Papa Dan's Pastoral Days

MY FIRST SERMON - July 6th, 1951   Dan preaching in his home church 1958 As this blog is nearing its completion, I want to share a couple of sermons, the first sermon that I preached and my last sermon. My first sermon was preached at a Family Night, Friday, July 6th, 1951 at the Evangel Tabernacle (PAOC) in Chatham, ON.  I worked the summer of 1951 at Prairie Bible Institute but was home for about two and a half weeks vacation.  During my time at home, a daughter of friends of Mom and Dad asked if I would speak at their family night which consisted of all ages.  I was given twenty minutes.  So what follows are the notes from my first attempt at preaching.  I still have those original notes, which I typed on my Mom's typewriter.  That is 67 years ago.  Wow!  Hard to believe. In those notes I have two passages of scripture listed.  Matthew 5:13-20 is typed in the notes, but that is scratched out and penciled in is Roman...

PASSING ON THE BATON If you're still questioning why I devoted the previous post to a list of names, let me answer by saying that, as Christians, we are exhorted to pass on what we've heard, namely the gospel, the good news.  We pass on other areas of life.  You may have taught someone how to walk, add, subtract, drive a car, use a computer, etc.  How much more then should we be teaching spiritual truths to those who follow. The Christian leaders, whose names I listed, all passed on something about the Christian life to me.  I may have learned much from some, or little.  The point is, they shared.   A great example of sharing or passing lessons from the Bible on to others is illustrated well, beginning with Edward Kimball, a Sunday School teacher.  Kimball visited a young boy, who was attending his Sunday School class and led this boy to a personal relationship with the Lord.  That Sunday School boy was Dwight L. Moody.  Moody beca...

OTHERS WHO HAD INPUT INTO MY SPIRITUAL & PASTORAL JOURNEY There are many people on planet earth that have heard the gospel or the scriptures explained from only one person.  It may be the single lady missionary that visits their village.  It may be the one program in their language airing from a Christian shortwave radio station.  There are undoubtedly millions of Christians whose biblical knowledge and learning has come from very few individuals or limited sources. I don't know why I have been so abundantly blessed or privileged when it comes to having biblical input from so many.  From my early years to  the present, I have personally heard hundreds of Christian leaders, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, Bible college professors, musicians and Christian business people who have helped, encouraged, challenged and convicted me in my spiritual journey.  It was always a thrill when I had the opportunity to hear some of the days outstanding Chri...

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...

SARDIS FELLOWSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH In January 2001 I was invited to speak one Sunday morning at the Sardis Fellowship Baptist Church in Chilliwack, BC.  I knew one couple in that church besides our daughter, son-in-law and three grandsons.  Following the service I was invited to speak again in February.  After the February service was finished, I met briefly with some of the members of the board of elders and they asked if I would be interested in meeting with the board to discuss an interim senior pastoral position.  That meeting with the board happened within a few days.  The church board was in contact with a potential pastoral candidate in the east and asked if I would serve three days a week until June, almost four months, when this candidate would be coming to speak.  I agreed.  I began my ministry as interim senior pastor in March. SFBC members blended their voices to form a Christmas Choir In June, the young couple from the east...