May 3 – “Horizontal and vertical”

I heard from Cory, the guy who filled in for me at church Sunday.  He said things went pretty well.  I also saw a post on the church Facebook page from one of our visitors.  She was overwhelmingly positive about her experience.  Said she would definitely be back next time her time share condo turn came around. 

Seaside Church has become a spiritual phenomenon on the West End of Galveston Island.  It doesn’t fit the mold of any “model for ministry.”  It is certainly not like any church I have ever been in.  Many of the traditional things just don’t work here.  Other things, like sunrise services on the beach at Easter, are community events attended by hundreds.  From my perspective, I have been accepted as the community pastor in a sense.  It is not unusual for someone in the community to ask me to perform a wedding or a funeral or even a baptism or child dedication.  I have been asked to be the chaplain for the Galveston Fire Department as well as the volunteer fire department in Jamaica Beach (volunteer, of course!).  Being a Seasider has truly become a lifestyle for Chris and me. 

Seaside has been returning even closer to her roots over the last year or two.  Check out our original mission statement:

            Seaside Baptist Church, a regional, resort ministry church, exists to lead people to meet Jesus personally (Evangelism), to encourage them as they identify with His family in fellowship and membership (Fellowship), to teach them to become a disciple of Jesus Christ (Discipleship), and to equip them to discover their place of service in the church and in the world (Service), in order that they might celebrate God through worship (Worship).

            Resort ministry is ministering in a casual, as-you-go kind of way, confronting without being offensive.  It is the sharing of the salvation experience with Jesus Christ in a leisure setting.  It is helping people meet Jesus unexpectedly, while they are in the process of trying to relax and forget the rest of their life.

It means we get a lot of visitors from out of town.  It also puts a lot of pressure on the locals to support the ministry from day to day.  The retreat center is pretty much self-supporting now.  Insurance money from a hailstorm helped us get the worship center exterior looking really nice (Still have a ways to go on the inside renovations!).  We receive regular giving from people in Houston and as far away as Ohio.  Sometimes we get pretty large donations.  Sometimes it’s just a little bit.  In fact we used the way God has supported our regular operations as a model for how we operate the retreat center.  The groups who stay there give us a love offering of whatever they can afford.  Larger groups give more.  Smaller groups give what they can. 

Sometimes the church has to cover the slack, and sometimes we have an abundance.  It’s a scary way to operate as far as “meeting the budget” is concerned.  Sometimes things don’t get done.  Sometimes I just don’t turn in my mileage allowance request.  I kept the same salary for almost 13 years.  But through it all God just seems to keep us going.  A spurt of giving here.  A really big donation there.  However the funds get here horizontally speaking, they are all vertical gifts in the long run - directly from God.  And you know what?  God has done some amazing things here, using amazing people.  I really do love you, Seaside Family. 

1 Chronicles 29:14 says, “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

Father, thank you for the whole experience that Seaside has been for me and Chris and our family.  Keep using that place as a light for you to touch people’s lives.  Amen.