April - June 2012

Volume 18.2

A
W
way
a

N THE FAN
to

better
church's than

multiple February 21st

was the second

anniversary

for

Northlakes Chris-

tian Church, and

we began our eel- EnBp^S

ebration the fol-

lowing Sunday (February 26th)

with an 830 amr

iS':

baptism service!

Ahutbanii, IHItbaRll, wife, mottier and contin ail baptized on ttie second annivenary oftiie cliurclil
decision, and pray for our church
as we continue to witness to the love that Jesus offers!
to attend!
SMALL GROUPS: We are cur

. .

Since the Community Centre doesn't include a baptismal {what were they thinking?), we gathered together at a nearby home that had a swimming pool. After a few brief words from Scripture, Chris, Janice, Cindy and Jennyall from the same extended family-were baptized into Christ! After hugs were shared all around, everyone who was wet
changed quickly and we met at 10 am at the Community Centre for our normal service time. A potluck lunch followed the service to

cap off a truly incredible day. Please pray for these new brothers & sisters in Christ, pray for those who have yet to make a

YOUTH: Our church youth group has evolved into a weekly meeting. Last year we only had youth group meetings once a month, just to test the waters to see how many were interested in coming along. This year, we're meeting every Friday night in the new Community Centre and the response has been great! We had 19 high schoolers at our first meeting! Please pray as we look for new ways to increase the number of young people attending. We will, Lord willing, be distributing post-

rently conducting a survey amongst our congregation to de termine a suitable day and time to start up our new small group(s). We are hoping that we can create an atmosphere within homes that will be easier for people to invite their friends and family along to. Please pray that we find the right day/time to do this, that we find the right place to meet, that peo ple from the community are able to attend. Most of all, pray that this will be a valuable way of rais ing up disciples in Christ, and reaching others with the Gospel message!

April - June 2012

Page 2

K'

..

r rjyfjfT ..'^K 2"WBji '

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JBecause of my
position with

the

manage

ministries amongst Christian churches in North America, partic ularly First Christian Church of
Canton, OH.
Dr. Crabtree has been involved

ment team and

because of my

' involvement in

in the work of SPCF and, there

In March, I(Tim) was invited to

participate in a conference held by the South Pacific Christian Fel

planting churches in Australia, SPCF asked me to help represent

the work and needs in Australia to

fore, the ministry in Australia and New Zealand for over 40 years! For the past 20-25 years as the
Executive Director.

lowship (SPCF), a U.S. organiza tion that has been working in Aus
tralia and New Zealand for a num

a conference made up of Australi ans, New Zealanders and Ameri

cans.

What a joy it was to recount some of the people who have

been involved and some of the

ber of years.

Their most recent

success was the start of the Shore

Queenstown was a spectacular place to meet and it was a joy to meet so many other Christian
workers striving for the same

events that have taken place in this part of the world during that
time. We were able to celebrate
his service to the work of SPCF

Community Christian Church in Auckland, NZ led by Jeff Vines and

others.

goals that we have in Australia. We hope and pray that there will
be many more opportunities to work alongside these dedicated Christian people in the future. One of the highlights of confer ence for me was spending time with E. Richard Crabtree. Many of you know him from his prominent

SPCF has successfully launched other churches in New Zealand, including "rechurch" in Christchurch on the south island. I have

been privileged to serve on the management team of rechurch for the past couple of years.

with the presentation of a plaque bearing his name and significant New Zealand Maori symbols of friendship. We have certainly seen much cooperation between ACM and SPCF in recent years, and I hope that we'll soon see a partnership

April-June 2012

Page 3

'
L ^

Q
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ft V

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'ir

1/ S F

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-j.r.

between us for future

church plants here in Australia.

After the conference, I had the

I'm happy to count each one of them as friends and would ap preciate your prayers for them as they continue the work of this
new church... which started on

hope to do so when we return one day as a family. FUTURE WORKERS: Upon my

return to Australia I was contact

ed by a young married couple

that would like to do their col

chance to travel up to Christchurch to visit with "rechurch".

lege internship with us. We have

had interns before, but this one is to last 7 months! They are in terested in exploring a field where they can one day work to plant new churches. Hopefully this is a precursor to a more per manent position here in Austral ia. I hope to have more details for you in our next newsletter!
TOOWOOMBA, QLD: At East
er we were able to travel to Too-

the same day as our church start

ed in 2010!

For nearly two years I had talked with others (over Skype) about the ministry there without having visited. This was a great chance
to see first-hand what the team

has been doing. Though there are two Ameri can couples on the team, they are led by a New Zealand couple
who trained at Cincinnati Chris

The unexpected revelation of that trip was the eye-opening results of the earthquake two years ago. I've never seen such devastation and it was strongly evident that they are on a very long road to recovery. As you can imagine, this also impacts on
the work of the new church. There is also a new church

tian University. This is an exciting dynamic, and it shows in the way the team operates in the culture.

woomba, QLD, where our good

friends and fellow workers Jim &

plant in Dunedin. I was unable to travel there during this trip, but

Becky Newman live and minister.

IVIission Services 2004 E. Magnolia Ave.

Knoxville, TN 37917

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TN
Permit #374

Aottralian Giri^'an Hiion Tim, Dawn, Lauren, Leati 8 Anna lat P.O. Box 13125
Knoxviile, Iff

Return Service Requested

Plione: 865-251-2395 M\\[ Quesinlierry, Forwarding Agent

internet: auiiiectiriitian.coin

F3cebooi(: TimTateiorDawnyatei

April - June 2012

Tim taught in a brief
church service on

Good Friday and led

a Communion meditation on Easter

Smfora brief period

Page 4
H while the Bran' hams are away.

Dr. Owens is and

at

ik

his wife, Stephanie

Sunday

morning,

are both professors Johnson

while Lauren sang a

beautiful song that morning that had most people in
tears! Their church,
Eastern Downs

^
"

?| University and will || use their skills here

1/
M

in Australia during
Jody will be

^ the month of July. ^

*
~

Church of Christ, is a
"House-Church"

preaching

and

network

that

ser- r

vices a rural areai

just outside the city of Toowoomba. What an exciting design that the Lord is using to reach areas of
the "bush" where traditional

liali S Lauren having abit offim trying on earmttfli in Toowoomba

has been built for SCBI.

teaching for us ^ each week and

Ithev'li cap off their

churches are not as sustainable!

Jim runs the Southern Cross : Bible Institute (SCBI) in Australia I and is a frequent visitor with us in Newcastle when he brings speak I ers and teachers to town. We are

not able to visit them in Queens

land as often as we like (it's been 3-4 years now), but it was won derful to see the new library that

time tir here by joining us in attend BRANHAMS FURLOUGH; Rob i ing in{ the Southern Pacific Confer ence on Missions (SPCOM), to be & Lynne Branham (our coen held workers here) will be returning he in Sydney at the end of July. Please pray for their safety and for furlough from June to August Pl( this year. This will create more that th the Lord would use them while they are here. work for us as we try to cover all wl Thank you all so much for your the ministry areas that they normally take care of. Please pray ^ co continued prayers for our family and for them during their many jouran the work here Down Under! neys, and please pray for us and : the work here while they're gone. vjm Fortunately, Dr. Jody Owens and his family will be joining us

July-September 2012

Volume 18.3

J 0 u t h e r nf P (I (i f i (

CONfERENGE on MISSIONS About ayear

cution of

that

ago a friend
and fellow work er here in Austral-

idea come

would from an

Australian!

Peter

had

approached
have a

me

seen the good

work of the Na
tional Mission

with the idea to missions that mis-

conference on world

ary
in

Convention
the USA for

focused not only

years and want

sions, but with a |u

special emphasis W
on what was happening here in
the southern Pa

ldfb^tl9^to^hc Wrd'ofthc tiarycstko {^iM/biit^piii^<1at^ur(br^4nto harvest.

ed

to

emulate

that a bit Down

Under.
name

M*

/ A : h .f

F^iiitthcw 9:38

When
was

cific. I was thrilled to support him, since missions is something

I'm obviously passion

ate about, but I was even more

thrilled that the idea and even

the

exe

changed recent ly to the International Conference on Missions (ICOM), he saw the opportunity to reflect the same

Left: Tim witli

several people in the foyer of

the confer

ence; Rigtit: Peter Gray

iMrm a

July - September 2012

focus and drive that is behind the successful US convention in what would become the Southern Pa cific Conference on Missions

Page 2
enough momentum to see it re
turn on an annual basis.

(SPCOM).
Twelve months later and the

very first SPCOM here in Australia has just finished. We managed to have work represented from Aus tralia - including church plants, inner-city and aboriginal works New Zealand; the USA, India, Peru
and Thailand,
dous success

it was a tremen
and resulted in

Next year's conference wilt take place in Sydney again, with New Zealand playing host in 2014. While the conference was open to anyone in the churches to attend, a pre-conference work shop was organized the day be fore the conference began. This allowed those of us in ministry a chance to receive some practical workshops and activities that would help us to grow in our re

spective fields. As you would expect, though, much of the encouragement and support came from connecting with others who are in ministry in
Australia and New Zealand. This

sometimes results in cooperative efforts in ways not possible be fore, but often it results in the simple encouragement that there
are others out there who stand

with you in ministry! Please pray

for the continued success of
SPCOM!

Owens Family Visit

left: During the OW- while they were here and also
\ the children s lessons for Dawn

ens'visit, Jody was Ishared at youth group with the

3blt0 prCflCh 3t teens. They were very touched
Hortlilalses Christian e , ^ .L, silent while she shared (that ftr for almost almost amontll a montli! happens in our youth

p group!) Abby just fit in wherevifew few weeks er she was and went with the

I was was such such a a flow! She was a very good travel1[ blessing! blessing! ler! As a family, we had a great

I They real-

time getting to know Jody and

J ly helped
fill in the
the 2 Branhams

Stephanie better and were very

encouraged by their visit! After they finished up at Northlakes, they travelled down with us to Sydney to attend the SPCOM missions conference. Jody was a keynote speaker and also held workshops for the meetings. He also spoke in one of our sister churches in Sydney following the conference, and they were able to spend a few days visiting the city before they flew back to Tennes
see. We will never be able to

During the month of July,

Jody, Stephanie and Abby
Owens joined us in Australia to help out in the absence of our co-

workers, Rob & Lynne Branham.

Jody is a professor at Johnson Uni versity, Stephanie is also an in structor in the Elementary Educa tion Department at J.U. and Abby

were away on furlough. gh. Being an Old Testament scholar, Jody was able to share great insight into Scripture. The congregation en joyed all of the Sunday morning messages and the Sunday after noon Bible studies. Our Filipino
families in the church lavished

is their bright, young 8 year-old

daughter! Having the Owens with us for a

hospitality on them, which was really great! Stephanie is great at making friends with people, so no one was a stranger to her. She taught

thank them enough for their friendship and encouragement!

July - September 2012

Page 3

Ouest Camp is our annual

youth camp that you'll
hear about in our next

Quest Event
event, and sometimes it's just an evening event for a couple of
hours.

people into small groups to crea tively re-tell the story of one of the close relationships of King
David's life. Some used drama,
some used a Facebook interac

newsletter. But throughout the year we hold several "Quest

Events", where combined

In July,

it

was

Northlakes
Quest

Christian Church's turn to host a

tion,

some

used

stop-motion

event... the first time we ve held

groups from our region get to gether for a special events. Sometimes that means spending the night and attending a local host church the next day, some times it's an all-day Saturday

one in our new meeting place! The turnout was wonderful, one of the best that we've had yet. We had a youth band, a few games and snacks and in lieu of a speaker we divided the young and did really great with them.
It is hard to believe she will be

raphy and some made a comic strip. Even those who attended
who have never read the Bible

before were able to participate and hear about God's plan for
their life.

national fund-raising effort for global poverty. Leah went with

out food and Anna went without

Well, it is nearly springtime

here, and it is the middle of term three for our girls now. They are very much looking for ward to the end of term, since it
ends with the start of Quest

finished with school already! Please pray for her as she seeks
what God wants her to do when
she finishes.

It has been great having Leah

and Anna at the same school this

camp! Lauren will graduate on the 20th of September and finish

school with exams in October.

year. They have been doing real ly great and keep very busy with
friends and activities!

technology for the weekend. They both did really great and raised quite a bit of money for Ethiopia. As a family we are looking for ward to being involved with some missions work with Aborigi
nal communities in western New

She has already had "trial" exams

Leah and Anna recently partic ipated in the 40-hour Famine, a

South Wales. We have begun communication with a family

Mission Services 2004 E. Magnolia Ave.

Knoxviile, TN 37917

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxviile, TN
Permit #374

Aottralian Oirittjafi Mm Fon, 6awn, Lauren, Leah ^ Anna Tarn P.O. Box 1^125 sCoromandeKove

Return Service Requested

Knoxviile, TN 3/920 Ptione: 865-151-2^91; Robin Saesinberry, Forwarding Agent

(ameron Park, fiSW 1285 Aystralia Phone: 6i-2-4()ii5-855o email: ozyatei@gmail.(oin

internet: auiiiechristian.coni

Facebook: Tim Tates or Dawn Tates

July - September 2012

who works
so

Page 4
f

in

this
very

11
ll

As we close out
this newsletter we

exciting to for us to have the opportunity to participate in some missions trips together! I have always wanted to take a missions trip a family and for our giris to have a cross-cultural experience. Although we i ^ i

Bjlyjj^

want to keep you

changes ahead.

informed of a few

that are Many of

offices

smaller post
are being

closed and it looks

soon... we will let

will not be flying

overseas, it will defi-

Ji

itepltanle and Abby Owens oot to dinner witii the Tam

church is definitely amazing and full of wonderful caring people.
THANK YOU III!

I you know as soon

as we make a deci

nitely be a cross -cultural experi

ence. We are very excited about

sion about a new permanent ad

dress.

this opportunity and will keep you posted as things unfold!

At the SPCOM missions confer
ence we were reminded of how

Please continue to pray for us

as we transition with Lauren and

Also, we would like to encour age you to access our newsletters

online at our website. There is a

what lay ahead for her as she fin

ishes school, as well as the new

blessed we are with all of you who support us, pray for us and
encourage us as we serve down

possibility that we might have to phase out our hard copies in the
future... we'd love to hear from

under. Thank you so much for the sacrifices you make for us to be here. It has not always been easy, and we are just so grateful
to know we are loved and cared

work here and the people we minister to and live beside. Living in such a beautiful place we won der how people cannot see the hand of God, yet most do not see
a need for Him in their lives.

you if you would like to continue to receive copies in the regular

mail!

for by so many people.

God's

We will keep plugging away here and trusting God to do the rest!

Christmas/New Year 2012

Volume 18.4

tSaS.vr," .

Each and every year we are

amazed at how God blesses

camp!" That was a great re sponse to hear from a 22 year-

Quest, our annual high school youth camp. Easily the biggest event in the youth groups of our region, Quest Camp has grown each year since our first ^ Z attempt in 2007. This year, we had
more local church

gcomo

old!

This year's theme, "Thrive" was

based on Psalm 1; "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of

the j '

wicked,

nor

stands in the way

of sinners, nor sits

^ \ ^

in the seat of scoffers; but his delight

is in the law of the

financial

support

than we've ever^HH^'

had, with the entire
camp

LORD, and on his

law he meditates

fees being covered ^^6;

by donations... and^H|||||||M| a little bit left over^L
for next year. What
I . I lltMh " '

^Hj^r^Jed by streams of
water that yields
its fruit sea-

^ day and night. He ^^^^|M|His like a tree piant-

a joy to see a pro- H

gram become self-^^^^^^l

sustaining. No American funds were needed to make this year's youth camp a success! Different for this year, too, was the involvement of Joseph & Amy Flammer from Christchurch, New Zealand. Joe was our main speak er and together, he and Amy made a huge impact on our young
adults.

l^^^^^^lson, and its leaf

further along the route to sustainability. We had high school students and young people from seven
different congregations attend
does not wither. In all that he

this year's camp... more than any year so far. That includes one family that has moved to Perth
and travels back to camp each year {as far as New York to Los

does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3 ESV) We were able to challenge our young people to consider whether or not they consider their lives to be thriving. If not, maybe it is time to consider living God's way and see if the promises of Scrip
ture can come true. Australia has

The Flammers are the lead cou

ple in a church plant in Christchurch which has the same birth

day as ours at Northlakes Chris

tian Church! You can check out

their

new

work

at:

Angeles!). Anther young man travelled by train all night from Coffs Harbour just to attend. Not having been to camp before, he had slightly over paid his camp fees a few weeks
before. When 1 asked him about

http;//rechurch.co.nz/

It was great to be able to in

volve someone from our own re

gion in this year's camp, leading it

refunding him the money after camp, he said, "Keep it! I'll use it for my deposit for next year's

one of the highest rates of teen suicide per capita in the world. This is a critical question for our young people and it was wellreceived by all involved. Please continue to pray for the future success of Quest Camp, an important outreach to our young people and a vital piece of the ministry puzzle here in Australia!

Christmas/New Year 2012

Page 2

Family & Other News

r ) - getting inGilead Christian Church in Moor-

seville, Indiana. Jeif is a wonder

ful preacher and inspired every

one in attendance.

rn

The

school prin cipal has

asked us to

The Yates Bed and Breakfast

has been working overtime the past few months. We have had quite a few friends and visi tors come and go. From the US,
from New Zealand, from Queens land, and from Canberra. We are

After the convention, we trav elled to Tahlee, about an hour's drive north of Newcastle. There, preachers and leaders from vari
ous Restoration Movement

present some awards at the end of year assembly at the local pri

churches in Australia attended a

mary school, even though our

girls no longer attend there, so that was very encouraging to us. Our Scripture program for the pri mary school will take place De
cember 13th, where we can share

leaders retreat. Once again, Jeff Faull was our main speaker and
conducted an entire series on be

coming

better

preachers.

More about the convention and the leaders retreat will be in our next newsletter.
Northlakes Christian Church

so happy to be able to share our home in this way! We are always blessed in so many ways through having others in our home. As of November, we officially have three teenagers in our house. Anna finally turned 13, which she has been trying to be since she was 3!:) Lauren officially finished high
school and celebrated with her

the real Christmas story with the whole school. Our youth group Christmas party will take place in our home soon and, Lord willing, we will be hosting our Christmas lunch again this year for all of our
friends who are without families

continues to minister within our

community. In addition to having a both a preaching minister and

music minister, we are now con

during the holidays. It is always a busy yet fun time of year!

FOR SOME BIG NEWS: Tim's

sidering a youth director who has been attending the church. We have also had a flurry of intern ship applications. As you can im
agine, we cannot accept everyone

year 12 forma! (she looked like a princess!). Now she will wait for
her exam results and will continue
to work at K-mart until she de

mom arrives on the 29th to spend

a month with us here in Australia! We are ail VERY excited! We have

cides where to go from here. This month we will be getting ready for all the end-of-year
events as well as Christmas activi

ties happening within the church and the giris' school, as well as
music and dance. As a church, we will be filling Christmas parcels again this year to help provide for a few families from the local pri mary school who could use a bit of help. Everyone really enjoys

not had family here since 2000, when Dawn's parents came and Anna was only a year old. The girls are really looking forward to showing her around and spending time with her. What a great Christmas present!

who applies, since we're such a small congregation, but we are entertaining one or two who look very

Thank you to those churches

and individuals who have

The Australian Christian Con

vention took place in early
November at the Charlestown

pven financial ffftsfor our family Gmstmas each year...

it has meant so mud} to us

over dx years. Christmas ristmas has

been a little easier

Jl

because of

m\

Church of Christ. This year's speaker was Jeff Faull from Mount

your generosity! ityf

Christmas/New Year
\

Page 3
S

rr,

V'

if-:

'^,r r fX

Mission Services 2004 E. Magnolia Ave.

Knoxville, TN 37917

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TN
Permit #374

km\m Q]i1{tlan Hmion Tim. Dawn, im, Leah SAnna Tam $(oroniandel (ove P.OJoxi]i25 (ameron Park, fiSW 2285 KnoxviOe, Ifi 3j()zo

Return Service Requested

Plione: 865-251-23<)5 Robin Sueiinberry, Forwarding Agent

Auitralia

Phone: 6i-2-4i)65-85S0 email: ozyatei@g!naii.coni

internet: auisiechriitian.com Facebook: TimteorDawnyatej

Christmas/New Year 2012

and many others make it possible
for us to contin

Page 4

ue
the

working for
Lord Down

As always, if you would like to help financially

with the work

here, please use

the information

above to contact us, or to con

tribute to Australian Christian
Mission at our address in Tennes-

promising over the next twelve months or so. Keep praying with
us about this.

Have a very blessed Christmas

and a wonderful New Year!

Lastly, this is the time of year

that reminds us about how thank

Love,

ful we are for the many churches

and Individuals who contribute

financially and prayerfully for our ministry in Australia. It is always difficult for us to be away from our families during Thanksgiving,
Christmas and the New Year, but we are so appreciative that you