Mission Scribbles and Scratches

May 2024 was an interesting month with some happy times and some sad times. First, the happy times included events like the annual Sabbath Conference hosted here in Edmonton. This event, which caters to professional church workers like DPS workers and church volunteers, was hosted this year at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in Edmonton. The event featured pastor and school principal Mark Dressler presenting on trends with children, youth and young adults today as well as LCC Synod President Tim Teuscher as Bible study leader. Attendees at Sabbath were able to join the seminary community (students, professors, support staff) for worship in the chapel, shared meals and snack times, and shared devotion times together. The technology and facilities at the seminary also allowed for some attendees to join us online. It was a good to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones as well. I was able present a brief presentation about the work of LAMP to those in attendance. Here are some photo...

 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 th...

 The month of March began for me with a conference at the University of Alberta. I've been a graduate student in the department of History, Classics, and Religion at the university for several years now. The conference was a conference for graduate students from our department and beyond. I appreciated all the different students and their varied presentations, reminding me that one lifetime could never be enough to learn all the interesting things in the world. My paper discussed an emerging trend I've noted among some evangelical Christians online called "faith deconstruction". This was a bit of a departure from my regular research (religion in Irish literature) but also interesting and fun to discuss. I appreciate being able to attend the conference and share my work. March continued with good things when I had a chance to visit some friends and their classes at the University of Alberta. My friend Paul G teaches in the Native Studies department and I enjoyed attend...

February began for me with a gathering of the pastors and deacons in our area at Bethel Lutheran Church. Our hosts at Bethel treated us well as they led us in worship (great sermon, Pastor Matt! great music, James!) and provided refreshments and a space to meet. We grabbed lunch at Average Joes in Sherwood Park and it was good to catch up with everyone there. The next day, I hopped on a plane and headed to Winnipeg, Manitoba. My primary purpose there was to join Pastor Heide as we set up an exhibit booth for LAMP at the Missionfest event hosted at Church of the Rock. We were glad to see our friend and former LAMP missionary Gordon Gilbey there. Here are some photos of the church, our display, and Gordon and I.  It was fun to talk to lots of different people over the weekend including many who are involved in all kinds of different mission work in Canada and other places all around the world. On Sunday of that first weekend, I was able to go and worship with the good people of St. A...