Well, we are back home in Aussie-land now after our 10 day tour in beautiful New Zealand! I never knew our sister country could be so much fun & with such incredible people & scenery. In fact, it’s actually so ‘picture perfect’ that my fiancé & I are thinking of having our honeymoon in mountains of New Zealand. Whoever thought that only a three hour flight could take you to another world.

Parachute Festival was wild hey. Such a blessed country to have such a killer festival on each year. Over 28 000 people all coming together to celebrate Christ through worship, music and dance – it was so inspiring. Our Citipointe Live team had the honour to be on Main Stage on Sunday night with other bands like Hillsong United, Leeland & Parachute Band. Also, on the same stage performed Underoath & Swichfoot on the Saturday night. Even in the pouring rain & mud – thousands would come out at night with their raincoats & umbrellas to worship God. The main thing that stood out to me is that the Kiwi’s have such a culture of passionate worship & immediate response to God. It really is a culture that is so genuine, generous and fun to hang with!

We had such a ball traveling the country and making such a bond with several churches and specifically music teams. I think the biggest honour is when you have people come to you saying that your songs have impacted their personal lives & their local Church. Our team just thrived on having the privilege to host The Ultimate Worshiper Master class workshops & impart into the music teams of New Zealand. We felt such a unity with them as worship leaders together holding each others hands up high and going forward in what God has called us to do.

If I had to pick one testimony out of all of them that moved me, it would have to be when I had an elderly lady tell me that the week before her husband passed in hospital last year he asked her to play our Citipointe Live album ‘DEVOTED’ and specifically ‘Name of Jesus’ on repeat in his ward. It’s funny to think that God can use an ordinary song that was originally intended for our local Church, Citipointe, to then go into the homes & hospitals in other nations around the world and impact lives in amazing ways.

Now back home in Brizvegas,  I am so pumped about what God is building in our church, its true there’s no place like home (thank you Citipointe!) I sooooo loved you NZ and looking forward to seeing you again with my fiancé in August.

Share the love peeps

Chardon

Touring can be tedious at times!  Hours of travel, fast food, sickness, being away from family and general life stuff. However, when you finish the tour, look back and see all the people that have found the love of Jesus, or those that we’re influenced to love God and people more,  it all is SO worth it.

New Zealand is like a second home to us now.  We have been going there for the past 3 years straight, and every time it just gets better and better.  The relationships that have come out of it are unreal. Kiwi’s rock! It’s awesome to see Churches that are moving forward and going from strength to strength. Ultimately, it’s an honour to be a part of what God is doing over in the land of the sheep!

Some highlights of this tour would defiantly begin with the Parachute Festival.  Besides microphones not being plugged into front of house, no sound check time, crazy bucketing rain, we LOVE what Parachute represents and who they are as people.  There is such a buzz, such a hunger within the boundary lines of the festival for God, fun & food!  Probably one of the best festivals in the world.

I would probably have to say our favorite highlight of any tour is hanging with our team on such an intimate level.  We have the best group of guys that we travel with.  Such servant hearts, dedicated to God and fulfilling the calling that’s on their life.  They give up so much to come on these tours and we honour them for that. They rock!

We love NZ! Can’t wait for next year 2011. Yew!

Nothin’ but BIG love

Aaron & Becky

The final chapters 4 & 5 of our mini-documentary ‘project cambodia: cause behind the commission’ are now live.

You can view them over on the project cambodia page.

We’re packing our bags, de-tuning our guitars, and flying over to New Zealand! We love visiting New Zealand, I got excited and researched some facts… Captain James Cook was the first explorer to set foot on NZ soil in 1769 and now it has a population of 4 million. Major religion = Christianity (yew!), and some of the most beautiful landscape you will find across the globe!

We’re all stoked to hit up the Parachute Festival this weekend. Such a good vibe! One thing about Kiwi’s is they love to worship. This will be our second time playing at the festival and we are so honoured to be apart of this year’s huge lineup. Switchfoot, Leeland, Hillsong United, Family Force 5 and so many more.
After Parachute Festival, Citipointe Live will be staying for another week in NZ. Unfortunately, only on the north island this time. We will be hitting up a few more churches, doing some training master classes and leading worship.

Touring is great and playing music is defiantly second to none, especially when you’re so passionate about it. However, that’s not the main reason we travel. Our heart is to see the church worldwide strengthened and equipped to impact this planet! Our Senior Pastor, Mark Ramsey, says “We exist to unmistakeably influence our world for good and for God!” Therefore, if we can bring good by imparting who we are and what we’ve learned and experienced then hey, the Church will be stronger!

Can’t wait!
Much love,

Aaron

NZ NORTH ISLAND 2010 TOUR DATES

FRI JAN 29TH
PARACHUTE FESTIVAL – MYSTERY CREEK, HAMILTON NZ
WHERE – PALLADIUM STAGE
TIME – 8 20PM

SUN JAN 31ST
PARACHUTE FESTIVAL – MYSTERY CREEK, HAMILTON NZ
WHERE – MAIN STAGE
TIME – 6 35PM

WED FEB 3RD
ELIM CHRISTIAN CENTRE – HOWICK, NZ
“ULTIMATE WORSHIPER MASTERCLASS”
7.30 – 9.30PM

THURS FEB 4TH
THE EQUIP CHURCH – WHANGERAI, NZ
“ULTIMATE WORSHIPER MASTERCLASS”
7.00 – 9.30PM

FRI FEB 5TH
ELIM CHRISTIAN CENTRE – HOWICK, NZ
“OXYGEN” YOUTH
8 00 – 10 00PM

SAT FEB 6TH
HOUSE OF BREAKTHROUGH – GISBORNE, NZ
“ULTIMATE WORSHIPER MASTERCLASS”
1 30 – 7 30PM

SUN FEB 7TH
CITY IMPACT CHURCH – BROWNS BAY/NORTH SHORE, NZ
SUNDAY PM SERVICE
7 00PM

On our recent trip to Cambodia we documented what we saw, felt & experienced together as a team. We’ve cut these into 5 webisodes to be released over January. We invite you to view these mini-docos over on the project cambodia page. We hope these are reflective & inspiring…

much love
citipointe live

view the ’cause behind the commission’ webisodes

Parachute Festival touches down in Brisbane in 2010!
These guys know how to throw a party, hosting THE largest christian music festival in the southern hemisphere each year in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Hosted on our home ground at Citipointe Church Brisbane, Parachute Festival Brisbane kicks off with the impressive lineup of Leeland, Family Force 5, New World Son + yours truly.

This will be a sick event – if you love music festivals like AGMF Easterfest, do yourself a favour and get a ticket now… early bird price is 30 bucks from word bookstores!

Parachute Festival Brisbane

The Commissioning.
A young adults youth gathering.
14 – 16 Jan 2009.

Feat:
Joey Bonaficio
Dr Robi Sonderegger
Ps Josh Kelsey
Ps Andy Gourley
Ps George Salloum
Ps Karolina Gunsser

Early bird rate is $55. Be there.
visit thecommissioning.com for more.

Was’ up everyone!

We had a rad Creative practice last tuesday night! I commend every member of our team for diggin’ deep and passionately pursuing the heart of God!
I spoke on a subject that is relevant to every human being whether you’re a teenager or you’re an elderly. The title of my message was “Living in the Light,” here is a breakdown of the notes I had, hope it helps!

Purity is such a battle these days. I’m not just talking about sexual purity, but about the arsenal of weapons that bombards our lives daily. We often excuse ourselves from being pure by insisting that it is so hard to be pure in these days. All sorts of excuses are given, “all the pornography on the internet,” “all the drama, sex, and violence on TV and in the movies,” “That piece of gossip was so juicy I had to share it with my best friend,” and we use the excuse “everybody’s doing it.” Bottom line, purity is not easy because the Devil knows how to co-opt some of our most basic and human desires and get this, WE PREFER TO GIVE IN AND HAVE THEM DISTORTED THAN TO BE DISCIPLINED AND HAVE THEM BLESSED.

Ouch! I can think of thousands of times in my life where I’ve taken the easy exit and gave in rather than be disciplined and choose purity. It’s a battle that everyone, even you, has to deal with. This very battle can take the strength and passion away from our spiritual worship.

You see, all of life, spiritual and sexual are part of our offering of worship. That’s why Paul talked about offering our bodies to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12). He said this is our spiritual worship. How intense is that, our bodies our the very temple, home, in which the Spirit of God lives. Problem is, our sorry ol’ fleshly, prideful sacrifice’s keep wanting to crawl off the alter.

I then asked this question, “What are you OFFERING to God?
Is your spiritual worship distorted or is it purified and holy, pleasing to God?
So what happens if you have done some crazy things in your life, you’ve chosen the easy exit and distorted your heart with the junk this world has to offer? What do you do? Do you wait for the next big name preacher to come through your city and go and get prayed for, cleansed and healed? That is definitely one way, but not God’s way of living a champions life!

I’ve come across one of the most powerful tools to help us champion this life, to help us live in the light and experience the very freedom that was blood bought by Jesus, that is through ACCOUNTABILITY.
So if you we’re to come to me and say “can I be accountable to you,” this is what I would say.

1-The Old way of Life has to go!
Ephesians 4:20-24 (Message) “Since then, we do not have the excuses of ignorance, everything, and I do mean everything, connected with that OLD WAY OF LIFE HAS TO GO. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And take on an entirely new way of life, a God fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”

2-You chase, you submit to accountability!
Ephesians 5:21“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ!”

The problem we can run into is that we wait for someone else to do the work for us, we have to chase accountability, call them on the phone, book an appointment and make it happen.

3.Be accountable to what you are allowing in your life, in your mind!
Ephesians 4:23 “be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh spiritual and mental attitude)
Simple really, we are new creations in Christ but we still have to put off the old and put on the new everyday!

4.I would ask you the tough questions! Exposure=Freedom
Ephesians 5:11-14 “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose, reprove(to speak of disapproval), and convict(to declare guilty) them!
For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is the light that makes everything visible, this is why it is said:
Wake up O’ Sleeper
Rise from the dead
And Christ will shine on you!”
We must learn to open and vulnerable with someone that we trust with every little secret, every little skeleton in the closet. This will allow God’s light to shine on you and bring healing.

5.Be accountable on a consistent basis!
Don’t think by having one awesome meeting with someone and talking through issues is going to solve anything. Accountability and living in the light must be consistent, something that’s done again and again and again and again.
If we embrace accountability in our lives we will experience freedom like God intended, joy unspeakable. We will be positioned in freedom, able to dwell in His sanctuary, abide on His holy hill like Psalm 15 says,
“Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart, and has no slander on his tongue, and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without question and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will NEVER BE SHAKEN!!!!

Ok….So, I have just started reading Talent Is Never Enough by John C. Maxwell. I think it is going to be incredible based on the fact that I have only read the introduction and things are jumping out at me all over the shop. He points out some things in life that do not require talent. Continuing, he says that talent is great, but without discipline you will eventually be passed by people with maybe not so much talent but that have a little drive.

Even in the first couple of pages of this amazing book, I am learning the things that can make you a success that do not require talent.

Punctuality, a good attitude, patience, unselfishness, team work, respect, effort, a desire to see others succeed and honesty are just some of these vital keys. Talent is awesome and God given, however if someone with a “Talent Level 8” who does nothing extra and relies on their talent alone would most definitely be surpassed by someone with a “Talent Level 4” who practices those things that do not require talent that I mentioned.

Just a little something on my mind

Joel+

Commission My Soul: Present (itunes store link)
Commission My Soul: Past (itunes store link)