Vol 1 No. 2 BWA

Dear Friends,

This last week (July 14th) saw the Personal Committee Chair of the board, Marshall Miner, undergo successful heart surgery in Calgary. Marshall and his wife, Judi, are members of First Baptist Cranbrook and are heading home this week for Marshall to continue his recovery. Please pray for them.

There are several of our Baptist Union folk who are heading to the Baptist World Alliance meetings in Birmingham, England, this week. The conference occurs every five years and this marks the centenary of the Alliance founded 100 years ago in Burmingham. Dr. Bruce Milne is a vice president of the B.W.A.. Gary Nelson (a Calgarian originally) will represent Canadian Baptists as our General Secretary. Edna Mae Slade from First Baptist Vancouver will attend. I will also be there as well. We will add more names to the list as the event (which will host close to 15000) gets underway. Please pray for safety and for Denton Lotz, the B.W.A.’s General Secretary, and also for Jimmy Carter and Rick Warren who will be speaking.

For your information, Keats Camps packed out an open house on July 17 with over 342 guests on the M.V. Britannia. Along with campers and staff there were over 650 for dinner that night. Pelican Lake Bible Camp in Western Manitoba has had a 25% increase in attendance over the last year. Over 40% of their campers, this last week, were at camp for the very first time. Thanks be to God.

I have some exciting stories and personal lessons learned from a week of traveling and sharing with this outstanding and gifted cross-section of ministries in the Baptist Union of Western Canada.

On a personal note, I would ask for your prayers as I travel to England on July 20. I am joined by my wife Kerry (our children Jessica and Andrew are on Keats staff this summer) on July 30 as we go to Kenya to teach; Kerry to teach teachers counseling and I to team teach, with Brian Stelck, a group of church leaders. My deepest thanks to the Winnipeg Ministerial who laid hands of me and prayed for me last week. God is gracious and good. We’ll catch up again next week.

Warmly in Christ,
Jeremy Bell

Vol 1 No. 1 Greetings

Greetings in Christ,

Our Baptist Union family of churches is so diverse and spread over such a vast 
landscape that it is wonderful that we have a unity in Christ. It is this same Christ that the 
apostle Paul draws near to in Romans 8:38-39:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor 
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God 
in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am drawn to the reassurance of God’s presence in times of joy, pain, loneliness, hope, 
fear and anticipation. It is anticipation that brings me to this first letter as I begin my 
service as Executive Minister this summer.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank God for my predecessor, Gerry Fisher and 
his service to us all. I carry a great respect and affection for Gerry and thank him for the 
ease of transition. I wish to also give thanks for the excellent privilege of serving with our 
Union staff and Union board under Sam Chaise’s capable leadership.

I have committed to write a weekly letter sharing our life together in the Baptist Union. It 
will appear every Wednesday with the exception of next week because several of us will 
be unavailable. The letter will include God’s stories in the lives of his people, news of 
past thanksgivings and word of things we are preparing for.

In this letter I would like to do three things. First, to tell you of some of the summer 
events I’ll be involved in. Secondly, to ask for your prayers. And thirdly, to invite you to 
begin to recollect some of God’s stories in your midst so that you can share them with 
others across the Union in the months to come.

I am working with the Calgary office group on July 4 and 5th and the Executive Staff 
(Area Ministers, Sam Breakey, Paul Pearce and John Prociuk; Jack Borchert of the 
Development Fund; Brian Stelck of Carey Hall; David Holten, our Director of 
Administration and Finance; and our Executive Assistant, Linda Kilburn). We will meet at 
the Carey Centre from July 6 to 7th. On July 9th I will fly to Manitoba for the 125th 
Anniversary of Shoal Lake Baptist Church to be followed on Monday by spending time 
with the Winnipeg Ministerial. That is a start for the summer. Could you pray for Ken 
Thiessen as he prepares to be the new Heartland Area Minister? Please pray for 
wisdom and perspective for me as I begin this new task.

I look forward to my time with so many of you in the Union. I also look forward to us 
meeting, praying, planning, and living out God’s call for us in Western Canada. As we 
remember that “nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ” may we also grow 
closer and stronger together in this same Christ who holds us together.

Warmly,

Jeremy Bell