Ronald Schindel

Ronald Schindel – February 19, 1943 – September 2, 2012

Ronald George Schindel was born on February 19, 1943 to George and Nettie Schindel in St. Catherines, Ontario. He accepted Christ as his savior at the age of  9.

Ron attended the Associated Gospel Church and was active in the Christian service brigade, Youth group and summer camps with the Canadian Sunday school Mission. He received the call to ministry at the age of 10.

Ron and June met in August of 1962.  Each of them of them desired to serve the Lord through their professional lives.  Their wedding was July 10, 1964.  Ruth Melody came early, being born pre-mature in March of 1965.   Baby boy (John Mark) was born in 1966 and did not survive

Bible College was completed in April of 1967.   Ron and June were called to their first church in Leeburn Ontario in October of that same year.

David Paul was born premature in November of 1967.  1968 a baby girl was born (Wanda Fay) and she lived only a few days.

In 1969 Ron founded a Church plant in the near by city of Sault St. Marie, while continuing the church work in Leeburn.   Ron was ordained with the Fellowship Baptist churches during 1970.   1971-1974 Ron was Chaplin, teacher and dorm parent at Albert College in Belleville Ontario. This is when Peter Yeung was added to our family.  Peter was a foreign student from Hong Kong.

In 1974 Parkdale Baptist Church of Belleville called Ron to pastor their congregation. During which time they saw great spiritual growth and building projects to accommodate this growth.

In May of 1977 Daniel Edward was born. September of 1979 Rebekah Joy completed our family.

In 1981 our family moved to North Delta, British Columbia. Ron pastored a church that again grew in numbers and needed a building expansion.

In August 1984 Ruth married Ken Allison.  In the fall of this year we moved to Okanagan Falls, British Columbia.  This was after a 6 month sabbatical and it was a wonderful time of refreshing.  During this time Ron served on committee boards for the district office. He was asked to come and be the area minister but declined.  He felt that his gifts were for developing smaller church bodies.

In 1989 Ron accepted the call to Sechelt, British Columbia.  Bethel Baptist Church was a medium sized congregation.  The growth that came from community outreach and youth programs required a remodeling of this building.  This moved the offices across the street to an adjacent lot that the church owned.  Two services were held Sunday morning and one in the evening.

1997 saw Ron and June with an empty nest and a call to serve overseas in New Zealand.  In this community the church witnessed through the Awana’s program to the children. Many families were touched.

1998 They were back in Canada. Ron worked for a garden maintenance company during the week and Preached in Port Coquitlam, B.C. during the weekend.

In Nov. 1999 Daniel married Cindy Harder in Cochrane, Ab. With Ron officiating.

In 2000 Ron was called to First Baptist Church of Nelson, B.C.   This is where David married Sharon Miklos in Nov. of that year.

He retired from this Church in 2005 due health reasons.

Ron and June relocated to Linden, Alberta. As this was a central location in proximity to their children and families.  It turned out to be a wonderful community to be a part of .  With Ron volunteering at the lodge with Sunday services and small groups meeting during the week in the community.

2006-2007 Ron preached the word as an interim pastor to the Baptist Church in Drumheller, AB.

Ron and June enjoyed wintering in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for the last 17 years. Many great friendships were started there and continue to this day.

Ron was predeceased by his Mother and Father (George and Nettie), his sister (Marjorie Thamer), and his 2 infant children.

Left to await a reunion are his brother, Richard.  His wife; June, sister-in-law; Grace, Brother-in-laws; Eugene and Warren. Children; Ruth (Ken), David (Sharon), Daniel (Cindy) and Rebekah.  Grandchildren; Emily, Joel, Seth, Brenden, Josiah, Micah, Jesse, Jonathan, Emma, Alexander, Susanna, Miriam, Caleb and Leah.  As well as nieces and nephews.

Ron Schindel

September 5 — We mourn the passing of Rev. Ron Schindel who passed away on Sunday September 2nd  in Calgary, AB. Ron served for many years as a pastor within the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada (under its former name of Baptist Union of Western Canada).

Ron served as pastor at Okanagan Falls from 1984-1989, Bethel Baptist, Sechelt from 1989-1997 and First Baptist, Nelson from 2000-2005

A memorial for Ron will be held on Thursday, September 6th at 1pm at Linden Mennonite Brethren Church in Linden, AB.

Thank you for your prayers for Ron’s wife June and their family.

Mandarin Spiritual Growth Camp

July 26, 2012, Vancouver — Five churches, including 3 CBWC churches got together to focus on Mandarin-language spiritual growth in late June.

U-Campus Baptist Church and Trinity Baptist Church Vancouver,Emmanuel Baptist Church Victoria,(the 3 CBWC churches) joined with Life Spring Mission,and Oversea Chinese Bible Fellowship to  jointly organize the First Baptist Mandarin Spiritual Growth Camp, held at Summit Pacific College in Abbotsford, BC, 22-24 June 2012.

124 brothers, sisters and children from the five churchesgathered to receive God’s special grace. The guest speaker is Pastor Caleb KD Chang from Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston. The topic was “Stewardship during the end of days”. The message brought encouragement and a deeply felt spiritual presence.  The participants pledged to recognize the situation of the end of time, appreciate the moment in the world, preach the Gospel energetically, and be a good steward for the kingdom of God. The participants promised that they will take good care of their home and the house of God.

At the two-day gathering, participants began as strangers but quickly became brothers and sisters through mutual love and care. They truly experienced the life of the body of Christ. At the end, participants wished they could stay longer for this spiritual growth camp.

The camp was so successful that the same 5 churches are already making plans to hold a second Baptist spiritual camp  in June 2014. The camp not only provides us with the supply of spiritual life, it makes connections among brothers and sisters from different churches so that they know they are in the same body. After this camp, we will continue to cooperate with each other, make connections among different churches and organize different forms of joint activities.

 

Carey Honours Largest Graduating Class Ever

 

Carey's 1st MASF Grads, 2012

Carey Theological College and Carey Institute graduated their largest class ever at ceremonies held at First Baptist Church in Vancouver on Sunday, May 27.  Also, for the first time they graduated students from two new programs: the Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation from Carey Theological College  and the Spiritual Formation Program for Chinese Christian Women from the Institute.

This year, Carey graduated a total of 47 grads —  14 students from the Master of Divinity degree, 7 from its MA in Spiritual Formation degree, 1 from is MA in Pastoral Ministry and 3 from its Doctor of Ministry degree.  The Institute graduated 14 students from the Centre for Spiritual Formation, 7 from its Spiritual Formation Program for Chinese Christian Women, and 3 from its Diploma in Ministry program.

Special note should be made of award winners this year.  Devin Seghers, the CBWC`s Heartland Regional Minister, received the Roy and Elizabeth Bell Prize for Pastoral Care.  Dianne Collery won the John Maxwell Baxter Prize in Preaching.   Christopher Frey won the Ronald Watts Prize in Biblical Studies.  Lorna Bellamy won the Samuel J. Mikolaski Prize in Theology.  No honorary degree was awarded this year.

Dr. Craig Smith, Professor of Biblical Studies at Carey, spoke to the graduates and their families and friends about `Grace-Empowered Ministry`.  Devin Seghers gave the student address.  Members of the Carey faculty and board conferred the degrees during the afternoon ceremony.

Congratulations and well done! May God be with you as your serve Him.

 

FBC, Vancouver Celebrates 125 Years

First Baptist in Vancouver celebrated its 125th anniversary as a congregation on Sunday May 27.

The hour-long evening worship service followed the theme:  Firmly Rooted: 125 years of God’s Faithfulness to First Baptist Church Vancouver.”  The service focussed on the community’s spiritual journey and featured choral anthems, congregational songs, prayers and an encouraging message from Senior Pastor Darrell Johnson.  Darrell spoke on the ways in which FBC has been firmly rooted by God and encouraged the congregation to commit themselves to continuing towards the future rooted in God.

First Baptist was a busy place on May 27.  In addition to its usual worship services at 9 and 11 am, the church hosted the graduation ceremonies for Carey Theological College in the afternoon before celebrating its own anniversary in the evening.

The congregation celebration the centennial of its building on the corner of Burrard and Nelson in 2011.

Information on FBC, Vancouver can be found at www.firstbc.org.