This past Weekend I had the privilege to join Central Baptist Church Pretoria on their church camp. We went out to a very accommodating campsite called Paradeisos, North of Pretoria, along the Moloto Road. It was a really uplifting time for myself, Liezl and the kids, and we came back refreshed. Three quick observations regarding Central Baptist Church Pretoria: One, God’s People have a joy bubbling up inside of them that spills over and blesses all around. There were plenty of smiles, friendly faces and Christian fellowship this past weekend. Two, Central is clearly going through something of a Spiritual awakening. Now I’m not going to quantify or qualify that statement, but young, old, black, white, English, Afrikaans and every other language in the South African melting pot seemed to be waiting on the Lord and many are availing themselves to Him. It’s exciting to hang out with folk like that. Three, there’s a ministry run out of the church, Campus Outreach, which is being used by the Lord to harvest souls. New Christians, with fire burning in their veins, are like fuel to my soul.

This weekend we considered the following verse from Colossians 1:28, ²⁸ We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. We used that text as a springboard to look upon Christ as the “Him” whom we proclaim, salvation – “in Christ” – as the point whereupon the discipleship journey begins, that we’re to be Scripture-Saturated and Spirit-Controlled that we may “mature” into the image of our Lord and Saviour and that discipleship is a “everyone” journey. You can download the camp notes here, and the four sermon outlines here: Session 1, Session 2, Session 3, Session 4.

On the one hand I came away from the camp refreshed spiritually, on the other hand I worked really hard this past weekend. It’s such a burden on my heart to bring God’s Word to God’s People. From time to time because of preparation – and sometimes because of circumstances – I’ve really struggled to sleep. I lie awake a night with thoughts running through my mind and at other times fretting over issues I just cannot resolve. Last night I slept like a baby. Consider these well known verses from Psalm 23, ² He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. ³ He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake. I laughed this morning as I listened to the following on the Desiring God website: Work Like an Arminian, Sleep Like a Calvinist?. I’m praying ever harder that I find my rest in Him who leads his sheep beside quiet waters.