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Showing posts from February, 2018
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LETHBRIDGE CHINESE ALLIANCE CHURCH Within one month of my arrival in Lethbridge, Paul Bartel, a former missionary to China and Hong Kong, stopped by the church to introduce himself.  He said that he realized I had just arrived in Lethbridge, but he wanted to plant a seed in my mind regarding reaching out to the Chinese community in Lethbridge. That seed began to germinate over time.  Having met the pastor of the Calgary Chinese Alliance Church in 1972, I invited him to come to Lethbridge for a meeting.  In January 1973 the Calgary Chinese pastor and a choir from his church came to Lethbridge for a Sunday afternoon service.  We placed an ad in the Lethbridge Herald announcing the service.  Five Chinese from the city, plus some members from our church attended.  The folks from Calgary were so encouraged that five Chinese came to the service that they said they would be willing to come back for another service.  They came again in March, with a f...
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MINI-REVIVAL IN LETHBRIDGE  Lethbridge Alliance Church Executive Board Retreat Many have read about revivals but few have witnessed the same.  The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan revival, which began in November 1971, impacted many towns and cities in Canada and the United States.  About a month after revival broke out in Saskatoon, one of the board members of the Lethbridge Church phoned me from Saskatoon and asked me if he could have some time to share his testimony that coming Sunday.  He was on business in that city and had attended some of the meetings.  God had done a new work in his life and he was anxious to share it.  I assured him that he could have a few minutes in the evening service.  "Pastor, I want to share in the morning service!"  I agreed and figured I could let him have about ten minutes, give or take. That next Sunday was December 12th.  After a couple of congregational hymns, announcements, offering and a spe...
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LETHBRIDGE ALLIANCE CHURCH     Our home - the parsonage, 533 - 16th Street I firmly believe that being a pastor has some perks that no other job has.  Unlike any other job that I've had over the years, I discovered that a pastor is usually warmly welcomed upon his arrival.  It may not always be the same when he leaves, but we were certainly greeted well the day that we arrived in Lethbridge.  Five of the seven board members were at our house to help us unload.  As we neared the supper hour, two of the elders invited us as a family to eat at their home.  I let the two of them come to an agreement and we eventually arrived at one of the homes. The Lethbridge church had begun thirty years earlier, 1940, and had a morning attendance approaching two hundred.  All of the various ministries were already in place, i.e. Christian Service Brigade, Pioneer Girls , regular ladies meetings, youth, a choir, etc.  The church also had an inte...
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  CANADIAN EXECUTIVE SECRETARY  Missions Booth at Briercrest Bible College - Dan on right We arrived in Calgary, July 16th, 1969.  We drove to the Janz Brothers office/home and were greeted by two or three teens, children of some of the quartet members.  Since the quartet was out of town and these teens had no idea where we were to stay, we stayed in a motel that first night. My first task at this new job was to prepare and publish a manual that could be given to a church or committee that would be showing the film Downbeat.   I believe it was in August that I flew to Winnipeg and then Regina to begin to solicit help in putting together a local team in each city that would do the ground work for the showing of the film.  I will never forget that first flight, arriving in Winnipeg, renting a car and driving to a shopping mall where I parked. I sat in the car wondering where I should start.  What was I to do, now that I had arrived?...
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AM I REALLY A PASTOR Dan & Leona at Silver Star Mountain Winter 1968 / 1969 This posting has been in the making for a couple of weeks.  I debated whether or not I should share it.  The more I thought about it, the more I was inclined to include the same.  I've done so to show that there have been down times in this pastoral journey and times of confusion as well as the uplifting and encouraging experiences.  The road ahead is not always crystal clear.  However, I trust that I have learned from my experiences of the winter of 1968 / 1969.  I am certain that had I known then, what I know today, the decisions would have been different.  I pray that what I share may be of help to you, Zack, as well as others who may read this.  During my last year in Vernon, different things happened that got me wondering whether I really belonged in pastoral ministry.  As I think back on those years, now almost fifty years ago, the proverbial ...