Monday Again

I was pleased on Friday to be present and honoured to take part in the dedication of the new Benson Athletic Complex at Kingswood. It was a special privilege to have Pete and Ginnie’s three children and his business partner from Nashville, TN present as well as other members of the extended Benson family.

While Pete was in the area, he agreed to teach an extended session on The Pastor’s Personal Finances. He was onsite with several ministers at  Kingswood and the presentation was live streamed to zone meetings in Yarmouth and Easton. It was also picked up in Newfoundland and other locations on our district. Very helpful content and our first-ever district training opportunity that was live streamed. Excellent day overall.

• The 2016 Atlantic District Journal is now posted on our website. Thanks Troy / eh design for a job well done.
• Mrs. Evelyn Ingersoll, widow of Rev. Scott Ingersoll, passed away yesterday. Funeral arrangements will be announced later.
• Last Sunday, the congregation at Houlton voted 76% to approve a building program in principle and to authorize the engaging of an architect for the project. When completed, this will bring some much-needed improvements to the Houlton facility.
• On Wednesday of last week, Peter and I enjoyed being in on a webinar hosted by Wesleyan Investment Foundation with special guest George Barna.
• Michael and Ashley Zottarelli welcomed their first child Brett Roger who was born on the 18th. Mother and baby are well – congrats. Mike is a staff pastor at Dartmouth Hillside.
• Eight people made a commitment to Christ at Fredericton Journey yesterday.
• I jumped the gun last week by stating that Fredericton Crosspoint began holding services at their Crosspoint South extension location – they actually started this past Saturday night. They had 140+ in attendance, 575 for the weekend and one conversion.
• The Kingswood board met last week and among the items covered were energizing discussions concerning future campus development. We were also introduced to the new VP for Development Allen Price. We also welcomed Patrick Styers, the Florida DS as a new board member.
• Truro Connection held a baptism yesterday and on Saturday hosted an an appreciation dinner for their pastor and family.
• The Caton’s Session of the Camp Board met in Fredericton last week. The reports revealed a record year for Caton’s at virtually all levels.
• I enjoyed sharing a class on Wesleyan Discipline with an eager group of Kingswood students on Thursday.  Thanks to Prof Mike Tapper for the invite.
• Peter was at Fredericton Corbett yesterday to install Troy McKnight – welcome home!

I arrived in Edmonton on Saturday night and will be in Alberta until Wednesday and then two days in Ontario for the World Hope Canada board meeting. The picture above is Pastor Phillip Telfer, wife Kyla and brand new baby Eli. Pastor Telfer is the pastor of the Edmonton Norwood Church where I was present yesterday morning.The Alberta trip is to visit with some of our churches and pastors and to better understand the ministry here as the Canadian Conference takes shape. Thanks to Laurence Croswell for making arrangements for this trip and for serving as a gracious host.
THOT: “A leader’s two functions are to create conflict and resolve conflict.” – George Barna
ON SECOND THOT: “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” – Margaret Thatcher