April...family, fun, retreats, conferences...and my LAMP installation!

 April 2024 was a busy one with lots of time with family, friends, and colleagues! Here are some highlights...

April got started with my 55th birthday. I was happy to celebrate with my wife Lynne as we enjoyed Brazilian BBQ and the Broadway show "Hairspray", being presented at our local Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Great food and great music!!

I was also happy to celebrate with my nephew and birthday "twin" Cooper...good times!

Later that week, I hopped on a plane and headed down to Nashville for the Nashville Songwriters Tin Pan South Songwriting Seminar. I've been a volunteer with our local NSAI chapter for many years now and it was good to get back to the seminar after five years away. The event was hosted at the campus of Belmont University in Nashville and the event was excellent as always. Here's some pictures from the Seminar.

NSAI exists to encourage songwriters of all levels (from amateur to professional) to continue to polish and develop their songwriting skills. Once again, I was so encouraged by the great speakers and great sessions.

An additional treat on my Nashville trip was the arrival of my son Joshua. He has talked about visiting Nashville with me for many years and this time it worked out. We had so much fun cruising around Nashville and visiting all kinds of places...Broadway Street, Jack's BBQ, Cross-Eyed Critters Watering Hole, the Station Inn (Bluegrass central), the Bluebird Cafe, the Frist Art Museum, Gruhn's Guitars...as well as numerous coffee shops including the Koinonia Coffee House (an important site for some of my favourite contemporary Christian musicians and songwriters). Here's a bunch of photos from the trip.

From Nashville I headed to Canmore, Alberta for the North American Lutheran Church study conference. It was great to be in Canmore and be surrounded by some of the most beautiful mountains that are part of the Canadian Rockies. It was also good to connect with old friends, meet new friends, and hear the presentations. It was good to have a LAMP exhibit set up there and to talk about LAMP.

As the week wrapped up, I headed to Edmonton to meet with the Western District Regional Mission and Mission Committee at Grace Lutheran Church. I represent our local LCC Edmonton Circuit as a deacon on the committee. It was good to hear about the plans that our Synod has moving forward as well as working on some plans for work with youth and families in our region. 

I also had the chance to attend the study conference and the church convention of the Canadian Association of Lutheran Churches. It was good to connect with some old friends and make some new ones as I shared with the convention about the work of LAMP. 

The good times just kept rolling as I headed out to Nova Scotia to catch up with my wife Lynne and join her as we visited our son Matthew and his family for a few days. April is also the birthday month for our youngest grandson Emerson and his dad Matthew. It was really special to celebrate Matt's birthday with him in person this year. We enjoyed lots of play time with our grandsons as well as good visits with Matt and Bailey. Here are a few pictures of our fun times there...

Matt is building his own BBQ smoker so we had to sample some BBQ as part of our visit to inspire him in his work and also in his future cooking plans. Matt also made some amazing chicken wings for us on his birthday. Tasty!!

I flew home from Halifax to Edmonton to meet up with the LAMP staff as we had a retreat on April 26. It was good have most of us all together in one place to do some planning and preparation for our upcoming ministry season. We enjoyed some BBQ for lunch and some Ukrainian food for supper before heading out for some five pin bowling. The Americans on our staff adjusted fairly well to the smaller bowling bowls and the smaller number of pins...I outdid myself with my skill for throwing gutter balls that night. On April 27, the LAMP boards from Canada and the US met online. Staff joined in for part of the meeting. On Sunday, April 28, we were able to celebrate my installation as a LAMP missionary at Bethel Lutheran Church. LAMP Executive Director Steve Schave and Pastor Matt Ziprick served as liturgists, Pastor James Avery preached the sermon, and Circuit Counselor and Pastor Jonathan Kraemer performed the Rite of Installation. Normay and Herman Wiebe played the songs for the service and special friends like Kathy Cornish and Neil Davies helped with the readings. Dwayne and Ute Aasberg, our friends who feel like family, helped with the sound and the powerpoint. The LAMP staff organized some tasty treats after the service, including some smoked salmon from our northern BC LAMP communities. Some pictures...

I did manage to record a video of the service on my Zoom account. The video is posted here...let me warn you that the music did not record well (which is too bad because it was great!!) but you can see and hear most of the service if you're interested.  https://youtu.be/UeGTV_AWTj0

As I look back on April, all I can do is feel thankful for so many good times with family and friends old and new. God has been and continues to be so good to me! It's a blessing and honour to live as His child...looking forward to another year of God's love and grace!