Following his calling

Bri Brasher
NLJ Reporter
 
Trusting in God’s plan, Newcastle native Scott Wiggins accepted a new opportunity set in his path. Wiggins is now pastor of the Cascade Road Baptist Church in Hot Springs, S.D., though he will remain a Newcastle resident for the foreseeable future. 
“I’m honored just to be called by this church to serve them and serve the kingdom,” said Wiggins. “It really comes down to servitude, just loving and serving the community.”
Since officially accepting the pastoral position on Jan. 6, Wiggins said he has been adjusting to his new schedule, spending four days a week in Hot Springs. Wiggins said that he preaches Sundays and teaches adult Bible study primarily on Wednesdays. He said he will continue to make himself available and get out into the Hot Springs community during the rest of his time away from Newcastle. 
“It’s not just pulpit work; it’s ministry to the whole community and congregation,” Wiggins said, hoping to spread the word that he is the new pastor at Cascade Road Baptist Church. 
Wiggins attributes his new position to his family and the people of Newcastle, noting that the hands-on training he received from people in his hometown had a big influence on his path and how he ended up in his current position. Wiggins said many people in Newcastle encouraged him to go to school and got behind him with encouragement to follow the path that Wiggins said God provided. Wiggins added that his wife, Susan, has also been a very important part of his ministry.
“It isn’t just me. Me and Susan, we’re a ministry team, so we’ve been both called into that ministry,” Wiggins said. “It’s a blessing to have her right beside me,” he later added. 
Wiggins said that while he is now predominantly serving the Hot Springs community, he will always be available to anybody in Newcastle who wants to visit, and to the local churches. His history in Newcastle runs deep, especially with his home church, First Baptist, where he served as a deacon for almost 12 years and taught Sunday school for many years. According to Wiggins,  he’d been preaching in three churches in Newcastle when needed, sometimes for multiple churches in one day. He and Susan have also been going to Hot Springs for about a year and a half to preach, so they are now fairly familiar with their new congregation.
“My role is to love them (his congregation), and my goal is to point them toward Christ, and then get out of the way and let him do his work,” explained Wiggins, who said he hopes to teach people about God, especially about who God is.
As the first graduate of John Witherspoon College in Rapid City, South Dakota, Wiggins earned degrees in both Christian ministry and Christian leadership. Wiggins comes to his new role not only with experience preaching in Newcastle but also with practice and knowledge gathered from preaching around the United States, Mexico, and the Philippines. Wiggins said he is a firm believer that if God changed him, God can change anyone. 
In his youth, Wiggins said he rebelled often, and like many, he came out of a crisis and found his place with God. When folks hear he is now a pastor, Wiggins said, the news is often met with comments like “Scott Wiggins, really? Are you sure you’ve got the same guy?” Wiggins said his path to Christ was a calling — one moment he was broken and in a bad spot — and then he gave his life to Christ and everything changed. According to Wiggins, he is a new person, fulfilling God’s calling to love the ministry and point people to Christ. Wiggins said it’s “nice to see that the spiritual community was behind his move.”
“Our door is open to everybody. Churches require one thing of everybody, and I don’t care who you are, you must be a sinner,” Wiggins said. “Yes, we’re working to expand the congregation, but again that’s in God’s power, he’ll make that happen.”
With God and family in his corner, including three children and a granddaughter, Wiggins said, he is following the opportunities put in his path. He stressed a need for Christian leaders everywhere. He believes, he said, that “the church needs to be unified because we’re all one family” — a family that needs to work together no matter where God placed you.