Go for a coffee?

Dan Woods

If we went for coffee today, I'd tell you about Dan Woods.

Many people know that Ryan and Rachel are headed back to Florida at the end of August. They have been here for a year to serve and be a blessing to the church here. It's been an incredible gift to me, to the church here and to the kingdom of Jesus. They came, raising their own support and have served and laid their lives down, learned a lot, and can't wait to go back to their friends and family and engage with the Spirit's work down there.

But, it leaves a HUGE hole here. 

There's no way to replace either one of them. It's way, way, way too many tattoos for any one person to get in a short period of time, let alone 10 miles of barefoot running! j/k! Ryan has become a central part of the office and administration of the church here, and Rachel has been instrumental in a very fruitful ladies discipleship ministry here. 

So, for a couple of months, the board of Calvary Fellowship has been praying and thinking and talking about what to do. The journey has been an adventure, but we are at the end and all have a really good sense of where the Spirit is leading. 

Starting the second week of August, Dan Woods is going to join the staff of Calvary Fellowship full time as an administrator. We've invited him on for 90 days, which is a temporary arrangement. I'm still getting to know Dan, Dan's still getting to know me, and we aren't sure that we will have enough room in the budget past 90 days to maintain someone full time. What we do know, is that there's enough for 90 days, Dan's qualified, eager, and on all sides we have a witness of the Spirit's work. What's even more clear is that we aren't willing to move forward without someone who is gifted with administration in that spot (Rom 12:6-8). I also know that the church in Acts grew when they made some administrative moves (Acts 6:1-7).

Would you take a minute and pray for all of this? Would you pray for Ryan and Rachel and their transition back to Florida? There's some needs there with culture shock, physically moving all their stuff, ongoing situation with their house, and engaging back into ministry there. Would you also pray for Dan? He'll need it! He's got a BIG job in front of him. And would you pray for me? I'm in over my head, trying to keep up with all the learning and growing, in desperate need of wisdom and grace. Merci!

Infinite Bonds of Family - Resource Review

I find it interesting to read these 'textbooks', books written by people in the academic community. This one was the result of a bunch of research on families living in Canada from 1850-1940. 

It's interesting to me for a couple of reasons. 

One, families are the basic unit of all civilization and to see the family in it's various forms throughout time is very instructive. I like to understand how the family has morphed and changed with the needs and demands placed on it. 

Two, it gives me a further insight into the Canadian psyche and helps me to understand where as a culture they have been and a better glimpse at where they might go in the future. 

Third, it's interesting to compare what we as a church were saying to those families during those times, and how sometimes, we are still emphasizing things that were important back then, but may not be as applicable today. There are a lot of parallels to families back then and today, but there are some differences.

Here's what I learned:

Economics have an enormous impact on families. We are in an age of prosperity right now, children don't work and contribute to the family like they did in the 1800's. Their focus is education and training. Prosperity has given us that ability. It's not like that around the world, and it's hard to tell what comes first, prosperity or a shift in the moral code of families that emphasizes education over work. 

The way that we are interdependent has changed. In those days, families were self-sustaining economic units that purchased very little. They were connected through helping one another as neighbors. Today, we aren't self-sustaining at all, but rather sophisticated consumers, purchasing everything and producing only one thing through our training or experience in a narrow part of the economy (job, career). This has shifted the balance inside of families and outside of families. 

Back then people married and had families to physically survive, today it seems people leave families and leave marriages in order to emotionally survive. Emotional needs are more important to us today than they were back then. Physical needs were more important back then. 

I learned where the Children's Aid Society got it's start, and I could see the seeds of the welfare system that was rolled out in the Great Depression and continues today. The toll on the people that were recipients of aid was well documented and disturbing. More disturbing was reading about Native and Inuit families in those years and how the different attempts at helping them turned out. It's incomprehensible.

Mankind clearly doesn't have an answer for the problems of mankind. We are making things worse and that's when we don't try to do anything about it. When we do, it's often worse than if we had done nothing. 

The book I read was used, and the person that read it before me was interested in the role of women throughout the research. My guess would be that they were of the feminist leaning. They highlighted the abuse of women and children through economic hardships and then the shift in the role of women and children in the family through the shift to industry (jobs, career) that happened in the early 1900's. Their notes in the margin were full of passion. Even that was helpful to me, as that is clearly a sentiment in our culture, and it helps me to understand their thought process. 

I'm more open now to allowing some flexibility in the dynamics of a family after reading this. It's obvious that families and some of the dynamics have shifted throughout time. There are still some principles that the Bible gives us, love, respect, honor, provide, teach, train, remind, obey, be considerate, but there is still some ambiguity. Any family in an urban, suburban, rural, Western, Eastern, New World and Old World can be mature in these things and still look different than each other. There's a lot of wisdom in the Bible. 

I see too, how it's only by the Holy Spirit that we are a blessing to each other. One of the quotes that stuck out to me, was that inside families we are at the same time the best and worst to each other, abusive and nurturing. How we desparately need the wisdom of the Spirit of the Living God and his unconditional love spilling out of us and grace between us. 

Strategy Change

We had a good chat on Sunday morning during the Orleans service. It's obviously summer, folks are travelling and away, and it seems kind of silly to have our typical church setup, so next week, we are going to try something different... a semi-circle. 

Here's the deal, I don't believe in church services nearly as much as church meetings. I'll explain.

I think when the church (assembly) got together, they would talk with each other, catch up on what the Lord was doing in their families and lives, and in that, they were giving glory to God, encouraging and sharing with one another. 

We know that they sang songs of praise, songs of worship and songs of doctrine (teaching). Singing is something that believers have done and will continue to do in heaven. 

We also know that they would listen to teaching, someone would be reading and explaining from the Scriptures. They would have a time of learning. 

We also know that they would pray, individually, for each other and as a group. 

That's a meeting of the church. It's when Christians, believers in Jesus get together. I'm not sure when it became a service, and when it became a show, or experience or consumerist. We are Christians, and we grow when we are engaged in worship, study and fellowship.

So, on Sundays in Orleans, we are going to change the format of our meeting to allow for it to become more 'conference' rather than 'service'. We won't change Saturday's meeting, the group is too large to try to attempt this. 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, yes, please pray for us...

Worship Matters - Resource Review

I just finished reading this book, it took me a while, because I was taking my time digesting what was written. This is an excellent resource for worship leaders and pastors. Bob Kauflin covers all the topics from music, to musicians, to team building, transitions, song selection, to relationships in and around the worship team. 

This wasn't a quick book to write, and it shouldn't be a quick read. There's lots to digest and Bob has done a huge service to the church by taking the time to  write these things down. 

I highly recommend it!

Weekend Report

We had a great service this weekend.

Stephanie Doornekamp came over from Perth and led worship for us. She's almost finished recording her first album and sang one of her songs for us. 

We finished up Hebrews 12, encouragement in suffering, and saw how Jesus is helping us in times of suffering, giving us something solid to build our lives on, something to hang on to, and at the bottom of all that is worship. Stephanie came up at the end and sang "It is Well." That song and the story behind the song really sum up what Hebrews 12 is describing for us. 

We are still praying about how to replace Ryan Saul. He's headed back to Florida at the end of August, and has been a HUGE help here. I'm also praying that the Lord really opens some doors for him down there, and blesses him in the move back. 

It's hot in Ottawa this week. We haven't turned on our A/C yet though. It's a bit of a game with Gen and I, to see how long we can go without it. It was 82F in the house yesterday afternoon, but there was a nice breeze. We survived. We've been eating a lot of meals out on the back deck under the gazebo, there's a nice breeze out there, and it's really nice to be outside in this weather. 

I think we found a carpet installer for the office, and my friend Fil is really pitching in, helping us punch this project out. It won't be long now, hopefully. 

I'm working on Hebrews 13 already. I like what I'm seeing.

Oh yes, the Man Conference is September 16, 17th! Details are coming soon!

That's it for today.

The New Evangelicalism - Resource Review

My good friend Brett, told me a couple of weeks ago, that he wasn't interested in reading any books written by someone in their 30's. He wanted to wait until they were in their 70's. Then, they have something credible to contribute. That's what this book is about. Paul Smith is close to 80, and has been involved in ministry for well over 50 years, in the hot hub of southern California, and he's got a story to tell, and some perspective to give to guys like me.

I think every pastor should read this book, or at least be aware of it's content. I would heartily include anyone interested in ministry. 

Paul tells the story of the evangelical church and starts the book with a meeting in New York City in 1905. By the end of the book, you'll either be mad, or fired up. 

For me, it was eye-opening. I've had a negative reaction to a lot of ministry techniques, training, suggestions that are popular today, and never knew why. For me, many times it was a spiritual thing, I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something was just off. This book helped clear that up. Clearly, there are some influences in the evangelical church today that are of a different spirit. Paul's naming names, quoting letters, telling stories from board meetings, he's really done his homework, and the material is well footnoted. 

At the end of the book. I'm more committed than ever to continue teaching, preaching, drawing attention to, believing, sharing, getting out of the way of, the Holy Bible. 

This is the only place I know to buy this book, there may be others.

Hello

Hello faithful reader...

This is your unfaithful blogger! LOL

If we went for a coffee, what would you like to talk about? 

Gen's done a great job in June, had 2 house concerts, where someone invited her and a bunch of their friends over, had some refreshments, and she sang and played. She exceeded expectations in both of those, and made a bunch of new friends. CHRI is playing her 3rd single "Clothed with Christ" and people are starting to recognize her voice and the song. In addition to all that, she's working on a possible France tour in November. 

Sunday mornings are going very well. We are about 15-20 adults. Our times of worship have been really good, I think people are blessed by the teaching, and we have been praying together. Joe and Margie have been doing Children's Ministry and making us cry tears of joy, when we hear our kids quoting Bible verses at the end of the day. 

Saturday nights are still strong. We are still meeting lots of new people each week, I'm learning that I'm really not that good at remembering people's names. There's lots of stories I could tell, but this is the internet after all.

We were at Camp IAWAH all last week for their Staff Camp. I was invited to give 2 theological talks as a part of their training, lead a prayer/worship meeting, and share a message on Friday morning in their service. Our friends the Sielers were invited to join us, Pat led worship, Janet and Gen went to the beach a lot, and our kids played on the playground, did rock climbing, sand castles, swimming, trampouline and we all went to see Canada Day Fireworks in Westport. It was a GREAT week. 

I'm working hard these days. I'm praying more right now, more frequently, than I have in a while. I'm thinking a lot these days about the future. I feel like there's some big decisions on the horizon. In the midst of all that, the kids are on summer holidays, and this week are in Vacation Bible School at Community Pentecostal along with a lot of our neighbors. I'm feeling more and more the weight of responsibility in ministering to my kids. We are in a different season for sure. 

Oh, yes, I took some time this am to meet with a handful of Ottawa pastors and watch an episode from the Elephant Room together and discuss it. That was fun. I hope they let me come back. It was good to see Jason Byers there too. 

Did you know that the 'sinners' and the tax collectors heard Jesus gladly? I'm amazed by that... I want to be more like Jesus. 

soon!