Chilliwack & Tasmania 

I had the privilege of visiting the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Chilliwack, British Columbia December 12-26.  The Chilliwack congregation's minister retired and they asked me, among many others as well, to come and preach and visit.  It was hard to find the time and I did not want to leave my family, but Christmas time ended up working out.  

To my surprise, some of my friends in Tasmania assumed I was going there "with a view to a call."  I informed them that the Heritage Reformed do not go about calling pastors that way and that I do not understand the Biblical doctrine of calling that way.  The Chilliwack congregation was even in the process of calling another minister when I arrived, and I accepted their invitation to come because they asked, not because I was looking for a call. 

While I was in Chilliwack, I was able to visit many old friends, give pastoral counsel, and be there to encourage a family in the midst of a very bad car accident.  Thankfully, those in the car accident were spared and are recovering well.  

I found my time in Chilliwack exhausting but refreshing.  I kept a busy schedule visiting and I prepared my sermons while I was there.  I missed my family a lot and find a renewed appreciation for what an amazing gift they are from the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is always humbling, and at the same time a great blessing, to be of use to encourage God's people in the faith.  

I was greatly encouraged during my time in Chilliwack and I needed it.  We have had some very painful experiences here in Tassie, particularly this past year.  Nothing that was damaging for the church, thankfully, but some very painful things for me personally and my family.  Thankfully, Martha is not the kind of Pastor's Wife who gets bitter when she sees her husband hurt in the ministry.  She has an amazing gift of being able to support me and still be grieved and concerned for the state others are in, regardless of what they have done.  

Things have been developing here in Tassie a bit.  Attendance at our congregation in Launceston has increased and sometimes our little building is full.  We hope to ordain and install two new men into the eldership.  Both men are very gifted and, I pray, will be a blessing to our whole denomination.  A bit later in the new year, we hope to introduce a young people's meeting once a month and a fellowship meeting (a time of singing, prayer, and sermon discussion) once a month in addition to our worship services and weekly Bible study.   

We sadly decided to end the outreaches in George Town and Mt. Direction.  Neither of them was bearing any fruit.  The group attending the George Town outreach has shrunk due to health concerns and desires to move to Launceston.  The Mt. Direction outreach, which was a kind of branch of the George Town outreach, saw no increase in attendance and the family that attended in Mt. Direction lives twenty-five minutes from Launceston and used to attend regularly in Launceston.  In addition to the shrinking of the outreaches, the third service twice a month and the travel was beginning to wear heavily on me and on my family.  To continue the outreaches would have caused my family to suffer or the congregation in Launceston to suffer, or both.  In light of these reasons, the Session decided to close the outreaches.  

Our denomination, the Southern Presbyterian Church, continues growing closer to another denomination called the Australian Free Church.  Progress has been slow but steady, and we hope it can continue.  We have also had a meeting with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (the denomination we seceded from in 1986).  It was good to speak with the delegates from the EPC and better understand where our two churches are today.  One of the encouraging fruits of the meeting was that our Presbytery decided to express their regret that the split was necessary and trust that the Lord will forgive  the sins and errors of both churches.  Hopefully the EPC will reciprocate those feelings.  We do not plan to return to the EPC, but we are hoping and praying that personal hurts and past wounds from the split, which the Lord has been healing, would continue to heal.  

Please remember before the Lord our little denomination out here in Tassie as we attempt to stand for our Lord Jesus Christ and that our Savior would send a Pastor to the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Chilliwack.  

The Lord be with you, 

terry  

Happy New Year!  (a few weeks late) 

Well, I have returned from Chilliwack, conducted my first wedding here in Tassie, and generally gotten settled into things again.  The coming year should be an important one for our congregation as well.  

But first things first: family pics!

Ezra and Julia October 2012

Julia next to Chalk Julia 

Daddy and Joby walking down to our picnic spot by Dove Lake in front of Cradle Mountain

Rebecca Bosch from the Heritage Reformed Congregation in New Jersey was studying on the mainland and came down for a visit for a week or so.  Having her with us was a real blessing.  We were refreshed with her fellowship and Julia still asks about "Miss Becca" once a week or so, wishing she could come back.  

Daddy and Ezra sharing nap time in November 2012

As Sand Through the Our Glass...

Well, time has flown and we here in Tasmania along with it.

I have a lot to fill you all in on but I do not have the time and energy right now to break it down.

Here is a bit of the latest:

Martha and the kids are doing well.  Ezra is 5 months old and he is the most easygoing of our children so far (which has been a real blessing).  Julia and Job can play very beautifully together and fight like cats and dogs too.  All are in good health.

I hope to visit the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Chilliwack, British Columbia from December 12-26.  I look forward to bringing the Word to the dear folk there and do some visiting as well.

Our church website has been revamped and simplified and you will find a link to sermonaudio.com where my sermons are being uploaded.  Lord willing, we can convince Pastor Iain Smith to put his up too!

Please be content with this short update for now.  I hope to give a longer update once I return from British Columbia.

The Lord be with you all and thank you for your continued interest, thoughts, and prayers.

terry

Sermons, Website, and More Pics 

Some people have been asking me to make my sermons available on sermonaudio.com.  There are a few sermons of mine already up that I preached in some congregations of the Heritage Reformed Churches, but what I am preaching here in Tasmania will now be going up on sermonaudio.  

We have been having trouble getting local tech support for our church website (www.spc.org.au) but thankfully the Lord has provided someone.  Our webiste will be getting a new look and a simpler format that I, Lord willing, will be able to update and change as necessary.  

Please pray that the Lord will bless sermons going up, that the changes to our website will be helpful, and that I can convince my fellow SPC pastor in Hobart (Iain Smith) to make his sermons available at sermonaudio as well.  

And here are a few more pics: 

Gotta love the look on Ezra's face 

All the kids together: Julia, Job, and Ezra  

Princess Julia and her friend Cowgirl Scarlett 

Ezra noticing a shadow 

Job playing tiger.  Hard to believe he is going to be 2 on August 15.  

My "Double J Team" (as I call them from time to time) "reading" together.  

Amazingly cute and happening more and more these days.  

More Pictures of Ezra and Some of the Family 

So What's Up With Us?

The answer seems to be a lot but not a lot at the same time.  

The "a lot" part has to do with what is going on at our home: new baby and sickness.  Ezra is doing very well.  Martha can get about 7.5 hours sleep a day (combining the sleep she gets at night with a nap or two during the day) assuming she makes getting rest the right priority.  I am chief cook and bottle washer.  Making the meals and cleaning up takes a lot of time but after growing up in a single parent home, living independently, and working in food service, the position is not unfamiliar to me.  Plus people have also generously providing meals which is a bit of a help.  

Not long after Ezra was born I got something going around that knocked me out for a good two to three days.  The first day I did not even get out of bed.  The kids had a few days before I did and had similar responses.  Thankfully Martha and Ezra did not get it.  However recently we seem to have picked up a bit of a chesty-sinusy-thingy.  I am not sure if it some kind of built in boomerang effect from the previous cold or if it something different.  Most of the folk at our churn have gotten both these types of things and it seemed to follow the same pattern: first the lions and then the jackals.  

Things at church have slowed down a bit.  We have not had our Tuesday night Bible Study in a while due to the coming of Ezra and the cold that is making the rounds through the church.  Lord willing, we will return to the Bible Study this Tuesday.  

Despite the birth and illnesses I have been able to preach and continue the outreach in George Town.  

That reminds me, I need to bring you all up to speed on something: we have changed things up in how we handle the George Town services.  Several months ago we decided to have one service a month in George Town (we used to have two) and one service a month in Mt. Direction.  What is Mt. Direction?  It is a "mountain" but it is also a rural area between Launceston and George Town.  Why the change?  

The main reasons:

1.  Most of the consistent visitors to the George Town service have been from Mt. Direction.  

2.  The folk who regularly attend the George Town service come from Mt. Direction and they asked us to start holding services there because they felt other folk in Mt. Direction would be interested in coming to a worship service in their own area.  

3.  None of the folk who live in George Town and constantly come to the worship service mind coming to Mt. Direction once a month.  

In light of the above reasoning the Session thought, "Why not?"  

I have done a bit of door knocking and handing out leaflets in the Mt. Direction area but I need to do more.  

There is more going on but that is the just of it for now.  I need to get Julia out from behind the other computer and start working on dinner.  

The Lord be with you all and please continue to keep us in your prayers.  

terreth 

Here are a Few More (update soonish) 

A Few Pictures 

First Day Back Home 

All Three of Our Little Blessings 

Getting A Little Sun 

Sup' Yo