return to the Manorites

If you have kept up with this blog at all in the last year, you'll know that some of my friends and I regularly ministered at Scott Manor. Leaving this wonderful place was hard when Jenny & I travelled to PEI and NY for the summer, but necessary. On teusday (in the midst of our St Catharines visit) we made time to return to the Manor and visit with these people who had become so dear to us. We gathered about 10 or so Manorites (a name we have tagged on them) and shared about our summer, and they shared about their summer, and we shared Scripture, and then we prayed.
We were worried that there would be no Spiritual care for these people after we left, but we were happy to learn that a Pastor from Central Gospel visits the manor bi-weekly to minister. That is a huge relief to us. We knew our ministry there was only temporary, but we did (and still do) have a responsibility to them.
We learned that Eddie suffered a massive heart attack and was currently in a coma-like state at the hospital. Jenny & I went to ICU and were able to pray over this great and kind man. I remember the first sunday I was back in St Catharines after returning from Africa/Russia last year; Eddie spontaneously got up and emptied his pockets (all $0.85), wanting to bless the children of Mozambique. It was the most memorable offering I have ever recieved.
So, we only had a couple hours with the Manorites, but they filled us with joy. It was such a treat for us (and them as well) to be able to surprise them with a visit. We pray for them, and they for us. We pray we will be able to return again some day, and have more amazing testimony about the road God has taken us all.

"Goodbye' Scott St Manor

This evening we said 'Goodbye' to our friends at Scott St Manor -->pics<--. To be honest, I was a wee bit skeptical that we would be able to round up as many residents as we did. It was amazing to be able to get group pictures with them and see the fruit that is evident in their lives after the effort we put in with them. Out of the 40 or so residents, we ended up really ministering to about half of them. 50% is pretty good. Anyways, I hope to see them again; if not in this life, then I guess "I'll see them by the River".

HCC, SSM, NCC, Cafe Amore,& a birthday and a BBQ

Lots since last post. Saturday we went to Hamilton Celebration Church; I drummed and Jenny had the kids do prophetic art. It was a good ole time.
Sunday, we went to NCC one last time. It was kinda disappointing that Randy was speaking instead of Peter Youngren but, oh well. Then Jenny and I spoke at Scott St Manor. Our text was Titus 1:16, which has been a recurring text as of late. It was likely to be our last service at the Manor :( In the evening I took Jenny to Cafe Amore (her favorite restaurant in St Catharines). It was some good.

Monday was Jenny and Jessica's 21st birthday and we celebrated by feeding 38 people at Scott St Manor. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, cake, and orange juice. It was quite a treat for the residents. Lets just say that their dietary requirements aren't likely met on a daily basis. They all sang 'Happy Birthday' to Jenny and Jessica and had a great overall time. Check out the photos -->HERE<-- and the video -->HERE<--.

It is so great to be able to bless those who have no means of repaying you. Jesus says in Luke 14:12-14, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
I have been to endless "Church" functions where the sole objective was to feed and "bless" the congregation. Only in Africa, with Iris Ministries, was I ever part of a feast for the poor. It is so humbling to feed those who can give nothing back to you but gladness and thankfulness. It is so much more rewarding and God-like. I would love to see the "Church" start to feel compassion and walk in charity (active love). I really think Jesus would like that too. So, why don't we?

post-surg

Friday, Jenny's dad (John) and I took Jenny to Niagara Falls to have the cyst (demon) on her tailbone removed. John and I ate at Perkins, cruised the Falls, and sat at Tim Horton's while we killed off the time that Jenny was in surgery. We picked her up about 7pm and headed home for St Catharines. Jenny was in considerable pain, but relieved that her body was now in recovery mode instead of coping mode.

Yesterday was to be the Celebration Bible College (CBC) graduation feast at Niagara Celebration Church (NCC). We had out hearts set on going since early January, and Jenny's stubbornness in the end won out (and also the fact that we paid $50 for our tickets)! We went and partook of the buffet and Christianese conversation that ever-so-often dominates these kinds of events. But we made the best of it (seeing that Jenny was in obvious discomfort), raving it up with the Karanfilis' and Nita and others. The pleasantness(?) of the evening hardly made up for the night of pain Jenny endured as a result of going. I don't like to do it, but Jenny has now been officially grounded until her body heals. PEI and Double H Ranch are much too important to be rescheduled due to a relapse.

So, today we camped out at the Vine, watching Gremlins 2, missing church at Scott St Manor, and the actual CBC graduation service at NCC. Jenny really wanted to go seeing as her twin (class president Jessica) was to speak a presidential address. Thankfully, NCC streams its services so we were able to watch the proceedings live. It was doubly sweet seeing that Jenny had arranged the NCC bus to pick up residents of Scott St Manor and drive them to the service to watch Jessica and Colin graduate!

We are praying that Jenny would have a speedy and complete recovery. Tomorrow I take her back to Niagara Falls for a follow up to see how she's healing. Thanks for the car Heymans!!

Sunday at the Manor

Today, Colin, Jessica, Jenny and I did our weekly duty at Scott Manor. It was a beautiful day and our numbers were down but Holy Ghost is more concerned with quality rather than quantity. We sang songs, shared about our week, taught some things from the Bible, and prayed with them.

The seeds for what we seen today were sown over a year and a half ago, when Josh Heymans and Melody Wallace started doing visitations. Our ministry there progressed with Josh and myself visiting the Manor twice (or so) weekly. Over the summer, we did our separate things and in the Fall, Heymans, Colin, Jessica and Jenny resumed visitations which evolved into Sunday church services.

We have seen residents who were incredibly anti-social come out of their shell and enjoy the social aspect of Sunday afternoon. We have seen Holy Spirit change hearts as only He can do. It has been such an honor to have a part in the pastoral care of Scott St Manor seeing as it has all but been forgotten by the "more important" things which consume the daily plans of the people (and us "Christians") in the world.

Jesus saw people who appeared to be forgotten and had compassion for them. He was driven by His intimacy with the Father. The intimacy that Jesus enjoyed left Him unable to pass by the forsaken without embracing them. His character was free from complacency. What if we Christians had this kind of intimacy that influenced our actions. It is obvious we do not..........blatantly obvious.

Scott St Manor has been a lesson in pioneering. To say it is an easy place to influence may be the farthest thing from the truth I have ever heard. There is plenty of (non)fruit, but there is plenty of fruit as well.

Pray that someone will step up to the plate and take over the Pastoral Care roll that will need to be filled as our plans post-St Catharines develop. (Colin and Jessica/South Korea, Heymans/Redding CA, myself and Jenny/NY and hopefully Amsterdam and beyond). These people are too precious to lose. But, in saying that, to say that the Spiritual life of these saints is dependant upon our leadership is absolute blasphemy. They are God's; the church planted in that Manor is God's, and their future is in God's hands, not our's, as it should be.

God is good...................we are not. We are servants, all of us, wholly dependant on Him alone.

no title

I am tired. It's late. But I just wanted to say that.......Hooray, I have started work. I am working at a couple different greenhouses getting all the flowers ready for Easter. Not sure how long I will have this work, but I praise God that I at least have it for a couple weeks!
The days run from 7am-5pm so I have not been doing a whole lot else. Just some mid-week madness at Scott Manor and such.

I have been approved for my ministerial license through Open Bible Faith Fellowship, so soon I will officially be a licensed minister! That's kinda cool.
And applications for summer camps in NC and NY have been recieved and we wait to see which one we will go to. Exciting stuff. Goodnight, I'm going to bed.

the goings on

Things are still well. Not a whole lot to report. Still looking for work. Had interviews at a flower warehouse, and one at Food Basics. Waiting to hear back from them.

Yesterday was sweet. I took Jessica, Cheralyn, Nita, and Russell (from CBC), and Mary and Maria (from SSM) to Versa Care to help me put on a service for 25+ residents there. We sang some songs; Jessica and Russell gave a brief testimony on God's goodness, and Nita prayed. I spoke on joy, and used Psalm 16:11 as a reference. It was a pretty sweet opportunity. I look forward to next week as well.

Today we finally get our camp applications sent out. One to NY and one to NC. We'll leave it up to God to decide which one selects us. Exciting times. We are also finding out that getting registered as a charitable organization is frustrating and a major hassle. We plod on though. I would love to be able tax reciepts to donors. It is a goal for this year.

And the poll results are official:
Amsterdam or Pemba?
Pemba 52%
Amsterdam 48%
It was close but Pemba won. Too bad in reality Amsterdam has won, cause that is the direction that is decided upon. Thanks for voting. Vote on the next one.

the newness of colors

Oh yeah. I just spent some time revamping me blog and now you all get to see. It's alrite, I s'pose. Totally newness thing happenin.

Things are still well. Keeping busy. Really trying to focus in on the plans God has for this summer. It has ENORMOUS potential to be an amazing summer, truly. It gets me excited thinkin about it.

Keepin busy...............like:
- meeting with kids from underprivledged neighborhood every odd tuesday
- doing a Pastoral Care course at the Welland General Hospital tuesday evenings
- midweek visitations at Scott St Manor on wednesdays
- drumming at the Hamilton Celebration Church (and helping Jenny with the kid's ministry sometimes) on saturdays
- putting on a sunday service at Scott St Manor
Pretty sweet stuff. God is fun to serve.

Today I was asked to fill in for Elly, who is in charge of a nursing home ministry here in St Catharines. She's going away for two weeks and asked me to take over; what a sweet opportunity. So thats it. Have fun, enjoy Jesus, and stuff.

entering into GLORY

Quite a bit is happening the last couple weeks here in St Catharines.

Weekly, Heymans, Colin, Jessica, Jenny and I conduct church services at Scott St Manor. Last week we had our largest attendance yet (16) and the Spirit of God was moving in awesome ways, (check it out -->HERE<--). Sadly though, a couple of days before that service, one of our closest friends at the Manor (James, pictured at right ) suddenly passed away. He was in his mid-forties, and we were lucky enough to have met and spend time with this man whom God was obviously transforming into the image of Jesus. James has now entered into Glory, and although we miss him, we celebrate the fact that he is now in the literal presence of his Savior!

I went for a job interview at SITEL the other day and it appears I will be starting work on Feb 4. So that is pretty cool. It is a call center; which should be fairly amusing.

Yesterday, Jenny and I rented a car and went to TACF to see Bill Johnson (left). It was pretty rockin. Heymans also took a couple people down for the day. On the way back to St Catharines (which is normally an hour long drive) the traffic was AWFUL and it took us a little over 3.5 hrs to get back!!! We totally missed the 2nd weekly session of a Pastoral Care course we're enrolled in in Welland. Anyways, it's all good. We'll get there next week, I hope. And if you are so inclined, pray about Laos with me. Something about it has dropped into my spirit and I want to see if the desire for it increases or not.

back in St Kits

A word I've been using to describe being home(?) is "surreal". And that's what it actually seems like. It seems like I could wake up from this dream of being home (?) at any moment. It feels incredibly strange. Much has happened in 5 months, and being back dramtically illustrates this fact.

After a marathon Russia --> Paris --> Amsterdam --> London --> Toronto, 44hr trip home, Heymans picked me up and drove me back here to St Catharines. My bag ( and most of the possessions I have in this world) are stuck in Paris, and I have no idea when (or if) I'll ever see them again. I honestly don't really care though. If my happiness depends on material things, then I'm in a worse position than the poeple whom I try to minister to.

So, here I am. Staying with Heymans and trying to figure out what to do next. Heidi Baker is ministering at TACF this weekend, so that is a definite. But other than that, I'm completely oblivious as to what comes next.

I realize that I am so dependant on God for absolutely everything in my life. It is a wonderful feeling, but not comforting (in a worldly sense). I'm having trouble thinking accurately.

This past sunday I went to Niagara Celebration Church where Joesph Prince was ministering. It was good, but I'll hold my tongue. Then a group of us went to Scott Street Manor (which is a home to the less fortunate who are not able to funtion and live in a way such as we are blessed to be able to) to hold a service. It was awesome. 13 of them congregated in a sitting room and we sang songs about Jesus, and I got to share about the poor in Africa whom Jesus gives gives hope to, and then we sang a bit more and prayed. During my short exhortation, a gentleman interrupted me long enough to empty his pockets and give an offering to my missions work; it was 17 nickels / $0.85! How awesome is that?! I love it! After the Scott Street Manor service, I went to Shaver Hospital and went room to room singing hyms, talking, and praying with people. Another awesome experience.

Then I went back to NCC for an evening service with Joesph Prince but found it so boring that I had to leave.

Why is church so boring? If Holy Spirit was as much a part of church as we claim, it would be a lot more fun! Wouldn't it?

Anyways, I still need prayer. Just pray for me. That would be cool.