Thursday at The 'Peg

George Werner and I arose at 4 in the morning to shuffle through Pearson International Airport to fly to the fair metropolis of Winnipeg, home of our Manitoba District Office and of the University of Manitoba. We met with the District Team, namely Superintendent Jim Poirier along with Andrew Porterfield, Mark Toombs and Bruce Ford. We had gathered in order to interview our Mission Canada missionary candidate Tammy Junghans.

Tammy, the wife of the former Church Ministries director, Greg Junghans ( yes, that is them in the picture), has a deep burden to reach out to the campus community at the U of M. Further, she has a proven track record at reaching out to and impacting the emerging generation.

What we are looking to do is to begin a new campus ministry to the U of M that will complement what Ken Stupak is doing in and through the chaplaincy office. As with a number of our other campuses, there is room for more than one model of ministry to operate at the same time. Further, while chaplaincy is primarily connected to the student services part of the university administration, a campus group like the one Tammy is planning to start is connected to the Student Union. They will operate in different spheres and usually touch different people.

What we look for is a strong sense of “buy in” from the District and from the nearby churches. While we can vend in our expertise and support, we cannot replace what they can bring to the table. It is very important to have their involvement and good will.

Anyway, we really appreciated the opportunity to hear Tammy’s heart and for her to hear ours. We see incredible potential and believe that she has a lot to offer the Kingdom if she were released to do ministry on campus. That is what we are concerned to do. She has some very real challenges ahead of her, but she is motivated to address and overcome them. We are excited, in the best sense of that word, to see what God is about to do at the University of Manitoba.