It’s Monday Again

He is risen – He is risen, indeed! Another historic Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday was celebrated across the Atlantic District this weekend. Too many highlights were reported to  mention them all, but here are a few to inspire your week of Kingdom influence.

Tim Long (Live Well) has been making significant inroads into the communities on the Digby Neck. Last year the impact of Easter Weekend through this restart congregation reached 25 people. Tim reported, “On Good Friday evening we gathered with two other denominations in a small group to pray at the hall for God to change lives over the weekend…and He did!” This year, Live Well held an outreach service this year at the hall in Tiverton and they called it Easter at the Hall. 100 people showed up to this free meal and a service. Teens from the youth group served the ham & turkey dinners with desserts followed by an Easter Egg hunt upstairs for all the kids. Total attendance for this Easter Weekend was 121.

Best of all, 6 people raised their hands to the invitation to open the door to a relationship with Jesus and 3 others did the same in response to re-dedicate their lives to Christ! One elderly lady shed tears of delight as her grown up son accepted Jesus.

The baton of leadership was gracefully passed as Dave McElhinney concluded his final Sunday Service as Lead Pastor of River Valley by offering a prayer of blessing over Shawna Rogers for this new chapter of spiritual impact. It was an honour for our family to worship on this Easter under the ministry of this man of God concluding 30+ years with the church he was called to plant.

The Reach Wesleyan (Andy Phillips) was officially launched this Resurrection Weekend in conclusion to a half-year merger process. This included a Good Friday service (42) at the Island Campus and Sunrise Service with breakfast (33) at the Main St. Campus. While the long-term home will be on Beals Island, due to initial renovation needs, the first our Easter celebration was held on the mainland with 74 in attendance (including readings by the kids, a teen stick drama, and a choir special). Jesus is alive on both sides of the Moosabec Reach!

SAVE THE DATE: Beulah Camp Caretaker Bruce Cheney is pleased to announce the annual workday is scheduled for May 18th with May 25th as a rain date. We will have lots to do so please mark your calendar and plan to help us again this year. Last year we had over 100 volunteers and we had a fun and productive day. A great meal will be served at noon. Hope to see you on workday!

This Easter saw 106 at Blacks Harbour (John Symonds) with 5 hands raised by people declaring they have decided to follow Jesus!

Nackawic (Ryan Farrell) had 65 for their Easter service and had 46 for the Good Friday service. The service yesterday included two child dedications. Three new members were received last month.

Framework (Bud Fancy) celebrated 24 baptisms this weekend (1038 in attendance), ten of which were spontaneous with one person accepting Christ and getting baptized in the same service!

Journey (Matt Maxwell) had 235 for Good Friday and 481 for Easter Sunday. The day started out with a breakfast buffet with approximately 250 participating and the service included 4 baptisms. A long-time attender was overheard to say, “I’ve never seen so many people here that I don’t know!”

Amherst (Evan Oxner) held its Good Friday Service in the evening this year (vs. the morning). Previous years had seen between 50-70 in attendance but this year doubled with 118 including four baptism and one person who accepted Christ! Yesterday morning there were 166 present to celebrate our Risen Saviour with five more who accepted Christ.

Port Maitland (Barry Vernon) had its first Easter Eggstravaganza with a pancake breakfast, an Easter Egg Hunt and Carnival games. They had 10 new families come and join the fun and everyone had a great time. Good Friday saw a combined service (pictured above) of more than 600 with Evangel Assembly, Yarmouth, & Brazil Lake.

Connection (Ken Banks) had 75 at Good Friday with 133 people out for Easter which included a baby dedication and an adult baptism, topped off with two children praying to receive Jesus in kids church!

CenterPoint (Glen McVicar) is making a difference for the students of their community. On Tuesday their mid-week children’s program reached a goal of 40 which resulted in the leader getting a pie in face. And then this Good Friday there were 53 children who attended the Easter Eggstravaganza outreach. In addition, someone connected with the church has offered to provide 8 full scholarships for those students wishing to attend One Conference.

Deep Water (AJ Thomas) continues to experience its best days. Approximately two doen people put their faith in Christ over the Easter Services yesterday. Several hundred more committed to share their faith in the next seven weeks. And it was the first Sunday to break the 700 barrier with 772 in attendance. Amazing testimonies of life transformation are unfolding.

Mike Agrell (Maple Ridge) shared good news from Easter Week, “We had two services for the second year in a row with 83 at the first and 131 at the second (214 total). The highlight was celebrating 3 baptisms. Last weekend the church led an egg hunt service project at the elementary school with 250+ in attendance.”

ANNUAL SERVICE REPORT (ASR)

All credentialed ministers should have received an email invitation from Headquarters (not District Office) explaining an improved process for the completion of your Annual Service Report (ASR). The first email was to create an account for the new Pastor Portal. A second email was sent with instructions for the completion of your ASR. If you have not received both emails, please check your junk and spam folders. To insure you receive instructions for this new process, please email districtreports@wesleyan.org with your name, district and preferred email address, with a CC to office@atlanticdistrict.com. Here is copy of the FIRST email you should have received (with a private username and password):

“As you may have heard, The Wesleyan Church is updating our reporting systems, including the ability to complete your Annual Service Report (ASR) from a mobile device.

In transitioning to this new system, a new account must be created for your personal profile. You will use this account to complete your 2019 ASR. This account information is only for the new portal system — It does not affect the account information used for the old portal. As we continue to develop, add features and transition to the new portal, we will be migrating to a single username and password.

This email only includes your new account information. It will NOT take you to the new ASR form. You will be receiving a second email with “2019 Annual Service Report” in the subject line that will include a link sending you directly to the ASR form.

If you have questions, please contact your District Office administrator, Karrilee Bremner, via phone (506-383-8326) or email (karrilee@atlanticdistrict.com).

Instructions:

• Click the “Set Up Account” button below.
• Log in using your username and temporary password.
• You will be prompted to change your password and setup password reset information.
• Follow the instructions for resetting your password. A PDF guide is available here.”

Votes/Reviews/Transitions

• Corbett Avenue (Jason Vienneau) will welcome Aaron & Megan (Roman) Hopkins to join the pastoral team as Assistant Pastor at the usual time of transition this summer. Aaron will be transferring from the Central Canada District where he has been on staff at Southgate(Ben Last). Welcome Aaron & Megan to the Atlantic District!
• Peter & Cathy Hayes interviewed this week as next Lead Pastor with the LBA of Solid Rock, Mount Pearl, NL. They will be in Newfoundland for a candidating weekend on May 19th.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 116:15). Ellen joins me in expressing sincere condolences on behalf of the Atlantic District to Revs. Darren & Janel Clark for the passing early this Easter Sunday of his mother, Dianne. Her full obituary with opportunity to offer online condolences is posted by Fundy Funeral Home. A Memorial Service will be held in celebration of her life this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at River Valley Wesleyan Church.

THOTS:

• You cannot have God as your Father unless you have the Church as your mother. (Cyprian of Carthage)
• Get a life – a resurrected life! His incomparably great power for us who believe gives permission to dream big. Lord let us walk in resurrection power. (Dave McElhinney)

Attention all parents, teens, and youth leaders/pastors! One Conference is back again this year May 31 – June 1. This is a great opportunity for students to go deeper in their faith and meet other youth from across the Maritimes.

It was Forty Days after the resurrection that Jesus spelled out his mission for the church, go into all the world making disciples. This year on June 2nd the churches of the Atlantic District are being asked to respond to that mission with a special offering.

Amplify Leaders is an initiative of Global Partners to train pastors worldwide. On average, we can train a national leader for $ 2,400.00 over a three-year period. $800.00 a year. Each Atlantic District Church is invited to receive a special offering on June 2nd specifically to train & empower pastors in the majority world to fulfill the Great Commission.

For more information or promotional material contact our District Director of Global Partners Denn Guptill (denn@cornerstonehfx.ca).

Caton’s Island Director Dean Stephenson reports that summer camper registrations are already up over this time last year – don’t delay getting the word out to your students and parents/grandparents to make sure they can attend their preferred camp!

Riverside Camp Dates & Registration info is now available – Matt Maxwell (Journey) is the Evangelist for Family Camp (July 28-31).

A Word from Caton’s Island Overseer – Brian Murray!
A call to carpenters and those handy with tools! Caton’s Island has become a shining light on our district. Throughout the years, hundreds of young people have received Christ as their Saviour and have continued on to become great leaders of this ministry.

Caton’s Island is now preparing to embark on its largest and most ambitious project; to extend the present kitchen and dining room to seat 400 people and to make a fully equipped restaurant quality kitchen. The Choate Dining Hall Expansion begins this spring.

We ask our pastors to present this project to the congregation and to set up teams that will coordinate with Brian Murray who is overseeing this effort. Formal plans for all required equipment, electrical, plumbing, and other materials are near completion and we have presently raised $170K+ towards the total cost of $220K for Phase ONE which will be completed this summer. We do not wish to go into debt for this project, therefore we shall build in phases beginning with the structure this year. Then trusting those who see the great potential of Caton’s – to pray and donate time, expertise and finances. We have presently hired on-site manager and he will be developing and planning the work schedule along with Brian as project manager and Caton’s Overseer.

Pastors, if you would, please share this good news with your church family! Send your people and their questions for how to get involved to Brian Murray (spencerbrian@xplornet.com, 506.375.4330).