Still Here

I must admit I have not taken the opportunity to post much in recent days, and I apologize for it. My time has been spent more in preparation mode than anything else.

Preparation for what? Well, I'm glad you asked. As I have posted, Bear Grylls is lending his name and brand to Alpha internationally for a year and a half beginning September 2016. This campaign will involve forming a number of Regional Teams across the country to take local initiative in reaching their communities with the Jesus story through Alpha. So... the first step is to form and develop these regional teams. Part of this process is to hold regional, "Invite Canada" meetings. We have already held three, in Edmonton and Sherwood Park, Alberta. I'm holding another in Grande Prairie on April 12. Here is the invitation I sent out for that one to churches in the Peace Region of Alberta:

Inline images 1
Come and find out how your church can be a part of it.
April 12 at Christian Fellowship Assembly Grande Prairie

We have an opportunity for the Christian Church in Canada to jointly invite people to explore Jesus’ story.

This is a strategic moment. We have a story that resonates with Canadians, a tool that can be used across denominations and online resources to effectively mobilize churches of any size. Church leaders across the country believe that the Global Alpha Campaign could be the catalyst the Church needs for a united witness to the nation. Find out more about the campaign at InviteCanada.ca.
 
Take an hour or so to hear more about this historic initiative:
 
Tuesday April 12 at 1:30 PM
Christian Fellowship Assembly
11449 – 92 St, Grande Prairie (map) 
RSVP: Wes Dong at
 
The next step is to organize what we are calling, "Alpha Labs." They are described as... 
"Alpha Labs are a brand new series of interactive training sessions, designed to help your church build a culture of invitation, facilitate effective small groups, practice radical hospitality and hold a powerful weekend or day away. They feature cutting-edge learning experiences incorporating individual and group exercises and peer-to-peer learning. They will provide value for churches far beyond preparing for Alpha."
Alpha labs are six-hour sessions, held on Saturdays from 9 to 3, and I'm getting ready for at least 4 of them - in Edmonton, Calgary, Grande Prairie and perhaps a fifth in Medicine Hat. These take quite a bit of planning, and having never run them before, I'm finding them a bit intimidating, but, as we are promised, with God, all thing are possible.

I'm driving up to Grande Prairie with Eva (my wife) early Tuesday morning. Our daughter's dance studio is involved in a dance competition all week there, so she will be staying in town while I fly back by myself that evening after the meeting. Then I'm driving down to Red Deer on Thursday for a Youth Champion's retreat with Amy Croy and Tim Teakle, Alpha's Youth Associates.

So April, May and early June look to be rather hectic. Looking forward to a couple weeks of holidays near the end of June.

Blessings,

John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wonderful People

Image
Anglican Diocese of Athabasca Synod - Peace River Alberta  Friday Oct 13 I drove 5 hours to Peace River to make a presentation at the Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Athabasca. Bishop Fraser Lawton would love to see as many of his parishes as possible running Alphas. Many of the delegates are actually familiar with Alpha, although, having run it often in the moderately distant past, may not be so familiar with all of our new materials. So Friday evening's dinner was turned into a model Alpha supper, including jokes and the showing of the invitational first video of the relatively recent Alpha Film Series. This version is hosted by Toby and Gemma, a hip young pair of presenters, and targeted at the Millennial generation, the 18 - 35-year-olds. I always say that baby boomers like it too because they too like to pretend they can still be young and hip. Between Friday evening and Saturday morning I met many great people and found quite a bit of enthusiasm for Alpha. If all comes ...
Read more

Whirlwind Tours

Image
Because, as the title of this blog indicates, this is a diary, it will not always contain great theological or philosophical revelations. Sometimes it will be just what a diary is - a record of my thoughts and/or activities. I have set myself a bit of a busy schedule over the next two weeks, but that's the whole point, isn't it. Even though this is my retirement career, I still treat it as a full-time job. Basically, I do my best to devote 9-5, five days a week to my Alpha duties, and Saturday and Sunday are never ruled out if Alpha stuff needs attention. So... my schedule as it stands so far for the next couple of weeks includes two presentations at St Paul's Anglican Church in Edmonton this Sunday, trips to Westlock and Morinville, AB, a Pastors' lunch presentation in Whitecourt and visits to churches in Provost, Wainwright and Lloydminster. One thing I like to do wherever I go is check out a bit of each town's history and sources of local pride. Many Alberta comm...
Read more

On the Road Again

Image
I'm in Grande Prairie this week, ostensibly to attend  a dance competition where my daughter, Jen's dance studio is competing, and doing very well, if I may say so with a bit of fatherly pride. However, as I do not yet have a travel budget, I stole the opportunity to make calls on the churches in town, with some very encouraging results. I have previously visited most of them during my time with Alpha, so this was a matter of renewing relationships and re-introducing myself in my new capacity with Christianity Explored . Most calls just involved friendly conversation and ministry updates. I have also told all my churches that I am happy to encourage them with Alpha as well, so I shared the joy of what is probably the main Grande Prairie Alpha church, over the number of new believers coming to faith through their Alphas. Then, however, without my having even mentioned it, he produced material on a new discipleship program they are considering - Discipleship Explored - ...
Read more