Camrose Story Made My Day

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This picture is taken at Gwynne, Alberta, on the way to Camrose. Apparently they have a severe shortage of parking space there.

I visited the Camrose Community Church in Camrose (well, where else would it be?) I was to meet with both Senior Pastor Ralph Kassen and Youth pastor Shannon Payne. They ran Youth Alpha last fall.

Shannon wasn't there when I arrived so I spent some time with Pastor Ralph. He was elbow deep in watermelon when I walked in, cutting up dessert for their Kids Club this evening. We spoke for a while but, fearing I was getting in the way, I felt I should leave and just have Pastor Ralph tell Shannon I had been there. However, I waited, and sure enough, in a few minutes Shannon came in, loaded down with prizes for the Kids' Club.

I'm glad I waited.

Shannon had great things to say about the Youth Film Series. They hosted up to 40 or more kids on Wednesday nights, with most of them from outside the church. Their church is, "on the wrong side of the tracks," as Pastor Ralph told me, so some of the kids are a bit rough around the edges, so to speak, but even the unchurched kids are loving Alpha. She told me of one young man who, on the first night of the course, said, "I don't believe in God; I believe in science!"

Shannon said, "Well, that's good because God believes in science too." At he end of the course, around Valentine's Day, she had each kid do some artwork. This same kid drew a heart and wrote, "GOD" in the middle of it because, as he told Shannon, "God is love." That's the kind of progress we see time and again.

Then she told me something else. During our conversation, I mentioned that this church was one of the first I had called on when I first came onboard with Alpha, a year or two ago, and I remembered recognizing what a heart she had for the young people of her neighbourhood. She told me that she was in her office that day praying, feeling she was at a bit of an impasse, and asking God what she could do to reach these kids.

"Within a half an hour, " she told me today, "You walked into my office."

Have I told you I love my job?

Blessings,
John

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