Dear friends,
We have mentioned several things in the last few weeks about the work of your representatives on the Board. You know that we have met recently and there are a variety of decisions that come out of those meetings. We are deeply thankful for the leadership of Laura Nelson (our President) and our Executive of the Board; Tim Kerber (VP of Planning), Michael Hayes (VP of Finance), and Kayely Rich (VP of Personnel and Programme).
Let me share some of the things that we have begun over the summer. The Board has affirmed these and commissioned ongoing work on them when we met in September.
For many years, the CBWC’s predecessor (the Baptist Union of Western Canada) owned its own office space, especially when it was located near Altadore in the BLTS complex in Calgary, AB. Since the mid-nineties when that property was sold, we have been paying regressively higher rents. This has been an unwise exercise of stewardship; a great deal of money that could have been used for other things has been spent in this area. The Board has chosen to sell a piece of property that has not been used for ministry for several years, and is vulnerable to costing us a great deal for maintenance and upkeep. We have chosen to purchase an office space in Calgary, and have done so over the last 10 days. We believe that full savings will accrue to over $120,000 per annum as we remove ourselves from the present lease and acquire access to the new building. Thanks be to God for the great, good and hard work of several people particularly Victor Ku, Louanne Haughan, Bob Webber, and David Holten.
We celebrated as a Board over 7800 kids that attended our residential and non-residential camp this summer. Non-residential, as you will recall, are VBS, daycamps, etc. Shelby Gregg, along with the three regional offices (Dawn Johannesson, Sue Hunter, Cindy Emmons and Jenn Gurel) worked extremely hard in researching this material. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is we need to start nurturing, celebrating and planning for how these ministries to children can be even stronger in the years ahead. This is part of our discussion at the Board and what we plan to do.
As was mentioned in previous newsletter, Sam Breakey is heading a team looking at church health and renewal. It’s a very exciting time in the lives of many churches who are open to God’s renewal in their communities. Sam is working with several folk and when we feel it appropriate we will share some of those stories.
Legacy for Ministry is a work that has been primarily part of the CBWC Foundation’s responsibilities. Last April we asked permission from the Board to formulate a proposal in this area. With some assistance from Jill Schuler and Cailey Morgan, Bob Webber (with his extensive experience in this area) presented to the Board a proposal which was adopted. Legacies, wills and bequests, and quality discussions in this area, are a mandatory part of life together in the 21st century church. We will report more fully when we launch this particular work. This will likely be early in the new year after it has been costed out.
We reviewed the Assembly held last April in Calgary and were very thankful for all the work that occurred, particularly in the hospitality of Westview. We particularly affirmed the opportunity and framework of active discussion amongst our delegates, and committed to a deepening of that interaction in the years to come.
We are looking forward to the Banff Pastors Conference in a couple weeks. We would ask you to pray for those who will lead us in that time, including our speakers Markku and Leah Kostamo, Leonard Sweet, Gordon Smith, and Tony Campolo; the musicians of Ordinary Time; our Bible study leader Greg Anderson; and our worship team, led by Sam Chaise.
We would also ask you to pray for Heather Thomson and Jill Schuler who have ably coordinated and managed the many details that go into such a conference, and led a whole team of staff in the preparation of it (that still continues). Please also pray for Rob Ogilvie and myself, as we host the conference this year.
Warmly,
In Christ,
Jeremy Bell