The introductory comments of my 2016 Annual Report can be found here: : http://callanderbaychurch.ca/2017/02/21/change-complexit…y-and-the-church/ As I reflect on 2016, we see that God has continued to do good things. We have continued to see small numeric growth, even though we said goodbye to many friends, who moved away for various reasons. Here are more of the […]
Change, Complexity, Simplicity and the Church
Taken from my 2016 Annual Report for Callander Bay Church “But I am afraid that…your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 On April 4th, 2017, I will be celebrating 25 years of ministry in North Bay/Callander. As I reflect on that time, I see […]
Figuring Out What’s Important
I Choose Important Over Urgent “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” Dwight D. Eisenhower I finished up a series of messages called “I Choose” on the weekend. I talked about the need to choose what’s important more than the urgent. You can check out the full message in […]
God’s Heart for the Orphans
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27 (NLT) Some numbers are really big. The number of orphans is one of those figures. Most sources say that there are at least 143 million […]
Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain
On Sunday, we continued our series of messages called “Keep it Simple” I talked about how we need to, as time management guru Steven Covey puts it, “keep the main thing, the main thing.” The apostle Paul in his writings responds to a disagreement on a particular issue, and asked his readers to remember what […]
Spiritual Pathways
I have been talking about “Keeping it Simple” in my weekend messages. Life seems to be anything but simple and connecting with God can sometimes seem very complicated. A couple weeks ago on a Sunday Morning, I introduced the concept of Spiritual Pathways. Spiritual Pathways are ways of connecting with God. A few mentioned that we […]
FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS OF MY LIFE WITH GOD
FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS OF MY LIFE WITH GOD (From the book, God is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg) God is always present and active in my life, whether or not I see God. Coming to recognize and experience God’s presence is learned behavior; I can cultivate it. My task is to meet […]
Keep it Simple: First Love
My Bible College days are a long way behind me. I have to admit that I have forgotten many of the things that I learned while there, but there is one thing I have never forgotten. I took a counselling in my second year and the teacher said something I have always remembered. The course […]
Time and Enthusiasm
Recently in New Brunswick at Hopewell Rocks, a local “wonder of nature” collapsed. Elephant Rock was a part of flowerpot formations that draw many tourists to the area. The CBC reported, ” An estimated 200 tonnes of rock from one of the iconic flowerpot formations came tumbling down early on Monday (March 14, 2016) morning after the […]
I am Generous
I am learning to be generous. It is a process, not an easy one at that, and it seems to have lots of hurdles. I have resources. Maybe not as much as I think I should have to be generous, but I have them. There in lies one of the biggest obstacles to generous living: […]