It's Monday Again

Good morning on a beautiful “almost spring” Monday morning. 
Pastoral News:
• Saint John First – Gave a 4-year recall to Pastor Eric Hallett and he has accepted.
• Halifax-Metro – Gave an extended call to Pastor Dean Brown and he has accepted. 
• Houlton – The extended call of Pastor Wayne Robertson was unanimously renewed.
• Norton – Randy Forbes will candidate there this coming Sunday, March 18th.
• Dartmouth-Hillside – Jay Guptill has accepted their pastoral call.
• Yarmouth – A.J. Plaizier has accepted a staff position as Pastor of Community.
• Bristol-Trinity – Mike Agrell will be candidating there on April 1st for the vacant staff position.
• Hampton-Island – Will interview two pastoral candidates this week and select one that will be invited to come as an official candidate.
• As mentioned last week – On this coming Sunday, Tim Guptill will candidate at Fredericton-Olivet and Peter Hayes at Havelock, NS.
Sunday, March 25th, is being set aside as a Day of Prayer for Church Planting here on our District.  Dean Brown, our E&CG guy, joins me in requesting that church planting be included as a prayer focus on Sunday, March 25th.
District Men’s Convention – May 4th & 5th at Quispamsis-King’s Valley.  Posters and other information have been or will soon be received by all the churches. 
The Canadian Council of Christian Charities (CCCC) will be holding seminars later this spring in Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax, and St. John’s (NL) on the topics:  Help, I’m A New Church Treasurer, and Essentials for Church Boards.  For more info or to register, go to www.cccc.org/seminars 
We recently received information that three Bethany students from our district were recognized for achieving perfect chapel attendance for the fall semester of ’06.  These three students are:  Christy Zbylut and Chris Lavaway, both from Presque Isle, and Darrek Thornton from Woodstock.  Congratulations to these three for this evidence of committed behavior. 
Pastor Rick Kavanaugh from Presque Isle has recently developed a website that features audio sermons that can be podcasted along with written articles and many other features.  All of these resources are free.  You may want to check it out with the address that will follow.  I visited the site.  Good resources!  Please note this address goes in a Google address window not the search window and “www” does not appear in the address.    web.mac.com/pastorrick1 
The RCMP in New Brunswick is requesting help from clergy willing to assist them with death notification of soldiers in Afghanistan.  If called upon to do so, the minister would meet an officer at a specified location and accompany the officer who would inform the family members.  The minister would then stay with the family until their own pastor or other family support was contacted and able to be present.  Karl Ingersoll is coordinating this on our behalf and if you live in NB and are interested in being available, please contact Karl directly at  kinger@nbnet.nb.ca
Four-bedroom, year-round home for sale at Beulah.  Contact Dave or Pearl Flanagan for full details at  506-384-4509.
This past week for me included a significant meeting at Beulah this past Monday with our MLA and Local Service District personnel; LBA meetings at Hampton-Island and Houlton; and opportunities for consultation contact with a number of pastoral families.  Yesterday, I was at Miramichi (Gary Churchill) for the Sunday morning service where I was privileged to extend the right hand of fellowship to 19 new members.  Last evening, I spoke in the service at Houlton and met with their LBA for the renewal of Pastor Wayne Robertson’s extended call.
I will be out of the office the remainder of this week for meetings in Indianapolis of the Executive Committee of the General Board and in Washington, DC for a meeting of the World Hope International Board.  I may be contacted by email or cell phone throughout the week.
THOT:  “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, I used everything you gave me.” – Erma Bombeck