As you travelled to church on Sunday morning, I hope you noticed the two signs on our front fence and lawn signalling the beginning of Advent season. So, what is Advent season?

Today I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for our dedicated volunteers at St. Peter's. Your efforts enable us to enjoy our church community every week and reflect the wonderful vision of our founders.

A huge, big thank you to our church family at St Peters for welcoming the ethnic community to our combined church service last Sunday. With over 400 attendees, it took all of us working together to make the event a success.

The bible talks about the race we run daily as children of God. The Apostle Paul tells us that a race has been set before us (Hebrew 12:1), and he instructs us to run in such a way as to obtain the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). Our race begins when we declare with our mouths that “Jesus is Lord” and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).

The journey from Bethlehem to church is such a gift from God. Riding along the waterfront, with Mt Maunganui in view and the energy from runners, walkers, bikers, birds, and the morning traffic all around, made for a refreshing start to the day. Truly, this is God’s creation on display.