The world is changing – fast. Every week, there’s a new advance in technology. Each year, our computers and cell phones become outdated. Trends come and go like the flavour of the month. On the one hand, change is good. Growth is impossible without it. Any farmer will tell you that. And Christ tells us to turn from our selfish ways. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to press a pause button and … Read more
Years ago, I worked in a grocery store. Cleanup went with the job. Boxes and sacks would break open, jars would shatter, cans would dent and lose their labels. There wasn’t much we could do with the broken boxes or shattered jars but the unlabelled cans could be sold at a fraction of the price. … Read more
It is time for me to bid this column, the Renewal Fellowship and my Encouragement Road Trips a wistful goodbye. At 67, I can no longer pretend to function at the energy level or capacity I once did. So, after five years of serving the denomination under the Renewal banner, I sadly must hand it … Read more
The ancient Roman god, Janus, was portrayed with two heads looking in opposite directions. January, the first month in a new year, shares this concept of "double vision" – conveying the sense that as a new year begins and we're now focussing forward, we are not quite free of where we have been. That's a … Read more
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:4-6) About five years ago, I was visiting my sister at … Read more
In the beginning, God sent one Rev. Robertson in 1896 to start the Presbyterian ministry here in Trail BC. And the Lord God continued to send faithful servants to keep up the ministry through the years of the first century of the life of the congregation. In 1925, the continuing Presbyterians were the minority … Read more
And the beat goes on. I arrived in Simcoe just as the 2008 recession was digging its tenacles into every fibre of society. We more or less recovered, at least economically; but it seems there have been constant and serious seismic shivers shaking life ever since. The past many months have only intensified the severity … Read more
Rev. Bill Manson courageously maintained the church's position on chastity and faithfulness in marriage. He was a frequent contributor to the Presbyterian Record, and carried out a faithful ministry of Bible teaching, pastoral care, and diligent involvement in the courts of the Church. … Read More
Sooke, BC — The problem with ministers in the PCC? “You’ve got a bunch of ministers and administrators,” says Rev. Gord Kouwenberg. “We need vision catchers who understand the prophetic role of the clergy. We’re not prophetic in casting vision before the people so that the people are stimulated to act.” Not that he takes … Read more
What was there about this man that God used him so mightily? There was an essential humility, a self-effacing, even self-deprecating, inability to take himself seriously. His ability to cross time zones and emerge from intercontinental air flights was an act of heroic proportions. … Read More