Stories of Hope

  Steve Bell, a Winnipeg based singer-songwriter and recipient of two Junos and the 2012 Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal, has been booked to perform at Hope Fellowship later this year on Saturday, October 5.

  As of now, there are twenty-one office bearers and zone coordinators who will be attending the Discovery Weekend from Friday evening, Feb. 22 to Saturday evening Feb. 23.

  Despite recurring bouts of malaria, a scorpion under her pillow and evenings where the only entertainment was watching geckos catch spiders on their ceiling, Marian Vandermeer still treasures the missionary life that she lived serving God in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The forty guests who stayed for lunch with the Vandermeer family last Sunday heard these, and other stories, as they contrasted their life in Africa as technical support staff for Wycliffe Bible translators with life in North America.

  Whenever you plan an event or start a process, it is very important to think about the desired outcome. Take the first Sea to Sea Bicycle Tour in 2005, for example. When we organized it we hoped that it would do three things: give the Christian Reformed Churches a really cool way to celebrate one hundred years of God’s faithfulness in Canada; raise a million dollars to plant new congregations and start new ministries in the next one hundred years; and also raise awareness about an initiative called “Make Poverty History.” The tour accomplished those three goals, and exceeded our desired outcome as some cyclists changed their career paths and others actually met their marriage partners!

Change for Change   GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Saviour) is our club and life group for girls in grades 3-6. It’s something I’m so honoured to be a part of, especially when it has come to our Change for Change fundraiser.