Back to EPIC U of Alberta

At the University of Alberta ( my alma mater) it was a pleasure hanging out with Matt Glombick and his excellent interns Aaron and Juliana. As I said to Aaron ( referring to a conversation I had with him a year ago), he could have simply taken an internship in a regular church. It would have been nowhere near as exciting as this one. The name of the church/club/ministry ( it is a project even for them to define it) is EPIC : referring to the grand story God is unfolding into which we are invited to be a part. It is more than a cool name. It defines the vision and the philosophy of ministry of this group. Check it out HERE



Here is the idea. It would be a ‘regular life’ church that sought to integrate church with the way people actually live their lives in the classroom and in the market place. The idea would be that it would intersect people where they actually live, rather than expecting people to extract themselves from their lives and live a parallel but unconnected spiritual life alongside of their regular life.

 They had a time of debriefing. Matt was concerned that this term they did not have the same type of interesting seekers that made last term so enjoyable. Aaron referred to cycles and seasons and suggested that it may be a time to go deeper with the students.


We then met with the student leadership team, which also included a seasoned ministry couple who play the important role of spiritual parents to these young people. Having taken a year out of regular ministry, they found Epic a refreshing change . Part of the discussion revolved around whether they were a church or not. That flowed from another discussion regarding “What is a church”. My own take on the subject, when asked for my input, was that in campus ministry I tend to see church as a Verb. Rather than seeing it in static categories, I tend to ask whether we are “doing church” or “churching” on campus. Are we being church to this campus? The details will follow.



Their Tuesday night main gathering is at Deweys Pub, in the billiard and meeting room attached to it. It is a great venue for the relaxed conversational EPIC style of gathering.


They repeat the Epic Creed. This was to be a Wiki service which means that everyone has the opportunity to add something to it. Sort of the model of 1 Cor 14 where everyone came prepared to bring something. The idea is that church is a place to gather and to connect with the Big Story , the Meta Narrative which is in the process of being written. There were some songs which were led by someone with a guitar that helped focus people and create a context of worship. Several people shared. There was a guest presenter, who represented IJM ( Internation Justice Mission) which is a leading organization in setting people ( mostly young women) free from slavery. IJM is a natural partner for CMC in that it puts feet to many of our convictions. When she was done, I was offered the opportunity to share the message Dave gave me to share with his generation before he departed.


The service ended with people hanging out and visiting. There is obviously a good sense of community about EPIC , even with the enormous pressures of school that militates against it. There is a lot more that I could say about it. I always appreciate the way Matt empowers his staff and students, while giving them appropriate leadership.

Matt is very strong on building bridges. In addition to being the pastoral advisor to the EPIC Student Club he is the Pentecostal Chaplain to the University of Alberta. He builds bridges wherever he goes.



He takes his role as the head of the U of A Chaplaincy Association seriously. They are in the middle of developing a MOU ( memorandum of understanding) with the U of A Administration that lays out the parameters of their responsibilities and privileges. For the Administration the chaplains provide an accountable and stabilizing influence to interface with the various “spiritual” campus clubs and organizations. They also provide services to the broader community in matters of pastoral concern. That would include functions like funerals, crisis intervention and grief recovery.

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.

Launch 2010 Humber Embassy

September 20th was the Fall Launch of The Embassy at Humber College http://www.embassyhumber.com/. Trevor and the leadership teams' hard work paid off with a great gathering of students for worship and teaching.

Trevor was straightforward and humorous. Referring to The Embassy's strategy of giving away thousands of bags of popcorn, he talked to the group about being people of generosity. Generosity is far more than a growth strategy. It actually reflects the nature of the One they follow.

He mentioned that there were many people who had difficulty getting their minds around the notion of something being given for free. They simply didn't know how to receive a free gift. One of the reasons was due to the modern belief that 'there must be a catch'. For good reason ( Trevor gave some funny personal examples ) there is a general air of suspicion that nobody could be giving things away without an agenda.

 Another key point, Trevor raised was the old adage..."Actions speak louder than words…". He gave numerous examples of how people will give more substance to nonverbal or paraverbal communcation than they will to the actual words.

It was good food for thought. Once he finished, the group broke up for discussion in smaller groups with refreshments.

It was a good evening....

University Chaplaincy Dr. Ken

I just met with Dr Ken Stupak who is the longest standing chaplain at the UofM and a veritable fixture in the organizational life of the University. Ken runs what I describe as a ‘responsive’ chaplaincy , where he makes himself available to the need and timetables of his students. This means that his days are often unpredictable because he is never sure what is going to come up.

When I asked him what energizes him in what he does, he immediately answered “The students”. He has build long term relationships with many of them. Many of the students have since been dispersed around the world where no doubt they are sharing some of the fruit of Ken’s work in their lives.

Ken was happy that their first Chewy Chewsday,(a monthly event run by the combined chaplaincies where students can come, make a club sandwich and connect), was a tremendous success. It was overflowing. Ken has tremendous repoire with his fellow chaplains.

From my perspective, having been a pastor, chaplain and the founder of campus club groups, I can see how each of these models of ministry can complement each other. Ken, as a chaplain, falls under the Student Services - which is part of the U adminstration. While they do not pay his salary and dictate his work, they do make room for him at the Table to be a voice and to represent the faith perspective in the student services programming.  He gave me several examples of how this has worked in the past. He is able to influence the institution as a whole.

Tammy, in starting up a campus group has another level of ministry. As a student herself, she relates to UMSU which is the student union and connects to students at more of a peer level. This too has wonderful strengths. Having balanced chaplaincy and campus group hats at the same time on my large head, I can see with some clarity how each type of ministry can augment the other.

In fact, it works that way with Seth Greenham at Simon Fraser University and with Matt Glombick at the U of Alberta, to name a couple. I am excited to see the possibilities of what can happen at the U of Manitoba. The way we work at Campus Mission Canada is in the realm of Complementarity rather than Competitiveness. It is just so, well, biblical....

Starting Segue.... The University of Manitoba

I am out in Winnipeg right now, meeting with Mission Canada's own Tammy Junghans who is launching a new student group at the U of Manitoba called Segue. It really plays to Tammy’s strengths. I may have said elsewhere that if we were to use a movie plot as an indicator, Tammy would be the ‘cool aunt’ in the life of the young adult. She has experience, wisdom and sensitivity. She has a huge heart for young people. In fact, she just loves people.



It is exciting for her to be on campus this year as a student. She loves taking in that part of the campus experience and networking with people of all kinds of backgrounds – not as a religious professional but as a student. So Segue has that feel about it. It is not about events or programming. It is all about networking, relationships and a desire to act in ways that are helpful and relevant to the university community. She is developing a relationship with Tom’s Shoes in order to help provide shoes for the countless people in other lands who do not have the opportunity to own any.


I had the privilege of hanging out with some of the students she was meeting with during the noon hour. You will see Tammy ( in the sunglasses ) along with Melissa and Vanessa. Others came and went during our time in the warm September sun. It was a killer day. The weather later changed for the (much) worse.

U of M has enormous potential. Tammy has worked very hard at building bridges with other Christian leaders on campus, some of whom have been extraordinarily helpful and encouraging. She has a sincere desire to complement what others are doing and to bring the love of Christ into the UofM in ways that flow out of her passions and personality. It has been a privilege to be part of the process of seeing her  released to do it....

The Embassy at The Turret WLU 2010

Out for the September launch of The Embassy. Again overwhelming…. Special thanks to Joe and to Katie, Ev and Hannah for remembering Dave to me.…..



This year The Embassy is meeting at Wilfrid Laurier University, across the street from the University of Waterloo. They are meeting in the totally renovated Turret Nightclub on the fourth floor of the Student Centre. What a great venue.

After typically dynamic Embassy worship, the Embassy pastor,Joe Wahba, opened his series on the book of Acts where he began by talking about the truth of the Resurrection. Joe waded right into the heart of the matter, isolating key issues. If the ‘resurrection’ seems strange, it tells us as much about ourselves as it does about resurrection.

Joe Wahba

The core issue was not if it seems true ( worldview) but whether or not it actually is true. Did it happen? Borrowing heavily from one of CMC’s 'patron saints', N.T. Wright he challenged students to change the way they approached the entire issue. It was intelligent and engaging... Good stuff... Solid.


Afterwards, there was Pizza along with opportunities to sign up for Red Frogs or involvement in small groups etc. The turret had all sorts of cool side rooms that were perfect for hospitality. It was a great start to what looks like a great year.

Lift Launch 2010

On Sunday evening, Sept `12th I enjoyed the privilege of taking in the September launch service of Lift Church, at McMaster University, Hamilton ON. Living nearby,I have the opportunity to serve in an adjunct capacity on their leadership team this year and we are looking forward to what this coming year is going to bring. Check out   http://www.liftchurch.ca/ 


With founding pastor Dave Slater moving up the road to Parkview Church in Guelph, Lift has been working through a pastoral search process throughout the summer. Since the successful candidate has not yet been announced, I cannot quite go public on him yet, but there is a great deal of anticipation in the ranks regarding the announcement.

What the shift in leadership has caused is the student leadership has stepped up its involvement a notch or two. This is nowhere more apparent than in the leadership involvement of Robin Wallar, who is now a graduate student in the faculty of Engineering Physics and a shining product of the first four years of ministry of Lift.

At their first service, they had a fine worship set led by my young friend, John Balt, and a mingling time where they could grab refreshments. Seeing as it is set in the Student Pub, it is a great venue for mixing and mingling with food. Dozens of first year students signed up for ‘Simple Church’, which is the small group dimension of Lift. Each group has a specific focus. It could be organized around the study of a book or fellowship or whatever, but they each have a different flavor and emphasis.

Then the teaching began. Robin taught on ‘What are we here for..” Great stuff. He spoke to the students right at their level. Total relevance. He was brilliant by just being himself. I think that the students hung on pretty well every word he said because he lived in the same world they did.

Then Lift did what they do so well…. Hospitality. It was time for hotdogs, chips and drinks. People hung around and feasted. Lift happened. It is going to be an exciting year.

If you read my Lift Blog at the same time last year, you would understand why this evening was a bit hard for me. Some of my sweetest memories are from a year ago , seeing my son Dave’s big body abandoned in worship. Jon Balt told me that for him, as a worship leader, seeing Dave engage in worship was the equivalent of ‘about thirty people’. If you knew him, you would know what we mean.

Dave loved the fellowship and worship at Lift. It was important to him. It is certainly important to me.....

It's Raining Red Frogs

OK, we are back in the thick of it. For anyone who has anything to do with the school calendar, September is the real new year. This is no more true than for campus ministry.

Let me bring you up to speed..... I have a bit of ground to cover!

I have had several meetings with Roy Olende, the Canadian director of the Australian campus phenomena Red Frogs. http://www.redfrogs.com.au/universities/canada  Just over a year ago, Roy ( a site pastor of Central Church, St. Catharines, hailing from Kenya via South Africa) launched Red Frogs at Brock University and has a fistful of amazing stories to tell. They have not only built an incredible rapport with the university, but they have become quite literally, the "Life of the Party".

It would take too long to tell its history and all of that right here.

Roy Olende

Here are some notes I scribbled about what I heard at the first meeting…

I am not going to make an effort to make them coherent. Roy speaks with a blast of contagious enthusiasm. I was just trying to capture a few of the highlights of how he made it work at Brock. It's like using a teacup to capture a firehose. If you want more and better information, email him directly at royolende@centralcommunitychurch.ca . I hope this serves as a bit of a primer.

It opens doors because:

• It is servant hearted.

• It is respectful.

• It is bridge building

• It’s FUN

Red Frogs.

• Starts through a local church. The ultimate goal is connections.

• It has built up momentum quickly.

• Low key connection with the church but it is solid. ( The association is not announced but it often comes up in conversations )

Began with about 15 people. They run a training session. Looking for relational students.

Have to be able to build bridges with non Christians. Need to know how to connect. Do not bring the sheltered people to be the front line people.

But we do need people who are servant oriented to help out behind the scenes. They enable others to have the conversations.

It needs both kinds of people. The front line servants and those who support them behind the scenes…

Biggest expense is getting the stuff to share with people. They use the Red Frog candy ( it is a popular Australian candy )at the beginning. It is very very popular. Looking provide them here. As it is, Timbits are the deal over here….

Frosh week big push

• Arrive at residences and villages in order to clean dorms.

• Show up with a six pack of Donuts

Random acts of donuts

• Random acts of cleaning
• Random acts of pancakes.

Provide support for events that residences put on. Be helpful...
 
Eg speed dating event at the residence. Can spice up the events. Help people throw it. Stay and talk and build relationships.

• Roy speaks at the Student Union and brings a dozen donuts or two.

• Serving and building relationships. Food, Fun and Free.

They approached the right people. Set up a meeting with Student Services.

They were clear and forthright regarding who they were and what they wanted to do in serving the student community. They have made continual efforts to ensure that communication lines are kept open.

They worked with the Residence Life Director. The RLD was appreciative of the donuts and the services provided by RF to the Residences.

RF shows up at parties and creates Alcohol free zones with refreshments and people to talk to. They are called Hydration Stations.

RF helps other groups put on events….

In June,George Werner and I met with Roy’s lead pastor, Bill Markham to talk about how we can synergize the efforts of Red Frogs and Campus Mission Canada. It has great promise. It matches what we are about and is a dynamic way of putting feet and hands to our vision for “irresistible loving service”. In fact, Red Frogs is “hospitality on steroids”.

At the end of August, I met with Roy, Joe Wahba of The Embassy and the associate director of RF , Brandon, who was in the area as part of a globetrotting tour to tell the RF story and help equip churches to replicate it on their own soil. Roy’s success on Brock is a brilliant example of a Church Based campus ministry and proof that RF is able to work in various countries. Joe is implementing RF this year at The Embassy and is really pumped about the energy and focus that it is bringing to their outreach at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. RF is a big part of their outreach this year…

More to come...

Desert Conference... part 2

As we arrived at the Chai Alpha (XA) conference,  we were part of  a big crowd of nearly 700. However, soon that crowd became a group of people. We had the privilege of meeting many of them and getting to know pieces of their stories. Further, God used some of them to touch our lives. This is the Holy Spirit element that I appreciate. They don’t make a big show of being ‘spirit-filled’. They just live it. It is the intangible element that puts the whole thing on fire.
As I told Karen before we left, I love hanging with these people. Just like our gang in Mission Canada, they actually are the New Breed. They are smart, courageous, creative and spiritually grounded. It shouldn't be surprising. They certainly don’t do campus ministry for fame or fortune. They do it because it is one of the most challenging and rewarding ventures on planet earth

XA is an intergenerational family, ranging from people older than my venerable self to those just graduating from university. This is not to mention the students, themselves.  XA has distilled wisdom from over forty years of university ministry, some of which is simply some of the most dynamic and powerful ministry that anyone would see anywhere. It was great to just soak it all in….

 Here are a few thoughts I scribbled into a notebook--- that I have no intention of cleaning up grammatically:

• They are Intentional about networking and resourcing. 

• They are generous in Sharing their expertise and strengths. 

• It was encouraging to see how the task groups they would strike up actually got stuff done. 

• After task groups met………..Ministries were created. Material was published. Events happened. Numbers were recorded. All levels would pitch in to make Chai Alpha continually bigger and better. I am hopeful that we can share in the fruits of their hard work. 

• They have a similar denominational structure to ours.

• While we might have more flexibility in the models we employ, they do what they do with excellence.

• I look forward to a strategic partnership between  XA and Campus Mission Canada. This could happen at a personal and relational level . It can also happen at a more formal level where we share resources and events.

• The XA Great Lakes Region is close by. We can do things together….

A Desert Experience... literally.

There we were in the desert. I mean the Desert..... actually, Chai Alpha’s national campus ministry conference in Phoenix, AZ. This past week, we averaged nearly 115 degrees in the shade. It is a heat such as I have never before experienced in the outdoors. But, dry heat is actually an acquired taste. I was growing to like it. Having previously exchanged emails with our host, Dennis Gaylor ( see picture below ), the director of Chai Alpha, he would intersperse his correspondence with a question: “Did I mention that it was hot?” He didn’t want anyone to be surprised. It was Shhhmokin…! One of the speakers fired off a bunch of “hot jokes” to the crowd. “It was so hot!” “How hot was it?” “It was so hot that I saw two trees fighting over a dog.”

Karen and I were taken under wing by Dennis and his wife, Barbara. We had the privilege of spending an evening with them, eating room service and talking for hours Twenty years ago they lost their vivacious eighteen year old daughter, Jennifer, to a drunk driver. They shared with us their journey of grief which helped to validate our own. We are deeply grateful for the time they spent with us as we unpacked our story and described our own peaks and valleys. There are certain things that only those who have undertaken the journey can understand or share, and they gave us a special gift in their time, love and prayers.


As the director of Chai Alpha, the campus ministry arm of the Assemblies of God, Dennis has played a key role in building a multi dimensional ministry that is one of the most dynamic and potent student movements in America. As Dr. Rick Richardson , author of Evangelism Outside the Box and Associate Professor of Evangelism at Wheaton college said in his plenary address to the conference, Chai Alpha is a combination of spiritual power, biblical fidelity and cultural relevance. Often groups or movements tend to align under one banner or the other. Those which do are often intolerant of each other ( he gave examples). Biblically, the NT models an integration of all of three ( think: Apostle Paul ). Chai Alpha is one movement in which all of these elements are in operation.

Odds and Sods...

Even though it is the 'offseason' for much of campus ministry, there is a lot to be done. During this time, our campus missionaries work at consolidating their support base, getting some restorative r & r , and work towards launching again in September. In many ways, with the traffic flow that is inherent within post secondary institutions, a campus ministry whether it is a club, a church or even a chaplaincy ministry needs to 'relaunch' every year. It needs to approach each September as a fresh opportunity that will set the course of the years to follow. As Trevor Gingerich reports, at Humber College, it feels as if he needs to 'relaunch' each and every term.  One thing is for sure, there is no opportunity to rest on last year's laurels. The image that comes to mind is one of a fast moving stream. If you want to steer your canoe, you have to paddle hard.

A quick note here, to be developed later. We are starting a new website. It has great promise. Stay tuned...

Some good things are on the horizon, each of which I will unpack at some time or another. This is only a part of what I could report on. There is just so much going on...!

First, it is exciting to see the development of Segue University Ministry, a student club at the University of Manitoba which is being launched by Tammy Junghans in September. This club will complement the chaplaincy ministry of Dr. Ken Stupak who has provided over two decades of ministry to the U of M.

Second, we are presently working with a very impressive candidate to spearhead the outreach to the campuses of downtown Montreal, in conjunction with Evangel Church.   Evangel  is led by Jonathan Smith, who has a deep desire to see the student population reached for Christ.

Third, Portico Church, here in Mississauga, is looking seriously at reaching out to the nearby University of Toronto at Mississauge (UTM). UTM provides a variety of challenges that Portico is well positioned to respond to. I am not at liberty to discuss their plans, at present, but it is gratifying to me that UTM is right in the crosshairs of their outreach vision.

At Carleton University, Jonathan Hutchison has been released by his church to spearhead a new student ministry. Having done the preliminary work of connecting with the area churches and pulling together a representative steering committee, Jonathan is committed to seeing an indigenous expression of Christian community emerge at Carleton that enables students to grow in Christ and to add value to Carleton through  acts of loving compassion.

I have had the opportunity to have some recent conversations with some of our people in the field, like Matt Glombick at U of A, Paul Quesnele at Algoma University and Joe Wahba at the University of Waterloo (I am looking forward to speaking at The Embassy's ( U of W) leadership retreat this coming weekend). There are a bunch more to come.  I am reallllly impressed with the quality of people we have on the campuses and dream of the day when we can fully utilize their expertise.

Anyway, let me share a video clip with you. This is from the University of Calgary, with the chaplaincy ministry of Kelly Johnson. See for yourself. It's great stuff....

U of Calgary UCM 2008

MC Campus Ministries Video

Before I link you to the Mission Canada Campus Ministry video, let me give an explanation and some credit where it is due. First, this video is actually a report on our Priority One initiative in which we had endeavoured to begin eight new campus ministry initiatives by the end of 2010. We dubbed it 8 X 10. We are in fact well on our way to that goal.

The vid is a bit of a team effort. First, our creative director guy, Shoubert David ( yes, that's his mug in the picture ), put out a request to the campus ministry gang in the field to send in photos that could be used in a video. For the most part, they came through. For the most part.....  anyway, I wrote up a script which George helped edit. We found that it was a tad wordy, so it was important to strip it all down to the bare essentials in order to fit into a three minute track. 

Shoubert took me outdoors to shoot the talking head sequence. It was in a busy park with curious bystanders rubbernecking to see what I was up to. Then he took all of the bits and pieces and put them through his trusty Mac computer. Our office manager, Erynne Williams provided a 'voice over'.  Another editing discussion with myself and George and then Shoubert pulled it off. It needs to be mentioned that he did it with a whole bunch of General Conference deadlines looming.

Anyway, here it is.  It provides you, the viewer, with a bit of a snapshot of what we are about and what we are up to...

Campus Video 


If you have a PC and find that you can't play the thing, you can download a free VLC player

Free Video Player

Mission Canada Retreat... Axis Cafe, Edmonton

At the tail end of this General Conference, I am in a Mission Canada retreat where George and Eileen are hosting our Mission Canada missionaries in a two day seminar on Fundraising. While the subject matter may not seem particularly sexy, it has been extremely valuable on a number of fronts. First, there was a considerable amount of time spent on working through biblical texts in developing a biblical theology of how money relates to the Kingdom of God and furthering His purposes. It helped us to understand that when we approach people to partner with us in our ministry we are including them in God’s redemptive purposes. It is not about us. It is about God, his purposes and how he intends us to work with Him in concrete ways with what He has given us.


 John Engels ( the BCCM director ) and his wife Nancy led and taught the seminar. They shared  real life examples that we all found instructive and inspiring. . We were challenged to be able to summarize and communicate what we are about and what it is that we do. Not only that... but why people should actually care. As you can imagine, this is a profoundly clarifying exercise.


While I do depend on the support and partnership of individuals and churches to make my role as national campus ministry coordinator possible, I found that working through the material was about much more than finances. It was about vision, faith, core motivations, communication, relationships and attention to details. Finances is simply one (albeit a necessary) part of a greater picture. I attest to the value of the exercises in that I feel compelled to both spend time in prayer and to attend to my ‘to do’ list.


It makes me deeply grateful to be where I am and doing what I am doing. It is not by right. It is by grace. ``

General Conference 3

Ok, more on General Conference.  We just finished the morning session of the second day where we were addressed by Dr Ivan Satyavrata, from Kolkata, India. He is an amazing combination. he earned his Th.M at my alma mater, Regent College and then his Ph.D from Oxford. In his native India, he has been a frontline street minister, author, a Bible College President, pastor of a large urban church and overseer to over 350 churches in the surrounding region.

So, here in brief form is an outline of what he brought to share with us. It was so good to hear his perspective on world missions speaking as a true leader of the church worldwide.

Quoting the words of the Great Commission, Ivan focused on the critical and tragically overlooked word ‘as’. Our failure to recognize the significance of this term has led to fundamentally flawed views and practices of mission.


Briefly, he outlined three flawed views or paradigms that have influenced and shaped how the church has done mission in the past two centuries.

Namely:

1. Colonization Key words: Subdue, conquer, subjugate.

2.Commercialization Key Words: Efficiency, ‘bang for the buck’, ‘souls per dollar’.

3. Corporatization Key words: Marketing, packaging,



In developing a biblical approach to mission, in other words “As the Father has sent me, so I send you…” Ivan gave us three key words or concepts modeled in the life of Jesus.

Intimacy. All mission is rooted in intimacy with God. Without this it becomes drudgery. It is powerless.

Servanthood. Mission is laying one’s life down in costly service for another. A memorable quote as he distilled an interaction between E.Stanley Jones and Gandhi. “ The Basin and Towel will prove irresistible.”

Friendship. With God and with each other. “That we love one another” . There is no room for a competitive, divisive spirit. He underscored the value of being part of a ‘Fellowship’ of churches and being in an intentional relationship.

General Conference 2

I wasn’t planning on giving a blow by blow account of the General Conference. However, last night was a ‘one of’. I have never seen anything like it, nor will I be likely to before my time is up on this earth. Not even mentioning the solid worship and inspiring free form artist, let me tell you about it.

Our General Superintendent, David Wells, is a special leader. People have long known that there was ‘something about him’. Before he took the post of GS, he was the District Superintendent in the BC/Yukon district which he led with skill and vision. Tonight, he gave us a window into what went into his own personal development.

David’s vision for our Fellowship is distilled in his phrase ‘Rooted in Relationship’. It is a bit of a mantra around our office. Tonight, he took out a bold highliner and underscored what it means.

Since the conference was in the town where he grew up, and since he is the boss, he was able to orchestrate an truly educational and inspiring event. Starting with his aunt who took him to church as an eight year old boy, he brought up onto the stage people who had a role in his spiritual development over the years. Former Sunday school teachers, pastors, mentors, his friends and finally his parents and his wife, Susan, were each honoured in turn.

He used each of them to underscore what he meant when he talks about ‘Rooted in Relationship’. He took it out of the realm of cliché and drove home its meaning and relevancy. Home run, David!

General Conference 1

I am at the 2010 General Conference of the PAOC, representing Mission Canada Campus Ministries. While I am not one for conferences, and quite frankly was not looking forward to this one, I must say that I am glad to be here. There is something powerful that happens as people who are ‘difference makers’ for the Kingdom congregate to express their collective unity and their recognition of the Lordship of Christ. Whether it is in the local church, the home, the market place, overseas, the campus or wherever the gospel is made known, these people are making Jesus known. For all of our human weakness and imperfection, it is a privilege to count myself among them.

Thanks to George Werner and team, Mission Canada has the coolest booth in the conference. More importantly, it is ideally placed to meet people and have discussions with them about things that matter.

Having helped set up the booth last night ( Monday the 10 ) it was gratifying to see the Shaw Convention Centre, in Edmonton fill up with hundreds of participants to worship and to hear a powerful message from George Wood, who is the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, which is our American counterpart. When I say powerful, let me say what I mean. It is only partly about delivery. It was a great biblical exposition of Leah, one of the matriarchs of the Bible. Dr. Woods developed a character study of Leah in distinction to her sister Rachel. It illustrated the core point that God works in ways we simply do not understand and that he uses the seemingly insignificant things of this earth to accomplish works of eternal worth. He combined it with personal stories that hit the ball out of the proverbial park. Ringing in our ears, was the challenge.. what are you doing right now that will matter in a hundred years ( let alone eternity )?

Back to Ottawa ( again... )

Well, it was back to the Capital City to join Jonathan Hutchison as he made a presentation to the senior pastors and senior associate pastors of the PAOC churches in the Ottawa section. Chaired by Brian Egert from Orleans, it was a productive and stimulating meeting.

First, we were treated to a moving and inspiring devotional by Major Pierre Bergeron of the CF, who had been the head chaplain of several missions to Afghanistan. I could not do his words justice here, but suffice it to say that I was impressed that we have people of this quality in our Fellowship who not only represent the PAOC but the reality of the Christian faith to those who serve and defend us overseas.

Jonathan spoke with clarity and passion as he presented the need and the challenge of Carleton University in particular and the campuses of the Capital City area in general. Carleton has over 23,000 students that represent 147 different countries. Given all Christian ministries outside of the Catholic fold, there are less than 100 students involved in Christian community or outreach on campus. That is in the area of .4%. 
Actually, as Jonathan was speaking, I wished I had a tape recorder. I would have taped his presentation and put it to music and pictures. It was that good.

He has already been conducting weekly prayer walks on campus. He has been doing his research and building relationships. He has connected with all of the other campus ministry groups, who are only too happy to see him on campus.  He has been developing a local advisory network which is able to help provide accountability, direction and support. His students have also applied for student club status, recognizing that a club that employs a Spirit filled approach and that is people sensitive and compassionate is well overdue on campus.

It was made clear by Jonathan's pastor, John Raymer of Peace Tower Church, that Jonathan was being released a day and a half per week to be a gift to the campus and the broader church. This was not a desire to grow PTC as much as it is a desire to shine a light in a dark place.

The point of the meeting was to inform the pastors about the intentions and progress of the ministry initiative. It was not to spring a pre-done plan on them. It was to engage them in the process and to ask for their permission, if not involvement. I think that it was successful on that front. Brian Egert, the sectional presbyter, was very helpful in reminding the group that the purpose was not to lay out an elaborate plan at this point, but to let everyone know that Jonathan is dreaming and planning and is concerned that everyone knows what is going on. It was agreed that he would produce something in writing that answered the questions around planning, procedure and funding.

More to come...