QTC Missions 2009 - Atherton, QLD (lowdown!)

So, here are the reasons this blog hasn't been updated in a while:

- Assessment: essays and exams have been flowing in thick and fast since the mid-semester break. But Praise God that I seem to be getting through them relatively ok and despite failing a recent Greek Paradigm (tables) test, I'm still joyful :)

- Illness: I personally have been trying to shake a sore throat for the better part of a fortnight now. Steph has had some pretty bad days with tiredness and colds. Many people at College are getting sick and classes are noticeably less-full than at the start of the semester. I think the relatively quick change in weather as well as longer hours/less sleep has built up. I also think that many of us have been spiritually targeted at this particular time when assessment has started to pile up. Tactically this is what I would have done as well.

With that out of the way, here is a short summary of the activities we participated in during our short missions trip to Atherton over the break.

The trip lasted for a week. We arrived at Cairns airport bright and early with fellow QTC'ers. Our mini reunion was short as our teams headed into three different directions soon after - one team stayed in Cairns, another team went South to Gordonvale/Babinda and our team headed off to Atherton.

Cameron Wills is the pastor for the Presbyterian church in Atherton. I forgot that I had met him before at a number of QTC events in the past.

The activies we were involved with included:

• short talks - I gave one to a nursing home and a youth talk to the teens group
• doorknocking - for the first couple of days we spent our time doorknocking the local area in and around Atherton to help raise awareness of the church and its activities. Karl and I had a great experience with one particular guy who accepted 'A Fresh Start - John Chapman' from us. Please pray for him as he reads through the book.
• kids club - the church holds a weekly kids club involving, primarily, non-Christian primary aged school kids from the community. It was a great time of fun and joy to meet with these kids and share with them the Gospel!
• Nursing home visit - as I mentioned before we visited a nursing home where three of the guys (myself included) gave short talks. It was great to meet some of the folks there - I met a gentleman named 'Richard' who shared with me some fantastic war stories :)
• Youth Group - on the Saturday night we helped with their small teens group playing games and sharing the bible with them. I gave a short talk on 'Who is the Greatest?'
• Church - we also helped out with the two church services. Reading the bible, sharing our testimonies and prayer points and preaching

All up it was an encouraging time away in a relativley different culture to our own. I was excited to see the work of God in a different part of the country and also grew in fellowship with other students. I was also challenged to think through what it would be like to minister in an area such as Atherton.

For those who have missed them, here are some photos of our time away. Feel free to leave a comment :)

QTC Missions 2009 - Atherton, QLD

Tomorrow (Monday) morning Steph and I fly out to Cairns to join a small team from QTC on a missions trip to the Atherton Tablelands. The whole college is going on a 1 week rural mission - half the team (and the rest of the CCCB'ers/5:17church'ers) will be going to Rockhampton. The Cairns team has been further split into three - one staying in Cairns, one going to Atherton and one heading to Gordonvale/Babinda.

For those in the habit, please pray for Steph and I whilst we're gone. In particular please pray for the following:

• Praise and thank God for His gospel of grace and mercy!
• Pray for a fruitful time away for all the QTC teams
• Pray for me (Steven) - I'm giving two talks - one to a youthrgoup (on Matthew 20:20-28, 'serving others') and a short talk to a nursing home (probably on Mark 8).
• Pray for courage and fruitful discussion as we go doorknocking on Wednesday and Thursday
• Pray for energy and health in our time away - I came down with a small cold last night, but feeling better this morning.

Thank you! Update and plenty of photos when we get back.

Half-way before the half-way of 1st year at QTC!

Or in other words, we've just finished Term 1 (7 weeks) at QTC and are on holidays. We've got a two week break (which will be filled with some fun, study and essay writing) before Steph and I head to Atherton for a college missions trip.

It's been a great start to the year. We've learnt so much (I often boast that my Hebrew and Greek are far better than my Chinese) and have been challenged with much. Steph initially found the study hard going - it's a very different style of thinking that we are being confronted with and a lot of our presuppositions are being challenged. But we are growing in our love for studying God's word and are very appreciative of the prayers and guidance we receive from wonderful lecturers.

Please pray for us during this particular time - that we would be resting, but also that we would be able to keep on top of our studies during these next two weeks. Also pray for our upcoming missions trip which will be in regional Queensland - a place utterly unfamiliar to both Steph and I. Pray that we'll be able to serve well during the week, that we are faithful in the work we do and that God would do a mighty work in and through us to the community in Atherton.

QTC - Prayer Request

To those friends who read this blog and are in the habit of praying...

A number of things have happened lately at the College Steph and I are attending. A few students have had to pull out of studies for various reasons beyond their control and some other students seem to be looking more run down than usual and sickness has hit some of the first year students. Please pray for these situations and pray especially that God would bind Satan and his minions from doing further harm.

Thank you :)

OT501 - Formative Old Testament Traditions

Brilliant moment #142 in OT501 last week:

One of my fellow students and brother did a presentation on the literary features of Judges 3:12-30 - the relatively unknown story of Ehud and his defeat of Eglon king of Moab.

In verse 19 Ehud says to Eglon, "I have a secret message for you, O king." And again in verse 20 Ehud says, "I have a message from God for you." The word 'message' is the Hebrew word דָּבָר (davar) which can also be translated as 'word' or 'thing'. So in a brilliant double entendre Ehud comes to Eglon and says, "I have a secret 'thing' for you, O king."

Eglon is both stupid enough to believe that this is something special and naive enough to send his guards away. Ehud produces his secret 'davar' from God and Eglon ends up dead. Brilliant!

QTC - Queensland Theological College

College has started with a bang! My apologies to the blog readers out there - there's been plenty going on and I know I neglect this particular blog the most! Here's a short update on what happened between Christmas and the start of studies:

- BLT - we spent most of January getting ready for BLT 2009. The week was great with great talks from Grant Thorp and Gary Koo along with great fellowship from those in Sydney and in Brisbane. It was also stinking hot :P

- 1 Week's holiday - Steph and I took a trip down to Tasmania for a week for some time out before college started. A great time of rest - photos here.

When we got back we started to get more excited about college and study. I kept a small diary of how week 1 went...and without further ado, here is a slightly condensed version of week 1 at QTC...


A regular day
Got in super early because the jokester (David Baily) said we needed to get in early to claim a desk in the library. Each student has their own study desk - but when we got there we noticed that the desks had already been assigned...
First lesson was Hebrew - yikes! However Leigh Trevaskis makes the learning easy and his aim is to help us gradually move into Hebrew rather than drown. We finish the lecture at 9:30am and I'm already hungry...not good.
Immediately after Hebrew we have an allotted study hour - which is so beneficial and helps to consolidate what we just learnt.

Morning tea rolls around and I find it especially encouraging that the lecturers walk through the library (where the students study) and tell us morning tea is on (and they have continued to do so since).

Following on from this are two subjects back to back - 'The Cross and Clash of Cultures' where Bruce winter passionately walks us through 1st Century culture and then helps us parrallel 21st Century culture. It's such a privelege to be learning under him - although his class is a lot less structured than the next one - 'Intro to the New Testament - Content and Setting of the Gospel Tradition'. Wes Redgen covered basic introductions to the subject and our course outline.

Lunch found us at one of the Emmanuel College student lunch rooms - a rickety room downstairs and tucked away. Wes joined us for lunch (and apparently does so for most lunches). Steph and I were dilligent in packing our lunch the night before :P Well... Steph was dilligent - I just got her to make double...

Following lunch on Tuesdays we have another allotted study hour. On Wednesday the hour is devoted to a section called 'God Goes' where a guest speaker from a particular profession is invited to come and share their thoughts on life, work and ministry in their particular arena. On Thursday this slot is taken up by a Chappel service.

Then in the afternoon I find myself in Greek and needing to switch over mentally from Hebrew (though Steph doesn't have this problem since she isn't studying Hebrew). Wes started us off slow introducing us to the alphabet and dipthongs (joined vowels). Following Greek was an alloted study hour for Greek.

Thus ended day 1 and we were excited to get the rest of the week under our belt.

Other Highlights

- I love the alloted language study hours! I don't know of any other college in Australia which seeks to do the same (but I heard they do it in Cambridge). It's so helpful considering that I've often felt a little intimidated during language classes but the study hour has helped to consolidate what we've covered.

- On Thursday and Friday we have our 'Intro to the OT - Formative OT Traditions' with Leigh Trevaskis and Keith Birchley. Over summer the college was unable to acquire another OT lecturer (they did have one confirmed, but it seems to have fallen through - and there's a new NT lecturer coming in the middle of the year). So Keith Birchley, who is also doing further studies, has taken on some of the OT lectures. And boy, if you're familiar with Keith Birchley then his lectures are that much more deeper!

- In both 'Intro to NT' and 'Intro to OT' we have already looked at some interesting opinions of the bible. In our course we will be interacting with a lot of unhelpful material (mostly written by dead Germans...) in order to interact with their ideas and further shore up our beliefs. It's proving a challenge already - so pray for us as we're both struggling a little in understanding and following some of the arguments. That said we do see the value of reading this material.

- There are about 35 people in 1st year studies - which makes for a relatively big class size. Please pray for us as we go through the year that we would encourage each other and build each other up outside of the class room. It's a little hard to get very good interaction in the classroom as you feel you need to say your bit or miss out - so pray that the first years can interact with each other to ensure no-one gets left too far behind.

- Daily prayer - I've been thoroughly encouraged by the short prayers at the beginning and end of each class. Whenever we study the languages our prayers are centred on knowing God's word with a richer passion and knowledge that we may not only preach it better, but better know God Himself. And in other classes the common prayer is that the material we study not only benefit our minds, but also lead us to better obedience.

I'm loving QTC at the moment! Please continue to pray for us as we seek to grow and learn more.

Preaching over…next up…preaching conference!

I’ve spent the last two weekends preaching. Last weekend at St Lucia I went through Ezra 4-6 emphasising God’s sovereignty as we pursue holiness. Today I had another crack at Proverbs 9 to the youth church with Brisbane Cantonese Alliance Church and emphasised the wisdom given to us because we are in Christ. Monday to Thursday I’ll be attending QTC for a preaching conference with David Cook. So for these few weeks I’m going to be saturated with preaching!

I was struck in my preparations for both sermons how difficult the applications seemed to be. Figuring out the passages and finding some structure to the sermons was ok, this process is falling out quicker than at first. But applications are still something I struggle with. Why?

I’ve been tossing up various reasons for a long time, but it finally dawned on me last Friday before my Proverbs sermon today. Are the troubles I have with applications in sermons due to the fact that I myself am not reflecting on how the passage is applying to me? It struck me between the eyes. The questions I was asking of others I was not asking of myself. So keep praying that I approach God’s word with a soft heart, ready to be confronted, challenged and shaped through it.

David Jackman - Preaching from Exodus

I am very tired!

So, from 'Walk 4 Bibles' to 'YF Christmas In May' to teaching Sunday School to David Jackman's seminars at the Queensland Theological College on preaching from Exodus. I'm looking forward to my sleep in tomorrow morning.

It was a very packed 2 day seminar. Four one-hour lectures covered Exodus, preaching, but also pastoral issues and concerns. Along with the Don Carson seminar from last weekend I was pleasantly surprised that both Carson and Jackman, whilst being academically rigorous were also pastoral at heart. So with Jackman I was glad to know that he was approachable with questions and just general chit-chat.

Lots to digest from the past two days. Plenty of notes to review. I know I wanted to post some thoughts on the Carson seminar also, so I guess I'll do that at the same time.

Watch this space!

Don Carson - QTC Year of Excellence

When I heard a few months back that Don Carson was coming to Brisbane to speak to say that I was excited could have been an understatement. To be able to hear and meet the man who has had such an impact on world wide Evangelicalism would be an honour.

Now, I say this not because I 'worship' the man himself. I think there's an unhealthy tendency amongst us to idolise particular speakers for the speaking abilities or prowess in the pulpit. My excitement was not in the speaker itself, but in his clear and precise proclamation of the gospel. Having heard his series on 'Revelation' from @the Castle, I was looking forward to hearing his thoughts on theology and preaching.

So we arrived on a rather windy Brisbane Autumn morning and were ushered into a rather cold lecture theatre for the first of four one-hour sessions with Carson.

His lectures covered four main areas:

• Preaching and Biblical Theology: Connecting with the big picture
• Preaching and Systematic Theology: Connecting with the character of God
• Preaching and History Theology: Connecting with History
• Preaching and Pastoral Theology: Connecting with life, connecting with the heart

Whilst I took as many notes as I could, I can see now that they were far from sufficient in capturing all the little nuances of his lectures. Therefore I ordered the mp3 talks which also include his sermons from Friday night and Sunday morning/evening - the seminar itself was one Saturday.

The first session was of great interest to me. Biblical Theology, from the time I heard about it, has excited me no end! Biblical theology has been the greatest reason why I am passionate about preaching from the Old Testament, and find preaching the OT much easier than the New Testament (which is ironic since most people find preaching the NT easier!). But that's also possibly because I've leaned towards the OT in choosing passages to preach from.

That said there were many nuggets of gold to be found in Carson's session on 'the big picture'. In all his eight-point argument for preaching biblical theology was very persuasive. I will endeavour to make these notes available incrementally.

The second session was a bit more heavy in both content and language. Carson is a man of many big words, his expression is clear and emphatic, yet his style is very high-brow. In some ways you can immediately see that he is a lecturer back home in Chicago! My notes on this seminar were less than the previous one, but there were many challenges in this session also.

The third talk regained a lot of interest. Partly because the air-conditioning had been switched off and partly because we were all a bit snoozy after lunch. I had never realised how important history is to the bible - it is so grounded in history that to remove historical events would be to undermine the faith altogether. For instance, you can take Siddhartha Guatama (Buddha) away from Buddhism and you would still have the fundamentals for Buddhism. If you approached a Muslim, carefully, respectfully and logically, they would agree with you that Allah's vision could have been given to another man other than Muhammad. But you cannot do this with Christianity. Take away Jesus and you take away everything.

Now, I had already known this, but goodness everything else in the lecture was fantastic!

By the fourth session everyone was feeling pretty drained. It was a full on day so far with many things to digest, and yet another hour was approaching with yet another topic. I knew that Don Carson himself had just come from a Monday to Friday preaching conference in Sydney, but I later found out that his talks there were the same here. Thus we were getting a condensed week-long preaching conference in the one day!

But in a lot of ways you could say that Carson left his best for last. Whilst he may have been a lecturer for the past 30 or so years, you can see that his heart is still connected with his pastoral days. There was plenty of practical thoughts from Carson as well as some excellent illustrations.

In all I learnt quite a lot from the day. Not only by way of information from Carson himself, but also quite a lot in his style and story telling. With his excellent preaching style I was able to reflect on my own style and areas I can improve in. Not to be in the image of Carson, but to better improve my speaking ability.