No Service Sunday 21st September

This is a reminder that due to the church family camp in the Clare Valley there will be NO service in the Cornerstone Stadium in Kadina this Sunday the 21st of September . If you are not able to attend the camp please take this opportunity to bless one of the other local congregations with your presence.

All services will resume as normal on Sunday the 28th of September

God is our provider

After 7 years of moving around the area and renting accommodation, God has provided Copper Coast Baptist Church with an appropriate building and the means to purchase it.

               The former Church of Christ building and Freemasons Lodge at 65 Owen Terrace Wallaroo SA 5556.

We hope to be celebrating the Birth of Jesus in this place later this year. This year is the 100th anniversary of this building (first opened in 1914) and  this year is also the 150th anniversary of the first Baptist congregation starting in the Copper Coast at Moonta in 1864. We will certainly have much to celebrate!

We are very excited about the ministry opportunities this building will provide and we are looking forward to building more relationships with the local community.

We are well aware that a building is not “the church”.  We, God’s people are “the church”.  The building is simply a tool for ministry to the community.  Moving into this premises is not the end of a long road but the beginning of an exciting journey into the future.

Join with us in prayer as we dedicate this resource to the Lord and his work. 

Decisions

I have often found it difficult to make decisions. Have you? 

Sometimes decisions are easy for me and I don't need to think much about them. I don't think God really minds what the outcome is for these decisions.  However sometimes those decisions  are difficult and God has a vested interest in the outcome. 

I remember a wonderful week I spent in Germany in 2001. Alison was in London for a week at a summer school so instead of spending my days alone I hopped on a plane to Germany and visited my family.  I was hoping to just hang around and soak up some of the local sights.  My very generous uncle had other plans. He wanted to take me on a cultural tour of Germany.  We spent a week driving through culturally significant towns like Hameln (from the Pied Piper story), visited Weimar to see the house of Gothe and we also saw the room in Wartburg Castle where Luther translated the bible into German. It is an experience I will never forget and I will always be grateful for. Whenever we stayed overnight we would go to the local Rathaus or Keller. My choice from the menu was easy.  I would ask what the specialty of that particular restaurant was and I would order that. this can be a more difficult decision for some people particularly if they are not adventurous eaters! 

                                                     Gothe's House Weimar 2001

                                                        Pied Piper Staue Hameln 2001

                                              Luthers Room Wartburg Castle 2001

Some decisions I have made have been agonising though. I have fretted and stressed about whether I was making the right choice or not. Giving up my career to go into ministry was one of these decisions. Ultimately I felt a strong sense that no matter how scary the decision was I just had to trust God and jump in with both feet. When I studied my first subject at university level and passed I felt encouraged that I had made the right choice. When a church hired me as their student pastor I again felt a confirmation of the choice I made. When I received my first call to be a sole pastor of a congregation I received confirmation again. I have received many confirmations along the way to encourage me that I had made the right choice. 

I want to be clear that I am NOT saying that if you make the right choice everything is easy, because in my journey I have also faced obstacles which have also encouraged me that I had made the right decision. We Christians sometimes call this a "spiritual attack". Often when I face an obstacle while trying to do something for God I ask almost out loud "why is this happening now?" and I hear God tell me "because you are making the right choice and it will be hard".

Jesus is the perfect example of making a decision and facing discouragement for example in Luke 22:42 he prays

"Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine."(NLT).

Jesus goes on to die on the cross for our sins. God used that choice to enable us all to have a relationship with him through the forgiveness of our sins and the inauguration of the new kingdom in the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

Some decisions are hard and you won't always feel warm and fuzzy after making them. They may also cause you discomfort and trouble. You may have to jump in and ask God to take over. But if you make these important decisions for God and his plans for you, then he will bring glory to the outcomes.

How long have you been driving?

I have just spent most of this week on a Renewal Retreat with 6 other ministry leaders, 3 hours away from home near Mannum SA.  As I usually do, I used my GPS to direct me. My GPS device has a female voice that gives instructions which I have named Lola. Lola can be quite bossy “in 100 meters turn right” but she also cares about me because after 2 hours of driving she informs me that I have been driving for 2 hours and would I like her to find me a suitable place to take a break. Sometimes I listen to Lola and sometimes I feel confident that I can ignore her.

Pastors in the BCSA (Baptist Churches of South Australia) can as part of their continuing accreditation choose to engage in the Renewal Retreat Program. This is a 2 year program where up to 8 pastors covenant together in fellowship and support, taking 2 retreats a year together - one 24 hour and one 3 day retreat each year.  We meet and share our stories, trials, cares, woes and joys in a safe structured and confidential manner (what is said on retreat stays on retreat).  This time together was our final gathering for this group and next year a new group will be formed that will continue to support one another.

I have heard some people make fun of retreats as though they are some kind of fringe benefit of being a pastor. Comments like “you were all hard at work then?” or “it’s tough for some” tend to get bandied about.  While I do admit that going on a retreat is not an onerous task, I have found it to be vital for the health and longevity of ministry.  I have previously mentioned taking holidays is vital and that ministry is a marathon not a sprint.  Retreats are another function of making ministry a lifetime commitment and we all have a good example to follow.

Jesus took time out in the midst of ministry (Mark 6:31-32), before making major decisions (Luke 6:12-13)  and after major events (Matt 14:22-23) to pray and restore himself and he taught his disciples to do the same.  This is not just something that is important for pastors but any follower of Jesus regularly needs to take heed of Jesus’ example.  This is not an instruction we should choose to ignore.

If we don't pull over and stretch our legs, have drinks and rest a moment we might make a mistake that causes an accident or we might not be vigilant of the actions of others or we may not notice changes in the road conditions. 

Psalm 46:10 says:

“Be still, and know that I am God! 

I will be honored by every nation.

I will be honored throughout the world.” (NLTse)

but Eugene Petersen’s Message version says:

"Step out of the traffic! Take a long,

loving look at me, your High God,

above politics, above everything.”

(Message) 

We regularly need to “step out of the traffic” to be the most effective followers of Jesus that we can be. 

Holidays

Holidays are an amazing time to recharge the batteries, and to prepare ourselves for the work ahead. The Schmid family have spent the last 3 weeks on holidays. Some of that time has been spent at home and some of it travelling through the state of Victoria.  While this has been a precious time with family, I  am ready for and have been eagerly awaiting the start of school this week. I am gad to be back at work and I look forward to what God has in store for us as a church family for the rest of the year. While rest  is good and necessary work and routine is also good and necessary.

One of the things that I have come to realise in the time I have been in a ministry, is that ministry is a marathon not a sprint.  All of us are in ministry whether it is a full-time paid position or not. We need to pace ourselves or we will not go the distance.  Sprinters do well over short distance but they cannot maintain that pace for extended periods.  If a sprinter tried to run a marathon at the same pace as a sprint their body would not cope.  We constantly need to ask "am I  doing too much?" or "am I taking regular time for rest?"  We sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that the world will come to an end if we don't keep pushing ourselves and our bodies to the limit. I don't think that kind of attitude is either healthy or biblical.  The example of our creator God is that after working to create the world God rested and enjoyed his creation, Jesus regularly took time out away from the crowds. Yes there will always be seasons where much work is needed to complete a task well but there must be balance where we can also catch our breath.



Hebrews 12:1 says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Let us run the race with endurance also!

Facing Leviathan by Mark Sayers

An interesting book by Mark Sayers, which debunks the theory that Christian Leadership must be either Modernist or Postmodernist ( mechanical or organic) leadership. There is another way, and Mark skilfully uses history, Scripture and personal story to make his point that true leadership is.....

You didn't think I would save you the effort of reading the book by giving you spoilers did you? that would be cheating! Go do your home work it will be worth it.

Buy it, Read it and as Eugene Peterson would say consume it.

you can get it here

Facing Leviathan on Amazon

Child protection training seminar 2014

Our child protection training seminar is on again tommorrow Saturday 31st of May at the Kadina Wesley Uniting Church starting at 8.45am . I look forward to seeing you there.