If there’s one thing that defines Christchurch it would be the Cathedral. It is the city’s namesake after all and this past weekend is the last time most of this city’s residents will ever lay eyes on it.

The cathedral suffered extensive and possibly irreparable damages during the 22 February quake last year. Since then it’s remained slumped over in the desolate city centre, a sad reminder of just how powerful and rare this event really was. Each new aftershock has only added insult to injury, with the Christmas aftershocks sealing this once proud icon’s eventual fate.

It was just a few weeks ago that Bishop Victoria Matthews uttered those controversial words, thus making it public: the heart of the city would beat no more. (Watch it here)

So this past Saturday, Kate and I went to say our farewells along with thousands of others from around the city and around the world. It was a somber and ethereal moment standing there with so many others, looking at the icon of the city in such a sad state and realizing that we might never see it again. Ever.

As I looked around the perimeter of “the square” at what used to be the vibrant cultural center of Christchurch and realize that it’s slowly becoming unrecognizable, I started to wonder… What will this city become? What will it be known for? Will the hub of the city ever hold spiritual significance again, or are we entering an age where secularism is the core of our society? Will this place ever be the same again?

No formal plan has been announced about what will become of the plot of earth now occupied by the stones of the Cathedral, only vague rumors here and there. Some claim it will be rebuilt from the ground up in similar or identical fashion… others anticipate some modern monstrosity to go up in it’s place… and still others are convinced that the people of Christchurch can somehow stop the pending demolition. Whatever happens, this moment signals a much larger shift in this city than I think anyone can imagine. Essentially, whatever replaces the Cathedral in the middle of the city will embody the new sentiments and values of today’s Christchurch. And whatever we put there today will remain there for many, many years into the future and will forever mark the 22 of February, 2011 as the day that turned this city on it’s head.

If it were up to you, what would you put in the center of Christchurch?

The other morning while flipping pancakes I got to thinking about “the star”. You know, the one that hung over the manger where “little-baby-Jesus” was born? I was struck by the fact that a band of Iranian magician-astrologers were lead to Jesus by tracking a mass of burning gas in outer space.

» Continue Reading…

2011 Ministry Highlights

—Partnering with community initiatives for earthquake recovery and cleanup

—Hosting families, teams and individuals

—English tutoring and school volunteering

—Participating in/sometimes facilitating prayer gatherings

—First nation-wide organic church gathering, held in Waikanae in April

—Helping start a university aged missional community

—Helping plan and facilitate organic church forums/training gatherings

—Helping to organize several corporate worship and teaching events

—Teaching at YWAM Oxford

—Organizing a YWAM National Gathering prayer tour of Christchurch

—Volunteering and donating to the Grace Vineyard New Brighton food distribution center

—Meeting and networking with some of Christchurch’s finest

2011 Personal Highlights

—Receiving love and encouragement from friends and partners here

—Receiving words and revelations from God and witnessing His faithfulness

—Seeing new places on the South Island

—Adopting Indie! (our cat)

—Being snowed in not once, but twice (unheard of in Christchurch)

—Witnessing the joy that the ALL BLACKS brought to the country with their championship win

—Meeting new friends and building relationships

—Transitioning from employee to freelance graphic artist (Noah)

—Witnessing our friend’s newborn son enter the world

—Surviving four earthquakes between 5.9 and 6.3 magnitude (not including the 7.1 in 2010)

—Sponge baths and using a chemical toilet for 3 months (stinky on both accounts)

—Getting pregnant, hearing heartbeat, feeling baby move!

Right now I’m listening to a fantastic and highly inspirational talk from a guy called Wolfgang Simson. Wolfgang is a spiritual entrepreneur – a true “apostle” if I can be so generous – and a bit of an instigator. He was one of the earliest proponents of “house church” in the modern western world with his book “Houses That Change the World”.

During these 2 hours (yes, 2) he is unpacking the Kingdom in ways that I’ve not heard many people do. He is ripping the “gospel of the Kingdom” right out of the “nice comfy” church context that we have grown to depend on, and is instead painting a picture so big you need a universe to contain it.

Simply put – the Kingdom of God is too big for our Christianity. What does that mean? You’ll have to listen to Wolfgang’s stories and figure it our for yourself.

» LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE «

What inspires you about Wolfgang’s concept of the Kingdom?

So as Kate described in the previous post, there has been quite a “stirring” in Christchurch the last 2 months over several “prophecies” and dreams that have been circulating. It’s been a strange experience watching the hype build and participating in all of the discussion surrounding such bold and heavy “statements”. The threat of Tsunami has circulated to the point where you’d be hard-pressed to find ANYONE in the city who HASN’T heard about the “28th of September”.

I’ve waited until now to post anything online because I didn’t want to contribute to the hysteria – however I still wanted to make sure I got something up BEFORE the 28th just for good measure.

I thought many who follow our blog would find the following documents interesting as a “case study” – probably more interesting than listening to us talk about our personal take on the matter. So I’m going to post links to the various “prophecies”, dreams, rebuttals, and so-forth and let you wade through it as we did. (Most of you will read this after the 28th and will have the advantage of hindsight.)

First we have the original “prophetic word” – Third Christchurch Shaking

Next we were given a documented dream from another gentleman (whom I will not name here) – read below:

Several years ago I was given a dream in which I saw waves of the Holy Spirit coming out of Christchurch, and at the time I realized that the name Christchurch was significant as it had Christ’s name.
 
Early in this year I was given an inner knowledge that something big was going to happen on September 28th 2011. However upon sharing this I was told I was presumptuous to put a date on it.

In August 2011 when we had the big snow , I was not able to go to work and on the Tuesday of that week I had a dream given to me.
 
I saw myself first of all warning people, the first person I warned of the coming danger did not listen to me , then the second person listened and accepted the warning. I knew from this that my task is to warn people. The Lord said to me, ” Those who listen to this warning will be saved and those who do not listen will perish.”

Then in the dream I was standing on the North side of the  Waimakariri River mouth and I saw a big hole open up in the sea by Kairaki Beach, it was one km wide. It  was caused by an earthquake. Further out to sea,about six km out, I saw a pressure wave rising up from the water being displaced from the hole. The wave was huge and it eclipsed the horizon. Then the sand and shingle on the embankments from both sides of the river mouth began to fall into the hole, the trees also fell in sending up large sprays into the air.
 
Then the wave came rushing in on to the land destroying everything in its path, all of the beach settlements, Kairaki Beach, Pines Beach, Woodend Beach were wiped out, it flowed on up to the Woodend Camping Ground Lodge destroying it and continued up to the south outskirts of Tuahiwi.

It was very fast flowing water, angry water,and its speed was perhaps 180k. The town of Kaiapoi was covered by the wave. At this point I presumed that the bridges would be destroyed because of the speed and volume of water, although I did not see this. The water continued to flow through Belfast , taking out the Pub on the corner before the motorway. The water reached Northwood and flooded into the Northwood development of homes.

It continued on through Redwood, Burwood, with the trees just falling in its path. The noise of the trees falling was loud but the sound of the water was much worse.The water was flooding all the beach areas, Waimairi Beach, North Beach, New Brighton, South New Brighton and Sumner. From Sumner it traveled inland, but by now the speed and force of the water was slowing down. I saw it reach the Princess Margaret hospital. Some areas of ChCh were affected and others were missed.

God is a loving, caring, God who wants to save people so He is warning through this dream so people can be safe.

In addition to these, Ken Ring, affectionately known as “The Moon Man” here in NZ, has predicted an increase in seismic activity between the 23rd and 28th of September with the 28th being the date of “highest probability” due to a Earth-Sun-Mercury alignment (something to do with gravity funneling). You can read what he says HERE.

So, you have these 3 separate “sources” pointing to the 28th for likely seismic activity, but that’s not all.

Moving further into the realm of pseudo-science, you have the Comet Elenin trackers adding incoming celestial debris (a comet) to this already potent mix and claiming that it’s not just a “comet” but it’s actually “Planet X”. The comet/planet was meant to be part of the previously mentioned alignment but seems to have disintegrated within the last week, proving that it really was a comet, frustrating conspiracy theorists across the planet and relieving many others. (Google “Comet Elenin Earthquakes” if you have a few hours to kill)

Add to this various others around the city who have had random Tsunami dreams and physics saying they “see disaster ahead” and you’ve got a pretty powerful cocktail for fear and confusion.

Now, in the midst of all of this, you have those who are doing their best to help Christians (and others) make sense of these things. Below are 3 individuals who have written sensible rebuttals, specifically in regards to the initial “prophetic word”.

These first two are from two separate individuals but combined into one document that was sent around by a local pastor. You can read or download them HERE.

The third is a blog posted by a friend of ours who is living near the coast (meaning he has a very personal interest in understanding these things). You may enjoy reading a few other posts before and after this one as well – HERE.

And, just for good measure, here is an interesting (and a little condescending) video from a psychic who had apparently predicted the first two quakes.

And there you have it. Now you know what it’s been like in Christchurch the last couple of months. It’s amazing what the trauma of living through a deadly earthquake can do to people… Please pray not only for the healing of our city, but also for the healing of the hearts of the people in Christchurch.

As with most natural disasters, the Christchurch Earthquake made world headlines as the drama unfolded. People all over the world saw the devastating effects on television and internet news, or heard about it on the radio. However, like all such events, the news lenses quickly move on to the next horrific event (in our case, the Japan Tsunami which was astronomically more devastating than what we experienced here) and we can easily forget that the aftermath of such a disaster can last for years upon years. Oddly enough, the real story of disaster isn’t the destructive event itself, but the human spirit that rises up to put things back together when it’s over.

Even now as Irene pounds the East Coast of the USA, Chili, Haiti, Samoa, Pakistan, Japan, New Orleans, Joplin, and many other disaster-ravaged locations are still fully consumed with recovery and rebuilding efforts and are as much as decades away from “life as usual”. Great stories of resilience and resolution typically go completely unnoticed by the world’s “watchful eye”. Christchurch is no exception.

Having lived in a veritable “war zone” the last 6 months has given us a much better understanding and appreciation for what others have gone through and are still going through.

And we’ve got it easy compared to most.

We still have a roof over our heads, running water, electricity, and as of 2 days ago, flushing toilets (finally!). Even from our own earthquake ravaged city, it’s still hard to imagine some of the difficulty those in Japan and other places are dealing with. It makes you think twice when a large-scale news event stops making headlines… makes you think about the long and arduous story people are still trudging out just to get back to that now elusive “normal”. It’s no easy process and it definitely doesn’t stop when the camera crews and journalists skip town chasing the next big story.

I want to be careful not to become a disaster voyeur. It’s something I can easily slip into these days – almost excitedly waiting for the next “crazy disaster” to entertain me. I wonder if we’ve all grown tired of the fictitious disasters of film and television and become overly intrigued with the far-too-real misfortune of others…

Something to consider as we watch Irene roll up the East Coast in all it’s fury.

We’re regularly asked by friends and family outside of NZ “Is life back to normal yet?” – and the answer, unfortunately, is “absolutely not”. Rather than going into much detail about the many ways in which life in Christchurch has become difficult and disheartening, I’d like to direct your attention to a recent photo gallery with revealing images from around the city – mostly from the “red zone” (the central city are which remains closed still, 6 months after the “big one” – and will likely remain closed another 4-6 months). At this point 500 of the just over 4,000 buildings in the central business district (CBD) are confirmed to be totally demolished – roughly 12% of the structural make-up of the city. This number is likely to increase as city rebuilding plans are introduced.

Have a look at the gallery here.

Thank you guys for keeping up with us and for putting up with our constant chatter about “earthquake this” and “aftershock that”. I’m sure it can get quite annoying… but I suppose if you DO get annoyed, just try to channel that feeling into imagining what it’s like living in a house with no flushing toilets for 6 months. Haha!

John Robert Godley is known as the founder of Canterbury (the region in which Christchurch is situated). Though he’d only lived in the settlement for 2 years he established many of the foundations that have carried Canterbury successfully through these many years. He was known as a thinker and as a man ahead of his time, but more importantly, he was known to be a devoutly religious man.

A week following the earthquake, workers discovered 2 time capsules in the plinth (base) of his fallen statue (erected 6 August 1867, moved 1918 and 1933). We are eagerly awaiting the unveiling of the contents of these two history-filled containers.

Mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, was quoted as saying, “It seems almost providential that they have come to light now to provide the inspiration we need in this most difficult time” and I reckon he’s more right than he can imagine. God has a plan for Christchurch and I suspect the founders of this city knew that as well.

I’m anticipating meaningful things, but only time (and the meticulous work of museum staff in a climate controlled room) will reveal the 100+ year old message the founders left for the modern people of Canterbury. Watch the video below or read more HERE. I’ll post again when the contents are made public.

Our friend, Jay Lucas, (24-7 Prayer Director for New Zealand and former YWAM National Director) recently helped record the “extended” version of the New Zealand national anthem with worship artist Cindy Ruakere. This is an excerpt from an article Jay sent to 24-7.

One of the reasons Jay was not able to be at the gathering in Scotland last year, was because he was heading into the studio with Cindy Ruakere to record her latest worship/prayer album. At the last minute it was decided to record a simple version of our National Anthem, God Defend New Zealand. Three weeks ago Cindy released the song for free on the internet, and as of yesterday, the song – a phenomenal prayer – went viral. National TV and radio stations have played it (a 7 minute track!) in its entirety. Tweets and Facebook status’ all over the land show how the song has impacted people in overwhelmingly emotional ways: DJ’s bawling on the floor of their station, Radio Managers teary eyed, people pulling over their cars in tears as the words impact the heart, forming hope and solidarity. Secular New Zealand is understanding, for the first time, our national song:

“God of nations, at Thy feet, in the bonds of love we meet / Let our love for Thee increase, may Thy blessings never cease / Guide us in the nations van, preaching love and truth to man, working out Thy glorious plan, God defend New Zealand.”

Yesterday we had over 3000 hits on our site, and over 1500 downloads of the anthem.

You can download the song and lyrics from the Karakia (prayer in Maori) website: HERE

As you listen, please pray for the calling and purpose of Christchurch (and New Zealand) to be understood by the folks of this fair land.

We live on the same street as the Wizard of New Zealand… but maybe not for much longer.

The Wizard (Ian Brackenbury Channell) is the self-described “official Wizard of New Zealand”, classified by art galleries and critics as a Living Work of Art, designer of the Post-Modern Cosmology, theorist of the Fun Revolution, founder of the Imperial British Conservative Party, role-model for Post-Feminist men, and Metaphysical Engineer”. Locals and visitors alike know him for his Cathedral Square orations. (from Christchurch City Library Website)

He’s an interesting character to be sure. He’s been known to do “miracles” in the city from rain-dances, to cursing the local rugby team (not much of a miracle for locals). He drives a volkswagen beetle that is two fronts. He once had himself shipped to Auckland City Art Gallery as a “living piece of art”. You can read more about him HERE or see what he has to say on his own website HERE.

In the aftermath of the most recent quake he said this:

‘I love the buildings and the place, but so much of it has gone,” The Wizard said.

Fixing the town had ”gone too far”.

”It’s beyond my wildest powers,” he said.

The 78-year-old, who moved to Christchurch from Australia in 1974, said the earthquake was the last straw and it was time to retire and leave town.

You can read the full article HERE

I find it intriguing that he’s heading out now in the aftermath of the most devastating “act of God” the city has ever seen. He’s openly mocked God almost daily in the square and publicly opposed Him over and over again. He is entertaining to be sure, but he represents a spirit of confusion over the city and I think it’s time for clarity.

Let me be clear: I am not saying that God has driven him out of the city with an earthquake. I’m simply pointing to the irony that when the city takes a big hit, the wizard decides to call it quits.

Pray for a new sense of clarity and constructive wisdom in the city.

I do believe Christchurch is in for a new season. The city will rise and we pray it will be filled with the Glory of God!