Leon Johnston
I am the pastor of Wolf Creek Community Church of Lacombe, AB. My wife is currently training to be a Registered Nurse. I have four children, all of whom study at Lacombe Christian School. We enjoy camping, gardening, music, cycling and swimming.
Posted in: A Questionnaire for Sunday School Teachers
Hi Jolanda,
Thank you for sharing this Sunday School evaluation tool. It looks very helpful. I will aim to use it this year as we debrief the SS program and dream about the future.
Peace to you!
Leon
Posted in: Which Calendar Do You Follow?
Hi Kevin,
'Appreciate this article on worship planning. I agree that the Church Calendar should be our primary guide for worship planning in the church, and that is what I encourage. But we also keep the "church program" calendar in mind (i.e., Sunday School kick-off; community service Sunday, etc. And we also remember such "greeting card" holidays as Mother's Day and high school graduation. As the Church Calendar is most important to me, I've found it helpful to be proactive and plan my preaching calendar based on it well in advance, which then pulls the worship committee in this direction in terms of their planning. I suspect that if I didn't do that, the church program and "greeting card" calendars would have significantly more influence.
Thanks again for writing the interesting article.
--Leon
Posted in: Ministry Evaluation Tools?
Tim,
Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking of an evaluation tool for specific ministries of the church. It would be also helpful if the tool could help the team vision for the future, but maybe that's asking too much? :)
Thank you kindly and God bless,
Leon
Posted in: Ministry Evaluation Tools?
Lis,
Thank you for the recommendation. I checked my resources and I have this tool! So, now I will explore it.
May the Lord continue to empower you for a life of ministry,
Leon
Posted in: Ministry Evaluation Tools?
Ken,
Thank you for the recommendation. I just saved and copied this tool and will explore it further. It looks helpful.
Grace & peace,
Leon
Posted in: Does Anyone Have a Sermon Series on Biblical Covenants That I Could Reference?
Hello Darrin,
Thank you for responding to my request! Yes, I'd be glad to receive an overview/outline of your sermon series on covenants, if it's not too much trouble. My email address is as follows: [email protected].
Thank you kindly!
--Leon
Posted in: Does Anyone Have a Sermon Series on Biblical Covenants That I Could Reference?
Hello Martin,
Thank you for passing on this information re. covenants. I'll keep them in mind as I plan for my sermon series on the topic.
Peace to you!
--Leon
Posted in: Have you ever had a person ask you to re-baptize her, and how did you respond?
Hi Jake,
Thank you for writing and passing on your motto regarding baptism. I also take a broad and generous approach to this sacrament. In fact, at our church we focus on the need and blessing of baptism over the mode and timing.
Having said that, this young lady was baptized as a child, which makes the situation a bit more interesting/challenging. But I trust that the Lord will guide me and her family as we move forward. Bottom line: this young lady wants to be a devoted student of Christ. Thanks be to God!
--Leon
Posted in: Does anyone have a council spiritual retreat program that we could borrow?
I'm pleased to report that after a few months of prayer, planning and deliberation, our council is going on a spiritual retreat this weekend--thanks be to God! If anyone would like a copy of our retreat schedule/plan, please contact me and I'd be glad to pass it on for reference. Happy Easter!
--Leon H. Johnston ([email protected])
Posted in: Have you ever had a person ask you to re-baptize her, and how did you respond?
Hi Don,
Thank you for sharing your insights on this matter. I appreciate your perspective on baptism (God's claim on a person) and Profession of Faith as affirming and/or remembering that claim. I also like the idea of using the baptismal font present at the Profession of Faith service. I definitely plan to do that in the future!
Thank you and God bless!
Leon H. Johnston
Posted in: Does anyone have a council spiritual retreat program that we could borrow?
I just re-read my above post. I must have written it too late, as I see I made a few spelling mistakes, and I don't know how to correct them. "Seek" not "week" in the second sentence. "Or" instead of "our" in the final sentence. I look forward to any input you may have regarding council spiritual retreats.
Thank you,
Leon H. Johnston
Posted in: Does anyone have a council spiritual retreat program that we could borrow?
Hello.
As far as the council spiritual retreat goes, at this point we are thinking about spending the Friday night connecting and worshipping together. Then Saturday morning would probably be some leadership development with a guest teacher. Then Saturday afternoon would be spend dreaming about the future, which would likely center around reviewing our mission statement and praying and discussing future direction.
What plans have you made so far? I'd be glad to hear them!
--Leon