Papa Dan's Pastoral Days

RETIREMENT AND SOME WRITING Billy Graham used to say that the word retirement was not in the Bible.  Guess that's why he didn't preach his last sermon until he was 95 years old.  Well, the Bible does speak about the Levites retiring.  "At the age of fifty, they (Levites) must retire from their regular service and work no longer."  Numbers 8:25. The Levites principal roles in the Temple included singing Psalms during Temple services, performing construction and maintenance for the Temple, serving as guards and performing other Temple services.  They also served as teachers and judges.  In other words they worked for the Temple, somewhat comparable to the pastors of today.  Wow!  Imagine retiring at the age of 50.  Well, I've already told you that I was three weeks shy of being 69 when I retired from Sevenoaks Alliance Church in Abbotsford, BC, but after retiring, I accepted some interim pastoral ministries and I was back to work. ...

NEW LIFE CHRISTIAN CHURCH   New Life Christian Church sign In the summer of 2008, a couple, that had attended Sardis Fellowship Baptist Church when I was interim senior pastor, approached me to see if I would be willing to preach occasionally at their small fellowship.  They informed me that they were now a part of a group, New Life Christian Church , that had just started holding Sunday morning services in a Chilliwack motel.  It was an independent church, with the majority of the folks attending having come from a mainline church.  One of their reasons for leaving that church was that the Word of God was not being preached. I started preaching at NLCC in Chilliwack in September 2008, taking a turn along with a couple of other pastors.  Within a few weeks there were five of us retired pastors, a Lutheran pastor, Mennonite Brethren, Pentecostal and two of us Alliance pastors that took turns speaking. On average I would preach at NLCC about every f...

IMMANUEL FELLOWSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH  Immanuel Fellowship Baptist Church - Abbotsford Before I completed my ministry at Sardis Fellowship Baptist Church in Chilliwack, I was approached by two individuals with a ministry request. I was asked if I would take another interim ministry at a Fellowship Baptist Church in Vancouver.  I declined that invitation.  The other invitation was from a friend and member of Sevenoaks Alliance Church asking me if I would consider leading a care group.  I said that I would do so and six couples from Sevenoaks, plus Leona and I, began meeting bi-weekly in the fall of 2002.   There were changes in personnel over the years, due to health and death, but I continued to lead this group for thirteen years. In the summer of 2004 I was approached by Immanuel Fellowship Baptist Church , in Abbotsford, asking me if I would be willing to be their interim senior pastor for a few months.  Having agreed to do so, I began my...