October 8, 2006

Good Sunday evening on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend! Due to the holiday, our office will be closed tomorrow, Monday, the 9th.
Congratulations to Jeremiah and Sarah Gomez who were married yesterday in our Wesleyan Church in Winchester, Ontario. She is the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Thurland Brown. We welcome Sarah to our district ministerial family and to the church at Monticello where she will share ministry with her husband, Jeremiah.
I recently attended the convention of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities in Vancouver. The organization has a wide array of helpful information for Canadian charities. Check it out at www.cccc.org
This past Monday, I met in a half-day session in the Shelburne church with the Nova Scotia pastors that are involved in Refocusing. We also shared lunch together and I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with Ed Otis, Steve Bean, Jeff Hoyt, Dale Robertson, and Coach Dean Brown.
Congratulations to Dave and Cynthia Steeves on the birth of their daughter, Brooke Marie Louise who arrived safely on September 12th weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. Dave serves as the youth pastor at Moncton Wesleyan.
The Camp Board met at Beulah this past Thursday. We are grappling with a number of growth related challenges. I’ll be meeting with Provincial Government officials later this week as we continue to work toward the replacement of our wastewater system.
Brittany Shaw from our Hartland Church recently won the title of Miss New Brunswick. Not only did she win the pageant, she also won the talent portion. Brittany is a part of the worship team at her home church and we congratulate her on winning the Miss NB title.
Pastors – You are encouraged to show the Harbour Wesleyan Church CD-ROM on Sunday, October 29th (Sydney Sunday). All of you received the CD in your promotional materials distributed by the Huttons.
Kings Valley (Don Ingersoll) has recently done significant facility upgrade for Studio 1, their children’s ministry area. They have also remodeled the former sanctuary now known as The Other Room. They are now offering a second worship service held in The Other Room at the same time as the service in the main auditorium. The Other Room has its own worship team led by Brent Ingersoll and Pastor Don’s sermon is simulcast so that both congregations are hearing the same message. I visited KV this week to view these improvements and commend them for this progressive step.
This past summer, pastors and spouses were asked to complete survey forms and return them to Jay or Sharon Guptill for compilation. A word of thanks to each one who responded. We had very good participation and are already working to respond positively to a number of the suggestions offered. Thanks to Jay and Sharon for their help with this project.
Head of Millstream (Peter Hayes) has begun a Thursday evening Family Night in lieu of Sunday School this fall. Sunday School had dropped below 20 in attendance and the first two weeks of Family Night have seen 34 in attendance each night. Congrats to Pastor Peter and people for thinking outside the box.
Special pastors’ seminar at the Moncton church — Thursday, November 2 — 1:00-4:30 PM. Leading A Changing Church In A Changing Culture with Rev. Phil Stevenson. This special seminar is being provided by the District at no cost to the pastors attending — I’m confident many of you plan to be in attendance on November 2.
Today, over 200 million Christians around the world are persecuted or in prison because of their love for Jesus. Please join in the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on Sunday, November 12, 2006. Learn more at www.idop.ca
During this past week in addition to the Refocusing guys, I had the privilege of personal contact with the pastors at Sackville, Digby, Yarmouth, Truro, Hammonds Plains, Kings Valley, and Hartland. I continue to be impressed with, and honored to work with the pastoral corps of our district.
This morning, we were privileged to be in the church at Yarmouth (Jim Agrell) for their Thanksgiving Sunday service. They honored the local firemen, many of whom were present, with two taking part in the service. They also had a local teen service group, the Memorial Club, present. As well, the church honored Florence Manning for 40 years of faithful service. Gloria and I enjoyed excellent fellowship over the noon meal following the service with the entire pastoral staff.
THOT: Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline. – Jim Collins, Good to Great
SECOND THOT: Today is our 41st anniversary and we are looking forward to enjoying a personal day tomorrow! – HCW