Alvin Lau

7 03, 2019

Helping Grads Prepare

By Alvin|2019-03-07T22:08:19-05:00March 7th, 2019|Alvin Lau|0 Comments

There are about 15 weeks left in the school year and for some of your students these are the final weeks of their high school career. So how are they preparing for that post-high school transition? Hopefully by now, you’ve started conversations with those soon-to-be grads. If you have we would love you to share your insights on those conversations are at facebook.com/transition101. If you haven’t initiated conversations, consider using

24 02, 2019

Today’s Teens Conference 2019 – review

By Alvin|2019-02-24T00:45:55-05:00February 24th, 2019|Alvin Lau, event recap|0 Comments

The 36th Today's Teens Conference continued to inspire and equip over 1200 youth workers and student leaders. This year featured Sunder Krishnan and Iona Snair challenging youth workers alongside Melinda Estabrooks and Shawn Naylor inspiring students. The Meeting House was filled with worship led by the C4 Worship Team. Alongside a number of Canadian breakout speakers from across our nation, this year featured the first awarding of the John Wilkinson

18 02, 2019

Extending the Family

By Alvin|2019-02-18T10:25:10-05:00February 18th, 2019|Alvin Lau|0 Comments

This year at Avalanche and Blizzard our focus was on God’s invitation to his table,a. theme that resonated deeply with so many people. Indeed, we welcomed, figuratively speaking, “the poor, the blind, the crippled, the blind and the lame.” Today is Family Day. Google’s first definition of family is “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household.” (https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&rlz=1C1GCEU_enCA820CA820&q=Dictionary#dobs=family) We were all born into a family. The

12 02, 2019

Blizzard 2 2019 – review

By Alvin|2019-02-12T12:28:44-05:00February 12th, 2019|Alvin Lau, event recap|0 Comments

Another season of retreats is complete. This weekend featured the Irish-Canadian Kevin McGlade from Sarnia and Life Support leading worship. Kevin tied together the stories of Adam and Eve, Zaccheus and the Prodigal Son, demonstrating God's initiative to seek us out and his invitation to us to join him. We praised God in extended worship. We even celebrated those who chose to say "yes" to Jesus for the first

3 12, 2018

Crazy(less) of Advent

By Alvin|2018-11-28T19:00:03-05:00December 3rd, 2018|Alvin Lau|0 Comments

The season of Advent is here. For some, it’s a month-long celebration. For many, it’s a season of stress. For others, some deep pain is associated with this time of year. Renee Embree (Director of Youth and Family Ministries with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada) recently blogged on “How to help parents have less 'crazy' this advent & Christmas season” (http://cbacyf.ca/oneneighbourhood/2018/11/22/how-to-help-parents-have-less-crazy-this-advent-amp-christmas-season). Here are some specific things to note: Discuss

26 11, 2018

Renegotiating Faith (part 3)

By Alvin|2018-11-23T20:02:01-05:00November 26th, 2018|Alvin Lau|0 Comments

This is part 3 of 3 in a reflection series on Renegotiating Faith. (See Part 1 and Part 2.) -------------- The Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), the Fear of Not Being Amazing (FNBA), and the Fear Of Passionless Monotony (FOPM) press in on young adults ever more as they approach age 30, which, for many, marks the limit of emerging adulthood and a forced entry into adulthood. (p.12-13) Many Millennials

19 11, 2018

Volunteer Care

By Alvin|2018-11-17T16:54:55-05:00November 19th, 2018|Alvin Lau|0 Comments

How do you care for your volunteers? They give their time, energy and other resources to minister to this next generation alongside you. How do you show your appreciation? Many times, volunteers do not feel valued because they aren’t receiving appreciation in ways that makes sense to them. One way is to understand their love language. While love languages are usually discussed in the context of marriage, its principles can

10 11, 2018

Alvin’s Reflections on Reignite 2018

By Alvin|2018-11-10T00:56:36-05:00November 10th, 2018|Alvin Lau|2 Comments

Last week, a group of CBOQ pastors (including some children, family and youth pastors) gathered at the Nottawasaga Inn and Resort for the Reignite Conference. This year featured Dwight Friesen, author of The New Parish, sharing his insights on the local church. We engaged in three days of discussions around the purpose of the local parish and how well we interact with our neighbourhood. There were three questions/ideas that stood

29 10, 2018

What vs How in Youth Ministry Programming?

By Alvin|2018-10-26T21:42:54-04:00October 29th, 2018|Alvin Lau|0 Comments

In youth ministry, many of us tend to focus on the content of teaching. Looking at a year-long calendar, many youth leaders try to pack in as much content and topics they can think of. Is that the best approach? For me (Alvin), I wonder if there is a significant shift in our youth ministry programming. Since the birth of the church, one of the primary drives was to share

22 10, 2018

How do you reach into your community?

By Alvin|2018-10-16T21:09:51-04:00October 22nd, 2018|Alvin Lau, youth ministry thoughts|0 Comments

How do you reach your community with the person and message of Jesus? After all, that’s the primary reason why the church exists: to go and make disciples of all nations. What are ways to do that? There are many ways a church can reach into a community. Here are a few considerations: Where does the neighbourhood gather? Some communities already have established times when people gather. It could