Update Tuesday - 28/06/11

Wow, what a week it has been!  This past weekend marked both our last week in Milton as well as our first outreach event in our new neighbourhood and a few things in between as well.
It began last Thursday, when we attended our last official homechurch/band practice with the worship team in Milton with whom we have been serving these last six years.  The last two years have been especially memorable as we have seen God do amazing things, we have seen people grow closer to Christ and, for me personally, I have seen God teach me the basic foundations for what he has called us to do here in Hamilton.  We took the opportunity to study the Great Commission from Matthew 28:16:20 together, celebrating our new work in Hamilton while encouraging and challenging each other with what it should look like for all of us as a group and each of us as individuals to live out the command to make disciples of all nations by going, baptizing and teaching.   It was an especially sweet time together as our friends Liz and Grant brought their new daughter, exactly one week old.  Two Thursdays ago we celebrated together when a proud father called us while we were gathered studying God's word, to let us know that Charlotte had just been born.   This was an incredibly emotional call for all of us as we reflected over the previous year and a half.  Liz and Grant had been told that they would never be able to have children without medical intervention, and over the last year and a half our group walked with them through two miscarriages.  It was an incrediblly difficult time for them, and it was heart breaking to walk with them through such a time.   I won't ever forget the night that they joined us for home church via skype (as they were on a short term assignment in Australia) and shared with us that despite the fact that they had gone for a rest, had left all the treatments behind and had almost given up on having children, they were pregnant.  This was a work of God for sure.
As if the birth of a newborn was not exciting enough, one week previous to Charlotte's birth, our friends Shelly and Patrick were able to share with us that they had been chosen to be the parents of a young boy that they were working on adopting.  This was especially poignant for Kim and I as we remember back to when we adopted Daniel and Caroline.  Kim especially walked with Shelly and Patrick through this process, one in which we saw the providential hand of God at work in amazing ways.  God saw fit that they would get the phone call saying that they had been chosen to parent Jonas just shortly before our home church would arrive.  They were really excited to be able to share with us.  This is exactly the way that it occurred for Kim and I eight years ago, and we remember Liam sharing with our home church in Oakville at the time, who had also prayed and walked with us through the journey, that he had a new brother and sister.  We see God at work in the church in Milton as He transforms lives, draws people into deeper relationship with Himself, and people reorient their lives around Jesus and living out his words.  It makes it bitter sweet to be leaving, but we know that God is at work and that they will continue to grow and thrive and bring honour to His name... and we are just a short drive down the highway!
Sunday was then our last official Sunday at the Sanctuary Milton.  Again it was a bit bitter sweet.   For the most part we were able to ignore the reality, keep it together and have a great service.  At the conclusion of the service, however, there were some tears that were shed.  Our friend and pastor Jim Danielson had prepared a beautiful power point reflecting our years serving together.  We have gotten used to saying that we have been serving in Milton for six years now, which is true.  The fact is, however, that the Danilesons and the McGibbons also served together in Oakville for a number of years before that and we have been together, in one capacity or another, for closer to ten years.  We so appreciated all the time and energy put into the presentation and are even more grateful for the years of love, service and deep relationships that it represented.  They followed this presentation by gathering around us, laying hands on us and praying as they sent us out.  It is hard to capture such a moment in words so I will not even try except to say that it was a powerful and meaningful time together that will always mean a lot to my family.  
That, in and or itself, would have made for a rich and memorable weekend but it does not end there.  We had the privilegde of having a photographer join us for the weekend who was taking pictures for a future magazine article hghlighting our new work here in Hamilton.  With this in mind we had the opportunity to show some of who we are, the community in which we are serving and some of the things that we hope to accomplish here in the city.  On Saturday we headed out to Locke street with our good friend Mike who is an amazing fiddle player, and we did some busking.  We set out a violin case full of candy, and tried to give a bit as opposed to collecting change, and we preformed for an hour or so.  We had a great time, met some great people and I think is is something we will definitly do again.
The final thing that we planned for the weekend was a BBQ (translation:  "grill out", or "cook out" for those of you in the south)  We hosted a "Thank You" gathering for all those who have so warmly welcomed us onto the street.  Having only sent out the invitations on Wednesday and Thursday, which was fairly short notice, we thought that it might be a smaller gathering.  To our surprise, almost everyone made it, and we hosted over twenty people for dinner on Sunday.  It was a powerful picture of the community that God has called us to be forming.  We had young kids and seniors, men and women, boys and girls and even some different cultures all sharing, interacting and spending time together.  We were encouraged to see this sense of community that exists and seems to have been fanned into flame just in time for us to be able to witness and be a part of.   I believe God is stirring, and we see this picture from Sunday night as a real encouragement from the Lord.  We also got some amazing flames going (all intentional, no burned burgers came from the grill) for some great photos of the event. 
Of course a BBQ is just a BBQ.  Our request is that you would join us as we continue to seek the Lord for guidance and direction and for opportunities for more spiritual discussions in the days ahead.    We will be seeking to discern the spiritual state of our new friends in order to get a sense of where to go and with whom.  We continue to pray from Luke 10 for people of peace, asking that God would specifically reveal those that He has chosen for us to begin discipleship.  We also pray for workers for the harvest which will be needed as we seek to eventually multiply and seep out across the city.   Our continued prayer is that God would glorify His name in this place and that He would use all of this for His name sake and for the sake of His kingdom.