Te Haerenga Banquet

Last week was a full on week for me personally as we had a banquet fundraiser in Tauranga for a project called Te Haerenga. Being the detail person that I am, I had the privilege of handling a lot of the technical side of the fundraiser. What is Te Haerenga you ask? It doesn't sound like Impact World Tour. Well, Te Haerenga is a cutting edge ministry of Island Breeze (part of Impact World Tour) that is reconciling Christianity and the cultural values of the Maori people in New Zealand. Which basically means that people who would never set foot in a church are getting saved and discipled where they are at in an environment they are used to, as the realize that they can be both Maori and Christian. It's really exciting. Te Haerenga started as an overflow from Impact World Tour New Zealand several years ago. So as a staff, Impact World Tour felt that we needed to get behind this overflow ministry, and help them get on their feet. So we did, by helping them organize a fundraiser.

Anyway, so last week was a busy week for me. It was full of details, like organizing pledge cards and thank you letters, desserts (it was a dessert evening fundraiser), some good quality time with the Island Breeze staff, making new connections with some of Tauranga's Christian leaders, and a great night in which some of "the church" in the city came together to get behind this new ministry and hear how they could partner with this initiative. It was a great success where we were all surprised by the amount of money we raised, and I think it was a huge boost for Island Breeze. So today, I'm very encouraged as I look towards future IWT fundraisers around the country.