From time to time, often about every ten weeks, we share with one another some of the news from around the community framed in our need for prayer. This is one of those newsletters… We will share some events that are happening and invite you to be remembering us in prayer as we anticipate what God can do in our midst.
- I would like to give thanks for the work of Sam Breakey and his colleagues who are working with churches in health assessments. Sam and company engage a couple of churches per month on average. They are more than open to enquiries for more information. Click here.
- A great good thanks for Dan Galpin, Keats Camps Executive Director, who has been part of the camp for 10+ years. Dan will be leaving in the next couple of months. We ask for good transition for he and his wife Holly in this new season of life.
- Speaking of camps, I pray for those camps in transition, in the midst of all the challenges of winter renewal and refreshment of facilities, but more importantly as camps prepare their summer program and interview and select summer staff.
- I want to mention several meetings that are coming up and the person responsible for each of those gatherings. In no particular but somewhat chronological order:
- The Finance Committee under Michael Hayes meets this coming Friday at 9am PST to get a sense of where we are in the financial state of the CBWC at this point in time.
- Kayely Rich, who is the CBWC VP of Personnel and Program, will be gathering her team for Assembly 2017. She will be building on lessons learned from Assembly 2015 and seeking to establish themes and logistics for this next biennial Assembly.
- Speaking of assemblies, the CBWC Board and staff will be planning the biennial Webinar or online Assembly over these next two weeks. Initially it was something that was fulfilling a requirement under federal Canadian Revenue Agency regulations that asks us to meet on an annual basis. Since we met biennially we needed to fill in that gap by gathering together in the alternate years also, and we have chosen to do that online. What was first received as a legal requirement and a logistical challenge in fact became a very engaged, highly responsive group of churches and individuals. We are looking forward to this year’s gathering on May 26.
- The CBWC Board meets on January 29th and 30th under Laura Nelson, our President. Pray for that time. We give great good thanks for those who serve: Laura Nelson, Michael Hayes, Kayely Rich, Tim Kerber, Joshua Goetz, Loralyn Lind, Ravi George, Jason Johnson, Linda Rochow, Herb Ziegler, Cal Malena, Nora Walker, Greg Sumner.
- The CBWC Board will meet for part of their Friday deliberations with the CBWC Foundation. Please pray for that time to be encouraging and productive as we share our joint work together, and that we might affirm the ministry that we are called to in resourcing and serving the churches of the CBWC.
- Bob Webber is leading the establishment of a team that will assist those who wish to participate in estate and legacy planning. They are meeting in late February and initial indications are of a very talented, gifted group of people.
Following up on our Oct 19th newsletter (Vol 11, No 40), here is the link for The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Declaration on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide.
Finally, since the emphasis of this newsletter is on prayer and its title is on thanksgiving let me share with you a note that a friend of mine write 30 years ago plus a week. She was well and hale and hearty when she wrote it. Last October she passed away suddenly from an aneurism. Here is part of what she wrote in great thanksgiving. It was printed on the back of her funeral program. It reminds me to embrace a spirit of thanksgiving and not just the spirit but the practice of it. It helps me to capture that thanksgiving in a way that I can share it with others because in fact thanksgiving to God is yet another way of praising him. This note also reminds me of the fragility of life or maybe, put far better, that every part of life is a gift from God not to be taken for granted but to be enjoyed and to be celebrated.
January 10th, ‘86
I think, sometimes, about if I died, suddenly – say tomorrow. What would it be like for those people I love who are left behind.
I hope they wouldn’t be sad for me. I hope they would rejoice in all the good that has come to me. Because God has blessed me with a spirit that experiences more joy in a week – in a day even, – than many people experience in an entire life. He’s just given me that ability. And I’ve appreciated it.
Ann Wallace
Warmly,
In Christ,
Jeremy Bell