Photos from Saskatoon 2009

Hanging out with people at the displays

Putting on Clothes of Christlikeness - based on Colossians 3:12

People - Actually, friends. It's cool that when you go to these assemblies over the years many people become both acquaintances and friends - I know a number of these people in this random photo taken by an MC Canada photographer.

Rudy Baergen of the MC Canada Faith and Life Committee presenting the introduction to prepare us for the discernment time on biblical interpretation. The "Living Inside Out" theme banner is behind him.

Discerning what God is saying and doing amongst his people.

Mennonite Church Canada Assembly - Saskatoon 2009

From my two lame photos of the building where the Assembly took place, you may be able to tell that I am a person who often forgets to get out the camera because I am busy connecting with friends and taking in the conference sessions.

Anyway, I would say it was a very good conference. I began by taking in a meeting of Conference Ministers and then taking in the Ministers' Conference. Actually, in Mennonite Church Canada language, conference ministers are now called Area Church Ministers. We met Wednesday afternoon (June 3rd) in the "Africa Room" at the MCC Saskatchewan offices. We spend more time catching up with each other and the stuff going on in our area churches across Canada (that is: BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Eastern Canada), than we spend on business. Our MC Canada denominational minister, Karen Martens-Zimmerly, leads us - as does a great job. We also have Anna Rehan, Mennonite Church Canada Youth Minister, joining us as her place of connecting. The price Anna had to pay for joining was to serve all of us dinner at her, and her husband Ed's, beautiful home on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River.

On Thursday was the Minsters' Conference - this is a special time for pastors and spouses to focus on a learning theme. Dan Epp-Tiessen spoke on "Nurturing a Vision for Engaged Congregations," based on 1 Corinthians 12. I particularly learned that it would be good to preach less about all the things we should be doing, and preach more of the good news of Jesus' love! I also had the privilege of discovering that our closing worship was to be led by Valerie Wiebe, a good friend from the congregation in Langham, SK where I used to serve.

The big event was the main assembly, and I would say that the highlight for me was the discernment that we had around tables on three topics: biblical interpretation, proclaiming peace in the public square, and being a healthy church. You can check out the details of these discussions and the assembly in general by checking out the Bridge City Bulletin and the photos at: www.mennonitechurch.ca/events/saskatoon2009/. Actually, I think I can snag a couple of photos from that website to give you some of my highlights. Check my next blog entry for this.

Also, check out a bit about my ride to the conference in another blog.

REACH - MCBC Joint Worship Service 2009

I would say that REACH went really well. Sorry, no photos - the photos that were sent to me were, for some reason, not uploadable. We had approximately 375 people gather together. We had hoped for many more, but it was a sunny summer-like afternoon and many of our congregations already had a morning worship service. Some of the highlights were: 6 very interesting interviews with people involved in various ministries, lots of visuals dipicting ministry among our 31 congregations, good worship singing, a song that was sung in 9 different languages (representing almost all of the languages in which our MCBC congregations worship), and good food afterward.

The interviews included: Billy Chiew (ministry in downtown Vancouver at Vancouver Chinese Mennonite Church), Kristina Toews, youth worker at Eben-Ezer Mennonite Church in Abbotsford (also Mennonite Church Canada's representative at the Mennonite World Conference Youth Summit), Rob Tiessen (talking about missional opportunity at Camp Squeah), Lee Dyck (talking about her and her husband Gerald's observations as they have been on a mission of visiting many of the MCBC congregations in the Lower Mainland), Nhien Pham (speaking of the Vietnamese church plant in Abbotsford), and Paul Heinrichs (representing the Karen ministry at Living Hope Christian Fellowship).

We are looking for good ideas as to what we could do next year to build our unity. It has been suggested to have a sports day and picnic. What do you think?

The 2009 Ride

It looks like the time of year to enjoy a good motorcycle ride is upon us again. Since last year's ride, I have been dreaming of taking a group of riders to Vancouver Island. We have one MCBC congregation on the Island, so what better connection than to work with them.  Thankfully they also have a few riders in their midst.  I have met with leadership in the church and with some of their riders, and the folks at the Black Creek United Mennonite Church are excited about being our host for this year's ride.  

The details are not all finalised, but here's a sketch of what we might do.  We are planning for the weekend of August 8-9.  We would take the ferry across to Nanaimo early Saturday morning and ride to the church (approximately 2 hours north - between Courtenay and Campbell River).  We would ride all day Saturday and folks from the Black Creek church would host us Saturday night.  

We would join them for worship on Sunday.  I am planning to preach, but we would welcome others from the crowd of riders to make a contribution to the worship.  Sunday afternoon we would ride again, ending up at Nanaimo to take the ferry home.

What do you think?  If you wanted to stretch it out a little more, you could go to the Island on Friday and find your own accommodations, joining the rest of the group on Saturday.

I am really looking forward to coming together with brothers and sisters from across Mennnonite Church BC in worship, learning, fellowship and food. I hope you are all planning to come.  

We will be led in our worship by Dan Loewen and the worship team from Level Ground Mennonite Church. We will hear interviews of a variety of people talking about missional activities that are happening through congregations across our church in BC. We will see photos and video of what God is doing in our midst. 

You will meet people who care about the church and God's mission. Come and see what the Lord is doing!

Come and be part of it!

Mothers' Day doesn't get better than this!

My Mom was able to fly out from Saskatchewan to be at Jill and Andrew's wedding. Remember that 15 months earlier, she had a massive brain aneurism.  Due to immediate surgery, much prayer, and time, Mom started getting significantly more alert and self-sufficient last fall.  It was in December that she first showed interest in coming to the wedding.  My brother Howard and his wife Lori accompanied Mom on the trip out to BC, but he said that she really didn't need any assistance.  What a miracle!  

All along, my Dad was the healthy one.  Yet, as the wedding day approached, he had this nagging cold that kept him down.  In the end, he was unable to come.   We always thought it would likely be the other way around.

What a great Mothers' Day gift - to have Mom back!

A Son-in-Law

Our daughter Jill was married to Andrew Goertzen on April 4th, 2009.  It was the most wonderful day.  I was able to just be the dad for the day.  Jill and Andrew's former youth pastor at Sherbrooke Mennonite Church, Rod Wiebe, did a marvellous job of working with Jill and Andrew in putting together the wedding ceremony.  Rod also presented a very good word to them in the wedding message.  

Diane and I couldn't be happier. Please pray for Jill and Andrew as they start their new life together.

The wedding took place at Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver and the reception was at the Delta Town and Country Inn (near to our home). Jill and Andrew are living in an apartment in southeast Vancouver.