Prayer meeting begins as follow-up to faith festival

Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer

Students on Avondale College’s Sydney campus now have a midweek Respite as a follow-up to their Festival of Faith (August 2-5).

The Avondale Nursing Student Association is coordinating the prayer meeting as a tangible response to what spiritual leader Marleta Fong senses is the beginning of a spiritual revival on the campus. “Students here are quite open with their faith,” she says, “and the meetings this past week gave them an opportunity to share some of their faith journey.”

Speaker Pr Gilda Dholah-Roddy, a departmental director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sydney, spoke on the theme of Soul food.

Respite is held in the chapel at Sydney Adventist Hospital on Thursdays from 12.30 PM to 1.30 PM.

Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Four other Avondale College students will follow Rhianon Bougaardt and Imogen Menzies’ lead and publicly commit to Christ following Festival of Faith this past week.

Faye Stothers baptises Imogen Menzies. Festival of Faith has inspired four other students to follow the lead of Imogen and Rhianon Bougaardt, who also publicly committed to Christ. More than 20 have asked for Bible studies. Credit: Ann Stafford.

Rhianon and Imogen were baptised by alumna Faye Stothers after the Friday evening worship service, 7.28. Seventy students responded to speaker Pr Stuart Tyner’s call during the service. Of these students, more than 20 asked for Bible studies.

The Festival of Faith theme Masterpiece emphasised grace in the book of Revelation. Artists such as Andy Collis and Tony Martin painted and pottered on stage while Stuart spoke. Tony says the theme reminds us God is a creator and encourages us to think of connecting with Him in other ways.

Stuart, the minister for nurture and discipleship at La Sierra University Church (Riverside, CA, USA), emphasised grace continuing throughout the end-times and of Jesus remaining the only means of salvation.

Student Associated Ministries gave away copies of Stuart’s new book, Chosen by Grace, to 300 students after the service, and it seemed Stuart signed almost all of them. The response impressed Dr Wayne French, chaplain on Avondale’s Lake Macquarie campus. “It feels like the students have suddenly discovered they don’t have to worry about the end of time.”—with Kirsten Bolinger

Links

Slideshow (Credit: Loean Butlin and Ann Stafford)