Last Thursday morning I attended the Lord Mayor's Prayer breakfast at City Hall. Next to me at the table was James Rossiter, the youth Pastor from Nexus. It was so good to catch up with James, who reminded me he first came to church at The Grove 15 years ago as a young adult feeling lost and searching for more. James received Jesus with a couple of our young adults at the Ferny Grove Bowls club, and said everything changed from that day. 

Two weeks ago, James was the keynote speaker at Youth Alive, a combined youth festival that our youth attended. Around 40 teenagers responded to make a decision for Jesus, including two from The Grove. Praise the Lord! I felt so encouraged as I thought about this story, and how we never know what the Lord will do in one persons life.  

This week we are praying to the one who can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. More in each life, more in our church and more in Queensland. We are not praying this prayer alone but with all QB churches. I heard a statistic at the QB conference that there are as many Baptist churches in QLD as McDonalds stores. Thats alot of churches! And I reckon we have the potential of making a much greater difference than a Big Mac ever will!  

God is at work in our city and state. At the Prayer breakfast, the Lord Mayor himself, Adrian Schrinner, gave an address where he thanked the churches of Brisbane for making an impact in the city. He also gave a word from the bible about Gideon. He said we might sometimes seem small, but God reduced the army of Gideon to 300 hundred to defeat 10,000. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane preached that with faith in God, we can expect such a victory for the church. Wow. 

There are plenty of encouraging signs something fresh from God is happening. On the other side of the Pandemic there’s been a shift in the broader church. Some people sadly didn’t return to church when things reopened, but many who’ve found the world increasingly empty are returning to church with a great hunger to know God. When we see these signs its a clear call on those remaining true to Jesus, to get ready for a movement of God in our time. In two weeks on Vision Sunday, our AM and PM congregations are coming together, and I am looking forward to sharing visions of how The Grove is responding to the times and opportunities before us. Please come along. 

This week we pray, and we can move into prayer fully expectant that God is 

indeed able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. 

I hope you say amen to that. 

Marty