The Kennedys

May 2011

2011-05-24T08:52:00.017+01:00

Hi everyone.
What an amazing Semester, here at Calvary Chapel York Bible College. We had a wonderful and exciting graduation tinged with the sadness of knowing the graduates were leaving us.

It was such a blessing to see our Daughter, Natasha graduate, and to have her parents, Jack and Suzanne, with us.

The Semester has been so busy and has flown by. I was invigorated by being reminded again and again of the greatness of Jesus as we studied through the book of Hebrews, and encouraged as I saw God using Moses; despite his failures and excuses; as we studied through the Book of Exodus.

I had the pleasure of hearing God speak to us all and seeing Him at work in the lives of the young men under my care through the Men's Discipleship Class, and seeing many fall in love again with their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What a privilege!

During the semester Carolyn and I had a blessed time meeting with and praying with some of the Pastors up in Scotland.

We have just returned from a quick trip to St Andrews, in Scotland. We took Lindsay and Natasha and our new "In Laws", Jack and Suzanne, and had the blessing of praying for the work that we believe God will do through Lindsay and Natasha there in St Andrews.

Please keep them and their plans in your prayers as they seek Gods timing to move there to plant a church.

While in St Andrews I was struck by the sacrifices made by previous generations of Christians who were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice as they followed Jesus no matter the cost.

The question I had to ask myself was "Am I willing to give all?" Philippians 3:20 "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ"
& Hebrews 12:1-2

We are excited to be flying out to share in the wonderful wedding of two of my students Jonathan and Nicola who will be married this Saturday. Please pray for them that all will go smoothly and that Carolyn and I can be a blessing and encouragement to them and their family and friends, and that Jesus will be clearly seen through our lives.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragements through this semester. Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's direction for next semester and for financial provision to enable us to continue to serve Him here in York, or wherever He may lead us.

If you would like to be part of our support team, simply email me or if you wish to support us financially you can do so via our home church, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa or simply log in to www.missioncalvary.com, where you can give online.

God bless you all, and thank you for your prayers and support. It is wonderful to be serving the Lord with you all.

Steve & Carolyn
Philippians 4:6

March 2011

2011-03-06T17:11:00.014Z

Well, what a busy time we have had.

Lindsay and Tasha had a wonderful wedding in Seattle. We now have a wonderful new family in Seattle, The Hagelins.

While in Seattle we had an amazing place to stay, thanks so much to the Dunn family!

Here is a pic of Father of the Bride and Father of the Groom, doing what we do best...eating pancakes before the big day!

While in good old USA, we managed to catch up with my family over in California, Sean, Karen, Katriona and Shona and Sandy the dog, for Christmas.

While in California, we managed to catch up with our dear friend Chelsea Moon, who has recently released an album. It is a wonderful collection of Hymns that are sung and produced so beatifully, you will be blessed as you listen. Check out the CD

We are now back in York, England and 4 weeks into the new semester. We have a wonderful group of students and it is such a privilege to be here serving our Lord in this way.

Please keep us in your prayers as I teach through Book of Hebrews, Book of Exodus and Men's Discipleship Class. Please also pray that we will have opportunity to impact the students with the love of Jesus and be an encouragement to our Pastor, Dave and his wife Nancy here in York.

We are planning a visit up to Scotland in the two weeks time, so please pray we will be an encouragement to the Pastors we meet up there.

Praise the Lord, for Lindsay's new job. Thanks for your prayers.

God bless you all

P.S. Lindsay is just back from Hungary, where he was playing guitar on a new worship album, due to be released in a few months. Please pray for this.

Steve & Carolyn

Praise Report - May 2010

2010-05-30T18:24:00.010+01:00

Hi everyone, here is a praise report of the amazing week we have had. God bless you.

What an amazing God we serve! This week we have been blessed in too many ways, but here are a few highlights.

On Monday we were given a letter and a financial gift from the parents of one of the students I had been discipling over the last two semesters. It was totally unexpected and brought us to tears. God is too good to us!

On Tuesday fellow missionaries here in York gave us a car! Wow! I have often read of God blessing others in this way but always believed it happened to someone else not me! This was truly a humbling experience and a wonderful answer to prayer!

On Wednesday night when I went to bible study there was no one to teach and I was asked (after worship and while were greeting everyone), if I could share! Normally I would have said no as I would look a fool not having come prepared, but I felt a total peace from the lord and said yes.
It was wonderful to sit in front of the people and realize this was all of God and none of me! The Lord took me to 1 Kings 17, where we learned from various examples in the life of Elijah, that we can trust God totally and that so often God leads us one step at a time and our role is simply to trust Him and be obedient in taking the step. I was so blessed and the Lord used the time to speak to me and others. What an amazing God we serve, we get to be a part of the work He is doing!

On Thursday I had a phone call to ask if I would be able to come down to Calvary Chapel Hastings and share for 3 Sundays while the Pastor is on holiday! What a privilege and honour to share Gods word!

On Friday I received an email from Phil Twente to say we had been approved as Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa Missionaries! What an amazing blessing and a beautiful end to a wonderful week of seeing the Lords hand in our lives.

On Friday we saw a further answer to prayer when our Scottish friend Nicola had her visa approved to go and spend time in the USA with her fiancé, Jonathan. What a God, who hears our every cry and blesses us all so much, praise Him!

This has been a truly incredible week. The Lord has blessed us way too much. It truly is our privilege to know and serve Him and that is sufficient. But to be blessed in so many other ways has been truly wonderful.

I pray that you will all be blessed by this short taste of what God is doing in our lives and that you will take heart from one of my favourite verses taken from Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Jesus is all I want or need.

God bless you, and praise the Lord!

Steve & Carolyn

I love this photo of Lindsay and Carolyn, so I put it in, it is my blog after all! Hah!

Kennedy May Update

2010-05-30T16:48:00.025+01:00

Hi everyone. What a month we have had. Here are a few highlights. (click the picture to enlarge)

The Semester is finally over and even though it is sad when the students leave to go home, it was a huge blessing to be a part of it. The students were challenged and in return grew in their love and faith in the Lord. We had wonderful times in our Hebrews, Exodus and DPS (Dead Preachers Society) classes. Thank you all so much for your prayers!

We had wonderful "listeners week" near the end of the semester up in the Yorkshire Dales and God truly spoke and we indeed listened. I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize one of my students, Lucas. (Click on the pictures to enlarge)

A group of us were out in the Dales, by the Aysgarth waterfalls and after talking for a while Lucas asked if I would baptize him. I was of course excited and humbled at the prospect and then he said lets do it now, here at the falls. So we did, it was a wonderful and moving time with a few of his close friends to share with him. God is way too good!

We also had the privilege of being involved in the engagement of two of my students, Jonathan and Nicola. We had a wonderful day out in Fountains Abbey and at the appropriate time Carolyn slipped Jonathan the ring. It was awesome! (Click on the pictures to enlarge)

God looked after us by giving us a great day and beautiful spot. And then when our camera ran out of battery, we asked a couple passing by if they could help us out by taking some photos with their camera and emailing them on. God provided two lovely Christians, Tim and Sadaf! Praise the Lord, and yes they sent on the photos.

All in all a wonderful semester. Through sickness and difficulty and lots of good times, God has challenged and strengthened us.

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and encouragement.
(Click Here if you want to see more photos)

God bless you

Please continue to pray for our son, Lindsay as he serves the Lord and as he battles Chronic Fatigue. Thank you You can check out his blog by clicking here

Steve & Carolyn

Kennedy April Update

2010-04-06T22:31:00.008+01:00

Hi everyone, thanks for keeping up to date with our blog. We really do appreciate any feedback and especially your emails to let us know how you are doing and if there is anything we can pray about for you. I will also try and get some new photos soon!

This has been an amazing semester! We are into the second half and I am so blessed to be here teaching God's word. I am teaching The Book of Hebrews & The Book of Exodus. Both books are a blessing to study and teach and I have wonderful group of students for both. Please keep these classes in your prayers!

I am running a Preaching Class on Monday nights for a group of about 10 students who want to teach. This is a truly wonderful time as I have seen the growth in each of the students and as we are all growing closer to the Lord. Please pray for these young men who are seeking to grow in their teaching gifts and be a blessing to others.

Please continue to pray for Carolyn and I as we are involved in the lives of the students here at the Calvary Chapel York Bible College.

Last Sunday morning I was given the honor of preaching at Calvary Chapel York and so I have attached my message for you to listen to. It is "How to Experience Contentment" and is based on Philippians 4:10-23. I hope and pray it blesses you. Click Here

Please continue to pray for the work going on here at the Bible College. It is wonderful to be a part of it and to see the changed lives of the students.

If God is leading you to support us financially, or you want to keep in touch, please contact us here. snckennedy@gmail.com

Please keep Lindsay in your prayers as he is still struggling with EBV (Chronic Fatigue). He is just back from Hungary after a short visit to help work on a worship album there and is serving as an Intern here at Calvary Chapel York.

Please also pray for our Hungarian friend Akos who is recovering from a stroke. Please pray his recovery will be swift and full.

God bless you

Steve & Carolyn Kennedy
Calvary Chapel York Bible College

The Kennedys In York 2010

2010-01-15T18:29:00.035Z

Steve, Carolyn & Lindsay Kennedy

Well hello everyone, thanks for your prayers and encouragement in 2009!

2009 was wonderful year of growing in the Lord. I was blessed with an amazing group of students in my Acts class and here on campus, and was privileged to be able to disciple a couple of the men. What a blessing!

Carolyn blessed us all by baking and cooking for the class throughout the semester and was the "hidden member of the class!" Thanks Carolyn!

Sermons
We have also been blessed by the fellowship here at Calvary Chapel York and I have been honoured to have been given opportunity to teach at the church.

I have uploaded some of the sermons that I was privileged to share in 2009 at Calvary Chapel York, so if you would like to download these or listen online then click the link and do so.
I pray that God will use them to encourage you and deepen your love for Jesus!

Lindsay Graduation

Lindsay graduated from Bible College and has just returned from a short mission trip to Hungary where he will be helping to record a worship album. Please keep him in your prayers as he will be interning here at the bible college in York, and seeing what God has for him. If you would like to support him financially, please get in touch with us here. snckennedy@gmail.com

Snow
This Christmas and New Year was a white one. Here is my loving wife Carolyn about to hit me in the head with a snowball!

The Year Ahead - 2010
We are still in York, England, where I will again be teaching at Calvary Chapel York Bible College. We would appreciate your prayers.

This semester I will be teaching the book of Hebrews and the book of Exodus and I will be meeting with a small group of men weekly to pray, study different preachers and give them opportunity to grow in their own teaching/sermon preparation.

Lord willing, I will continue discipling a couple of the men and being involved in encouraging the students at the campus.

Prayer Requests

Pray for the classes this semester.
Pray that Carolyn and I can be a blessing and encouragement to the students on campus.

Please pray for us, as we hope to buy a car soon. Lord willing, this will enable us to visit different Calvary Churches in Scotland and England in order that we may be a blessing and encouragement to the Pastors and churches, and that I may have opportunity to teach.

Pray for the amazing work that God is doing here at Calvary York. The church is such a blessing to be a part of and Pastor Dave and his wife Nancy are a constant source of blessing and encouragement to us. Please keep them in your prayers as Nancy has some medical treatment and as the church goes through a building program this year.

We would appreciate your continued prayers and support this year.
If you would like to contact us or support us financially, please contact us at snckennedy@gmail.com

God bless you all, Steve and Carolyn

Jude 24,25 "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Saviour who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen."

Steve & Carolyn

York Bible College

2009-09-01T19:17:00.009+01:00

Hi everyone. Carolyn, Lindsay and I are just about over the Jet Lag and heading down to York on Thursday. It has been wonderful to recouperate in our favourite spot, Bridge of Cally, in Scotland, and meet up with my family here. God is definitely too good to us.

We are so excited to see what He will do with us this semester. I am teaching the book of Acts and am humbled and excited at the privilege it is to teach His word. Please pray for my class of students that it wont be simply an academic time, but a wonderful time of growth in our relationship with Jesus and each other.

Pray also pray that we will be a blessing and encouragement to the staff and students at the college.

Please keep our Scottish friend, Helen in your prayers.

God bless you all, please keep us in your prayers as we try to rent an apartment and adapt to our new season serving our Lord.

Steve & Carolyn Kennedy
p.s here are a couple of friends we made in Scotland

YORK HERE WE COME

2009-08-14T10:29:00.003+01:00

Well, we are on our way to York, the Visa has arrived. Thanks for your prayers, we have the Visa in our hands! So we will fly as planned next week, and head back to York, via Scotland!

Thanks for your continued encouragement, and all praise to our God, who is able to do so much more than we can even hope or think!

God bless you all

Steve

Visa Approved - Keep Praying!

2009-08-13T02:27:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone, praise the Lord, we have received an email saying Carolyn's Visa has been approved.

It will be sent in the next 5 days and we are due to fly out in 8, so please keep praying it will arrive on time! It is a great and wonderful ride trusting in God, He is worthy of all our trust, and He can do whatever He wills, and we will praise Him still.

I had the pleasure of teaching at Calvary Chapel Perth on Sunday, and appropriately God had put, Philippians 4:4-9 on my heart as the text. "Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again I will say rejoice." and in V6 we are reminded to "Be anxious for nothing", but pray about everything! This promise is one that Carolyn, Lindsay and I have been experiencing in our lives recently as we are praying and trusting and rejoicing in God. He has brought us the "Peace that passes all understanding."

God bless you all for praying for us, but remember to pray about "everything", God loves you so much He can't wait to hear from you, and remember "nothing is too great for His power, and nothing too small for His fatherly care." Pray, He loves you!

God bless you all

Steve

The Kennedys Australia Update!

2009-06-22T09:03:00.006+01:00

From Australia

G,day all from sunny Australia. Yes, you read it right, Australia. Click here for Photos

In order for us to obtain a Visa for Carolyn to allow her to stay in the United Kingdom, we had to return and submit the paperwork in Australia. Please pray for our Visa application. That it will be successful, Lord willing!

God has it all under control! Even when it seems strange to us! Since arriving back we have managed to catch up with our church family at Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour and spend time with family and friends.

We are staying with Carolyn's mum, who has just had a total knee replacement, so Gods timing is wonderful, as we are able to help her out and look after her through this time.

I am also running a bible study here for a friend, so please keep that in prayer as we study through the book of Philippians together on a Wednesday. If you are in the neighborhood, you are welcome to join us!

I am studying through the book of Acts in preparation for our return to Calvary Chapel York Bible College, where I will be teaching starting on 7th of September. God is so good to us and it is a truly humbling thing to be used in this way.

We were blessed by Dave & Nancy and the church and college in York, and are missing them. Please keep this in prayer as I spend the time in Gods' word, that I will be a good steward of the time he has given me and in turn this will bless the bible college students who attend in September.

I am learning in the book of Acts that it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can achieve anything worthwhile for God and so I appreciate your prayers.

Just prior to leaving for Australia, we attended speakers week in the Wensley Dales, in Yorkshire. Pastor Brian Broderson was the guest speaker. It was a wonderful time of teaching, growing and encouragement.

I was amazed that one of the first things Pastor Brian mentioned when we met him was something he had read in my blog! It is so encouraging to know others are reading and praying for us. Especially as you are all so busy with your own lives. It truly is a blessing to us.

So again, thank you all so much for reading this blog and for keeping us in your prayers.

We love to hear from you!

God bless you,

Stephen & Carolyn

Scotland - Inverness Mission Trip

2009-04-18T10:46:00.000+01:00

Inverness Mission Trip
Well, it has been a wee while since I managed to Blog, so here is my attempt to get everyone up to date. So much has happened in the last few months!

First of all we went up to Scotland and took 8 students on a short term mission trip to Inverness. The group of students were amazing! They truly were a God send, their attitude and willingness to serve was a blessing to all they came into contact with and were a total blessing to Carolyn and I, as leaders of the group.

Our hosts, Pastor Leo, Cheryl and Angie at Inverness, were gracious hosts who put up with the invasion of their home by the 10 of us and all sharing one bathroom! We had a great time with them and they made our time in Inverness both memorable and extremely enjoyable for us all.

The students hit the ground running! After a 6 hour train trip we arrived in Inverness at about 8:30PM and the group went straight to begin ministry with the Inverness Youth Group. A great start.

We then helped out at a Family Conference being run by Calvary Chapel Inverness. The students were leading children's worship, running children's classes, setting up the hall, leading worship, and generally doing anything asked of them. All with a wonderful attitude that set the tone for the whole outreach. Here are some of the pictures. Unfortunately I am unable to show any with the children in the photos for legal reasons, but let me assure you the kids at the event had an amazing time, of stories, songs, face painting, videos and fun!

The next day the team ran the Children's Church, led worship and helped clean up after service at Inverness Christian Fellowship.

In the evening some of the team were sharing songs and testimonies on the local hospital radio.

We spent a day gardening at Corbett Center, where the church meets. It was a fun day of weeding and gardening, but again as you can see from the photos, the team had fun and were blessed to serve.

During this time half of the team were at the local YMCA painting the hall for the youth there and having a chance to minister both practically and spiritually.

One of the highlights for the men was for us to spend the morning gardening for one of the widows at the church, Belle. She blessed us all with her sweet spirit and the men all commented about how great it was to hang out with "Grandma Belle"

It wasn't all work though. We had a day trip to Loch Ness and enjoyed a time of devotion with the Lord as Stephanie shared with us by the side of the Loch. We even had a stone skipping competition!

One other highlight was a drive we took to Ullapool for fish and chips and then finished off with a drive down the West Coast of Scotland. What a beautiful country God has created and what a blessing to share it with a great team. We even managed to run along a beach!

All in all the trip was enjoyable and very special. The team were a blessing to us and to all they met with.

We were all blessed in turn by the hospitality of the Inverness Fellowship, Pastor Leo, his wife Cheryl and Angie.

York, England

2009-02-12T12:00:00.000Z

Well, after a whirlwind few days, we are here in York England!

As you know we had been praying to God for wisdom about what He wanted us to do and where. I had sought out some Godly counsel from Pastor Brian, at Costa Mesa, who had suggested perhaps we should contact York as a way to move closer to our goal of serving The Lord in UK, and in particular, Scotland.

The result was I talked with Dave Sylvester at CCBC York on Thursday he said that if I could be in York before the following Monday, then I could perhaps teach a class at the Bible College. God is so amazing! By Saturday we were flying in to Doncaster, an hour from York.

It hasn't been all smooth sailing though. Carolyn was nearly denied access into the UK by border patrol, who were not convinced she would not be working in UK. We had been here in September for our wedding anniversary, and perhaps that looked suspicious to them!

I remember sitting in the airport for an hour discussing with Border Patrol and with the police officer standing next to us waiting for their decision and praying out to God, "If you want us to be here we know you will have your way, and if not here then we are available to follow you wherever". The lady then came back and stamped Carolyn's passport allowing us to enter UK.

So we are in York, and in fact I just taught my first class today, Thursday 12th Feb. I am teaching Hebrews, so it is amazing. A wonderful book about Jesus being Superior to everything else, and so why trust or rely on anything else. It is a blessing having the opportunity to teach God's word, and a humbling experience too.

Keep us in your prayers that we will continue to sense God's calling. We are here for at least the semester, and we will pray and see what God wants for the next. The people here have been very welcoming and we feel quite at home. We even have a little studio, that has been graciously given to us to stay in until we can find a place to rent.

York Bible College and Church, is amazing. There is a gentle spirit here and Dave and Nancy and the staff, have been very kind. The students are great as we get to hang out with them, and I am looking forward to building good relationships as we seek to bless them in their studies and in their time away from home.

Lindsay has been blessed by being offered to study here free. This is an amazing blessing from the Lord and one that we don't take lightly. He led worship for the student's devotions yesterday and he seems to be fitting in and enjoying himself.

York itself is a great place to be. We have only been in to the town once, but it seems very nice and being so full of history and charm I am sure we will enjoy being here.

The students run a coffee shop at Walmgate Bar, right on the wall and so it an excellent spot to meet travelers and share Jesus with them.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, that I will be diligent in studying God's word and that I will continue to grow closer to Jesus. Pray for Carolyn as she adjusts to a new life here. She is enjoying cooking for us and having a place to look after.

Pray for Lindsay as he undertakes college and studies. He will be leading worship at a small Calvary Chapel in Bridlington, so he will catch a bus there on Saturday nights and return here Sunday afternoon. Pray for his safe journeys and also that he will be a blessing to those he meets there.

The book of Hebrews reminds us that when you are tempted to go back from Jesus and look for something else, that He is Superior. To everything and everyone. Jesus is Better than anything else!

God bless you all for keeping us in your prayers. We appreciate it.

Steve

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T11:26:00.000Z

Hi again. Christmas Eve in Austria is the biggie. They don't really focus on the 25th, everything revolves around the 24th. So today we had a special Christmas Eve Brekky and will have Christmas Eve Dinner tonight, so I thought I would share a few photos.

God bless you all

Steve

Happy Christmas

2008-12-23T13:55:00.001Z

Well, it's that time of year again. We have had the snow and the lights and the Christmas Markets, but best of all, we are here together serving our God.

Click on the play button to see and hear a Christmas greeting.

Carolyn, Lindsay and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a blessed Christmas and to thank you all for your prayers and emails. It is a blessing to hear form you.

It is a wonderful to know and serve Jesus; Emmanuel, God with us. Our prayer, this Christmas, is that you would all come to know Him better than before and to truly worship the Christ of Christmas this year and forevermore.

God bless you all.

All our love
Steve, Carolyn and Lindsay.
Austria 2008

Big Snow

2008-12-16T09:11:00.000Z

Well as you can see from the pictures, we have had a heap of snow arrive recently. It was exciting for all of us especially with Christmas drawing close. It is a bit strange to be here in the cold leading up to Christmas rather than body boarding at Secret Harbour beach in 40 degress Celcius.

We spent quite a while shoveling and clearing snow so we could continue with normal life, and also had some fun!

Carolyn and I are doing well. I have had a few bouts of flu, but this is to be expected with the weather and all. Carolyn has started a ladies craft night here at the castle on Tuesday nights, and so Maxine and Suzanne and Carolyn sat together and Maxine showed them how to create some wonderful picture frames. I think over the weeks ahead they will be doing Cross-Stitch and are hoping to be able to make some clothes for an orphanage in Hungary or Romania.

Lindsay has been working on the church web site which should be up and running shortly. He has been helping with worship at church and dealing with lots of different things here at the Castle. He is enjoying his time here I think. We even manage to get in a few games of Siedler on a night time. This is a wonderful German board game that a bunch of us have been playing.

I have been helping out by teaching Wednesday night Bible studies at church while Robin and Alison were away. This is always a privilege and a blessing to me.

God had placed it on my heart to teach on prayer, and so we did. As usual, I get the most out of the studies as I always feel God is teaching me alone. As a result, I have really begun to spend more time alone with God in prayer. Seems silly to think I would do otherwise, but often I just try and do things myself instead of placing myself before God's Throne and allowing Him to change me and mould me and empower me and give me the wisdom for the life I am leading.

Today at devotions I read from Mathew 7:7 - 11, where Jesus teaches us that God really wants to hear from us. Not only that, but God actually is more loving than the best father figure we could imagine, and Jesus points out that this being the case, "How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him". So I am reminded again to bring everything to God in prayer and He knows what is best for me, and loves me more than I can ever imagine, therefore I can present my prayers before him in total confidence. It is a great place to be!

I have begun praying for our Summer of Service Teams, for next year, and would ask that you do the same, as God will draw people to the Castle here in Austria who want to serve Him with their whole heart and he will do a work in their lives.

Please pray for the students who will come in April for the first Semester of the School of Apologetics. Again that they will be people who will allow God to change them and grow closer to Him during this special time. Pray for Alex as he heads up the School of Apologetics and for his wife Laura, as they now have a beautiful new baby, Caleb. Check out the new website Alex has recently completed here then click on School of Apologetics.

Please pray for each of the staff here, Robin and Alison, Maxine, Akos, Alex, Laura and their three children, Grace, Livia and Caleb, Natalie and David, Bekky, Anita, Suzanne, Lindsay and of course Carolyn and I. We really need and appreciate your prayers.

God bless you all, I hope to update this blog before Christmas.

First Snow

2008-11-24T13:25:00.000Z

The first snow has arrived!

It started last night and it is settling down on the ground. It is a beautiful sight and especially exciting for Carolyn to see it falling for the fisrt time! Unfortunately she is in bed sick, but I made her look out the window. Please pray we will stay well, there has been a lot of flu going around and everyone at the Castle is getting sick.

As I write to ou the snowfall is getting much heavier. We went out yesterday and bought some warm clothes and snow boots, just in time:-)

If you want to see the pictures click here

Robin and Alison are away for two weeks, so please pray for them that they will have a relaxing time with family and friends in England.

Please pray for me as I will be teaching the Wednesday Bible study at Church for the next two weeks. I will also be continuing with the Thursday study on Phillipians.

God bless you all and remember Jude V24,25. God is the only one who can "keep you from stumbling and present you faultless before the presecence of His glory, with exceeding Joy"!

What an amazing God we serve. Talk to Him! He is waiting to hear from You.

Steve

Hungary

2008-11-16T14:44:00.000Z

Speakers Week , Vajta, Hungary 2008

Well we have just returned from a trip to the 2008 Speaker's Week, in Vajta, Hungary, at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe. It was an amazing time for all of us. We went with Susanne, myself, Carolyn, Natalie, Petra, Lizzie, Becky and Lindsay

On Monday morning, the start of speaker's week, Carolyn and I had prayed that God would speak clearly to us. By Tuesday evening, we had heard Him speak clearly through the various speakers, and prayer times and sharing with fellow missionaries.

Alan Rigg was keynote speaker, and it was wonderful to meet up with him again after about 10 years, and to be able to sit under his teaching. Alan laid a solid biblical platform from which the conference launched. Everyone agreed that God used him to speak to us in a mighty way. It was great to also meet up with Alan's assistant Pastor, Darren. Darren shared a song that he and his 8 year old daughter had written and I look forward to hearing it recorded one day.

Kurt Kula taught us about the faithfulness of God, and he used the life of Abraham and some of his own personal missionary experiences to illustrate this. Kurt has a wonderful teaching style and we all enjoyed his humour. We also had the pleasure of praying with Kurt and getting to know him. He is an inspiration to all of us "would be" missionaries! To see his willingness to persevere when so many of us would have given in was a great encouragement. Way to go Kurt!

We also had Heather Mercer sharing her testimony and experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq. You will want to check out her amazing story here. Heather added a further dimension to the teaching by sharing the many ways that God is moving miraculously today in Iraq and Afghanistan and reminding us of the cost involved in being a Christian in these countries.

Both Carolyn and I have a renewed sense of purpose in serving our Lord and whether that be in Austria or elsewhere we have been encouraged that we are doing the right thing serving God as missionaries.

We were blessed to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Dott and Jim made sure we felt right at home and kept the tea flowing! We really appreciate their love and concern for us and were more than blessed with their Godly counsel and wisdom. They truly are family!

It was also a great chance to catch up with our friend Neil Livingstone. He is a wonderful brother in the Lord and a great blessing to us and especially Lindsay. He has taken Lindsay under his wing and Neil led us in worship. He is a talented Godly man and we are all eagerly awaiting the release of his new worship CD. No pressure Neil! Here is a photo of Neil and Lindsay. I noticed Neil's biceps are almost as big as mine..Hah!

Well, it was a wonderful week. God truly is great!

For more pictures click here. To hear the conference messages click here

God bless you all for reading this Blog. Make sure and sign up to receive updates and this will save me having to email you all when it is updated.

Please pray we will know God's leading and direction and continue to grow in our relationship with Him and with each other. Please pray for the work God is doing around the world. Pray specifically for Kurt in Poland, and Alan in Austen and Heather in Iraq, as well as Robin and Alison here in Spittal, Austria. Pray God will continue to send out workers and pray God will help us to see the importance of telling others the Great News about Jesus.

Steve and Carolyn

Kennedy's First Blog

2008-10-26T13:30:00.000Z

Hi all, I cant believe it is nearly 6 months since we left Australia. It has taken way too long but I have finally managed to get onto setting up a blog. I have attached links for pictures, so if you notice a word in a different colour click it and it should take you to related pictures...I hope!

Carolyn and I are just back from a 2 week break in Scotland, which was wonderful. It was great to catch up with Gran and family and our friends there. We stayed at a beautiful little unit in a place called Dovetails, in Bridge of Cally. Mike and Helen (the owners) made our stay very relaxing. I even managed to meet up with my best friend from school, Neil Mackay, who I hadn't seen for 27 years. It was so good to meet up with Neil again.

We had some amazing weather and so we drove as much as we could. Including a trip to Loch Tay, Montrose, Arbroath, Pitlochry and Braemar. On the way to Braemar we stopped in at Dalmunzie Lodge and had a nice lunch. Expecting a Scottish welcome, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by an Aussie waitress, and found out all the staff and owners were from Australia. What a small world.

We are back in Austria at the Castle and settling into our roles again. Things are quieter now that conference season is officially over. However we do have smaller groups staying, which keeps us on our toes.

I am teaching a study on Thursday nights, and we are currently working through the book of Philippians. It is amazing to see Paul's attitude and his complete focus on the importance of "Preaching Christ". I am humbled by his statement in V21, "To me to live is Christ and to die is gain!" Wow, how I pray I may be able to get my own life into that prespective. I often share devotions in the mornings through the week and we attend church on Sundays and Wednesay at Calvary Chapel Spittal. The director of the bible college, Robin Turner, is also the Pastor of this church, and his teaching is always good.

Austria is really beautiful and especially as it is fall at the moment. I cleared a mountain of leaves the other day and had to stay rugged up as the temperature is beginning to drop now. It is amazing to see the golden leaves and trees all around us now. The lake is as beautiful as ever, and looking very serene. Carolyn tells me we may get snow on Wednesday :-)

We do love to think of you all back in Australia and we do pray for you. It is great to receive emails, and we would love to get a postcard, just so we can get mail. It is a big event at the Castle when someone gets mail.

Carolyn, Lindsay and our friend Akos drove up to Salzburg to pick up Robin and Alison who were returning from a trip to Idaho, so we managed to pop in to the town for a couple of hours and visit the Mirabelle Gardens and the stamp shop, Akos' favourite stop.

I will attach some photos too.

We miss you all

Steve