It’s Monday Again

“Follow 2019 – There is More!” included a bus load of Atlantic youth who joined 4000+ in Cincinnati. Co-District Youth President Drew Donovan (Kingswood University) shared, “We all boarded the bus on Dec 27 at 7 a.m. for a long haul ride to Cincinnati with the troopers from Havelock, NS – already driving 6 hours. There is a long history of participation in these international youth conventions and as a veteran I can say this was one of the best. Start planning for the next one now!”

Drew continues, “God was up to something special from the beginning and it was well worth the time and investment. On the very first night many of our students joined hundreds at the altar in response to the call to seek real genuine transformation.”

Journey (Matt Maxwell) Youth welcomed 2020 with their 3rd annual All-Nighter. Next Gen Pastor Luke Budreau reported, “It was a wild night with the hi-light being a Saran Wrap obstacle course which ended with one team pig piled and laughing on the floor and the other tippy toeing to victory.” Thanks to all our youth

pastors and workers across the district who invest generously in our teens!

Our 5th session of the Facilitator Cohort with Jon Wiest in December was a harvest of discipleship pathway models emerging in 10 of our churches. No two were the same but all incorporated the same principles. So many great ideas to shape the best contextual approaches for intentional disciple-making. Here are some of the pathways in progress…

Can’t wait to see how this springboards district-wide after Ministerial (Jan 22-24) as we launch SIX Discipleship Pathway Cohorts in February with more than 80% of our district churches! Full District Ministerial details will be sent to all ministers by week’s end. #contextualeffectiveness

In 2019, Cornerstone (Denn Guptill) became the first Canadian church to enter into a Village Partnership with World Hope International (Canada). Over the next three years, Cornerstone will partner with Kenenday, a small village in Sierra Leone. This partnership includes a deep bore well for clean water, agriculture assistance, latrines and hygiene projects and a permanent home for the small Wesleyan church in the village.

As the funds are raised to complete projects, artist Bee Stanton (pictured below right with Missions Pastor Deb Gilbert) will fill out the remaining gaps in the foyer mural. The goal for Cornerstone’s Christmas Offering for the Village Partnership of $25K was exceeded with $45,700.00! #globalcollective

World Hope Executive Director, Tanya Nace just launched a Facebook page “Push Toward Impact”. She desires people to step up, be transformed and push toward impact around the world. This Thursday at 2:00 p.m. (Atlantic), Dr. Jo Anne Lyon will join Tanya for an exclusive interview live on this Facebook page. You won’t want to miss exciting updates, monthly interviews with global leaders and more by following this page!WHI Canada ended the year strong and hit their end of year giving challenge goal of $40K for The Hope Fund. Huge thanks as many of your churches participated in this. God is doing great things through WHI and we can’t wait to see what 2020 will hold.

If your church is interested in sending a team to rebuild two Wesleyan churches and communities in the Bahamas, please email Alan Dunn (alan.dunn@hotmail.com).

It was an encouraging weekend connecting with the pastoral staff at Deep Water (AJ Thomas). The Dartmouth location (Campus Pastor Matthew Thomas) has an average of 215-250 weekly and the North St. location has completed a major upgrade.

Join the monthly Unleashed e-newsletter list to receive more in-depth information about General Conference 2020, to be held May 31–June 3, in St. Louis, Missouri. Unleashed emails will hit inboxes beginning January 2020. The WesLife schedule, accordingly, will be modified to once monthly. Once you click on the URL, click on “subscribe” to get signed up for Unleashed emails.
To learn more about General Conference 2020 click here: https://www.wesleyan.org/unleashed

Around midnight last night a dear brother and life-long leader in our ministerial tribe, Rev. Les Hicks, was promoted to glory. It was my privilege to stop by on Friday afternoon and share in prayer with Les. Ellen joins me in expressing sincere condolences on behalf of the Atlantic District to his children and the extended family including his niece Janice (Reg) Thomas (Perth Andover). Funeral details will be sent to the ministerial family when available by mid-week.