newday Pacific Rim 2012 - Forest Lakes, Wellington

Posted on 31/01/2012 by Newday

Some Christians can get real twitchy when they hear the word 'awesome' abused. Well the newday Pacific Rim 2012 was truly an awesome time! We've had the privilege of hanging with some awesome people, in an awesome place, encountering an awesome God.

Some Christians can get real twitchy when they hear the word ‘awesome’ abused. Well the newday Pacific Rim 2012 was truly an awesome time! We’ve had the privilege of hanging with some awesome people, in an awesome place, encountering an awesome God.
 
Usually rotated between Sydney Australia and Wellington New Zealand, newday was held at Forest Lakes, Wellington this year. The camp hosted young people from Kings church Christchurch, Grace church Auckland, Kings church Wellington New Zealand, and Grace church Sydney Australia. This has been a real special time for my wife Sarah and I as we’ve met up with old friends and made lots of new ones. The newday Team was led by Gareth Newman from Sydney and was made up of faithful and courageous youth pastors from across these Churches.
 
As soon as we arrived on site at the idyllic Forest Lakes Camp we were overwhelmed, not just with the natural beauty of the centre surrounded by lakes, but the excitement and energy from the 120+ young people who had just arrived by coach from the Wellington airport.
 
The first eve kicked off with a chilled welcome meeting, getting into teams and hearing about the days ahead. We then had four full days made up of morning meetings, seminars, free time, games, & an evening meeting. Our morning meetings had all the usual banter including the edifying ‘chop’ & ‘on-ya’. The mornings worship was lead by Wellington’s Sam Henare & Jack Boyes followed by some excellent talks by the Sydney crew on the Trinity. The Trinity series nicknamed ‘3 for the price of 1’ brought some interactive but punchy teaching from Matthew Hunn, Jamie Brading (yes brother of) & Gareth Newman. There was two morning seminar streams to pick from 1) The Other Six Days; giving practical teaching on living out your faith 24/7, & 2) How to Love, Learn & Labour; learning how to encounter God personally. The afternoon free time was full of team challenges, the flying fox, outdoor sports, the mud slide, a giant water slide, tier swing, indoor games & loads more craziness! The whole camp carried an atmosphere of encountering God, with healings & spontaneous worship times taking place in the park. But the evening meetings were pumping with an exciting sense of praise and the presence of God. During the evening meetings worship was led by Paul Madement & the Sydney crew. Gareth spoke on the first evening about Counting the Cost of following Jesus, followed by a holy moment of consecration as young people came forward to commit their lives to Jesus. Jamie Brading preached powerfully on the second night about Jesus in Gethsemene and the cost He went through for us. I had the privilege of sharing on our ‘spirit of adoption’ on the third evening followed by yet another exciting time of young people encountering the Holy Spirit. Pete Henare who leads Kings church Wellington was with us each evening and preached a storm on the last night. He shared the story of Solomon building the Temple of God, and our calling to restore the house of God, impacting our communities with the revival presence of God, WOW what a night. Young people responding to an apostolic and prophetic call to be the temple of God in there communities, nations, and regions beyond! Much like newday in the UK, the worship and ministry times felt like they could have gone on all night.
 
I cannot report back without mentioning the exciting outreach that took place in the local suburb of Wellington, Paraparamu. Nat Carey from Wellington had organised transport for a mini army of young people to hit the streets for some treasure hunting and HOTS (healing on the streets). About 40 young people hit the streets, each group reporting back with amazing testimonies of God’s kingdom breaking out. One group (check out testimony on video) encountered a mini revival as God’s spirit broke out in a local skate park with healing, salvation and local young people crying with emotion as they encountered the love of God.
 
Can I encourage you to please 1) Pray & 2) Connect. 1) Pray for Pete Brooks (Grace Church Sydney), his apostolic team and the churches across the Pacific Rim. That God would strengthen them, raise up more leaders and plant more churches across this massive region. Pray for the newday crew, that God would continue to pour out his spirit on them and that the camp would continue to grow. 2) Why not connect with one of the churches mentioned, build relationships, support them; financially, in prayer, or maybe even join them! Each of the churches mentioned are now running Impact FP teams and would love the support of young people passionate to serve the local church. That’s what I did 9 years ago, the year changed my life, giving me life long friends, a passion for the church, and God’s heart for the nations.
 
He’s an Awesome God about an awesome work. This really is ends of the earth stuff, let’s not forget we are newday, together on a mission! ‘On-Ya’ God!
 
Pete Benton, reporting from Wellington, New Zealand