2008 Australia-New Zealand Regional Retreat was held in Marysville, Melbourne from the 20th March 2008 – 23rd March 2008. About 130 people from Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand attended this combined retreat camp. The theme of the retreat was “STEP FORWARD” as the retreat committee strongly believed that God has called upon His young generation to rise, shine and to move a step forward in every aspect of our lives.

It was such a privilege to have Ps. Erna Iskandar from GISI HQ, Ps. Arman Sundjaja from Melbourne, Ps Yopie Mantiri from Sydney and Rev. John Cairns from Melbourne as the retreat speakers. They brought messages that encouraged, equipped, empowered and strengthened every attendee to step forward, to become the persons that god desires.

The presence of god was very strongly felt throughout the retreat. The praise and worship teams which made up of Melbourne and Sydney’s music team did a very great job leading the congregation into deep worships. The atmosphere of worship peaked during the praise and worship session. An hour was specifically allocated just for singing praises and worships to god during the PW (praise and worship) night. It might just been an hour worshipping god but many were touched and renewed by the spirit of God.

God again manifested His spirit in our midst during the Holy Spirit baptism. Ps. Erna Iskandar started the session by sharing the truth about the Holy Spirit and how it enabled us to pray in the spirit that empowers. Later, she led us in prayer and invited the Holy Spirit to come upon every attendee. Indeed, God poured out His spirit in our midst, many people received the Holy Spirit Baptism and they began to manifest the gift of the spirits by speaking in tongues.

During the retreat, some time was also allocated for team building games and Talent shows. The “Amazing Race” game was the highlight of the games where unity was tested and the power of unity was reemphasized. The search for talents began during THE TALENT NIGHT SHOW. All groups had to put on a performance that depicts a character in the bible that they had named their groups after. The participants were very creative in their performances. There were many surprisingly talented individuals and everyone had good laughs.

“STEP FORWARD” is indeed a life changing experience. All attendees were greatly blessed and left the retreat site as individuals with new hope and conviction in Christ Jesus. We believe that god’s work did not finish in the retreat but will continue to bless more people through the disciples that He had equipped through the retreat. I believe more breakthrough will happen in Australia and New Zealand.