Under Sail

Pastoral Placements:
Brazil Lake – Amy Corey    Perth-Andover – Reg Thomas   
Nine churches that were in transition have settled on their next pastor, and another six churches are still in various stages of search and negotiation.  Jay LaScolea, currently Adult Ministries Pastor at Victory Highway Wesleyan Church, is candidating at Bangor – Pathway this weekend. 
Beulah Camp is fast approaching.  The dates are July 3-12, and the evangelists this year are Dr. Jim Lo, currently Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Spiritual Formation at Indiana Wesleyan University.  He is a sought-after speaker at missions conventions, youth camps, revivals, and family camps.  Rev. Steve Wingfield is an ordained minister in The Wesleyan Church. He serves as CEO and Evangelist of the Steve Wingfield Evangelistic Association.  He has conducted over 100 city-wide crusades and festivals in the United States during his 20 years of evangelistic ministry.  Since 1988, his international ministry has extended to over 30 countries.  He is a passionate evangelist, hard-working humanitarian, and an accomplished author.  Rev. Don and Janet Ingersoll serve at Moncton Wesleyan Church where Don is the Associate Pastor.  Their many responsibilities include the leadership of special events like the Living Christmas Tree which annually ministers to over 10,000 people. The Ingersolls have previously pastored at Kings Valley Wesleyan Church, served on the staff of Bethany Bible College, and helped to establish the Atlantic District Camping ministry at Caton’s Island. They are known for the high quality of their music. They are not strangers to the music ministry at Beulah Camp, and will be responsible for leading worship in this year’s camp meeting. 
Beulah Announcements: Any announcements, mission presentations or events that will be needing media projection at Beulah Camp 2009 should be forwarded to Joel Wydysh no later than Wednesday, July 1st, 2009.  All announcements will be approved by the D.S. before they can be in the loop of announcements.  Please include the dates that you would like your announcement displayed, a copy of the text in the body of the email, and your contact information.  If sending by email to Joel, please do not send large attachments – he doesn’t have high speed yet.  If you have formatting or technical questions – please contact Joel at joelw@rogers.com
Bethany Bible College invites all clergy and spouses to attend the “Beulah Pastor and Spouse Luncheon” on Friday, July 3rd.  The luncheon will begin at 12:30 PM and will be held at the Beulah Hotel.  Please RSVP to advance@bbc.ca or by calling (506) 432-4400.
Caton’s Start-up:  Dean Stephenson, Caton’s Director, will be opening up Caton’s Island starting May 11th.  This includes putting docks and boats in the water, getting the power on, opening up and cleaning 21 buildings, starting up the water system, along with a host of other details necessary to begin operations.  The first group is the New Brunswick Camping Association Camp Counselor Workshop to be held May 22nd.   They are expecting around 120 people. There is much to do in a short period of time. Any and all help is greatly appreciated by Dean. If you would like to help, or organize a team to pitch in, just call 506-375-8592 or 506-333-3426 (Dean’s cell). Thanks in advance for your help in ministering to our youth and children…and remember to keep the summer camping program in your prayers.
Cook Needed:  Bonnie Jenkins, who has been Caton’s faithful cook for 12-13 years, is unable to take on this responsibility this year for personal and family reasons.  If you, or someone you know, might be interested in this position, please contact Dean Stephenson at the above numbers.
Caton’s Island Fundraiser ’09 was held at Kings Valley Wesleyan Church and had over 70 people in attendance.  The evening was filled with a good meal, and some great entertainment.  The event raised approx. $7,500 towards the $60,000 goal needed to complete new shower and washroom facilities for the island.  Special thanks to Christie Ruff for orchestrating this endeavor, and to all who contributed in one way or another to putting on the event. 
McDowell Roof:  Last November a tree fell on McDowell Dorm at Beulah.  This caused us to have to repair and re-shingle approximately one-third of the roof.  The remainder of the roof is 17 years old and also needs new shingles.  This job will cost about $3,500 with donated labor.  We already have $1,000 toward the project.  If any of our churches or men’s groups etc. are looking for a project, this is an opportunity to make a difference.  Bruce Cheney is lining up the work crew.  Contact him at (506) 468-2900 or (506) 333-0827.
Beulah Wastewater Project:  A committee called the “Beulah-Browns Flat Infrastructure Committee” has been formed to track the progress of the Wastewater Project as it gets underway, and make the required progress reports to the government.  It is comprised of David LeRoy, Bruce Cheney, Randy Forbes, Wiley McDowell, Wayne Briggs, and resource persons from NaTech Environmental Services.   The detailed engineering design is underway, as well as grubbing, soil testing and other front-end matters.  The project will go out for tender soon, and that aspect should be finalized by mid-July.  The actual physical construction will begin August 17th, or shortly thereafter, so as not to disrupt our summer camping operation. 
Dr. David Medders, President of Bethany Bible College, will be joining the team of ABHE (Association of Biblical Higher Education) in Orlando, FL beginning in September with responsibilities to develop programs and resources for mentoring student spiritual leaders across the Bible College movement through a variety of initiatives.  The title is Vice President for Resource Development and Student Programs.  His work will include efforts to spread the work he pioneered with the Presidential Leadership Corps at Bethany across the member institutions of ABHE.
Wonderful News!  A substantial gift has been given to Bethany Bible College to assist in reduction of the capital debt. 
1. A donor has established a $320,000 challenge matching grant for BBC. 
2. The donor will match any new gifts that are pledged to BBC from this date forward, up to $320,000, that are received and applied to the reduction of the principal amount of BBC’s outstanding debt by June 30, 2012.
3. The donor’s matching grant will also be applied to the reduction of the principal amount of BBC’s outstanding debt. 
Friends of BBC, this is a good time to leverage your giving to the college.  You have a three-year window to strategically plan how you can give a gift of substance that will be doubled in value because of this generous matching grant…and that doesn’t include the interest the college will save on its reduced capital debt!  What an opportunity!
Cheryl Hudson, wife of Rev. Gene Hudson, had medical tests a couple of weeks ago, and they  showed that she has cancer.  She will be under-going further tests and then she will have to have surgery.  Please keep the Hudsons in your prayers.  
Stephen Smith from Moncton, NB has been appointed by Global Partners as an intern missionary to the Karis people.  Congratulations!
Halifax – Deep Water Update:  Pastor A.J. Thomas reports they had their first baptism and baptized ten people!  The church averaged 120 in the month of April. 
 
Fredericton – Crosspoint:  Pastor Tim Guptill reports they had 458 in attendance on Mother’s Day, and averaged 420 the last four Sundays!
Houlton Wesleyan:  Pastor Wayne Robertson reports they had 300 on Mother’s Day.
Dartmouth – Hillside is sending a team to Haiti for a Missions Trip. Haiti is the primary field Hillside is focusing on with their international Missions emphasis.  Pastor Jay Guptill says it is exciting to see how the church is “owning” this country by starting with its first of many missions teams.  The team leaves May 19th and returns June 3rd.  Sharon Guptill is leading the ten-member team consisting of nine adults and one young child. They will be under the direction of Carl and Maya Gilles on the field and will be involved in such activities as a VBS program, helping in the orphanage with manual jobs, setting up a guest house, and other assigned tasks and projects.  An exciting development for the team is the ways in which the local community has connected with the trip. Many businesses have donated items, and a couple of public school classes have children preparing gifts and supplies for the team to give to the children in Haiti. 
Andrew Maves, pastor of Digby Wesleyan, says their church recently held a great event.  They hosted the Watoto Children’s Choir from Africa this past week.  They had almost 800 out to this event and raised $4,150 to send to their orphanage!  Pastor Andrew says, “It has been the buzz around town, and it was really neat to be a part of it.”  The church hosted it in the High School so that they could accommodate the numbers of people who attended.  Digby Wesleyan is also seeing some good crowds on Sunday mornings.  God is blessing this ministry.
Pastors:  1) Please let us know the good things that are happening in your church.  We need to
                     celebrate what God is doing around the District. 
      2) Remember May 22nd is the deadline for submitting your annual service report and your
          local church statistical report.
“Keep your face to the sun and you cannot see the shadows.” – Helen Keller