Spread Life 2011

It would have been David’s 24^th birthday. Last year, those of us who mourn his loss wanted to do something on his birthday that captured something of his essence. That is when my wife came up with the idea of doing creative acts of kindness in his memory on his day. Some of his friends added elements to the day that made it particularly meaningful , such as the colour orange ( his color) and wearing flip flops. It embodied things that we knew represented him. We landed on calling the day of creative acts of kindness “Spread Life” which we drew from his final words on Facebook “ I want to run, jump and spread life in this world…”.

Last year, for Spread Life,  my family and and some friends contributed to a clothing giveaway at Lighthouse Church in Wasaga Beach. Other members of our extended family planted orange tulips in all sorts of meaningful places and many other people did a variety of kind acts in memory of Dave and in honour of Jesus.

Setting up...

 This year, we converged on HiWay Pentecostal Church, in Barrie,  to make coffee that we gave away on the waterfront. It was a spectacular day.

Really, no strings attached...?

Of course people wondered why we were giving away coffee and some shied away from our table. However, Jordan did such a great job of inviting people in, and all of the kids took part in explaining the reason for what we were doing with the cards created for the event. There were a number of special, unforgettable moments.

Talking about Spread Life...

In fact, one young woman was standoffish and asking us where the coffee came from and what brand it was. “I’m sorry to be a snob, but I am picky about my coffee”. Jordan just handed her the card and said, That’s ok, we are just celebrating the birthday of our brother, who died. He had a big heart, he loved God and he loved people and this is just the kind of thing he loved to do”. When she looked at the card and heard Jordan’s gentle earnestness, she just melted...... Her eyes filled up with tears and she apologized. As she walked away, holding the Spread Life card and clearly touched, she told Jordan, “You have already made my entire day”.

It was true for others as well. I could tell that once they grasped what this was all about , they were deeply moved. They knew that it was about more than the coffee. It was a sweet, gentle time and before we knew it we were out of condiments, the sky was clouding over, and it was time to go. What we did was small and insignificant, but it was in fact Something. And it was done with prayer and with love. And it was more than worth doing….

For the background see  www.davidpowell.me .

It's our time...

For all of its issues, York ( see earlier blog ) is one of the most influential and far reaching institutions to be found anywhere. Add to its nearly 55,000 students over sixty thousand students at the University of Toronto, twenty thousand plus at Ryerson University and many tens of thousands in other university and college campuses dotted throughout the GTA the opportunity and challenge afforded is almost overwhelming…

As I think and pray about the campus, the words reverbrate through my soul. I am NOT OK with this! I am not ok with the way things are. I AM NOT OK!  I can't be.

The reason I dove into coordinating this work is not only due to my experience but because I honestly believe that it is time for our Fellowship to weigh in.. big time.

So, let's make it clear. I am talking about the PAOC. Many are those who are shocked to find that we do campus ministry. They are even more shocked that we often do it really well. More shocked still to find that we are doing it all over the country.

Allow me to be bold enough to say the words that have been alive in my heart for several years.


It’s our time. The time is now.


This could sound like arrogance. I pray not. It is an emerging sense  of responsibility and role. It is the recognition of an opportunity - a word often used to translate a meaningful greek NT word 'kairos'.  The ancients recognized 'kairoi' as key hinge moments that determined 'fate'. It corresponds to the English sense of 'timing' or 'season', which is an opportune time which demands a response.

Yet, here is an honest assessment. We don’t do it well enough.


We can do more and/or better. We must. When I walk through the huge institutions that swallow our young like Molech of old, I am physically affected. I am not being overly dramatic, here. I feel the weight of the challenge.  


 Institutions like York rise like Goliath and loudly taunt God’s people to do something. Anything.....

The assumption is that the parachurch organizations which  continue to serve us so well have it all taken care of. Yet, on almost all campuses across the nation there are less than three percent of the student population involved in a Christian group of any kind whatsoever. In many places it is much less. Much, much less.....

Add in all of the other worthy groups and organizations involved in campus ministry in our nation to our own efforts and the truth be told... all of our combined efforts fall stunningly short of what is needed.

We have a challenge and an opportunity before us. Engage the campus. Do it with the experience and resources we have as a movement. Whether it is planting churches, providing chaplains, starting student clubs, developing church ministries that actually reach out onto campus and/or developing commercial projects that reach the campus , we can leverage the experience of those who have done it well and who are still growing.

I believe we can have it all. Intellectual integrity. Biblical and theological soundness. And the power of the Holy Spirit. We can do it in a way that is contextually aware, creative and that reveals the servant heart of Jesus. To my mind this is 'normative' Christianity.

What we cannot do is be OK with the way things are...

Back to York

I took a golden opportunity to visit Canada’s second largest university. While I have never been complimentary of York’s physical layout, I found that the campus had begun to grow on me. Sort of... The point being, it wasn’t quite as bad as I had remembered or reported it to be.... I think.

Campus Walk

Random Computer Room

Anyway, York is a huge, sprawling collection of modernist/brutalist buildings on what no doubt were once cornfields. While it may not be much to look at, there is a lot going on here. With 55,000 students flowing through the halls every week, preparing to take their place as emerging leaders, the mind staggers at the potential impact of the institution. As Aaron Mix-Ross mentioned to me as we talked about it later, York highly ideological. It is not only committed to a secular ethos, but a materialist dialectic (marxist) one as well. It has made no effort to hide the fact.



Student Centre



As I entered the Student Centre, I was immediately struck afresh of the sheer dynamism of the place. Saris, Turbans, Hijabs and Yamulkes filled the compact space along with Hollister and Calvin Klein. It was an intense microcosm of the Canadian multi-cultural experiment. It struck me as I let it all swirl around me that anywhere else in the world this might go sideways in a hurry. And the fact is: York has had its own issues.

On the third floors, the religious groups had their “offices”, which ranged from the generously allotted Jewish Hillel group’s space to the closet that housed Campus for Christ. It almost seemed as if people were huddled in these spaces for sanctuary. This was certainly the case for the Korean Christian Fellowship. There was an intense physicality to the experience that would cause the student to seek some form of refuge. The danger is allowing the space to remove you from where you really ought to be. It struck me... there is so much more that needs to happen, here...!!

September VERTIGO

The first weeks of September for anyone involved in campus ministry brings to mind the condition or state of Vertigo. It is a manic dash for equilibrium when everything is in flux. Our best efforts and resources are poured into these weeks as students establish the patterns for their term and possibly their school career. It is important for us to be there while they are making up their minds.

Clubs Days  CCM @ BCIT

These are exciting times at CMC as we work with individuals, churches and districts to establish and strengthen campus ministries of various kinds. As I have shared with people across the country, the campus is, to my eyes, the most strategic mission field in our nation...

New ministries on the docket include: Psegga Jones in Montreal on the urban campuses of Concordia, McGill and Dawson. Gary Wilson and Jedidiah Armstrong at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Tamera Thibodeau at John Abbot College in Montreal. Ones that are in gestation as we speak include: The University of Saskatchewan, Humber College ( Lakeshore) and Laurentian University. At BCIT in Vancouver, I am excited about the addition of Cal Weber, who brings a ton of gifting and experience to the task of directing Campus Christian Ministry in that booming institution.

(l-r)     John Engels    Cal Weber    Rachelle Fulford

There are things I am forgetting, but it is a start. In an email chain, a number of campus directors weighed in on the creative ventures they have done in the past week in kickstarting their ministries for a new term. Below you can see scenes from University Christian Ministries at UBC and their annual welcome BBQ. Their director, Arthur Howard, wrote that they fed over 300 students, over 140 of which remained for an outdoor worship service.

UCM @ UBC Welcome Dinner

UCM Welcome Dinner

We are slowly and surely spreading our wings and establishing missional communities on our campuses.

One ministry that I am familiar with up close and personally is Lift Church at McMaster. I have the privilege of serving in an adjunct capacity as an advisor to their young, passionate leadership team. Tonight I went to their opening service at the 1288 Pub in the Student Centre. It was hopping. Complete with a free BBQ before the service, it was filled with first year students who had responded to the invitations to come and check it out. Andrew Masters, their new pastor spoke about serving Christ in the context of the University and John Balt and team led worship. The whole thing was solid.

Lift in 1288

Andrew with mic.  John and Micha lead worship

At a personal level, I am working in a part time chaplaincy capacity at Redeemer University College in nearby Ancaster, ON. It gives me an opportunity to work directly with an outstanding group of young leaders and minister to a broad cross-section of Christian students. This includes teaching a course on practical discipleship, leadership training and speaking wherever and however needed. It is all good and it is also all Vertigo right now. I am looking forward to things settling into a rhythm in the near future.

Goin' Downtown! Ryerson University:

Having missed my connection , whom I was to meet at a Starbucks at Ryerson ( it turns out there are a dozen and his phone was off), I figured I would walk through the campus myself. It was a revelation. While the U of T St George (main) campus is certainly urban, it is its own island in the midst of the city. Ryerson, on the otherhand is woven right into the of retail and business in the heart of the downtown action. While it was orgtinally a church based college, it has assimilated several blocks of the downtown core. It is part of the core.

basic student union building fare...

As Providence would have it I fell in with a campus tour. Andrew,  our guide, walked us through the various buildings and sections of the campus. As it turns out, with space at a premium, the various faculties all share lecture space. Students will most likely have one three hour lecture per course per week and then do their various projects and homework in the rest of the time.

Tour Guide Andrew and my BFFH ( Best Friends For an Hour)

When we walked into the Architecture Building, I originally thought it was a display of ironic humour. It was bare and ugly. Not unlike the Brutalist architecture on some other buildings on various campuses. However, it turns out that this is intentional. The idea is to have everything stripped and open so the students can “see” what has gone into the construction of the building. It does make sense.

Architectural Bldg

The tour nears the end...

Ryerson is located on the edge of the middle of what I have dubbed the Commercial Power Corridor. Dundas/Bay/Yonge. 



Dundas and Yonge ( corner of Ryerson)

Note the Ted Rogers School of Mgmt – connected with the Eaton's Centre and bordering Bay Street. In Canadian commerce this place rocks. And Ryerson is right in of the action.

from 100m to the west .. The Eatons Centre/ Ryerson-Rogers School of Mgmt.

Rogers/Ryerson - on the corner of Bay and Dundas

Incidentally, Ryerson is named after Egerton Ryerson, one of Canada's outstanding evangelical Christians ( in fact, a truly outstanding Canadian!) - considered the father of Canadian public education - an all around Rennaissance Man.

Egerton Ryerson

Here is some basic information about Ryerson from Wikipedia - a decent summary.

Ryerson University is a public university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden District. Ryerson's business school, Ted Rogers School of Management is on the southwest end of the Yonge-Dundas Square, located on Bay Street, slightly north of Toronto's Financial District and is attached to the Toronto Eaton Centre. The university is composed of 31,000 undergraduate students, 2,170 graduate students, and 65,400 certificate and continuing education students.^[4]

In June 2001, the school assumed its present name as Ryerson University. Today, Ryerson University offers programs in chemical, civil, mechanical, industrial, electrical and computer engineering. The university is also one of only two Ontario universities to offer a program in aerospace engineering. Ryerson offers the only stand-alone biomedical engineering program in all of Canada.

For what it is worth; Numbers like these would place Ryerson as one of Canada's largest universities. With its multicultural dynamic and strategic placement,  it also has the potential to be one of its most influential. We are looking forward to seeing what God is going to do here...

Humber Lakeshore: A New Embassy!

I journeyed to nearby Humber College at its Lakeshore Campus. Being familiar with Humber in its main GTA campus, I had never been to its other, newer expression. I was impressed to see a place bustling with expansion and growth. Indeed, its attendance is already well over 6,000 and it is positioning for future growth. I met with Josh Hageman, the pastor to young adults at Queensway Church. Josh already runs a successful young adults ministry which he plans to use to  help begin a fresh initiative at Humber Lakeshore.  He has been in talks with Brandon Malo, Joe Wahba and Trevor Gingerich about starting an Embassy at Lakeshore. In taking on the name, it means that he understands and brings a particular approach to campus ministry. There is concern that the name is represented well ( branding integrity). From every indication, Josh will do just that.

Did I mention 'growth'..?

We walked through the campus and looked at potential meeting places where he can begin meetings with public profile and presence. There are options...! Having helped out with the Lifeline campus group onsite, it was clear to Josh that there was the need for a larger, more attractive alternative to the bible study model already present on campus. Again, the issue is not to compete with what is going on but to augment and complement it. There are all kinds of opportunities for expansion and growth. He has certainly paid his 'dues' by being involved on campus in the past.

Views of the potential meeting place in the SU Bldg.

In meeting with a Christian faculty member who is a part of Queensway, she reiterated the need for something that would grip students and which she would feel comfortable in referring people towards. When she refers people, she doesn’t do it in her professional capacity but in a ‘non-work’ , personal capacity. She underscored the felt need for a more dynamic presence on campus. As she was describing the sort of person the campus needed, she was actually describing the guy in front of her..

Aforementioned J. Hageman

Anyway, it looks as if the Embassy Lakeshore will launch in the third week of September. There is a lot of work to do beforehand, but it looks  as though they have the right place and the right positioning on campus to make it a reality. Exciting times….

Laurentian University: Sudbury

If you are reading this from the top, this is the last entry of a productive roadtrip from Calgary. So, as you scroll down the various blogs until you get to the Calgary entry.. you will be reading about the roadtrip in reverse.  This blog is about Sudbury which was my last stop before driving home.....

A Laurentian U history lesson

I had the privilege of meeting with Markus and Alina Rukkila. As it turns out, Markus is a graduate of Regent College ( my alma mater) and a former intern with UTown Church, the daughter of Point Grey Community Church which I planted back in BC. We know a wad of the same people and he is familiar with the campus ministry in BC and the model of church that I embraced back when.  Markus is also a Finnish Canadian who is starting an English speaking congregation in conjunction with Siion Church, the Finnish PAOC church in Sudbury. He also has a passion to start a campus ministry at Laurentian University, only a few kilometers away.

Markus with Thornloe in the background..

Markus is now the Dean of Students at Thorneloe University. Thorneloe is an Anglican institution and a  founding member of the Laurentian University Federation in Sudbury. Markus is a former student of its new provost, Dr. Robert Derrenbacker. He will be living on campus and responsible for the 60 students who are part of its residency.  I cannot even begin to describe the upside of this development.  It is becoming increasingly clear to both Markus and Alina that they are intended to be here, and that God in His mysterious and creative way has preceded them all of the way.

Laurentian U from the Rukkilas' apartment in Thorneloe

Markus and I did an extended walk through the campus.

It is yet another campus that is undergoing extensive construction and renovation. It is clear that government and industry is pouring huge bucks into the infrastructure of developing leadership for the future. How about the Church??? 

Anyway, we discussed the various possibilities for campus ministry. I recommended to Markus that he spend time in the prayer and research stage. They go together. If he can enlist people to come onsite and pray, all the better.  There is no substitute for prayer. Prayer is not simply about cause and effect/tangible outcomes but it can change the temperature or spiritual environment of a place. I think of it as a windshift in a football game where the wind is now going with you rather than against you…

Research involves.. what is already going on, here? What needs are there? What opportunities? What is the spirituality of the campus ( there is an interior spirituality to every place)?, relational and church networking, facilities, means of advertising/communication etc, etc, etc....

What I love in walking through LU is the sense of the possibilities that can happen when God has a yielded vessel to work with. Markus is clearly not a 'formulaic' guy. Anybody who can juggle Finnish and Canadian culture as adroitly as he does has the skillset and aptitude to do well in a variety of contexts. He is aware of His need for God and he and Alina are willing to step out in obedience to His call. When that happens, things get exciting.