Office Makeover

If you've been to the church office lately, you already know that my office has been wonderfully transformed--a HUGE THANK YOU to Val and Marcia!

The old fluourescent lights and orange carpet are gone, replaced by new potlights and an updated berber.  The old blinds have been replaced with new ones that can be adjusted for both light and privacy.  The stark white paint is now a cool and calming blue. There is a new clock and many other finishing touches, plus new office chairs are coming any day now.  Marcia and Val have done an amazing job, and did all the work while I was away too!   My newly done office looks bigger and more inviting, and is just one more reason that I'm glad I'm staying home for the next while :-)    If you haven't seen it yet, please stop by and say hello. . . .  

Jun 28, 2009 at 6:59 PM

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The Blogging Church

Other Emmanuel folks are blogging too (with pictures!), so you might want to check out:

Tim, Charlotte, and Myra Froese http://froesen.blogspot.com/
Jeff, Carissa, Isaac, Seneca Boynton http://kusa-joy.blogspot.com/
 

If anyone else in the church would like their blog listed, please feel free to add a comment :-)

Jun 26, 2009 at 11:37 AM

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Hello from Idaho

It's been a wonderfully rich time at the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference here in Nampa, Idaho. Besides my speaking, it's been a great time of (re-)connecting with others.

The worship leader is Amy Epp, who is now a pastor in Seattle--I spoke at her graduation from Canadian Mennonite University 11 years ago!  The song leader is Russell Adrian, music teacher and choir director at Western Mennonite School--we've hosted him and his choir on tour before.  One couple had two daughters as students at Columbia Bible College 20 years ago, and Gary remembered them both and their names!  This is just a very small sample of some of the people that we've been meeting here.

I've noticed both similarities and differences with our Canadian experience:

- PNMC does very well at recognizing and appreciating their pastors and leaders, and it's wonderful to see some of the young leaders like Amy and Russell involved in significant roles.  We've had a lot of talk north of the border in MCBC and in our own congregation about young adults and the church--I think it's important to have young adults involved in the centre of church life which PNMC seems to do well.

- worship here has been very simple--just a white tablecloth and a lit candle at the front of the worship space, no banners or cross or any other visuals; Russell leads the singing along with a guitarist and sometimes plays piano or has some percussion or has other singers join him, but there's no band; Scripture is simply read - not re-written as a drama or presented by memory, but read so the words speak powerfully 

- PNMC is going through some of the same re-structuring and issues--phasing out the conference minister role in favour of an executive minister and several district pastors similar to what we've done in MCBC (although we don't use the same titles) and working through how to talk together in the church about difficult/contentious issues

Well that's all for now--it's time for breakfast!

Jun 20, 2009 at 6:40 AM

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PNMC - more alphabet soup!

Just over a year ago, I received an email from Duncan Smith, who had studied at the Mennonite seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, when Gary was a student there, served for some years as a pastor, and was most recently serving as conference minister for the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference (PNMC to those in the know, which I certainly wasn't when I first received his email!).

The reason for Duncan's email after all these years was to invite me to serve as guest speaker for PNMC's annual meeting in 2009.  Since planning had not yet begun, I could have some input on the theme.  It would be a chance to serve the wider church and strengthen relations north-south between Mennonite Church BC and our neighbours across the border. I'd have the opportunity to see Nampa, Idaho (which I'd never even heard of before!) where the meetings would be held.  And besides it's easy to say yes when an event is still over a year away!

I've already enjoyed my involvement with PNMC even though I don't leave for the meetings till next week--it's been an education and a real treat to be in touch with Duncan, Craig, Dave, Brad, Jennifer, Kathy, Lynn, Amy, Sue, Sheldon, as the theme and conference planning has unfolded.  (Just the sheer number of people involved and the many emails back and forth have been eye-opening!)

In the end, there was concensus around the theme: "Sent Out and Drawn in by Jesus" with a focus on Jesus sending his disciples in Luke 10:1-12.    I'll be preaching three times:  Sent Out and Drawn in Together; Sent Out and Drawn in Through Prayer; Sent Out and Drawn in to Proclaim the Kingdom.  I've also been invited to lead a workshop on unnamed women in the Bible based on my earlier book Remember Lot's Wife and Other Unnamed Women of the Bible (which seems kind of dated to me now, but I'll try to make it fresh and interesting), and also share my story of calling to ministry at a Pastor-Spouse dinner.  Whew!  It will be a very full time, but fun too!

Jun 12, 2009 at 3:27 PM

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Where are they now?

One of the many wonderful things about taking part in the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly is the chance to connect with people across the country--some I'd never met before, others I see only on occasion. This time in Saskatoon (June 4-7), I was able to connect with a number of our previous pastoral interns.

- Johanne Beattie, who just finished her internship at Emmanuel, is now living in Saskatoon with her husband Josh - I saw them the day I lost my voice (which is a whole other story!), so I could only whisper (!) but I was glad to have some hot tea with them in their new apartment, to hear about Johanne's second internship at her home church (which includes leading some of the youth on an inner-city missions trip) plus working at Starbucks while Josh is working in construction--they say hi to everyone at Emmanuel!

- Alissa Bender continues as an associate pastor in Calgary and has recently been licenced toward ordination.  This summer she will lead a group of 14 youth and adults to the Mennonite World Conference in Paraguay.

- I had lunch with Terry Lesser who is now an associate pastor and the proud father of a not-qute-two-year-old daughter

- Jonathan Neufeld is a community pastor at Seattle Mennonite Church and works for the seminary on a quarter-time basis

- Other former interns not at the Assembly:  one of my discussion table mates was Gerald Gerbrandt, who said that his daughter Virginia has just completed a year of studies at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) and is now doing some learning and service in Chicago; Tim Froese from our congregation also continues his studies at AMBS; Dierdre Reimer works with youth in Vancouver; unfortunately though, I've lost touch with James Bartsch and Shirley Joiner, so if anyone knows where they are now, please let me know!

I always enjoy working with interns--to be energized by their gifts and new ideas, and to help grow them as leaders in the church. I'm thankful that this has been a very significant part of my ministry over the years and look forward to more in the future.  Thank you, Emmanuel, for your support and the influence you have on the wider church in this way.

Jun 11, 2009 at 8:06 AM

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"Summer" Vacation

My summer vacation came early this year, since my Dearly Beloved was scheduled to present a paper in Ottawa at the Humanities Congress (bravo Gary!) and I had planned to take some time off to travel with him.

Unfortunately though, since Gary was only one of the 8000 expected participants, they couldn't plan the Congress around our church calendar, so I was sorry to miss our Squeah weekend and the joint MCBC worship time, but here's what I've been up to over the last couple of weeks: 

- enjoying spring in Ottawa with lilacs blooming everywhere--on Parliament Hill, in China town, in the front lawns of houses, along the side of the road

- riding Ottawa's award-winning Transpo system to get around town

- touring the Parliament buildings, the Royal Mint, the Museum of Civilization, Gatineau Park (lots of mosquitos!), the McKenzie King Estate

- visiting with an aunt and uncle (on Gary's Mom's side of the family) who took us on a long drive to see the Prime Minister's residence, the governor general's residence, the Japanese embassy, and other sights

- reminiscing with a cousin and his wife (on Gary's Dad's side of the family) and being treated to an authentic Japanese dinner

- window shopping at Rideau Centre and Byward Market (kind of like Granville Island only not on an island) and walking along Sparks Street, said to be Canada's first pedestrian mall

- worshipping at Ottawa Mennonite Church where we celebrated 2 baptisms plus 8 other people joining the church as members

- taking the train to Montreal, enjoying the view of the countryside, and being lulled to sleep 

- walking through Old Montreal in the rain and then eating crepes at Suzette's..."La Rougemont" is filled with apples and cinnamon and served with ice cream--perfect for sharing!

- touring Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal which seats 3200 in its pews, but was first built without pews to fit 11,000 standing (and at that time people actually did stand for the entire mass!)

There's lots more of course--and yes, Gary did present his paper and was fully engaged in the Congress, but you'll have to ask him about that part and I'd better stop now!

Jun 3, 2009 at 6:21 PM

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