What A Day!

A red carpet entrance and high-quality refreshments greeted 50 members and friends of SBC as they gathered for the SBC Autumn Conference on Saturday 24th September 2011.

Café style relaxation was followed by an upbeat time of worship, after which Lead Pastor Rich Webb set the scene for the day, outlining our vision to see Outward Focused Congregations (OFC’s) set up across North Lincolnshire.

Through brainstorming, feedback sessions and voting with shiny stickers, we were able to identify groups of people for whom church in its current format appears largely irrelevant, and start to formulate plans, which will enable us to meet with these people at times, and in places that suit them. This generated a number of OFC ideas for us to explore.

Rich also reminded us of the need for us to follow Jesus by engaging in Compassion Based Ministries – simply meeting needs in peoples’ lives because that is what Jesus would have us do.

We reflected on how we at SBC had been able through Foodbank to show compassion and love by feeding almost 1,500 people in crisis during the past twelve months or so. This spurred us on to spend time identifying ideas and passions for other Compassion Based Ministries that we could pursue in the future.

The day was designed to enable the SBC community to determine and in many ways decide the future of SBC and our involvement in the local area. We made huge strides of progress to this end, and are excited by the possibilities ahead.

The day ended with a great message from Rich in which he explored with us the things that could hold us back. We were challenged not to allow fear, apathy and tight-fistedness rob us of all that God wants to do in our midst, and encouraged to pursue Him in such a way that we are Transformed by our Hunger for Him.

It was a special day in which delegates were blessed by personal prophecy cards, Thornton’s chocolates, and an incredible buffet provided by ‘On The House’ Catering Services.

Towards the end of the Conference we asked the delegates to give us some key words to describe their experience.

This Wordle is what they told us. (The bigger the word is in the picture the more times that word appeared in the feedback).

Here is some more detailed feedback from some of our members:-

SBC conference - brilliant. Amazing hearing what is already making a difference & how much of a difference this is... super-challenging to re-think what we are not yet about & need to be. Six new OFCs & at least six new compassion-projects where we've already identified we DO have (some of) the resources, volunteers & time. If God blesses it, that will be all we need. We DON'T have an excuse... Had a migraine on & off all day - still wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Jenny Whitehead

Cracking day with the family !!! God bless ya x
Paul Doherty

Thank you to everyone who made our SBC conference a very special experience today.
Eddie Riordan

Enjoyin coffee n danish at start of SBC Autumn Conference comfy chairs too :)

Enjoyable, stimulating & productive day at SBC Autumn Conference today. Great food, coffee & refreshments throughout the day as well :)

SBC Autumn Conference definitely exceeded my expectations today. Bring on the Spring Conference 2012!
Series of Tweets from Mike Evans

Autumn Conference 2011

This years Autumn Conference is only a few days away, and it is shaping up to be a special day.

Please note that the day is starting at 9:00am for refreshments and pastry delights, and will finish appropriately 16:30.

On the day we are going to be discussing, brainstorming, exploring and ultimately decided the future direction of SBC, and considering what OFC's and Compassion-Based Ministries we are going to be involved in across our region and beyond.

Please be praying in advance for the conference, and in particular what God might be saying about our future as a church.

God bless

Worshipping Idols

 

Isaiah 44 records the account of a man who obtains a piece of wood. Half of it he uses as fuel for the fire to keep himself warm and to cook his meal. The other half he fashions into a shape then bows down and worships it, calling it ‘My God’!

How stupid can you get? We have to laugh at the image this account creates in our minds today but God wasn’t laughing because it was the type of thing His people were doing, which ended in His justifiable wrath being poured out, Israel being overrun by the Assyrians and the people scattered to the nations, and later the small remnant of Judah that survived being taken into exile in Babylon.

Of course, we are not that stupid today, are we? We don’t worship idols, do we? Unless of course we count our favourite 7 iron that always seems to rescue a round of golf (or the golf course or golf itself!), or a night out with mates (which is sacred and comes before all else), or watching Super League on a Friday, or our iPad, iPhone, car, house, power tools (dare I mention Beach Buggy), foreign holidays and anything else of importance (to us) that comes between us and the work God wants us to be doing. History teaches us that failing to worship God alone not only stirs His righteous anger but also that it grieves Him deeply and none of us wants either to happen.

These things are there to be enjoyed and we accept them willingly as a gift from God but, as Rich Webb reminded us earlier in the year, we have no right to them. They are not ours, we do not own them (objects or the time we have), they are only transitory – on loan to us by a gracious God, who really wants us to have a great time in life but always to put Him at the centre where He deserves to be - to be is the root of I AM.

In June I received a Kindle for my birthday and it has revolutionised my life. Due to eyesight problems I have difficulty reading printed text and backlit computer screens also cause a problem after a while making reading a difficult and less than pleasant experience. Not so with the Kindle. I can now read for hours and never tire of it.

Do I worship my Kindle as an idol? Has it become the centre of my life? Well, actually it is the one thing that is exempt from the list for the Lord God himself has declared ‘I WILL KINDLE..’ (Jeremiah 21:14).

 

A New Chapter ...

So this morning marks the start of a new chapter here at Scunthorpe Baptist Church, and there is plenty of reason to be excited!

Not only do we have Austin here from America to help and serve us moving forward, we have our Lead Pastor back from Sabatical and Tom starting full-time from this morning - making the office a very busy and packed working space.

These really are exciting times and we would encourage you to please continue to pray for us as we grow, serve, work and live together.

Thank You and God bless

‘Waiting For God’

 

In my early sixties I often contemplate what God is calling me to do in what some would say are my ‘Autumn Years’!

I am not as fit as I used to be, I'm overweight, my energy levels are much lower and my body is wearing out. You know that you have reached this time of life when you need a shopping bag to collect your prescriptions from the chemist.

It sometimes seems that I am living out a part in a TV sitcom like ‘One foot in the grave’ or ‘Waiting for God’.

I was reading the book of Job recently and came across a passage that says ‘as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,’ (Job 29:4). Apparently the Hebrew can also be translated to ‘as I was in the autumn of my life’.  The commentator went on to make the comparison that autumn is a time for harvesting and picking the ripe fruit.

So as we grow older it is not a time to slow down and simply wait for God but an opportunity to get involved in the community and bring in the harvest. As Jesus once said, ‘I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.’ (John 4:35b).

 

Spring Conference Testimonies

The SBC Spring Conference was once again a great event with God moving in ways only He can. Many testimonies have come out from the weekend away, and below are just a few of them so far;

"God has blessed me through the words of someone else."

"Have been challenged to let God lead/decide on difficult future decisions."

"Prayed that upper back pain and itchy eyes would be healed and YESS!! Praise the Lord"

"I wasn't willing to live. I'm now willing to live my life in God, for God!"

"My welly boots were stuck in the mud, and the mud was right up the top of the boots. Praise the Lord he has released me and the mud has gone. Thank You God, I love you!"

"I received such clarity and fresh revelation. I feel renewed and complete again. Thank You Jesus!"

We really did have a great time away together and with God. Keep an eye out for the podcasts which will be available soon and also the blogs in the next few weeks which will include feedback and response to the Spring Conference.

God Bless

Spring Conference Countdown - 1 week to go

Intro

Just one week to go!  Soon 50 of us will be converging on the Ramada Jarvis in Wetherby full of excitement and expectation.  We are hoping, and praying, that the SBC Spring Conference is going to be a fantastic time together with one another and with God.  There are still numerous details to be sorted for those of us planning and organising, but everything seems to be on track.

Joining Instructions

These were being given out on Sunday, so most of you will already have your pack.  If not, then Helen will get them to you soon.  Remember that you will find a CD in the pack for you to listen to on the way to Wetherby.  Aim to start it as you leave and it should be just about the right length.

Conference Online

Don't forget that you can still keep up to date with the conference, even if you are not there.  This year there will be far more stuff happening on facebook, twitter and the blog, so don't forget to check up on us over the weekend.  Either check out the SBC Facebook page (link on our website) or search for the twitter hashtag #SBCuk.

Prayer pointers

This week we are asking people to pray for those attending the conference, as well as the weekend overall:

• Pray for safe journeys for everyone
• Pray against anything in the days preceding the conference which might distract from what God wants to do
• Pray for a sense of expectation
• Pray that the whole weekend would go well and that everyone would have a great time
• Pray for those 'left behind'

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

Rich.