Hi everyone!

I’m new here so I thought I’d start out by just saying hello. I am not new to Christianity and have been a Christian for many years but I came to a realisation today that I have hardly ever “acted” like a Christian except when in the presence of other Christians and on a day here and there when my faith was renewed or pumped up after being witness to God’s glory.

I am again on a spiritual high having just attended the Katoomba Men’s Convention on the 22nd and 23rd of February. don’t know how long this feeling will last but I am hoping I can maintain it indefinitely. I am reading a book I bought at the convention called “Disciplines of a Godly Man”, and I hope that through disciplining myself and living by faith and turning my temptations over to God through Jesus, that I can please my God and learn to be a better Christian for Him.

So I have come here in the hopes that I can get a daily dose of fellowship with my brothers and sisters who are also struggling with the same. I feel very sinful and there are a lot of things that I wish to remove from my life that have built up over the years through my undisciplined attitude to Christ. I have always been a spiritual person but I have never put my life in the hands of God through Jesus.. not completely at least. For the entire day today, I did that and after the first few hours, I began to realise that as long as I stay focused and disciplined in my mind and kept referring back to God, it was actually not as hard as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a LOOOOONG way to go and it will be an endless struggle but I feel the time is NOW and that it is an all-or-nothing type thing. In saying that of course, I am taking things slowly to make sure I don’t disillusion myself.

Anyway.. I could go on and on at this point.. just anted to say Hi I suppose.

Luke said:
I am again on a spiritual high having just attended the Katoomba Men’s Convention on the 22nd and 23rd of February. don’t know how long this feeling will last but I am hoping I can maintain it indefinitely.

Hi Luke,

Welcome to these forums.

The border control is a bit lax, so they even let non-Anglicans like me in...8-)

Your feelings will come and go, but remember Jesus’ promise:

Jesus said:
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
[John 10:27-28, TNIV]

Grace from God and peace,
Terry

Terry Gallagher - 25 February 2008 11:17 PM

Welcome to these forums.

The border control is a bit lax, so they even let non-Anglicans like me in...8-)

Well the first church I went to regularly as a child was Cardiff Uniting Church (in Newcastle), which was when I was about 5 years old. I can still remember the layout of the Church grounds, the colour of the windows, the design of the front door, the hall where we had the Sunday-School scripture lessons in etc etc. So obviously a lasting impression was made there. I really don’t understand the differences between the different protestant-based Churches to be honest.

I was baptised at the Assembly of God Church at Penshurst when I was about 14 years old; I went to St Philips Christian College in Waratah (Newcastle) when I was in primary school; I went to Sutherland Shire Christian School in my 8th year of High-school.. I been around quite a bit.. I don’t really consider myself to be Anglican, or any particular denomination to be perfectly honest. I feel that serving at the Church-plant, Church@School, in Beverly Hills is where I am currently supposed to be.. and that’s all I know really.

Only God knows where I will be in the future. :)

G’day Luke,

Good to see you here brother and glad to read about your time at MKC and your continued involvement at Church@School. Keep going strong.

Yours in Christ,
Mark

Hi Luke
I have some happy memories of Cardiff Methodist Church, back in the 60s and early 70s. I was involved in a group that used to sing at Youth For Christ and other places and almost all of the group members were from Cardiff Methodist.

I remember playing an old harmonium [pump orga] for a wedding there. We didn’t have fancy movie cameras then, but the family had the service recorded on reel-to-reel audio tape. Or so they thought. Someone pressed PLAy instead of RECORD, and because it was a new blank tape no-one was any the wiser until the service was over.

Hope you enjoy interacting on this forum as much as the rest of us seem to.

Luke Parsons - 25 February 2008 11:54 PM

Well the first church I went to regularly as a child was Cardiff Uniting Church (in Newcastle)..... I really don’t understand the differences between the different protestant-based Churches to be honest......
I been around quite a bit.. I don’t really consider myself to be Anglican, or any particular denomination to be perfectly honest. I feel that serving at the Church-plant, Church@School, in Beverly Hills is where I am currently supposed to be.. and that’s all I know really.
Only God knows where I will be in the future. :)

Hi Luke,
I know people who have been involved in th Church@School at Beverly Hills in the past - that is only a few suburbs from where I am at Oatley.

Knowing that’s the place where you are “currently supposed to be” is great.

As far as denominations go, it seems to me that most “fifties and under” Christians don’t get hung up about denominations as such.

These days, across Australia, the differences within denominations are often as great or greater than the differences between denominations.

The best denomination is being a real Christian, as Jesus’ followers were first named in Antioch (in Acts 11:26).

Grace & peace,
Terry

Hi all,

My name is Jason Surjadinata.

I’ve been a lurker in here since 2004 and it only take me 4 years to finally get my act together and plunge myself in here.

I’ve been procrastinating my involvement in the forum since I always felt that I really don’t have anything more to say than what it is been said here, most of the time :-). But now since Connect 09 kick off and a lot of things that God put in my life that suggest it is about time I try to contribute to this forum so here I am.

A bit about myself
I am a servant of Christ and for the last 6 years a member of St Barnabas, Broadway.
I am a husband to Roan and a dad to my two years old Ezekiel.
For a living I am a Geotechnical Engineer/Analyst. For those of you who never heard of Geotech, it is just an engineer that likes to play with dirt :-)

Fond of spending time with my family and friends, reading books (mainly fantasy novels and apologetics against atheism), crazy about board games (some say obsessed although not yet by God’s grace) and sharing Christ love with atheist.

Thank you for the time to read my rantings and I shall try in a short while to post something especially about Connect 09

In Christ
Jason

Welcome Jason! Thanks for joining us.

Hello everyone! My name is Pansy and I’m completely new to these forums so I should introduce myself!

I’m currently holding my baby girl Hailey in my lap while she plays with her rainbow-coloured, multi-textured worm rattle, while my husband Danny is studying for his upcoming biblical theology exam.

(I distinctly remember sitting in a coffee shop in the city cramming for that particular exam during my first trimester pregnancy tiredness/ nauseated stage this time last year.)

We currently go to church at NDCCC in North Epping. I work as a GP sometimes. I compulsively read anything placed in front of me. I can be almost as chatty as my babbling almost six monther.... yeah… that’s me!

Look forward to meeting you all! : )

Welcome Pansy, look forward to hearing from you
regards
gill

Hi Pansy, nice to hear you’re doing well. I wondered which church you’d moved to!

(Before you wonder, ”who is this?” - we did go to high school together, and were at cathedral in the same service for a couple of years, but unlike most of my fora friends here, you knew me by my full 7-letter name!)

(Which, if possible, I’d like you to keep a secret from everyone here present! Just call me Tia like everybody else does...please!)

Regards,
----tia.

Hi Gill, and Hi Tia! Sure, and it’s good to be meeting an old friend on this forum!

Hi Pansy,
Welcome again!

We hope you can answer the BIG question of these forums....

not - what’s a gafcon?

but - what is Tia’s full name?

Is there a clue in her signature?

Tiffany Zheng, come on down!?
8-)

Grace & peace,
Terry

Well, all the letters of her full name are in her signature, and her name’s not Tiffantia

:p

Welcome Pansy.

Does anyone know how to play ‘Hangman’?

‘E’.