October 2024: Conferences, Church Presentations, Celebrations, Choirs, Coworkers, the Carrot, and the Coast

The month of October for me, as I hope to illustrate, could easily be sponsored by the letter "C". Let's get started!! (my thanks to my friend Gwen for this idea!)

Conferences - As I mentioned in last month's blog, October started with the chance to attend the BC Church Workers Conference in Sorrento, BC. Nathan, my fellow LAMP missionary, and I were able to address the conference during a panel focused on various ministries and missions in Lutheran Church - Canada. What a good time!!

The good times and good connections continued at the Alberta Church Workers Conference hosted at the Providence Retreat Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. The featured speaker was Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller from Texas...he spoke to us about spiritual warfare and the Christian life.

We also enjoyed a presentation from Lutheran Bible Translators missionary Pastor Michael Kuhn. He talked to us about his work in particular and also the work of LBT in general. The organizers were also kind enough to give me some time on the schedule to talk about LAMP.

Church Presentation - I had the opportunity to visit Pastor Jay L and the good people at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ponoka on the first Sunday in October. They have been strong supporters of LAMP for some time and it was good to update them on the plans that LAMP has moving forward. After my presentation, my wife and I were welcomed to a very tasty church potluck lunch. Delicious!!

Celebration - It was so much fun to gather with the good people at Camp Kuriakos and celebrate the retirement of Pastor Art Weiss. Pastor Art has been the Executive Director of the camp for a number of years now and he has done a great job leading the camp through some challenging times (COVID would be one example). As a long time supporter of the camp and a current member of the camp's Board of Directors, I was honoured to be able to share some words of thanks and blessing to Pastor Art as a part of the program that followed the wonderful meal we shared. God bless Pastor Art as he returns to his home and life in the great state of Texas. 

Choirs...or Choir! Choir! Choir! - I saw an ad on Facebook a few months ago about an event hosted by Choir! Choir! Choir! in our local area. By all appearances, it seemed like the group sponsoring this was a musical duo who helped turn a group of strangers into a choir. I was intrigued and bought a ticket. There was quite a crew gathered at the Midway Music Hall in Edmonton of all ages and stages in life for that night. As promised, the two leaders of the event not only got us singing together...they also managed to lead us in a nice arrangement of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah". It was a special night and a reminder about the power of song to build community. It's also just fun to sing with people who love to sing!!

Coworkers - October featured some time for the LAMP staff to gather (we are fairly spread out with some staff living in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Michigan, and Oregon) for a staff retreat. We mostly keep in touch with our weekly online meetings and through email so it was good to be together in the same room. We were able to discuss the highs and the lows of last summer's ministry season. We were also able to do a bit of planning for next summer's trips. In addition to working on these things, we also took some time to eat together and to have some fun trying to do some axe throwing (it's harder than it looks!!)

The LAMP staff joined up with our LAMP board members from Canada and the US for their fall board meetings here in Edmonton later in that week. LAMP staff members presented reports and answered questions...I had the opportunity to share my story of my forest fire adventure (see July 2024 blog post). We also got a chance to sit in on some sessions focused on planning for the future. There are some exciting plans ahead. I appreciate these coworkers who serve as board members on the Canadian and American boards...their service helps LAMP to keep moving forward and fulfilling it's mission.

Carrot - It was fun to participate in a local event sponsored by our Edmonton chapter of Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). The Carrot is a local arts coffeehouse and they have been so generous by allowing us to meet there from time to time and host events. This event was a songwriter round with different members presenting live versions of their original songs. There were some great moments and some good tunes shared!! I've been a co-coordinator of our local NSAI chapter for many years now.

Coast - October ended with some holiday time away from home to visit Canada's West Coast. My wife and I visited family in Abbotsford, BC and Nanaimo, BC as we had a chance to look around at some real estate listings. We are very slowly and prayerfully considering a move out to one of those two communities. It was good to meet with local realtors and see some of what might be on offer if we decide to do that. I was reminded of another "C" word (covenant) as I landed at the Vancouver harbour on this trip and saw a double rainbow across the water. God reminds us of His love and His promises as the water droplets turn sunshine into beautiful colours. A good reminder in good times and bad ones, too!