Timely Visits

This was my trip today; from home to Morinville, to Gibbons, to Fort Saskatchewan and back to home again. I know the map says an hour and forty five minutes but it actually took me longer than that because, you see, I stopped at a few churches on the way.

My day started when I arrived on the dot of ten, their opening time, at The Father's House in Morinville. Whenever I walk through a church door and people don't know who I am, I have a sense they might feel like I might upon seeing some kind of salesperson approaching my own front door. Not exactly a trusting look - somewhat skeptical perhaps. I don't want to single out The Father's House because it happens many times. In any case, I was greeted cordially, and introduced myself as being with Alpha Canada.

Genuine smiles broke out instantly. "This is a very timely visit," said the Associate Pastor who greeted me. He went on to say they were just discussing what to do with some of their small groups this fall, and Alpha fit the bill perfectly. Father's House has three, "campuses," he told me so they might run multiple Alphas. He was especially happy to hear that all our resources are free, "Available," I like to say, "for the low, low, cost of nothing."

From there it was on to Gibbons, where Sturgeon Alliance has been a pretty steady Alpha church. Once again, they were glad to see me. Once again they used the same term, "What a timely visit!" They were planning their fall, were aware of the upcoming Global Alpha Campaign with Bear Grylls and hope to run both it and the Youth Film Series.

On then to Fort Saskatchewan, visiting three churches there, including dropping information off at the Catholic Parish, Our Lady of the Angels. The receptionist knew about Alpha and said she would leave the information for Father. I was surprised, when I got home and went to enter a record of my daily calls, to see that they actually ran a Youth Film Series earlier this year.

My final stop was at Community Baptist Church, the energizer bunny of Alpha churches in Fort Saskatchewan - they just keep running and running and running... Here is a picture.
 
There was no one there, so I just left my card in the door, but look above their sign and the shrub that's behind it. It's an old Alpha sign. I'm not sure how old, but if Alpha ever opens a museum, I'm sure it could find a place there.
 
Alpha HQ might shake their heads, but there's something I love about these small town and rural churches. That banner has been up there for years and, "Why change it...?" They're just so faithful in serving their communities, and if something ain't broke, why fix it? In any case, I will have to talk to them about an upgrade.
 
So there you go. Another fun day in Alberta.
 
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