Saturday, October 29, 2011

Lisbon Falls Baptist Church 50th anniversary missions conference

We've just returned form a wonderful week in Lisbon Falls, Maine. We had a wonderful week connecting with friends and many of our staff from this past summer. LFBC did a fantastic job of hosting the conference, there was a full schedule and lots of opportunity to interact with the church at various functions.

We spent the week with some friends from the church, and they spoiled us during our free time! We enjoyed some sites in Maine with them and took some time to do Christmas shopping before we came home.

LFBC has been a church that has been hugely engaged with the ministries at ANBC over the past few years. This past summer we were blessed to have 21 people come to serve for our summer camps. And, just last week we had a couple of men from the church join us for a week of work projects! It was a real pleasure for us to be with them this week and share in fellowship, reports and worship!

The ANBC display.

We were treated to an international dinner and time of testimonies.

We enjoyed services and mission reports every night for the week.

The home meetings on Monday night were a great way to chat with folks, answer any questions they had and get to know people a little better.

The Crafts hosted a mission luncheon in their home on Wednesday morning.

John Alden was at ANBC last summer on our summer staff. We enjoyed reconnecting with people at the mission luncheon.

Our friend Mrs. Chetley.

The Michels hosted us for the week - the certainly spoiled us!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Truro, Hatfield Point and Cumberland Bay

Our week started out last Sunday with a trip to the People's Church in Truro, Nova Scotia. Liz didn't accompany me on this ministry update trip - she remained behind at the Center to meet the arriving folks for our work week. It was a real pleasure to be at People's church and connect with some old friends. They are hosting their missions month and I was invited to share a ministry update for the Sunday evening service. Because Liz wasn't able to accompany me - I invited Todd Hill, a friend of ours from our church here in Cumberland Bay, to come along for the ride. We picked up Ben Bedecki on the way - it was a great night for a road trip and nice to have an extra few sets of eyes watching for moose.

Monday morning we started bright and early on some work projects. Our friends Rob & Irene joined us along with Paul and Ken from Lisbon Falls. They accomplished a lot of necessary projects; some plumbing, electrical, winterizing, equipment servicing, carpentry, landscaping, tree cutting, to name a few! We very much enjoyed the fellowship and company, working alongside our friends this week.

The boat has been winterized and our tractor has two brand new front tires to get us ready for the winter! We're well prepared and almost finished with our winterizing projects.

On Wednesday night I was invited to give a thirty minute update at Hatfield Point Baptist church. Ken and Paul accompanied me and we enjoyed an evening of fellowship with the folks there and a great opportunity to share our excitement in our ministries with NCEM at ANBC.

Tomorrow morning we'll be hitting the road and heading for Lisbon Falls, Maine to take part in their missions conference - we should be home Thursday next week! Please keep us in prayer as we travel and present Arrowhead's ministry.

Ken putting the finishing touches on some plumbing!

Our lovely new sink in the medic station.

Ken finishing up the install!

Paul made sure we that we're all ready for the winter.

Rob cleaned the moss and leaves from off the roofs of several of our cabins.

Paul cut down a lot of deadwood and wind damage for us.

Rob did some carpentry for us this week - this was one of his projects - a wheel cart for our bows and arrows.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Jacksontown WMS

Last night we had the privilege of sharing with the ladies at the Jacksontown WMS. It was a beautiful fall day for a drive up the river valley and our return trip was lit by a beautiful full moon. At this time of year we're concerned about moose, but we were fortunate to not see any last night!

We presented a couple of our new videos to the ladies and were able to spend some time answering some of their questions about ANBC, NCEM and missions. It is encouraging to know that these ladies meet regularly to pray for missions, both home and abroad.

Below is our newest promotional video for our summer camps. It is something I put together recently to share as we travel this fall - it gives you a bit of a glimpse into some of our summer camp activities.



It was great to be able to spend some time with our friend Irene VanAsperen (and Gus of course - see below). Rob was on the road, but we are looking forward to fellowship with him next week - he is planning to join us with some other men for a work week at the Center.

Me & Gus!

Friday, October 7, 2011

a week of opportunity!

While Liz and I were at NCEM's general conference this year, I was approached by Brian Kent about a ministry opportunity this fall. He asked if I would be willing to travel with a group of missionaries for a week as a part of a co-operative to promote cross-cultural missions in New Brunswick.

This "World of Opportunities" tour began for me last Saturday morning, when I had the opportunity to meet the team I would be traveling with. We met in Moncton to discuss our game plan and work on scheduling and program. Our team this year was comprised of; Jessica Dempster and Sarah Barnes, mobilizers for Wycliffe; Merla Gogel, mobilizer with SEND; Brian Seeley, with HCJB Global; Rob Flannigan with OMF; Leah Vanderlaan mobilizer for Avant; and myself representing NCEM.

Each venue that we engaged in was different and as such, we tailored our program to suit the audience. Our first stop was at the Journey Church, a Convention Baptist Church in Moncton. We took part in their youth group events for the evening.

Brian Seeley and myself following our first event.

Jessica Dempster and Leah Vanderlaan enjoying some Chai Tea, as a part of our sample table of world foods.

We had some good opportunities to engage with some of the youth and youth leaders.

On Monday morning we met at Moncton Wesleyan to take part in chapel time and a morning class at Moncton Christian Academy. I took part in this venue by sharing my testimony - at each location we each took part in various ways, sharing responsibilities and opportunities for exposure.

Merla, illustrating co-operation with her Japanese marriage coat.

Following our time at Moncton Christian Academy we met at a local café for another planning meeting.

Monday night we met in the residence at Crandall University. We hosted a pizza event and were able to take part in their weekly Rez Worship. I was especially encouraged to be able to take part in their time of worship together - it was a blessing to be there.

Tuesday morning the team converged on Bethany Bible College, some of us remained there to be introduced during chapel. The others from our team traveled to St. Stephen to interact with students at St. Stephen's University. At Bethany, we made ourselves available for the afternoon in the student lounge, serving international foods and teas. The team reassembled in the evening in a classroom at Bethany for an evening of fellowship over pizza, round table discussion and time of prayer with students. It was a great opportunity to hear from the students and address some of the specific concerns.

Tuesday night the team stayed with us at ANBC.

On Wednesday morning we were at Devon Park Christian School. We took part in three classroom sessions with the high school students and were asked to take the two chapel times for both elementary and high school.

Here Sarah is illustrating the vast array of opportunities in missions and the importance of having Christian people step up to the field to assist in whatever way God has gifted.

Wednesday evening our team of missionaries shared opportunities at Devon Park Baptist Church. Merla and Jessica were a part of the Awana program, Rob and Brian took prayer meeting - Leah, Sarah and I were a part of the Merge youth group.

Thursday morning we were at New Brunswick Bible Institute. We were asked to take part in two classes and the chapel time. The team asked if I would share during the chapel time - so I took the opportunity to share our story of how God called us into ministry! In the evening we held dorm meetings with the respective guys and gals dorms. I think among the fellas there was a consensus that this was an invaluable opportunity to engage with the young men and answer some of their questions about missions, call, cross-culture etc.

Leah and Sarah at the N.B.B.I. chapel.

During our time at N.B.B.I. we had the opportunity to share with small groups in each class.

The classes broke into six small groups and those of us on the team moved around the room for 5 minute sessions with each group.

Although I was uncertain just what to expect this week, and I was skeptical about the value and outcome of such a missions tour. This was such an encouraging and valuable opportunity to engage with students and young people and hopefully inspire them to the call to missions. Our team bonded very quickly and I think we worked well together to our common purpose.

Please pray for the many contacts that were made this week, and that the Lord would work in the hearts of those touched by a call to ministry. Pray also, for each of the missionaries that I had the privilege to meet and work with this week. That their ministries would be fruitful and the Lord would keep them safe in their travels!

Liz and I will continue to travel for the next several months as we work on both our own deputation and promotion for Arrowhead! We look forward to connecting with many of you over the coming months!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

World of Opportunities Tour

This week I will be taking part in a co-operative 'mobilization' tour with several other missionaries from other mission agencies. We will be visiting several churches, Christian schools and Bible Schools over the next four days. Yesterday we met for several hours in Moncton and began to plan our many events.

Tonight we are meeting in Moncton at the Journey Church for a youth event. The focus of each event is to promote missions in general and make each of our individual missions available as options. Making our mission organizations accessible as potential options for short or long term ministry.

Please keep me in prayer as I will be putting in a lot of miles this week.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

encounters with Jesus

What a wonderful weekend it was at our annual Arrowhead Ladies Retreat again this year. Janeice Hill was our guest speaker, Janeice's title for her devotionals was Encounters with Jesus. Through the Scriptures she showed different examples of peoples life changing encounters with Jesus as well as her own experiences. She encouraged each one of us to daily dig into God's Word and really get to know Him and become more like Him every day.

Our special music was by Theresa Hickman who once again blessed us very much with her voice and the messages in the songs she sang.

The ladies enjoyed making ladder lace necklaces Saturday afternoon. They were a bit challenging at the beginning but everyone was very determined and felt great satisfaction in finishing their beautiful necklaces!

We also enjoyed a lovely tea later in the afternoon with delicious sweets and scones. There were lots of laughs and fun and more laughs...I'm told we could be heard from a distance!:o) It's always such a special time to get together with other Christian ladies to encourage one another in Christ.