Finally here!

I feel like I have so much to say so bear with me! I know I have somewhat explained to some people what we are going to be doing, but I feel like a lot of people don’t really know, so I’ll start with that. Campus Outreach, the ministry that I am here with started at Samford University. It has now spread to college campuses all over the United States. But it has also spread to Australia. It is in Brisbane, Australia which is in Queensland. Campus Outreach Australia has since planted a Campus Outreach in New Zealand as well. We had been told that they were looking to start one in Sydney which is why they were sending a team there this summer. But we didn’t really know much more than that. After getting down here, we have been going through orientation with the Campus Outreach Australia director named Rich. We learned that their mission was to spread to other campuses in Australia. In 2004 they visioned to have three CCP teams going to Australia in 2010. That is this summer and we have 3 teams going to Armidale, Brisbane, and Sydney! It’s amazing because we usually only have 1 CCP team each summer. It’s great to feel like we are a part of what God is doing over here in Australia. With that said, Rich really wants us to investigate our college campus here in Sydney. He wants us to develop a plan as to how ministry would work here in Sydney. There are essentially three college campuses (although they call them universities here. Colleges are like their dorms). I have been assigned to the University of Sydney. So we will be going there two or three days a week and go to another campus one day a week. We are also partnering with another ministry while we are here. Jim Jung is a Korean American who was commissioned by Missions of the World to Australia about 3 or 4 years ago. He has helped to plant a church while also has started a ministry called Students Outreach to the World on each of these 3 campuses. However, it is all Asian because of the high Asian population. We are partnering with them so that we can learn about the campuses while also meeting students on campus to get them plugged in there. So that’s a little bit of what we will be doing.

The dynamics of Christianity and of the church is way different here than it is in Bible Belt, America. Even though I had been told that, it is definitely obvious even from the minute we flew into Australia. As we were riding a bus at the Brisbane airport to be taken to our next flight to Sydney, I overheard a conversation in which two Aussies were talking and then I heard one of them say something like, “It must have been a Christian.” When we were walking around the harbor, we decided to take a group picture. A photographer asked if we would like a professional photograph, and we told him no thanks and he responds…”I thought that since you were Christians you would have high standards.” Our leader Matt got stopped going through customs at the Brisbane airport because he had written “Minister” on his card as his occupation. Basically the man asked him if he had come here to work and told him that Australia has enough ministers and doesn’t need anymore. He basically told him he couldn’t work here and couldn’t do anything that an Australian could. But IN fact, I was recently told a statistic that about 2.5% of those in Sydney or maybe it’s all of Australia claim to be born again Christians when Indonesia has about 10%. So the problem here is not nominalism at all. It’s that they don’t believe in their need for a Savior. If you talk to them about Christianity, they may agree with everything you say, but it still doesn’t matter to them.

We start going on campuses Monday. I’m really excited about it but naturally really nervous. So pray that we would get in good conversation and quickly learn the dynamics of the campus.

Just a little of what we have been doing…we have really just been going through orientation. There is a lot of Thai food so we have gone there, and we went to like probably the only Mexican food restaurant today. We went to the market today and it was definitely an experience. I’m excited about eating some really fresh food. And we have been running a little bit in the mornings. This morning we ran to the Sydney Opera House. It is so pretty here! Thanks so much for your prayers! I’ll try to update again soon after we get on campus and meet some people.