Rejoice with us as we watch the Lord increase our passage in His time to get us to New Zealand in His time.

I have broken down our passage financial needs into five categories to more easily chart and track our progress.

We are an Independent Baptist missionary family sent out by the Faith Baptist Church in Shelby, North Carolina. Our pastor is Dr. J. Barry Goodman. We are currently on deputation as the Lord has called us to establish local New Testament Baptist churches in the country of New Zealand. As our deputation comes to a close, we are making preparations to move to New Zealand in 2010.

We will be located in the city of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty region on the northeast side of the North Island. We had the opportunity to visit this area in November of 2009 where the Lord opened the door for our immigration entrance into New Zealand through the Gospel Light Independent Baptist Church where Neville Keys is the pastor.

As with the United States of America and most of the world, New Zealand's Christian heritage has suffered decay over the past century. Revival that was once prominent in the 19th century has faded into the depth of history books. The church needs to be revived. As ambassadors for Christ, we are Spirit called, local church sent and duty bound to take "the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ" back to New Zealand.

 

In the 1880's DL Moody preached in New Zealand.


In the 1880's George Muller preached in New Zealand.

 
In the late 1800's Spurgeon's son pastored Baptist churches in New Zealand.

 
In the early 1900's RA  Torrey would preach in New Zealand.


Preaching in New Zealand in 1951, HA  Ironside died of a heart attack and is buried near Auckland, New Zealand.

Dr. Edwin Orr stated that revival in New Zealand was a direct result of the 1904 Welsh Revival. Through a revival in New Zealand, Dr. Orr penned the hymn "Cleanse Me", written to a Maori melody (the Maori are the Polynesian native people of New Zealand).

New Zealand is a beautiful country that is an independent nation of the British Commonwealth. The population is 4.4 million people (2010) where the majority are of British descent, and the largest minority group are the Maori making up 14% of the population. English is the official common language while Maori is also an official language. The agricultural industry is a major employer and the manufacturing sector is also growing in hi-tech industries. Fishing the Pacific Ocean is also of economic value to the Asian world market. The national sport of New Zealand is Rugby Union. Other popular sports include cricket, which is considered the national summer sport, rugby league, soccer and netball.