Friday Mashup

I hadn't planned on watching the royal wedding last night, but I had to stay up late to finish our taxes (after cheering on the Canucks towards their victory), so by the time I hit submit on the netfile service it was already 1:00am.  I stayed up for a little bit longer to watch the procession of guests and vehicles, but before I could see the dress, I fell asleep.  It literally wasn't worth losing sleep over.

Yesterday I got to watch Ruby's last swimming lesson.  Her and Gregory passed their "Sea Turtle" class and move on to being "Salamanders".  She was pretty happy to have her Dad there.  When her teacher came by to say, "Hi, Ruby!"  Ruby responded with an enthusiastically loud, "This is my Dad!!"

Last night we had dinner with the Schubert's.  The food was good (chicken souvlaki with a superstore sponsored blueberry pie) and I enjoyed chatting with them about kids, their soon-to-be-here baby, and lots more.

Don't forget about Youth For Christ's Coffee Cupping fundraiser at our Youth Centre tomorrow (Saturday) night at 7:00pm.  Admission is $15.  You'll get to be educated on how to drink coffee like an expert, hear some God-is-so-Good news, and get to take home a half-pound of coffee.

On Sunday afternoon I'll be taking the kids over to Vancouver Island for a few days so they can hang out with their Nana and Papa.  It will also be a nice break for Angela as she's been working so hard for so long!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday at our gathering.  We get to lift high our God and Saviour.  We get to open the Word so that we might know the Way.  We get to see one another and be encouraged!

Glenn Makes Me Laugh

Chances are you've seen Glenn's "Bod Rod" in the Church parking lot.  Well, this week it is decked out to remember the death of the Chicago Blackhawks.  This version of his hearse has been seen in local papers and Global TV after cruising South Fraser Way in Abbotsford!  Check out some footage at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDyBIRt4ej0 and http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/120760714.html

Where Am I Monday to Thursday?

If you've been a part of our Church for a while now, you've probably heard me talk a bit about my other place of employment, Pacific Life Bible College, in Surrey.  Most Monday to Thursdays you can find me here.

I started working at Pacific Life Bible College in 1998 (while I was a student) and have been working there in different capacities ever since.  It's a great place to work.  The staff, faculty, and community of students are amazing.  It's also a great fit for serving our Church too.  My experience in our Church helps bring relevance to the College and my experience at the College brings a number of benefits to the Church.

My current role at PLBC allows me to serve our future (and current) youth pastors by coordinating the Youth Ministry Institute.  Since we are a small school (about 160 students) I get to wear a few other hats too!

Currently we have about 30 of our students out traveling the world.  One team is in Thailand for a month.  A second team (of which our own Isaac Dagneau is a part of) is traveling across Canada for six weeks ministering through drama, music, and more.  The third team is touring the Northwest US using the same format as the Canada team.

When you make a moment, I encourage you to remember PLBC in your prayers.  Our future pastors, missionaries, counselors, and leaders are being trained here.

If you're ever in the area, stop by and I'll give you a tour and buy you a coffee!

Monday "Morning" Thoughts

Tuesday Life Group Easter Egg Hunt from Mission Foursquare Church on Vimeo.

We had a great Easter Brunch on Sunday!  There was tons of good food, laughter, and cheer all around.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate the Good News then with a Sunday brunch.  I'm already looking forward to next year's brunch!  The only downside is that we were having so much fun that we forgot to take pictures.  It was neat to see some new faces and welcome them into our Church family.  We had about 200 out to the brunch and over 30 volunteers made everything work smoothly, from the set-up on Saturday, to the serving, cleaning, and running of kid's activities on Sunday.  Our Church family has exceptional volunteers... they sign-up freely, serve graciously, and work diligently.

After the service, we had a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Mark & Katy came over to watch the Canucks lose.  After the Canucks game I watched the movie "Tron" and found it somewhat entertaining.

Today was the first day I have had off in about two months.  I set a horrible example in this department as I am lazy (disguised as being a workaholic) with my Sabbaths.  We had a fun day.  I got to play with the kids in the morning.  I then went down to Centennial Park at 10am to hide Easter eggs in the woods for the families of our Tuesday Life Group to go and find.  Everyone showed up at 10:30am and went a hunting.  The older kids got a good haul and the younger kids were too young to care.  We were treated to a "birds of prey" show at the park too when a falcon kept dive bombing a squirrel... it was really cool.  After our hunt we headed over to the Offer's house and had a laid back lunch... it was a good time.

This afternoon, I went Winston Churchill and enjoyed a hot bath [insert Angela's comment of "no one wants to read that" here].  I got to read my bbq cleaning manual and the first half of Acts.

Around 4:00pm we headed over to the Manning's for a ham and turkey dinner.  The food was awesome...  and I enjoyed meeting and hanging out with their family.  They are nice people.  Monica had her home decorated with like 100 of these huge (18" wide) flowers made out of tissue paper.  She's giving them to us when the Easter season is over and we'll use them next year at our Easter Brunch.

This week our guys Tuesday Life Group will be watching the game.  Schubert's are coming over on Thursday for Angela's world famous greek dinner (already drooling).  On Sunday, after Church, we're having an Elder's lunch.  That's all I can think of for right now.  I hope you have a great week knowing, growing, and sowing Jesus!

Prayer Focus This Week

Prayer Focus This Week:  Shaela Warkentin (Accident in California); Zain Krikau (Improved Health);  Gospel Fellowship Baptist Church (Mission, BC),  Kingsway Fousquare Church (Burnaby, BC); Doug Friesen (Foursquare Unit Supervisor, North Fraser Unit); and the nations of Japan, Libya, Indonesia, and Syria.