Monday Again

Three days plus travel were invested in Kingdom leadership this week with our General Superintendent, Dr. Wayne Schmidt, HQ Executive Cabinet, and nearly 30 District Superintendents at the annual DS Institute. The location for these meetings was at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando which is also the location for The Gathering 2019. It was an energizing and humbling week to interact with so many great leaders from across our denomination. A myriad of high order matters were on the agenda including several exercises regarding the measures of a movement in discipleship and multiplication. Significant numbers of districts are engaged in pilot explorations considering alliances and mergers to better reach the lost. An additional highlight honoured the retirement this summer of four long-standing District Superintendents (Randy Swink – Western Pennsylvania, Paul James – Northeast, Dan Berry – South Coastal, & Buddy Rampey – South Carolina) totalling 89 years of superintendence.

Deep Water (AJ Thomas) celebrated 10 baptisms yesterday as pictured here.
Matt Maxwell (Journey) celebrated three baptisms yesterday. Only two were scheduled and in response to the offer for spontaneous baptisms, several came forward and one was baptized. At least five more will step into the waters of baptism next Sunday – Praise God!
Moncton (Joel Gorveatte) celebrated seven baptisms including several who have experienced transformation through Celebrate Recovery and Teen Challenge. Yesterday’s service concluded with a commissioning prayer for a team of 13 headed to Haiti this week in ministry with a long-term partnership with Babaco in community development through the local Wesleyan Church.
Vince Robertson (Head of Millstream) will be candidating at West Head on February 11th.
Lower Brighton (Jacob Ebbett) returned from a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Jacob reports, “It is always amazing to be used by God. This year we were able to build roofs on two houses as well as give much needed supplies to people who are so appreciative. But the thing that spoke the most to me was how passionate for God the people are and how generous they are.”
Hephzibah Children’s Home has 118 years of history as part of The Wesleyan Church. This important announcementfrom the Chairman of the Board of Directors (Dan Berry) provides a detailed update on next steps for the transition of this ministry.
Many churches have expressed concern regarding the new requirements for Canada Summer Job application this year. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has been offering excellent leadership in coordinating the response of the church to this matter. The EFC has released this documentoutlining three strategies for dealing with the newly required attestation.
A short-term mission team to Costa Rica from Corbett Avenue (Troy McKnight) returned home yesterday. The team has spent the past week putting a roof on a church. The team also raised funds to help complete a church building up in the mountains.
In her first month as Executive Director of World Hope International – Canada, Rev. Tanya Nace reports, “I just wrapped up a great trip to see World Hope Canada’s work in Ukraine with this team. So blessed to see what God is doing, and honoured to be a part of His movement around the world!”
The Blazers Clubhouse (Benson Athletic Complex) at Kingswood University was open for business this week for the first time as a starry night shone down on Benson Pond!
Saturday morning, 50+ leaders from Deep Water (AJ Thomas) plus another half dozen from Metro Wesleyan attended Deep Water’s quarterly Leadership Lab. FJM of Divine Renovation shared about creating a culture of leadership, and AJ Plazier (Yarmouth) shared about time management for leaders.