I was having a great chat with my 2 year old (Sophia Joyce) as we landed from Melbourne and she asked me (somewhat randomly), "Where is your daddy?" I said, "In heaven with Jesus," and she said "WHY?" (Her most frequently used word) to which I responded, "because he died". She was silent for a few seconds (a miracle for Sophia) and then said, "Did your daddy die on a cross, Mummy?" She had obviously been listening in kids church over Easter and hasn't yet understood that Jesus was the only one who died on a cross for us. But I LOVED her simplistic faith... She then picked up her stuffed bear and said, "We are going to talk to God, Mummy - bye!" At that moment, I thought that God probably listens to stuffed bears... She did more for my faith in those few minutes than anything else that day... I so hope you are not rushing through life at such a pace that you miss the 'God moments' in the midst of everything...

I have been reading my friend Lisa Bevere's new book, 'Nurture' and it is brilliant - I recommend that everyone reads this. Lisa has amazing insight and unwraps a major issue for the church today. I found myself underlining entire pages of this book - especially pages 59-63. I then realised that it defeats the purpose of underlining if I do it to every line... What can I say - I LOVE this book! We have such a responsibility to be nurturers and this book shows the why and the how...

For all my friends who laughed at my previous attempts to bake cookies (which resulted in me setting off the fire alarms in my kitchen... and producing CHARCOAL cookies), I want you to know that I have come back VICTORIOUS! I have defied the odds and baked a dozen choc-chip (organic of course) cookies and did not burn any... I will confess that I was so concerned about burning them that they are TOTALLY undercooked... but the kids love the DOUGHY effect!!!

I am writing my next book on marriage, motherhood and ministry and I will include a chapter on my exceptional culinary abilities... NOT!!!

Off to plan the electives in the Community Action and Evangelism faculty for Hillsong Conference this year (I hope you are planning to be there - it will be incredible)... From undercooked cookies to world mission, social justice and evangelism... all in an day's work for a 21st century woman in ministry...

In the words of Lisa Bevere - "The daughters of heaven are powerful, influential, wise, gracious and lovely."

Wow - we just had an incredible weekend at Planetshakers Church in Melbourne, Australia with Pastor Russell and Sam Evans. The passion, zeal, enthusiasm, energy, anticipation, expectation and faith in this church was awesome!

I was particularly moved by their passion for the lost and genuine desire to reach, impact and transform their city. The church is only 4 years old and already has several thousand members.

Planetshakers is having a great impact across the world with their praise and worship and ministry to youth and young adults. We saw many decisions for Christ, and as I shared about being transformed by God from the inside out so that we can transform our world, peoples lives were genuinely impacted.

I love hearing the testimonies of the effect that Stop Acting Like A Christian, Just Be One continues to have on peoples lives. As I share these truths in churches around the world and see the fruit, I am even more passionate about ensuring that this message gets into as many people's hands and hearts as possible. As we, the Church, become better equipped to reach our world, we will more effectively fulfil our mandate.

I love it when the Church understands that we have a Cause and Mission. We are not here to just do church on Sundays, but to BE the Church 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - make a decision this week to allow God to use you to reach and influence someone else with the love of Jesus!

As I sit here to type this, I almost cannot believe the past week... God continues to be amazing and faithful and the adventure of following Him becomes increasingly amazing. I must admit that when I first chose to follow Jesus, I had NO IDEA what that meant or where that would lead me and I marvel at His goodness.

After launching the A21 Campaign in Thessaloniki, we went to Seattle, Washington for Generation Church Youth Conference with Judah and Chelsea Smith. We had the most incredible time! I was overwhelmed as I saw the response of the young people to taking seriously the challenge to "cross the street" and reach their world for Christ; to choose to live a selfless Christianity committed to others. We absolutely love Judah and Chelsea and marvel at all God is doing in and through them. The Presence of God in the meeting was awe-inspiring and already we have had testimonies of youth ministries being profoundly impacted.

We then went to Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas for the Pink Impact women's conference and words cannot express what happened... it was not an ordinary women's conference - God certainly turned up in an unusual way and lives were eternally transformed. The women passionately rose to the challenge of helping to abolish the injustice of Human Trafficking and generously gave to support the A21 Campaign.

From there, we went to Victory Church in Oklahoma City with Pastors Mark and Jennifer Crowe and again God showed up in a big way. Their passion for the lost and a strong desire to address injustice resonated strongly with all we do and we will partner together to make a difference in the world. I am now en-route to Melbourne, Australia to speak at the Planetshakers Church which is having a huge impact across the world - what an exciting hour we live in. God is connecting worldchangers all over the world who are refusing to play church but who want to be the hands and feet of Jesus and BE the church. There is NEVER a dull moment when we are truly following Jesus... enjoy the adventure...

What a whirlwind few days we have had launching The A21 Campaign in Thessaloniki. The response to the issue of human trafficking in Greece was overwhelming. As we presented the situation and the need to the ladies at the conference, there was a true indignation that this injustice was happening in "our" own backyard. When the call to action was given in order to stop this and help rescue, restore and rebuild the lives of the victims, dozens of women signed up for the Hands that Heal course which will help us to help the girls. In June, we will be running training in Thessaloniki and Cyprus and the more we educate and train people, the more we are equipped to properly address the issue.

As I saw how passionately everyone embraced this cause, I was so grateful to God for placing His compassion in people. True compassion is not merely an emotional feeling. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the Bible teaches us that two religious people saw the beaten man on the side of the road but they walked on by... they were too busy doing the work of God to notice that the beaten man was not an interruption to their day but the goal of it. The Samaritan was a busy man too, also on his way somewhere, but he saw the man and had compassion on him and SO HE WENT TO HIM. True compassion means that we must cross the street, get involved and go into the midst of the pain and brokenness of humanity and be the hands and feet of Jesus. It is not compassion unless it leads to corresponding action.

I am excited to see the Church rising up in this desperate hour, being the salt and light of the world and choosing to "cross the street", roll up our sleeves and get to work as we bring the love and life of Jesus to a dying world. The A21 Campaign is on our website in Greek now as well as English. Why not join us to help stop this injustice?

Love, Chris

Well, it is 4am and I am too excited to sleep so I thought I would update you with our Greek adventures. We had the opening night of the women's conference last night and it was amazing. The women were so open and receptive to a strong message of "it's time to stop playing church and time to grow up, take responsibility, strengthen ourselves in Christ and reach out to a lost world around us." I am astounded at how much God had been preparing the hearts of the women to passionately embrace the challenge and in fact be extremely grateful that we were not playing any games but serious about truly reaching this nation with the Gospel. The presence of God was so obvious and there was woman after woman who came up to me afterwards thanking us for having the courage to take seriously the mandate to reach this nation. There is an entire generation over here waiting to be reached, and it is time for God's light to truly shine in the darkness through His people. We can no longer hide from this world in fear but we must strengthen ourselves in Him and step into the darkness to bring the LIGHT! (The concept of engaging with the world to bring change to the world is still a relatively new thought over here...) This is ground that is READY for God to move in a powerful way. Today, we will launch The A21 Campaign and we are so excited about all that God will do - will keep you posted!

Nick and I are sitting at Munich airport waiting to go to Thessaloniki both excited and a little overwhelmed at the prospect that we are actually launching The A21 Campaign in Greece in a only few days. I so feel like we are living Ephesians 3:20, "... super abundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]." God is truly doing MORE than anything we ever imagined.

There is so much expectation in Greece about the "Change Your World" women's conference. I feel like this is a dream come true. In a nation where there are less than 15,000 evangelical believers in a population of 11 million, we have a huge job ahead of us. I love that we are poised for a miracle! I can remember sitting in Bible college 18 years ago dreaming of one day ministering and Greece... and here we are.

I want to encourage you to keep fanning the flame of your dream, for HE who called you is FAITHFUL. Even though our circumstances may sometimes seem to be a million miles away from the promise of God over our lives, remain steadfast and immovable; keep believing God and pressing on - for in DUE SEASON you will reap if you faint not (Galatians 6:9).

We are off to board and I have that strange feeling that life will not be the same again - we are about to take one of the biggest faith leaps we have ever taken and the adventure in God is exhilarating... stay tuned.

Chris xxx

What a whirlwind past 10 days we have had! From Catherine's amazing 6th birthday party (can you believe my baby is 6???) with an Ariel theme (my backyard turned into a total fishbowl and dozens of 5-7 year olds running around - insanity but very yummy...) to a breathtaking Colour Your World women's conference in Sydney.

Who could forget the power of the Sisterhood morning when Marilyn Skinner spoke with a passion about Gulu/Watoto? She highlighted our responsibility to care for the HIV positive mothers so they can stay alive longer and look after their children so that there will be less orphans to rescue. After the session, a literal stampede occurred as women raced out and sponsored each and every one of the 1100 mums waiting to be sponsored so they can have access to the necessary drugs to stay alive.

I was reminded of the power of the church to change people's lives and transform communities when mobilised. Another 643 children were also sponsored through Compassion, and how amazing that conferences are becoming a platform to mobilise an army to good works! This must so please the heart of God. He so wants us to be His hands and feet in a lost and dying world.

I have also been at Calvary Christian church in Townsville, Australia and was thrilled to see the amazing job our friends James and Sam Macpherson are doing in the 5 months since they have taken over the leadership of the church. The church is full of life, many decisions for Christ and watch this space... this WILL be a significant church in Australia.

James and Sam have adopted 2 beautiful twin boys from Ethiopia and have had them since they were 6 months old. It is powerful to see these boys being loved, nurtured and raised in the house of God becoming strong young men. It shows me that every time we sponsor a child and give them the opportunity to have access to food/clothing/water/shelter/education, not only are we giving them the dignity they deserve, but the opportunity to fulfill their God-given destiny. My prayer is that one day, every child across the world is given the opportunity to flourish like Ben and Joe are. We cannot all adopt like Sam and James have, but we can all at least sponsor one child and give them a hope in Jesus. (Here is a shameless plug for Compassion: www.compassion.com)

We leave on Tuesday to speak at the Changing Your World women's conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. We are so excited (of course Greece being very close to my heart, and stomach!) - there will be women from all over Greece attending and we are launching The A21 Campaign for the first time in Greece. Please pray for us - we so need all your prayers and are believing God that as we reach out to fight against the injustice of the sex slave trade, His light will go forth and He will build His Church. This will be a very strategic week. Please check out the A21 page and our new DVD (coming soon) online, and consider how you might partner with us to stop this gross injustice. This faith adventure is certainly exciting...