Under Sail
Numbers are benchmarks; the only fair comparison is to compare yourself with yourself. It is encouraging to see the growth, and the new connections that are being made with families in the communities where our churches minister.
EASTER WEEKEND AROUND THE DISTRICT:
Amherst (Raymond Fancy): 85 present in our Good Friday Service, and 105 present in our Sunday morning Easter Service (lya 85). We held our first ever Easter Egg hunt with 40 participants. In both the Good Friday and Easter services, there was an overwhelming sense of God’s presence!
Bangor-River City (Steve Sinclair): 76 were in attendance (lya 51), and 28 new people as guests from an Easter outreach.
Dartmouth-Hillside (Jay Guptill): Attendance was 197 (lya 160), number saved 2, number baptized 1.
Florenceville-Bristol Trinity (Graham Perry): We had 130 in the service (lya 102). We challenged people to forgive or be forgiven as this has been a very difficult year in our church. Over 25 people raised their hands in asking for forgiveness.
Fredericton-Corbett Ave (AJ Plaizier): What a great weekend! We had 295 people in church, 2 baptisms and 6 people gave their life to Christ! We give God the thanks for all of this – He draws people to Himself, He saves, and He sustains!
Fredericton-Crosspoint (Mark Brewer & Conard Symonds): 715 in attendance (lya 464), 10 saved, and 7 baptized. This is an attendance record for Crosspoint by about 145 people. The offering was $36,000, which is also a record by about $9,000. There were also 139 kids in attendance for a huge Easter Egg hunt – the most kids ever for this event! One little guy got saved that morning and walked upstairs to be baptized!
Halifax-Deep Water (AJ Thomas): 347 in attendance (lya 223), and 4 baptisms.
Hammonds Plains-Cornerstone (Denn Guptill): Easter Sunday – 394 (lya 270); Good Friday – 220.
Houlton (Wayne Robertson): A total of 461 (lya 265) for the morning, and two people saved this past week.
Ingomar-Faith (David Hockley): Attendance: 61 (lya 39); Baptisms: 3!
Jonesport (Rich Thomas): 57 showed up for the Easter breakfast, about 20 more than last year. There were several first time visitors. 100 people were present in the Sunday morning service (lya 43).
Maple Ridge (Nick Graham): Easter Sunday was a celebration with 6 baptisms, and 202 in church (lya 124). Since last Easter, Maple Ridge has baptized 26 people, and had 9 salvations!
Moncton (L.D. Buckingham & Tim Guptill): It was by far the largest weekend in MWC’s history. They created 3 unique events to share the gospel with as many people as possible: 4500 pancakes flipped on Saturday and Sunday mornings. 221 salvations, 5100 in attendance (lya 1768), and $65,300 in the offering.
Nackawic (Ryan Farrell): We had 62 in attendance for our Good Friday service. We also had 62 in attendance for our Easter morning service (lya 58).
Presque Isle (Bud Fancy): The Easter attendance was 947 (lya 553), 1 saved, 1 baptized, and $21,000 in the offering.
Quispamsis-Kings Valley (Brent Ingersoll): 1118 in attendance (lya 748). The previous record attendance was 905, and last year’s Easter attendance was in the 800s. We did no special marketing or series. People just came. We baptized 23, and there were 8 first time decisions.
Sussex (Rob MacCallum): 334 Easter Sunday morning (lya 241); 4 salvations and 4 rededications; Good Friday last year – 56; this year 116.
Truro (Ken Banks): 132 in attendance (lya 89); 3 people came forward to accept Jesus, and 2 people were baptized – one planned and the other spontaneous.
Westchester (Linda Fillmore): A wonderful Easter weekend!! In 2 services they had a total attendance of 73, 11 of which were first time attenders (lya 25)! One of the ladies taking part in the Easter program gave her heart to the Lord!
West Head (Bill Lea): We had a great weekend in West Head. 100 attended the Good Friday service, and in our two Sunday services we had a combined attendance of 330 (lya 89). God is good!
Life change is happening across the District! The numbers are just indicators of connections to people. The most important numbers are the salvations and baptisms. They appear as “numbers” here, but in their local settings, they have names and faces…and now changed hearts! The good news is that 15,776 people worshipped in our churches this past Easter (up 4,594 over the previous year), 271 people crossed the line of faith and gave their lives to Christ (up 183 over last year), and 64 people were baptized (an increase of 14 over last year). PTL!
Transitions – Pastors and Churches:
Bangor – Pathway: Still in the pastoral search process.
Blacks Harbour: Rev. Nelson Koonce has candidated and accepted the call.
Browns Flat: In process
Easton: Rev. Jason Coffman from Kirkland, IN candidated this past Sunday and has accepted a 92% favorable call.
Fort Fairfield: Rev. Dee & Ed Lower have resigned. In process.
Grand Harbour: Rev. Steve Brown was voted on last Wednesday and has accepted the call.
Hartland: Rev. David Wilcox candidated March 24th and has accepted the call.
Havelock, NS: Still in process.
Head of Millstream: Rev. Vince Robertson is candidating this Sunday.
Jonesport: In process.
Norton: Rev. Mark Cooney has accepted the call.
Yarmouth: Rev. John Symonds has accepted an appointment to Yarmouth Wesleyan for up to two years and will be appointed by the DBA to serve as Lead Pastor for this period.
Tom Cann is leaving Kingswood University and has accepted the Assistant Pastor position at Fredericton-Corbett Ave, and will be working with Lead Pastor AJ Plaizier and the CAW Team.
Rev. Randy Forbes has accepted a position at Kingswood University as Director of Plant Operations.
Pastor Joel Wydysh has accepted a unanimous recall vote for four years to Hampton-Island Wesleyan Church.
William “Bill” Graham, father of Pastor Nick Graham (Maple Ridge), passed away March 29th. His funeral was conducted from Fredericton-Journey Wesleyan Church on April 1st. Pastor Nick was the officiating minister. We extend our condolences to the family.
Pastor Jacob & Nikki Ebbett, Havelock, NB Wesleyan, are the proud parents of a new baby boy! His name is Ezekiel Allen Ebbett and he was born the morning of April 8th, weighing 7 lbs. 4 ozs. Ezekiel has two older siblings, his sister Azlee, and his brother Israel.
Rally in the Valley 2013 (for teens) will take place on May 3-4, 2013 at Kings Valley Wesleyan in Quispamsis, NB. Pastor Dave Mason says the KV Worship Team will lead the music, Matt Deprez is the special speaker, and Manafest is the guest artist for the Friday night concert. For further information contact Pastor Dave at dave.mason@kingsvalley.ca
Beulah Camp dates are July 5-14, 2013. The speakers are Rev. Dwight Robertson, President of Kingdom Building Ministries, and Rev. AJ Thomas, church planter and pastor of Halifax-Deep Water Wesleyan Church. Rev. Scott & Elizabeth Rhyno will be returning to lead our worship and oversee the music. District Conference will be July 11th and the Ordination Service will be July 12th.
I have had an interesting week battling pneumonia and a seriously infected throat. I don’t recommend it. I am much better, and I certainly have appreciated your prayers. Thanks to all who have assisted in giving attention to the pertinent matters of the District during the past week. – DWL
“When your impossible dream is obviously going to advance the kingdom, you have every reason to believe that the King will give your dream His full attention. This is true even if He doesn’t demonstrate His support until what appears to be the last possible moment.” – David Mains, Never Too Late To Dream