Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's off to work I go...

Well, it's exciting times in the Manawatu Parish...
I've started to settle into my role as pastor of St Luke's in Palmerston North and Trinity in Feilding. Both are reasonably busy congregations, which is good to walk into vibrant communities!
St Luke's
Most of my time is taken up at St Luke's. There are a number of weekly cell groups that happen. Along with a fornightly meal for disadvantage people on a Wed night. We also have a youth group (20 kids on the first night!) Then there's the two services on a Sunday, plus the partnership that we have with Hephata (pronounced Hep-ah-ta) in Indonesia. Hephata is support community for disabled people. We're currently looking at sending 114.5 million rupiah over to build clean water facilities (which equates to around $NZ 20,000). Then we have the Pastoral Leadership Team, which over sees the whole show!
Trinity
I much smaller - around 20 people on a Sunday morning. Still pretty active. I haven't tapped in to them too much yet.
My focus for the next 6 months will be to get to know the people and also focus on Worship of both congregations.
This last week we had CWC (Church Worker's Conference), which is the LCNZ's pastor's conference. On Friday, the last day of the conference, we had Pastor Bob Kempe from ALC come and speak to us about Pastoral Care and Preaching. Good to see Bob and his wife Rae. Bob was my preaching and pastoral care lecturer at ALC. Bob was pastor at Wanganui (pronounced Wong-on-oo-ee) 30 years ago! They have spent a week on the North Island and are spending some time on the South Island after they come to church on Sunday.
Also in the works are 2 baptisms. One is a Korean lady who is seeking to be a part of St Luke's.
The other is a youth member! What a great way to start.