Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 

We hope that you have had an enjoyable Christmas with friends, family or loved ones. We want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you that have supported us throughout the year. Whether that be through finances, prayer or just an understanding in your heart, we appreciate your commitment to us, this ministry, and ultimately your commitment to God's Kingdom.

The video below is my first attempt to putting a video on our website here. And it's one of my first attempts at even editing some video. So it's not flash or extraordinary. But we wanted to do just a little special thing. The video shows you around a few of the changes around the YWAM centre in the last few years. So for those of you who've been here before you'll have to see if you can spot the differences! And for those of you who haven't seen it before, you can see a bit of where we live and work. I hope you enjoy!

YWAM Brisbane Tour 

2011 In Review 

A few highlights from this past year.

-       Darcie has trained 40 new staff in how to effectively train and evaluate our students, over 5 courses in Brisbane and Adelaide

-       Gary has set up a new computer server for the YWAM Base, to keep our communications and IT needs functioning

-       Our teams have visited over 20 country and coastal towns this year, evangelising, supporting, reaching out and encouraging the residents and tourists in those towns

-       The floods that went through Queensland in the early part of the year saw our teams coming in to clean up the mess, even 4 months after the waters had disappeared. We helped and supported people in whatever way was needed.

-       Cusco, Peru now has a YWAM presence as we sent one of our families to start a ministry there. We’ll continue sending short-term teams there over the next few years.

-       Impact Summer, Schoolies outreach and EasterFest are 3 major outreaches our teams are a part of. We have contact with hundreds of people, share the gospel and God’s love to as many as we can and provide a community service as well.

-       We’ve sent 18 teams to Peru, Canada, Czech Republic, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, Saipan and Japan. They’ve done a range of ministry and projects from evangelism to church services, orphanages, youth work, prison ministry, community service, village ministry, open air worship, camps, sports…

-       Darcie took a 2 week Harvest Multiplication Training seminar. This was an inspiring seminar about how to reach people who haven’t heard the gospel.

Coming up in 2012 

-        Bible in every home – We have a strategy to get a Bible in every home in the 3 suburbs surrounding us. We believe the Bible is living, active, effective and relevant to everyday life. If we can just get the Bible into people’s homes we are one step closer to seeing transformation of lives.

-        Youth Ministry – With the neighbourhood youth hanging out at our centre we’ll looking forward to more opportunities to get into their lives and share the love of Jesus with them.

-        Malaysia – I (Darcie) am planning a trip to Malaysia in the 2^nd half of 2012.

-        America – We are planning to take a trip to America around May. Pray for all the needed funds for this. It’s been 3 years for Darcie and 8 years since Gary has been there.

-        South Africa – Gary is planning to visit South Africa as it’s been 8 years since he’s been there as well. We are praying in the funds for this as well. (oh, and Darcie wouldn’t mind going as well if that is possible).

-        Training – Darcie will have several further training opportunities starting as early as the 2^nd week of the new year! Pray for more training staff to come alongside and assist me in this.

-        Our film ministry, The Initiative Production Company, is creating their first feature, full-length film, called The Umbrella. www.theumbrellamovie.com

God’s got a plan 

 
Genesis 18:1-33

How wonderful it would be to live in a world without war, disease, crime, alcoholism or injustice. Living as a Christian would be easy in that “perfect” world! But every day we are confronted with a different realityčthe evil and suffering brought on by a world living without God.

Unfortunately, evil and suffering aren’t confined to the world’s “hot spots.” They all too often spill into our own neighborhoods. With them come troubling questions about why bad things happen, even to good people. Our questions and confusion often cause us to stumble in our faith, as our certainties give way to doubt.

The good news is that the Bible provides an answer for these troubling questions. It is not a book of theory, but a living testimony of men and women whose relationship with God enabled them to overcome every kind of human dilemma. And perhaps more important, the Bible shows how their “faith challenges” can shape our character and help us get to know the Lord.

The Genesis 18 story of Abraham and his remarkable conversations with God illustrates how godly people can face their doubts and the pain of evil and injustice. The story begins with Abraham and Sarah still waiting for their promised son. After so many years, they could have wondered how reliable God was about keeping his promises. But then something shocking happened. God and two angels dropped by for a meal!

God had something else on his mind besides eating and announcing the coming of their long-awaited child. He wanted to talk to his friend Abraham about the problems he was having with Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham’s nephew, Lot, happened to be living. Isn’t it amazing that God desired to dialogue with a human being about the hard issues that affect society?

Their conversation was not an abstract exercise. The lives of men and women hung in the balance. Abraham said, in effect, “You are a just God, so you’ll always act justly. It would not be just for you to punish the good people with the bad.” God listened to his friend and saved all he could.
As you follow the blocks of this path, we’ll look together at what the Bible says about difficult issues of life: God’s justice and judgment; sin, evil and the work of Satan; and God’s purpose in and through it all. We’ll examine other age-old questions such as: What is the meaning of life? Where is God in suffering? Why do the wicked sometimes seem to do so well?

Like Abraham, God invites us to talk about such matters with a friend. Friends share their deepest concerns, thoughts and plans, and they are not afraid of straight-out talking (Amos 3:7). God wants us to be more than passive observers. He wants us to join with him as active partners, in crying out for justice and mercy, in talking through the difficult issues and in getting involved.

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