Our 40th Anniversary

Susan & I celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary on February 28th. What a wonderful, happy privilege it's been to be married to the perfect wife for these past 4 decades. God could not have done better than to match us up when we began dating February 21, 1967. I knew that day we would be married and live happily ever after!

On Sunday, our home group, which is the same couples whose wives make up The Joy Club, put on a delightful party for Susan & me. They surprised us with a video of our lives together (kind of like you'd show at a funeral) and an exquisite meal they'd all prepared.

Alberta

I was in Calgary on Saturday to spend the day with Alberta Unit Supervisor, Barry Marsten. Barry & I took a drive to Brooks, AB, where one of the largest slaughter houses in North America, employs the town (they process 5,000 cows a day).

We met with Pastors Dean & Lorenda & enjoyed a refreshing breakfast meeting together.

The Joy Club

Susan has a group of lady friends who've been meeting as a Bible Study Group for a long time. They call themselves The Joy Club, I think because they laugh more than they study! But more than that, the grils bring joy to a wide circle of influence around them.

One of the women, our dear friend Norma Garrison, died last week of cancer. The Joy Club has surrounded both her and her husband, Les, with love & support. As a gesture of their grace, the girls presented Morgan, Norma & Les' only granddaughter, with their symbol of joy (a beautiful joy necklace) and made her an honorary club member. Morgan is 3rd from the right on the back row!

We pray for God's grace, comfort and love to cover Les & his family over the months ahead.

"Norma lived fully and loved deeply. Fortunate were those who crossed her path for they received her genuine smile and infinite thoughtfulness. She possessed a generous nature with a selfless and willing spirit to help others in need. She offered herself wholeheartedly when just the right word was needed or when a tiny act of kindness made a lasting impact.

Born in Wainwright, Alberta, Norma was raised a prairie girl. Having graduated from the Royal Alexandra Hospital in 1959, Norma worked diligently as an RN in various operating rooms: Winnipeg, Richmond and finally Maple Ridge Hospital from 1975-1988. She led with wisdom, taught with grace and profoundly affected many lives. She loved unconditionally and her
compassionate spirit left an indelible impression on everyone she touched. Norma’s commitment to her faith and zest for life shone bright; she was passionate for shopping, cooking, gardening and decorating, which she pursued enthusiastically with her own artistic flair. She cherished annual trips with Les to their 2nd home in Arizona that fulfilled and enriched her life.

With an unwavering love for her husband and children she created a strong and cherished bond, and through them, her light will continue to shine. Steadfast in her devotion to her family and many friends, her passing leaves a void in the hearts and lives of many. For her, the journey continues; for us, we inherit a guiding star."

Mexico

Susan & I spent two wonderful & restful weeks in Mexico, just as the infamous Swine Flu was being announced (not a pig in sight!). We vacation very quietly (no surfing, hang-gliding or mountain climbing), so I was able to write a couple of books while sitting by the pool.

You can look for the sequels to Secret of Happiness over the next few months. Secret of Success is about our church mission statement, "Know, Grow & Sow", which I believe should be the mandate of every person individually as well as every church.

The other book, Secret of Fulfillment, is quite biographical; about my personal growth, as well as the growth of Northside Church. In the book I illustrate several personal & church growth principles.

Destiny Weekend

April 18-19, 2009

One of the highlights of Susan's and my 30 years in Northside Church was our April celebration called Destiny Weekend. We invited the church to spend a Saturday with the pastors to thank God for our past with several video's of all the happenings of our church; look at our present; and to consider our future together as a church.

Because I've always planned in 7-year increments, we laid out a picture and strategy for the next 7 years of our church life.

The next 7 years (2008-2014) are called "Retrofitting" because we are rebuilding foundations for future growth and fruitfulness. Here's how we described retrofitting: To modify something with new parts. The added parts may not have been available or relevant when the building/bridge was first constructed. Examples may be a bridge retrofitted to carry increased traffic; a school retrofitted to be earthquake proof; a car retrofitted with a catalytic converter.

For the presentation of our future, I wrote an overview of our past, present and future called our "Strategic Plan". I can send a copy to whoever would like one, but these are the 20 objectives I stated that we are looking at by 2014:

1. A church with a strong Spirit-empowered emphasis on prayer and intercession that will result in kingdom dynamics evidenced in and through our daily experience.

2. A church who knows God deeper and knows His Word better; and who walks closer to God and to the principles of Scripture than today.

3. A church who consciously lives out the command of our Lord, who says, “Go into all the world, preach the Gospel and make obedient disciples.”

4. A church who readily participates in a well-ordered, effective missions program that reaches more people in more places with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. A church who gives enthusiastically and generously beyond our tithe, and who increases that graciousness as the blessing of God gives promised return.

6. A church who continues to multiply in numbers of wholly devoted followers of Jesus, by adding to the existing church family and also by planting new churches.

7. A church who enjoys seeing the restoring power of God heal and make whole, souls that have been broken or wounded by failure, addiction, sin or poverty.

8. A church who sees a new generation of children reared on the fundamentals and principles of the Word and the Spirit, who will become leaders and influencers among the youth of the next decade.

9. A church consciously raising up and releasing a new generation of youth to be strong, Spirit-empowered, godly, ministering adults.

10. A church who is learning and growing by participating in small groups with a wide curriculum of Bible, church and life courses offered in the church and Net Church.

11. A staff of able and godly Pastors and leaders and interns who know who they are, what their call and abilities are, who work in harmony and unity with each other and the church.

12. A church who is known and respected for the development of leaders who will be able to succeed and expand the work of those who have gone before.

13. A church that meets in multiple locations throughout the Tri-Cities, and province, pastored by campus pastors who are united by a singular vision and order of operation.

14. A self-supporting web-church that reflects the values and vision of Northside Church, but reaches and disciples those otherwise not connected to a local congregation.

15. A church who records and produces videos that will be regularly used in multiple campuses and house churches both locally and world-wide.

16. A church that is multi-cultural and intercultural; that recognizes and celebrates the beauty and colour of various nationalities, traditions, languages and cultures, yet binds them together as one church.

17. A church that communicates so as to be understood among leaders, with the congregation and with those beyond the circle of the church.

18. A church with properties and buildings that serve the living church with beauty, purpose and practicality.

19. A church that has firm vision and plans for the years to come, but stays in synch with the daily steps directed by the Holy Spirit, our Shepherd and Guide.

20. A church that has a good and godly reputation among other churches, city and provincial leaders and in the community.

Good News Bears

Our church pastors were invited as the special guests to Good News Bears last month. The kids from grades 1-4 treated us like kings - specially made ice cream sundaes and all!

The highlight of our evening was the Master Pastor contest, where we were put on the spot with a variety of questions. Thankfully I was able to retain my "Master Pastor" standing.

Wee College Grad

One of the most exhilerating programs of our church is Wee College. 60 children from 4-6 years old are being discipled to be young men & women rooted in the truth of Scripture.

What a delight to see these bright-eyed children quote over a hundred verses from the Bible at their graduation a couple of weeks ago.

I'm so proud of my daughter Kristy who serves as College President and the team of leaders who work beside her. And of course it was Susan's & my grandchildren Victoria (6) and Jordan (5) who were the stars (in our eyes anyway)!

Good Friday

April 10, 2009 - Durham, Ontario

Last week Susan & I had the privilege of being invited to Durham (a couple of hours north of Toronto) to celebrate the 8oth Anniversary of their Foursquare Church, pastored by Louie & Gladys Foster.

Louie & Gladys have faithfully served God in their hometown for the past 23 years. What a delight to see my past students from Life Bible College again!

Hundreds of guests from other Foursquare Churches filled the hall where we met. It was a wonderful multi-cultural celebration and the turkey dinner made by the ladies of Durham was worth the trip! Here's a picture of the group of pastors who came to bless the Church.

On the way back to Toronto, Susan and I stopped at Mt. Forest, where our church founder in 1918, Aimee Semple McPherson, held one of her first miracle meetings. The town crier, who was also the town drunk, "Monkey Abe" was saved instantly from alcohol addiction and the service began a revival in that town. This is the street corner where young Aimee stood still on a chair for 20 minutes to gather a crowd. When a large number had formed around her, she jumped off the chair and ran to the mission where she was preaching. "Follow me!" she yelled, and they did. When all were inside she commanded the only 2 church members to bolt the door until she was finished preaching!

I was tempted to grab a chair and try it last week, but went to Tim Horton's for a donut and coffee instead.

New Brunswick Adventure

I will never forget the week I spent in New Brunswick—and neither will the people of Alma. Tuesday morning went well. I left Vancouver to lead a Pastor’s Conference, and landed in Moncton at about 8:00 pm EST. After getting my 2008 Impala from Avis, I stopped at Tim Horton’s for a bowl of soup.

Finally on my way about 8:30, I adjusted my rear view mirror. As I did that I accidentally pressed a button, which I soon discovered, connected me to ONSTAR. The lady spoke kindly to me, I apologized for disturbing her and our conversation was over.

At Tim Horton’s I’d pressed into my GPS the address I wanted to find in the small village of Alma on the Bay of Fundy; then checked off “shortest distance”, and I was happily on my way.
It was dark on the road my GPS chose, and cold outside. I’d not brought a winter coat or shoes because I knew my work would be all inside the retreat centre.

About forty minutes into the drive, I realized the route chosen for me by the GPS was a short-cut through an unpaved mountain road, but I was making good time and Beverly (the lady who talks to me on my GPS) seemed to be pleased with the progress I was making.

As the snow got thicker on the road, I did wonder where I had gotten myself; and before I knew it everything was white under my car and all around me. I hadn’t passed another car or seen a house in the past thirty minutes—and by then I was carefully balancing on a snow track not more than ten feet wide. But I couldn’t turn around—I knew I would get stuck on the soft snow on either side. I certainly didn’t want to get caught in the middle of nowhere in sub-zero temperatures.

I was only fourteen kilometers from my destination when the unthinkable happened. My front tire slipped into a hole, and before I could move, the car had sunk to the frame. I was immovably stuck, at least fourteen kilometers from the nearest street light or human help.

Turning on my Blackberry, I saw that there was zero reception. My hosts were expecting me in thirty minutes, but I had no way of contacting them and no way of moving.

Then I remembered ONSTAR. I pressed the button and within seconds a kindly lady named Kathy, from Ontario, was on the line. We chatted about my dilemma for a while, then Kathy worked at getting me a tow truck. By 11:00 or so she’d found one about forty kilometers away, and had also contacted Susan as well as my hosts in Alma. She was able to pinpoint my position within fifteen feet!

By 12:00 pm, Kathy told me neither the tow truck nor the RCMP could get near me. I’d gotten onto a road only used by snowmobiles, with four feet of snow underneath me.

Meanwhile my friends in Alma had woken up the local Snowplow driver and he’d gotten the Fire Chief out of bed to come fourteen kilometers on his snowmobile to rescue the dumb city boy from BC. Unfortunately Dave, the Fire Chief was blockaded by a stubborn moose for several minutes, so he didn’t arrive till about 2:00 am. Finally he pulled up beside me and told me to hop on. It was a sight to see, me in my spring season duds, holding desperately onto my suitcase with one hand and briefcase with the other, hoping to God, I wouldn’t fall off the big machine and embarrass myself further. Dave drove very fast over the bumpy snow, but we made it.
Finally we pulled up to the tow truck and the RCMP officer who greeted me, “Now I’ve got to write you a ticket for not having a helmet!” (He was joking with New Brunswick humour.)
George, the tow truck guy was concerned because another man had frozen to death a while ago after walking from his truck that was stuck around the same spot. He also told me that ONSTAR didn’t usually work from that location.

By 3:30 am they got me safely to the home where I was staying. My car would have to be hauled out by a tractor later that morning. All my friends were waiting with a week’s supply of GPS, moose and BC gringo jokes at my expense. By daylight the Foursquare preacher from the west was the talk of the local Post Office.

There’s probably lots of lessons I learned that night, but one to remember is to always know if the person you are following in life really knows where he is going! Wandering off the right path can be very dangerous!

Trip to Toronto

February 22, 2009

I spent my 62nd Birthday in Toronto this year, and had an inspirational visit with hundred of Foursquare friends.

On Saturday morning I met a couple of Indian brothers about churches in Toronto and India.

In the afternoon, the Ontario Churches rented a large facility to celebrate what they call Februworship - a grand celebration of many ethnic churches. We sang, danced and celebrated for 3 hours together. I loved it all but was mesmerized by the children who did a mime in the dark. With their white gloves they spelled out the story of our salvation.

On Sunday, February 22, I spoke at Praise Christian Family Church, a Foursquare Filipino congregation. I can't think of a happier more hospitable family to spend my birthday with. And there's always a feast that follows church (the picture below is just my dinner!).

I shared my birthday with Pastor Gina's twin 19 year-old daughters (theirs was on Feb. 21st).

One of the happiest birthday greetings I received this year was from my dear friend Papa Nazem Demian.

Nazem adopted me as his spiritual son several years ago. With his greeting, Papa Nazem sent a picture he'd had taken when I'd published my first book, Life Journey. The church put on a party for me in 2000. I was so honored to have my dad (who passed away in 2007) and Papa Nazem there to encourage me. Here's the picture we had taken that memorable day.