Seeing God’s Faithfulness through Big Life Changes
A note from Pastor Garth Plamping, from Asquith Baptist Church
What a great God we serve!
My wife, Cara and I are thrilled to have joined the CBWC last March, to serve at Asquith Baptist Church. We have been married for 18 years. Our boys, Hezekiah (12) and Amos (10), are homeschooled.
Over the last decade, I have been privileged to serve as an associate Pastor and as a bi-vocational Pastor in Calgary and the surrounding area.
I have to admit, we were a little nervous when we received the call to come to Asquith. This would be the largest move since Cara and I married, leaving all our social networks behind.
As we dialogued with the church, prayed with our family, and sought advice, Cara and I believed the Lord was calling us to make the move. We said yes to my first full time Pastorate.
I am happy to say that God is faithful. Yes, change brought stress, as change always does. But God has brought us into a province with wonderful people who have a heart to serve the Lord and each other.
Through the Lord’s faithfulness, we have grown through the many challenges and joyous events that have happened over the last year, both personally and with the church.
Our family has spent a huge amount of time in the mountains. Like most people in Alberta, we had heard all kinds of stereotypes regarding the land in Saskatchewan. Yet we were determined to discover the jewels of Saskatchewan. So far, we have not been disappointed. Our family has had a number of wonderful experiences, both in nature, and at a number of museums and parks.
For those of you who are in their first year with the CBWC, I encourage you to connect with Mark Doerksen, and to take advantage of the mentorship that is offered. I have found both Mark and my mentor, Ron Phillips from Regina, to be valuable, not just in acclimating me to the CBWC, but they have helped me process my ministry and helped me serve my people better.
As Asquith Baptist Church looks forward to the excitement of spring and summer, can I ask you to pray for us?
Pray that I would continue to learn from my people, to grow in my faith, and to lead people through faithfully teaching God’s word. Like many of you, we have many ministry events that the people of Asquith Baptist will pour their time and energy into. Pray that we will minister in love, and with a boldness that will reach the community of Asquith and the surrounding RMs.
Garth Plamping, Pastor at Asquith Baptist Church
The Appeal of the Heartland Retreat
By Mark Doerksen
Superbowl Sunday is an important day for plenty of people, especially as folks host viewing parties and cheer on their teams. Yet Superbowl Sunday also typically signals an important event in the Heartland Region. There’s a 24-year tradition in the Heartland, and it’s called the Heartland Pastor and Spouse Retreat at Russell, Manitoba. It happens every February at the Russell Inn, the Monday after Superbowl Sunday. The retreat has been happening longer than this, but we’ve had the retreat at this location since Wayne Larson was Heartland Regional Minister. It’s been great to see the relationships that have developed between the hotel staff and the Heartland Regional Office, and we are so pleased to enjoy their hospitality each year.
The retreat is made up of scheduled activities, free time, and worship sessions, and we try to instill relationship-building as one of our main emphases at the retreat. We try to have at least one event where we pit our Saskatchewan contingent against our Manitoba contingent. In previous years, we’ve curled against each other; the last two years, we’ve played crokicurl. Team Saskatchewan is deceptively good, and have been crokicurl champions for the last 2 years. Team Manitoba has proven to be reluctant losers at such events.
One of the highlights of the retreat each year is the food that is served. Cindy works with the staff in coming up with a menu each year, and the hotel catering staff always does exceptional work for us. The helpings are generous, and the food is terrific, and we always feel well cared for.
Of course, we also have significant times of worship and teaching as well. Chris Neudorf led us again in terms of our singing together. This year we had Brendon and Karen facilitate conversations on Paying Attention to God, to self, and to others. It was a time where they each brought their strengths to the conversation, and we were reminded of how important attentiveness is in all areas of life. Brendon described their presentations as bearing witness, speaking of how these themes work themselves out in their lives. I was deeply encouraged by these sessions, and challenged as well.
We do allow for significant free time, and people enjoy this—though being in Manitoba in February usually means that this free time is spent indoors. Our evenings are spent together playing games; sometimes we have crokinole tournaments, others play Wizard, and so forth. It’s fun to watch our retreaters display their competitiveness. I, for one, know that there are some people that I will no longer play Dutch Blitz with, as I get tired of losing time after time.
One of the pieces of this retreat that I’ve appreciated is that of building relationships. It’s fun to see pastors and non-pastors connect with each other, and these relationships spill out beyond
the confines of the retreat. The connections continue to happen afterwards, and it’s great to see the support that is fostered in our all-too-brief time together.
All of this is to say that now, when a new pastor comes to the Heartland, I really encourage them to come to this retreat. Banff is a spectacular conference, of course, but this retreat has a different feel altogether, obviously, with important opportunities for relationship building. I’m grateful for this tradition in the Heartland, and I hope it continues for a long time.
This regional newsletter is published quarterly within the CBWC’s monthly newsletter, Making Connections. Have a story idea? Want to tell us how great we’re doing? Or how terribly? Email our senior writer, Jenna Hanger: jhanger@cbwc.ca