What are we doing now?
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Dec 1, 2009
What a great question!After making the momentous and difficult decision to leave Tandem New Zealand, we spent a few days recovering, but knew we needed to start looking forward. We had a family to feed!! Right from the beginning we knew that ministry was where we wanted to stay and that was our heartbeat. Campus ministry wasn't where we wanted to go as we knew that Student Life in Auckland was doing well and we didn't want to compete, so now what?
We decided to start our own ministry called HTL Ministries. Years ago, Bryce had begun a financial investment partnership called HTL Partnership with the HTL standing for Honour the Lord. We felt that was a great name to call our ministry as we want everything we do to Honour the Lord!! HTL Ministries has been developed as a "parent" organisation so that we can develop other ministries as the Lord leads, which brings us to what we are doing now.
In 2004 Bryce had the joy of starting Priority Associates in New Zealand. The purpose of PA was to work alongside believers in the workforce and helping them to Win-Build-Send in their context. Having worked for 13 years in a secular job, Bryce was the ideal person to help merge campus ministry strategies with strategies to reach the wider working community. Back then he and several Student Life graduates began the ministry and saw some great things happen.
Knowing that, we believed that God was leading us to move into working with the marketplace (workforce) and the wider community especially since campus wasn't an option for us. However, one thing Bryce had discovered in a large, spread-out city like Auckland, that ministry was difficult when you didn't have somewhere that people came to, like a campus. He began to think through many options and ideas and also his own interests and passions. What emerged was the idea for a ministry that would operate out of a fitness centre, but not just any old fitness centre, but a NON-PROFIT fitness centre that cares about not only physical fitness, but also financial, social, relational and most importantly, spiritual fitness.
"Fit 4 Life" is a non-profit, reduced rate fitness centre where members can not only come and work out in a professional gym, but also learn about why a relationship with God is relevant and how they can have that relationship, they can learn how to manage their finances better through free financial planning services offered by Bryce, learn how to have a better family life, marriage, work environment through free seminars we will run and all of this in a community of people who see Fit 4 Life as "more than a gym".
Fit 4 Life is going to be opened in February 2010 and we are EXCITED!!!!!
God has provided an awesome building for us which has so much space...enough for the fitness centre and for HTL Ministries to have an office. Location is in Glenfield on the North Shore of Auckland and we can't wait to see what God will do as we see people come to Christ, be discipled and in turn share the message of Jesus Christ with others.
