Slow down at last. We dropped Stuart and Amanda Blount, our UK Elim representatives, at their hotel by the airport last night, and Conference is now over. It is quiet around the office this week with a number of the staff taking a well earned break. It was a fantastic week with Rob Ketterling stepping in as our key-note speaker on a week’s notice. Rob spoke so well and fitted in and related to our churches. Dan Lian was our Now Generation speaker. I caught the night sessions and they really pumped. Dan preached an amazing message on love on his first night.
It was my last conference as National Leader and on the National Leadership Team. Mike Griffiths is now National Leader and Boyd was voted onto the team. Congratulations guys. I can now focus on our church and its related activities. A couple of years ago as Elders we set our BHAGS (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). Now is not the time to retire or rest; I want to be part of seeing these fulfilled.

Awesome to see NZ beat Australia in the semi-finals of the World Cup. We were given seats in the other semi-final between Wales and France by our college construction company; Arrow Construction. We also managed to get seats for Stuart and Amanda, although the Welsh loss put a damper on the occasion.

Bad weekend. Firstly my favorite team the Warriors lost in the Grand Final but worse than that; on Friday, ten days out from One Conference we got word that our guest speaker Chris Hodges from the States was not able to come because of a health issue. We searched around through our contacts, but Chris directed us to a friend Rob Ketterling from River Valley Church Minnesota. Rob and his wife Becca pioneered the church in 1995 and have built a thriving church with over 3,800 in attendance across four locations. Rob will be an awesome replacement for Chris at conference. Thanks Chris, trust you are back to full health quickly.

A great part of the weekend was travelling to speak at our campus in Whangarei. Marilyn and Rob Redfearn travelled with me, with Rob singing an awesome song. What an amazing voice.

On Wednesday and Thursday we are blessed to have Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, worship leader at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church with us. Wednesday is only for worship team members but Thursday night is an open night of worship. Make sure you do not miss this great night.

Well this Sunday morning I was planning on speaking at our City campus, but US evangelical broadcaster Harold Camping seems to think he knows what Jesus said only God knows. That is, that Judgment Day is on May 21 starting in New Zealand and sweeping around the world. Shame about that, as I was looking forward to being in the City. Maybe I should still plan on going as he got it wrong last time when he said the world would end in 1994. Crackpots like this give Christianity a bad name.

One Conference registrations are already over 1000. It seems that our Elim people just love the conference experience. Unfortunately next year we are going to need to put a minimal charge on attending. At the moment conference is a big item on the national budget. So get in this year as it will be the last free one.

I caught up on Thursday with Graeme and Linda Flett who have settled in well in their new roles at Laidlaw College. Next week I will be down in Christchurch for a National Leaders meeting. Please pray for this as there are some major decisions on the agenda.

Wow, an amazing Elim conference with outstanding ministry from Dr. Myles Munroe, Dr. Joseph Serwadda, Matt Fielder and Pastor Nigel Tween. We held two night services to accommodate the huge crowd. We really need a bigger building. What makes our conference special is the sense of family that has developed.
We enjoyed Dr. Joseph and Richard staying over after conference for a couple of weeks. I took them out fishing in the harbor with Chris Bethwaite. The fishing wasn’t great as we only got three good size snapper, but it was a beautiful day and the sea was like glass. We went right around Waiheke Island.

It was sad to then have to attend the funeral of one of our retired pastors, John Taylor in Christchurch. John was able to be with us at conference but passed away quickly after that. John and Jean had faithfully served the Lord in Stoke in our Nelson Elim Church for many years. Jean and the family shared some wonderful memories.

I enjoyed speaking at Pastor Luka Robertson’s church in Botany. It’s called Manukau Hope Centre. They are doing so well; it reminded me of our early days. Luka is an outstanding leader.

Tomorrow I have the privilege of speaking to the outgoing Manukau City Council staff at their Staff Prayer Breakfast. After this month they will be part of the new Auckland Super City. They have asked me to speak on change.