-
7/29/2019 McKenzie Newsletter Feb2013
1/4[1]
MCKENZIES
ON MISSIONFebruary 2013
JOURNEY CHURCH GOES PUBLICAfter six months of prep work & meeting in Pastor Lindsays house Journey Church hadits first public service
This past Sunday was an awesome day!
We had our first public service at Lynn Fripps
Elementary School. Although it was
important, we tried to keep it low pressure as
it was just a preview service. For those of
you that arent familiar with church planting,
generally a church will have a series of
preview services before officially launching.A preview service is live dress rehearsal of
sorts. A chance for the core group to get
familiar with the set-up, take down and
timing of a full scale worship service.
For this preview Journey people were
asked to invite close friends and family to
come check it out. Before going fully public
its nice to have a chance to get familiar with
our Sunday roles and expectations and tohear some feedback from some trusted
sources. We had about 40 people show up. It
was a great encouragement to us and they
all had wonderful words of support that give
us energy moving forward. Were planning to
have our second preview on March 10 after
which we will begin weekly gatherings
starting on March 31, Easter Sunday.
The highlight of the day for the
McKenzies was watching a family that we
had invited from Gemmas school walkthrough the doors. According to the wife they
had never been to church but decided that
they wanted to expose their kids to it. It was
a bit nerve wracking wondering how they
would see things but on the way out the
husband congratulated Lindsay and said
they would definitely be back. Such an
answer to prayer; God showed up in a big
way!I was on stage welcoming people, doing
the announcements and leading the offering.
It was so great to be up there again, I was
rusty but in my element. Nevada led the kids
ministry and did a great job. This is special
for us as our kids represent 2/3 of the
starting core in our kids department.
Were looking forward to our next
Sunday service and most importantly to
seeing more neighbors walk through the
doors & into a new life with Jesus!
-
7/29/2019 McKenzie Newsletter Feb2013
2/4[2]
Adding More Tools ToMy Pastoral Tool Box
In the last couple of years at the Pearl I
found myself increasingly feeling like I didnt
know how to move the church forward. I also
encountered some situations that I didnt
know how to handle. It was frustrating to saythe least. It was then that it became clear to
me that I was missing some tools.
Although I had a decent amount of
experience in ministry and was able to draw
on that in leadership moments there were a
few areas that I lacked the proper training to
handle. I knew that in order to develop some
of these areas of my leadership I would need
to commit to a time of formal education. So
here I am, taking some time to learn and
improve.
A couple weekends ago I participated in
my first academic seminar, Introduction to
Biblical Interpretation. For those of you that
know your stuff, it was essentially a
hermeneutics class. In two jammed packed
days Dr. Rapske marched us through some
basics in hermeneutics. We learned how to
approach the Bible and look deeper into the
meaning of each passage. Some of the
things that Ive committed to memory are
Cubing the Text & Context, Context,
Context. Cubing the text is about taking a
look at each passage with six sides in mind:
Setting, Structure, Syntax, Semantics,
Summation & Significance. Without getting
into detail, lets just say that this type of tool
is one that has been missing for me. I thinkits great that our first seminar tackled
Biblical study as I believe the Word of God is
what should direct all we do in ministry & life
in general. Its already opened my eyes to a
new level of the Bibles richness.
As I look to the next few years in my
program its both scary and exciting. I know
that it will take hard work to learn and apply
all of this new information, but its excitingbecause I can already see how my
leadership will improve with these new tools.
Please pray that I can stay focused and
on task with my studies. Since I am in a
work/study type environment my attention
often lies with the ministry that Im involved
in. I tend to place most of my attention into
the people I am ministering to and find it
hard to balance that out with the time and
effort that I need to put into my studies. I
need Gods guidance in striking that balance.
IN CLASS...
-
7/29/2019 McKenzie Newsletter Feb2013
3/4[3]
THIS LIFE ON MISSION IS SOMETHING WE DO AS A FAMILY.As For Me And My House We Will Serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15
Guinness is enrolled in his first class; All Sorts of Sports. He
gets to learn a new sport every week under the patient tutelage of
Coach Marlene. He has also learned to play computer games this
winter, and while we don't love that our son loves video games so
much, it is good to know his currency. Knowing he could lose his
computer privileges for the day has been good motivation for him to
control his temper and be a quick listener. Oh, and the best part of
Guinness' video games? He is learning his numbers 11-20 by
beating those levels! "Mommy, what number is 1 and 7? Is it
seventeen?
FAMILY TIME
GEMMA
GUINNESS NEVADA
FAMILY DATESWe are thankful that Gemma has a friendly class and an
encouraging place to learn. The girls in her class are quite sweet
and play with each other well. Some moms have even hosted all the
girls in the class for playdates, which has been fun for both us. She
would tell you the most exciting thing thats been happening lately is
loosing another tooth, and learning to skate by herself. Were
hoping to get her involved in a Chinese school program, most likely
in the summer. She seems keen to get back on track with Chinese.
Yay!
Although Id love to start substitute teaching, my part time job
at Once Upon A Childis going really well. Hanging up really cute
kids clothes, teaching grandparents how to use pack n plays, and
discussing the evolution of excersaucers is not a bad way to spend
two days a week! Weve also been hanging out with some of our
new friends; going for walks at different regional parks, getting
together for Amazing Race, cooking pizza together. Its great to
have friends! Ive also enjoyed putting together the Journey Kids
program at church. I cant wait for the place to be full of
neighbourhood kids jumping around & doing actions to kids praise
music!
Being new here means that there are so many adventures of
exploration to be had. When Chris has time off we like to get in the
van and just go. Some highlights so far: Christmas Skating in
Robson Square (Vancouver), Shopping in Bellingham, WA, and
Chinese New Years celebration with bubble tea & soup dumplings at
Aberdeen Mall in Richmond, BC. We hope to go on a bigger scale
family adventure soon to Port Angeles, WA to visit our dear friend
Annabelle who is expecting her first baby.
-
7/29/2019 McKenzie Newsletter Feb2013
4/4
KEEP IN TOUCH...Mailing Address:Chris & Nevada McKenzie
20613 66A Ave
Langley, BC
V2Y 2Y4
CANADA
BAPTISMS !!!
Phone:1 (604) 866-4632
Email:
Chris- [email protected]
Nevada-nevadamckenzie mail.com
PR YER REQUESTSJOURNEY CHURCH HOUSING OUR KIDS NEVADA FINANCES
1) That God would
continue to grow our core
group. We need a bigger
base of people to help this
thing get off the ground.
2)That we would be able to
add value to our
community. That we couldshow our love for them in
practical ways. And that
they would respond by
engaging us in relationship
or just stepping in on
Sunday to check us out.
Weve been living in a
basement suite that is
proving to be too
small. Weve looked a
few places but weve
been rejected. Please
pray that well find
something we canafford and that well
be shown favor by the
owner.
Life continues to be a
tough adjustment for
them. They both have
moments of breakdown
when they miss Taiwan.
Pray for Gemma who
has struggled with her
academics at school,especially reading. And
pray for Guinness. We
havent found any little
boy buddies yet so he is
very lonely.
Nevada has been working
hard to get her teaching
credentials in order. We
praise God that she has
finally been licensed to
teach.
Now comes the struggle
of job hunting. Pleasepray for open doors and
opportunities for her to
work in her vocation.
Also, pray for her self-
confidence & self-esteem
in this daunting process.
We continue to seek out
financial partnership.
Canada is so expensive &
until our church grows and
becomes self sustaining
there will be a need to
offset my salary. Pray that
we will see Gods provisionthrough the people who
love us & support our call
to ministry.
I dont know if theres a more exciting event
in the life a young church that a baptism.
Journey churched was blessed to see two
young men take a giant step in their faith lives.
Both young men grew up in the church but had
never been baptized. In some sense they were
waiting for that right moment when they fully
embraced Jesus for themselves and not just out
of church roots or family allegiance. Were so
excited for Tim & Bryan and have already seen
their commitment to Jesus in action with
Journey Church. Please celebrate with us and
pray that these men would continue to thrive in
their own journeys.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
