Calgary Bound

Things have continued at a fast pace, but there has been a peace through it all. Angela and I are gearing up for her surgery in Calgary next Thursday. We head out this Sunday afternoon.

We had a potluck dinner with our Church Elders last night. It was really nice to take a break and enjoy a meal for once. Dave shared something that was on his heart... to start asking others the question, "What can I do for you?" It's one of those questions that we like to ask, but at the same time hope others don't take us up on it. This really resonated with me not only personally, but for us as a Church. Over the next few years we will need to begin asking this question a whole lot more... I think this is what many Churches (including ours at times) have stopped asking others. Our Church needs to be known more for what we do for others than what we do for ourselves. Our Elders also prayed for Angela, our family, and our Church in earthly and heavenly languages. It was an encouraging time.

I'm looking forward to being with our Church family this Sunday. We've missed the last two gatherings and we'll be missing the next few as well. Some people find "going" to Church every week an obligation, but it is the highlight of my week. I love singing songs of praise, sharing in the Word, and knowing the testimony and beauty of God's purposes for all who gather.

I will be away for most of October so Pastor Dave will be our interim pastor for the month. He and our Elders will be available to bring pastoral care and leadership to our Church.  They already provide the majority of care to our Church family, so I don't think it will feel any different.

In other news, I have been eating healthy for five weeks (except a Triple O burger last Friday and our Elders dinner last night). I have lost 23 pounds and have appreciated an increase in health (no heartburn and more energy) and greater maturity in learning better self-discipline. In the months to come I will continue to eat healthy and add more exercise.

Last weekend, Angela and I went up to Rockridge Canyon for PLBC's annual Fall Retreat (see above photo). It was a great weekend filled with praise, ministry, rest, and relationship building. We also had three Parksiders serve on our volunteer work crew: Dave, Raelyne, and Faith. They scrubbed pots, prepped meals, and cleaned up. Isaac was the Retreat's "Minister of Fun" leading great group activities to foster fun and community. All of our Parksiders served smashingly well... great attitudes, great work ethic, and great skill.

I will keep you updated through this blog while we are away in Calgary so you can be aware and know how to pray. We appreciate your prayers so much... it's the most practical thing you can do for us.

Friday Mashup

Haven't blogged in eleven days due to busyness and higher priorities, so get ready for a schwack of stuff.  

Ruby went to visit her Island Nana for a week.  That meant Charlie ruled the roost while the queen was away... a role he quite enjoyed.  I enjoyed spending more solo time with him.  We went to the park, walked to the goats, and rode his bike.

I'm also glad to announce that I still hold the record for Parkside's shortest sermon (14 minutes). Isaac tried to challenge the record last Sunday, but lost by six minutes!  I assigned him the "fun" and awkward passage on circumcision.  It reminds me of the time I stayed over at my grandparents and in the morning they asked me to read their morning Scripture aloud to them as they ate breakfast.  Their text that morning just so happened to be one of the juicy bits from Song of Solomon.

On Monday night we had our first hermeneutics club meeting.  Nine folks showed up and we had a great time.  We read the text that I will be preaching from this Sunday, asked questions arising from the text, and then began some more research into the text.  I also enjoyed getting to know everyone a bit more.  We found out that Vaughan W. was literally stoned when he and his family were missionaries in Brazil!  We went for almost two hours.  The club is open to any and all (sporadic attendance is allowed)!  We'll meet again this Monday at 7:00pm.

I've been enjoying our new delegation and empowering process with our Church council.  You may remember a while back me communicating that our Church council would be moving from serving solely in an advisory capacity to adding on an administrative capacity.  Our journey through Acts (specifically Acts 6:1-7) inspired this change and it will take about another six months or so to fully implement.

This change in Council has already been a blessing to me and our Church family.  Here's how.  Last week, Cindy (our Office Administrator) dropped a stack of papers on my desk that contained our 'chart of accounts' so that I could proof them (we are in the process of changing our accounting software and system). Without batting an eye, I gave them back to her and instructed her to give them to Nicole (our Treasurer). Nicole took them and is doing a better job than I ever did of proofing them.  The next day, I sent an email to Chad (our Council Secretary) to begin the process of planning his first Council meeting.  I gave him the agenda items that I needed to be there and instructions on the other components.  What usually takes one to two hours in prepping all the documents for the meeting is now off my plate.  I have no doubt that Chad will do a better job than I ever did.

What did I do with the spare time?  I was able to give more time to my role of 'prayer and the ministry of the word'.  I have been able to read and study more Scripture.  I was able to start the hermeneutics club which will teach others how to "feed" themselves and others.  I was also able to spend more time in prayer.  The overall result has been that I have drawn closer to Jesus.  Our Church and community will benefit from my drawing closer to Christ.  Our Church and community will benefit from more people studying and applying Scripture.  Our Church and community will benefit from Chad and Nicole using their gifts because they will do it better than me and they will grow closer to Jesus through their service to Him. 

This serving thing is starting to catch on around here too!  This week Cliff came in and replaced four old sink basins in our main washrooms.  Lynn volunteered to oversee our food service for the Easter brunch.  Dave is serving communion at our community Good Friday service. Monica and Aaron are going to town with Easter Brunch decor and set-up plans.  That's in addition to all the others who serve so generously week in, week out!

Last night, our Elders met to begin a series of meetings aimed at reflecting and seeking the Lord.  It is a process of discovering what our Church in Mission, BC and on planet Earth needs to look like, how we look now, and then what steps we need to take to get to there.  This process was initiated in a desire to see our baptism tank never dry.  We long to see more people meet and follow Jesus.  We know that the byproduct of this will be a community and world with less chaos, less selfishness, more love, and more justice.  We know that we are called to go and make disciples and that we need to become better at doing that!  Now, it's not too difficult to figure out the 'where we are' and 'where we need to go' part, it's the 'how do we get there' part that requires listening to the Spirit and following Him in faith.  I'm excited to begin this journey as I believe it will result in us becoming better followers of Jesus and therefore more people coming to know Him.

That brings us to today.  It's sunny and Spring is here!  I look forward to a season filled with power-raking my moss out, over-seeding, trimming, and mowing.  Our vacuum died this week so I'm on the hunt for a new one.  I am supervising a course tomorrow at the College.  I am looking forward to our gathering this Sunday. 

Angela's starting to feel a bit better so I'm happy for her.  She gets an extra week off this round for Easter!!

Have a great weekend!