A bit of history..

I arrived with James Perraux at Langley Christian Life Assembly for the BC/Yukon district’s conference entitled Live Out Loud, at the beginning of October. It was great to see familiar faces, albeit with a few more lines and grey ( if any )hairs. Travelling to BC is a bit of a pilgrimage for me. Especially due to the fact that I spent eighteen years of my life in Vancouver,including fifteen years of full time ministry. All but a few of those years involved campus ministry.  There is a big part of me on the West Coast and it is hard to describe what it is like to reencounter myself back in my familiar haunts. I got to hang out with some people who have played a large part in my life.

Halos?

Let me share a picture of interest In the middle is my previous associate pastor at Point Grey Community Church, Greg Laing. He was also the associate of Lawrence Rae (left) , who succeeded me as pastor. Greg is now the lead pastor. I planted the church and pastored it from 1989 to 1997. This is the first time that we have been able to get a picture of the three of us in the same place at the same time. How about that halo effect

Greg  Lawrence Jeff Robb Rod

The second picture includes a couple more generations. First, there is Rod Bitterman ( right), who took a chance on hiring me , in 1982, out of Regent College at  Vancouver Christian Life Centre (downtown -West End) as its Young Adults pastor ( continuing ministry I had already been involved in for the three years I was involved in the church while going to Regent)  and who released me part-time to begin campus ministry in 1985 and plant Point Grey Community Church four years later. As well as Lawrence and Greg, there is Jeff Wong, who has been on staff at PGCC and is planting an innovative urban church called More Than 12  . As Jeff was sharing notes with one of his team who was part of VCLC in the old days, he says that it is more than clear to him that we share the same DNA, even though the look and structure are different.

 This actually has a tie into campus ministry. Rod Bitterman believed in university ministry. He was willing to put himself behind me, and Reid Johnson before me, to cover and support ministry on and to the UBC campus and beyond. He did it without any expectation of being able to see the benefit of this investment within the walls of his church. However, the way the Kingdom works, God honored VCLC for its support of campus ministry and subsequently the planting of Point Grey Community Church. Further, Lawrence and Greg have taken the same missional , Kingdom ( Big Picture) view of campus ministry. PGCC has supported campus ministry in a way that is both sacrificial and inspiring.

In the future, I would like to write about this in some depth. The lineage you see in this photo represents a glimpse of a Vision that God started. Thirty years later I can see the ongoing fruit of it in the way it has produced and reproduced disciples and spread the Kingdom far beyond the borders of the local church. On a personal note, I simply cannot understand pastors who feel that campus ministry needs to be about them ,or their church, and who cannot see the bigger picture of what God can do when we lay our agendas down and work for the greater good.

This Season

This fall has shot by as if it were on greased skids. I have had the opportunity to take in a lot of ministries - in Ottawa, Winnipeg, BC, Calgary, Windsor, Michigan, London, ON, Waterloo, Toronto and I have been in discussion with many more.

 As I go, I write - and I was about to publish a big batch of commentary on this blogsite when my previous ( former - now deceased ) computer seized up and fried a hard days work.

 I resonate with the plaintive voice of Richard Harris in the long playing ditty, of a previous era, "McArthur's Park"  " Someone left the cake out in the rain.. And I don't think I can take it because it took so long to make it and I'll never have that recipe, again... O No... (echoes). "

I would have  backed it up, but it happened just before the end of a long day of editing. I was about fifteen minutes of having it all up and posted.  So I am resigned that  if I want to recreate the stuff, it will have to be later :( .

Dave - up close & personal

This was a significant service for a number of reasons.

The previous Sunday, Dave Slater, the founding pastor of Lift spoke to the gathering. A few months ago, Dave had taken a call to Parkview Church in Guelph, about 45 minutes away. That means he moved away....  But he was back and brought  a worship team with him. It was a good night.


Dave had unique gifting as a networker , people person and visionary. With his gifting and experience, he proved to be a hard person to replace.

But, before I continue that narrative, let me give you a quick overview of this gathering.  Sunday nights at Lift church involve a number of elements, all of which are good...

They begin with good worship. They give it the time and focus it deserves.  They often rotate worship leaders, ( some of whom visit from other churches, with the core of the band consisting of Lift students).

There is a time of refreshment between the worship and the message. Allows a time to connect and stretch legs/


Announcments esp Simple Church which are small groups meeting around a main point. It could be guys issues, girl issues, a NT study, service or whatever.

Then the new lead pastor, Andrew Masters, got up to speak. I asked him if was nervous. He answered something to the effect that he had just moved across the country and was expecting a baby any moment. He had other things to be nervous about.

Andrew & Michelle Masters

Enter Andrew Masters.



After a summer long search process , which I was a part of, Andrew floated to the top of the pile. Originally from nearby Brantford, he had gone to school in Eston, SK and started his ministry in Manning, AB a few hours north of Grande Prairie. He spent the last 7 years at a church in Surrey, BC where he was far and away the youngest on staff. Now, at Lift,  he is one of the old guys on the block.


During the interviewing process, what captured us about Andrew was his strong emphasis on community and the track record he had on reaching out to the surrounding community. We found him eager to learn and fired up about finding fresh, creative ways to reach out to the surrounding community, whether on or off of the campus.


He and Michelle are expecting any moment. I am sure that by the time we go to press, the baby girl will have been born and they will be back home.

Andrew with baby Calli born Nov 15.

Anyway, Andrew started by offering a smattering of facts about himself, including his likes and dislikes and areas of expertise and incompetence. It made for good listening.

Things became focused when he underlined the difference that Jesus made in his life and his desire for people to know and experience Him. He presented an encounter with Jesus in a way that was disarming and compelling. It was real without cliché. I have every confidence that people will be able to come to Lift, or bring their friends, and they will be offered a clear contact point with the One who makes all of this possible and worthwhile.


On the back tables, there is something for the body and the soul. There is a book table with titles ranging from Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller to Simply Christian by N.T. Wright. For the body there was simple fare. Hot water for Hot Chocolate or Tea, Pop and coffee along with chips and hotdogs. There are periodic veggies to boot.

At the end of the month, Community Church ( the mother church of Lift, in nearby Waterdown )is providing a Chili feast, with all of the trimmings for the hungry student population.


There is an outreach to the mean streets of Hamilton. They do student tutoring where upper classmen help those behind them.

There is a lot going on at Lift. There are some really sharp young adults that have made it their home. It is going to be exciting over the following months to see just what God is going to do in and through them.

Driving with James...

James Perraux

The following morning, I travelled down to Langley, BC with James Perraux. James, who was previously on staff with Arthur Howard and the staff team at UCM at UBC, is now merging beautifully with Matt and the gang at UBCO. It is pretty clear that he and Matt complement each other in their gifting and skills sets.

The time whizzed by as we covered how he began ministry at UCM, having graduated from Regent College, and just how God had been shaping and preparing him to take the leap into full time campus ministry. There is no doubt that the challenge of fundraising is real, but James has found that God has been faithful to provide for him all the way along.

Having been a key player at UBC which is amongst the strongest campus ministries of any type in the country, James has a lot to bring to the table in Kelowna. He is a people person who also has a strong administrative side. It is a great combination.  I am really looking forward to some great things.

Kelowna Bound

I landed in Kelowna on Sunday, October 3, and spent the afternoon hanging out with Matt and Sandra Duffie. Matt is the chaplain at the University of British Columbia at the Okanagan ( UBCO). Matt and Sandra are a team and it is great to see how she weighs in with the ministry on campus.

Over an early dinner, Matt and I had a deep ecclesiological discussion of what church actually is and what it means to be the church on campus, without taking on the structural obligations of being an institutional church. That is why I am grateful for the flexibility we have at Campus Mission Canada when it comes to defining and responding to our mission to being church without having to “be a church”. As I like to say, church is a noun. I also consider it to be a verb. We do church. We church.



As mentioned in a previous blog last year around this time, Matt is both the director of University Christian Ministry (UCM) at UBCO and the chaplain to the university. He has a strong ministry of presence within the university, among students, faculty and administration. He also works at equipping student leaders and developing reproductive community. I once wore both hats myself, at UBC. Most of my time was with UCM which was student run, although it was strongly ‘staff led’ or guided. The level of connection and engagement with the university community in general and with students in particular simply cannot be matched by a church luring students offsite.


They are both excited and pleased about the addition of James Perraux from the UCM at UBC to their staff. Matt , with tongue in cheek, said that because they were the “lowliest of the low”, they were able to “get the top draft pick”. There is no denying that James ( who I will write about in the next blog) brings a lot to the table. He will make a strong ministry even stronger.


The student ministry, this fall, is off to a solid start. Not only did UCM have a good initial response ( they fed hundreds of students in the first week ) but there was a large group who signed for the retreat occurring on the second weekend. Normally, interrupting your second gathering of the year for a retreat could be momentum killing. However, this was not the case, here. It was , by all reports, a strong time of bonding – even if it was in the rain…

Setting Up in the Atrium

Pre-Meeting Buzz

 

When I hung out before the evening meeting, I found that there were many things that I appreciated, even before the event officially started. The atrium is a particularly nice venue for a service. It is a high, multi-level room complete with tropical plants. The acoustics are well suited for the ‘unplugged’ band – which by the way led worship simply and powerfully. I also enjoyed meeting the students who were friendly and engaged. I was surprised to find out how many of the group were engineering students.

Solid Worship

The room quickly filled up and buzzed with expectancy. Students were putting icing on cupcakes and opening boxes of Timbits. Sandra brought kettles to boil water and prepare coffee and tea.

I had an opportunity to speak to the group for their Sunday evening service. It may come as no surprise to those familiar with my past year that I took the opportunity to introduce them to my son, David, and the last words he posted up on Facebook. They present a challenge to live our lives for Christ.. now. The immediacy and the power of the challenge is hard to describe. It is a message that speaks right to the heart of the student. I had the satisfaction of seeing God work through pain and brokenness in the way that only He can do.

Matt facilitated a question and answer period afterward. The questions were honest and perceptive. The students were sharp and engaged.


There is a strong work, here. It has been well led and it will only get stronger in the coming year.