Canadian Evangelism

...said some things, done some things, differently. Our fundraising event is now over. From a certain standpoint it was a success. That is; We had more guests than we thought we would - about 150. Most of them enjoyed the evening However, our purpose in running the thing was not (primarily) so people could enjoy themselves. That was a wonderful side benefit, but the primary purpose was to raise funding for Steven Craig and myself. I have not heard what support came in for Steven, but, on the evening, I must say I was somewhat disappointed. Now, that may seem like whining, or self-pity. For a short time it may have been, but not now. My thoughts are the same, but now they are a rational reflection on reality. And this being my diary, I get to express them, emphasizing once again that they are my own, not those of Alpha Ministries. I made a 15 minute presentation on Alpha; what it is and how it changes lives and contributes to a better society. The presentation was wel...

Do you know the story of how God stopped the sun for Joshua? I don't know just how He did it. I don't know exactly what happened that day, but I have no doubt that the Creator of the entire universe can do exactly what He wants with it. Sometimes I have days where God seems to do it for me too. There are times (and I must confess, recently) where, looking ahead, I have no idea how I'm going to accomplish everything that needs to get done. But I pray that God will somehow extend the hours, somehow expand the day, so I will get everything done. And He does it. Now, I'm not saying He literally stops the sun in the sky, but as I run from project to project; from appointment to appointment; from place to place, at the end of the day, or even part way through it, I look at my watch and am amazed at how the time has not gone by as quickly as I thought it would. So, in the face of a seemingly impossible schedule or a seemingly insurmountable list of tasks, rather than barging ...

To get tickets for the fundraising event in support of God's work through Alpha in Alberta and Inter Varsity at McGill University. As posted previously, comedian Dan Taylor has been selected as one of Alberta's top comics in a Sirius XM contest and is opening for Russell Peters at Rexall Place. Then he is travelling to Toronto on the very day of our event to appear on Just For Laughs. I would not begrudge him all this success for anything. Stepping up to the mic in his place is another Christian comic, David Rae. I have seen and enjoyed his act as well, and I consider myself a good judge of comedy. (For those who don't know, in my previous, BC [before Christ] life, I performed at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto and Yuk Yuk's and the old Sidetrack here in Edmonton, approaching a level fairly close to mediocrity in my act.) You can message me for tickets or register online here. The commercial is now over. Next post will be back to our regular programming. Blessings, John

The woman on the right is Amy , our Alpha Youth coach for Alberta, newly on board but already on the road. With her is the chaplain of a high school, and the young girl I mentioned in this post . Looks like they got together and the wheels are rolling for another Alpha Youth Film Series in another Alberta school. Speaking of which, in my travels yesterday, after making a cold call to the Salvation Army Edmonton Temple (an encouraging call and well-received, I might add) I popped in to Celebration Church and helped an amazing young woman, Sophie, register another 12 or 14 junior high and high school courses. What an AMAZING generation! We seniors need not fear for the future of the Church if these kids are any indication. Then I received an e-mail from the Pastor of  New Life Victory Church  in Lac La Biche, the church where I made the cold call last week,  mentioned in this post.  He was asking for more information on Alpha, so I wrote back mentioning, amo...

OK, so now for my Wednesday in Calgary. I had started with 2 firm appointments, the first one at 2:00 in the afternoon.  But my phone calling Tuesday began to pay off. I arranged to visit Westbourne Baptist church at 9:30 in the morning. Not knowing how traffic would be I checked out of my hotel and hit the road at about 8:45. My route took me along 24th Ave , (hope that link works) where oncoming traffic was backed up about 2 km heading to the University. However, my direction was free and clear and I arrived about 25 minutes early. Pastor Bill Finch was very kind to let me in anyway and we spent a very nice 35 minutes or so in conversation and prayer. Next stop was Southview Alliance in the southwest area of the city. I chose a route that took me along Canyon Meadows Drive . (There's a reason for all this - hold on.) As I was travelling along that road, getting closer to my destination, I got a call from a church back in North Calgary in a bit of a panic. They had ...

The picture is of Bonavista Baptist, the results of last week's early snow in Calgary, and I'll get back to it in a minute. I had quite a productive trip to Calgary. You will note that on my last post I was hoping that new appointments would firm up as I embarked on my visit there. Well, things did. Parenthetically, I remember another of our Alpha Regional Directors wondering if anyone else had trouble getting churches to return calls. I smiled. I don't know if it was an honest question or tongue-in-cheek, but I think we all have the same problem. So I committed to the trip in faith, having three firm appointments with church and/or Alpha leaders. Then came a last-minute appointment - a lunch date with a key Alpha coach in downtown Calgary at 11:00. I left the house at around 8 AM, certain I had plenty of time. Before I left I double-checked everything I had or needed and was satisfied I had everything, but a half-hour south I realized I had left my map of ...

Good news for my friend Dan Taylor, pastor and stand-up comedian . He has won the opportunity to perform on Just for Laughs in Toronto. Bad news is that he was scheduled to do his act at my fundraiser on September 25, the very day he will be in Toronto. Dan has promised to do his best to find a replacement, but if he can't, I may be doing a routine myself, something I haven't done in a very long time.  Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that to everything there is a season. If it is my time to do comedy again, let's hope it is a time to laugh. In any case, all the best Dan. In other news, I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a couple of days in Calgary. I still have some openings in my schedule, so pray with me that I might find some productive appointments to fill them. Two very faithful Alpha churches there are transitioning to new teams, so pray I might be an encouragement to them, and pray for them as they step into new leadership roles in their respective churches. All f...

Moderately successful but not without its frustrations. My trip took me in a "Grande Tour" from home in LA (Leduc Alberta), to St Paul, to Bonnyville, to Lac laBiche and back home again - all in all about 750 km. I had spoken to a church in St Paul where they ran both Alpha Campus (as their regular Alpha) and the Alpha Youth Film Series (YFS) for their youth. When I called Wednesday to firm up my appointments the youth pastor told me he would not be there Thursday (the day of my trip) but that the Senior Pastor would. So, once on the road, I called the church to let them know I was on the way. "Oh," said the receptionist, "The Senior Pastor is on his way into Edmonton." "Well, OK," I thought, "I'm on my way, I'll just have to make the best of the rest of my trip." I had one other stop in St Paul, at the Catholic church, where I had a very nice meeting with Fr Gerard. This is the church where their Associate Priest was shot and k...

I often think of Nicholas Cage's final line in this clip from the movie, 'City of Angels'. I wouldn't say it was a Christian movie; in fact, far from it, but I think this quote fits very well with the Christian message. It is one that all who are seeking answers to life's big questions would be wise to consider. An Alpha course is one of the best ways to do just that. #Tryalpha Blessings, John

How wonderful it is when seeds you have sown, seeds that perhaps has even slipped from immediate memory, show promise of bearing fruit. I was cc'd this morning on an e-mail from Alpha Canada HQ to a person I met with months ago. This person holds a position in a Christian organization and the indication is that they want to run Alpha in a particular setting. I thought of the parable of the sower. The seeds we sow fall on various soils, but even seed that lands on good soil doesn't flourish right away. The farmer who sows his seed, even on soil he is confident is good, doesn't see the results for weeks or months. And so we sow in faith, confident that some will fall on good soil and that God will bring the increase in His time. Blessings, John

Never mind - you're stuck with it. I figure that since this is an Alpha blog it should look somewhat like it. Thus it should reflect Alpha's new branding, which, as you have probably noticed, it does. For the past couple of years Alpha Canada used a logo represented by a small smooth stone, with the tag line, "No Stone Unturned." It could be understood in two ways.  For us at Alpha Canada, and current believers, it told us that we should leave no stone unturned in reaching people for Christ.  For seekers, it says that the message of the Christian faith, as it relates to the big questions of life, is so important that they should leave no stone unturned in their search for meaning in life. It was a great concept... for those who understood the idiom. The problem was that not everyone did. It was fine for English-speaking people, but I asked an Iranian Christian friend if he knew what it meant, and he had no clue. I explained the imagery to him, but that is not possible...