A NEW CHALLENGE
The Vernon Alliance Church Parsonage
I was now the pastor of a city church with a whole new challenge before me. All of the members and attendees at Lac La Biche, Hylo, Lousana and Bellgrove combined were farmers except for three families. In Vernon it was the opposite. All of the members and attendees at the Vernon Alliance Church worked in the city and only three were farmers.
When we began our ministry in Vernon the Sunday morning attendance was around eighty or ninety. One Sunday morning in July 1964 we squeaked over one hundred. That was the first time we exceeded one hundred during my ministry. We witnessed some gradual growth during our years there, seeing a Sunday morning attendance of around two hundred, when we left.
Dan, in his thirties, preaching at Vernon Alliance Church
Prior to our going to Vernon the congregation sold their little building on 27th Street purchasing a one acre piece of property on 43rd Avenue and built a new building which comfortably seated well over two hundred. I don't remember the exact seating, but do remember that at one special event we packed in over three hundred people using chairs and with people squeezing into the little bit of balcony that existed. Though the congregation was using the new building when we arrived, there was still some work to be done to finish the building. Some siding, stuccoing and building Sunday School rooms was completed after we arrived.
I entitled this posting "a new challenge." One of the challenges before me was preparation for two sermons for Sundays as we had a morning and evening service. Other ministries that were mine included preparation for and leading the mid-week Bible study and prayer meeting, plus the three radio broadcasts, plus visitation, plus leading the board meetings and more. I really enjoyed the radio ministry and was pleased to learn that the Vernon church had a radio ministry. I was sorry that in 1968 CJIB doubled our cost for radio time, that we cut back to one broadcast each week, Saturdays and sometime later went to doing two one minute sermonettes a week.
Echoes Of Blessing Calendar 1967
I had no secretary which meant typing the weekly bulletin, correspondence, etc. After a year or two of doing all of the the secretarial work, I had three ladies volunteer to help me, doing some secretarial work in their home. One mailed out Our Daily Bread devotionals each month to those who regularly supported the radio ministry. Another lady had a supply of stamps, church stationery and envelopes. I would write a rough copy of a letter drop it in her mail box and she would type, per my signature, and mail. For the third lady, I wrote out the information for the weekly bulletin, also dropping it off in her mail box. She would type up a stencil and her husband would drop it off in the church mail box by Friday, on his way to work. I would then print the bulletins with the gestetner, take them home and Leona would help me fold them.
I also endeavored to visit the church members and all newcomers. Leona was a great help in this area and often accompanied me, which meant hiring a baby-sitter. We often invited folks over after church Sunday evenings for food and fellowship. Leona excelled in the area of hospitality.
Some Sunday evenings we were invited out to other homes for food and fellowship. One such Sunday evening a couple invited several couples in for a time of fellowship. Some times in my sermons I say things which were not planned. Well, I was reminded at this home that particular Sunday evening that I had said that I would much prefer having some eggs Sunday evening, before going to bed, instead of sweet stuff. I don't know what I was illustrating when I threw that into my sermon. This particular evening was a week or two before Christmas and the lady of the house had a spread of Christmas baking. All of a sudden she appeared from the kitchen with a plate of food and was heading in my direction. Here I was being served, two poached eggs, with bacon and toast. I thoroughly enjoyed the same. However, I was the envy of some of the folks having to eat Christmas goodies.
Since there were several couples our age or a little younger with young children, we were often invited to take our children some Sunday evenings after the service. One particular night we were invited to a young couple with a child the age of our youngest. The children were able to play with toys in another room, while we visited in the living room. The next morning when Leona opened her purse, she discovered that her purse was stuffed with some small toys. Imagine the pastor's boys being thieves. I guess they never heard any sermon that I preached re stealing is sin. Our two boys learned a lesson a few days later. We took them back to our friends' home, made them return the toys and apologize.
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