John HuntQUEENSLAND + NORTHERN TERRITORY

This season has seen both consolidation and growth in Australian Christian Churches Queensland and the Northern Territory.

COVID-19 One of our nation’s greatest challenges to hit the Church happened in 2020. COVID-19 completely obliterated the status quo of Church. Our churches, with nimbleness to virtual platforms, continued to minister to what became an everincreasing number of people online. Our 2020 conference was held in nine locations across our State and Territory, with worship being led by local teams, whilst the speakers were broadcast across all our locations. We had a beautiful moment at the Brisbane location to stand as the ACC Family with Val Lewis and honour the incredible work she and the late John Lewis have contributed to the ACC in QLD/NT.

Country Interns Our Country Intern initiative is beginning to take shape. We are working in partnership with Alphacrucis College to select groups of students to participate in a one month internship in rural Queensland. The purpose behind this is threefold; to add practical hands-on experience to future pastors in our movement; to add an extra pair of hands at some of our remote churches for a season, and to seed the idea in many young leaders that pastoring in the bush would be a great option for them.

Torres Strait Boat Since the purchase of the boat, it has transported 10 mission groups to the inner western island, transported resources to western island ministers on six mission trips, facilitated locals to gather for a chaplaincy weekend, and allowed for visiting pastors and the ACC leadership team to speak to the locals. I honour the Torres Strait leadership for their tireless efforts to reach and share the word in an expanded area of influence.

Department and Regional Leadership transitions As in every cConference period, seasons of leadership come to a close and others open. Here is a record of those transitions:

Sunshine Coast region: Rod Jobe - Josh Bradford Brisbane North region: Mark Elmendorp - James Hensley Northern region: Cami De Almeida - Renee Vucetic

I wish to thank all of our retiring leaders for their valuable ministries to the life of our movement. To each incoming leader, I commend you for your enthusiasm and fresh perspective.

New Churches and Pastors During this conference period we have seen 20 new church plants, and 75 new pastors receive their credentials.

State Executive Transition At this conference our Vice-President of the last 10 years, Pastor Steve Kennedy, stood down. His contribution to this movement has been immense. We congratulate Ben Naitoko on his appointment as State VicePresident and Lee Dallman on joining the state team. The leadership current team is:

President:: John Hunt

Vice President: Ben Naitoko

Secretary: Chris Mulhare

Treasurer: Craig Tomkinson

Executive Members: Deb Van Bennekom Lee Dallman Ben Teefy

The State Executive has functioned magnificently as a team, with each member bringing their gifts and talents to the mix. The end result has been that the sum of the whole was much greater than the parts. I personally wish to thank them all.

JOHN HUNT ACC QLD/NT State President