Spring brought with it excitement

Since September, 2008 we have been without a "normal" sanctuary for our church; we turned ours into a school and have been building a new one. This means that we have had services in some not very typical places: we were in a tent for quite a while (up until the end of October); we had a couple services in a conference room at one of the hotels in town and we have spent the winter having our services in the foyer with the worship team assembled in the hallway.

It has been cramped, crowded, squishy and a real inconvenience but, it has been great! Being in the foyer has brought a closeness among the congregation I don't think would be there otherwise. It brought a new level of unity among the worship team. We,as a congregation, have found a new level of hunger and a stronger desire to be in God's presence. We have experienced His presence in some phenomenally powerful and life-altering ways.

We move into the new sanctuary April 10! It is exciting! There is an anticipation of the things to come, of what God will do in this next stage of our lives and there are a group of us that can barely contain the anticipation that is growing within us.

May 21-24 brings a conference and speakers from all over! Pastor Peter Marshall from Hamilton, Ont, Pastor Brent Rudinski from Saskatoon, Brother Yisreal Avraham, a Messianic Jew from Saskatoon who is currently in Isreal with his wife, Genevieve, Pastor Ernie Turcotte (and I am sure I am spelling his name wrong and also don't have a link to him), Alick Clarke from California, a few others I can't remember right now and, of course, Pastor Kevin Tabuchi (website link coming soon). We will have pastors visiting from all over.

My hope is that more and more churches can step out from and raise above the absurd religion (to coin Pastor Steve Gray's book title)they have become victim to and experience the powerful presence of God for who He truly is and not for what "religion" has turned Him into. Everyone deserves to experience that! Everyone!