Canadian Evangelism

Except I'm back from southern Alberta and I didn't have to sleep in a chuckwagon. Every meeting I listed on my previous post, below, went extremely well. I don't know if I've ever revealed Alpha's current strategy for the province, but here we go; In 2012 there were 61 churches running Alphas in Alberta. With the big initiative in 2013 that figure jumped to over 300, and that number has been basically maintained since. So the thinking is that most churches have either run Alpha or heard about it, so there is not that urgency to be constantly seeking out new churches. In other words, I haven't spent a lot of my time making cold calls on new churches. Instead, my focus is on developing relationships with current key churches, helping the run their own Alphas with excellence and finding out how we as a ministry can serve them better. To that end, I feel I had some really meaningful conversations. I recently had what I consider to be a bit of a revelation. I don...

I have a trip scheduled this week for Calgary and Lethbridge, with a few very promising appointments lined up. I waited until this morning (Monday) to book a hotel in Calgary, not remembering that this is the week of the Calgary Stampede . I went to my usual website to find a room and the realization gradually began to dawn on me, as I scrolled down the list and saw, "no availability" opposite every hotel in the city, that I might have to ask the guy in the picture if I could sleep in his chuckwagon. I finally found a room though, and one not even too far from my first Wednesday morning appointment. So my schedule looks like this: Tuesday 7:30 AM - pick up rental car in St Albert Tuesday noon - lunch in Okotoks with Pastor Terry Lee of Okotoks Alliance Couple of afternoon appointments in Calgary Wednesday 9:00 AM - meet with Pastor Todd Swisher of Eastside City Church in Calgary Wednesday noon - lunch with John Albiston of Victory Church Lethbridge 1:30 - Meet with Pastor Sco...

I am hoping to make a trip to Calgary and points south (Lethbridge, etc.) next week. One of the churches I was especially anxious to meet with was one I have never visited before, Harvest Hills Alliance . I sent an email yesterday to their Associate Pastor, Aaron Bon-Benard hoping to set up an appointment. This morning he called me, saying he was going to be on holidays next week. However, we had quite a nice conversation on the phone, during which I learned he was running two Alphas, including one that grabbed my attention, with an organization called Next Steps Ministries . Aaron told me it is a ministry working with women exiting the sex trade, and it brought to my mind my time with Alpha in the Fort Saskatchewan jail. It is a co-ed institution with both male and female inmates, and many of the women were there because of their involvement in the sex trade. Some of my thoughts on Alpha in prison are posted here, on another blog. In short, this trade, far fr...