Community Chaplain

The other night I was with some friends and the question was asked: what is God doing in the Church right now? I gave my two cents worth but realized I was only pointing out something that was wrong and not answering the question. I know there are many church leaders who will agree with me from around the world when I give my perspective on the Church but there will be even more that will see nothing wrong with the status quo. Those are unfortunately the ones who need to see that change is needed so it is an upward battle for sure. It is clear that some evangelical churches in North America continue to attract new people. They are usually the mega churches that grow primarily through transfer growth. The majority of those who visit and often remain, are people from other smaller churches that like the overall atmosphere of big verses small. Sometimes it's simply seen as the "in place to be". New conversions can come but they are few and far between. So having a nice S...

As I was sitting behind my computer this morning I discovered something that changed my whole perspective of our time in Estonia. Fifteen years ago my wife Anne and I, along with our three children, moved to this former USSR republic. By 1991 it had become a sovereign nation again but the residue left from 50 years of communism remained. Back in Canada, I had decided to resign as the pastor of a church in Toronto. At the time I was also a volunteer chaplain with Toronto Police. The faith group we were associated with was all about going to the nations and spreading the gospel. I felt it was time for us to venture overseas even if it meant leaving behind family and friends. We did not tell the congregation until we were sure it was where God wanted us. I was sure but Anne was not. We made plans to visit Estonia with our 2 youngest that summer of 2003 but before we left we had our regular prayer meeting at the church. A few weeks earlier, Anne felt like God was bringing her more clar...

I recently played a game on FB which asked the question: what do you see? A series of abstract pictures were shown and you had three choices of what you saw first as you looked at the pic. The idea being that in the end they would be able to tell what type of person you were and what your job/profession was. I got "Writer". Some might suggest I write too much but you will be disappointed today. Of course I am not sure why you are reading this...never mind. I have gone through the busiest 10 days in many years but I feel I can finally breath again. They were good days but extremely tiring. Emotionally I woke up a few nights concerned for the day to come. I had little control over what would happen except that I needed to trust God. As a chaplain but more importantly as a follower of Jesus, I got to practice loving those who were doing something I totally disagreed with: taking the life of someone else. I have never had to face a place in my life where I thought there was n...