Blog
Interior Decorating (August 5, 2008)
Rod and some of the youth have painted his office and
Pastoral Ministry: Milking Stool or Tripod? (July 26, 2008)
I’ve already written up a brief report on the Assembly and Summit that will appear in the next church newsletter (Connecting. . . should be available Sunday, August 3), but one of the things I didn’t include in the newsletter was the very helpful session on “Congregations: Good Soil for Thriving Pastors.” This was led by recently “retired" pastor Gary Harder, who is now doing an interim pastoral assignment along with his wife, Lydia. Three questions provided focus for this session: 1. What does fertile soil for nurturing pastors look like? 2. What would impact children and young people to see pastoral vocation positively? 3. What does a healthy relationship between congregation and pastor look like? . . . for more on pastoral ministry as milking stool or tripod, please continue
Hello from Winnipeg (July 10, 2008)
The last few days have been very full, first with the Mennonite Church Canada Delegate Assembly and then being joined by Mennonite Church USA for the Summit. For the latest information on both, including an audio of my sermon last night at the Summit, please see http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/events/summit08/
Words of Comfort by St. Francis de Sales (June 27, 2008)
This week, someone shared with me a few lines of comfort written by the Catholic bishop, St. Francis de Sales, 1567-1622. I was so struck by the wording that I did a bit of research and found the entire reading: "Be At Peace" Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life; Rather look to them with full hope that as they arise, God, whose very own you are, will lead you safely through all things; And when you cannot stand it, God will carry you in His arms.
Vietnamese Worship (June 22, 2008)
Pastor Nhien Pham reports that our Vietnamese Ministry has held two worship times so far with 15-20 people each time! Some came from the Vancouver Vietnamese Mennonite Church, some are new contacts he's made in Abbotsford.
After-Dinner Humour (June 18, 2008)
Last Sunday morning, I shared the after-dinner humour from my banquet presentation, and it's posted here by request: Not long after I began pastoring at Emmanuel, someone gave me this bit of humour about job descriptions for different church staff members.
An Interfaith Experience (June 14, 2008)
Last Saturday, Gary’s grandmother passed away at the age of 99 years old, so we drove up to Salmon Arm for her funeral on Thursday. The service was held in the chapel of the local funeral home, with tea in the hall next door, and a graveside service at the very peaceful Mt. Ida cemetery. The chapel service was led by an old family friend along with the Buddhist priest from Kelowna where Grammy spent the last years of her life. You might question the presence of a Mennonite pastor at a Buddhist funeral—I have some questions about that myself—and yet
Exploring God's Call to Ministry - to be continued! (June 8, 2008)
I was planning to speak on Galatians 1:1-12 next Sunday - how the Galatian Christians were in danger of turning to "a different gospel" so the letter begins by calling them back to Christ, to the gospel of "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." In perhaps similar ways and maybe moreso during the summer months, we also have a tendency to go in many different directions, and we also need to be called back to Christ. That's the message I planned to highlight next week as we go into the summer months. But as you'll see from the calendar of events, I've been convicted to do something different next Sunday after all....
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Exploring God's Call to Ministry.... (June 7, 2008)
Each year, Conrad Grebel University College holds a fundraising banquet for the Ralph and Eileen Lebold Endowment for Leadership Training. Earlier this week, I was very privileged to be their guest speaker on the topic of “call,” and to do some work also with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC). Monday-Wednesday were very full with both formal and informal conversations all centred on “exploring God’s call to ministry”—how are people called into ministry, how do we nurture that call in our congregations, educational settings, and denomination? I had been invited to share with them out of my own experience of God’s call, some of the research and writing I’ve been doing, and working with our own church staff as well as eight pastoral interns over the years. I hoped to contribute to the work they were already doing, and I also learned a lot! Here’s what the first part of my week looked like
SOCK Rocks! (June 1, 2008)
Thanks to our middle schoolers for leading us in worship this morning....as I mentioned to a few of them, it was my turn to sit up in the balcony for a change! I enjoyed the different perspective, and most of all felt in awe over how God led through our junior youth group. A huge THANK YOU to all who participated up front and behind the scenes! I was also very thankful this past week to meet with some of our mid-twenties to early thirties people in the church
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