As we have been preparing to stage our house for sale, we realized that the pets could become an objection to a buyer.  We resolved to send Kenzie the Lab to Cheryl’s parents’ place in Red Deer until we move.  Having planned to go anyway, I decided to invite a young man who was interested in considering Medicine Hat as well.  Road trips are fantastic for getting to know people and reflecting on big things.  So I added a stop in Medicine Hat to the itinerary.

Last week I found myself thinking about some of the details of what we need to do and one of them was the question of employment.  I have talked on here before about tentmaking in real estate, but I hadn’t taken any steps towards it.  I decided to make a list of brokers and make some phone calls – at least to introduce myself and get a feel for where the offices are at in terms of need.  As I made the calls it occurred to me I might be able to meet one or two when I go out there.

The day before I left, I found out my road trip partner would not be able to come.  At first I was a little disappointed because I was really looking forward to hearing his story and heart, and showing him personally the city that was calling us.  But now I knew why God stirred me up to call some brokers – to have a contingency plan.

I got to town a little after lunch, and made two calls – one to GMAC and one to Century 21.   I had a short meeting with Lorne, manager at Century 21, then had to rush off for a meeting with Glen at GMAC.  Both companies have a lot to offer and are supportive of helping me get a start.

But what blew me away was Lorne.  I met with him again in the evening, and I was amazed by his heart – he is an elder at his church, he has an identical philosophy to me with respect to work and its priority, and is very excited about my ideas with regards to church planting and tentmaking and supporting the development of church planting interns.

Oh, I haven’t mentioned this on here before.  Basically, what I mean by that is part of Grace Brethren Canada’s vision is to create missional businesses to support further church planting.  Partly to fund the church plants, but also to employ church planting interns in roles that can support themselves while dedicating themselves to ministry – potentially working 1/2 to 3/4 time but getting paid for full time, so that they can dedicate the other part of their work week to church work and gaining experience to plant on their own.  My idea is that if my real estate business takes off it will require more administration – a simple desk job that does not require large amounts of training to do.  But also, if I am deliberate about it, I can even work on a property management side, which has two benefits.  First, it is a more consistent income than sales so it can support people with certainty.  Second, it will require people with general handyman skills – again, a role that is lower time and skill demand so almost tailor-made for a church planter-in-training!

But back to the meetings.  Coming away from my time, I am so amazed at how God orchestrates all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).  He has used this trip that I was even questioning on the way out – I was thinking why am I spending $350 in food, hotel and gas expenses when kennelling might have been only a little more?  It’s because God wanted me here to make some significant connections that will move everything forward.  I have been affirmed in the wisdom of my plans, encouraged in seeking God, and blessed with someone who knows the city and its people and has connections that can help with all kinds of aspects – from potential support to arranging mortgages to creating a career.  What a mighty God we serve!

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.

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.

Think about Medicine Hat and joining our team!

The pace of life in a big city is a bear – it eats your time, it eats your money, it eats your energy for the important things in life (like God, and family).  One thing that factored into our call to Medicine Hat (though by no means the most important) was making a decision for our family and our own health.  This writer in San Francisco has begun to question his life in the big city and interviews two other people who already have made the decision to choose the smaller town over the big city.  Read their thoughts and consider if this might not be something God has for you.

Big City Blues: Could a More Affordable Life, Away from the Bay Area, Actually Be Better?

God continues to provide us with opportunity to grow, but in terms of direct preparation, not much is happening right now with all the other events swirling around us.

We are beginning the wrap-up of our Awana year and that has been an incredible experience.  I think I can safely say that both of us have grown to love the program itself and how it teaches our kids key spiritual disciplines alongside building a foundation for their faith and heart for evangelism.  I fully expect to see great things next year with all our leaders having a year under their belts and feeling comfortable, and kids returning understanding what is being asked of them, and even more intently reaching out to their friends and neighbours.  Shane Schneider’s leadership has grown so much in the last year, and we think he and his wife Laurie will take Awana to a whole other place next year.

Last Monday I had the opportunity to meet with a young man named Seth (follow the link to his Facebook group), who has been burdened with a heart for church planting.  He is currently touring Canada, connecting with churches and organizations who are seeing God move in this fashion, and seeking where God would have him serve.  We are praying for him to find his place (although it would be REALLY cool if he found his way back to us to join our team!)

Philip has had me organizing some things related to he Great Canadian Adventure here in Surrey.  We will be having fifty people from two churches in the USA come up in two short weeks from now, for a week of service and love on our community.  I have been working on arranging a couple of Senior’s Appreciation events at nursing homes, and I will also be organizing the service teams to do yardwork in a couple of target neighbourhoods.  There is much much more in store for that week.  But this is all run-up for me, because once that is over with, I will be working on plans for the 2010 Great Canadian Adventure, to Medicine Hat!  Stay tuned for more on that, and how you can join us for a week of foundation-building in Medicine Hat!

I’ve been truly blessed with my service in our Discovery class on Sunday mornings.  I am taking a family through a study of the Gospel of John and have been so excited to watch their excitement to learn about Jesus and the Bible and what it means to follow Christ.  We had them over for a barbeque on Thursday night, and found out that she is a fantastic singer and he play guitar!  They may have thought we were joking about guitar lessons but we’re pretty serious!  Last Sunday we were talking about what baptism looks like at our church, and I told them about the baptistry at Sunshine Ridge we have used the last couple of times.  They were thinking something much more literal, and told me they wanted to be baptized in the ocean!  Given our leanings toward practicing as closely to New Testament as possible, I think they will fit right in with us!

So now you are pretty close to up-to-date.  We will have our next newsletter out in a few days so stay tuned, and please keep us in your prayers!

Check this link out – the pictures are stunning.

Dreaming…

Care to dream with us?  Can you picture yourself there yet?

As a service to those who may be considering joining our team, I thought I would begin to collect links to Medicine Hat so you can read about the community – what it offers and its needs.

I will create a link at the top to the page. Enjoy!

Here it is: Medicine Hat Links

Ran across this youtube from Medicine Hat’s News.  It is about their school system, and how they need more.

I present this here because this represents important information for us.

1. A high demand for schools means growth, and young families.  We relate, and that is a big segment of the people we are hoping to reach.
2. It sounds very much like they have a good shot at getting some more schools.  They mention in the video that specifically, the Hamptons and Ranchlands and Southridge need schools – what do you know?  Those are our most likely targets for planting!
3. New schools means an opportunity to rent space.  While it isn’t guaranteed by a long shot, and from reports like our friends, the Wilks’, it may be difficult to comply with school district rules but… with new schools means new opportunity so we can be prayerful for that.

It occurred to me yesterday that we have not formally announced the results of the tour that we got back from only 7 days ago.

To go back a couple of steps, let’s talk about Thursday night, March 26.

At this stage, we had just finished a visit to Spruce Grove and Stony Plain, and having talked to my sister and my mother in Edmonton by phone, discovered that our planned overnight at Dawn’s place was not going to happen.  It wasn’t a big deal – only 90 minutes south we knew we had a bed at Cheryl’s parent’s place in Red Deer.  We jumped on the highway south through Devon and that led us straight to… Leduc, and a White Spot for supper.  Kind of funny, when you realize that White Spot is a unique restaurant chain that is a household name in BC, but almost unknown in the rest of Canada.  The fact that we drove right to one of the very few that are not in BC… well it was comfortable.  I made one concession – I didn’t have their “Legendary Burger”.   When in Alberta, you have an Alberta steak.

We meant to stop for dinner, to digest in private the cities we had seen and ask God where our hearts were.  We only brought in two packets – Spruce Grove and Medicine Hat.  Looking back, these were the two we preferred from the start, but having reviewed all the options, we were more certain than ever it was between these two cities.

After sitting down, we both found our hands gravitating to the Medicine Hat material.  We tried to be fair and set up pros and cons for the two cities, but it was clear to us that barring an act of God, Medicine Hat was where we were being led.  There are many reasons, from the superficial to the miraculous.  I’ll start there. (more…)