Greetings once again from Auckland! Dennis and Sue Richards and I attended the first Australasian Pastors’ Conference under our new structure at Tweed Heads, on the Qld/NSW border, last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Around 30 pastors and wives were present for the conference, which had the theme of “Healthy Church”. Most of the sessions were conducted by John McLean, with Bill and Daphne Sidney giving a presentation on “Stages of Change”, and a guest presenter, Joh Knijnenburg, addressing the topic of child safety and protection.
The conference marked the retirement of Mohan and Nihara Jayasekera of Perth, and Keith and Bev McLean, who have served in Queensland over many years. Gifts were presented to the retiring couples at a special conference dinner.
Dennis will cover more details on the conference in a member letter in due course. Here is a photo of the group of conference attendees taken by Sarah Jordison.
This coming weekend promises to be very busy but productive, with a meeting of the NZ Board, the triennial Women’s Retreat and the first ever National Pastoral Team Retreat, all happening in the Waikanae vicinity. Please pray for God’s guidance and inspiration on these three important activities.
Following is an update posted by John McLean on the GCI Australia Facebook page:
“We have just completed another wonderfully constructive and successful national – now Australasian – pastors conference. We are blessed with an outstanding group of pastors and ministry leaders in our region. It was a delight to share fellowship, friendship, learning and discussion together. We welcomed Dennis and Sue Richards, and Rex Morgan, from New Zealand to the group. We celebrated Mohan Jayasekera’s retirement, honouring and thanking Mohan and Nihara for their many years of faithful, dedicated service, across several different countries, and often in trying and difficult times. Peter Edalere will take the reins as pastor of Perth in the next couple of weeks, and Peter and his wife Shey attended their first conference with us.”
Warm regards to all, Rex