It's Monday Again

Good Monday afternoon. Four weeks from today is Christmas Day! This is a wonderful season of the year and I trust you and your family will make warm memories during this special celebration of our Christ’s birth.
Many of you know C.K. and Grace Chitty. Their daughter, Beth and her husband had a baby girl on Friday, November 24th – Kiera Elizabeth Green weighed in at 8 lbs. 1 oz. and all are doing well.
The Gathering is scheduled in Orlando January 2-5, 2007. Those of you planning to attend please note – there will be a reception for all Atlantic District personnel following the opening rally on Tuesday, January 2nd. The reception will begin at 9:00 PM and will be held in the Lemon Ballroom at the Wyndham Orlando Resort. Refreshments will be served and there will be a special gift for every minister in attendance. This reception is provided by our District in appreciation for the ministry impact of our pastoral team.
Speaking of Florida, our annual Atlantic District Snowbird Breakfast will be held on Wednesday, January 17th, 8:30 AM, in the Country Kitchen in Brooksville. Gloria and I look forward to greeting all of our Atlantic District snowbirds. This event is always a highlight of our annual trip to Florida.
Cottages for sale at Beulah:
• 6 Carmel Crescent. For further information, contact Lawrence and Carolyn Marshall at 506-433-4738 or 433-6545.
• 26 Colpitts Avenue (Uta Chase cottage). For further information, contact Ivan Graham at 506-432-4403.
I had an unusual opportunity this past week to conduct a leadership seminar for circa 40 managers/administrators of nursing homes in New Brunswick. This event was held at York Manor and I very much enjoyed the interaction with these leaders from the social sector.
Havelock, NB (Nick Graham) held a successful missions conference this past weekend with Dr. John Connor and Allan Stevens as special guests. The highlight of the weekend was a live video webcast with missionaries Elliott and Dena Innes who are presently in Costa Rica. They were able to have both audio and visual two-way communication with Elliott and Dena and to quote Nick, “it was really cool.” Faith promises from the weekend which are to be paid over the next five months exceed $5,000.00.
Alpha Specialties Atlantic Road Trip 2007 will be held in five Atlantic Canada cities in January. For further information, go to http://www.alphacanada.org/conferences
Sandford (Bill Moore) together with the Baptist church in the community hosted a Fishermen’s Service on November 22nd. The service featured a variety of music, a message from visiting pastor Rev. Scott MacDonald, and a fellowship time followed. An excellent community-focused event.
Wood’s Harbour (Steve Bean) voted recently to create an assistant pastor’s position. They are working toward the successful completion of some additional fundraising for this position and hope to see the position filled by the summer of ’07.
Moncton (L.D. Buckingham) has recently had a new Children’s Pastor come on staff – Jayme Hall has joined the staff in the last few weeks and we welcome him both to the Moncton church and the Atlantic District.
West Head (Perry Ingersoll) held a special Fishermen’s Service last evening with over 200 in attendance. This is more than double their regular attendance and is an excellent example of reaching out to the community.
Pastors – There will be a District Pastors’ Prayer & Fast Retreat at Beulah on February 27 & 28, 2007.
CCCC (Canadian Council of Christian Charities) will be holding very practical evening seminars in four locations in our District in the late spring. These evening seminars will be under the titles: Help, I’m A New Church Treasurer, and Essentials for Church Boards. These seminars will be held in Charlottetown, Fredericton, Halifax, and St. John’s. For more information, go to http://www.cccc.org/seminars
I was in Truro over the weekend to share in a mortgage burning service on Saturday evening and to install Pastor Ken Banks in the Sunday morning service. It was a very positive experience to share with the church in these milestone events.
THOT: A saint is someone whose life makes it easier to believe in God. – William Barclay