Illustrations, God's Word and the Persecuted Church

Hey everyone! Just a quick note to let you know I have posted two new blogs at www.harvestcalgary.com/blog. I will be updating our family info soon. The family has been under the weather, so there is not a ton of new stuff to report. However, we are on the mend and thankful for the Lord's healing hand. We just were able to book flights home for Christmas via airmiles so we are excited. The girls will be flying home on the 18th and I will come on the 23rd and we will all return on the 4th of January. Can't wait to see everyone back home!

New Blog Posting

Hey guys just a quick note to say that I posted a new blog on Harvestcalgary.com today. It highlights what I learned this last week in regards to ministry. Just got back from church. Pastor James delivered a strong message on Revelation 3:7-13. What an encouragement to know that the Lord is in control of all and that we can know our end. He who opened the door to salvation will not along anyone to shut it. As believers we know how it will end...what a hope!!! What a message to encourage us to persevere in the midst of trials! Have a great Sunday!

Fun in Chicago

At the beginning of last week. The girls were off school so we went to downtown Chicago. We went to the Shedds Aquarium. They have portions of the Aquarium that are free on Mondays. So we did that and then walked around a little bit in the area. Chicago is a fun town and we look forwatf to seeing more before we move back to Canada.
After a great weekend in Calgary seeing friends and family and telling folks about Harvest Bible Chapel Calgary I returned back to Chicago on Monday. That evening we spent the night together with the Senior Pastors from the Harvest Bible Chapels from Canada and the U.S. It was a great time of fellowship. Tuesday night we all piled in a bus and went to downtown Chicago. We went to this great rib place called Twin Anchors. We had a lot of fun and had a great time of fellowship with the guys.
On Wednesday night I got invited to go to a Blackhawks game with Pastor Todd Dugard. He is the Senior Pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel Barrie. Barrie is north of Toronto. There were 4 of us all together who went to the game. We had a great time. The Blackhawks lost to the Canucks 3-2.
Thursday night was my birthday. Heather made nachos for supper (my request) and we played some WII with the girls. We had a fun night together.
Friday night...Heather and I went to the David Crowder concert that was at Harvest Elgin. We had a lot of fun. The David Crowder Band put on a great concert.
All in all...a pretty great week. I'll paste in a few pics from the week or so.

A hot dog Chicago style!! You can almost feel the heart burn!

 My beautiful ladies with downtown Chicago in the background.

 The family at the Shedd's Aquarium!

Enjoying the game with Todd, Ian and David.

The United Center is a fun place to watch a game. The fans there really understand the game of hockey

Fun Times at the David Crowder Band Concert

Harvest Calgary Website

Hey everyone! I have started a blog on our church website. The website is harvestcalgary.com. On that site you will see a tab that says "about us". If you click on that you will see a tab that says "pastor blog". That will get you to the blog there. I will be posting all things ministry at the site there. We will now be posting our family highlights on this blog. I hope to post something in that regard in the next couple of days.

Preaching Phase Begins in the Training Center

I'm excited to now be in the preaching phrase of the training that we are receiving. This phase will be over the next seven weeks. This week we are working on sermon outlines. When looking at a passage there are a few things to consider. First, you need to determine the context of the passage. You need to read the verses previous and following in order for you to understand the flow of thought of the author. This prevents reading things into a passage that the writer never intended. The next thing that you want to ask is: what is this passage about? What is the subject or the hub of the passage? Then having determined the subject, we need to determine what the passage says about that subject.


I love God's Word! It is so rich! As we worked on different outlines I was struck by the fact that the more a person reads a passage the more he discovers. Truly, God's Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb.4:12).

It is my prayer that all who would read this blog would have a hunger and thirst for God's Word. I pray you will be disciplined to meet with God each day, reading His Word and seeking Him in prayer. If your daily quiet times have been lacking or if they have been non existent, reset your priorities and take time to be in God's Word. I guarantee you will not regret it. God has revealed so much to us in His Word. Paul in His letter to Timothy reminds us of the importance of the Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3:16,17 " All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

Highlights of the Week

As I write this post I can honestly say that I have never been more excited about the church and the mission that Christ has for her. It is my prayer that the Lord will use Harvest Bible Chapel Calgary to bring glory to Himself, to build disciples to maturity so that they may proclaim the good news to a lost world!
This last week has been a full one...as they all have been to this point...but great!
We had some great conversations with Pastor James this past week. We discussed the sufficiency of Scripture. I love to see the passion for the Word of God that Pastor James has. It is heart's desire to ignite a passion in his congregation to read the Word of God for themselves. As such it is important that people are able to see the message coming out from the Scriptures that they are reading. We then discussed a passage from Revelation that Pastor James was going to be preaching. I learned a ton as we worked through the passage. God's Word is so awesome! The challenge from the Scripture that we were looking at was whether or not we are loving the Lord and others in the same way that we used to. The Scripture then goes to directly tell us how to get back to where we need to be. Remember, repent and return. Husbands and wives this is also a challenge for us in regards to our relationships. Want your love for one another to be the way it used to be...then do the things that you used to do. Needless to say alot to chew on and apply when it comes to your two most important love relationships. Do I love the Lord in the same way that I first did...if not then I need to remember what I once did, repent and then return to doing what I once did. Challenging stuff!
We have learned alot just by watching Pastor James lead in his daily tasks. Whenever we have the opportunity to spend sometime with him we always go away with something to chew on.
I had my first evaluations this past week. There was some great feedback in regards to my strengths and my constraints and the areas that they would like to see me grow in. It is so refreshing to be in an enviroment where I am challenged to grow and held accountable to do so. This really brings to mind the Scripture that challenges us to spur one another onto love and good deeds (Heb.10:24,25).
Another highlight was a time of prayer at the Shaws this last Friday. Each month they host an evening of prayer from 9-12 on Friday night. It was a great time coming before the throne as a group. This is definitely something that I want HBC Calgary to be continually focusing on. Prayer needs to be a vital part of everything that we do.
This last couple of days we were up at Camp Harvest with the Ministry Leadership Team from Harvest. They were there to discuss how they can become even more effective in their mission to glorify Christ through the fulfilling of the Great Commission. It is great to see these guys work together with the goal to become even more fruitful for the Lord. This really helped me to begin to think through where the Lord would want us to be in the next 3-5 years as HBC Calgary. A great exercise that really helps you think through what things are important if you are going to fulfill the mission.
I can't wait to go back to Calgary to have our first open house. Details will be finalized in the next couple of days, but we are looking at having the open house on the evening of the 18th . If you know of someone who benefit from that meeting please have them contact me.
Family highlights this past week were going to an apple orchard with another family from the Training Center, and Hope is now riding her bike like a pro. Both girls are excited that they have teeth that are loose. Heather continues to be very busy and is learning a lot in her time here. I will have her post some of the things that she is learning sometime soon. I love my 3 ladies so much! They are such a joy to come home to everyday!
Signing off for now. Working on getting a website up and running, will let you know more when it is up and running.

Preaching at Harvest Decatur

Heather, I and the girls had a great weekend in Decatur. It was exciting to see another church plant almost a year into it's existence. The church meets in a movie theater each week. There are some folks who arrive at the church at 6:30 AM to begin set up for the church service that starts at 9. It is such an encouragement to see the sacrifice that so many make realizing the awesome privelege it is to serve the Lord.I preached on James 4:1-10. The Lord really makes it clear that He is not OK with His people living like the world, but He is so gracious and He shows His people the way to repentance and He stands against those who are proud. What a great God we serve! I will include some pictures of our time at Harvest Decatur.
I will give some of the highlights for my time at the Harvest Training Center over the couple of days. It has been an awesome week.

Week 2 of Learning the DNA of Harvest

Another great week of classes. This week we learned about how the 4 pillars are practically played out in the life of Harvest church. A reminder of what the 4 pillars are.
1. Proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology (2 Timothy 4:2)
2. To lift high the name of Jesus through worship. (John 4:24)
3. Believing firmly in the power of prayer. (Eph.6:18)
4. Sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness (Eph.6:19,20).
Harvest is very intentional about making sure that each of these pillars is lived out in the life of the church. Each Sunday we have been here we have heard the Word of God preached with passion. The worship teams do a phenomenal job of leading the people into worship. Prayer is woven through everything that Harvest does. Lastly, we have witnessed the heart that so many in the church have to reach the lost. I have had several occasions here where we have spontaneously have stopped our visits with other believers and have taken sometime to pray for lost souls whom they are witnessing to.
The culture of Harvest can be summed up by saying that it is a place that is marked by clarity, simplicity and urgency. Everybody knows why Harvest exists. There is no confusion as to what the purpose of the church is here! Their focus is to glorify the Lord by fulfulling the great commision while living out the great commandment. Our obedience to the great commision and the great commandment is revealed in our lives as we Worship Christ, Walk with Him, and Work for Him. People are invited to worship Christ weekly through the Sunday morning services, they are encouraged to walk with the Lord through weekly small groups and they are challenged to work for the Lord using the gifts that God has given to each one of us.
I am so excited to have the opportunity to plant a Harvest church in Calgary! Please be in prayer that the Lord would raise up a group of people who have a like vision. Believers who long for the church to equip the saints that they might grow to be more like Christ as they reach out to a lost world (specifically a heart for Calgary (and surrounding area). May the Lord be exalted!

Here is a picture of the crew of guys in the Harvest Training Center minus Bryan Payne (he was in Texas celebrating the birth of his son Caleb during our camping trip to Michigan).

From left to right...David Jones (oversees training center), Me, Ian Hales (planting in Ontario), Mark Schuller (destination unknown) and Jeff Terrell (planting in Kansas City)