“Preachers, stop trying to craft a great sermon, and instead ask God what He wants to say to His people”

(Pastor Mark Edwards Inglewood Church)

We had a great conference this year at our annual ‘together’ Baptist Pastors Conference held in Mandurah. This year about 200 Pastors, chaplains and other pastoral staff came together for a great time of fellowship, food, fun and losing wedding rings on the beach.

During our annual massive volleyball game one of the pastors lost his wedding ring about 2 minutes into the game. He spent the best part of an hour looking for it. It is quite incredible how something shiny and hard, admittedly small, can be seriously lost so quickly. Fortunately he was able to hire a metal detector and find the little but significant piece of jewellery much to his and his young wife’s relief.

The sessions with Derek and Dianne Tidball from the UK were focused and packed full of content. The worship times were creative and there was a real sense of community as we met together.

 Derek Tidball Expounding on Galatians

Something that was really great was the amount of young leaders there. I caught up with many of them at a game of ‘werewolf’ and there was around 30 of them enjoying each others company. I remarked to a older friend that this sense of community amongst our young leaders will sustain them through the pain and hard work ahead. Leading churches will not get any easier, although they are coming into much healthier Baptist Communities than many of us did.

Young Leaders Playing Some Weird Form of Handball

There is a real cultural and spiritual shift happening amongst Baptists in WA at the moment. A real sense that God is moving us to places of greater openness to the move and voice of His Spirit. Its a great place to be.

 Mark Wilson Giving a Stirring Spirit Filled Challenge and Exhortation

Love to see you at either or both of our services…..

Some recent news of a very sick relative has reminded me again of the preciousness of time.

None of us know how long we have.

The plans we make are merely plans.

‘If time allows it’ is the caveat on everything we plan.

I have sensed lately that my time with my son has not been precious as it has been in the past. He is growing up so fast. And so much is going through his mind that I have no idea about.
If I fail with him, I have failed. Nothing else will matter much.

Many pastors talk about the Monday morning blues.
Where do we find Elijah after the incredible high of dealing with the prophets of Baal, seeing God work in incredible ways? We find him depressed and complaining that there is no one to support him, and he may as well die.

It is common to find yourself in a ‘blue’ state after a spiritual high.
It can also be a dangerous place as you might find temptation a lovely distraction.

What can you do?
Some Pastors like to work on Mondays, do office and administration tasks, this helps.
Others like to have Monday off to recover.

For me, I like to give myself a break on Monday. To consciously decide to not think about ministry or the church. That is a lot harder than it sounds. In this age of social and electronic media, people often want to talk about some issue in their life, an administrative issue or something else. And even in my own head space, a lot of things go whirling around.

Setting boundaries on Monday is important. I generally don’t answer the phone. But I find it hard to shut myself off completely. It is something I am working on. I even find it hard to relax!

For the long haul, making a conscious decision to rest will mean I will be more effective and ‘level’ in the long run.

Let us hope so.
Still stings.