- Jun 10
- 5 min read
10th June 2026
Have you ever thought about...?
From Johnny
When I was a young adult, I had a group of Christian friends who were really passionate about serving God. They all dreamed of one day becoming pastors and ministry leaders. They even joked about one day writing their memoir, and remembering our little group where these dreams all began. I was the odd one out in that group. I didn't think I could be a leader, and I had no idea that I would be a pastor one day... but God had a plan that was already in motion, and it took me years to realise it!
Sometimes, we have blind-spots like this. We are unaware of the ways that God has shaped us, called us and equipped us. We don't realise the direction that he is guiding us. Sometimes, what we need is someone else to notice it for us, someone to tap us on the shoulder and say, 'have you ever thought about...?'
On Sunday, Phil Blair will be preaching for us from Acts 6. In those days, the apostles asked the church community to choose people from among them who were "known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom" to step into a new ministry opportunity caring for the widows of the church.
Likewise, this Sunday, we'll be making a time in our services for you to invite someone else to think about where God is leading them, and where they could be serving. We'd love you to make some time over the next few days to pray and consider who you could encourage this week to pursue a new ministry opportunity!
Staffing Update: Extended Support for Worship Director
from Travis (on behalf of Board and Elders)
God is so incredibly worship of our worship!! For the child of God, we are called into a life of worship through every faithful step of obedience, sin surrendered, gratitude returned as praise and an ongoing heart and devotion towards the Lord. It is why our gathered times of expressing our worship together through song are so special, powerful and valuable in our witness and growth as a church community. They are the overflow and communal expression of our heart and life of worship, as we seek to love, honour and encounter God. And I know I'm not alone in being so very thankful for our worship team who help lead and facilitate these times in our Sunday gatherings week to week.
For those unaware, Josh White currently volunteers as our Worship Director, volunteering roughly 1 - 1.5 days each week to help lead this beautiful ministry of NVBC. This includes rostering, recruiting and developing worship team members, his personal involvement in Sunday Service bands, liaising with P&S team about upcoming services, ensuring our licencing compliance, maintaining and troubleshooting Audio-Visual tech and more.
Over a prayerful, lengthy and considered conversation between myself, elders, board and Josh, in consultation with the pastoral team, we have been exploring what extended support for the worship director position could look like. What would enable and empower greater alignment between the pastoral team and worship director, and support greater investment into this significant ministry area?
To this end, the Board and Elders have approved extended support to the Worship Director position of 4 paid hours per week for a 6 month trial period.
This extended support allows Josh to give additional hours over and above his volunteer hours to the Worship Director role, specifically on a Monday afternoon - enabling him to be present in the office and in pastors and staff team meetings. The heart is to see an even greater alignment between the P&S team and our Worship Ministry. And to also strengthen oversight, formalised support and accountability structures for Josh, while empowering Josh to have a valuable voice into the P&S team’s planning and implementation of vision.
A 6 month trial period allows Josh and his main employer to trial whether the disruption to his primary workplace hours are sustainable. It also allows NVBC to trial the extended support concept, to more fully understand it before considering its place in the broader budget and staff makeup mix. (Note: the 6month trial paid hours fall within the 2026 NVBC staffing load approved by the Ministry Partners at our December budget-setting AGM).
To reiterate: Josh will continue his current volunteer load in a voluntary (unpaid) capacity. This additional paid support is about added responsibilities and opportunities to be more involved in the P&S Team discussions, planning and life and invest even more into leading NVBC's worship team and ministry to the glory of God!
Please continue to pray for Josh and our worship team.
If you have any questions or need clarification please come chat with myself, or Andy and Brad as chairs of our Board and Elders.
Mission News: Daniel Sze
Daniel completed mission trips in March (Tweed Heads & Gold Coast) and April (Gilgandra), but he doesn’t anticipate another until October (Collarenebri). He made a very short May mission month video, outlining the main goal for 2027 which is to collaborate with Indigenous Christian leaders to further contextualise the Empowered to Influence discipleship-training material for more effective use within Indigenous communities. Remember we helped make such resources available for their use online.
The photo shows Daniel as a Court Chaplain (NSW), a role in which he brings support to people during difficult moments of crisis, trauma, and stress. While this is not part of the Urban Regional Mission, it does help build trust with Indigenous communities. He celebrated how four people from partnering congregations completed their training to serve people needing support in court settings, albeit in a different capacity to a chaplain.
Daniel is one of the NVBC-supported mission workers, and works with Indigenous Church leaders in both regional and urban Australia. You can watch a 5-min summary of his work or talk to Bob Gibson.
Fun Community News
Kundai, Josh and Zach from our NVBC soccer teams, recently represented the Central Coast Churches Football Association in the annual NSW Country Christian Churches Competition. It was a round Robin style competition with entrants from The Hunter, Blue Mountains, Illawarra and the Central coast competing for a trophy (and year long bragging rights!).
They played 2 games on Saturday and 1 on Monday of the June long weekend. Close losses for both games on Saturday but finished on Monday with a 1-0 Win!
If you love soccer too - chat to the boys about supporting our church soccer teams, and make sure to come along to our Socceroos match screening at church this Sunday at 2pm.
This Weekend
This Sunday we are excited to host Phil Blair from Green Point Baptist Church to continue our Acts series. Phil is our Regional minister along with being Senior Pastor at GPBC.
(And for our soccer loving friends, we will screen the Socceroos match at 2:00pm in the auditorium before the PM Service)
Next Week
Prayer Gathering (Wed 17 June)
Our next scheduled evening of prayer where we follow the example of the early church in Acts: 'they devoted themselves... to prayer' (Acts 2:42). 7pm start. All welcome.
Equip Conference (Sat 20 June)
Join with the women of NVBC for a time of encouragement, connection and faith formation at the annual Equip Women's Conference. Check out the video above for more details.
Presence Night (Sun 21 June)
We love these nights of unhurried prayer, worship and reflection. All welcome.
And also...
The Gathering Ticket Launch (Sun 21 June)
We will officially launch and open rego for this year's Gathering Church Camp!
Creating Safe Spaces Workshop (Sun 28 June)
We will host an onsite CSS workshop Sunday June 28 for any needing to complete (or refresh) their training. For more info or to RSVP.
Kids Day Out (Tues 7 July)
Regoes are coming in and we're getting excited for Kids Day Out in the upcoming school holidays! Time to invite your friends and rego here for a fabulous peak experience.
For all other upcoming events, visit:
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