours loading boxes and carrying furniture into a moving van. It was seriously the most rewarding experience that I have had in Australia. Not only was I able to connect with the music director for Macquarie, Derek, I was also able to connect with Simon from Switzerland and Tim from (Idaho?). The labor was entirely worth it just to hear the miracle story of the new house and God's provision.

During this past week, this woman has needed to sell her old house and completely move into a new one with her 3 children. She also has had other family stuff to do in Brisbane. So, for the past week, the church family here has been gathering around her in love. A contractor named Al has been working for the past week to completely renovate her new house for free. An all-volunteer crew has gathered around him to rework the plumbing, electrical, and outdoor area. When Al has been shopping for materials, he has had most things simply given to him for free. A brand new display kitchen was given for an incredibly low cost. Basically, this project has been a miracle work from the very beginning. I thank God for allowing me to take part in being a miracle for someone else.

Thank you all for praying for me and blessing me so that I can be a blessing to others. I hope that you can all be compelled by Christ this week to love as you have been loved.

Beautiful Things

Fun fact: Australia is roughly the size of the contiguous United States and has less than one tenth the population. I now have a strong urge to visit the vastly unpopulated outback region.

This week has really started off in God's direction. The worship band that I'm in has continued to impress me with their growth and response to challenges. It is an incredible feeling to see people making leaps and bounds on their instruments and voices with the extra work required. More importantly though, I can also see that my bandmates are growing in their relationship with Christ. As we sit in classes and participate in tutorials together, I have felt the atmosphere definitely change as we share our testimonies and pray for one another. As a band, we've come together to pray for healing and to encourage each other with the word of God. Memorizing scripture with other people is incredibly rewarding as well.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, housemate Dave must leave the country for the rest of the semester. He will be visiting with Junior for a short time in California before heading to his hometown of Dallas to work in production and hang out with his family for awhile. He is planning to come back in January, however, he is unsure whether he will be coming back to this house or not. According to him, it actually is a blessing to be able to go back to his family for awhile. He said that his job at Hillsong Music had actually caused him to stop singing for awhile to focus more on the production part of his job and that this break will allow him to once again sing his heart out for the Lord. Although I am sad to see him go, I'm excited to see what God has for him. In about a month, Junior should be returning from California.

For our chapel service today, the team put together a series of hymns and other old songs to sing. From time to time, they like to worship in this way to prove that Who we worship is much more important than How we worship. I'm not sure if there was a message planned or not, but after 15 minutes of "I Surrender All" at the top of our lungs, it was pretty clear that God wanted the praise and worship to continue. It was also the first chance that I've had to see the Dance stream participate in the chapel service. Until the service, I had never understood how motions of the body could communicate a message of praise. Now, I have seen and I understand.

Yesterday, I was able to see my Aunt Renee and Uncle Ken who are pastors from New Zealand. It was awesome to be able to pray and meet with family once again. I also had the privilege of participating in a time of prophecy in the church where they were speaking in Sydney. My uncle Ken, the same man who baptized me in crystal lake, was now being led by the spirit to speak encouragement into my life about my future and the plans that God has for me. How awesome is that? They also invited me to come and stay with them in New Zealand for a week over Christmas break to have a great time of fellowship and growth. I'll definitely be praying for God's will there. I also was able to meet Jason and Amy, the pastors of the Every Nation Church in Sydney. I am very thankful that God has moved me into great friendships here and I am hoping for even more to come.

Author and Authority

"If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." -John 14:14

Hello kingdom and nations! God continues to provide in exciting ways. Thank you all for your prayers and support over the last month.

Monday was the first time for our band to play actual songs together. We practiced through Fix You, Hello Goodbye, and I Shot the Sheriff. It started out a bit rough, but as soon as a good communication was established to the band, we were jamming out. The best blessing that God has given me through the band is a drive to be excellent. I can tell that each member of the band is focused on giving the best performance possible and is putting in the amount of practice time required to do so.

Today, I will have a meeting with Hillsong Maintenance about a volunteer position for the weekends and possible job opportunities in the future. I'm looking forward to learning whatever they have to teach me every weekend and working to take care of the house of God. Please pray for favor in this area. Also pray that I can be diligent in my assignments.

This week in my argument class we discussed the factuality of the Bible and the creation story specifically. Did God really create the heavens, earth and everything in-between in 7 days? This question really got me to focus on my faith and what I really believe about the bible. I realized that I had reasoned my way out of the creation story. For me, it isn't about how God created the earth, it's about the fact that He told us that He did it in 7 days and I tried to rationalize my way around it. I didn't really believe that God actually could create the earth in 7 days. Now I believe that he could and it encourages me to know that the Bible tells me he did.

I've also been challenged in my New Testament Tutorial class to purposefully read the book of Matthew and memorize scripture. In the first ten chapters of Matthew, I have recognized the major theme of God's authority. Jesus seems to always be healing sicknesses and raising dead people while asking if people have faith in Jesus authority. The verses that stuck me the most were Matthew 9:28-29, When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to the, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you." And their eyes were opened...

Once again, the challenge came to me, Do I really believe that God is able to do these things? Do I turn to Jesus with my problems with full faith that he can solve anything? This is definitely something that I've been thinking and praying about.

Thank you all for allowing me to come here and be challenged in all aspects of my faith. I pray that you are all being taught, encouraged, and challenged as well.

Family

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple."

Hey family and friends! God is good over here and is continuing to show me things that I can share with you all. So, here we go.

First off, this weekend I witnessed an undeniable miracle. The Lions beat the Bengals 34-3 and Matthew Stafford wasn't injured. Hallelujah! The greatest part is that my housemates and I went in together to buy the NFL Gamepass for a total of $130. The gamepass records every single game this season, including preseason and playoffs, as well as all the games from the past two seasons. This means that for one payment of $30, I can be uplifted every weekend.

On a more serious note, I had a class this week called New Testament Tutorial. For an hour straight, we went around the room and read our favorite verses or chapters from the Bible with nil commentary. It was one of the most powerful classes that I've had here so far. It also prompted me to read the Book of Zephaniah, which contains a lot of imagery of the Lord's wrath. Whenever I read about God's wrath, I am always reminded that this awesome and terrible punishment for my sins was poured out on Jesus Christ so that I could be in relationship with Him. He not only suffered the physical pain of being crucified, but also suffered the wrath of God stored up because of my sins. Hallelujah, what a savior!

This week, I was also able to serve in my first service at the Macquarie extension service. The service takes place in a movie theater and requires about 2 hours worth of set-up time just to start practicing. After running an endless amount of cable, I started to learn how to run a light board. I've never really worked with lighting before, so it was difficult to really know what I was looking for with colors and everything. Next week I'll learn how to set up and connect the lights. This is a skill that I'm definitely looking forward to learning. God has also blessed me at Macquarie with a genius named Jared. Jared is the head sound guy at Macquarie and is a professional sound technician during the week. I've already learned an incredible amount about mixing and using a computer for effects. I can't wait to learn and practice from Jared in the next few months.

Tonight at Sunday Night Live, a message was preached about family and genealogy. The preacher took a look back through history for a couple hundred years and examined how the choices made by previous generations really affected the influences he had as a child. It really hit me how blessed I've been by previous generations of my family and the conscious decisions that my ancestors have made to live in God's will and be a blessing to their children. I was really convicted to realize that I don't know many of the stories and testimonies of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and various cousins. So thank you mom and pop, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents and so on for being an incredible blessing to me over the years. I love you all and hope that I can be as great of a blessing to my children and grand children as my family has been to me.