September 5, 2006

Good morning!
Our weekly communication is a day late due to the Labour Day holiday yesterday. We are now fully operational in our Moncton office having completed the seasonal relocation from Beulah.
The LaPointes hosted Worship-in-the-Square in Fredericton a week ago Saturday, August 26th. Over 4,000 people gathered to be a part of this creative expression of praise and worship. PTL!
A note was sent last week concerning staff pastors attending The Gathering. The memo created some confusion – pastors, please note that the email applied to staff pastors. A separate email will be coming today to all senior, solo, and staff pastors confirming the names of all those that the District has registered to date. Please be sure to look for this email.
Last Monday, I was in Fort Fairfield and, along with Pastor Wes McNeil and three others from the church, viewed a nearby commercial building that has potential for a wide variety of ministry opportunities. I applaud Pastor Wes and the Fort Fairfield leadership for stretching creatively to consider alternate ways to impact their community.
Bill Peed from BBC will be leading a Jesus Film mission team to Mozambique in the spring of next year. For further details, please see the attachment to this email.
On Friday evening, Gloria and I were very pleased to be part of a group sharing in the celebration of the 50th wedding anniversary of Hazen and Norma Lee Ricker. They arrived for the occasion in a white carriage drawn by four Clydesdale horses! It was a wonderful evening as we celebrated not only their anniversary but also their faithful and effective ministry across these many years. Please remember them in prayer these days as Norma Lee faces uncertainty with her health.
We presently have a 15-person mission team from our church in Presque Isle that is in Swaziland as they continue their ongoing partnership in ministry with the children’s home there. Thanks to Pastor Rick and his crew for this Great Commission ministry.
On Saturday morning, we hosted an information meeting at Beulah with regards to the wastewater system upgrade. Approximately 130 people were in attendance. Our engineer, Mr. Jochen Schroer made an excellent presentation of extensive data on our process to date and next steps. He and I then fielded a number of questions, particularly from neighbors of the camp. This was a positive and important forward step in this entire process.


Our own Pete and Ginny Benson will be visiting the European Missions Conference in Velden, Austria later this month where Pete will be speaking on finances, stewardship, and retirement planning for missionaries. They request an interest in our prayers during this significant assignment.
Our Nackawic church (Carl and Evelyn Brewer) recently had an outstanding day in which a baby was dedicated at the Nackawic stream after which the grandfather and great-grandmother were baptized, along with five other adults. There were 120 people present for this special event. The church also won second place in a recent Nackawic Day parade for their float, which was on the theme, “Digging Wells in Sierra Leone.” Congratulations to the Brewers and the congregation.
Rev. Neil Koppen, Western New York District Superintendent, has recently undergone a 10-hour surgical procedure to remove a brain tumor. He is recovering slowly and has been discharged from the hospital and taken to the Mercy Rehab Unit. I would request that he and his family and the district be remembered in prayer at this time and would further request that the pastors remember this request in public prayer on Sunday.
This past Sunday was the concluding Sunday of the summer season at Beulah. We had an excellent day together. John Symonds spoke in the morning to a crowd of 280 and the closing service for the summer on Sunday evening saw well above 400 people present. Following the service, there was a great time of fellowship around the BBQ and the curly fry machine. We truly thank the Lord for another wonderful camping season.
THOT: The most important element of worship is not what happens while we’re singing to God on Sunday morning, but what happens while we’re living for God throughout the week. – Bob Russell
Carpe Diem,
HC