THE Wonthaggi Baptist Church welcomed a new minister recently, Mr Sandro Schietroma and in an interview with the Sentinel Times, Sandro shared his personal journey of discovering purpose and meaning in life through his relationship with God.
Sandro highlighted the importance of embracing the new Bass Coast community and loving them as God loves them.
Sandro was born in South America, Argentina before migrating to Australia at the age of eight and has been in ministry for the past 30 years; however, he discussed the influence his past had on his journey into Christian ministry.
“I grew up in Victoria and in my late teens got into heavy metal music, grew my hair long and got caught up in the lifestyle of it all – including bad things that probably wouldn’t allow me to continue living – but at the same time I was just enjoying myself, but I was also questioning, is this all there is to life?”
“Believe it or not, there was a Christian heavy metal brand called Striper. They were singing about God and faith and in listening to their words – it got me interested. That was the beginning of me looking for purpose and meaning, not just religion, not something to make me feel better – I was searching for the truth,” said Sandro.
At 19, Sandro came to the understanding that Christianity is not about religion - it’s about relationship with God, and by the age of 22 he decided to change his direction of life. Where he was once playing in bands and working in the disability sector – despite enjoying the contribution he was providing to the community, he made the change to ministry.
“Religion can mean so many things. It's about relationship with God, relationship with others, relationship with community and doing life - not just the stereotype of ‘religion’ to make you feel better, and that's when you start to realize what you're here for,” said Sandro.
Sandro met his wife, Susan during his youth. “I was in a band recording, and she was working in a recording studio, we started this search of purpose together before we were married,” he said.
Together they are now both a part of the Wonthaggi Baptist Church, with Sandro the new minister and Susan a part of the church community. “I still don’t play traditional Christian music; I like to play a little bit of old-style rock n’ roll.”
“The Wonthaggi Baptist Church is a beautiful, thriving church with a great community, and I’m not sure how we’re getting about 200 people in each Sunday, but we are heading in the direction to simply embrace people. I want to open the doors to the community to encourage them to live their best life, and to realize they are loved, and they are unique.”
