Why Australia?

Perth, Australia | February 2015

Sharing the Gospel in Australia

Recently, we were working at a conference sharing about the work we're called to in Australia.  Missy had gone to lunch with a friend and I was at the Mission to the World booth catching up with a friend and fellow missionary who works in Ethiopia.  As we were talking, a gentlemen walked up who was excited to speak with my friend.  They started talking and my friend introduced me and the gentlemen smiled and asked where I served or would be serving.  I smiled and told him "My wife and I are going to work with a church planting team in Perth, Australia."  His immediate response was, "Now why are we sending missionaries to Australia?"  I laughed, smiled, and responded with a quick explanation of why our ministry and calling mattered.  He thanked me but said it really didn't make sense why we'd send missionaries there. He then said goodbye to us and was on his way.  After he left, my friend turned to me and was somewhat apologetic and shared that he was impressed with how I'd handled the situation.  I laughed, sharing with him how that man's posture and question is not uncommon for us and that I'd had a lot of preparation for learning how to embrace those moments!

We're sharing the story above not for votes of sympathy or affirmation of our calling--  We believe we're called to go to Australia and MTW and our team in Perth feel the same way!  However, we've had to learn that a large part of that calling is helping educate not only why we're called but also asking what missions looks like in this ever-changing world and helping cast a vision for that calling.  We're sharing this story because maybe you've been wondering, "Why Australia?" and we'd like the opportunity to answer this question and paint a picture of the work God has called us to in Perth.

Why Australia? 

Australia is a land of breathtaking beauty, but it also has a unique spiritual character with both strengths and weaknesses.  

Generally speaking Australia is:
Secular Around 10% of Australians go to church on Sundays (compared to 45% in the U.S.) and religion is not a topic of polite conversation.

Unbelieving  In the 1700s, Australia was settled largely by convicts who saw the church as an ally of the prison guards.  Ever since, Australians have had conflicted feelings about the church and are deeply cynical about matters of faith.

Discouraged  Unlike the United State's history of successful expansion and enterprise, much of Australia's history involves crippling disappointment.  This attitude of dejection bleeds into matters of faith.

But Australians have:

Commitment  Australians highly prize authenticity, a value reflected in the church.  While the number of Australian Christians is few, the ones believe are highly committed.

Huge Potential  Australia has access to solid Christian resources.  With training and discipleship, they are positioned to be influencers and leaders both in national churches and beyond. 

Why Perth?

Despite having strong ties to international commerce and a long and lasting legacy in the creative classes, Perth remains one of the most isolated cities in the world.  Loneliness, skepticism, and despair weigh heavily upon the city and its people, revealing deep spiritual needs.  Australians living in Perth have asked American Christians for help and partnership in sharing the Gospel.

Why Us?
A few years ago as we were praying and exploring the possibility of becoming missionaries to Australia, we were contacted by the existing MTW team in Perth who asked us to come join them and help with worship, evangelism, and strategic planning.

Andy's focus will be planning and leading worship, discipling and developing new worship leaders, and engaging musicians outside the faith, inviting them to join in our church community.

Missy's educational background provides opportunities for students and families to have meaningful dialogue about faith, creating a safe space for big questions about who Jesus is.

Our Approach

Church Planting
We'll be joining existing believers in church planting, empowering and encouraging them in worship, evangelism, and discipleship.  We'll also be working to establish networks and build relationships with local business and community leaders to develop opportunities for meaningful conversations about Jesus and His church.

Community Evangelism
Our desire is to become actively involved to engage and participate in the values and practices of the local community.  Education, the arts, recreation, and service are areas where we can build meaningful relationships while contributing to the quality of life in the city and its neighborhoods.

We'll look for opportunities to invite unbelievers to be part of our community-- not just with special events and activities, but also in the ordinary tasks of daily life.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll be sharing more stories about Australia from our own experiences as well as from our teammates who are already there in an effort to give you a continuing picture of how God is moving down under.  Please pray for us as we prepare to leave, pray for our teammates as they share the good news of Jesus with the people they meet, and pray for those Australians who have yet to hear the Gospel.  Pray that God will work and prepare their hearts to hear and receive it.

We're looking forward to sharing more cool news on Monday!  Have a great weekend!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Andy & Missy

Incredible Impact Update

We've had an encouraging week of support raising.  As we shared last week we're praying that God will provide 100 partners giving or increasing $10/month by October 5th.    This week we're praising God for the four partners who pledged to support us.  Here's what our current numbers look like:

Total partners promising $10/month or more: 10
 Total number of dollars pledged per month: $340
Number of $10/month promises needed: 90

Please pray with us as we ask God to provide and please consider pledging to help support us in the work God has called us to in Perth.  

If you're interested in supporting us financially, increasing your current support, or just have questions, please click the link below:

MAKE A PLEDGE

If you would like to speak with us directly, you can always click "reply" on this email and you'll be chatting directly with us.

Thank you for praying with us as we journey towards Perth!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Andy & Missy

Incredible Impact: $10 Challenge

A couple of weeks ago we shared that if everyone who receives our emails or is in our Facebook group pledged to support us for $10 per month or increased their current giving by $10 per month, we'd have more than enough to leave for Perth!

The report for those first weeks of the campaign look like this:

Total partners promising $10/month or more: 6
 Total number of dollars pledged per month: $240

While it's obvious we still have a LONG way to go- we saw something that encouraged us.  Those 6 partners did the work of 24 in the scope of our campaign!

So we're going to keep this campaign going for the next 4 weeks.  The final day will be Sunday, October 4th.  We're praying and asking God to provide 100 partners from our email list and Facebook group to make new pledges of $10/month or increase their current pledges by $10/month.

Number of $10/month promises needed: 94 

We also want to share that we're working hard at support raising and have a number of events, individual appointments, and meetings with churches scheduled over the next 2-3 months.  We believe this combined with the $10 Challenge can get us fully funded and off to Perth-- hopefully by year's end!

We'll be updating each Monday for the next three weeks and on the Friday before the deadline to keep you up to date.  We'll be announcing the totals from the campaign on Monday, October 5th.

In the mean time would you please pause for a moment, pray, and consider this $10?

If you're interested in supporting us financially, increasing your current support, or just have questions, please click the link below:

MAKE A PLEDGE

If you would like to speak with us directly, you can always click "reply" on this email and you'll be chatting directly with us.

Thank you for your partnership in this incredible ministry!

Why Australia? Why Perth? Why Andy & Missy?

We get asked these three question in some form or fashion quite a bit when we share that we're going to plant churches in Perth, Australia.  It occurred to us that maybe some of you are wondering the same thing.  We put our heads together with dear Australian friend and friend who is gifted in graphic design we came up with this graphic and we want to share it.  Take a look and take a moment to pray and consider partnering with us monthly.

Incredible Impact: One Person at a Time

ANAZAC Morning | Perth, Australia | Photo by Brett Ballington

Our summer has been a wonderful time of traveling and sharing about the church planting work God has called us to join in Perth.  We are continually blown away by God’s provision in our lives and in our partners' lives as He works to grow his Kingdom.  At the moment we’re back in St. Louis, ready to make the final push to leave for Perth this December!

As you may have heard, we recently found out that we've reached 75% of our current monthly support goal!  Please praise God with us as we rejoice in this huge encouragement.

While being at 75% is a reason to rejoice, we cannot leave for Perth until we have reached 100% of our monthly support goal.

You can be a part in helping us reach this goal!

Many of us go through a range of emotions when we think about supporting missionaries— some of us get excited while others become anxious, feeling as though they cannot take part because it's going to cost a ton of money.  We want to share an amazing number with you:

$10

If everyone who receives our emails or is in our Facebook group pledged to support us for $10 per month or increased their current giving by $10 per month, we could leave for Perth!

Even if you can't swing $10 per month, every $5...every $1 makes a difference.

Would you please pause for a moment, pray, and consider this $10?

If you're interested in supporting us financially, increasing your current support, or just have questions, please click the link below:

MAKE A PLEDGE

If you would like to speak with us directly, you can always click "reply" on this email and you'll be chatting directly with us.

Thank you for your partnership in this incredible ministry!

Take Five!

The Water Labyrinth at Murray Street Mall | Perth, Australia

First, we're excited to announce that we're at 71% of our current monthly budget!  Praise God!  It's so exciting to see His continued provision on this journey.  Also, our time at the PCA General Assembly was wonderful-- we got to catch up with a lot of friends we don't get to see very often and we also made some new friends. 

Second, we're asking each of you to set an alarm on your devices to pray for us for 5 minutes on July 5th at 5pm for the following 5 requests.  

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that God will graciously provide the rest of our support so we can leave for Perth later this year.
• Pray for those that God is drawing together and to Himself in Perth to be a part of the church we're helping plant.
• Pray for the Hinkle family as they will most likely be moving in the next month or so to Australia. They've got 5 kids ranging in ages from 4-18!  It will be super exciting but also stressful.  Total travel time from States to Perth is in the neighborhood of 35 hours.  So please pray for smooth flights and fun adventures as they make their way to their new home down under!
• We'll be starting our Visa application process in August when we get back from our support raising travels.  Please pray that this process goes smoothly and that we'll be able to secure our work visas.
• Please pray for us as we begin saying goodbye to our families and friends.  Ask God to provide peace and patience for all of us and the capacity to express our love and thankfulness for each and every relationship.  The necessity of this prayer really hit home for Andy as he recently ended an 8 year run with one of his bands.  Each time we see our families we grow more aware that this will be one of the last times we'll see them for quite some time and that is harder than we EVER imagined.  But it is teaching us to treasure these moments.

Thanks for the prayers and we look forward to seeing how God moves this summer!

Far Away Sounds: Australian Popular Music

Tonight I'll be going to see my favorite band, Tame Impala.  Tame Impala are from Perth, Australia. The first time Missy and I visited Perth in June of 2010 their record Innerspeaker had been released in late May and I saw posters all around the city announcing it's release.  I made a mental note to listen to the album but as is the case with most of my mental notes I can't remember where I put it. Suffice it to say it wasn't until a little while later when a band mate played the record for me that I really got into them.

Knowing that Tame Impala were from Perth, I started reading some interviews with Kevin Parker the "ideas guy" for the band and I began to realize there was this thriving music community in Perth that was beginning to gain attention from the rest of the world.  As I dug deeper and began to explore other bands and musicians from Perth I grew more and more impressed with what I heard and interested in why this isolated Australian city had such a thriving music community.

I believe it's got a lot to do with the fact that the city is so isolated geographically from the rest of world (and other Australian cities for that matter).  It's not the only factor but I believe it's a big one.  I also think there is a lot of freedom to create and try new things.  I was discussing this with my friend Lee who we'll be planting the church with in Perth and we agreed that while much of the music coming out of Perth (and Melbourne) can be and is often artistically challenging it remains extremely accessible.  That is to say it asks a lot of the listener but isn't seeking to ostracize the listener with it's abstraction.

I've provided a link to an essay written by Perth musician, Nick Allbrook who has played in a number of bands from Perth.  Most notably he was the touring bassist for Tame Impala from 2008-2013 and is also in his own band POND who are growing in popularity and success.  Allbrook's essay deals with Perth and it's isolation and it's impact on the artists that call the city home.  I want to say that I think he gets a lot of things right about Perth but also leaves out the inspiration of the geographical beauty as well the city itself.  For those that want to do choose to read the article understand that Nick uses some fairly harsh language in sharing his experience.  If this is something that is oft-putting I'd recommend that you skip reading the article.  Otherwise, I think it gives great insight into Perth's music community.

Nick Allbrook's Essay on Perth Music Community

As someone who is moving to Perth to do church planting in Fremantle, the neighborhood where many of these musicians and other artists live; it's important to understand what is influencing them and how it is impacting their art.  By listening to, researching, and championing these artists it provides the opportunity not only for understanding but to be impacted and touched by their artistry. It's easy to listen to these artists and go wow they really need the gospel.  But in my case, more often than not- they end up reminding me of my own need for the gospel.  

For those interested in listening to some of the music that's recently come out in Australia you can listen to this Aussie music mixtape I've shared.  Below I've listed out the bands on the mixtape as well as the cities they call home.

Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards [Perth]

Pond – Elvis' Flaming Star [Perth]

San Cisco – Too Much Time Together [Perth]

Jagwar Ma – That Loneliness [Sydney]

Chet Faker – Gold [Melbourne]

Cut Copy – We Are Explorers [Melbourne]

Hiatus Kaiyote – Swamp Thing [Melbourne]

Luluc – Star [Melbourne]

Felicity Groom – Houses Are Gone [Perth]

Courtney Barnett – An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York) [Melbourne]

The Growl – Liarbird [Perth]

Fascinator – Showin' off [Perth]

Peter Bibby & His Bottles of Confidence – Goodbye Johnny [Perth]

Spacemanantics – We Could Have Gone Far 1 [Perth]

Shiny Joe Ryan – Whatever Happened To The Space Race [Perth]