This was just in one day, how do we begin to communicate all the Lord has brought into our lives in four years? It is a challenge, but a challenge we look forward to sharing with you. We are coming to a church near you. As it gets closer, we have been getting more questions. Here are areas where you can pray or assist us with in the process of furlough.

Will you be doing school? – Cathy and the kids have been asked if they look forward to having a holiday from school for the months we are in the US. We will have a few weeks of travel where the family will not be able to do school work, but once we are in Iowa, school begins again. The kids will work on school through a distance education programme at Australian Christian College.

Do you have a full schedule? – We have been fortunate to coordinate a time to spend with all of our current supporting churches. Also, all of our individual supporters and church families are welcome to come to our Matthews Family BBQ on 27 October @ Saylorville Baptist Church. During our church visits and at the BBQ we will be presenting our ministries and the opportunities of sharing about our Saviour, Jesus Christ, in Australia. We will be in a different church every weekend and our schedule is very full now. I appreciate all who have responded to or have requested assist with different ministry opportunities in the US. We do love sharing about what the Lord is doing in Sydney and in our lives. Our schedule is filling quite quickly.  I would encourage anyone who would like for us to come to any events or groups while we are in the US to email us prior to 15 July.

How are you doing for funds? Based on the projected budget, this furlough will cost approximately $25000. The costs: plane tickets, petrol, a van for travel, prayer cards, rent for housing in the US and maintaining our home in Australia, phone, etc. The airplane tickets and accomodations in Maryland and Iowa are taken care of in the US for furlough, but we could use some assistance with the travel funds. Anyone that is willing to assist us in this area, please contact us at matthewsdownunder@bigpond.com. We can direct you to where to send the funds. Thank you for this assistance.

How are you getting around? We are blessed to have a van for the time we are on the East Coast, but we are still looking for support for a van for our travel from the East Coast to Iowa and for the time we are in Iowa. Does anyone have any contacts or access to a van we could utilise during this time? Please send any information to the email address above.

Thanks for the questions. We look forward to seeing you soon.

The adventure continues…

Russ, Cathy, Becca, Hope, Joshua, & Caroline

¹⁶He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

We are so grateful to God for all He is doing in our lives.

I know throughout John 21, we find different applications of the word love in the Greek. Yet, in studying this word, love,  many times we lose sight of who we love. The object of our affection is lost in the action that He calls us to do. In the passage, Jesus asks Peter to feed and tend His sheep. But we can only do that through our love of Jesus. It is easy in Christian ministry to begin to focus on the work or the people. This is good in a human sense, but if this is our focus, because the sheep and the work can be quite frustrating to care for, many times bitterness and frustration begin to enter into our thoughts. It was made apparent to me that our focus and our love has to be first to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. Surprisingly, something I preach daily, but still have to be reminded to do. No wonder Jesus had to ask Peter three times if he loved his Lord.  Only from this position of love for Jesus can we begin to love Christian work or love His people. I am thankful to be reminded to always remember my first love, Jesus.

Thanks for the prayers for the events going on this month and what is coming up soon.

Winning the City Dinner – This is an annual fundraising event for the ministry in the city. The three weeks prior to the event we had seven people registered and on the night we had 98 people attend. A great night to communicate the opportunities and the needs of the ministry in the city. We had many new people come along and we did get some new supporters. There are always room for more, please pray for more supporters of this unique and groundbreaking ministry, City Bible Forum. (Link provided on this website)

Fellowship plant- We had a great time in Coogee with an evangelistic event in the Eastern Suburbs. We met at a friends house, had a BBQ and a good talk from Al Stewart. There were 8-9 couples there and 50% of the room were not Christian. (with children there were 30+ people there the first night) Exciting night and has the potential for a fellowship. Please pray for the next event on 6 June. Could this be a new church in the future?

Pamper Day – Glorious Hope Baptist’s women’s group puts on an evangelistic event to reach the community around the church each year. Many of the women in the neighbourhood do not get to get their hair and nails done. So, the ladies of the church put on a Pamper Day with volunteer hairdressers and other nail & make up professionals. They have 60+ women come through and then have a lunch which includes an evangelistic talk. Cathy and the girls love assisting in this event. This year the first four women that Cathy served were Muslim and Cathy had the opportunity to pray with most of them. An exciting event for God’s glory.

Dating, Rating and Mating …a biblical perspective – Let me share a perspective on ministry in Sydney. I was asked to do a two part series for a young adults group in Bankstown. Worked all day on preparing for the Sydney Prayer Breakfast in the city. Took the train home and then I ate dinner with a good Lebanese friend at Habib’s Charcoal Chicken shop (Yummy), then go to the church and speak on Dating (finishing with a gospel presentation on the ultimate relationship with Jesus) to a group of 40-50 young people and then counseled a young Iraqi Christian on his relationship with his Maori (native New Zealand) girlfriend. How they can live godly in their relationship and whether they should get married. No one can train you for this experience, the Lord has done some amazing things in our lives (There is a video link for this series on this website and on Russ Matthews Facebook account.)

Furlough – We could use your prayers on this area. We are excited to see our family, friends and church families, but it will be hard to be away from home (Yes, Sydney is home) and all that the Lord has opened up to us here in Sydney. Here are some key prayer points:

• All of the paperwork will be completed prior to leaving

• We will be able to organise all things for the ministries while we are away

• We will be able to be part of a swearing in ceremony for citizenship prior to July

• We need a van for our time from Maryland to Iowa and while we are in Iowa

• Extra finances for the trip: Higher plane costs, fluctuating exchanges rates and additional costs in the US have put a pinch on the budget

• Churches in the US will see the need for the work in Australia and the opportunities that the Lord has allowed us to be included and God would be glorified in this whirlwind tour of the US

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Exciting & exhausting days, but we are grateful to be part of all the Lord is doing in Australia.

The adventure continues…

Russ, Cathy, Becca, Hope, Joshua & Caroline

1. Start of City Bible Forum (We are on Facebook City Bible Forum, Sydney, become a fan) and great series. (Did Jesus Say That? , Journey with Jesus -A perspective from John, Ecclesiastes, Counterfeit gods,etc.) Please pray we can find a new and more accessible venue for Wednesday and Thursday. Please pray for a fruitful year of ministry. Pray for our expansion into Melbourne & Adelaide and continued growth in Perth & Brisbane.

2. Sydney Prayer Breakfast - I was asked to be on the board for a first in Sydney. I know there are many prayer breakfasts around the world, but this one is a first for Sydney. Andrew Scippione (Commissioner of the NSW police) will be our speaker. Good Christian man and a big event. More details and website to come.

3. Spiritual Leadership course- Glorious Hope Baptist will be a running a course for the next couple of months for our leaders. Based on the book by J. Oswald Saunders. I will be assisting with the running of the course. Please pray for the leaders for our church to rise up to the opportunities of our growing church.

4. Life of Jesus course and Bible reading groups – All of our new courses are beginning in the city. Pray for many non-Christians to come to these courses and for a fruitful ministry.

5. Urban Fight Club (Men’s ministry) – UFC gets started next week with a good Aussie BBQ. Looking ahead to the year and how we can serve the Lord.

6. Church plants- We could use your prayers on these opportunities. I will send details soon, but I will be in discussions with some key leaders in the city for two fellowship plants in the city, Sydney. We are asking for God’s wisdom in these exciting new ventures.

7. School- We are still homeschooling for this year, but we are considering putting our kids into a great school next year. Challenges are distance from where we live. Thanks for your prayers on this decision.Also, it is a new curriculum for the kids this year (School starts in January in Australia and it is year round). Pray for their adjustment to a web based learning system.

8. Caroline’s health – Caroline started Kindy this year and is excited about all things. She will be going into the pediatric cardiologist for a second opinion on some tissue growing over one end of her aortic valve that shouldn’t be there and if it continues to grow it could cause damage due to disrupting the flow of blood. Thanks for your prayers for Caroline.

9. Footy season begins- Josh will be playing AFL (Real football-check out the promotion on my Facebook page) again this year. pray for his adjustment and protection for the season. Also, we would be a testimony to the players and families who attend each week.

10. Hope and Becca turn 16- I think the prayers for the parents go without saying on this one. Two words – Drivers Licenses. Two more words – White hair. Actually, pray for the girls. They are amazing young ladies and have servants hearts for the Lord. Pray for them during these challenging teen years. Pray they would continue to be a witness for you and testimony of all He is doing in their lives.

Well…that was supposed to be a quick update. My apologies for the length. Please keep in touch with us through signing up for our monthly updates on our website, just enter you e-mail in the RSS feed box. Also, we are on Facebook. Sorry, Skype is not the best option to contact us.

I will finish with a story: a good friend was all excited about the year of talks in Sydney. He had brought a non-Christian friend to the talks. His friend had commented, “You all really focus on Jesus, don’t you?”My friend stated, “Now he is getting it!”

All praise and honour goes to Jesus. That is what we are on about here in Australia. There is much to be done and we look forward to what he has for us in the future. We appreciate your prayers and support.

The adventure continues…

The Matthews Family

Cathy was overseeing one team of service. She was able to talk and pray with most of the women who came to the day. One of the highlights of the day was having the opportunity to share and pray with two Muslim women who had come for the day. Hope and Rebecca were able to serve child care and with whatever areas needed assistance on the day. Every woman walked out feeling and looking transformed and all were given the opportunity to know the transforming power of the Gospel.

All the ladies of the church came away exhausted, but encouraged by the opportunity to touch and pray with women of our church community in a unique way. Touching many women that this world considers untouchable. They arrived in the morning to bless the people of the community, but at the end of the day, came away blessed indescribably  by the opportunity to be the hands and feet of our Saviour, Jesus.

Yes, it was a good day!

Thanks for your prayers and maybe consider being  part of this incredible ministry in years to come.

Thanks for all of your prayers. This has been an exciting, exhausting and encouraging month. This is a quick note on all that we have asked you to pray about during this critical month. Easter opens the door to communicate to others about what we believe as Christians. Parades in the city, editorials in key newspapers, special services at church, and everything that comes with this month allows for open dialogue on Jesus. With your prayers and support, you are part of this process and we are grateful for you. There is quite a bit to share this month, so this note will be longer than our normal updates. Thanks for taking the time to celebrate with us and pondering the privilege it is for us to be part of this amazing ministry.

Easter

At City Bible Forum and Glorious Hope Baptist, we had many different events throughout the city. City Bible Forum had our talks on during the week and many new people coming along to ask the tough questions about the Bible and Jesus. We work with many different groups from all over city to have evangelistic events within corporations. We assist with the preparation, the talks and communication. The goal of the events are to give people opportunity to come to effective and timely follow up and we assist in teaching these classes called Investigating Christianity. One of Sydney’s largest banks allowed a group within the firm to run not one but four events. This bank is going through very difficult times of redundancies (mass firings), mergers and reorganisation. You would not think this is not an ideal time to be planning evangelistic events, but the result shows that God can do an amazing work all of the time. Inside this bank, we had over 100+ people come to the various events, with upwards of 40+ signed up for courses on finding out more about Christianity.

Church events: We had special services on Friday and Sunday. Russ had the opportunity to preach on Good Friday. He taught through 23-24 Luke and the witnesses throughout the death, burial and resurrection of our Saviour. Many people were challenged to know the Lord and communicate to others about what He is doing in the lives of the people of the church.

Fireproof

Great film, great conversation and great results.

Many of you may have seen this film in the US, but it was not shown in theatres in Australia. After seeing the film, the Urban Fight Club (Men’s’ ministry) committed to have a professional showing of this film for the people of our community. It reflected two of our key values, fighting for our faith and for the family. It was quite a bit of work, but it was worth it. Our goal was to get the non-Christian spouses of our church members to come to this great film. So, we were originally thinking a small group of people on a Friday night. Well, God had different plans. We started giving out tickets and the numbers grew steadily every week and on the night we had over 60 people come to the evening with close to half being visitors. Many atheists, non-Christians, skeptics, single adults and married couples came to the showing of Fireproof. We had good food, nice venue (not at the church) and a good quality film. Explaining to the crowd it has a Christian message, insight into marriage and that it was good entertainment value. After the movie, claps and cheers, but the best part was most people turned their chairs around and started talking. Asking questions and discussing the film. Some complaints from the atheists, but they were impressed with the quality of the event. As a pre-evangelistic event, it was perfect to plant the seeds and for our group to effectively meet with many non-Christian men who would not come to our church in the past. Pray for many of these families and lives of these men.

The Face of Suffering

During this difficult economic time in world history, many people have questions. Where is God? If he does exist, how could he allow things like this to happen? Is he even listening?

During this month it is school holidays in New South Wales (year round school in Australia) and many people are out of the city. CBF is usually at its lowest attendance, but not this year. We had a series delivered by Justin Moffat, ‘The Face of Suffering’ -Three things you can do with God in the face of suffering. Wrestle, Wait and Rely- based out of the book of Habakkuk. (I know not your typical Easter passage, but doesn’t the entire Bible point to Jesus?) What a great series and many people coming along to ask some of the hard questions, also, getting the answers. Again seeing how even the Minor Prophets point us to the redemptive message of Jesus.

Prayer requests:

1. Ladies outreach in the community around Glorious Hope Baptist.

2. Working through the growing pains of a church plant.

3. Thinking through the growth of the church and how to effectively minister within our community.

4. Investigating Christianity courses in the city.

5. Furlough details for 2010

Thanks for hanging in there and reading through this update. It is amazing to see what God is doing in this city. Thanks for your support and prayers.

The adventure continues…

Russ & Cathy Matthews

(To those concerned, we try to use the Australian spellings for our updates. Thanks for your feedback.)

To all of our supporters and friends,

In case you may have missed the previous messages about our arrival in Iowa, we will be back for “The Big Picture” Missions Conference at Saylorville Baptist Church. Many of the events will be open to anyone to come and participate in the conference. We would love to see you and encourage you to come and be apart of the conference.  I have attached the events that are open for anyone to participate.

Sunday, October 5^th

9:00-10:00 am          First Service – Main Speaker: Russ Matthews (ABWE – Sydney, Australia)

10:00-10:45am         Coffee Cove and Missionary booths open

10:45-11:45am         Second Service – Main Speaker: Russ Matthews (ABWE – Sydney, Australia)

5:30-6:30pm             Missionary Presentations in Adult, Youth and Shine Modules
6:45-7:30pm             Evening Service – Church Plant Commissioning Service

7:30-8:30pm             Dessert and Coffee Reception with the Missionaries in the Coffee Cove

 

Wednesday, October 8th

6:00-7:00pm             Buffet Dinner
7:00-8:00pm             Missionary Christmas and Main Speaker: Mark Nikitin (ABWE – Hungary)

We do have a pretty short schedule while we are back in Iowa, but we hope to see as many of as possible during the trip. If this does not work out for your schedule, we understand. We are planning on being back in the US for a longer period in 2010. We will contact you for that schedule soon.

Thanks for your support and prayers.

Please go to www.saylorvillebaptist.com for updated details on “The Big Picture” Missions Conference. All of the locations for the public events will be held at Saylorville Baptist in Des Moines, IA.

The adventure continues…

Russ and Cathy Matthews

 

Amazing Days

 

I was preaching from John 4 on Sunday, the story of the woman at the well with Jesus. A timeless story and a timeless application to our lives. The portion that hit me was the monologue to the disciples, expressing that most of the time in ministry, we benefit from the work of those who went before us. Yet, God allows for us to witness and participate in his amazing harvest.

 

We have been working hard for the past few years in Sydney. Yet, the opportunities God opens to us have been in partnership with people who have been doing a work here before we came. So, the things I am going to share with you is part of the work we are doing, but much of the credit needs to go to those who have been doing the work prior to our arrival.

 

Why are we here? Exploring the glory an uncertainty of humanity

Talk Series from the Book of Psalms

 

City Bible Forum has had resurgence in the past few weeks. There has been more and more people coming to be apart of this great series that is based in the Psalms. We had over 240 people come to the lunch time talks. Many non-Christians have come along to hear the message from the Bible. We had two people come to know Jesus as their Saviour last week. It has been amazing to see this ministry grow and seeing people coming to an eternal relationship with God.

 (Ministry partners: Peter Kaldor, Craig Josling, Ray Galea, Amalie Parmerlee, Janet Hueng, Ken West) 

 

Prayer points:

• Pray for more people to come each week to hear the continuation of the series in Psalms.
• Russ will be the primary speaker in September. He will be speaking through the ‘I am’ passages in John. 

Urban Fight Club: 1^st rule of Fight Club: Do not talk about Fight Club.

 

I cannot speak about this enough or really at all. It is in the rule book, but if you would like to know how we are getting men into action for faith, family and the body. Email me. We had 17 men come on Saturday. Not for a talk or just to have a good breakfast. It was a call to action. We were tired of complaining about men not coming to church, so, we are teaching them how to ‘fight’ for faith, family and the body. Warning: Understand this is not for everyone and is not just another men’s prayer breakfast.

(Psst… ladies this is not for you, sorry!)

(Ministry partners: Sam Bassari, Aaron Ralston, Andrew Mannah, Andy Rae, Sean Nolan)

Prayer points:

• Pray for men to stay committed to the ‘Fight!’
• Pray for men to connect with one another and God. Also, for them to lead.

 

Connecting with God

 

We had a ‘Connecting with God’ Sunday at Glorious Hope Baptist. It was a great day and God provided many opportunities for people to bring their non-Christian family and friends. I preached through the story of Jesus and the women and the well. Pray that many would come to a saving knowledge of a ‘connection’ with God.

 (Ministry Partners: Sam Bassari, Lody Bassari, Cathy Matthews, Celeste Bassari, Andrew Mannah)

 

Prayer Point:

• I will be preaching this message at Chatswood Baptist’s evangelistic outreach on Wednesday night. Pray that people’s lives would be impacted by this message.

 

Family matters

 

The family is doing well. Caroline just celebrated her 3^rd birthday, Josh is continuing to lead in Scouts and Sunday school, Hope is growing in her guitar playing and Becca in her story writing abilities. Cathy and I will be doing marriage counseling and mentoring within the church this coming year.

 

We are praying for you and thankful for your continued support and prayers.

 

The adventure continues…

Russ & Cathy Matthews

 

We had Holiday Bible Club (VBS) this past week at Cornerstone Baptist Church. This is spring break for schools (remember, the seasons are opposite in Australia) and it was a short week for HBC, due to Labor Day being on Monday. Cathy was able to read the Missionary Story (Hudson Taylor’s life) and Russ did the Bible lesson and was the director of the puppets (The Puppet Master). Even with the shortened week, we had good attendance. Hope, Rebecca and Joshua invited four of their friends from the neighborhood to come to the HBC. Some could not come the whole week, but they had a great week of games and hearing the Gospel. There were many salvation decisions and Russ had the opportunity to lead two boys to the Lord, David and Kyle. What a privilege. Please be praying for these boys as they go back to non-Christian homes.
Our “Introducing God” course will begin next Wednesday, 18 October. We have been doing training for this course throughout the month of September. This is an evangelistic outreach that will be done in the home groups on Wednesday nights. We are asking for your prayers for non-Christian friends and family members to come and learn about the Bible and Jesus Christ. The tool of outreach was developed by Australians and has been very effective in directing people to relationships with Christ. During the month of November, Russ will be preaching through the “Introducing God” course at Inner West Baptist.  We pray God’s will be done at Cornerstone and Inner West.
Thanks for your continued financial support and prayers. We are privileged to be representing Jesus in this area of the world.
The adventure continues…
 

The Matthews Family
We all like sheep…
The story of Josh and his shepherding expedition will be coming up in the next edition of The Message On-line (ABWE’s publication).

Struggles of David
Russ had the opportunity to share a message from 1 Samuel 27, at the Australian Fellowship of Bible Believing Churches Men’s conference, on the struggles of David’s life during this “renegade” stage of David’s life. We pray that the conference would challenge the men to turn back to their “true” security (God), develop the craft of wisdom and get a grip on Grace. It was a great conference on the Life of David, the man after God’s own heart, in a beautiful setting South of Sydney.

House of Prayer
We are continually challenged to make our home a house of prayer. Now one prayer point is praying for our house. Trusting God with all that comes our way and knowing he has the best plan for our lives. In the past month, this has become a reality. Our landlord has decided to sell our home. We hope that we would be able to remain in the house, but it will be up to who the house is sold. We have been able o build relationships with our neighbors and see the needs for a church in this area. We pray for the Lord’s will on this issue. Our van was vandalised the other night. We were able to fix it quickly, but the realities of a fallen world become more evident everyday. We just ask for your prayers for our house and safety, but most importantly that we will continue to go forth with the Gospel regardless of what may come our way. The Lord is our strength.

Thanks for your faithful support and prayers.