HIRING A YOUTH PASTOR

 Allen & Suzanne Powles, Brem & Donna Frentz, Dan & Leona Goldsmith

In February 1982 I went to Regina to interview Brem Frentz as a potential youth pastor.  My meeting with Brem coincided with an internship seminar which was being held at Canadian Bible College.  I sat in on the seminar meetings for the pastors of the churches that would be having an intern that summer.  During one of those meetings, the internship director spoke to me asking if Rockyview Alliance Church would consider having an intern.  That was not my intent when I went to the college in Regina, however the director said that they had more interns than churches for them.

I made a quick call to the vice chairman of the Rockyview board of elders asking that he check with some of the board members.  Within a couple of hours, the vice chairman returned my call with the answer that we could have an intern.  I had never had an intern before and certainly had no training or experience as to what my role, as a mentor, would be like.

Ian Trigg became our intern, serving with us for May, June and July 1982.  He was a gift from the Lord for those three months.  We had a good number of youth and he worked with them preparing the way for Brem, who became our youth pastor in late July or early August.  It is almost 36 years ago since Ian served with us and Brem began his ministry.  I rejoice today to see how God has used both of these men in the years that followed.  Ian became a pastor.  One of his churches was my old stomping grounds at the Vernon Alliance Church.  He started there as youth pastor and then stepped into the role of senior pastor.  Moving on from Vernon, he became the lead pastor of the Foothills Alliance Church in Calgary, where he has been for several years.

Brem and Donna eventually became missionaries with the Christian & Missionary Alliance and served in Indonesia for many years.  After David Hearn was elected president of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada, Brem was appointed Vice President of Global Ministries.  He makes his home in the Toronto area, but spends many weeks throughout the year traveling the world, exploring new avenues for ministry and meeting and encouraging the C&MA missionaries in their places of ministry.

I should add that the youth ministry touched the lives of many many young people in NE Calgary.  I mention only a few.  One young man, a non-Christian, was invited to our youth functions.  Brem led him to the Lord and this young man went on to Bible College and became a pastor.  One of our teenage girls at Rockyview, a teen back in the late 70"s and early 80's, is today the Community Pastor - Women's Ministry of one of the largest churches in Canada.  Another one of our youth serves, with his wife, as a missionary in Japan.  Another girl is a pastor's wife in Pennsylvania and her sister serves with her husband as a missionary in Germany.  I am sure that there are other stories, but that is over thirty years ago, and these are the ones that came to mind in the last few moments.

I've been so blessed with the many associate and secretarial staff that God brought my way over those years and the years that followed.

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