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New To METRO? Reggie Dabbs Is Coming To Town Power, Luxury & Deadly Violence GC’s Leading Design Firm Talks METRO Cathedral Real People, Real Answers, Real Life Hey, Hey, It’s Stan Walker!
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Jumping The Fear Up Close With Tim Ross A Song From Heaven His Needs, Her Needs Have A New Kid By Friday UFC Champion’s Heartache & Joy GO Partnership: The Stories GFC Business Tips Legacy
Credits Editor-In-Chief & Metro Pastor_ Garry Mac // Editorial Contributions_ Kasey Mac, Katrina Meade, Leah Fineran, Wazza Bray // Proofing_ Jordan & Katrina Meade, Janine Palmer, Madeleine Worth, Cathy Smith // Creative Direction & Layout_ Bel & Dodge Pangburn // Photography_ Bel Pangburn // No part of the publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior permission. Copyright METRO Church 2012. Phone_ Post_ Online_ Email_ ADDRESS_ Service times_
1800 008 375 PO Box 7244, Southport Park, Qld 4215, AUSTRALIA www.metro.org.au info@metro.org.au 116 Ridgeway Avenue, Southport, Qld 4215 Check www.metro.org.au for details
Contributors:
Kasey Mac —
Wazza Bray —
Leah Fineran —
Bel Pangburn —
Katrina Meade —
Dodge Pangburn —
A lover of tea, marshmallows, the beach, pelicans and numbers rounded to the nearest 10, our lovely Senior Pastor is fun, a little quirky, passionate and incredibly outgoing! She is especially passionate to see women become strong & confident doing what they were born to do. She is also a qualified teacher, an accomplished pianist and musician, and the Editor-in-Chief of Enhance Magazine.
Bel brings the pretty to the Go Magazine table. Her creative skills make each issue a delight to hold in your hands. As the Art Director of METRO Church, she is fully alive when she is in the midst of creating something beautiful. She also loves to wander about other countries with camera in hand.
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A jovial character with lightning wit and expertise in marketing, there is much more to Wazza Bray than meets the eye! With extensive experience in the business world, he is the co-founder of the international creative company, LMG Digital Media. He also happens to be a typical Aussie bloke, plays the drums, loves cricket and firmly believes that food should always be eaten by hand in case you have to leave in a hurry.
As one of our key Editors, Katrina feels happiest when consuming a good steak, ice cream, Milo, strawberries & cream lollies and chocolate (not simultaneously)! With a Bachelor in Education, Katrina is the full time mother of two rambunctious redheads and still seems to fit in editing every single word that appears in our mag!
As a journalist for News Corporation as well as our local paper, The Gold Coast Bulletin, Leah is no stranger to writing a gripping story. She is a 20-something young thing who adores the Gold Coast, social media and her brand new daughter, Isabel Rose.
Hailing all the way from Oklahoma, USA, Dodge married into the GO Magazine family when he swept our Art Director, Bel, off her feet. Luckily for us, he’s a creative too and has since been adding his design brilliance to METRO Church and to the pages of this magazine.
Sabrina Peters —
An exotic mix of German and Maori, our gorgeous ‘Breenie’ may be small in stature but she’s got a massive talent for writing! Author, youth pastor at METRO Church, wife of Ben and soon-to-be-mummy it’s no wonder we call her the “pocket rocket” dynamo.
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THERE’S A FREE GIFT WAITING FOR YOU! Stop in at our METRO visitors lounge after any of our weekend services and we’d love to shout you a free coffee, tea or hot chocolate and we also have a free gift for every first time visitor. One of our welcoming team will ask if you want to give us your contact details so we can keep you informed of what’s happening in the church but there is no pressure to do that if you would rather not. We’d just love to meet you and hopefully you will enjoy the gift. It’s our way of saying “Welcome to METRO”.
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IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE CHRISTIAN FAITH - FOUNDATIONS IS FOR YOU! All our identical weekend services run in two halves with a short intermission. Every week after the intermission, those who are interested head downstairs to take part in Foundations course while upstairs the rest of the congregation enjoys the teaching and preaching component of the service. Foundations is a life-changing four week
‘new to the Bible’ study course for anyone who wants to build their life unshakable and unbreakable on foundational Biblical truths. We are so convinced that this course will help the people of our city that we have a vision to see 50,000 Gold Coasters complete Foundations in the next 25 years. Have you done it yet? Why not start this Sunday? You can call now and let us know you are coming by calling 1800 008 375.
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FRIENDSHIP IS THE BEST MEDICINE! We are a busy, growing church with a large, diverse congregation and although that is a great thing, it can also make it very easy to get lost in the crowd. If you want to build genuine friendships with some quality people, which is always the richest part of life, we would suggest the following: BYO lunches: Once a month in 2012 we are planning Sunday BYO lunchtime hang out times where the METRO church family can spend time enjoying friendship and get to know one another more. Find an age or demographic specific program and plug in: Programs like REVOLUTION Youth for grades 7 through 12 or EDGE Young Adults for ages 18 to 30ish have regular fun programming opportunities as do METRO women, METRO men, young families, playgroup etc.
Join a MOJO location bible reading group, attend a bible study home group or prayer group: These details are always changing and growing so talk to our team and they will let you know what’s happening out there at any given time in the year. Join the class of 2012: Throughout the year METRO College (of theological studies) which runs on Tuesday nights has some fantastic subjects on offer that run for seven weeks each. Each seven week subject can be undertaken individually as a non accredited student at a minimal cost. Join the Volunteer Army: All great churches are really just a group of people committed to working together to make church great and serve the world around them. There is really no better way than this to develop great relationships with quality people than through serving side by side. The only prerequisite is that you must complete our DNA course before you can serve on a METRO team.
Power, luxury & deadly violence One of the highest mob money earners since Al Capone, Forbes magazine once listed Michael Franzese as amongst the top 20 most powerful men in the Mafia. —
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“I surrendered because I was desperate... God will take you anyway He can get you.”
Born the son of the Colombo family’s underboss, Franzese entered the mob at 21 after dropping out of Hofstra University, where he was studying to be a doctor. By the 1980s, he had become a caporegime, or captain, of a crew. At his most affluent Michael generated an estimated $5 to $8 million per week from legal and illegal businesses. It was a life filled with power, luxury and deadly violence. Today however, Michael is a humble preacher of Jesus Christ. Dubbed “The Born Again Don” in a January 1991 feature article in Vanity Fair Magazine, his road to redemption began when he met a beautiful woman he calls Cammy. “I should either be dead or in prison,” Michael says. “It’s what I deserved.” Through five indictments, Franzese sidestepped prison but when he met his wife Camille on the set of a movie he was producing, his commitment to the life of crime changed. Camille, a committed Christian, persuaded Franzese to plead guilty the next time he was indicted. He served a five-year prison sentence, followed by two more years for violating parole.
On the night he was arrested on the parole violation, Franzese hit rock bottom. But that first night in a solitary prison cell was also the start of his true transformation. A guard slid a Bible into Franzese’s cell, which he says now contains more of his own notes than it does scripture. “I was so mad, I threw it against the wall,” he said. “Then it dawned on me that all I had was enemies — I didn’t need God as an enemy. I believe God met me that night and gave me hope. I picked up the Bible and it opened to Proverbs 16:7. That’s the night I believe He spoke to my heart.” He served 35 months on a four-year charge. Twenty-seven of those months were in solitary — or as Franzese puts it, “just me and God.” “I surrendered because I was desperate,” Franzese said. “But God will take you anyway he can get you.” Today Michael has written four books and regularly tours as a motivational speaker and church preacher. Production on a film adaptation of his book Blood Covenant started in August. Michael’s compelling story of fame, power, prestige, love and fear has
been featured throughout the USA on high profile media, including Fox News, Life Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Today Show, Nightline, ABC Primetime and NBC Nightly News. Don’t miss hearing Michael at METRO in 2012.
Michael will be sharing his amazing story as a special guest at METRO’S MEGA Church event on Saturday July 21 at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre. Book your seat today at: www.metro.org.au
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GC’S LEADING DESIGN FIRM talks metro cathedral — According to philosopher Friedrich Von Schelling “Architecture is frozen music”. If its true then Barry Lee is something of a virtuoso who has added plenty of rhythm and pathos to the symphony of the Gold Coast skyline.
We caught up with Barry to find out what it’s like in the city shaping business and also to see how he feels about METRO’s vision to build the city’s first cathedral.
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The Oracle, Broadbeach
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Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa
Circle on Cavill
Soul
Barry is Design Director of DBI Design and a Registered Architect with a First Class Honours Degree in Architecture from the University of South Australia. Barry has been involved in the design of a number of major internationally recognised high-rise buildings including the Wave Tower and Q1 World’s Tallest Residential Tower, both silver medal winners in the Emporis World Skyscraper Awards, and has been responsible for more than thirty other significant high-rise developments, many of which have received professional accolades.
1. Which buildings on the Gold Coast have you had a hand in designing? DBI has been fortunate to have had a hand in many of the significant buildings that have shaped our city over the last 30 years, including Sheraton Mirage and Marina Mirage which have long been symbols of our city. But me personally, I have been involved in the design of Aria, Lumiere, Q1, Circle on Cavill, The Wave, The Oracle and Soul. 2. Do you have a favourite building you’ve designed or is that like saying you have a favourite child? We love all of our children equally! But! I think everyone in our office has a favourite building from time to time. At the moment for me it’s Oracle, but before that, it was The Wave, my personal favourite is always
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the last one we have completed. Our core value as a company is innovation, hence the Design By Innovation by-line that we have been using for the last few years. We are not nostalgic about past projects because we are alway looking forward... Actually! In truth, our favourite is our next project. The next project is always full of possibility! 3. What was the first big design project you ever worked on? When I first started at DBI about 17 years ago I worked on the team designing a twin tower residential complex in Jakarta. It was, unfortunately, never constructed because of the Asian financial crisis. 4. How do you define great architecture? The quality that transforms a building into a piece of architecture is its intent. Architecture has a sort of self-evident excess, it has a
“In truth, our favourite is our next project. The next project is always full of possibility!”
quality that is not required for it to fulfill its role as a building. We believe architecture possesses something extra. The quality that transforms a ‘building’ into ‘architecture’ is, in my opinion, possession of meaning. Meaning can be a secular/sculptural meaning as in the case of The Wave which is a building that reflects its dynamic location beside the beach by sculpturally referencing ripple and wave forms. Or, It can have cultural meaning such as a town hall or institution. Alternatively it can have a spiritual meaning such as a cathedral. Meanings don’t need to be highbrow or impenetrable, but I believe the difference between a building and architecture is that a piece of architecture possesses some sort of meaning, and I suppose it follows that great architecture is architecture that communicates its meaning with clarity and is timeless.
Q1
Barry Lee
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Soul, Surfers Paradise
“We are a city of tall buildings, in fact, until recently the tallest residential building in the world was Q1, and it is still the tallest building in Australia, so why not the world’s tallest church spire?”
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5. What are your thoughts about METRO’s vision to build the city’s first cathedral? In the western Christian tradition, the cathedral has represented the highest and most noble aspiration of civic culture. Cathedrals represent a community’s hopes, aspirations and beliefs. When most of us travel we naturally visit the symbolic architecture of cities such as the town hall, the cathedral and the museum. These symbolic buildings afford an insight into the community and its values because they represent that culture’s highest civic aspirations. The building of a cathedral in our city will not only represent the hopes and aspirations of the Metro community but also the city in general. It’s an important and meaningful contribution to our city.
The Wave
The Westin, Melbourne
Etihad Towers, United Arab Emirates
6. How about the concept of the world’s tallest church spire being here on the Gold Coast? Why on earth not! We are a city of tall buildings, in fact, until recently the tallest residential building in the world was Q1, and it is still the tallest building in Australia, so why not the world’s tallest church spire? 7. Some of the world’s most beautiful and enduring building designs are churches, why do you think that is the case? It’s because they are meaningful. 8. If the job of designing the city’s first cathedral fell to you, how would you approach it? Our team works collaboratively, so we would first seek to understand the needs and aspirations of the Metro community, formulate a brief with the Metro team that clarifies the areas, the budget and all the practical things that come with a substantial
commission like this, and then we would do as we always do, let our hearts and imaginations run wild! Our goal would be to design a place that would connect with people at an emotional level and reflect the generous and optimistic ethos of the Metro community. 9. What would you say to those who think that such a project is a waste of time and money? Compared to what? Shopping centres? Stadiums? Cultural infrastructure is essential to a city’s cultural well-being.
In 2009 METRO announced a vision to build the city’s first cathedral.
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Sometimes...
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... you just need someone to talk to. Call 1800 008 375. » Family Violence Counselling » Sexual Concerns Counselling » Grief Counselling » Trauma and Crisis Counselling » Workplace Counselling » Marriage Counselling » Problem Gambling Counselling » Child Violence Counselling » Sexual Abuse Counselling » Men's Counselling » Eating Disorders Counselling » Pregnancy Counselling
Pastoral Care & Counselling Serving the Gold Coast every day of 2012 31
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Yet in this battle for credibility Stan Walker is going from strength to strength. He has just put the finishing touches on his second artist album, Let The Music Play and is excited to showcase a different side to himself.
“I had been thinking about doing a song with Mum for a while because we had always sung together,” he said. “Mum had never been in the studio before. It was so much fun to record that together.”
“It’s a declaration of a celebration,” he said, admitting that this release was not as deep as his first album, From the Inside Out.
Let The Music Play also features a duet with fellow Australian Idol alumni, Jessica Mauboy. The pair will team up in 2012 for a joint tour.
“The album is quite pop and dance-y, but there are hints of old school stuff. There are songs about freedom, liberation, unity and music.” Let The Music Play is a celebration of Walker’s love for music above anything else and features several tracks that are bound to get your feet moving. Hailing from a musical family, music provided the backdrop for Walker’s childhood. Close to his mother, the two used to sing together and Walker pays homage to this on the album with a duet of the Eva Cassidy song Songbird.
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“Me and Jess have always wanted to do a song together and we finally got the right song. She’s like a sister - we work very well together.” “We have the same manager and when he introduced us we just clicked. We have a lot of fun and get each other. We come from the same musical background.” However there is no romance brewing between the two songbirds, as he’s found love with Taya, his girlfriend, who he met in church and who now sings backing vocals for his band.
Let The Music Play also features a duet with fellow Australian Idol alumni, Jessica Mauboy. The pair will team up in 2012 for a joint tour.
Stan Walker performs to thousands of teens at the QLD Youth Alive Event, September 2010.
“You should hear her sing. Man, she’s incredible. She’s such an awesome person, so beautiful. Too good for me, actually.”
Walker’s foundation is God, his support as he finds his feet in the whirlwind of a cut-throat industry, media scrutiny and success.
As well as a new album and an upcoming tour, Walker is working on the New Zealand film, A Gift to Zion. He was approached by the producers to play the lead character who dreams of a better life and becoming a singer.
“As a Christian, I just keep on growing and learning. God’s taken me through a journey in life for a while now, so now I know who I am and what he has called me to be, especially with the industry that I’m in. You’ve got to be on your guard all the time and you’ve got to be fresh; that’s what I’ve been learning lately, to be refreshed for God.”
“I can definitely relate to the character. He’s basically me six years ago.” On his fast-track to fame, he admits he’s had to push himself to continually learn new techniques, stretch his vocal range and press on through fatigue. One important lesson he’s learnt is that talent alone is not enough to succeed in the competitive music industry. “A lot of people think you can just get by with talent. There’s a lot of talented people out there, but people fall over every day,” he observes. “It’s actually the hard work that you put in, and integrity and character, that will sustain you. You’ve got to have a foundation and backbone to support what you’ve got.”
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JUMPING THE FEAR
JC Epidemic is an extreme sports group that features Motocross, BMX, Skate and Surf teams who travel the world competing and performing in shows and competitions from the local skate parks of outback Qld to the X GAMES in the USA. GO Magazine caught up with JC Epidemic leader Jim Bartle ahead of them performing at METRO MEGA Church on July 21, 2012.
jc epidemic
People love the big motocross stunts, the highest, craziest, most difficult tricks are what they come out to see but it takes a lot of courage every single time and there is real risk of serious injury and death.
We can’t wait to host you guys in the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre for MEGA Church on Saturday July 21st. What’s it like jumping inside a big indoor arena like that? It’s brilliant for everyone, both the riders and the audience. For the riders they don’t have the variables of wind and moisture like in the outdoors and for the audience they get the best possible views of the stunts. With stadium seating people can be right there at the apex of the jumps with the riders. Our only issue is height, we have to be careful not to hit the ceiling. Watching the guys do these jumps it seems so effortless for them but on the inside of that helmet they must be facing down some very real fear? When people see us doing a display I am not sure if they realise that we have to fight to overcome fear on every single big jump. People love the big motocross stunts, the highest, craziest, most difficult tricks are what they come out to see but it takes a lot of courage every single time and there is real risk of serious injury and death. Why do you do it then? Is it a case of being adrenalin junkies? Honestly we do it to reach young people. It is a thrill and we love what we do but the reason we get out there and beat out that fear is ultimately to reach young people. JC Epidemic gets involved in both primary and high school programs and works with smaller groups also in their unique and highly effective ‘skate park chaplaincy.’ We are committed to providing the youth and young adult population of Australia with
high impact drug and alcohol free shows and demonstrations that communicate a revolutionary way of living life to the full! So when did you first realise you liked motorbikes? I was four years old when I had my first ride on my own. It was on a bike my dad had been given as part payment for a painting job he had done. As my dad held onto the back of the seat, I decided to wind the throttle on as far as I could. The bike slipped from my dad’s grasp as I headed straight for a tree. Thankfully my dad got to me in time, pushing the bike over to avoid hitting the tree but I was livid with my dad for making me crash. Ever since then I’ve ridden bikes, although all I ever really wanted to be was a cowboy! How did the whole JC Epidemic group form? Andy Sawden, who’s one of the other founding members, and I are cousins. We were pretty close growing up but we spent most of our younger years in different parts of the country. Andy was into surfing and I was into motorbikes. I met Christle, the other JC Epidemic director, when we were studying at Bible College on the Sunshine Coast. Andy and I had always talked and dreamed about doing these sorts of things, although it wasn’t until 2004, when we were 21/22 years old when Andy, Christle and I formed JC Epidemic and the vision really came together. Our desire was to tell the young people in our country what Jesus has to offer them. We knew extreme sports was a way to get their attention for long enough to encourage them to live life to the full!
Tell us about your very first show. Our first show was held on Mount Tamborine in 2004. We used local BMX riders and carted all the dirt in for the freestyle motocross jump. The event was a success which opened doors for us to start traveling, performing and sharing. We now visit schools, music festivals, church outreach events, country shows and other events to just entertain or perform and speak. Have you had any major accidents? I’ve broken a few bones on quite a few different occasions, but all in all I’ve been really well looked after. How much are you looking forward to the MEGA Church event at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday July 21? We are all really very excited about being part of this huge event on the Gold Coast. Anyone who comes out to that night is going to see some outstanding motocross jumping inside that main arena. We have some pretty incredible riders. Don’t miss it!
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UP CLOSE WITH TIM ROSS
— TIM ROSS is one of America’s most sort after young preachers, who, until recently, was the Young Adults Pastor at the 30,000 member Potters House, a mega church in Dallas, Texas. Todd Kaufmann caught up with him and asked him about his unfolding journey and what it was like working closely with Bishop T.D. Jakes. — We started a conversation, prior to the interview, about “Brickhouse.” For people who don’t know, how did it come about and how did you get involved? Brickhouse was birthed really out of the passion of my pastor, T.D. Jakes. When he looked over his church, he realised that the young adult ministry was the most underserved community in our entire church. Historically, we had never had a college ministry or anything of that significance. We had children’s ministry, we had youth ministry. He said our young adult population, 18-30, is not being touched, we need someone to touch them. I was an evangelist at the time and I was on the road traveling with Josh McDowell and a few other organisations and I got a call seeing if I would be interested in the position.
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Leaving Brickhouse, there’s going to be emotion involved, it’s bittersweet. But when you look back at your time there and at Potters House in general how do you sum up your time here? Fulfilling. I came here a broken vessel. It’s quite appropriate that the Lord would lead me to the Potters House, a place where vessels get put back and restored and get put back on display. I came here, I was 21-years old, loved the Lord but addicted to pornography, and still struggling with the issues from my molestation at a young age. It took 13 and a half years to get the cracks filled in. As a member at Potters House, I feel fulfilled in that. As a pastor serving for four years as the pastor of our young adult ministry I’m
walking away and I feel great about what we’ve been able to accomplish. I’m surprised at how open you’ve been about your past and what you’ve been through. Other people in your same position wouldn’t be as public or be as open. Is there any regret at all about talking about all of that and why are you so open about that? Absolutely no regret. I grew up in a very communicative home. We were able, in my parent’s home, to be open as we wanted to be without feeling like we were going to be punished for what we said. So honesty, openness, and transparency (H.O.T.) has always been something that’s been part of my life.
When it came down to my testimony and the stuff that I share, what really gave me the green light to do it was when I started reading the Bible straight through for myself. Not just listening to what the pastor said and being stuck on what he’s reading. When I really started reading it for myself, I realised that God was very open about everybody and their business. If He wanted to present us with a sterile Bible and a sterile gospel, than we wouldn’t know Abraham was a liar, we wouldn’t know Jacob was a deceiver, we wouldn’t know David was an adulterer and a murderer, we wouldn’t know Elijah the prophet was suicidal, we wouldn’t know Sampson had an issue with Delilah, we wouldn’t know Jesus struggled with doing the will of His Father. Once I saw the transparency that our Bible had, it gave me the green light to become another chapter, a written epistle to be added as an addendum to the book which has already been left for us. Let’s rewind several years, back to your days in Los Angeles. How do you look back at that time of your life? I look back at it and I have mixed feelings. I really feel like I wouldn’t have the perspective today if it wasn’t for the experiences I had growing up in California. From my mother working for the Los Angeles Police Department for 30 years, my father working for the US Postal Service for 33 years, to my older brother selling drugs and being a founding member of a crypt gang in LA. Seeing drug deals go down from your typical
crack head to the doctor or dentist driving the Volvo and wearing suspenders to the whole rap game. I thought I was going to be a rapper when I was a kid, I had been rapping since I was nine years old. Being exposed to that life I had been getting into clubs for free since I was 14, throwing parties by the time I was 16 and having all of what the world says is influence, notoriety, and social status. Then giving my life to Christ on January 14, 1996 and within 48 hours no one would pick up the phone and talk to me. My friends became my parents, my Bible and my Playstation 2. You get the opportunity to work under a pastor that’s known world wide. What kind of influence has he had on you and when you leave Potters House, what do you take away? I take away a lot. His influence has been tremendous because I’ve learned more about the things he has suffered more than I’ve learned of his successes. He has taught me how to deal with pain, adversity, trials, tests and I’ve never seen anyone walk through a storm like Thomas Dexter Jakes Sr. He could have the pressure of the whole world on his back and he has this ability to get up in the pulpit, block all of it out, and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ without ever bleeding his personal emotion into it. I’ve learned more about that than his successes.
only thing you become is Wikipedia sound bites and clips of whoever doesn’t like him. That’s the first thing you’ll Google. What you’ll get after the first three or four of the ministry you’re gonna get what he is, what he isn’t, what they’ve heard, what they think, he preaches a prosperity gospel, he doesn’t believe in the trinity, the list goes on and on. There’s a lot of people who are missing out on an incredible ministry because of what they’ve heard. What happens to Tim Ross now? Where are you going and where do you want to go? I don’t know what’s next for Tim Ross the pastor. I do know that we’re going to plant a church one day but we don’t know where. The scripture that my wife and I are walking out by faith is Genesis 1, 2 and 3 but right now it’s just verse one, “get out of your country and your Father’s house to a place that I will show you.” So Tim Ross goes back on the road as an evangelist.
Tim Ross will be speaking at METRO Church Sept 29 & 30 2012
Do people see T.D. Jakes differently than he should be looked at? Absolutely. Nine times out of 10, absolutely. When you get to a person of his status, the
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WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD / GET FREE MUSIC AT METROBAND. COM.AU
the new groove
next level leadership
the new groove
next level leadership
the new groove
next level leadership
Child Sponsorship Works — METRO Church has connected a thousand children in Burkina Faso, West Africa to sponsors here on the Gold Coast. For more information about child sponsorship in this area contact METRO Church today.
Meet Ruby. She is pictured here standing outside her church. It is almost hard to imagine that this person used to be involved in the reprehensible sex slave trade in Mumbai India. Ruby would once abduct lost girls and sell them to brothels. Tragically this is all too common on the streets of Mumbai where an estimated three hundred thousand children live on the street. METRO’s GO Partnership supported street ministry “Vision Rescue” feeds over 1000 of these street children every day. Vision rescue staff also work tirelessly to help rescue kids out of the sex slave industry there. One day the Vision Rescue team came in contact with Ruby. The night previously Ruby had dreamt that all her past actions had
come before her like a movie and by the end of it she felt totally confused, lost, hopeless and frustrated. What had she been doing with her life? What was the purpose of her life? She sensed there was more to life than what she knew about. The very next day she met the Vision Rescue team who shared with her the love and grace of Christ. She opened her heart, invited Jesus to come in and was radically changed. All of a sudden joy and peace flooded her heart and she found a purpose to her life. From that day onwards she joined the team to help serve the poor and needy in whatever capacity she could. Soon she joined the staff of Vision Rescue to rescue young girls from the red light district to give them a new life of hope and childhood. She now shares the love of Christ with everyone she meets.
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STORIES FROM THE GOLD COAST
Visit www.gopartnership.org.au and become a partner today.
— METRO GO Partnership is proud to provide ongoing financial support to many wonderful community services programmes and initiatives right here on the Gold Coast. Organisations like Dreamworkers, Paradise Kids, Red Frogs, METRO Schools Support Programmes and Transformations all benefit from every dollar donated to GO Partnership. Below are some recent stories of Gold Coasters whose lives have been radically impacted by METRO GO Partnership.
Our Partner “Thank you METRO and all the GO Partners who give to help us reach those lost to addiction and dysfunction.” Mike Barrett Founder of Transformations Ministries
My name is Nathan. I am 34 years old. I grew up in Brisbane and grew up in a environment of bikies and drug addicts. I started using pot and drinking at the age of thirteen. I quickly moved onto harder drugs and became addicted to speed. I left high school in grade ten to sell drugs for gangs and to support my addiction. I started to do crime at the of age of fifteen to prove to my family that I was a hard person. I was arrested at seventeen for armed robbery and attempted murder, along with other family members. I have been sentenced to eleven years in jail and served five years incarcerated for various crimes in my life. I continually returned to crime and drugs in my life as a way to prove myself and escape pain in my life. In the past three years before Transformations I became addicted to heroin. My life was out of control and had no meaning. When my daughter turned one and with the death of my uncle I finally realised I needed help. I reluctantly entered Transformations and
my journey began. After thirteen months in the Transformations program I am now healed of past hurts and clean for the first time since I was thirteen. I am now saved, clean and have a future again. I am now working for Transformations as a house supervisor helping others that have the same background as me. I am doing my drug and alcohol certificates so that I can chase my new dreams of helping other addicts to find God and to get clean. My future looks good again. One day, I want to work with young offenders and keep them from a life of drugs, crime and jail.
“After years of abusing drugs and alcohol I was told about Transformations.”
My name is Lisa. I’m 33 years old. I was born as the result of my mother having an affair with a married man. As a child I lived in a state of uncertainty and loneliness. My mum had relationships that were violent and abusive, there was always lots of people and drunken parties. At the age of six I was drugged and sexually molested at one of these parties, by the people my mum called her friends. I learnt at a very early age that noone would protect me and that I’d have to do it myself. I felt rejected and unloved by my mother, I was a little girl and I needed my mum. She was all I had, and I didn’t even have that. When I was twelve, mum got married to a man who didn’t like me either. I made the vow never to let any man be my keeper. I felt unloved, unworthy and unlovable. In my search for acceptance I ended up in the same situations I had experienced as a child — drugs and alcohol, parties and violence, being abused in different kinds of dysfunctional relationships. I got into the sex industry as I saw it as easy money. I had no self-worth
or esteem. I stripped in clubs all over the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise. At twenty years old I was pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful son who was diagnosed with autism. I had two more children but my life style didn’t change. My children were now experiencing the same fears and uncertainty I had as a child. After years of abusing drugs and alcohol I was told about Transformations. Everyone else had let me down, so why not give this God a chance? Through the program I have learnt that I’m valued, loved beyond measure and that my life has meaning and a purpose. I have been in the program for eleven months now and now I have hope — a hope that I never even knew existed. My hope is in God. He is my protector and I’m finally safe. When I graduate from the program I will be able to go back and change the lives of my children. Now that I know and have experienced real love and acceptance, the love of the Father, I can go back to my children and give them that same love and hope.
M e lv i n
a christmas spectacular saturday, December 22, 2012 www.metro.org.au
or
1800008375