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2. PRESENCE

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  “ The less Holy Spirit we have, the more cake and coffee we need to keep the church going” – Reinhard Bonnke I was 16 years old when I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I encountered the presence of God in a life changing way.  I had no prior experience of this kind but at a youth camp I received prayer and God touched my life.  My family were not Christians, my friends were not Christians but my world had been turned upside down after experiencing the Holy Spirit of the living God.  It was revolutionary.  It was like a different way of living that was free, clear and alive.  I got involved in a spirit filled Anglican church where I began to study the Bible. I learnt how to pray and how to worship and how to share my faith.  I literally went to a youth group in an old church basement.  It was raw, unpolished and uncool.  It was before social media so I couldn’t show people how Christian I was or how dedicated I was. I just had to have a personal relationship with God.  Many times i
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1. PASSION

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Hello.  My name is Ben Carroll. Welcome to my blog.  Our family are planting a church in Auckland, New Zealand.   It's called Passion AKL.  A few people have asked me to record everything that we are doing because: a. They are interested.  b. They want to know about all the mistakes we make so they don't make them when they do it later. (insert face melt emoji) I also wanted a creative outlet for the process so that I could record all of the highs and lows. And I hope that this record can help, encourage and inform people about the things that happen when you are planting a church.  Even though we have been pastoring for over 20 years and have seen God do amazing things, I've never done this before - (plant my own church or write a blog). So Im just going to give you as much information as I want and can. I can't predict if I will be full of faith one day and in the pits of despair the next but I do know that God is with us and He loves His church.  I hope it will be re
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