15th July 2026
- NVBC
- Jul 15
- 5 min read
15th July 2026
Organised to Intercede!
from Travis
How often have you responding to becoming aware of a friend's need by saying "I'll be praying for you"? For most of us, I'd imagine the answer is: quite often! In that moment that commitment to pray is a genuine intention, an expression of our care for the person and an outworking of our belief in the power of prayer...
... and yet, skip forward in time and how easy is it to suddenly realise that we neglected to do so?! Not because we didn't care or didn't believe in the power of prayer, but simply because we had nothing in place to remind us to.
To follow on from the encouragement to be an Intercessor, I also encourage you to consider what supporting system or rhythms you can put in place that will actively help and remind you to pray for others consistently over time.
One such prayer practice that many intercessors use is: keeping a prayer journal.
If you love the tactility of pen and paper, nothing will beat creating and keeping track of prayer requests, your prayers for them and recording updates like a good ol' fashioned journal! Either integrate prayer requests into your existing journal, or run a prayer-specific journal alongside it. Just make sure to keep it somewhere visible to remind you often, and set a rhythm of when and where you plan to pray through it (eg: over a morning coffee or evening cuppa).
If you are the type of person who has integrated and relies on technology and apps to help run your life (for calendar reminders, to do lists, and notetaking), then a Prayer App could be a really helpful resource. There are some great ones available, such as: Inner Room, Prayer Mate, Echo Prayer, Ceaseless and plenty of others. Plus as a bonus, it helps us reclaim our phones: turn off push notifications from your social media mind-rot apps, and turn on prayer reminders to jog you to pray across the day!
On Sunday I shared one (of many) examples in my life where someone had told me that they had been praying for me - in that particular case, over decades! That is not an accidental prayer habit, nor the sort of occasional random prayer from whenever I popped into their thoughts. Such intercession over me was deliberate, consistent and persistent... and incredibly caring. Let us do likewise!
Kids Day Out Highlight Vid
Missed being with us on Sunday? We showed the highlight video from the Kids Day Out that ran at NVBC last week. You can catch up on the highlights below and join us in giving thanks for a wonderful 2026 Central Coast Regional Kids Day Out!!
TERM 3 @NVBC
As we gear up to head into the third term of 2026 together, let's pause for a moment to give THANKS TO GOD for all the ways He is at work among us!! And with faith, let us look forward to how God will continue to build His church at NVBC in the coming months.
To help give a birds eye view of what's ahead - this week we hijack our normal newsletter format to list below many of the programs, events and key dates coming up across Term 3. We do this as an invitation to pray over and into the many upcoming initiatives. As you pray for them, dedicate each one to the Lord and ask that he would encounter and draw people closer to himself through each ministry, program and event.
Practically, we also share to give a heads up! We know diaries run hot and fill up quickly, so want to put these opportunities for connect, growth and encouragement before you.
Ministry to Kids & Youth
Kingdom Kids (run during our AM Service) will resume from this Sunday, 19th July.
The Valley Youth will resume Friday 24th July. This term's theme is "Jesus the Greatest" from the book of Hebrews.
The Valley Sundays (run fortnightly during school terms in our AM Service for our highschoolers) will resume Sunday 26th July.
Community Facing Programs
Playgroups are run on Wednesday and Friday mornings during school terms, and continue to be a great place to connect together and with parents and carers from our neighbourhood.
Friendship Club is a beautiful and gentle ministry to any experiencing any forms of mental illness or social anxiety. It runs in our foyer each Wed during school terms, 12pm-2pm.
CruCoast day camp is coming up again next school holidays. Think of Kids Day Out, but over 4 days!! It is a wonderful opportunity to connect with kids from our region and share the good news of Jesus with them over the week (along with having an absolute blast of a time).
Church-wide Events
Our next Focus Meeting will be after the AM Service on Aug 2. We'll bring a mid-year finance update, report back on key ministries and facilitate a time of discussion and questions around an upcoming leadership discernment opportunity (that we'll share more about this Sunday).
As we continue to speak into the importance, power and blessing of prayer, we invite all to our next scheduled Prayer Meeting on Aug 19. Let us increasingly become a House of Prayer at NVBC!
Connect Weekend is back for Term 3! It is a weekend of many social opportunities to connect and build relationships across our church community, from homes to beaches to activities - there'll be something for everyone. More details to come.
Short Courses
We will be running The Prayer Course by 24/7 Prayer in our Connect Groups across Term 3. If you're not in a connect group yet but would love to do the course with us, we've got you covered! A prayer course "pop up connect group" will start next Wednesday, July 22.
Later in the term we will facilitate 'The Marriage Course' in an online format on Monday nights from Aug 17. Find out more here.
Beyond NVBC
The annual Soul Survivor Young Adults Retreat is coming up July 31 - Aug 2. Many of our young adults are signed up and really looking forward to it. Rego is about to close though, so hurry up and rego here ASAP if keen.
Our Coast Baptist Churches are gathering once again for a night of prayer and worship, and as an expression of our unity and shared mission together. We will not run our normal PM Service on Sunday August 16, encouraging as many as possible to join in this regional event! For more info or to RSVP, visit https://gpbc.au/coast-baptists-worship-night.
For our Grandparents, the 2026 National Grandparent Conference on 'leaving a living legacy' is on again, this year a lot closer for us. If interested, you can learn more here.
Social Events
This Saturday night we'll host an end of school holidays Family Movie Night.
You can RSVP for the movie night here.
Our next Seniors Morning Tea will be up at Mt Penang Gardens in Kariong on July 30.
Let Wendy-Sue know if you're planning on coming.
The next Men's breakky to look forward to will be Saturday Aug 1.
Sunday Services
We've got another four messages coming in our teaching series on Prayer, with Johnny sharing a message this Sunday on "Praying through disappointments."
Across the term we are also looking forward to having Mark from Compassion with us to share and encourage us (Aug 16), one of our supported missionaries Nita back to share in person with us (Aug 30) and we'll champion and celebrate the Dads of NVBC on Father's Day (Sept 6).
And of course... Don't Forget to Rego in Term 3 for:
Our bi-annual opportunity to get away together for a relaxed, fun and community building weekend away. Check out the venue, ticket options and rego here: https://www.nvbc.info/thegathering
If you ever want to see all that's coming up at NVBC at a glance...
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