Ray Heeres
My wife Brenda and I own a flower, gift and antique store in Listowel, Ontario. I have been a volunteer youth leader for many of the past 27 years, as well as serving on our local Christian school board and serving on council 4 times. At the present time,I am also on the All Ontario Youth Convention (AOYC) planning team, and the planning team for Classis Huron's Fall Retreat. This year I lead a team of youth from the AOYC on a mission trip to Nicaragua thru CRWRC, and we hope to go again in March 2013. My wife and I also volunteer at Passion in Atlanta every January.
Posted in: She Could Not Go Unnoticed
Great blog Jolene, we miss you in Canada, sending lots of love!
Posted in: Sermon Podcasts: Good or Bad?
I find podcasts wonderful to hear a variety of speakers and talks. I often load them on my ipod and listen to them while on vacation. Podcasts should however, not replace your regular church attendance where you are part of a community and have a pastor that knows and speaks into that community.
Posted in: Mom and Pop vs. Big Box Church
You make very good points that the church is not just a service organization, and I totally agree, BUT too many in the church treat it like it is a service club. How does the church minister to people witth that mind set? Far too many in the North American church are content to sit in the pew, listen to a great worship band, hear an engaging sermon, have a nice visit with their frinds after church, then act the rest of the week like nothing happened at church. If the band isn't good enough or the pastor is boring, then they look for a church that has those things. I live in a small town with just one CRC, so we can't church hop when ever we want. That is a good thing I believe, because it forces us to work together with all generations, we do not always get what we want, but the strength of our church becomes our community.
Posted in: Short-Term Mission Trips
Hey Lou, Sorry I was gone and missed your comment. The community I am talking about in Nicaragua is not bassed in any one church, but the local YMCA in Santa Lucia. The YMCA in Nicaragua is a Christian organization, unlike the one in North America. Any of the work we have done has been done thru them. From what I have seen of the YMCA's work, it seems a lot like Youth For Christ here in Canada, only they work with the whole community, not just teens.
Posted in: Short-Term Mission Trips
Just a coment on how Youth for Christ works in our small town of Listowel. They mostly work with unchurched youth and young mothers. As a supporting church, some of those youth some times end up coming to our church. I see them working in partnership with local churches. In Nicaragua, World Renew works closely with the YMCA, I do not believe CRWM does, at least not the one in Santa Lucia. I do not know how or if our partership with the YMCA reinforces the local church. I hope to find out more about that when we go back next March.