Brisbane Christian News - Brisbane Christian Chat (Queensland, Australia)


	21.06.02 - Salisbury's McChappy Day. By Lynne Stringer from The Queensland Baptist, June Edition. Churches in the Salisbury and Coopers Plains area came together at a local McDonald's on June 2 to celebrate McChappy Day. McChappy Day was held in support of the chaplains at Nyanda State High School in Salisbury. Special vouchers which were given to customers at a local McDonald's and presented at the counter saw $1 in every $5 donated to the work of Nyanda's chaplains. McChappy Day was first held last year and raised $1000. This year's efforts, which included a car wash and a youth service, increased that amount by 5%. The day commenced with a car wash conducted by some of Nyanda's students in the car park of the McDonald's restaurant on the corner of Evans and Toohey Road. Afterwards, some of the students from Southside Christian College put on a puppet show, with Nyanda's students providing play dough tables for any children who wanted to use them. The evening culminated in a youth service staged by Salisbury Baptist Church. In spite of threatening clouds, the rain held off until after the service, which featured singing, testimonies and a brief message from David Butterfield, Salisbury's senior pastor. Young members of the church's worship team led the gathering in some praise and worship songs, while people coming in and out of McDonald's looked on in interest. David Butterfield was pleased with how the evening went. "People went away talking about it, so hopefully we'll see some effect," he said. Many from the church stayed after the service to help raise more money for the chaplains via the purchase of their dinner.
	21.06.02 - Rebecca speaks out. By Lynne Stringer from The Queensland Baptist, June Edition. Rebecca Brooks attends North Pine Baptist Church. Here she tells of how a willingness to spread God's Word led to the conversion of her friend, Elizabeth (Libby) Crook. Libby and I have been going to the University of Queensland for about two and half years now but we only officially met about a month ago. Through God's perfect timing we became good friends. I say perfect timing because over the past six months I have been working hard on my relationship with God and have gone through some hard things to get to where I am. I had come to realise that I want to tell everyone about God and not leave anyone out. One night after church, before I went to sleep, the verse Acts 4:29; "allow us your servants, to speak your message with all boldness" came into my head, so I prayed for boldness and for opportunities. The next morning on the train, Libby told me that she and her boyfriend Michael had had a conversation about God and salvation. We had an amazing talk and with every word I spoke I felt boldness and confidence in what I was saying. They both started to come to church with me that Sunday. On Saturday night Libby and I had another talk and she decided to make a commitment to Christ and become a Christian. Libby will never know how much she has encouraged and helped me. If this is the best thing I ever do for God in my whole life, then I'm contented. I realise I have been looking for something and now I have found it. I pray that I will always be this close or even closer to God and be contented with all that He has given me. I will try hard with the help of God to make sure Libby doesn't fall away. Libby's side of the story... About five weeks ago I had one of those deep and meaningful conversations with Michael, my boyfriend, about God and Satan's actions in the world. I realised I could identify plenty of evil and suffering, but little love and kindness in people's actions. I felt I had reached a dead end in my faith (I was raised as a Catholic) and that I no longer knew or fully believed in God. Feeling lost, I prayed that I would receive a sign from God that He cared and that He wanted me on His side. The next morning, I met Beck at Narangba train station. We had only recently become friends, though we had always known of each other whilst at uni. Through my conversations with Beck about how I was feeling I was able to come closer to God and take positive action for my faith. Within a few weeks of my crisis, I started going to church and a few nights ago, I reconfirmed my Christianity in a special prayer to God. Thank you Beck and thank you God.
	21.06.02 - Ipswich combines for missions. By Lynne Stringer from The Queensland Baptist, June Edition. The combined churches of the Ipswich region held a mini missions week during May, with different events held at various participating churches. The mission week commenced with a breakfast at Churchill Baptist Church on May 11. About fifty people from six congregations enjoyed the breakfast and a talk from Ian Hawley, national director of ABMS. He shared from his own missionary experience and that of others in ABMS, and encouraged the gathering to keep loving Jesus. On Sunday May 12 a small group of people gathered at Rosewood Baptist to hear Geoff, an SFI field worker, talk about his work in Central Asia. He and his wife encouraged them to be co-workers with them and stressed the importance of keeping in touch. On May 15 many local Baptists gathered at Ipswich Central church to hear Rob and Shelley share about their work in South East Asia. Rob impressed upon the congregation the difficult time that many people in this region experienced. The meeting was followed by coffee and dessert. On the following Saturday a youth event was held at Silkstone Baptist Church. The gathering of young people enjoyed the music of two local Christian bands, followed by a coffee shop, where a team from Youth With A Mission challenged them to be involved in mission work. At Kalbar Baptist Church the next morning, Ian Pattemore spoke of the work he and his wife Del had done during their stay in Thailand with the Thailand Baptist Missionary Society. The mini missions week grand finale was held at Leichhardt Baptist Church on the evening of May 19. Representatives from eight different churches attended, hearing another message from Ian and Del Pattemore. They spoke about the difficulties mission workers face in adjusting to a new culture and talked about their work with the many church teams that visited Thailand during their time there. They ended the service with a challenge, telling everyone to be involved in short term missions.