The Tamworth Band

Pictured: Steve with Brendan Huxley, Mal King and Dave Graffin. The band for the Tamworth Country Music Festival 2017.

We are so grateful to these fine musicians and great blokes for helping out with the music workshops and concerts we did during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. We managed to put a band together and perform 6 x 2 hour concerts over 6 nights plus do music and songwriting workshops and busking in Peel Street and meet lots of people. It was a great week!! Thank you to the local churches of Tamworth, Scripture Union and Youth with a Mission for the amazing impact the gospel Tent had again this year in Tamworth. Many lives were impacted by the children’s programs, music workshops and concerts. We were very honoured to be part of the mission. Thanks also to the guys in the band for giving your time and talent to such a great event. 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Steve and Kerrie at home...

In just over a week we step into a brand new calendar year and the adventures of faith begin again for 2017. 

As we look back at the past year we are so grateful for your friendship and partnership in the journey. We served local churches in 95 remote and rural regions of Australia during 2016. We saw many come to faith in Christ, especially during the missions to outback areas and Reality with Will Graham in Alice Springs. We gained great experience in the work of Depression and Suicide Prevention via the Crossing Australia mission. The recording and release of the Nullarbor to Nashville album and recently the Slim Dusty Tribute project has set the foundations for some exciting concert tours in the coming year. Yes! It’s been a full on year and we thank God for His provision, protection and empowering to achieve this work.

Our dream for the coming year is to develop a missions base and continue working with small teams in regions where the need for evangelism and missions is vital. This includes all regions of Australia, Papua New Guinea and other South Pacific Islands. We’d love to once again begin ministry tours in the USA and strengthen relationships with many churches over there who have a heart for World Missions.

Right now….. we are very happy to be at home making a good memories with family and friends. Thanks so much for your prayers and your practical support over this past year! We are grateful and hope we can see you during 2017!

In Christ’s love,

Steve and Kerrie
and the team at World Missions

Beyond the Plastic and Flashing Lights

The colourful ornaments of Christmas

 

It’s easy to become cynical and negative about the Christmas season. Many people go to great lengths to discard its value to society, others attempt to secularize it as ‘Happy Holidays’ and banish any emphasis of remembering the birth of Jesus Christ and his significant eternal purpose for humanity..

Truth is.. beyond all the commercialism and coloured lights, the shopping frenzies and fantasy, Christmas is a simple opportunity to celebrate the spirit of giving. The humble story of a child of promise being born to a young woman engaged to be married to a carpenter from Nazareth has captivated history for over 2000 years. A story that is still to this day so relevant to every culture on earth.

Thank God for Jesus. Thank God for the simple gift of giving and for the hope we can all share because of what Christ has done for us. Christmas is a fresh new reminder every year that God is all about new beginnings… His grace and forgiveness, His love and mercies are new every morning. 

Enjoy these next few days before Christmas and embrace that simple spirit of giving in all you do.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

– John 3: 16-17

Godspeed,

Steve

Slim Dusty Tribute Project

Pictured: Legendary drummer John Hammond and guitarist Brent Mason with Mark, Wanda, Steve and Chris at the end of another tracking day.

Thank you to those who have been praying for and supporting the vision of the new Slim Dusty Tribute album. Bed tracks and lead vocals are all done and this week we complete backing vocals and additional instruments. Some of Nashville’s finest turned up to play on this album and we get the feeling it will be well received by country music audiences in Australia. I have to be honest and say… I still get overwhelmed with the doors God opens and the opportunities He provides to record songs in a city like Nashville. It blows me away!! Somehow Brent Mason, known as the most in demand session electric guitar player in America at the moment… found some days to dedicate his skills to the 11 songs we’ve recorded. Thanks also to John Hammond who has toured the world with many of the greats, an incredible drummer. 

Our prayer is that this project will find a brand new audience in the mainstream country music market in Australia. By honouring one of our greatest singer/ songwriters and paying tribute to a collection of his songs… I believe we will effectively reach many with the Gospel message. Thanks for believing in the dream with us.

Thank You Mark Burchfield

Pictured: Mark Burchfield of Watershed Recording Studios on Fender Bass… with his new Slim Dusty cap!!

He has played Bass guitar on my last three album recording projects. He’s a quietly spoken, laid back session musician who with his wife Wanda V Burchfield own and operate Watershed Recording Studios in Nashville Tennessee. Mark has produced and directed the Everytown, Nullarbor to Nashville and the new Slim Dusty Tribute albums. He was also a great help to Skypilot with the Distant Days album a few years ago. We greatly appreciate working with Mark and the 35 years of relationships and respect he has built up in the country music industry. Thanks mate for your passion for excellence and your love of God, your family and creating great music. It’s always a great honour working with you. http://watershedrecording.wix.com

Music City, USA

Pictured: Kerrie and Steve in Nashville’s historic Music Row

It’s a rare thing to have a weekend off in the world of music and mission. But this past weekend allowed us some time to walk the streets of Nashville and enjoy some ‘live’ music and just take in the sights, sounds and people of the iconic Music City USA. It has been a very demanding year back home in Australia… We started touring in January and finished touring in November… And yet there is still so much more to do. This 10 days in Nashville has been really good to reflect back on the year and also start praying and planning for 2017.

Kerrie and I want to say thank you to so many friends, family and supporters who have stood with us on the mission of reaching people for Christ and inspiring churches to mission. We have great expectations for the new year and really appreciate you being with us on the faith journey!! Thank you.

There is a Season

Pic by Steve

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: Ecclesiastes 3:1

I was reminded this past week how fleeting and fragile life is. Amidst the piles of millions of fallen autumn leaves that line the streets of every town in Tennessee, I found one leaf and photographed it.  As the cold winds start blowing and temperatures usher in the winter I realise the life of this beautiful leaf is over. It has served its purpose for a season of radiant beauty and is destined to return to the earth where it came from. God the creator has made everything for a purpose, everything has its season and is born to multiply and eventually come to an end. Yet at the same time you and I are created for eternity. His love for us is eternal and is reflected so clearly in Christ and all He has done for us. We have been redeemed and bought with a price that was paid at Calvary.

The simple story of Christ’s coming to earth to be born as a man.. to willingly and obediently lay down his life and die for our sin.. only to be resurrected into a new eternal season of God’s Kingdom which we are all called to be part of… That’s good news. I love that all creation and it’s beauty inspires us to direct us towards a faith in God.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Thanks again for your prayers and interest in this past season of ministry and mission.

Godspeed.

Steve Grace

You Give and Take Away

Pictured: The fully restored Harley Davidson returned to its original owner last weekend..

It was a bittersweet moment saying goodbye to the old Harley Davidson Sportster last weekend. It was sold to assist with the recording budget for the Slim Dusty Tribute album. After an accident last year where it was damaged and purchased back as a repairable write off we’ve been able to restore the bike back to its classic look. 

Sometimes God requires us to use what is ‘in our hands’ to sow seed into the next harvest. We felt we needed to sell some possessions and sacrifice to move on to the next season. After the recent theft of our Harley Davidson Fatboy we knew it was a big call. But it’s the right thing to do. 

Thanks for standing with us in prayer for the ongoing work of the ministry. We know God has so much more for the coming years and believe He will continue to provide. He is the the God who "gives and takes away” in different seasons of our lives. So we will keep trusting in Him.