This is a big day.  Tonight Pastor Philip and I attend Cedar Grove Baptist’s Annual General Meeting.  This is a big deal for a few reasons, but I will explain.

Before Cheryl and I embarked on this journey towards church planting, we were just a nice couple with three kids attending a church of 1200-1500 people.  A typical churchgoing family in many ways – looking to be spiritually fed, moderately involved, comfortable where we were on the path of the typical Canadian family.   We could look to the future and see our children growing up in the church, attending youth group, going to Bible College maybe, taking the odd vacation to Disneyland, doing our 20th wedding anniversary on Kauai’i where we were married.  Dreaming of a boat and a cabin, maybe near Jasper or Banff was not out of reach.  We led a small group and Cheryl served on the worship team with joy.

Two things changed all that.   The first was after returning from a trip to a Mexican all-inclusive, we both felt burdened by the poverty we saw there, in a place where we were supposed to be just relaxing.  We decided the next time we were able to go on a trip like this, we would try to combine it with a mission trip of some type.  That opportunity came in the winter of 2005.  Pastor Kevin Cavanaugh had just returned from a vision trip to Rwanda and was planning to send 12 people on what was hoped to be the first of many trips to Rwanda to aid in the many needs that are present in this rebuilding nation.  It was at this time that we felt ready to go on a trip and were looking around for an opportunity.  The Missions Pastor, Paul Kostamo, suggested we apply to go on the 3 week trip they had planned for June 2006.  We did, and were amazed that we were one of only two couples selected.  We threw ourselves into preparations for this trip.

June came and went, and we returned at the beginning of July, trying to digest all that had happened.  After a couple of weeks we began to sense that God wanted more from us than just attending church.  At the same time, another factor entered into the picture: a couple of church planters named Philip and Beth Bryant.

They had journeyed all the way from Ontario on a dream of seeing churches start all across Canada.  They were part of a team that had been commissioned in 1997 to start a church planting movement.  They had begun two works in the Toronto area, but felt led to move to the West Coast and initiate a church here.  But first, they had to get settled, and Pastor Kevin had invited them to sojourn here, at Cedar Grove for a year.  When we first connected with them, we didn’t even know what church planting was.  We were comfortable here – Cedar Grove was home.  God didn’t want us to leave a place where we were seeing God work through us and others, did he?

God’s ways are not our ways, lucky for us!  His ways are better, always.  By November, God brought us to a place of open hearts, and we had dinner with the Bryants to find out more about their vision for a new church.  That night we joined the nascent core of Community of Hope.  That night we began a journey that would take us beyond comfort zones (we didn’t just get out of ours, we lost ours!  Is it possible to even get comfortable when there is always another challenge ahead?)  At first we thought we would be just helping out, then it became clear that God wanted to grow us as leaders… then we reached a place where risk entered in.  What if WE were to be the next church planters?  We already had a dream to move to Alberta where I grew up.  What if WE were to plant that church?

Now, we come to this annual general meeting.  It is funny because we still recall the AGM we attended in 2006, when we sat down at a table, and I glanced around, to look at the familiar people, and noticed Philip, looking at us and grinning and waving, and we didn’t even know him!  I turned to Cheryl and said, “Oh no.  You’ll never guess who’s staring at us again!”  She glanced and he was still there. Philip doesn’t remember that moment, but it was then that I determined to find out what the heck a church plant was, and why it seemed that the Holy Spirit was causing us to notice this church planting couple over and over again.

Now, we come back, to thank Cedar Grove for the love and support and opportunity to grow and thrive they gave us.  They provided the fertile garden we began to blossom in and prepared us for replanting in the wilds, where we could bear fruit for God.  We come back to also invite others to continue this journey with us, by praying with us, loving us and supporting us in any way they feel led.

Thank you, Cedar Grove!

I have never spend so much of a day in prayer as I have today.  And that has been a very good thing.

One thing I have come to realize that the more seriously you take your life in ministry the more prayer is needed.  And not just that you need more people praying for you, but you have more things to pray about.  Reliance on God grows, or it needs to grow with every step of spiritual maturity you take.  This is because with every step you take in spiritual maturity, the weight of responsibility grows and the greater will be the accounting for what you have done, or not done.  I think of Jesus’ story about the stewards, and the ones who were faithful were given more, but the ones who were not as faithful, even what they had was taken from them (Luke 19:11-27).

We have been working on developing a more consistent time to pray together, Cheryl and I.  It seems there is always something that gets in the way.  This morning, it was our 2 year old, Dannan, with the runs, tramping it all over the house.  We did manage to get through a bit of prayer time, but that sure was cause to be interrupted!

Then, once I got to work, I just felt the weight of that reality land on me.  We need protection from distractions to be consistent coming to God in prayer.  I need to be praying about praying!  How strange is that?  I determined to take time this morning and get on my knees.  My flesh was telling me I was wasting precious office time that I could use for my class I am teaching or a myriad of other things, but God is trustworthy and he wants more of me.   I prayed for my wife, and our unity; I prayed for my kids; I prayed for the core team we are trusting God for (that is beginning to form, by the way!  Keep praying!); I prayed for diligence in what I need to do; to be a better father; to be a better husband; it went on and on and in some cases seemed circular.  But it was healthy.

Then, today being Wednesday, Pastor Philip, Jason and I headed over to Cedar Grove for the Surrey Pastor’s Network prayer meeting.  The worship time was very special, I think in large part because when you spend good amounts of time in prayer, God can’t help but bring you onto his wavelength, as it were.  And when you are in alignment with God, worship becomes a truly awe-inspiring experience.  I just became overwhelmed with His majesty, to the point that as worship was ending, all I could do was repent of my own sinfulness, echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah,

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

I was just made aware of how much of what pained me was my own doing in one way or another.  I knew it but I didn’t… own it if you know what I mean.  And as we entered into prayer for each other, I found myself praying for things that I had forgotten in the morning, which nonetheless desperately needed prayer.

I cannot complain.  It has been good for my soul.  But I just thought I would share about another phase of God working on the project called Oliver Shane Edwards.

My Bible-in-a-Year reading today took me to the end of Joshua.  Many people have found inspiration in the last words of Joshua, as he confronts the nation and demands that they once again declare and covenant before the Lord to keep him as their God and not chase after the other people who they live amongst.

It certainly is inspiring but for some reason it was another verse that God drew me to this morning.  In verse 13, Joshua writes, “So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”

It feels to me like what we’re being called to in Medicine Hat is like this.  We are going to a city we did not build and a land on which we did not toil, and we will live there and reap a harvest that we did not plant.

That kind of sounds like a negative, but in reality it is a testimony of the plan of God.  We are following his lead to a land we are certain he wants us in.  It is a land which he has already prepared before us.  It is a land where he has been working for years in people’s hearts, building a thirst and a hunger for himself in them, and we are coming to reap that harvest.  It is a testimony that God is going to build this church, just like he built the nation of Israel.

That is a very comforting thought.

One of my intents with this blog was to talk about the various activities and things we are experiencing as God prepares us to plant a church.  I have dropped the ball on more of those than I wished to.   But here is today’s update.

Part of the challenge Pastor Philip has laid on me back in September was to plan an outreach activity for the church to participate in every month.  It was difficult in the fall with so much going on but I led a yard team in September and a leaf-raking team at the beginning of November.  All through that time I was thinking about how great it would be to do a hot drink distribution at a soccer field once the rain and the cold set in.

I got my chance today.  It feels right now like the most successful outreach I have led so far.  First, we had a massive turnout – I had 13 people turn out at 8:30am on a Saturday.  That was tremendous.  Second, I was tipped by one of my team members about asking Starbucks for containers that we could use for drink distribution, but it turned out that they not only supplied the containers requested, but they also gave us coffee and a coffee backpack!

Two families stepped up and brewed the coffee and hot chocolate for us.   We picked up the supplies, set up a cover, and set to work!  We set up adjacent to an artificial turf field in North Delta, and the temperature was hovering around 7 or 8 degrees Celsius (40-45 Fahrenheit) with a misting rain.  Over 2 hours we served close to 160 cups of hot chocolate and coffee.  We had a lot of encouraging and positive feedback and several people stopped to ask us details on our church.

I was most blessed by the enthusiasm and the smoothness with which we operated.  They made it easy for me to feel comfortable in leadership.  What a blessing they were!

I learned a lot about what is possible when you step out in faith.  I learned that Starbucks has coffee backpacks that hardly ever get used!  We will be using them again!  I also learned that people are pretty open at such spaces when they can see we are serving them without asking anything in return.  All profitable things to know.

Isn’t it funny how you go through your day with a plan in your head, expecting your day to go one when and then you’re thrown a curveball and your day heads in a completely different direction? That was my life recently. Let me take you back to January 4th….

Just a warning – This post is about responding to an emergency and death is involved. I just want you to be prepared for what you’re about to read. I am not going to go into detail but still.

Read the rest of this entry »

January is very busy.  Multitasking is something else, but just to make it more interesting, God keeps tossing us an extra ball to juggle.

Riding the backburner is an outreach project at the end of the month – but it needs some loving, so I need to make some space to promote that.

Our community exercise, our “Carnival of Games” is fast approaching.  Next week will be all about prep for that.  We need to make a list of all the “booths” we are making and get status updates on where each of those are at.  At least the location is taken care of.

I wrote my licensure exam last Friday – that was intense!  8 hours, with only an unmarked Bible as reference.  I left a couple blank, but I can make up for those during the oral examination next month.  The district reviews my answers then orally quizzes me on the areas they want to see more strength in.  I’ll need prayer for that!

Another cold virus  has landed, and we’re working hard to not let that immobilize us.

Travelling to the Southwest District Focus Retreat will be an interesting opportunity.  We will hopefully have new business cards for our church plant and prayer cards to begin to raise awareness in the churches of Callifornia and area about what we are hoping to do in Medicine Hat.  We are praying that a church or two will see us as a mission they want to support.

I am teaching a course on church history and also another round on the Gospel of John with a couple of new believers.  These will be important challenges as I get to exercise my education in one area and gain more mastery over leading people through the Gospel.

We are also working on a regular opportunity to preach – perhaps at a senior’s home or even perhaps at the YVR chapel!  That would be an interesting venue.

Cheryl has picked up another course at Athabasca University to finish her Master’s in Nursing.  Only two more to go after this one!

Please continue to pray for us.  We would not be able to manage all these things without your support.  Thanks!

I thought I would throw on the blog an archive of all our e-newsletters.  They have been a little more detailed than the blog has in the last 6 months, so for those of you who would enjoy a retrospective of the last year of our journey in 10 instalments, read on!

I picked up a publication in Medicine Hat this week, and I am going to enter as much as I can here for reference.

Entering the Hat Christmas 2009

Known as the “oasis of the prairie” for its parks and greenery, the City of Medicine Hat is the major urban centre in southeast Alberta and is the southeast entrance to Alberta’s industrial corridor.  Medicine Hat is also the sunniest city in all of Canada!

Population: 61 thousand

Area: 112 square km

Altitude: 721m (2365 feet) above sea level

Sunshine: 2512 hours per year

Geography

The South Saskatchewan River runs through the heart of Medicine Hat.  Ross Creek and Seven Persons Creek also wind through the city creating scenic coulees and steep terrain.  The city os divided into four quadrants and fourteen diverse neighbourhoods.  The east-west boundary is Division Avenue while the north-south boundary is the South Saskatchewan River.  Streets run east-west; avenues run north-south.

Distances from Other Cities

Cypress Hills 66km/41mi

Lethbridge 168km/105mi

Calgary 409km/256mi

Edmonton 608km/380mi

Swift Current, SK 217km/136mi

Regina, SK 478km/299mi

USA Border (Wildhorse) 146km/91mi

Havre, MT 218km/136mi

Climate

Sunset on Highway 3

As Canada’s sunniest City, Medicine Hat has the longest growing season in Alberta (188+ days).  Summer temperatures average 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit).  Spring and autumn are generally sunny and mild.  Low humidity makes both summer and winter easier to take.  In winter, a Chinook wind can raise the temperature by as much as 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) in one day, an experience never to be forgotten!  The Chinook is a warm, dry wind that descends the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in winter.

Mean Daily Temperatures

July 23°C (73ºF)

August 22ºC (72°F)

December -8ºC (19ºF)

January -13ºC (9ºF)

Regional Hospital: an accedited 325 bed acute and continuing care facility.

Medicine Hat College: a progressive institution serving more than 2500 students.

Family Leisure Centre: a state-of-the-art facility with large aquatic centre, wave pool, ice arena and much more.

Esplanade: Medicine Hat’s Museum, Art Gallery, Archives and Performing Arts Centre.

Parks System: boasts more than 100 parks, an extensive environmental reserve, and 92km of trails for walking and cycling.

Regional Shopping Destination: largest shopping centre in southeast Alberta including malls, power centres and unique boutique shops in our downtown.

Public Library: a full-service adult and children’s library with collections totalling more than 180,000.

Airport: Regional Air service to Calgary International Airport.

Made in Medicine Hat

Among the products manufactured in Medicine Hat are tires for automobiles and heavy equipment, clay brick, pottery clays, granulated urea and anhydrous ammonia fertilizers, thermal carbon black, catalyst compounds for petrochemical and gas processing, compressors, playground equipment, flour, cereals and feeds, commercial printing and publishing, industrial and military un-manned vehicles and systems.

Cypress Hills

The Cypress Hills rise up to 600 metres above the surrounding prairie, to a maximum elevation of 1468m (4816 feet), making it the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and Labrador.   The Cypress Hills are Canada’s first interprovincial park, designated in 1989, and include provincial parks in Alberta and Saskatchewan and the Fort Walsh National Historic Site.

Approximately 700 species of plants and animals thrive in the park, including 14 species of orchids.  The park protects the Cypress Hills landscape, which consists of elevated blocks of lush forest, wetlands and fescue grasslands surrounded by dry, mixed prairie.

In 2007 the new Cypress Hills Visitor Centre opened in the Elkwater townsite, offering visitor information and a gift shop.  Key park features include the Elkwater townsite (a cottage community sitting at the same elevation as the Banff townsite), Horseshoe Canyon and Reesor Lake viewpoints (offering 100km views on a clear day), over 50km of hiking and cross-country ski trails, lakes, camping, fishing, and wildlife viewing.  Additional services include a 9 hole grass green golf course, Hidden Valley Ski Area, excellent fly-fishing areas, accommodation options and tourist services.

Cost of Living

Utility Costs

Why is it called “The Gas City”?  Vast reservoirs of high quality natural gas were discovered beneath the city in 1893 and continue to benefit today’s residents by providing revenue for the city and helping to keep the city’s utility rates among the lowest in Canada.

Tax Advantages

It’s a great combination.  Medicine Hat’s residents enjoy some of the lowest property taxes and most favourable income tax rates in all of Canada.  On top of that, you won’t pay any provincial sales taxes on any goods you buy.

Provincial Income Taxes

Our personal income tax system is very competitive with low personal income tax rates.  Alberta has no General Sales Tax and the lowest tax rate on gasoline in the country.

At 10 percent, Alberta has the lowest top marginal income tax rate on personal income in the country.  Keeping the top rates low provides an incentive for people to work harder, be more productive and save more.  Alberta’s tax system is not only competitive but fair.   We have the highest basic and spousal allowances in Canada, at $15,435 for 2007.  This means that Alberta residents can earn more money before having to pay any provincial income tax.  A working family with twochildren can earn up to $38,200 before paying any provincial income tax because the Alberta Family Employment Tax Credit will offset any taxes paid at that income level.

City Property Taxes

Property Taxes and Utility costs combined, Medicine Hat has the third lowest average of any major city in Canada, only surpassed by St. John’s, NL and Surrey, BC.

Housing

Moving to Medicine Hat from larger cities can be a pleasant surprise when it comes to buying a home.  The cost of housing here compares with other cities in Alberta as well as other provinces.  Average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is around $660.

Landfill

The city’s landfill is located 3km off Highway 41A, just past city limits.  Household hazardous waste is accepted free of charge year round.

Local Radio and TV

MY96 – 96.1FM “Today’s best music”

New Country CHAT – 94.5FM (Country & Western)

Alive 99.5FM (Christian Music)

Rock 105.3 “The Hat’s Best Rock”

98.3FM CBC Radio 1 rebroadcasted from Calgary

CHAT TV – channel 6 and 3 – local TV

This Christmas we’re back at my parent’s place in Fort Saskatchewan.  The drive through the mountains was slower than in summer but not bad at all.  It’s been sunny since we got here.

Christmas was very nice.  Seeing all the family, and no short tempers has been great.  We’re heading over to Spruce Grove today (my sister moved there last summer) for some toboganning.  In two days we will take the kids for their first visit to Medicine Hat.  Then, it’s off to the Listers in Lethbridge to continue feeding that great new friendship!  It is a blast to spend time with solid Christians who believe in service to the King, who have 6 kids too and homeschool!

That and we’ll see if they can beat Cheryl at Carcassone.

“Isaiah 57:20 says, ‘The wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.’  The sea does not need to do anything special to produce mire and dirt; that is the result of natural motions.  This is also true of us when we are under the condition of sin.  The natural motions of our lives produce mire and dirt. Sin is part of the internal structure of our lives.  No special effort is needed to produce it.  No wonder we feel trapped.” – Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 5

Coincidentally, I have been asked to fast today.  It is always a struggle for me to fast while at home cooking meals for the kids.  If I were out of the house all day, I could distract myself.  But I am not.  And worse, I have to confront my discomfort head-on – “No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Cor 9:27)  If only I had the fortitude of Paul!

I have been proofreading a text I plan to use for a course on Church History I have been asked to teach in January.  I am really excited about it – it is a real opportunity to convert all that stuff I have learned over the years into benefit for others.  It is also an opportunity to teach on something I love – history is a subject that never ceases to fascinate me.

In the early chapters of that text I have been confronted by the many stories of the great fathers of the faith – the Tertullians, the Clements, the Polycarps, and the Origens.  These great men of God were me of personal discipline, who loved the Lord and willingly sacrificed the stuff that held them back from Christ.

It was in between reading that and glancing at a book I recently rediscovered on my bookshelf, as I was cooking for my children and struggling with my desire for the food I was preparing – note I didn’t say need – I am not in any place where I need food in my sedentary western lifestyle – that I came face to face with a truth that had been peeking out at me intermittently.  That truth is I lack discipline.  My selfish whims and desires win out much too often.  From Facebook games to World of Warcraft – from DVDs to my Google Reader (I have even managed to self-justify – Facebook is a fantastic tool for building and maintaining relationships, but I haven’t been using it for that ; Google Reader is a brilliant way of collecting good information from around the world and aggregating it for convenience but information for information’s sake is merely wasting time) I have been allowing them to occupy precious time – the gift of my creator to me – that could be filled with preparation for a lifetime’s work that we are all too close to embarking upon.  How can I treat this time I have been gifted with, with such comtempt?

“Origen’s philosophy, then, was more than a matter of ideas, it was a way of forming character.  Here, his example proved to be his most powerful lesson.  He stimulated us, says Gregory, “by the acts he performed more than by the theories he taught. “  He urged his students to examine the springs of their conduct, to note the impulses that led them out of confusion into moral order, and to resist the seeds of evil and cultivate the growth of goodness, which was what Origen meant by reason.” – Bruce L. Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, P. 84-85.

Somebody told me once that sin cannot be beaten until you hate it.  Until you really really hate it.  I wonder if the hate I am feeling for my sin is enough today?