Humber Fall Launch

September 21, 2009 had been in my calendar since the first day of my joining the Mission Canada team. It was the date for the September launch of the Embassy at Humber-Guelph. So, George, Jaz and I had marked it our calendars and made our way out to the campus of Humber College – one of the largest colleges in the province in order to take in the event.


It was a year ago, October 6, 2008 that Trevor Gingerich held his first public service in the student services centre. Being commissioned to start a ministry on the Humber campus, he hooked up with a student group called Lifeline, a long standing Christian group on campus that had been planted by the Southern Baptist Convention but which by last year was without any affiliation. They were a group looking for a leader and Trevor was a leader looking for a group. The rest is history.  For more information check out  http://www.embassyhumber.com/.

Lifeline had built a great deal of goodwill in the college. They had thrived where all of the major parachurch organizations had failed. And they did it without any non-student involvement for nearly two years. Trevor brought his experience as an intern at the Embassy in Waterloo with him ( not to mention his killer guitar chops) in starting up a public evening meeting. The public gathering added a whole new level to the group and the leadership both he and Rebecca, his wife, provided proved to be invaluable.

Anyway, the Student Services centre had just gone through massive renovations throughout the spring and summer. It was not clear whether it would be ready in time for the Embassy Humber launch. However, ready it was, and it was looking great. Not only was it nicely set up with chairs and tables, but people could sit at tables in the adjoining cafeteria and take in the sights and sounds of the service. Further, there were people who lingered on the mezzanine above the stage and who took in big chunks of the service before wandering away. Last year, there were eavesdroppers like this who ended up  becoming regulars on the main floor.

Because Humber is a commuter campus, and students have to remain on campus in order to take in an evening event, they started the service at 6:30. They are meeting in this public format every second week.

They began with some great music played  by a  full band. They had paid attention to sound quality and it was clear and strong without being overly loud.

For his message, Trevor  gave an overview of the theme of the series for the fall. He will be looking at the Church  and drawing out elements of what real Christian community actually is,  from the book of Acts. In order to do this, he has to directly address misconceptions and apprehensions connected to the word "Church" in the cultural mind. 

Interestingly,  in giving away free bags of microwave popcorn for the clubs days,  members of his group were taken aback when other students were reluctant to take a handout because they were convinced the club would use it to convert them. They saw the popcorn as a part of a subversive plot. So, Trevor put the question out there and added examples from his own life where people, including Christians, were disingenous. I thought he did a particularly good job of handling the question with sincerity and sensitivity. It was disarming - largely because he came across as, well, real.

They broke for refreshments - a generous spread of edible snack items, tea and Free Trade Coffee. They then broke into discussion groups, led by the student leadership ( in the snazzy black Embassy T-shirts ) where they wrapped their heads around what they would like to see/do for the coming year. There was a high degree of enthusiasm and the crowd was nowhere near dispersing by the time I finally had to leave. The table format will be a part of upcoming meetings.

Elise Teeninga, our MC summer intern  and 4th year student sparkplug for the Embassy ( she is the one in the black T shirt in the above photo ( sorry about the quality) ) was pumped because there were all sorts of student leaders from the Student Union and from other clubs that just happened to be meeting behind the windows just above the stage. They were all exposed to the music and preaching in one way or another.

Anyway, Lifeline-Embassy @ Humber is up and running this year. We'll keep you posted.