WE'RE COMING TO NZ!

We informed the International Christian Center of the Christian and Missionary Alliance of NZ that we are officially going to accept their invitation to come and be their pastor. The news was recieved with vibrant applause and cheers. So now comes the very hard work of getting here. Please pray with us that all the many details that must come together for us to get here by January 2007 do indeed come together.
After church I was invited out to lunch at Kathleen's home with Mark & Rowena, Rachelle (Matt is taking picture) plus kids and Mary. We had a great feast of Thi steak stew and great fellowship. Very excellent.
Tonight I will be meeting with the ICC Executive and anyone else who may come. We will be exploring options for how to handle the distance between us coming here in January and the distance from NZ to Canada over the next 4.5 months. Should be an interesting meeting.

Prayer, Lunch, Shop, Dinner, and Drop into Bed!

Yesterday was a full day of activity. It started out with an early morning prayer time with some of the church members. New to the group was Franks wife Mary-lace. Afterwards Frank, Mary-lace and Jerad took me out for breakfast to Denny's! It was pretty good as far as Denny's goes but the fellowship was second to none.

After lunch I was dropped off at the Pakaranga Shopping center where I hunted high and low for some gifts and some special items for the family back in Canada. Then I was home for a few minutes and whisked off to supper with Eli & Nitz plus their friend Rose and their teenage children.

Errands and eating

Spent much of today taking care of the finishing details of visa applications and running a few errands related to banking. Then we hurried back to be home in time for Pastor Eddy and his wife and his co-pastor Mariam of the Chinese Alliance Church to take me out for a traditional Chinese lunch. It was absolutely delicious! We took a tour of his church building they had converted from an old soup factory. It was pretty cool.





This evening Carolyn and I had supper with Dandy and his wife Fran. It was a traditional Filipino meal and again, it was very yummy. This church is full of such wonderfully friendly people. Maybe it is partly because they are all from other countries and they have learned the importance of reaching out and building vital relationships. It is the main weapon against loneliness in a strange land.

Happy Birthday in NZ

I started out the day with a trip to the War Museum of NZ. It was very interesting to read about the history of the Moury People. I took in a show where they did the Huka and it was electric.
I also saw some of the unique wildlife that lives on this island. There are no natural preditors that live in all of NZ except of course man. Many of the birds dont even fly. The largest of birds likes like a Osterage on steriods. It stands about 15 feet high.


Then it was off to a birthday party sponsored by one of the ICC ladies cell groups. It was delicious and they sang happy birthday to me, gave me a cake that was very warm with all the candles and a NZ ball cap made of leather. Very nice.
Suejet,mary,Stephenie(?), kevin, Fran, Me, Pastor Jessie, shelly,Rowinea, Carolyn, Jill taking picture.

Me and my new NZ ball cap. Super!

prayer meeting and then dinner with Kevin, Abbot and Art

Carolyn, Abbot, Sheta(Unsure of spelling)

Mary, Jared, Mark, Frank and little shelly with her back to us ( marks girl)

Art, Abbot, Kevin. Art just moved here and Abbot and kevin are married just 7 months

A Sign?

John and I went to do some more sight seeing this afternoon after all the business of the morning was finished. We ended up on top of a couple of old volcanos that are dotted across the city of Auckland. When we got to the top of "öne tree hill" and looked down into the volcano crater we bust out into laugher because what did we see spelled out in the center of this giant hole in the ground 11,786 Kilometers from home...now is that a sign or what????? I think if it was a sign it would have spelled out Peachland...haha





One Tree Hill from the top of Mt. Eden













This is the view of Mt. Eden from One tree Hill.












View from on top of Mt. Eden over looking the city center and harbour.

C&MA NZ

The C&MA NZ National Office. They have a small office on the 3rd floor shared with about 15 other NZ christian ministries. John is about to go on in...





































Chris, Eddie, Andrew, Aaron, Russ, Judy and John make up the NLT (National Leadership Team) We worked hard and discussed much to make the opportunity to minister in NZ a reality. They are really convinced this is of God. I am also thinking that the signs are pretty strong that this is a God Thing not just a Man Thing!

Just a few more sights

The wind was unbelievable during these pictures. But at least you can get an idea of some of the coastal sights and Island views. It clouded over after these pictures as you can see with the one of the ship heading to harbour.

downtown pics continued

Both John and Carolyn prayed the the wind would come up and blow the clouds away and the rain would stop and it did long enough for me to see some really nice sights. The rainbow is supposed to be a sign...maybe it was for us and this city?

Finally the rain stopped for a few minutes

The rain has caused flooding and mud slides in the region over the past few days. It has been pouring. We managed to catch a few miniutes of sunshine appearing over the downtown core as we drove past. These few pics say it all... what a beautiful place this is. I was having problems uploading these images so I will try and put the next couple of pictures in the sequence on another blogg

Going to Church on Sunday

The worship team did a great job



John leading the communion time


In the evening we went to Matt and Sherilyn's Installation service. It was great to see them again and to see their joy. We are having lunch tomorrow to get caught up.

MISSION: KEEP KEVIN AWAKE!

THE BOYS! Tikki,Jared,Frank,Art,Mont (me) and Dandy (Tikki missing as he took the picture)

The misson: Keep me awake as long as possible. TO start with a HUGE Vietnamese Dinner - so big I could only eat half!

Then it was on to the 10 pin bowling ally! What a blast until about the 7th frame and I started to drop quickly. What a great time I had!

NEW ZEALAND 06

I am writing this from the home of John and Carolyn Gummer who are the directors of C&MA in New Zealand. I am here over the next two weeks, preaching, attending meetings, meeting with church families of International Christian Center and hopefully get some sight seeing done while I am at it. I will endeavor to keep you posted of my adventures here and maybe even a photograph or two as well. This is crunch time. We are praying and ask you to pray with us as well that this will either be "closure time" or "clincher time". That God will close the door and we look elsewhere or it is a clincher in our hearts and we move to NZ.
Blessings all,
God is Good all the time!

YAHOO IRELAND 2006

We made it home! We are happy beyond words, tired but a good kind of tired, totally overwhelmed by our awesome experience, blessed beyond measure, the whole thing was a thing of grandeur from start to finish. Any of you relatives reading this must begin plans immediately to go and visit our Irish cousins. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!
More will follow I am sure as I get my internet connection back up and running. Right now we're on dial-up so I will be brief.
Thanks for praying for us if you did, your prayers were most definitely answered.

THANK YOU PEACHLAND FOR 13 GREAT YEARS

As you start to read through this blog, my family and I are getting ready to make a trip to the Island of Ireland. We’ve been planning this vacation for almost 2 years now, ever since we met my cousin, David, from Belfast at my grandfather’s funeral. Many Peachlanders have been to Ireland and have told us of all the beauty, history, the exciting culture, and of course the Irish hospitality that was second to none. So, now we are here, consuming all the sights, some good old fashioned Irish breakfasts, and some much needed R & R.
Much needed R & R because I have been in pastoral ministry for over 20 years (19 of those years in Westbank and Peachland) without a significant break. Over 13 years ago my wife Cheryl and I and our 3 little girls moved to Peachland to start a church. The Peachland Community Church has been driven to live up to its middle name over the years. We have won prizes in the Canada Day Parade, an award for community service in recognition of our work with the youth of Peachland and we’ve gained quite an international reputation as the church that meets outside in Heritage Park during the summer months.
But there comes a time when you begin to realize that you have given all that you have and there seems to be a growing sense of what I call a “holy discontent” about what is happening. This means that it is time for a change. The same God, who brought us to Peachland from the church in Westbank, has now decided that the time has come for the Nichol family to move on once again. June 30, 2006 was my last official day as the Pastor of Peachland Community Church. P.C.C. will now be busy searching for a new pastor to lead them with fresh ideas and new vision. I am very excited as I consider what is in store for them.
For a while we were following several promising leads regarding where God would have us go for new ministry. However, one lead after another dropped off the radar. Finally this left only one lead that was still very alive and active. A church in Auckland, New Zealand was in communication with us and a few days before my last day of work they extended an official call to us to come and be their pastor.
Upon returning from our vacation, the hard work of getting our family to New Zealand will begin. We expect it will take us several months to finish the massive visa process. We will need to sell almost everything we have, so if anyone needs some furniture, vehicles, a house, and lots of stuff, just give us a call and make us an offer we can’t refuse!
One of the bigger challenges that this move will bring is that the church there is quite small, so they don’t have enough money to pay our salary. Therefore they have asked us to raise our own support until the church is large enough to pay us. If you’re looking for a good cause to support financially, I happen to know of a really good one! I have gifted people working on creating ways for you to receive a tax receipt for your donation should you choose to help us out. If you would like to be put on our email list to be kept in the loop on our New Zealand adventure just send me an email (nicpcc@telus.net) and we will be sure to keep you informed of all that is happening.
As I write this final paragraph I want to communicate to you the greatest passion of my life. I have hoped and prayed that my life and how I have conducted myself among you all has done one thing well. That is that you have been witness to the joy and the fullness of life that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That through my conduct you would have unmistakably seen what a good Christian is like and that the life I’ve lived has backed up the message I have attempted to speak to all of you. This message is of the forgiveness of sins and the deep love of God for all of us expressed through his Son Jesus Christ. And that by believing this message by faith you too might have fullness of joy and fullness of life everlasting. While I know I have not been even close to perfect in all of this, I am consumed with a desire to know and to love God more deeply each day and to share this knowledge and this love with others I meet along the way. This is my greatest passion.
God bless all you Peachlanders and from all of us Nichol’s thanks again for 13+ fantastic years.

GO OILERS GO

Seventh heaven: Oilers force deciding game in Stanley Cup

Hurricane ALBERT"A" Comes Ashore!

AAAAWWWW:(
soooo sad!

GO OILERS GO

Pisani scores OT winner to keep Oilers alive in Stanley Cup

GO OILERS GO

Random

I had a bag of dog food stolen out of the back of my truck in the two hour span it was sitting outside my office. I was there tiding up some loose ends at the end of the day on Friday. When I went back to buy another bag on Saturday it happened to be the same guy standing behind the counter who had sold me the first bag. He remembered me and he had that "what did you do with the last bag of dog food you bought here?" look on his face. So I told him what happened and he felt sorry for me and decided to give me the replacement bag even though I was willing to pay for. There still are some good people still out there!

I preached my first sermon of the last month of ministry in Peachland Community Church Sunday. I thought it went pretty well considering I had steep competition from a little two year old girl that was wondering around in front and in behind me for the closing point of the message. It was amusing/frustrating to look out over the congregation and see that all eyes were NOT on me but instead were watching her do her little show! You just can't compete with a little kid in a situation like that.

Cheryl and I went and saw the Da Vinci Code Sunday afternoon. After seeing it I'm not too sure what ALL the fuss is about after all it is a fictional story! It seems that the church subculture is consumed with it by the number of books and the zillions of articles out there trying to denounce it. It so happened that while sitting in an A&W restaurant yesterday morning a man who used to live in Peachland several years ago was there. He came over to have a conversation with me that started with, "My uncle is dying in Vancouver and he's been preaching at me for years that I need to get born again. Whenever I hear him say that I think of you because you are the only Christian I have ever met that I truly respect. And here you are right now. Can we talk about this for a minute..." During the conversation he brought up the Da Vinci Code and we were able to discuss it and some of the questions it had brought to his mind. It was good to share the gospel again with someone it has been a few weeks since the last time that has happened. After an hour of conversation he left saying he would think about all I had said on his bike ride down to Vancouver. He gave me his card and wants to be added to our email list so he can keep in the loop of all that is going on. He is currently in the diamond mine business in West Africa.

We Baptized 5 new believers last Sunday in the lake. It was a great celebration. I think about how many times I have been down in the water doing that over the past 13 years. It totally thrills my heart to know that God has really used our ministry here over the years. This truly has been a great harvest ground for the gospel. I hope and pray the next pastor has the same privilege and then some!

We are still searching for a new place to minister. Most days that go by bring up new possibilities. We had to make a choice to follow just one lead at a time to its conclusion or it just got to confusing. Right at this moment we are being pursued by New Zealand. It seems like such a long way away right now but as it stands we are simply putting one foot in front of the other until either we are on Kiwi soil or God shuts that door. Then we would be free to explore the next thing and so on until we find the right place to minister.

Our D.S. preached a great sermon last week in our area. He mentioned the movie "Narnia". At the end of the movie the scene is two kids walking along side the lion. One says to the other, "He is good you know" to which the other responds, "Yes, he is good but he is not tame". I sensed the weight of Spirit in these words upon my heart. Be good Kevin, pursue it with all you've got and be good to others with everything you have. Be good BUT for heavens sake, for the gospels sake, for the sake of the lost, don't be tame! Be a wild man for the kingdom of God. Take risks, never be satisfied with the status quo, avoid what is safe and comfortable. Like King Saul's son Jonathan said to his armor-bearer before the two of them took on a garrison of Philistines, "Perhaps the Lord will be with us!" and he rushed at them head long!

Trust Him after all God is Good all the time!