Special Edition ‘Christmas – New Year’ News (Final)

29th December 2022

Thanks for checking in. This is the THIRD and FINAL EDIT of our final News Update for 2022, a special Christmas and New Year Edition that we have repeated and sent with minor edits each week until this week. We will resume more regular weekly news updates, including information about 2023 opportunities from NEXT WEEK. Meanwhile, from all of us here at CCC Central, we hope and pray you have had a happy, holy, Christ-Filled Christmas and that you will have a refreshed and re-energized start to 2023. As ever, we pray in faith for those who are needing God’s healing grace at this time, and also for those who will undoubtedly be coming and going for work, holidays or family time or a combination of all of those reasons. May you and yours experience God’s favour during this season of peace and good-will to humankind!

HERE THEN, IS AS MUCH NEWS AS WE CAN THINK OF, FOR YOUR NEW YEAR’S WEEK WITH US

  • New Year’s Day (This Sunday 1st January) – 10am Praying & Worshiping in 2023 with Graeme & Kaz
    • THANKS from the bottom of our hearts for your response to our annual ‘Be Hope’ – Baptist World Aid appeal for kids battling poverty around the world. You, our church family, are such generous givers and because of the offerings we received at the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day gatherings, we will be able to increase our annual Christmas gift from $200 to $500 which we will pass on this week. We thank God for His provision through each and everyone of you!!

SO, IF YOU ARE IN THE VICINITY FOR THE ABOVE EVENTS, PLEASE DO JOIN US face to face at the Augusta Street Hub, OR if not possible, join us ONLINE AS WE WILL LIVE-STREAM ALL of the above. (see our Facebook page links OR our YouTube Channel for online access). OR from about a day after each event when you can view the live-stream ‘recordings’, on our YouTube Channel.

Here are the links to the Christmas Eve (11pm) and the Christmas Day (9am) meetings.

(NB: ‘Carols in the Street’ IS currently available as a PRIVATE Live-Stream link. Please contact Heather via the Secretary email address OR via our Contact Us page if you would like us to send you the link.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER – PLEASE stay home if you are feeling unwell BUT do let us know so we can be praying for you. There are a few of our church family currently fighting off colds, chest and sinus infections – please pray for the improved health for all of these loved ones.

The HOPE Project Mission Situation Reports (Sit-Reps)

AN URGENT UPDATE FROM OUR FRIENDS THE STEPHNEY FAMILY – As promised last week, and further to the news we shared about John Stephney’s wife, the beautiful Jewel, suddenly being called home to be with her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ after an accident and an aneurysm on the 19th December, the memorial is planned for TODAY (Thursday) 29th December @ Presence Church in Surfers Paradise (3046 Gold Coast Blvd Surfers Paradise – for any of our family or network partners who might be in the vicinity OR Might like to pray for the family from the start of the service), AND IT WILL BE LIVE-STREAMED TODAY AT 10am QLD Time (11am NSW daylight saving time) via the @presencechurch YouTube Channel. Once accessed via the link, you might need to check the menu under LIVE or VIDEOS to find the service but our guess is that just prior to the start it should be quite easy to find via the link. Just for some context, John and Jewel visited with us in September, when John shared from his heart some recent revelations from heaven along with testimonies and stories from the journey since the late 70’s in Wollongong, during which time, a number of our church family walked with the Stepheny’s, establishing the ministry and mission of Agape Force in our region. We continue to pray for John, their children including Justin and Vincent, and the whole family at this challenging time.

‘CAROLS IN THE STREET 2022’ – We will do a more thorough report during our early New Year gatherings but for now we would like to thank you ALL for your commitment to make our annual gift to the neighbourhood such a fantastic and successful event. We Praise God for His provision and goodness to us as so many worked so hard for a good month or two in preparation. The feedback from neighbours and others from across the whole community, continues to be wonderfully positive and we are confident that the central message of Christmas, God with US in Christ, was clearly heard and we believe, received. Amber, Tammy, Dene and Meryl send their love and thanks, they really enjoyed working with us and each one of them shared a testimony of what they experienced whilst being part of this important event.

Karen and Graeme (partnering with our mate Gordon) were privileged to be able to support Tammy at her annual Carols with our ‘iCentral316’ church partners in Dapto last Friday the 23rd. You can check out Graeme’s “Better Now” Music FB page for some pics from last Friday night …….

‘BRINGING HOPE’ ONLINE SHOP – Our Donna has set up an ‘initial’ easy access online shop for ‘some’ merchandise with the HOPE (Heaven On Planet Earth) Logo. There is a 15% commission that we will receive on each item purchased and 100% of proceeds go to our HOPE ministries. This is a developing space, with a few other people bringing ideas to the table for future options. You can chat with Donna if you see her, or via email which is available at the shop address. Here is the link … so you can grab some HOPE merch for Christmas OR as part of your after Christmas sales efforts. Thanks so much to Donna!!

PODCASTS / SERMONS / STUDY GUIDE OUTLINES –

Current Content includes ……

  • Graeme’s presentation at the December 4th annual Christmas Lunch. People have asked if they can have a written copy of his chat about some traditional carols – their background and content.
  • Graeme’s SEVENTEEN new HOPE Devotional reflections that coincide with this ‘SEED for Sustainability’ season. The WRITTEN ONLY versions (along with the podcast link) are available via our web site’s listing of published devotions by date HERE … (He will recommence devotions in 2023)
  • Julie presenting the prophetic word the Lord gave her in August which she preached on the same month. If you are interested in accessing this, we have uploaded Julie’s Prophetic Word Podcast HERE and the written out version of the prophetic word is available on our Sermon Notes etc. website page HERE. Julie has recommended that if you are planning to listen to this particular podcast, it would help to have a printed or visible electronic version of the prophetic word in front of you as she speaks to the context and biblical bases in the podcast which is about 25 minutes in length.
  • There are a couple of sermons from earlier in the year …… more soon, and we’ll add the outlines for the current preaching season ASAP.
  • Here is the link to the HOPE Podcast Station so you can take a look around.
  • Graeme has also uploaded his Sermon Note Summary from his ‘Fullness IS Equipping’ series to date.
  • THE HOPE COLLEGE PODCAST STATION WILL BE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED EARLY IN 2023!
Calendar Updates

(Please use our Contact Us page if you’d like to register for, or get more details about the following)

  • EVERY THURSDAY MORNING 10-11am -NOTE: We provide a support team to help distribute affordable grocery hampers out of a truck parked in the Car Park west side Fred Guest Park off Balgownie Road. If you could help every week, or fortnightly or monthly, please talk with Gary or Jacki – thank you!
    • ALSO, here is the link to the ordering site. A few of our contacts have made use of the access to affordable groceries in these more challenging economic times so maybe you’d like to see for yourself OR perhaps on behalf of someone you’d like to bless. You could order and pick up at our truck site on Thursdays, or you could organize with one of our lovely team listed above, to acquire your hamper(s). Anyway, here is the link to the Food for Life Shop. Make a choice, select the item and follow the prompts to customize and order. THERE ARE CHRISTMAS HAMPER SPECIALS on the site.
  • Women’s Ministry and Support Enquiries – There has been some work done in this arena over recent months. If you know the contact details for Julie, Carol or Emma, please contact them directly for more information, otherwise, if you don’t know contact details and would like to be connected to someone for information about women’s ministry, please let us know your interest and enquiry via our Contact Us page and we’ll do our best to connect you
  • Blokes Sharing and Ministry – Stay tuned for the 2023 Schedule. If you’d like to talk about our Blokes Ministry, contact Andrew if you know his number OR use our Contact Us page to let us know you are interested and we’ll do our best to connect you
  • General Bible Discussion (Beverley) For a schedule of Next opportunities at Judy’s place (on the verandah or inside with the heater if cold), Contact Beverley or Judy to find out what’s happening through Christmas and into the New Year. If you don’t know their contact details, use our Contact Us page to let us know you are trying to contact them and we’ll do our best to connect you
  • Regular Hour of Prayer for the Churches of the Illawarra and the Salvation of Souls (Graeme) Will re-commence in 2023.
Weekly Pastoral Prayer Update
  • Firstly, we are THANKFUL for all the answered prayers that often go unnoticed. Thank you, Lord, for Your faithfulness.
  • Secondly, each and EVERY week we pray for each other and our brothers and sisters representing the Illawarra region’s body of Christ through other local churches who meet around us. And as Jesus prayed 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. We know this is a season when we will need to be combat ready and so we pray for each other that we would stand firm in the victory Christ won for us … AND that the Lord will add daily, those who are BEING SAVED!
  • Thirdly each week we pray for the New Season of Mission Effort – We thank you for the first ‘7 years of planting and re-aligning to heaven’ and now we pray AS WE PREPARE for the SECOND PHASE of the time we are referring to as ‘The SEED of Sustainability’ (2022-23). and the outworking of Christmas 2022’s strategic community engagement. PLEASE PRAY (Pre-Prayer). We are also EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO OUR GOD for all who are investing with us as partners in this mission work for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven on the earth. We ask God’s richest blessings on all who share and support this journey with us, through service, giving, promotion and more.
  • NB: PLEASE NOTE that we have removed the historical ‘personal details’ from the Weekly Pastoral Prayer Update, UNTIL we can actually update them properly and appropriately. We have added the prayer points we’ve received or that we have become aware of since the last News Update. PLEASE keep praying for each other and as always send your prayer requests as per normal, so we can pray for you in an informed way, even without this added news update reminder. THANKS for your understanding.
    • Following up A Personal Prayer Point for Maree this week. Maree asked us to pray for her cousin Hope. She was unwell last Wednesday morning and was taken to hospital by ambulance. Upon her arrival, Hope had a seizure and at that time was placed on oxygen. Maree informed us that Hope and her family welcome prayer at this time so we pray, united in faith, believing in God’s will for healing over Hope. Maree reported a few days ago that Hope is much better, out of the high dependency ward and an MRI has revealed no damage to the brain from the seizures. The doctors have put her on a regime of preventative medication and she should be able to go home soon. Thank you Lord Jesus!
    • Prayer for the Stephney Family (see Sit-Reps section above)
  • For other general weekly prayer points for our mission effort (incl. The Sanctuary and other churches/leaders in our kingdom patch, check out Mission Prayer Points on our website news and journals page.
  • Of course if you have any thing you feel confident to ask us to SHARE in prayer for, please call, send a text or email Gary Padwick if you know his contact details, otherwise via our Contact Us page. We can help connect you, and Gary will faithfully engage our prayer-network.
  • Thank you for continuing to uphold each other and the lives and circumstances of our partners everywhere, in life-empowering prayer.

Love & blessings
Graeme for The Team