Are you converted?

Saul was a violent zealot whose worldview drove him to systematically seek out followers of Jesus in order to imprison them. In Acts 9 he is dramatically confronted with this very Jesus on the road to Damascus – his life was never the same again. Saul was converted!

Conversion is essential for us all. Wouldn’t it be terrible if on that final day it became clear that our Christian views were only an intellectual belief, or church a social experience, or our faith a mere security blanket?

Jesus once explained this by saying,

‘No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again’ (John 3:3).

What is this new birth or conversion? It is a complete re-orientation of who we worship. No longer do we live for ourselves but for Jesus who died for us and was resurrected. This transforms our worldview, our opinions, our thinking, our behaviour and our priorities. Saul was once Christianity’s greatest opponent; he became Jesus’ most influential church planter.

Our experience is unlikely to be the same as Saul’s. Every new birth is different. For some it is a decisive moment, for others a careful decision. What matters is not the experience but the fact that God has given His Spirit to us and re-orientated our hearts to worship the risen Jesus.

Are you converted?

To view this weeks bulletin, please click on the following link 20th MAY 2012

Tell us about yourself?
I live at home with my parents and brother Ryan (15).  I work part time at Target and I’m completing my Bachelor of Arts at UOW – graduating in 2015 then hopefully finding a Primary Teacher position.  

What do you do to relax?
Watch a good movie, drive around, sing to Christian music!
I enjoy Hillsong and Jesus Culture and dance music.

When did you make Jesus your Lord and Saviour and how did this come about?
I started coming to DAC in 2008 with my cousin, Leesa Tomlinson. That November (I was in Year 9) I went on my first youth camp. At Camp with the youth and leaders, hearing the Bible talks from Pete Gold about having a regenerated heart, made me realize that Jesus loves me! He died for me! It was an amazing and intense weekend.  At school I hadn’t felt accepted and was pretty much a loner, when I came to DAC the people welcomed me with open arms and I felt really accepted.

So Blake, tell us what a typical week looks like for you.
Monday to Wednesday is Uni. Tuesday night is Growth Group. Thursday is Scripture followed by a de-brief and prayer time; then preparation for Holy-wood Children’s Ministry.  Friday starts with volunteering in The Café, then a mentoring session with Keith Langridge; Mobstars for Kindy to Yr 5 kids and after that Karoleena and I do our Holy-wood Children birthday visitations.  Sunday is Sondaze leading our Yr 1 children and assisting with infants; finishing up with 5pm and 7pm Services. 

Share your favorite bible verse with us?
Eph 2:10 ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’.

Who supports you in your ministry?
I so appreciate my mentor, Keith Langridge. I’m encouraged by my Growth Group (run by Elise Semenchuk & Pete Gold). Mary Pickford, Karoleena Ivanov and Kaitlyn Dixon are constant supporters who guide me. Two people stand out for their impact by example and teaching. Firstly  Pete Gold has challenged, taught and shared Jesus with me and continues to encourage and hold me accountable as I walk with Jesus. The other is my cousin Leesa. Leesa and I do not have Christian families so we spur each other on as we live for Jesus.  Finally, my Christian friends are very important in my daily life as we support each other.

What would you like to see God do in Dapto?
A breakfast club to start up in the local primary schools; to reach out and serve the teachers and students of local schools; to see the next generation of children and youth move up into leadership positions and see God use them for His Ministry.

A talk from Acts 6:8-15 and Acts 7:51-8:8 by Peter Gold at Dapto Anglican Ministry Centre at the 7PM service on Sunday, 13th May 2012.

Mother’s Day is one of the days each year when we take some time to appreciate one of God’s great gifts.  Families are God’s idea and mothers are often the providers of the relational connection.  Our modern society can obscure the things of greatest importance and blessing.

Work done at the London Eye Hospital indicates that while we have the opportunity to look at so much more of the world than our ancestors, we actually see less.  As we are dazzled by bright lights and ever growing larger TV and computer screens our powers of observation are diminishing.  Hearing is also an issue, as increased noise in industrial societies makes it difficult to hear certain frequencies.  What about our noses?  As you breath in deeply right where you are now, how many fragrances can you pick up? A lot of us have pretty well forgotten the pleasures of smell.

Our senses have been bombarded with enormous amounts of information and experts are saying that we suffer from sense fatigue.  Our lives are so busy that fewer and fewer people ‘stop and smell the roses’.  This translates to the spiritual realm.  As we rush around doing all our work, fulfilling all our commitments, we leave less and less room to contemplate our Creator.  We miss seeing the purpose, meaning and beauty He lays before each one of us.  Too soon our lives will be over and we have missed out on some of the best things God has placed before us.  Take time to appreciate your Mum today!

Stephen Semenchuk,
Senior Pastor.

To view this weeks bulletin, please click on the following link, 13 MAY 2012

But really the best part of the time was spent connecting with and chatting to our community. It was great to be able to tell people that the Mall Management purchase all the paper & ribbons while we attend to the fun of wrapping and connecting.   It was great to chat with people about what they were doing for the rest of the day.  We heard a few sad stories about people who were missing their Mums and others who were excited about this coming Sunday.  Some of our team had opportunity to share about their relationship with Jesus.

Please join us praying for the many conversations that were had, especially about our faith, that people will ponder on what they heard.  Lets also give great thanks to God that we have such a great relationship with Dapto Mall and that they continue to invite us to partner with them on some of these occasions.  And as always give thanks to God for the many volunteers who happily give of their time and talents.

Lyndall

Stephen Semenchuk – Truth & Betrayal (MP3, 12.4MB)

A talk from Acts 5:1-11 by Stephen Semenchuk at Dapto Anglican Ministry Centre at the 7PM service on Sunday, 6th May 2012.

Scott Goode – Truth & Betrayal (MP3, 13.8MB)

A talk from Acts 5:1-11 by Scott Goode at Dapto Anglican Ministry Centre at the 10AM service on Sunday, 6th May 2012.

Do you know the origin of the word ‘phoney’?

It came into usage soon after the advent of the telephone.  People were prone to put on a self-conscious ‘telephone voice’.  The word now tends to describe the automatic, self-conscious behaviour of a person who acts out of a role that is contrary to their truest and deepest thoughts and feelings.

Fredrick Perls, the founder of Gestalt Therapy says humans change in the opposite way to butterflies.  We start in childhood as a beautiful creature with the capacity to fly and as we get older become more like grubs bound up in defensive cocoons.

Today as we continue to uncover the forces that forged the early church, we will be challenged by the obvious transforming power of God.
We should understand better that we can’t hide.

• We can’t hide ourselves or our church from the truth.
• We can’t hide the power of the Holy Spirit and…
• We can’t hide from God.

 To view this weeks bulletin, please click on the following link: 6th May 2012

Stephen Semenchuk,
Senior Pastor.

Over the last 3 weeks a number of blokes have transformed our ‘front’.  The pyramid on the Moombara Street frontage had not achieved what we envisaged.  The Youth Group needed more space and most of us thought it was a time for ‘clearer lines’.

The first to attack the issue were many of our Youth Team and a couple of boys; Caleb and Simon, and supported by Ron Litchfield.  Ben Yeo took up the running and then reinforcements kicked in with a number of our men finishing the job.

 Thank you for making it happen!

Stephen Semenchuk

Scott Goode – Witnessing the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (MP3, 11MB)

A talk from Acts 2 by Scott Goode at Dapto Anglican Ministry Centre at the 7PM service on Sunday, 29th April 2012.

If you would be be Confirmed in 2012, you can click on the following link for more information about Confirmation and also to apply to be Confirmed. If you have any further questions, please contact the Church Office on 4261 1001

Confirmation Application Form 2012

The more we discover about the universe, the more my faith in God is consolidated.  The complexity and size of the cosmos, with its inherent order, makes it increasingly difficult to ever believe it just happened by a random accident.

Once we acknowledge there is a creator, the next step is to discover as much as we can about him.  The unique faith of Christianity is that our God has come down and lived among us as Jesus Christ.  God the Son lived, died and was resurrected back to life to demonstrate His love, justice, plan and promises.

 Jesus visibly ascended into the heavens and promised to come back and take us to the with Him.

Trusting in Jesus makes the most sense of our world’s past, helps make sense of our present, and is the only hope for the future.

To view this weeks bulletin, please click on the following link 29APRIL2012 

Stephen Semenchuk,
Senior Pastor.

Just this week [Tuesday 24th April],  forty one of our seniors headed off from Dapto Anglican Church by coach to Sydney for a special day on Sydney Harbour.

We had around about 4 hours on the harbour and were served morning tea and a delicious lunch. We had a wonderful commentary of the harbour and its features and visited many of the bays and inlets.

We watched a huge storm approach, experienced the heavy rain and then saw it head on out to sea.  It was quite spectacular.

If you haven’t joined our seniors for one of their fantastic events yet, why not watch out for their next event advertised in this bulletin and give it a go. The Best Is Yet To Come is a great way to make new friends and find out more about our church. The 3 Day Coach Tour to the Hunter Valley & Hawkesbury River Cruise in October still has a few seats available.

Tickets are $15p/p or 3 for $40. For more information, please click on the following link Travel Around the World invite or you can contact the Church Office on 42611001

Stephen Semenchuk – Witnessing to the Risen Lord (MP3, 15.2MB)

A talk from Acts 1:1-11 and Isaiah 43:1-13 by Stephen Semenchuk at Dapto Anglican Ministry Centre at the 7PM service on Sunday, 22nd April 2012.

David Peterson – Witnessing to the Risen Lord (MP3, 14MB)

A talk from Acts 1:1-11 and Isaiah 43:1-13 by David Peterson at Dapto Anglican Ministry Centre at the 10AM service on Sunday, 22nd April 2012.

This term is laden with great opportunities and challenges.

Next weekend our Women’s Ministry Team hold their first ENRICH program [Friday night and Saturday].

The men have a dinner looming next month as well as the chance to use State of Origin Nights to connect with blokes in the community.

Our Children and Youth Ministries are building on the relationships and great steps forward made during their recent camps.

At Church we will be looking through the book of Acts to excite our Christian living and witness.

The term we also have a significant financial challenge as the repayments for our new building kick in to include principal and interest.  We are praying for a large injection leading up to June 30th as there is still tax deductibility available.

Stephen Semenchuk,
Senior Pastor

To view this weeks bulletin, please click the following link 22 April 2012

Dear brothers and sisters,

We are now in the midst of the radiotherapy sessions aimed at reducing the size of the lesion in Bronwyn’s liver alone. Sadly it has caused her to be constantly nauseas and very tired. Furthermore her lung lesions have been left untreated and the pain seems much harder to alleviate, making sleep challenging. And yet her cheerfulness remains!

She keeps pointing me to 2 Corinthians 4:16-17:
” … Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all”.

Although it’s hard for us to watch Bronwyn get weaker, we are grateful that she is living evidence of this promise of God.

The conference in Fiji over Easter was postponed due to the devestating floods. So I was able to enjoy a restful break with Bron’s extended family in Wollongong. She couldn’t insist that I go! And our children have enjoyed their school and University holidays with friends.

On the afes front there have been some challenges to navigate but the regular news of students becoming Christians and lives being transformed by the Word of God gives me cause to rejoice. Preaching through 3 John enables me to appreciate with John: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth”.

Please thank God for
* renewing Bronwyn day by day despite her trials
* giving us a restful Easter together
* saving and transforming the lives of students on campus

Please pray that
* our Fijian brothers and sisters will recover well from the flooding
* Bronwyn’s health will match her soul – for her nausea and pain to alleviate, and full healing if it is God’s will
* we will conitnue to entrust ourselves to God our Father.

Richard Chin

‘I whip my flame back and forth
I whip my flame back and forth
I whip my flame back and forth

(whip sound)

Get out, get out, get  out of sin
Fall into God’s arms instead
I don’t I don’t quite know what it is
But He’s got a big plan
We’re all winners!!’

This was Caleb Pearce’s song, which summed up our 3 days of Camp Holy-wood, to the ‘One Direction’ hit song ‘One Thing’.
The children were divided into three teams for the duration of our Camp. (Flame Throwers, Thunderbolts and Ravens).
For 3 short days; Wednesday 11^th-Friday 13^th April, 90 of us crashed in to Austinmer and collided with the Word of God! We were challenged by Elijah’s faith and saw how Jesus is the ultimate winner and calls us to be winners in life with Him.
We hit the beach, danced to Craig’s disco, watched movies, had a talent-filled talent show, prayed, slept, ate and made great friendships.

One little girl prayed to Jesus asking Him into her life.

We had the children identify how they are going with Jesus and they met in specific groups. In these groups they had  their questions answered and they prayed to God. This for me was one of the many highlights of the 3 days.

Mary Pickford
Children’s Pastor

Please pray:

• Praise God for our wonderful families who are doing a great job in raising their children in the knowledge and love of Christ.
• Thank God for our wonderful Children’s Ministry Team who came away with us.
• Ask God for the children to retain all they learned about being winners through Jesus; at home, in school and with friends.