Update Tuesday - 21/06/11

It has been a busy few weeks and I apologize for not posting last Tuesday.  I was in Phoenix for the SBC annual convention.  I was too cheap to buy wi-fi for my room and sitting outside the office building next to my hotel to do anything more than just check e-mail seemed a little strange.  The week in Phoenix was a great experience and I really appreciate the opportunity I had to attend.   It really is much like our Canadian annual convention...but super sized.  Maybe next year we will have a bus company selling buses in our exhibit hall.  I never have the heart to tell the sales guys in those booths that my entire church could fit on one of their mini-buses, and that we might not be in a place to buy one...ever.  
I was there representing the North American Mission Board, their new Send North America initiative, and in particular, Canada.  This meant two official duties over the week.  First, it meant that there was a video of me in the NAMB booth in the exhibit hall.  It was a bit disconcerting to see an almost life size video of me when I first entered the booth, so much so that when I first saw it, I turned around and high tailed it out of there.  By the end of my time, however, I had somewhat gotten used to it, enough so that I could at least stay in the booth for my official shift.

who would choose me as a poster boy?!

    
Secondly, it meant that I had the opportunity to participate in the official NAMB presentation...on stage in front of all the SBC delegates and attendees...however many thousands of people that was.  The funny thing is that I had no idea that I was going to be a part of it, or what that meant until I got there.  They did mention something about it briefly in an e-mail I think.  It wasn't until I got there and met with someone in the NAMB lounge that they mentioned something about being on stage etc.  I just nodded thinking that admitting that I had no idea what they were talking about, and had no idea that I might be speaking before the whole assembly would be rather uncool.  It was a great experience in the end.  We followed an incredible video and story about some Disaster Relief workers who had recently become victims themselves in the Joplin tornadoes.  Powerful stuff!  Then they played a video with some footage from the original Oakville church plant from 2001 tracing the progression of plants through Milton and to Hamilton.  I was then asked some questions, along with Jeff Christopherson who put together the team that planted to original Sanctuary site.  I remarked to Jeff that if there is one thing that the video demonstrated, it is that church planting produces grey hair!
We were followed by another church planting video and story.  It really is quite an amazing one.  If you are interested you can view all the videos here, they are worth a look:

NAMB videos 

These videos were pretty amazing, and the presentation was a great one.  Thanks to all of those who had a hand in the videos, in organizing the presentation and in representing NAMB in all capacities at the convention.  We truly appreciate all your effort to help highlight our ministries, and most importantly to celebrate what God is doing and give Him the glory.

Outside of the official duties I had many opportunties to meet people, to share stories and to connect.  I especially appreciated the times I got to spend with others seving in Canada, many of whom I had not had an opportunity to really connect with before.  It is a bit funny that it would take a trip to Phoenix to connect with other Canadians!
Well now we are back to our neighbourhood here in Hamilton.  It is good to be home and I am excited to see what God has planned for us here.  We continue to meet neighbours and are having a great time getting to know the community and all the amazing people around us.  We would ask that you continue to pray that God would lead us to those He has planned for us to connect with.  There is a bit of a neat story to share as this Thursday I will be having coffee with an old friend.  I have known Adam since grade school in Oakville, and we were very close all through high school being part of a very close knit group of friends and playing in a band together.  We also went to college together where we studied music and continued to play together regularly.  After college I got married, went off to university and then seminary and finally up to Milton where I have been serving for the past six years.  I lost touch with Adam about ten years ago or so.  Well, I was surfing the net when I came across an add that he had placed for guitar lessons in...Hamilton!  He is living in Hamilton now, with a family of his own and so we have made plans to catch up on Thursday.
We will also have the opportunity to host our first gathering as we invite some of the neighbours who have welcomed us so warmly to the community.  We are looking forward to having a chance to welcome them, thank them and to get to know them better.  Please be praying for this opportunity, that people would feel welcomed, that we might learn more about them and continue to build strong relationships that God may use in a powerful way.
We thank you for your continued prayers and support and I look forward to reporting all that God is doing again next week.