It’s Monday Again

Yesterday evening Saint John First (Graham Perry) held their annual Fall Fest with more than 600 people from the community enjoying this effective connection onramp. The Revs. Perry & Perry (pictured on the right) shared it was, “A great group of volunteers loving on our community!”

Easton (Tony Stevens) printed the above announcement in their bulletin yesterday morning celebrating the connection their Saturday Trunk or Treat had with 135 kids in the community. And then to top it off, a special announcement was made yesterday morning awarding two of these kids with a fully-paid registration to Riverside Kids Camp next summer – a great idea!

The next DS Zone Dialog was held at Nackawic (Ryan Farrell) this week. These zone gatherings provide an in-depth overview of the four phases of the 2025 Horizon Storyline, our values-driven vision launched at District Conference. Attendance is optional – hope to see you at our final dialog this Tuesday. I am deeply passionate about unleashing Kingdom force for unprecedented spiritual invasion into and out of the Atlantic Region! #contextualeffectiveness

Final Zone Logistics.

*The KU Zone Dialog will begin at 11:00 a.m. and all those attending are encouraged to come for Chapel @ 9:30 a.m. (This will push the end time to 3:00 p.m.).

Shaun & Shelley MacKenzie (Deep Water) (pictured in the middle above) gave their testimony this week at the opening session of a new Celebrate Recovery chapter on the South Shore of Nova Scotia with 44 participants in attendance – PTL!

World Hope International (Canada) Board of Directors convened in Ottawa on Thursday and Friday. Executive Director Tanya Nace shared inspiring reports of impact and partnership and welcomed four new board members. Central Canada District Superintendent, Dr.Eric Hallett, is the new Board Chair. Reports included the video interview above with Ukraine Director Sergei who shared stories of transformation through Hope Houses One & Two as well as First Steps Center. These are exciting days of Kingdom impact through World Hope under Tanya’s tireless leadership.

Hillside (Jay Guptill) hosted a Saturday evening update on the work of WHI (Canada) in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. Deborah Guptill (Cornerstone) and Jimmie Penney (Hillside) shared their stories about being some of the first on the ground to provide fresh water, the complete devastation in the Bahamas, and the hope that people can have coming out of such a devastating experience. Their role was to provide water as clean drinking water, or even safe gray water for bathing was hard to come by. World Hope worked with many international partners. With limited resources and many people evacuated, the work was hard but critical. For those who want to give to World Hope’s “Hope Fund” go to https://www.worldhope.org/give/ or if you want to help with the reconstruction and the years of work ahead: https://www.worldhope.org/get-involved/bahamas-voluteers/.

They are just two of dozens of individuals who were trained to run the Katadyn desalination unit last summer during the World Hope Canada Fresh Water Production training. To date more than 30 Canadians have traveled to serve this need. Click here to see an update on World Hope’s response to Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.

Aaron Reimer (Island) recently returned from serving as well. This CBC news article features the impact of the ministry he and others have been able to provide for those in need. To give in support of this ongoing effort through World Hope Canada click HERE.

Transitions:

• At a town hall meeting yesterday following the service at Easton, it was announced this will be the final year of ministry for Tony & Teena Stevens. They will continue to serve the remainder of this church year as the church explores next steps.
• Yesterday morning at Encounter (Jim Agrell) the resignation of Assistant Pastor Rose Degenhardt was announced.

Points to Ponder:

• One day Paul was killing Christians, the next day he was a Christian. One day Peter was a fisherman, the next day he was a fisher of men. Don’t judge someone based on that one day. If God can create the whole world in six days, He can surely create a new heart in one. (Steve Wingfield)
• Have you ever noticed how much of Christ’s life was spent in doing kind things? (Henry Drummond)
• The first question which the Priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Registration is now open for the 2019 BLI Believability Tour on November 9th in Moncton! This one-day annual event is a proven Kingdom resource for lay leaders and pastors. This link for the official e-promo provides full details. Carey Nieuwhof will offer the keynote presentation with an impressive line-up of Kingdom influencers who will share best practices and principles for contextual effectiveness. So grateful for the many ways Kingswood University and the Buckingham Leadership Institute invest in raising leaders.

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Full details for how your church can take advantage of this National Church initiative can be accessed online HERE. This will be an excellent addition to local discipleship efforts as one of the greatest predictors of spiritual growth is spending time in His Word.