Outreach goes back to Bourke

When Avondale College student Carina Goncalves travelled to Bourke on an Adventist Aviation Association health assessment trip, two things caught her attention—“Glitter Street,” a street full of glass that glitters at sunset, and the Adventist church that has been locked up for two years. Ms Goncalves says, “When I saw that the church was just locked up, I thought, Something needs to be done about this.”
In Bourke there is only one Adventist church member, Marilyn Reed, who says, “Bourke is a difficult place because of the distance and isolation.”
After a couple of brainstorming sessions with her friends Kimanh Briden and Monique Rogers, the philosophy of Operation Outback Outreach (OOO) was born. OOO is a youth-led initiative that focuses on sharing the gospel in a non-confronting way in rural areas with a spiritual need. The program in Bourke, which will run from July 2 to 9, has been given the mission name DUST: Dreams Unveiled by Stories of Truth.
“DUST will be a modern evangelistic program consisting of a Bible kids club, cleaning up Glitter Street and a night meeting that uses a spiritually focused mural made up of Glitter Street’s glass as the centre,” says Ms Rogers.
“God has provided everything from monetary support and a bus driver to a team of youth dedicated to spreading the gospel.Bourke is a difficult area for many reasons and this article is written for the specific purpose to ask people, division wide, to pray for this program,” adds Ms Rogers.
Pastor Joe Webb, personal ministries director of the North New South Wales Conference, says, “It is exciting to have a team of young people focusing on an isolated outback community, being aware of the community’s needs and taking intentional steps to reach some of those needs through sharing the love of Jesus.”