| Australian Heart Ministries > Marshes > On Tour (about this bar) |
Friday 29th June - BOURKE
After leaving Wollongong 6 hours later than planned and experiencing some
mechanical difficulties with the bus in Dubbo, we finally got to Bourke. We
had a great concert at the Bourke Community Church - about 250 people showed
up to pack out the hall and it was a great time of ministry with many people
getting blessed. The next day we spent time at the Pera Bore Cornerstone Community,
shooting for our TV show. Many thanks to Paul and Robyn Roe and everyone else
at Cornerstone for looking after us so well.
Sunday 1st July - LONGREACH
On Sunday we drove like crazy to make it to Longreach in time for a concert
at the AOG Church in Longreach in the evening. We also had a great time there
too, ministering and catching up with old friends. The fact that state of
origin was on that night meant that there were less people, but we still had
a great time. The next day we spent shooting stories for the show and we were
able to interview an amazing couple - Steve and Laura Moloney - who had a
great story to tell.
Tuesday
3rd July - DAJARRA
Tuesday night we had a great time of ministry at Dajarra, a town just south
of Mt Isa with a large Aboriginal population. The town can get pretty wild
at night, but we ministered outside the community hall and God really moved
- 12 people came out the front to accept Jesus. It was also great to catch
up with some good friends of ours, Nev and Isobel Rogers, who are full time
missionaries to the outback. We got to do an interview with them too. Legendary
people!
Friday 6th July - KATHERINE
Katherine was fantastic - we got to visit the beautiful Katherine Gorge and
our concert at night was amazing. The presence of God was very tangible and
5 people came out the front to accept Jesus - then, even more people came
out after Warwick had 'closed' the altar call, to dedicate their lives to
Jesus. One guy, Steve, who had a painful ankle problem, got totally healed
after we prayed for him. God is amazing! It was also good to catch up with
old friends, the Mellors, and many others.
Saturaday 7th July - KUNUNNURRA
On this tour, we are priveleged to have a very talented cameraman/director
from Sydney - Mike Zeppel - working with us to produce our TV shows. It is
also great privelege to have our friends the Taylor's (Ian, Wanda, Elizabeth,
Tim and Nic) traveling with us and helping in many ways.
We visited Kununnurra briefly. Firstly we met and played with another family band, the Lees (from Broken Hill) at Gullivers Tavern. The next morning we ministered at Kununnurra AOG with Bob & Evelyn Minniecon and then moved on to Wyndham.
Our ministry from here on was to predominately
Aboriginal people in towns and communities. Pastoring in these areas is a
challenge as missionaries endeavour to bring the Gospel and train indigenous
leadership.
Sunday 8th July - WYNDHAM
In Wyndham we had a wonderful time with Bob & Tammie O'Brien, did a great
interview with them, and also got some stories about Wyndham and it's people.
Wyndham is very isolated and the ministry, music, break dancing and puppets
were greatly appreciated.
Wednesday 11th July - HALLS CREEK
Halls Creek was our next stop. The meeting was great with many coming out
for prayer. Ps Max Wiltshire has done a great work. His indigenous leaders
are forging ahead and this enables him to travel with missions teams to other
parts of Australia and to minister overseas. We recorded interviews with Ps
Max, Ps Kenny Boomer and Eva and found out heaps about Halls Creek. The following
morning we went to the 4am prayer meeting, that these godly people are having
every morning, a power house for the Church.
Saturday 14th July - BROOME
We travelled on to an outreach meeting at Bidyadanga Community. It was a very
powerful night. Our music was complimented by the spiritual music of these
anointed Indigenous Christians. Godly young men are being trained for ministry
and we were very blessed as they prayed for us. In the morning we recorded
interviews with prominent leaders of Bidyadanga.
At Broome we had an outreach in the prison.
We were received well and spent time over dinner chatting with some of the
inmates. A few stayed behind after the concert to talk and help us with the
equipment. Any prison ministry is very worthwhile. People inside enjoy connection
with outsiders who are interested in them. We enjoy going into gaols, bringing
family into peoples lives who are missing their families.
Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd July - ELCHO ISLAND
The next few days we pushed through to the Northern Territory so that we could
fly out from Jabiru. Thirteen of us boarded a light plane, chartered from
MAF(Missions Aviation Fellowship) to Elcho Island where we conducted two meetings
a day for 3 days. Elcho Islanders are beautiful people - we have always been
impressed with their awesome input at the Praise Corroboree gatherings. It
was so wonderful to be able to worship with them in their own environment
and learn of the challenges they face in their own community. Our Tropical
Island hideaway was just so beautiful that we really wished we could stay
on and have a holiday.
Tuesday 24th July - DARWIN
When we got back into Jabiru, the Taylor family headed into Darwin for mechanical
repairs while the Marshes forged tidal rivers, savage crocodiles and ravaging
green ants to minister at a concert at Oenpelli with Robyn Green and Ps Peter
Morgan. This would have to be the highlight of our tour to date. Over 400
members of the Community came to enjoy the music and dancing and be challenged
by Ps Peters preaching. The team prayed for many children and then adults.
Pray for Andrew and Careena as they serve the Lord in their community.
25th July - Beswick Aboriginal Community
We had a great time at Beswick.
We had an open air meeting on the school basketball court with probably 150
people turning out for a great time (but the whole community heard the gospel
because we always make sure we turn it up!). Many people were encouraged.
It was great to catch up with old friends Carl and Gail Musch who are doing
a great work amongst Indigenous peoples. It was also great to spend some more
time with our friends the Lee family. The local Aboriginal leaders also took
us to a beautiful waterhole and waterfall (which was a real privilege for
us whitefellas) that not many whitepeople get to see. There we got to swim
with freshwater crocs and jump off big rocks. Sound scary? It kind of was!
Much thanks to Anderson and Serina for looking after us.
29th July - Normanton (The Gulf Country)
We had a great time of ministry at
Normanton with the AOG church there - Several people came out the front to
accept Jesus after we played to the Indigenous community there. We even had
a guy who was very drunk (after heckling Warwick throughout the concert) come
out to get his life right. On the way to Normanton we blew a rear tyre which
took 2 hours of hard, sweaty work to change - just a tyre for our bus costs
$500, but we got it done. On Saturday (the 28th of July) we got to go to a
full on rodeo (yeeha!!!) at Quamby, which was actually great fun. We also
said goodbye to the Taylor's at Quamby, as they had to get back to their farm
in Central NSW - thanks for all your help Ian, Wanda, Elizabeth, Tim and Nick.
1st August - Cairns (Emmanuel Christian Centre)
Cairns was fantastic - we got to see
many old friends and make some new ones too. Thanks to R 'n' R for the great
white water rafting experience (we got a good story for TV out of that!).
We ministered at Emmanuel Christian Centre on the Wednesday night - it was
a great time of celebration. The Pastor there, Brian Lampton, was greatly
blessed and one lady later told Pastor Brian that she was going to stop going
to Church and give up on God altogether, but her children dragged her along
to the concert. After the Marshes ministered, she had a total change of Heart,
was inspired, and is now going full on for God. It was also great to catch
up with an old friend, Peter Tapau. Our last day in Cairns was on Friday and
it was then that we left our director/ cameraman Mike with his wife Melanie.
They are having a 10 day holiday in Cairns before flying back to Sydney (I
think he needed it after 6 weeks with us). Thanks to Mike for his great help
and expertise.
5th August (Impromptu concert at Tweed Heads)
On the way down the coast, the opportunity arose to minister with the Slabb
family at Tweed Heads. They live at a place called Fingle (just below Tweed
Heads), are of the Bundjalung tribe and are great friends of ours. We had
a good meeting with them on Sunday night and early Monday morning they treated
the boys to a spin in their speed boat in the surf. A great end to a fantastic
tour.