I can tell you about Rockhampton and give you some direction concerning prayer for us.

Currently our river ‘The Fitzroy” is at 8.5m we are heading for 9.4 metres on Tuesday or Wednesday. For the second time in its history the Rockhampton Airport is now closed for approximately 3 weeks. Roads to the North and South and West are now cut – Rockhampton is isolated.

Food in the supermarkets is running low – people are panic buying I’ve never experienced hysteria and mob fear before but I did the other day in the supermarket (and I go grocery shopping with my wife often).

Our church property is not in any immediate danger and neither is my home or family we are well away from the flood waters even when they peak. At this stage, I know of no-one from our church family at St.Andrews who is struggling or has been evacuated but obviously I will know more tomorrow. That said, I do know of a few families staying with others because of rising waters – damage is far too early to know.

Would you please pray:

• That God’s people in Rockhampton would rejoice that Jesus is still on his throne and King of the Universe
• That our church family would love other people and consider them rather than ourselves so that Jesus might be known by our lives.
• That as the waters rise so would our confidence in the gospel and our willingness to share the good news of Jesus to all men.

Your Brother In Jesus

Mike O’Connor

Minister

This is my article about the current debate surrounding Homosexual marriage.  It appeared in Thursday, November 18, 2010 Rockhampton Morning Bulletin.

I’ve followed with interest the recent hypothetical debate surrounding the “support for Gay marriage” proposal currently before our federal parliamentarians. For a long time now the ‘church’ has been rightly accused of being silent when it comes to issues surrounding the community; stereotyped into being opposed to everything. As a result, the message of the church has become unclear and, more often than not, rather unhelpful.

But as a Presbyterian Minister and licensed Marriage Celebrant here in Rockhampton, I find myself deeply surprised by the arguments of gay rights activist Mr Gary Burns and disappointed by the thoughts of Kirsten Livermore MP.  Mr Burns seeks equal rights for heterosexual and homosexual couples when it comes to marriage.  He calls for an end to intolerance, discrimination and homophobia.  What has, however, become clear from his arguments is that Mr Burns is intolerant of everyone who holds a differing opinion to him.  Mr Burns wants the name calling to stop, but here he is calling those who hold different opinions to him as ‘rednecks’.  Mr Burns is behaving the very way he wants other people to stop behaving.

Consensus isn’t an adequate basis for an ethic. Just because everyone else holds a differing view doesn’t mean they are rednecks.  Popularism and opinion polls are not an accurate gauge of what’s right and what’s wrong, but it might just get you re-elected.

So then let us be clear about what this debate isn’t about.  It’s not about the vilification or discrimination of homosexuals: it is about ‘support for Gay Marriage’.  Even the most remotely biblical ethic will speak of love and acceptance of others, we are all made in God’s image – all of us. Jesus sets the example but acceptance doesn’t mean concurrence, any parent of a teenager can tell you that! “I love you but I don’t have to agree with you about the life-choices you make”.  So this debate isn’t about vilification, no one wants to live in a world where people are disadvantaged or abused because they are different from others. That certainly isn’t the message of Biblical Christianity.

Biblical Christianity isn’t against homosexuals. We welcome you all and Mr Burns to Rockhampton – please bring a bus load – I want to tell you about Jesus. But Christianity is for heterosexual marriage.  Made in the image of God, made to be male and female.  Marriage between a Man and a Woman stands at the very centre of God’s purposes for the world.  Marriage is for the purpose of love and companionship – a reflection on Christ and his Church.  Which is the very thing that homosexuals are arguing for. But Marriage is also the social bedrock of family and therefore of the community where children can be brought up knowing what it means to have a Father and a Mother and to share in the love of that committed relationship.  And while God’s ideal might not reflect all of our experiences when it comes to home life, that doesn’t mean we change the ideal in order to feel better about our own life choices.

Does that make me a redneck? Maybe.

Rev. Mike O’Connor

rockhampton presbyterian church

Pastor welcomes Hell Pizza

Megan Lewis | 15th January 2010

Reverend Mike O’Connor isn’t getting hot and bothered over the devilish name of a new pizza franchise.

IF HELL Pizza set up shop in Rockhampton, Presbyterian Minister Mike O’Connor wouldn’t think twice about taking his church youth group for a slice of Damned or Purgatory pizza.

A Brisbane church this week condemned the opening of a new Hell Pizza store in a nearby suburb, saying advertising for the pizza outlet’s new Brookwater store would send children a confusing message about hell.

“The restaurant’s playing in dangerous territory and several members of our church have expressed concern that they have come to our area,” Springfield Christian Family Church Pastor John Van Bennekom said.

However, Reverend O’Connor of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Denham Street yesterday said such comments were over the top.

“Those views are out of touch with society and make the church look irrelevant,” Reverend O’Connor said.

“If you are going to carry on about the name of a pizza store, where will it stop? What about the Melbourne Demons Football Club or television shows like Hell’s Kitchen?”

Hell Pizza’s advertising slogans include “Kids are evil, feed them” and if you call to place an order you are greeted with a friendly, “Welcome to Hell”.

Their pizzas have names such Purgatory and Damned and they offer home delivery service called Hot as Hell Deliverance.

“I’d buy a pizza from them; even take our church youth group there for dinner if I could. And kids are evil – no argument here!” the father of one said.

Ordained eight years ago, Reverend O’Connor said he did not find Hell Pizza offensive, irreligious or blasphemous.

“I find it amusing and would probably use it for sermon illustration,” he said.

“Christianity is not about rules and regulations, it’s about having a relationship with Jesus.”

Reverend O’Connor said St Andrews was a growing church with a number of young adults among the congregation.

“It’s important to interact with cultures that surround us, not standing back and labelling everything as evil.

“I’m just a normal bloke who likes having a beer, watching the footy and who loves Jesus,” he said.

“Hell is a real place, but it’s unhelpful for Christians to be jumping up and down about a pizza shop. We’re on about Jesus, not about being anti-everything,” he said.

The pizza chain, which began in Wellington in 1996, also has stores in Britain, Ireland and opened its first Canadian store last month.

The restaurant’s Australian chairman Mike Hird was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The Morning Bulletin | January 15, 2010

Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia and has over 2 million head of cattle in its surrounding districts.  For many years the beef cattle industry was the city’s main economic source. Beef is in our blood, of course now so is mining and tourism.  In May 2009, Rockhampton will host “Beef Week” – it’s kind of a big deal. It’s anticipated that Rocky’s population doubles in size as people from around Australia and Overseas arrive for the latest brief on beef!

Rocky is famous for its statues (and Rod Laver)! Some six different bull statues in various sizes reflecting various cattle breeds are located in different parts of our city and a number of local business also have their own shop front “bull” statues.  A leasing business has a “LEASE-A-BULL” bull, a local removal company has a blue “ReMOOvaBULL” bull and we now have the “BELIEVE-A-BULL” bull poster (I know, its not the same as a statue).

The poster is meant to be a light hearted connection with our City but also a statement about our church and what we believe and the things that we are on about.  We are a Christ-Centered church,  make no mistake when you come to st.andrew’s it is Jesus who is the focus.  It is Jesus’ church so he is the one that we meet to worship and serve.  We learn about Jesus from his Word to us and nowhere else does Jesus promise to speak to us than in his Bible. We are a Bible-teaching and Bible-believing church.  God’s Word matters to us, it is the focal point of everything we do for faith and life.  When you come along to st.andrew’s you can expect to hear the Bible explained in a way that is simple, clear, relevant and accessible (access-a-bull).

No Bull we are trying to cut out the nonsense that some churches carry on with.  We value our past but we want Jesus to govern our future.   We want people to meet and serve Jesus!  We don’t carry on with traditions, rituals and funny language. It’s not about religion but it is all about Jesus who we can come to know in his Bible.  And that’s NO BULL.

Without a Vision...

Maybe it’s that we are almost ten years into the new millennium or maybe it’s just the sound of the year 2020 and its connection with the word ‘vision’ (20/20 vision) which makes it too hard for politicians to resist. It could be that we live in uncertain times both economically and environmentally. But for whatever reason it seems like everyone is casting a vision for the future. 

Kevin Rudd had a 2020 summit in Canberra in April last year where he invited our nation’s “brightest and best” to come and discuss a plan for our country’s future. At the summit the Prime Minister even quoted the Bible (or should I say paraphrased it) when he said “Without a vision our people will perish”, a quote taken from Proverbs 29:18.

Newly inaugurated US President Barack Obama ran his whole election campaign based on a vision of a new America! The former Senator addressed the nation’s needs and hopes for the future in his campaign promises. Who will ever forget his acceptance speech as President-Elect with the continuing refrain of “Yes, We Can”. This “can-do” vision for a new America dominated his entire campaign, not to mention capturing the hearts and minds of millions of Americans: many of whom voted for the first time and who made his inauguration the most watched ever! Some 2 million people crammed into the Lincoln memorial at the National Mall in Washington DC in temperatures of -5^℃ while some 39 million Americans watched it on TV along with an estimated world television audience in its billions. All of them tuning in because of the power of a vision.

Queenslanders aren’t missing out either! Our own state premier Anna Bligh also cast a vision for our great state of Queensland last year called “towards Q2” listing her government’s proposed targets for creating a stronger, greener, smarter, healthier and fairer Queensland. She then travelled the state telling us where we are heading and the direction she hopes to take us (if she gets re-elected). 

Of course, Queenslanders also know the pitfalls of a poorly cast vision. It was only ten years ago that former Premier Peter Beattie called Queensland the Smart state and spent $400 million so everyone else knew it.  Now, ten years on in a survey conducted by The Courier Mail, 60% of Queenslander’s said they didn’t know what the ‘Smart State’ meant with another 26% saying they knew ‘little’ about it. “For many, the Smart State slogan refers only to vehicle registration plates. It would be amusing if it were not such a lamentable outcome for a mammoth financial investment.” (Courier Mail – January 18, 2009). 

Poorly done or well casted, its obvious that having a vision for the future is very important!

Even the Rockhampton Regional Council has recently forecast its own predicted population growth figures and the infrastructure that our city will need to cope with the “boom” of people who will soon call Rockhampton home.  It’s predicted that Rockhampton will have a population of 74000 by 2021.

Here’s something for us to think about: If our church is to reach just 1% of Rockhampton’s estimated population by 2021 then within the next 11 years we will need to have a church with 740 people in it.

Vision matters. 

Vision is important because without it no-one knows where we are going, what we are doing or why we are doing it. Vision matters because without a vision there is no assessment of where we are or where we are heading. Without a vision we have no compass to charter our way though to the future and no reference point to refer back to when we get lost!  We’re not sure what we should take on, where to place our time, energy, finances and resources. Its true: where there is no vision the people perish.

Starting in February our church is going to be considering a new vision for where we are heading.  Without a vision, the people perish!  Together we need to hear from the Bible and to start praying and planning as well as discussing and goal-setting where we want to be and more importantly where we think God wants us to be for our city in the next 10 years. 

In our coming series on Revelation 1-3 we will be looking at The Church Jesus Wants. From this series of Bible Talks and Bible Studies together under the oversight of our church leaders, we will cast a vision for our church. We don’t need to spend $400 million to do so or even $40 to be clear. But we want it to be clear to everyone inside the church and for those still yet to come in: what is it that we at st.andrew’s are on about. What it is that we value because we want to value the things that Jesus values.

There will be some who read this article and think “oh no”.  People who get freaked out because of past experiences in churches where the Pastor starts talking about ‘vision’ one minute and the next we are all living in a small village in the bush making our own clothes and signing over the contents of our bank account and personal assets to “Mike O’Connor International Ministries”. 

Let me reassure the skeptic in everyone of us. Firstly, there is no such thing as “Mike O’Connor International Ministries” (yet!)  and if there ever was, leave quickly, run away – fast and sign nothing!  Secondly, this isn’t about a vision I have had. It’s not about imposing my ideas or my ‘stamp’ on our church. 

In fact, lets be very clear: this is Jesus’ church. It does not belong to me or to anyone else.

Our church belongs to Jesus so this is not about a vision that any of you have had either! This is about all of us coming together under God’s revealed Word to us – the Bible to carefully and prayerfully study and seek what Jesus wants for his church and the things that he values – not what you or I value or what our personal preferences are.  

The consequences for not having a vision and a mission statement that is clear to everyone is fatal. Without something that we are all working towards and prayerful about we could end up anywhere and probably will!

Because this goes on the web, I won’t mention the name of the denomination. But 32 years ago a denomination was formed in Australia.  It had no statement of beliefs, no creeds or confessions, no mission or vision statements that its members or ministers had to sign off on.  No one knew where it was heading and no one was held accountable for the things that they taught or believed or became involved in.  

Now 32 years on Christian people are leaving in droves, while the denomination continues to unite everyone even if their lifestyle or sexual orientation isn’t congruent with the Bible. 

In their attempt to be relevant they have become completely irrelevant. 

With no vision, no core values, no leadership and no direction, our church let alone our denomination, risks becoming the exactly the same.