Canada Welcomes New Elder
Edmonton, Oct. 21–Pastor Jim Reimer (Nelson, B.C.) was chosen as a new Fellowship Elder during the afternoon business meeting of FCA Canada, replacing Pastor Glenn Breitkreuz (Grande Prairie, AB) whose term was concluding. Reimer joins four other Fellowship Elders under the new structure implemented in 2007: Glen Forsberg (chair), Paul Vallee, Lovelace St. John, and Roger Armbruster.
“Be thinking about other qualified candidates for this Elder group,” said Forsberg, “who may not be white males over 50 like me. In the future we welcome more diversity of gender, age, and ethnicity to help lead this fellowship.”
Other news:
* Plans were updated for the joint Canada-U.S. convention to be held April 20-22, 2010 in Red Deer, AB; the website for early registration will launch soon.
* Further down the road, the 2011 Canadian convention has been invited to the Toronto area (October 18-20, 2011).
* A new, simplified structure for FCA communications (i.e., this website) was approved, with a steering group of three Canadians (Paul Vallee, Rick Orsten, Brad Montsion) along with three Americans (Rich Doebler, Carl Johnson, John Sprecher). Expenses will be divided 50-50 between the two national bodies.
* A special allocation of $10,000 was approved to help Living Faith Bible College (Caroline, AB) develop online courses.
* Copies of a minimum standard for ordination and licensing of ministers across Canada was distributed.
The day’s plenary sessions included two messages from Rick Parkyn, pastor of Regina Apostolic Church. His evening presentation was entitled “Getting Your P.H.D.” based on Mark 3:13-15. Jesus called 12 disciples “that they might be with him,” says the text, in order to go out and do three things: P-preach, H-heal, and D-deliver from the power of Satan.
Paul Reich, president of Living Faith Bible College, gave a presentation that included “Six Functions of the Holy Spirit in a Broken Situation,” based on Zechariah 4.
Paul Fraser, Church Ministries Director for the Alberta-NWT District of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, asked, “What’s the difference between the church’s behavior and the world’s?” noting various polls that show similar levels of service commitment, attention to the occult, and divorce. He quoted A. W. Tozer: “Every believer has the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit does not have every believer.” Then, from the story of the Ark of God being temporarily captured by the Philistines (1 Sam. 4-7), Fraser said, “If we find ourselves without the presence of God among us, we should be more than just ‘concerned.’ We need to organize a ‘search party’ to go find it again!”
The convention runs through tomorrow (Thursday) night.
