Heartland News & Prayer

August 29, 2010 by Wendy Carter.

Salut!

 

“Do every thing without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” Philippians 2:14-16

 

So are you enjoying this beautiful sunny Sunday – one of the few remaining for this summer? It has actually been quite an enjoyable summer here in Ontario. I just came in from reading in our backyard tent that covers a patio area and getting reacquainted with the surrounding sounds of nature. It’s a little different than being in our motor home parked in a church parking lot in downtown Montreal with sirens and motor bikes squealing and buses revving their engines.

 

Gary and I made it back home Thursday evening about 10:30. We probably won’t be doing too much this next week but even with our fatigue we are extremely pleased with what God accomplished over the last three weeks. As Gary often says, “At least we tried!” We do so appreciate the faithful work of the French team, young and older alike, that was put together for this endeavour. It was one of the best teams we have worked with - they shone like stars! As a result 362 households want information about the new church, Eglise Oasis, commencing Sept. 26 in Saint-Eustache, Quebec. We were reminded once again that people are searching for one contact said the last night of our calling that she hadn’t been attending church but wants to start now. Please pray that this woman and so many others will make a concerted effort to attend the first service.

 

Richard’s ministry in Myanmar is still needing financial support. Please pray that an answer will be found soon for this grave need. The children in the orphanage are doing well.

 

Please continue to pray for Maureen Brown and her ongoing health issues with her eyesight. It looks like she probably won’t get back to work until later this fall. Please also pray for the ongoing leadership concerns in our Fellowship denomination and the search for a new National President.

 

Home Group will take place once again this coming Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Burton home.

 

Enjoy the hot weather this week,

 

Wendy

wendy.carter@kainos.org

This is a summary of our 9:00 Sunday morning service located at 7777 Churchville Rd., Brampton, ON L6Y 0H3, 905-230-8116. It can always be found at www.blog.heartlandfellowship.ca.

 

 

Talk to More People More Often by Gary Carter: If you talk to more people more often in all the ways you can about the Gospel message while managing all perceived failure, you will get more results. This is what our Mass Personal Contact campaign recently accomplished. Paul remarks in I Corinthians 3: 6, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” Saint-Eustache is a totally French Catholic community. Please remember Pastor Ken Taylor, his wife, Anne and their two children along with their launch team (www.egliseoasis.com) as they “water the seed.” This family moved to Quebec from Belgium a few years ago so even though they do speak French it is still a different culture for them. Prayer and follow-up with the contacts made is vital. Friends need to be made from this group along with getting to know their friends or their individual networks. Check out Gary’s video that he put together from the mother church service in Mascouche on Aug. 22 – www.mpc101.info. How’s your French? Please also remember all the French churches of our Fellowship in Quebec (some 8000 Christians) that they will all reach out to their own communities. Maybe another MPC campaign will take place next year if the money can be raised. The French people are extremely open and friendly but all they really know is that church means Catholic mass.

 

 

Who is That Man? by Steve Macdonald: In Paul’s second letter to Timothy near the end he lists some friends that are with him in Rome. One is Linus and according to several early sources, Linus became Pope Saint Linus, the successor after Peter was martyred. Some sources have him serving as Pope at different times (The Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis indicate this service between 56–67 during the reign of Nero; Jerome dates it to 67–78; and Eusebius puts the end of his episcopate at the second year of the reign of Titus in 80 AD.

 

Linus was an Italian from Tuscany although his name is Greek. The Apostolic Constitutions state that Claudia was his mother, but the Apostolic Constitutions do not explicitly identify Claudia as Linus’s mother. In what appears to be a relatively recent British Israelite legend, Claudia, identified as the historical Claudia Rufina, is given as Linus’s sister. What we do know is that Linus was a friend of Paul; he knew Peter; he hung out with Pudens; he was a Bishop of Rome; he was the second Pope; and as another “one hit wonder” he heard, believed and followed Jesus.

 

 

One Another by Gary Carter: In this series we have learned that “to one another” involves a two-street relationship that should not be imbalanced. John 13:35, one of 15 verses, talks about loving one another; Titus 3:8, one of 9 verses, refers to love and devotion; and Philippians 2:3-4, one of three verses, encourages looking to one another. It is important to consider others better than ourselves but the challenge is to do that with the understanding of others hurts, pain and needs along with our own. In a church others will be awestruck or impressed, not with the sermon or music, but the atmosphere of acceptance, warmth and devotion to each other. It is rare to find someone else who will care for your interests. Cats cannot be herded; dogs will coming willingly more often than not. People are more like cats.

 

Often the cause of breakdown of a marriage, parenting, friendships, employment/business, or the church is failure to live by Colossians 3:13. It says, “Bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” The word “forbearance” is a practical, financial term which means that whoever you are in debt to may give you an extra 90 days to pay your debt. Many people will hold onto and find it hard to not let go of “grievances”, real or imagined. In the church there are lots of complaints. We must bear with each other as Christ forgave. Ken Medema is an almost blind singer/composer/pianist whose work is quite “in your face” and who has written the following line in one of his songs, “If I lie to you will you kick me good-bye…” Will you take offense if someone makes fun of you?

 

Will you forbear if the matter is age-related (young versus old); stage-related (pressures from being a student/employee, parent/retiree); state-related (depending on one’s health, emotions e.g. if depressed, backslidden life); personality-related (the person is too chatty or too quiet); preference-related (food/music/activity); or pace-related (slow versus fast)? As a church, even with all its imperfections and preconceived notions, we must look to Philippians 2:12-14 and “shine like stars” even when the “coach” is away. We must learn to accept all those who have failed and not press our own agendas. Can you say that you will choose to live in forgiveness with Christ’s grace?

 

 

Collective Nouns by Steve Macdonald:

In a continuing effort to correct the English language and to put an end to the oddly named groups like “a murder of crows”, tfollowing are more logical collective nouns for your consideration:

 

A pile of carpets

A peck of chickens

A plot of conspirators

A school of teachers

A handful of palmists

A host of emcees

A measure of rulers

A mass of priests

A shower of meteorologists

A score of musicians

Posted in Weekly News | Print | No Comments »

Heartland News & Prayer

August 23, 2010 by Wendy Carter.

Hi there:

Just wanted to keep you up to date on our MPC Campaign so here are my journal notes for this past week.

I trust you are all doing well,

Wendy

Week 2 of our MPC Campaign Adventure:

Monday afternoon about 4:00 after packing up our motor home once again we leave Churchville.  We eat supper in a parking spot on the shores of Lake Ontario in Cobourg.  Even though the waves are huge the view from our motor home is very calming.  After    driving for a few more hours we stay in a comfortable motel in Ganonoque.  Tuesday morning we are on our way to Montreal and arrive mid-afternoon at the calling centre without any problems.

We wait for about an hour for Gilles to come along and unlock the door.  Since we haven’t seen him arrive we unload our gear by the back door and Gary takes off to find his Municipal parking spot about a ten minute walk away.  There is no parking in front of the church from 4-6:30.  I wait outside for Gilles but when Gary returns we learn Gilles has already gone inside without seeing me.  At least the day is beautiful and calling can take place in the courtyard for better cell phone reception.

We are glad for Ken Taylor’s arrival (the new pastor for Eglise Oasis) and try to get him up to speed as much as possible for his first evening.  He says he understands about 25% of what Gary is saying.  He then adds with a twinkle in his eye, “But you have so much to say!”  He has a great sense of humour so we’re not sure if he is serious or just joking with us.  It is surprising how much French I am pulling out of the cobwebs of my brain from high school years long gone.  It is always hard to figure out if what we have said in English is fully understood by our French friends.  We are all trying to communicate as best we can and somehow when the evening’s calling ends at 9:00 our contactors have made 46 new friends in Saint-Eustace.  Surprisingly, on the previous Saturday one of our contactors had received a call from someone who had seen his name on her call display.  She called him back and after his explanation she asked for more information about the new church.

During Wednesday there is lots of data input from all the information we have received from those who have responded to us positively.  Many of their comments are very encouraging as they seem to be really interested and enthusiastic to hear that a new church will be established in their neighbourhood come September.  On one particular street 7 households want information.  We also have to keep track of the work our contactors have done so they can get paid.  We tabulate each call that has been made, the number that have answered the phone and those who have said “yes” to our survey for each of the three hours worked every evening.

We arrive at the calling centre after 4:00 so Gary only has a minute or two to unload our motor home.  A lady parking ticket officer arrives and he tells her he is just leaving.  Whew!  Oh well, it is another lovely night for calling in the courtyard and we find 44 more new friends.  A lady living in an apartment on the third floor next door looking over the courtyard yells down to say that she had become a Christian several years ago when she attended this church we are using as a calling centre.  She seems quite happy about the work that is being accomplished.

More computer input during Thursday and once again Gary barely escapes the wrath of the ticket lady unloading our motor home.  The evening proves to be quite a challenge because just as our 28 callers begin work it starts to rain.  Tables and chairs are quickly brought inside but the phone reception is not good.  After a few minutes Gary finds 3 or 4 teenage girls huddled in the nursery children’s playhouse outside.  Whatever it takes!  The wind picks up and one of our sheets with the telephone numbers we are calling flies upwards in a whirlwind past the third balcony, almost to the roof and then floats down to land on the second balcony.  It is retrieved by one of our contactors.  I wonder if there is anyone from that sheet that will become a part of the new church.

During the next hour everyone is again outside as the rain has stopped for a while and 37 positive responses are recorded.  These nights it is getting darker earlier but with added outside lights and the lights from their cell phones no one wants to quit early.  It is great to have Pastor Louis Bourque from Eglise Baptist Evangelique in Terrebonne/Mascouche on the north side of Montreal (and Ken’s mentor) join our team for the evening.  Gary hunts down our motor home and while I am waiting for him outside he sails right through our intersection without stopping.  He will be back in five or ten minutes.  Poor guy, he must be getting tired.

Friday is another beautiful day but we arrive at the call centre late.  Gary leaves with our motor home but after ¾ of an hour he has not returned.  I finally talk to him on Louis’ cell phone and learn that he is sitting in traffic and can’t find a parking spot.  Oh my!  Apparently French Canadians party on Friday night plus a few streets away there is a street festival.  There are no parking spots available any where.  I told him to go back to the Rosemont church and Louis will go pick him up there.  Ken is in charge and gets the team rolling.  Another 27 households want church information and over the past two weeks close to 30,000 dial ups have been made in Saint-Eustache.   That is amazing!

Louis takes pity on us and tells Gary and I that he has reserved a motel near his church for Saturday and Sunday nights plus the loan of a car.  The decision is made to move all of our gear this evening to the Rosemont church where we are staying.  Calling will be done from there next week.  The battle continues on as Louis sides-swipes the front bumper of a car parked in front of the calling centre.  Oh dear!  He leaves a note for the person to call him.

Gary and I spend Saturday reorganizing our paperwork and getting caught up on data entry.  I use the computer in one of the pastor’s offices.  When he comes in he assures me that I am to treat the office as my home.  These people are so gracious.  We leave Rosemont for the motel in Mascouche around supper time.  It is a treat to have the comfort of a quiet room with its shower and comfortable bed.

Even though Sunday morning is grey, cool and rainy we are thrilled to be attending Louis’ church service which starts off with the baptism of a young man.  His young mentor baptizes him with Louis’ help.  What a great event for them both.  Ken and Gilles give a report on our MPC campaign.  All Gary and I are required to do is stand up with them and smile while Terry is behind us translating in our ears.  The people in the congregation are very excited with our results of over 289 households who want to receive news about the new church plant.  This is their daughter work.  After the service so many come up to us to say thank you for coming to Quebec.  One lady gives me a huge hug.  We manage to put together an understandable conversation for us both.

Monday morning we head back down to the Rosemont Church as plans have been made for us to have lunch with Pastor Rene Frey and his wife, Sharon who live not too far from there.  His father had started the church originally and Rene took it over about 32 years ago.  Their average attendance is in the mid-300s and they have started 5 daughter churches.  We enjoy getting to know this couple better who very much want to see their province reached for His glory.

The team has done so well that it looks like there will only be two more nights of contacting – Tuesday and Wednesday – which means we will travel home Thursday with Gary stopping some where along the way for his radio program with Robin Pifer in the afternoon.  Even though this adventure has been really hard in so many ways, God has directed and blessed each step of the way.  Thank you for all your prayers.  Please continue to pray for Ken, his wife and family, his core group and all the people who will attend who are searching for God and His Son’s message of salvation.  (The church’s website is www.egliseoasis.com).

Posted in Weekly News | Print | No Comments »

Heartland News & Prayer

August 16, 2010 by Wendy Carter.

Oui, allo!

“Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself …”    Psalm 84:3

Yes, we are back home for the weekend and it feels great.  Our motor home is a pleasant temporary abode but very much unlike our Churchville “nest.” We travelled about 9 hours yesterday with stops along the way and shall return to Montreal Monday evening. What a week we have had which you can read about in my journal below. Thank you for all your prayers. It means a lot. We are very tired but very fulfilled.

Richard’s ministry in Myanmar was to have been shut down yesterday but some how he and his cohorts managed to pull together $600 and their landlady has given them another month. All of them are working at a local flower place to earn money which is a good thing. Please continue to pray for their financial stability.

Home Group will take place this coming Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Burton home. As we have learned this week, prayer is a vital part of everyone’s Christian life.

Even though Gary and I are away church happens as usual. Chris Burton and Steve Macdonald are doing a great job leading the Sunday services. If you have a concern, please connect with either of these men. Frances Kerr’s brother, Roy Grant will be speaking next Sunday, August 22.

A couple of birthdays will arrive while we are gone – Debbie Macdonald on August 22 and Cassidy Burton, turning 11, on August 27. Congratulations to you both, ladies! Congratulations also to Cassidy and Kaiya Burton for a good season of baseball.

Take care of yourselves this week,

Wendy

 

wendy.carter@kainos.org; garyvcarter@kainos.org; www.fellowshipnetworksradio.org; www.ttcbiblereading.org www; www.dtfbmusic.com; www.gvc.name www.compasscoachinginternational.com; www.myanmar.kainos.org  www.churchcreation.com. This newsletter is always located at blog.heartlandfellowship.ca. It is a summary of our Sunday morning services held at 7777 Churchville Rd., Brampton, ON L6Y 0H3, 905-230-8116.

 

Rapid Change by Gary Carter: Penny Spears said good-bye to her son, Brandon, seven weeks ago as he was attending Camp Borden for the summer. She picked him up this weekend. That time went quickly. The Carters have finished one week of their Mass Personal Contact campaign in Montreal, QC and have survived. That time went quickly as well. Over 150 households want information about the new church starting on Sept. 26 in Saint-Eustache. It is important that relationships be developed with these families sooner than later. Maybe some will be willing to attend a neighbourhood BBQ to learn more. This is a matter for prayer as so many of the people in Quebec have been quite turned off by their previous church experiences. What will this campaign mean to the province of Quebec as a whole? Will there be another church started next year? Time will tell. Jesus said in Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

 

Another One Hit Wonder by Steve Macdonald: Sargon the Great or Sargon of Akkad is mentioned in Isaiah 20:1-2. So who was he? He lived from 2270 – 2215 BC. His father, Akki, was a humble gardener and his mother probably a prostitute or priestess. Akki had found Sargon in a basket of rushes with the lid sealed. He took him as his son who also became a gardener or labourer. Most likely other labourers became his first soldiers that overthrew the ruler of Kish. Sargon eventually became the King of Assyria conquering the lands of Mesopotania, Iran and Syria. His dynasty controlled this area for over 1 ½ centuries. He was a man from meager beginnings and ended up in greatness.

 

Kingdom Bound by Chris Burton: The Burtons and Macdonalds recently attended Kingdom Bound at Darien Lake, NY. So what does this phrase mean? What does it look like to live for God’s kingdom? Jesus explained it by parables in Matthew 13.

The first parable is about the sower and the good soil (verses 18-23). The seed has fallen on the good soil; we as Christians have heard God’s message and understand it. But none of us are perfect on this long journey. We must look out for all the snares and grow. We can’t stop bearing fruit until the journey is over. The Holy Spirit shapes our lives every day and in turn we must pray for those who haven’t made it yet. By nature we are impure and like the soil we need to be cleansed, fertilized and have our rocks pulled so that crops can grow.

The parable of the weeds (verses 24-30; 36-43) refers to our enemies. These are foreigners or jealous neighbours who might actually go out and sew weeds in your field. Darnel is a look-alike “wheat” that is a weed. The root systems become intertwined and it is hard to tell which is the real deal. Our first response is to pull out these weeds but inadvertently the good will be killed as well. Let them both grow, then pull out the bad, bundle and burn them.

Application: Christians can’t expect to be free from Satan in this world. He will steal, kill and destroy and is the father of lies. His followers, who are not true to Christ, will hinder the work of the church. Weeds do get into the “field” of the church but we must weed our own sin. How are your energy levels? Are you able to weed your own garden plus that of your neighbour’s? God asks us to witness to others, pray for them, help those in need. We are not to be judgmental and condemning others’ sins. We must bear fruit which is the future of a plant. We need to focus on what can advance God’s kingdom. It is impossible to root out all the sin in the church. Time must be spent on developing strong roots. God will take care of the weeding. If grace, mercy and forgiveness were practiced more Christians would not be viewed so negatively by others.

Conclusion: Are you going to be a wheat or a weed? Are you going to bear fruit, love God and love others? See the parable of the sower and get your soil in order.

Communion: Jesus gave Himself to the church. He asked us to water the flowers, His garden, with prayer. We are to remember His instructions. What is your piece of the puzzle? There will be difficulties as the disciples learned. They continued to remember Him with the symbols of the bread and wine. Thomas even made it to India. The Word of the Lord went forward to this day. The harvest is the final point. It does not go on forever.

 

Antioxymorans by Steve Macdonald:

In an effort to expand our knowledge of the English language here are some antioxymorons which are two words with redundant meanings, e.g. we duck down or use a time clock.

It was stated with absolute certainty…

The class was studying ancient history.

The bank was robbed by two armed gunmen.

When the food was taken out of the freezer, it was frozen solid.

The G20 brought large crowds.

When backing up don’t hit anything with the rearend.

The water company had to come and dig down to the pipes.

After digging they left an empty hole.

You shouldn’t run at a pool; you may fall down.

When approached by a sky, back away, far away.

The Ups & Downs of a Mass Personal Contact Campaign, Saint-Eustache, Quebec:

 

Day 1

 

It’s Sunday morning, August 8^th at 8:45 and Gary and I are finally backing out of our driveway in Churchville, ON (near Toronto) in our jam-packed 1986 Toyota motor home. Our regular Heartland Fellowship Baptist church service in our home is about to begin and we are a day late in our departure for Montreal. What was this old senior’s citizen couple thinking? What unfamiliar territory will they be facing?

 

The day is grey and drizzly. After trekking along the 401 for a couple of hours we stop in the town of Cobourg for a Tim Horton’s. It’s too crowded there and after much manouvering of our old “bus” – not the easiest task - we head over to Macdonald’s instead. We do smell a bit of gas coming from the engine as we walk towards the restaurant but we will have to deal with that later. Bruce, a new acquaintance, stops us to chat about the motor home. He has a similar one and loves it. He is someone to e-mail when we return home. Did you know that Cobourg is the cheapest place to buy gas in Ontario? Thanks for the tip, Bruce!

 

Next stop is the lovely vacation spot of Gananoque located on the other side of Kingston along the St. Lawrence River. After a pleasant picnic lunch we are on our way again. The rain falls off and on until we get to Montreal when it begins to pour seriously. Thankfully we arrive in the church parking lot in Mascouche (north of Montreal) where we will park overnight. We meet up with Elaine and Terry Cuthbert (Urban church Planter for the Fellowship of the Quebec Region) who take us out for supper.

 

Back at the church we are joined with Gilles Chainey, the start-up campaign co-ordinator who is filling in for Pastor Ken Taylor, the new pastor for Eglise Oasis. Unfortunately Ken had been booked for a year to speak at a summer camp. He will certainly have lots to learn when he returns the following week. We also learn that Gilles’ wife, Lucy, has encountered some serious heart health issues over the last week. They both need our prayers.

 

After a long day’s journey we are safe and sound in bed in our motor home. There is no TV news to watch. It seems as if we have gone to a foreign land as missionaries having to fight lots of language barriers. French Canadians are very gracious but we need your prayers very much as well over the next three weeks. The gas smell is becoming a concern. Bon Soir!

 

Day 2

 

Oui, allo! The sun is shining beautifully and surprisingly enough Gary and I both have had a good night’s sleep. I get a lovely warm shower in the church but Gary’s is colder than his recent showers in Myanmar. Oh well!

 

Gary works on his database to get ready for training our campaign contactors this evening until I decide to use our microwave and blow a fuse which shuts all of our electricity down. Ooops!

 

After a cold salad for lunch we head to downtown Montreal to find the church where all the contact phoning will take place. The cell phones don’t work in the Mascouche church. Our GPS adapter has quit and we are relying on the city mapbook that Terry gave us. We still manage to get lost but after some help from a friendly Frenchman we do locate Eglise du Coin, situated on a street corner in the busy downtown area with only side street parking. This church was formerly a bank 50 years ago with an interesting high ceiling and large windows. It was purchased from another church at the beginning of this year.

 

Ten minutes from this building we must find another church, l’Eglise Baptiste Evangelique de Rosemont, where we are allowed to park our motor home overnight.

About 4:00 p.m. we return to the “corner” church after much struggling with one-way streets and no left turn intersections. We figure out that we only have 15 minutes to unload all our boxes of campaign gear. Gilles comes out to help.

 

Another surprise – a team from West Park Baptist Church in London, ON is working on church renovations this week in the meeting area we are to set up for training and calling. Oh, my! Our 49 contactors are already arriving and the day is extremely hot. Gary sets off to find a permanent parking spot and returns a half hour later. He had a hard time remembering how to get back to the church since he had to go a fair distance. I had his wallet in my purse so he had no money to pay for the parking. Hope he doesn’t get a ticket. This is a stressful city!

 

Terry arrives a little late as he gets lost himself. After much flourish of activity our contactors are ready at 6:00 p.m. to be bombarded with all of Gary’s information, details and hopefully motivating inspiration. Terry translates on the fly for him. By the time 9:15 rolls around everyone is exhausted but happy that the session went as well as it did.

 

The last challenge of the day is to find the motor home. Gilles drives Gary to find it but they come back 15 minutes later shaking their heads. The motor home is not to be found. They go out again for another half hour and come back “busless.” Then Terry and I go in one direction and again Gilles and Gary go in another. With Terry’s wife’s help from home on the Internet we find it in a municipal parking lot with no ticket in five minutes. Thank the Lord! We make it through that day; however the gas smell is becoming stronger.

 

Day 3

 

Tuesday morning Pastor Rene Frey from his Rosemont church where we are parked graciously gives Gary an office that belongs to one of his pastors who is on vacation for three weeks plus Internet access. What a bonus! I was even able to cook a good lunch in their basement kitchen. We also meet Anthony and Justine Gagne who are staying at the church. They are two of our teenage contactors that we will drive to the call centre each day so that they don’t have to travel an hour and a half by Metro subway and bus. They are super in helping us unload the motor home each trip we take.

 

At 6:00 p.m. we are back at the call centre all set up for the first night of contacting. We have 37 teens with some older adults ready to man their cell phones after some preliminary instructions and practice time with their neighbours. Many are quite nervous but by the end of the first hour’s session confidence is building and at 9:00 we have gained 13 new friends who want information about the new church start. Since some of the cell phones were not working very well and because it is extremely warm we decided to move everyone out to the courtyard to work for the last hour. Near the end it grew quite dark; however there are no mosquitoes or rain to bother us.

 

Gary does find the motor home but also discovers a ticket for $52 on his windshield as he had not used his credit card properly in paying earlier for the parking. Ouch!

 

Laying down at night in our motor home feels so good; but the gas smell is becoming a bigger concern. What other challenges and problems will hit us tomorrow? This is always the way with one of these campaigns. It is an ongoing battle!

 

Day 4

 

Today we must get the motor home fixed. Terry’s mechanic is willing to check it out so we head up to Lorraine just north of the city where Terry and Elaine live. Gary assumes there is a gas leak in a line in the engine as we are leaving droplets of gas everywhere we go which does not help with the fuel efficiency. The mechanic cuts off a piece of the rubber gasline that is damaged and is able to reattach it – all for the price of $19.74 plus brunch with Terry and Elaine. Whew! All labour and no parts to be ordered. Thank the Lord again!

 

We return to the Rosemont church in the afternoon. Gary works on the database for the evening. We arrive at the call centre at 4:30 p.m. to realize that we can’t set up the courtyard until 5:30 when the nursery school is dismissed. The workmen’s skill saws are deafening. However, our contactors are very cooperative and by 6:00 all are ready for preliminary instructions and talking on the phones. The paperwork is even better organized with much help from Gilles and Terry, the supervisors. We have a work tally sheet from every person at the end of each of the hours to be inputted into the computer. It looks like we have 51 new friends. Now that is exciting to all! The reward is a stop at the Dairy Queen on the way home.

 

Day 5

 

The morning finds us both in the Rosemont church office with Gary inputting data from the tally sheets and me catching up on blog time to keep you all informed. By the way, what is happening out there in your world? Stephen Harper might be calling a fall election and we wouldn’t know it.

 

From a knock at the door we learn that Justine’s wallet is missing. When we go out for PFC (i.e. KFC), Gary’s tooth starts aching. Pastor Frey prays for both needs.

 

Gary makes it through his 2:00 radio program with Robin Pifer from our Fellowship. We are back at the call centre at 4:30. Everything is now beginning to work much smoother. The machine is rolling. This evening 27 contactors have made 44 new friends from Saint-Eustache. David Dobson, National Fellowship Director of Communication, who lives north of Montreal, drops by for a visit and is thrilled with the progress and enthusiasm he sees with the campaign.

 

We are encouraged as this is the best group of contactors in a campaign that we have ever led. Many are dialing over 50 calls per night. About 2.5 % are interested in receiving our mailing in the days ahead. Some families’ lives will be changed over the next few months. We are also seeing important changes in the lives of our contactors. One gal said, “I won’t be so shy after this experience!” Another teen is excited because she talked to a man who said to his wife the day before that they should be looking for a church to attend. He wants to be baptized. God, indeed, is working.

 

Day 6

 

Another good night’s sleep - although I do miss our Churchville birds. There are too many noisy trucks and loud motor cycles whizzing by on the nearby street. It is a sunny day once more which means our contactors will be able to call from the courtyard.

 

Gary continues to work on data entry. Justine Gagne comes to help enter the info on the New Friends that have been made who want the mailings. These will be sent out over the next few weeks before the official church launch on Sunday, September 26. Gary is having some problems with his computer. He needs to keep rebooting it.

 

We are back at the call centre but find it is locked. Thankfully, Gilles arrives a few minutes later and 34 contactors show up. They seem rather draggy so Gary rallies the troops and all are ready to start work at 6:00 p.m. Gilles mentions that his wife is doing much better today. The evening’s activities run quite smoothly. Many dial over 70 numbers per hour. Everything is cleaned up by 9:30 and Gary heads off to get our motor home.

 

Terry looks out on the street and discovers there is no place for Gary to park for loading up the gear we want to take with us. The bus stop space is available for only a minute or two. The bus arrives, then Gary follows him in behind but all of a sudden nicks the front tire of a parked motor bike which knocks it over. The alarm system goes off. Gary and Terry lift it up. There appears to be no damage. They wait for a few minutes to see if the owner shows up. No one seems to be coming so Gary and I leave in our motor home. A couple of minutes later Gilles calls our cell phone to say that we must return to provide the owner with our insurance information. He is not too happy as his brand new bike is his idol. After giving him all the information we have available we finally leave. Please Lord, no more incidents with our motor home!

 

Day 7, 8, and 9

 

At 6:30 a.m. we leave our church parking lot for Toronto. It will be so nice to get home for a couple of days for some rest for our weary souls and reorganization of our motor home necessities and computer files. After travelling for 9 hours with stops along the way we arrive at our Churchville home without incident.

 

Upon evaluating the inputted data, Gary confirms that this past Wednesday evening after Pastor Frey and his wife with others were praying upstairs in the call centre, the responses for our New Friends’ List increased from 2 1/2% to 5%. This proves how important outside prayer is. If you want to pray for Saint-Eustache go to www.mpc101.info where you can choose a zone (200 available) of 80 homes to pray for. This is all part of your commitment in deciding to follow Jesus. We very much need your help!

 

We will set out Monday evening to travel half way, stay overnight some where near Kingston and journey the rest of the way on Tuesday. Gilles has set up a meeting in the afternoon with some of the Quebec church leaders for reporting, getting Ken Taylor, the pastor up to speed and preparing for the church launch plus any other future campaigns. What will this next week hold??

Posted in Weekly News | Print | No Comments »

Heartland News & Prayer - Aug. 1/10

August 1, 2010 by Wendy Carter.

Happy Civic Holiday Weekend Everyone!

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10

One week today Gary and I will be in the beautiful province of Quebec.  We leave Sat. Aug. 7. We will arrive in Montreal and set up the motor home we have for our accommodation.  Our Mass Personal Contact campaign for the new church start in St. Eustache will take place at a church in downtown Montreal.  Training begins Monday, August 9 at 6:00 p.m. Calling will happen Tuesday to Friday from 6-9 p.m.  We will need 40 callers each evening mostly comprised of young people.  The campaign will continue until Friday, August 27.  Gary and I plan to return home just for the weekend of August 15th. Please pray that this campaign will prove successful so that it can become a template to other church starts throughout Quebec. 

Please pray for safety and a relaxing vacation for the Burton and Macdonald families who have left for Kingdom Bound (a Christian camping experience) at Darien Lake, NY until Thursday.

Please remember Richard in Myanmar and all his ministries.  He is grateful for the recent money that was sent a couple of weeks ago.  William, a young man and pastor of a house church in Yangon is interested in coming to Canada for about 6 months to learn business so that he can return to his homeland to set up a school to teach English and thus help his country create economy.  Please pray that this might be made possible in the months ahead.

Don’t forget to take a look at all the books and videos we have in our hall cupboard.

This next Thursday evening, August 5, there will be no Home Group as Burtons and Macdonalds will be returning from Kingdom Bound and a baby shower for Melissa Carter will be held at our home at 7:00 p.m.

There won’t be a blog for August 8th or the 22nd.  Rev. Roy Grant (Frances Kerr’s brother) will speak at Heartland on August 22.

Enjoy the holiday,

Wendy

wendy.carter@kainos.org; garyvcarter@kainos.org; www.dtfbmusic.com;  www.fellowshipnetworksradio.org; www.compasscoachinginternational.com; www.churchcreation.com.  This newsletter is always located at  www.blog.heartlandfellowship.ca.   It is a summary of our Sunday morning services at 9:00 a.m. held at 7777 Churchville Rd., Brampton, ON L6Y 0H3, 905-230-8116. 

Being on Your Best Behaviour by Gary Carter: Did you ever read the book, All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?  One of the rules in growing up was that parents were often looking for you to be on your best behaviour particularly when you were in school, went visiting or attended a wedding.  Everyone must have been on their best behaviour at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding yesterday! You are now able to score yourself on Gary’s survey – www.healthierchurch.com – as mentioned last week.  There are 9 categories with 150 different items to think about.  You might realize that if your resolve is low so will your effort be and you have some changing to do to tune up your attitude.  In your relationships and the love that you show to others it is far better to take people to a place where they can see genuine love being shown for each other such as in a church.  And a church with lots of laughter is a healthy church that might not very often be experienced elsewhere these days.  Why not fill out this survey this week and learn to be on your best behaviour?
 

Another One Hit Wonder by Steve Macdonald: We meet Cornelius of Caesarea in Acts 10.  He was a centurion in the Italian regiment, devout, God-fearing, generous to those in need, and disciplined – a very solid citizen.  Most likely he obtained his centurion position because he was highly respected in the first place as were those whom he led (about 100 soldiers). He had a family which was generally not allowed in the army. He was probably an Italian of Roman blood and well known to the Jews.
The Roman army was divided into two broad divisions, the legions and the auxiliary forces. Legions were never permanently quartered in Palestine until the great war which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem, 70 AD. From the year 6 AD, when Palestine was made into a province of the second rank until 66 AD, it was garrisoned by auxiliary troops recruited amongst the Samaritans and Syrian Greeks. The headquarters were naturally at Caesarea, the residence of the procurator. But it would not have been prudent for a garrison in Palestine to be composed wholly of troops locally recruited. Therefore the Roman government mingled with the garrison 600 soldiers, free Italian volunteers. With this cohort Cornelius was connected as a centurion.
While praying to God one afternoon the passage tells of Cornelius’ vision to send for the apostle Peter who was staying in Joppa.  Peter came and spoke to Cornelius’ friends and relatives.  These became some of the first Gentile converts.

One Another – It Sets Us Apart (Romans 13:8) -  by Gary Carter: Fifteen times in the New Testament (e.g. John 13:35) we are told to love one another; so therefore it must be important. Devotion to one another overlaps the love and a third overlapping concept is to “look” to one another.

Romans 12:10 makes the command, “Honour one another above yourselves.” The church, government, other people etc. are not just there to meet our needs.
Philippians 2:3-4 exhorts us to get rid of our selfishness and consider the interests of others.  Ephesians 4:29 encourages us to look at what we are saying so that we build others up.  Just giving a piece of one’s mind or opinion doesn’t help.

The goal is to love the other person more.  You are in charge of you.  Know that and it will make a difference.

Curious English by Steve Macdonald:
For all those who speak English or have to learn English as a second language, this is for you.  Is it amazing we can even communicate.
1. If the dump is full, do they refuse refuse?
2. When you cut yourself was the bandage wound around the wound?
3. Does a farm produce produce?
4. If there is not time like the present when is the best time to present the present?
5. Is it true that the dove dove into the bushes?
6. Can I object to an object?
7. Can you be too close to close a door?

Posted in Weekly News | Print | No Comments »