Canadian Evangelism

Canola to infinity My title for this post is a bit of a play on words. A recent road trip took me to the city of Grande Prairie and from there to the  town of Peace River. That whole area of Northwest Alberta is known as the Peace Country, after the mighty Peace River. As a matter of fact, an annual Youth gathering there has one of the coolest titles I've heard; Disturbing the Peace , to be held later this year at Grande Prairie Alliance, a really good Alpha church. The first picture above is where the Highway 2 crosses the river at Dunvegan . The second picture is of some of the bright yellow fields of canola one sees along both sides of the highway. I love travelling this Province. In Peace River I had some interesting and encouraging calls. My first appointment was with Pastor Nathan Friedt at  First Baptist , a church who has been taking the lead in that community, Alpha-wise. Nathan is a former Youth Pastor who left for Vancouver Island for a tim...

Eva and I returned a couple of weeks ago from a few days in Vegas. "Vegas?" you ask, in the summer? Well, yes. We had a package deal that gave us free hotel in exchange, I didn't realize until the pitchman was halfway through his spiel, the, "Opportunity" to sit through a two hour time-share presentation. I've sat through one of these before and swore never to do it again. In addition to not particularly enjoying being subjected to a relatively high-pressure pitch, I don't really feel right wasting a sales person's time. I had no intention of buying anything, and I didn't. But, hey, free is free. We also had Air Miles to pay for a hotel on the way down and Wyndham points for one on the way back. So all it cost us was gas. Well, gas plus food and entertainment. We carried and kept a fair amount of food in a cooler that we drained and filled with ice from the hotel ice makers twice a day. And we found a place on the Miracle Mile who served $9 entre...

Seniors' Alpha Just a couple of things, among many, happening with Alpha right now, at opposite ends of the generational spectrum. First, [ a well-known local home developer ] is hoping to run Alpha in four of their Seniors' residences, starting in mid-September. Their corporate chaplain has asked me to help find teams from among local churches. Seniors are now my generation, the "baby boomers," once rebellious against the establishment. That spirit of rebelliousness would seem now to be once again appropriate, as our culture seems to be departing more and more from its roots. It's time to rebel once again against the 'establishment' and turn back toward God. Youth Alpha Turning to Youth, Alpha's Youth Film Series (YFS) has had a tremendous impact since its introduction in 2013. If you can see the infographic (just out) to the right, it has been viewed by nearly 70,000 Canadian teens. Over 20,000 young people have come to a new or renewed faith through...