where will you serve this summer?

Before long, summer will be upon us and we will be in full swing in our summer camp programs. At Arrowhead we have many opportunities to serve and minister together. There are several key roles that are often a challenge to fill, and perhaps this summer it is your calling to come and share your gifts and talents in one of those areas!

One particular area that we would like to fill this year is the position of program co-ordinator. We are looking for a Bible School student who might be interested in coming and serving for the summer in this leadership capacity. If you know someone, or if you yourself might be interested please drop us a line.

We're looking forward to an amazing summer, it's always exciting to see what the Lord is going to do with those who are willing to follow Him wherever He will lead!

If you would like to apply to work with us this summer, you can download application instructions and forms by clicking HERE. Be sure to check out our Facebook Page to connect with us and see lots of pictures and videos from ANBC. You can also follow us on Twitter.

Below is our promotion bulletin insert as we seek to make people aware of ministry opportunities with NCEM at Arrowhead. You can download a printable version to use in your bulletin by clicking HERE.

Summer Materials Project 2013

With all of this snow blowing around it's hard to image that ANBC's summer camps will be in full swing in just a few short months! We, and the advisory team have already begun to plan the summer programs and build our summer curriculum. And, with this we could certainly use your help!

At Arrowhead, it is our goal to have good materials that are complementary to the message brought by our guest speakers. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our primary message, and we wish to see it presented clearly and a way that will resonate with our campers. We have selected three pieces of material for this summer that we would like to add to our program for our junior camps and for our volunteer training program. Please take the time to look at what we've selected and consider partnering with us in acquiring these materials.

We are prayerfully presenting five projects, and are seeking five churches to partner with us in raising funds to acquire these valuable materials for our summer camp programs. If you, or your fellowship, feel led to do so, please drop us a line.

Your Child's Profession of Faith by Dennis Gundersen

This is the book that has been selected for our volunteer training this year. It is often overlooked that our volunteers come from abroad and our team each week is often comprised of individuals from far and wide. There is a great importance, in our role as teachers and disciplers, to be on the same page, and to be connected with NCEM's principle's and practices. This highlights the necessity for good volunteer training, and this book will be an excellent companion to our training this year.

Project 1 • 50 copies • estimated cost $350
Project 2 • 50 copies • estimated cost $350

Who Will be King? Two Ways To Live by Matthias Media

This booklet is clearly and simply written for children and will serve as a companion to our chronological gospel presentation during each week of camp. After it is used as a review of each weeks teaching, it will be a take home for the kids.

Project 3 • 200 copies • estimated cost $150

Kids' Questions About The Bible and Creation by Cheryl Fawcett and Robert Newman

This book will serve as our cabin devotions book for our three junior camps (ages 8-12). It takes a narrative approach to answering questions that children have about God and Creation. It is our hope to incorporate the narratives and scripture in these chapters into our gathering times as well as cabin devotions. It will be an excellent book for each camper to take home with them after camp.

Project 4 • 50 copies • estimated cost $250 
Project 5 • 60 copies • estimated cost $300



 

CSPN Conference Summary

"...but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."
Matthew 18:6

I was asked several times before I came why it was necessary to travel so far for these meetings. Over the course of the past week, it has been impressed upon me not only the extreme importance of taking the issue of Child Protection and Safety very seriously; but also the validity of taking part in the workshops and seminars offered by the Child Safety and Protection Network. The sensitive nature of the subject matter lends itself to a necessity for interaction and discussion, something that is not achievable in the same way via video.

I have learned a great deal this week, and become acutely aware of the inherent dangers that lay in wait for children. Often in unexpected places with unexpected people. I have had the privilege to attend workshops on the following topics throughout the week; Learning from our past, Lessons learned from the Catholic sexual abuse scandal, Interviewing children, Indicators of abuse, Building boundaries for young children, Peer abuse, Privileges and perils of growing up in a "God system", prosecuting offenders. Needless to say, it has been a week of challenging subject matter.

We have a responsibility to protect children, and with that knowledge, we are in sin if we do not do everything in our power to do so.

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."
James 4:17

When you are asked to file police checks or submit to child safety training, or follow procedures put in place for child protection - it is not simply a clerical nuisance put in place to make you miserable. We are striving, to the best of our abilities to achieve the best practices of Child Safety and Protection. This has been phased in over several years, and this year we will have a zero tolerance for derelict applications. So get on those asap so that you won't be denied service with ANBC or NCEM in 2013!
  Here are a few shots of the beautiful facility that we have enjoyed during this weeks conference. (Pat loaned me her picture taking apparatus).

The diningroom

Some of the campus, our accommodations were in "Asia House"

The fountain and globe

Pat in the dining room by the soda fountains

 

Lovely fresh fruit available all the time

the cafeteria

CSPN Conference Introduction

I had a full day of travel yesterday, my alarm went off at 2:15am to launch me into my journey. After a delay due to some technical problems with the plane, I flew out of Moncton (where it was -17˚ by the way) and through to Pearson and LaGuardia, ultimately landing in Richmond Virginia. I was met there by Pat Elford and some other folks attending the conference. We arrived at the International Learning Center (a ministry of IMB, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention) at about 6:30 local time, just in time for a nice supper in the cafeteria. The accommodations are very nice, the staff friendly and helpful; it will be a very pleasant stay for the week. I wish I could post pictures, but alas, I have no picture producing apparatus. By the way, it is supposed to be 21˚ here today, it feels like May back home. The Child Safety Protection Network Conference has a full schedule that includes break out sessions, workshops, a plenary speaker and times of worship together. There are representatives here from 37 mission organizations taking part in the various training sessions.

My first scheduled sessions this afternoon are for the "Newcomers Orientation". It is a prerequisite seminar that is intended to provide a common foundation regarding the reality of abuse in the Christian setting, how abuse occurs, and a basis for both preventing and response, and facilitate information regarding the goals and progress that has been made to date on the Child Safety and Protection Network.

It is a difficult topic, but, sadly it is a reality, and as Camp managers we need to be aware and prepared. The safety and security of our campers and staff is a huge responsibility and not something to be approached lightly.

Happy New Year...

Now that January is almost over, it would seem that I have been a little negligent of posting updates to our blog. We enjoyed a nice Christmas break in Nova Scotia, and returned shortly after New Years day. It was nice to have a bit of vacation with friends and family. It was very exciting for us to share in Ivy's first Christmas.



Our Holiday festivities weren't without incident however, I fell after Christmas and damaged myself. Initially I presumed to have sprained my arms, there were bruises and a good deal of pain. So, as I had decided that they were simply sprained I elected to let them heal on their own and didn't go to the clinic. After coming home to New Brunswick, the bruises were healing, but the pain and mobility were not. So I went for an x-ray, to find out that I had two fractures in my left elbow and one in my right. Further to that, they had no treatment option. So, I am left to my own healing, which reportedly,  will take a couple of months. But, I'm fine.

We had our first ANBC Advisory Team meeting of 2013 this past Saturday. There are some exciting new things afoot for this year. Stay tuned here for updates on the progress of planning our events and schedule for this year.

I will be leaving in the wee hours of Monday morning for Richmond Virginia. My flight leaves at 6:00am, which means I need to be heading out of Cumberland Bay at about 3:15am or so. Prior to Christmas, I received a call from NCEM General Director, Albert Heal. NCEM has five summer Bible camps and a Bible school, and numerous children's Bible Clubs and Sunday School ministries. It is vital for us to be aware and sensitive to the needs and safety of those children. As a manager of a Bible Center, they felt it would be valuable to have me as a representative on the committee. The conference is run by the Child Safety Protection Network and will take place at at the IMB: International Learning Center in Rockville, VA. If I am able I will post an update or two throughout next week. I will be attending the conference with Albert Heal and Pat Elford. It promises to be a challenging conference, we covet your prayers as we take in the meetings and discuss issues surrounding children's ministries.

For Aliyah

Please continue to pray for Aliyah Somers. She continues to battle Leukemia and struggle with the effects of Chemo and the various medications that she must take to help her in her fight. Pray for her family, for strength and peace, for wisdom and for energy as they try to comfort her and deal with all of the challenges of travel in the winter.

Aliyah's Bald Buddies, Peter Branscombe, Andrew Ardern, Rob McCready and myself have exceeded our goal of raising $1500 for the family, and shaved our heads to show our support for Aliyah! But they still need our prayers and any financial support that we can give. If you would like to help them out financially, get in touch with us and we can tell you how you can do that.

We had a fun evening shaving our heads, here are a few pictures as evidence that we fullfilled our commitment... (you can see the whole album pf photos by clicking HERE)

The prerequisite "before" pictures.

The ladies had fun sculpting our hair... perhaps too much fun.

 And of course... with the shave!

Our support team!

Aliyah's Bald Buddies.

Snail Mail!

Hello friends! We've finally gotten our prayer letter together and are just about to put it in the mail! We are often asked if we can eMail our prayer letter, and I guess generally we don't. eMailing a .PDF comes accompanied with a host of problems that most often makes that an inefficient way of communicating. So, for all intents and purposes this blog serves as an electronic prayer letter. But, there is something to be said for having something come in the mail that you can read.

The Lord has provided for us in a unique way to be able to afford to send out mailings of our prayer letter, and we really feel that it is a part of our ministry to do so. Although it is our hope to send out four printed prayer letters a year, this has not been the case in 2012. I could insert a host of excuses here, but suffice it to say, with a new baby and managing the various programs and events at Arrowhead, our prayer letter mailings have suffered. So, our current letter is chalk full of pictures and updates from the past months. We will also be including our newest prayer card as well, with a brand new family photo.

We would be more than happy to include you in our mailing, so if you have not been receiving our prayer letters in the mail and would like to simply drop me an eMail and we'll see that you get in on this weeks mailing.

Thanks for your prayers and support this year. We trust the Lord has been honoured and glorified by all that has transpired at Arrowhead and in Atlantic Canada.