Canadian Evangelism

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 - ...

My new business card Well, it's a start. And it fulfils in me a sense of belonging. We don't have a fully formed organization yet, but I have a card. And they say a card is as good as a raise. And a raise would be nice. In fact I've asked my boss, who is me, to double my salary. Considering I haven't yet begun to draw one, it was an easy request to grant. In fact, he (I) offered to triple it. What a generous boss! Second best boss I've ever had. Forgive, if you noticed it, the pretentiousness of the address - "Suite 35." Considering the fact that it is a condo unit, and it is unit # 35, it is only a slight enhancement, but it does add a bit of prestige, n'est pas ? So now it's time to hit the ground running. I've already had a number of encouraging conversations with local churches who are, or have run, Christianity Explored (CE) programs. Time now to broaden the field to introduce CE to other churches with a passion to introduce their communit...

Yes, it has been another while. I was looking at a fundraising proposal I made a year or so after I joined Alpha in a part-time role in 2011. I stated, in a tone of writing that sounds to me now rather boastful, that my target was to have 100 Alphas run in Alberta in 2012, and that I actually exceeded that target by 10. We had 110 Alphas in the Province in 2012. I chuckled at my innocence, even naivety, of those early days. In 2017 we had just shy of 700 Alphas in the Province. Already, in the first four months of 2018, there have been over 350 registered, including an encouraging number in the Province's schools. Having said that, my time with Alpha Canada has come to an end. Alpha Canada has decided to terminate the Alberta Regional Director position as of April 30, 2018, in favour of a Canada West Director to cover both Alberta and British Columbia. (With the current pipeline dispute, as of the date of this post, I hope my replacement...

Yes, it has been a while since my last post. Alpha called me in mid-November and informed me that I had 29 days of holidays I hadn't taken over the time I've been with them, so I decided to actually take them between then and the end of the year. I have not been, "unbusy" though. I have continued to both make and answer phone calls and emails. One thing I did was speak at my church, Christ the King Edmonton, the picture from whose website I posted above. It was officially about the work of the Holy Spirit among the unsaved, but of course, I hope I was able to work in a bit of a commercial for Alpha. If you would like to hear it, or hear what my voice sounds like, you can find it here .   Another small accomplishment is this: there is a club in Edmonton, the Urban Tavern , where I do stand-up comedy some Sunday nights. I asked the manager what were his least-busy weekday evenings. The upshot of all this is that I have arranged to run an Alpha at the club on Wednesd...

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 ...

  I have a super busy day today, so I'll make this a very brief post.   Each morning, as I have mentioned before, I open up the report of all Alphas running in Alberta this year (2017). The number keep climbing, so I hesitate to give it as a final total, but as of today it takes up 543 lines in my spreadsheet.   Two of the newly registered Alphas this morning are from completely opposite ends of the Province - one in High Level and one in Medicine Hat. Google Maps shows these to be a twelve and a half hour drive apart.   Same Province, same faith, same God, same Lord Jesus Christ, same Spirit. Just sayin'   Blessings,   John

No Sooner did I return from my Calgary junket (Sunday afternoon) than Eva and I started a three-day Evangelism Congress beginning Sunday evening at the Fantasyland Hotel at West Edmonton Mall. One of the featured speakers noted the irony of hosting an event aimed at bringing a Christian revival to our nation in a facility named, "Fantasyland." We who were there, and who have on our hearts the evangelization of our nation, would not consider our aims any kind of fantasy. The event was completely inspiring, with speakers such as Mark Hughes , Danielle Strickland , Charles Price and Edmonton's own Bob Jones, Senior Pastor at North Pointe Church . The worship band was also from North Pointe and the quality and duration of music was just about exactly perfect. I say duration because I find a 15 to 20 minute worship set to be just about right. I met many people there who I have previously met in my travels around the province, some of whom recognized me before I recognized t...

James Clarence (left) and Brent Sellers at RockPointe I'm writing this on Friday morning, but I've been in Calgary since Tuesday. Driving down early Tuesday morning I encountered the first snow of the season, big wet flakes just south of Leduc. By Red Deer though it was bright, sunny and dry. I made a side stop in Red Deer at the headquarters of Impacting Canada Ministries , at least a couple of whose churches have or are running Alpha. The event Tuesday evening was to gather Youth Pastors at the Bowridge Campus of RockPointe Church to envision and celebrate empowering teens to reach their friends through Alpha in their schools. It was also a chance to build anticipation for the forthcoming new Alpha Youth series coming out Oct 1. It was extremely encouraging to hear the stories of what's happening in some Alberta schools, including one of one young man who started Alpha in his school by himself and ended up with 70 kids attending! Wednesday was busy with other encouragin...

Every morning I pull up my database of Alphas running in Alberta. Practically every morning there are new ones registered, and I say a little prayer of thanks and blessing for each one. Of course I love every one, but particularly encouraging lately have been Alphas set to run in various schools, universities and community colleges. Just in the last few days I've been notified of Alphas at the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan University and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). I've seen Alphas being run in High- and Junior High Schools, both public and Catholic. Each one, in each community, means there is a person or team there who cares about reaching our next generation for Christ. This week and last I've been preparing for a trip to Calgary. I'll be there next week from Tuesday to Sunday. I'll be visiting the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association office Tuesday afternoon, then meeting Alpha Canada's Director of Ministry Development, Stephen Mu...

Here we are at McKernan Baptist in Edmonton. McKernan is a longtime Alpha church and once a year I am their missionary of the week. Even though my mission field is only the Province of Alberta, it is a mission field, nonetheless. I love how many people came up to us at this event and told us what a wonderful part Alpha has played in their lives and/or their spiritual journey. McKernan is very near the University of Alberta, so attracts a good number of students. I'm not sure where they'll put them. They have two services every Sunday morning. Their sanctuary holds over 300 people and was fairly full both times, with even an overflow area well populated, and university students, for the most part, haven't even started arriving yet. Having experienced McKernan's hospitality, biblical teaching and worship music ministry, I can't think of  any place I would want more as a, "home away from home" for an out-of-town student, were I a parent worried about sendin...

The list of Alphas registered in Alberta so far this year hit 400 yesterday I'm a day late in posting it. This morning it's 401. Just sayin'. Thanks be to God. John

This a picture I took where Highway 49 comes down to cross the Smoky River at Watino Alberta . I hope the picture shows the fascinating low cloud that caused me to stop and take the picture. I was on my way from Grande Prairie to Peace River to meet with Bishop Fraser Lawton about arrangements for my presence at their Diocesan Synod in October (a meeting that went very well, by the way.) I also squeezed in a meeting with the Director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Catholic Archdiocese of Grouard McLennan while I was in Peace River, but I wanted, in this post, to comment on some of the highlights of my drive itself. Other than scenery such as pictured above, a highlight for me in driving the Peace Country are the farms along the highways . They seem to be endless; yellow fields of canola or green fields of hay, and, in the fall, golden fields of wheat, stretching as far as the eye can see away from the highway. I remember my Dad, whenever we used to go for a drive, commenting...

I had lunch with Pastor Wes Dong of Grande Prairie Alliance Church (GPA) today. Wes was the driving force behind the Global Alpha Campaign earlier this year in this city. In all there were close to 20 Alphas registered in the GP area. We ate at the Jackpot Grill, a former Bingo hall. Bingo halls in Grande Prairie seem to have fallen on hard times. In addition to this one converted to a restaurant, another one has been purchased and beautifully renovated by McLaurin Baptist church. I was there too, today.The person I spoke with at McLaurin said they were happy with their Alpha, and had some good results, but most guests were from their own church and they thought that many guests from outside church might have been more comfortable going to one of two others close by - one at GPRC (Grande Prairie Regional College) and one at a local cafe. Both of the latter were run by people from GPA, so it was wonderful to see the spirit of cooperation among the churches in the city. Wes told me tha...

I met the Rev Matthew Hysell for coffee the other day. Fr Hysell is a priest at Corpus Christi Catholic parish in Edmonton. We had not previously met except by email - first when he ran an Alpha in his parish last year and again as he was planning another one this coming fall. We arranged to meet at a Tim Hortons in South Edmonton. Having never met him personally, I jokingly asked him how I would recognize him. "Try to look like a priest," I wrote. "Don't worry," he replied, "I look like I'm right out of the 15th century." Little did I know he was exactly right. I tried to find a picture of 15th century priests' vestments on line but nothing looked exactly right, and I didn't think to take one when we met, but there he was when I got there and indeed there was no trouble recognizing the one in the black flowing cassock and hat. All, of  which has nothing really to do with the story. We had a great conversation and Matthew was a real, pleasu...

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...

Jimmy Reed is one of my all time blues artists. Many of you may not even have heard of him, and I'm sure it's not everyone's taste, but this is what I often listen to on You Tube while I'm working on my computer for Alpha - whether writing this blog, composing or answering emails, or engaging in some other creative pursuit. Even praying sometimes, believe it or not. I consider music to be God's gift to us. God only gives good gifts (Matthew 7:11)  and every good gift comes from Him (James 1:17). Jimmy's trademark, if I can explain it to anyone who might understand was the familiar boogie-type rhythm on an E chord, alternating B and C# (sometimes up to D), then the same rhythm on an A chord and a B chord, in typical 12-bar blues style. You can hear it in practically every one of his songs. If that makes no sense, whether you are a musical expert or not, please forgive me. It makes sense to me as I try to explain it, or at least as I play it on my guitar. Today ...

As you may know, Bear Grylls has generously lent his name and brand to publicize Alpha around the world in the Global Alpha Campaign. The campaign began in various areas of Canada last fall and actually continues until the end of this year, 2017. Alpha is an opportunity to explore life, faith and God in a friendly, open and informal environment. It is a series of talks over 10 to 12 weeks on the basics of the Christian faith, where enquirers can come to ask their big questions and hear about Jesus without judgement or condemnation. Alpha offers all the materials, including the talks and training, at no cost to anyone who wants to run or host an Alpha. Here is the stats page for the fall of 2016. Because it may be a little blurry, I will list them here for you: Across Canada, last fall, 45,821 guests attended an Alpha 17,179 persons volunteered to be part of an Alpha team 18,710 guests began or renewed a relationship with Jesus (nearly41%) 20,935 guests were non-churchgoers The...

From the Gospel Coalition website , by Tim and Michael Keller. This article is not about Alpha. It doesn't mention Alpha, but every one of these points fits precisely with the Alpha model. Alpha is being run successfully in campuses across the country, and this article tells us exactly why. 4 Promising Opportunities in University Evangelism We hope realism concerning  the challenges of university evangelism  doesn’t give the impression we think the prospects for university missions and evangelism are bleak. Not at all. The current climate, for all its challenges, also provides promising opportunities. Here are four. 1. Need for Deep Relationships First, there’s a deeper hunger for relationships than ever before. Students still intuitively want deeper friendships and relationships than their culture affords or encourages. Students are lonely and much more anxious than earlier generations. If they experience, not the thinness of late-modern consumer networking, but re...