Sunday, 8 October 2006 - Return to Magnet

The Executive summary:
Have arrived in Mt Magnet and in the throes of final preparation before Kid’s Club starts tomorrow afternoon.

Prayer points:
That Hamish would get better; for Brad and Narelle to arrive safely from Perth; that final preparation would go smoothly; for more Christian people to move to Mt Magnet; give thanks for Bill and Jackie France.

The full story:
We’re here – Mt Magnet, not much more than a dot on the edge of the desert. Other than the fact that there’s gold in the ground it’s hard to imagine why anyone would choose to settle here. For fans of Dirt Music (Tim Winton), Lu Fox comes through here on his trip north – has a run in with some aboriginal kids at the BP and spends the night at the Granites just north of town.

Yesterday was a long haul – up at 6am to get to the airport for the 9:30 Virgin Blue flight to Perth, collected the hire cars and began the six hour drive to Magnet.

(When we got to Perth I’d forgotten which car company we’d booked with, so we each lined up at a different counter and asked whether they had a booking in the name of Stanton, or perhaps Betts (our college admin person) or even Youthworks College – didn’t take too many attempts before hitting the jackpot with Thrifty! Lunch stop was at Midland, which we discovered was not the sort of place most people from Perth would choose for lunch, but hey, we’re from Sydney. We (actually I) left a bag of shopping on a bench, when we went back five minutes later to find it missing the security guard shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘it’s Midland, what can I say?’)

We’re back in the same house as last year – very big thankyou to Anne from Mt Magnet School who is in Perth for school holidays – literally on the edge of town (which means we’re 2 minutes walk from the centre of town).

Church this morning was Bill and Jackie (the minister and his wife), the seven of us, two others and three kids! The sermon was from Revelation 1:9-20 – seeing Jesus in his ascended glory, reminding us why we’re here and what we’re here for: under instruction from Jesus the King, and ambassadors for Jesus the Saviour; by his grace and for his glory.

Being here again reminds me of the opportunities and challenges for Christian ministry in Mt Magnet and in so many similar remote towns across the country. It’s a privilege and freedom to be here as ambassadors of Christ in the power of his Spirit. Instead of being overwhelmed, the experience of being here enlarges my prayers once again – and it would be great if you, my happy readers, could join in praying for Christian teachers, doctors, police, council workers etc to come to Mt Magnet and stand with the Christians in the town to demonstrate and announce the reign of Christ. Will such a strategy change the world? It could at least change the world for this community, and in the plans and purposes of the God of Heaven, then who knows what might follow?

We’ve got a day and a half to get all the final preparation done before Kid’s Club begins tomorrow afternoon. Pray with us that everything comes together well and that we’re ready for whatever tomorrow brings.

Hamish (one of our team members) has been knocked down with a vomiting bug. Please pray that he’s back on his feet (and out of the toilet) soon and that his normally generous nature doesn’t extend to sharing this bug with anyone else.

Brad and Narelle Young from Perth are joining us tomorrow – pray for them as they make the long drive up.

Thank God for the ministry of Bill and Jackie – for their patience and devotion to serving Jesus in Mt Magnet, and for the way they’ve looked after us.