This from the Skit Guys. The Serenity Prayer. For leaders. Those of us coming off stress leave. A better way to work. Related is this from AFCI's blog, Why you can't do evangelism. 

It became a presentation, CSI: Christ Scene Investigation. We personally investigated how the sites agree with the texts of the Core Stuff. We saw for ourselves:

• that God knows best how to look after the Land he created and make it flourish - Neot Kedumim
• reminders of our human sin, which makes a Saviour necessary - Holocaust museum, soldiers, checkpoints, crime, and disparate worldviews 
• where Bible texts were so accurately scribed and preserved, containing prophecies fulfilled by the Messiah - Qumran. And we saw some parts of those actual texts from the time of Christ with our own eyes - Shrine of the Book
• where Jesus was born - grotto under the Church of the Nativity
• where Jesus grew up and worked - Nazareth and Sepphoris
• Jesus hometown during his ministry years - Capernaum 
• where he taught and did miracles - Mt of Beatitudes, Kursi, Magdala, Tabgha, Tiberias, Cana, Galilee, Baptism site over Jordan, Mt of Temptations, "Old" Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, clues to the location of the Temple, excavations of David's City, Mt of Olives  
• where Jesus endured Passion Week - Palm Sunday Road, Upper Room, Gethsemane, Caiaphas's House, Roman Praetorium and Pavement  
• where Jesus died for all our sins, and rose defeating sin and death - Gordon's Garden site / Church of Holy Sepulchre / a view from approximate Red Heifer site on Mt of Olives. We checked all three. The former is the best preserved site for us to get a sense of place, and may even be it. 
• where Jesus appeared post resurrection - Garden, Emmaeus, Upper room, a Galilean mountain
• where he ascended - Mt of Olives Church of the Ascension
• where he descended as the Holy Spirit at Pentecost - Upper Room 

Looking back so far this year...

Church 247 continues Sunday afternoons at the Banksia Grove community Centre. It has settled into a routine based on Discovery Bible Study, Looking Back (did you do what you said you would last time?) Looking Up (prayer, worship, Bible Study, listening for what God is saying to us), Looking Forward (planning to obey that word, community announcements, engaging with the neighbourhood). We've worked through Mark, now a series on varieties of mission (including doing Clean Up Day and Tree Day in our time slot), and look likely to tackle Revelation in term 4.

Cheers' Family Camp theme was Hearty Times, appreciating the role of various emotions, based on the Bible, using the movie Inside Out. We learned that:

• Joy comes from loving God and people.
• Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
• Anger tells us something has to be restored
• Sadness changes us and can save others.

The Good News fits in to this in Good Ways, too. Add some craft, quality time activities, and adult discussions about the times we live in, and it was again a big boost to the families who attended. 

From J-Walkers to J-Workers.
Building from last year's theme, Keep Moving Forward, we have been training the young people forward along a pathway toward leadership and mission. They are no longer just Walking with Jesus, they are also Working with Jesus - J-Workers. They run their own studies, help run Church 247, get involved in blessing and benefiting their neighbourhoods, schools, and workplaces. They are now beginning to step into camp leadership roles. This training is open to all ages, but it is mostly young adults attending - and growing forward. This is where BOOST is beta tested.  

​Previous Cheers logs back to the beginnings in 2003 can be found here.

This is the new geoffwestlake.com from 2017 onwards. You can get the gist of what I do & contact me here. ​Occasionally I will blog here as relevant to friends & supporters. ​​Previous blog posts are at the old site, here.