June 2005

This is a special addition of Cafe Towns in light of our exciting baby news. I've wondered whether the 'cafe' title is any longer appropriate due to the recent transformation of our cafe lifestyle into that of a nursery. But rest assured, I've been drinking plenty of good coffee and am already making a return to the 'catch-up' culture that I enjoy.

Baby News
Elijah Beau, born 6th June 2005 at the Royal Hobart Hospital, weighing 3620g

Like us, you probably got sick of waiting. Ten days past our due date we went into the Royal Hobart Hospital, because whether he liked it or not, it was time for our baby to be born! That was a Sunday night, 5th of June. Elijah Beau was born the following afternoon. And now all this time later - after induction, labour, birth and all that immediately followed - two things are clear to me: God is amazing, and Cath is very brave. Even more than being a proud father, I'm a proud husband!

Elijah emerged into this world with eyes wide open and a quiet frown on his face. Surprisingly, the only crying in the room was done by myself and Cath, and they were tears of joy. It looked instantly like we had a boy, but I just had to check. Sure enough, we had a son! As soon as I announced his name to Cath, a huge smile came over her face. "I knew it!" she said with a teary grin.

Cath came down with a very high fever not a week after birth. Another trip to the hospital and a lot of antibiotics later, she has slowly regained her strength. The support we've received from family and friends has been overwhelmingly wonderful and greatly appreciated.

We're now back in the comfort of home and are enjoying this precious time. "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him" (Ps 127:3). We give glory to God our Father, who alone gives life and does all things so that we might fear Him. Praise Him for His kindness to us in response to your prayers and ours.

As you may imagine we've taken a ridiculous amount of photos. I've downsized a few and put them in a Word attachment to make viewing nice and quick. There are a few family members who are saying Elijah doesn't look a bit like me, but that most of his features are from Cath's side. It'd be fun to hear what you think. Maybe you can give me some points of defense.

FOCUS
Fellowship Of Christian University Students

Praise God for an excellent Semester of ministry to uni students through FOCUS. One buzz point was being able to personally give away over 100 copies of Mark's Gospel while doing stranger evangelism. Please pray for the non-Christians I've met, that the exam period wouldn’t kill their enthusiasm to meet up with me next Semester.

Mid-Year Conference (MYC) is fast approaching (July 4-8), so please pray that many students will come and truly understand the Kingdom of God. May growing God's kingdom become their entire life-orientation. Please pray that I can encourage students about this at MYC.


I also need God's help with the writing I'm doing over the uni break: (1) the evangelistic pamphlets I'm designing for use in specific pockets of the uni (E.g. Uni Bar, Med. Faculty, English Learning Centre, Law faculty etc); (2) the workshop I'll run at MYC ("The Gospel Driven Life", which will include a book review of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life); (3) the discipleship program I'll put together to suit the short and dynamic nature of one-to-one ministry I do.

Please ask for God's help to reach the goals I have for next Semester: (1) More people doing small (3 to 1) bible studies with staff-members (Sam, Debbie and myself); (2) starting a prayer meeting for Christian students on campus; (3) a new outreach to Japanese students at the English Learning Centre; (4) More FOCUS committee members involved with stranger evangelism.

iChurch
Church for Internationals

God has graciously sustained iChurch over the uni exam season, while most of our congregation were stressed with excessive study. Thank Him that he has continued to gather our people around His Word (we have just finished a series in 1 Corinthians, and are starting one from Deuteronomy). And pray that God would continue to do this, and even more so now that most of our people have plenty of time on uni holidays. Pray this so that our local leaders and internationals would be built up in Him and bound together in love.

In particular, our Bible Study meetings will move from the Chaplaincy Centre to the homes of our different leaders. There will be 3 groups, and they'll be starting in the 1st week of Semester 2 (July 11-15th). Please pray that this would happen smoothly so that more of our church can be cared for and more room made for growth.

We are also planning an iChurch Bible Camp for September 2-4th on The Resurrection. We are praying that this will be a turning-point weekend for our Christians, that their minds open right up to the life-changing heart of the gospel.

'See the Day approaching'
(Hebrews 10:25)

As you may be able to imagine, I'm typing away in our study/baby room, Cath's getting our place ready for some visitors to pop round, and Elijah's caught up in a whirlwind...I mean a dream. So much has happened in the last two weeks, and yet very little has actually changed. The birth pains have ceased for Cath (thankfully!!!) and we have a new and very welcomed addition to our family. But the birth pains of this world continue (cf. Mk 13:8). Our baby has arrived, but there is another arrival that the whole of creation is still groaning for: the appearing of our Lord Jesus from glorious heaven. And we live in the last hour of the last days, at a time in history so pregnant with expectation that the signs of this coming are all around us.

And that's why we must never stop getting ready for that Day. Our prayer for you is that you will never stop. For the blood of Jesus has given us a new and living way to God. So 'let us draw near to God...Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess...Let us consider how we may spur one another on...Let us not give up meeting together...but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching' (Hebrews 10:22-25). Don't get sick of waiting!

WITH LOVE, HOPE AND FAITH IN CHRIST,
JOE, CATH & ELI

Ps. if you’d like to find out how you can support us financially in our ministry, please let me know and I’ll send you a ‘financial support form’. Cheers.