J2N: Mission Fest Halifax 2013

Once again we trekked to Halifax, Nova Scotia to represent NCEM at Mission Fest. Liz remained behind this year with Ivy, we felt that with the hours and availability of somewhere for Ivy to nap it might be just a little too taxing on baby girl. I was accompanied by Todd Nielsen this year; and we met Phil & Gracie Welch there. It really was a great opportunity for him to network and help us in mobilization and personnel recruitment.

It was a good to be able to share what NCEM is all about and doing among Canada's First Nations people, but it was equally as wonderful to meet and connect with others who are doing similar work. It is amazing to me to see how the Lord seems to be connecting us together. I do have to say though, that I was very disappointed in the numbers of guests to the event. Last year it was wall to wall much of the time, this year I would hazard to say it was down 40% to 50%. I'm not sure for the reason that this might be, but I certainly hope it is not a reflection of the interest level in global missions.

NCEM'ers and friends! Phil & Gracie Welch, Todd Nielsen and I were hosting the NCEM table; Venus Coté, Martin & Sue Bear hosted the St. Mary's Christian Outreach table. 

 It was nice to connect with Dianne Friesen, I had never met her, but have often heard of the work she is doing in Cape Breton.

 

It was great to connect with friends.

A cafeteria filled with Christian Missionaries, three Muslim ladies wander in with no attention given them by anyone... except my man Todd who promptly furnished them with a Gospel Tract!

Day 3 at J2N: Missions Fest Halifax 2012

It certainly has been a whirlwind weekend. Unfortunately Sunday morning Liz had a migraine, and Phil was feeling under the weather, so Gracie Welch and I visited Windsor Baptist Church without their company. To spite their absence, is was wonderful to be in Windsor among family again. After a very nice lunch with friends we headed back to the city for the remainder of the missions conference. Liz was feeling much better, but unfortunately Phil was still under the weather and they needed to head home.

The missions conference concluded at about 4:30, we packed up our booth and got ourselves ready to visit at Sheffield Baptist Church. We very much were blessed to be among our friends at Sheffield and share a ministry update with them.

The entire weekend was a huge blessing and encouragement to both of us, as we connected with new friends and old, gave ministry update and talked to people about the ministries of NCEM and Arrowhead.

We headed home Monday, stopping along the way for a couple of errands for this weekend's Men's Retreat.

Yesterday, Andrew Ardern, pastor of Cumberland Bay Baptist Church, was heading to NBBI for a chapel service. He and Kayla asked Liz and I to accompany them, and Andrew gave up a portion of his chapel time for me to share an Arrowhead presentation. It's always great to connect with the Bible school students. Volunteer recruitment is a huge part of what happens at this time of year, and paints a picture of the ministry the Lord is building for the coming summer.

The rest of this week will involve cleaning and preparation for the Men's Retreat - we have in the neighbourhood of fifty men coming. Please pray for the weekend, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will go forth and that the Lord will make way for men to come and begin to build a relationship with our Lord!

Day 2 at J2N: Missions Fest Halifax 2012

It's been another great day at Missions Fest Halifax. We had the opportunity to connect with a lot of people and talk about ministries within NCEM and at Arrowhead. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Lord uses these contacts for His Glory.

Liz, Venus & Gracie

Liz at the NCEM / ANBC Booth

Each mission represented had the opportunity for a five minute radio interview with CJLU, a local Christian Radio station.

Keynote speaker K.P. Johannan

Day 1 at J2N: Missions Fest Halifax 2012

Liz and I met with Phil and Gracie Welch in Halifax today for Missions Fest Halifax. Jesus to the Nations is an annual Missions Conference that is held at Mount St. Vincent University. Many evangelical mission organizations and para church organizations gather for the opportunity for PR, recruitment and mobilization. It is a wonderful opportunity to connect with friends in other missions, and to engage with other individuals for the first time. It is an opportunity to connect with thousands of individuals who are interested in missions in any number of capacities. Some are seeking opportunities to serve for both short and long term, and some are looking for opportunities to support and encourage those involved in missions. Others still, are simply curious about just what missions are doing. We have very much enjoyed the first evening of the conference and are looking forward to a great weekend. If you're in the area stop in and see us!

Liz & Gracie at the NCEM / ANBC Booth

Phil & Grant at the NCEM / ANBC Booth

Venus is here at J2N as well

Craig, James & Martha (New Brunswick Bible Institute)... sorry Alisha is missing from the picture... maybe we'll catch her tomorrow!

Brian Seeley (HCJB Global) and Sarah Barnes (Wycliffe)

Liz and Judy Porter (Jesus 2 the Nations)

Brad Somers (Pax North) and Stephen Somers (Pioneers), Stephen has served with us at Arrowhead as guest speaker for teen camp in the past and we are excited to welcome him again for our teen camp 2012.

Merla Gogel (SEND International) and Liz

Our good friends Martin & Sue Bear (Rising Above)

Grant & Rob Flanigan (OMF)

Our friend Ewen MacKillop is at seminary and is studying for ministry

Our long time friends Doris Singer and Cathy Blois representing Compassion.

Our buddy Paul Patterson is on the Praise Team for the conference!

J2N

This past weekend Kevin and I met Phil and Gracie Welch in Halifax at Mount Saint Vincent University for Jesus to the Nations (J2N). This conference exists as Atlantic Canada's Mission Fest and we were pleased to represent NCEM and Arrowhead. We had many opportunities to talk to people about NCEM and the work happening here in the East. Several young people expressed interest in coming to serve at Arrowhead for the summer camps and we had a couple of serious inquiries about serving with NCEM.

Kevin and I left on Friday morning and arrived at Mount Saint Vincent for the opening at 6pm. Saturday was a full day as we manned the NCEM table. We were able to connect with pastors from our area who are burdened for our neighbors, Canada's First Nations people. Pray that these opportunities will grow and blossom into wonderful ministries.

Now that we're back, our travel will subside for a while as we prepare for the upcoming work week at the end of April. We are expecting several teams from near and far to come to Arrowhead and help us with some important projects! If you're going to be in the area and would like to drop in a helping hand, just let us know! We'd love to have you! We will be burning some brush on April 30th and can use all the help we can get.