This week, we gather with friends across all our churches. It's really a family reunion of our CBOQ tribe. (You can decide who's the crazy uncle at the family gathering.)There's lots happening in the next few days: David Fitch, our plenary speaker, will help us understand some of God's movements in our culture today. Did you know our plenary sessions (Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday midday) are FREE for EVERYONE?!
Let's imagine a story about a student named Annie who's 16 years old in a church (let's call it FBC-Here) with about 80 people, some kids and 2-3 other students in high school. She went to Camp Whoknowswhere for a few summers as a child and loved the experience. As she's growing in her faith, she's exploring how she could serve God. Her church, always looking for personnel help, encourages
Tube run at Muskoka Woods Another season of winter retreats have come and gone. This last weekend saw almost 400 students and leaders gather at Muskoka Woods in cold temperatures and lots of snow. God moved in ways that could never be programmed. Many students publicly demonstrated their desire to follow Jesus. We even had stories of how one student shared about Jesus to another while walking up
At Blizzard 1 this past weekend, when people asked me (Alvin) how I felt the weekend was going, my response was, "Too smoothly." Yes, there were some minute glitches here and there, but generally speaking, things went according to plan. All our churches arrived by 10:00pm. All the waivers were signed properly (I can't remember if that's ever happened in the last 38 Avalanches and Blizzards). We were on schedule.
One of my favourite verses is Luke 14:22. In this passage, Jesus shares a parable of who's invited to God's banquet table. His audience, the Pharisees, believed they were part of the "in" crowd who got to be around the banquet table. However, in this parable, the owner ends up sending his servants to invite those on the streets to attend. Then comes v. 22, where the servant says to
For 40 hours, 489 students and their leaders descended upon Muskoka Woods. At times, there was calm. At times, it felt like chaos. Even the weather got into the action with staying mostly clear on Saturday then white-out conditions on Sunday. What intrigued me with this retreat was, in spite of many glitches (from administrative miscues to property issues to a lost student who was found very quickly to our
For a lot of youth ministries, the weeks from the Christmas holidays to March break feel like an eternity. At the beginning of the ministry year in the fall, there's the adrenaline of a new start. Shortly after Thanksgiving comes the move towards Christmas celebrations. After March break signifies a change in weather towards spring, which brings excitement and the focus on Easter. After Easter is the final push towards
