Dear <<First Name>>,
Wednesday 23rd August began the month of Elul, the 6th month in the Hebrew religious calendar and the 12th of the civil year. The name Elul is an acronym for the Biblical phrase “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine”.
This is a month the Lord is calling you afresh, to enter into a new relationship with Him. Run into the tower of His might and allow the knowledge of Him to create peace and wholeness in you. This is a time to be nurtured. Allow Him to fix what has been broken and to nurture you back into a place of health and prosperity. He will overcome the emotional drain that has removed your strength in past seasons. Come into the field - the harvest awaits you!
Read more on the month of Elul here.
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With all the business of life, we need time out. What better way than to take a day each week and truly rest! God commanded that we do, it is an act of worship, a picture of salvation, picture of heaven and designed to restore us and give us strength for the battles ahead. God rested on the 7th day, after all his work, and blessed it, making it holy because He Himself rested (Gen 2:2-3). Man’s first day was one of rest!
In this article Norma Sarvis from Jerusalem talks about the aspects of Shabbat and the significance it has in their lives. Read more here.
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Merediths Restaurant in Mt. Eden is one of Auckland’s top restaurants. Head chef Michael Meredith is always looking for a way to give back to the community and so he created his S.T.E.M nights (S.T.E.M. being the initials of his three daughters) as a way to help those who cannot always help themselves. Over the last two years, Michael's S.T.E.M nights have raised over $160,000.
From the end of June and every Tuesday in July everyone dining at Merediths enjoyed a three-course degustation that changed every week. Every payment for food during this time was generously donated to Breakfast Club, our community arm working with low decile schools and communities to help address obstacles many children face in fully participating in the school curriculum.
We have been incredibly blessed with this giving. We find ourselves most often on the giving end but when the time comes for receiving, we do it with grace, humility and thankfulness for the provision to affect so many lives for good.
Our heartfelt thanks go to Michael Meredith for his continued, unwavering generosity!
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Breakfast Club has been asked to help Te Kohanga School, a small school with just 20 families at Te Kohanga on the way to Port Waikato. We visited Robyn, the Principal and Dori, the Social Worker, walking around the school meeting the children and looking at ways in which we could help. Within two days the following supplies had come in for the school which we delivered a few days later:
- 250 pairs of shoes
- Large frozen pizzas for lunch
- Large packets of bacon for the families
- 8 new BLK sports balls (2 x rugby, 2 x soccer, and 4 x netball)
- Cereal, large tins of spaghetti and other food for breakfasts
- Mixed assortment of used sports balls
- 50 yoyos
- 50 new tennis balls
- Large sack of new gardening tools and gloves
When you are about the Father’s business, He provides every step of the way. Never say “no” to something because you think you don’t have enough or don’t have what it takes. If you are walking with Him every day, he opens up lines of supply that you never knew existed! Watch this space! This school will increase on every side as it comes under heaven’s blessing.
See photos here.
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 The New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade fought as part of an Anzac Corps in Egypt and Palestine between 1916 and 1919. The highlight, in terms of God’s providential deliverance, was the liberation of Jerusalem. When General Sir Edmund Allenby entered the Holy City through the Jaffa gate on 11th December, 1917 he was welcomed by an honour guard of New Zealand and Australian Troopers. Allenby honoured the Anzac soldiers in recognition of their sterling service in the months leading up to this victory.
The Australians have developed extensive plans to celebrate the battle at Beersheba on 31 October 1917 and many New Zealanders are travelling to Israel to join in the Anzac victory. We are part of another contingent, led by Chris Archer from Tauranga, travelling to Israel in November to celebrate the 100th year victory of the Battle of Ayun Kara where the New Zealand Mounted Rifles faced the Turks and against all odds, won! Ayun Kara is now part of the municipality of Ness Ziona, 25km south of Tel Aviv. In addition to remembering the 50 soldiers who lost their lives there is an aligning assignment the Lord has given us as we remind Him of His promises over both Israel and New Zealand. He is faithful to His Word!
We are looking forward to seeing Rebecca Holden’s exhibition at the Rishon Le Zion museum as detailed below.
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Sand in the Apricot Jam is a visual arts project by New Zealand artist Rebecca Holden. The large scale paintings acknowledge the role of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles who fought in the Middle East campaigns of Sinai and Palestine, as well as Gallipoli, in WW1.
Rebecca’s grandfather John (Jack) Culleton was a trooper with the Auckland Mounted Rifles during this campaign. The exhibition has toured New Zealand since 2014 and will be exhibited at the museum of Rishon Le Zion in Israel for six months, from October this year.
See more of Rebecca's paintings and read her story here.
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Recently we received over 6 tonnes of rice! Where did it all go? Food banks, School Social Workers, Cook Island Community, Community Charities, Primary Schools, Counselling Services, Salvation Army, Vaka Tautua, the list goes on …. Praise God for the ability to receive excess resources and distribute them out to our communities to make a difference in people lives. Every life matters to God. May we all have eyes to see and ears to hear His heart and move as He moves.
 Even more recently we received 18 pallets of good quality, branded stationery from a Corporate Sponsor which went to Glen Innes Primary School, Glen Taylor School, Te Kohanga Primary School and Vaka Tautua. In addition, further supplies went to a number of Decile One schools that Saint Kentigern College look after. This will save our schools $1000’s and allow them to use their funding in other urgent areas.
Breakfast Club has been able to take a van load of food to Whakatane which went to the Salvation Army, Women’s Home, Murupara and Liberty Life Church. In addition, over 40 boxes of food were picked up and taken back to Whakatane.
Every day through the recent school holidays food has gone to Vaka Tautua (ministry to Pacific Island people in Auckland) and South Auckland Christian Food Bank
In addition, about 30 banana boxes of food went to the Randwick Park School Holiday programme to feed between 30 and 50 children each day.
Where there is a vision, the provision continues to roll in, praise God!
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