VCF

IT’S A STRIKE!
By Evie McMorran

Yes, our VCF Bowling Night was a STRIKE and I don’t mean a STRIKE OUT! What a GREAT turnout!
Our Entertainment Executive, Dave Brunelle THOUGHT we might need six lanes, but instead we used TEN! The entire bowling alley was pretty much filled up with VCF’ers!  An evening of FUN was had by all! There were some rowdys like Matt Brunelle and Rick Wadsworth, but that goes without saying LOL. Matt said to me “I bet you are going to award yourself FIRST prize.” I don’t know why he would say that! I would NEVER give myself first prize! If we HAD prizes, I would humbly award myself the SECOND prize, but never the FIRST! LOL
Thank you Dave, Annie Brunelle and team for another well planned Social Event! I am sure there are many looking forward to the next ‘Funzie’ (I made up that word) on your agenda.
WELL DONE!

VCF BOWLING NIGHT!

Do you desire to grow closer to God? Do you want to better understand the Word of God?
Kingʼs Online Bible School provides a free course of studies designed to enrich your life with Christ and help you fulfill all of Godʼs purposes for you. Courses center around truth, character and servanthood.

There are Biblical studies, Theological (doctrine) studies, Historical (life of the church) studies, and Christian life studies. Kingʼs offers 3 options: a full-time curriculum (equivalent to 9 months of Bible School), part-time studies (completion of the program over three years) and casual studies (just taking one course at a time, perhaps a 10 unit course in 3 months).

Students are asked to enlist the help of their church leaders in identifying a mentor, a person who can encourage them in their studies. Some house groups decide to do a course together, whereas often just 2 or 3 people enroll at the same time so they can discuss challenging questions and encourage the application of the truths to their lives.

See the wonderful variety of courses at http://www.kingsonline.org/studymodules.html You can listen to the teaching or just read the notes, then answer the study guide questions. Make a note of any issues you wish to discuss further with your mentor. A journal is encouraged to help you personalize the truths in your walk with God. God is speaking by His Spirit through His Word! Make the effort to draw near to Him and He will delight in drawing near to you.

For more information: http://www.kingsonline.org

JOURNEY INTO INTIMACY

Testimony by Jerry Lee

I am very aware of the grace of God on my life and how He is transforming me.  If I had to put a time where I transitioned, perhaps it would have been the time I went to Bethel in Redding where I had a real sense of how much God loved me.  It was not a dramatic encounter where I fell down or shook, but it was His sweet presence that had me crying and laughing at the same time.  A greater revelation of His love propelled me on a journey of wanting intimacy with Him.   God started to reveal to me the value He placed on me when He sent Jesus to the cross, not just to save me from my sins but to restore to me a relationship that I can have like Adam had before he fell.

Another area of falling short in my life was love.  I did not love myself nor people the way that Jesus loved.  Realizing that I needed to receive His love in order to love ( I can’t love my neighbor as myself, if I do not love myself), I started to respond to His pursuit of me by reading more about His kingdom and going through some teaching about how to be intimate with Father God.  I realize now that I have, rightly or wrongly, listened to a lot of wrong teaching in my life.  One of those is that when I come to Jesus, He will give me a brand new life. No. He didn’t do a remake of my old life. He gives me an exchanged life.  I surrendered my old life and it has died and is buried. Gal 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. The gospel of the kingdom is not about me, it is about Him.

I just didn’t say a prayer to get into Heaven. I don’t come to Him to help me get a job, to have enough finances, or to have a good marriage, etc.  I come to Him on the basis of dying to self so that Christ can live in me.  The old man is dead, and the new man is alive.  I am not sin conscious, but righteous conscious.  He has redeemed me just have a free bus ride to heaven, but to co-labor with Him to extend the Kingdom of God.  It takes an understanding of who we are in Him and the destiny that He places on our lives.  So to know Him is a must and a privilege.  We are not to just know about Him, but to know Him intimately.  Jesus said “And this is eternal life that they may know You the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).   Jesus was the Word made flesh.  He calls us to follow Him.  So becoming like Him and following Him requires us to have intimacy with our Father like Jesus had.  We have to flesh out the Words of life from scripture.

Unless we have intimacy with Him, we will start to live under law and not grace, become religious, but not have life.  We will have knowledge which puffs up, but no power. We will read scripture to have Bible knowledge and to defend our doctrines, but we will not know Him.  I am learning to live free from me.  I can be who He has created me to be, not under the pressure to perform to please Him or anyone else.  God calls us to have a relationship with Him, His original plan when He created Adam.  I feel that I am blessed to be in a different place in my life where I am enjoying this relationship He has always wanted me to have and to experience. For many years, because I did not know who I was and was self-conscious and did not enter into sonship, I failed to grasp the importance of communion with God from the heart and not just from my head.  I now allow my heart to respond before my head understands everything.  Living in intimacy allows the grace of God to override law.  I can now be comfortable with who I am and “be” rather than “do”, a Mary instead of a Martha.  I find myself more surrendered to let Him potter me because I know He loves me.   As we live a life “from” the cross instead of “to the cross”, His love and power enables us to step into the destiny that He has for each one of us.  We will live out of love and not out of fear.

The law which has been done away with and the old nature which has been crucified no longer have a voice and we can begin to live in our new nature complete in Christ.  Where we have had fears under the law and under the old covenant we can now live under grace and the new covenant. Under the old covenant we touch a leper, and we become unclean, under the new covenant we touch a leper, the leper becomes clean.  My desire is to see the supernatural lifestyle become the norm and that comes from knowing our rights and privileges as sons and daughters of the God who rules over all.  So intimacy with Him is beginning to transform my life where my understanding of who God is and not being fashioned by life circumstances and issues but by the Truth of His Word and by my time spent in His presence.

January 2013

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Wayne Mackay’s Poetic Response

TAKING BIGGER BITES AND BIGGER STEPS

In our quest to get closer to God, our creator
We need to search inside our hearts, exposing our true nature
We can’t sit around being complacent, and sighing, “Oh well”
Because then we might get tricked, ending up on the wrong side of hell

Can’t we see the need to turn up our desire, and dial up the wonder
To speak to Him face-to-face, and quench our spiritual hunger
Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Light
The only way to feed on Him is to take a bigger bite

Another way to look at it, is to ponder the depth of our faith
Do our actions speak louder than the words that we sayeth?
Can we see the results of our small steps to push back the flood?
Do we really want to experience the power of Jesus’ blood?

I want to take bigger steps that fire up my boldness
For my love for others flows from the heart of Jesus
In my spirit I can see it, the power is getting stronger
I’m not standing in the boat, but walking in the water

Testimony from Corrie Vos

“Recently in our Sunday morning service we sang the hymn ‘Come thou fount of every blessing’ with the line: ‘Here we raise our Ebenezer’.
When Pastor Ray preached on this recently it again brought back a memory from my school years.
My sibling and I attended a Christian School and were told many of the Bible stories, including the story from Samuel.
One of my brothers was friends with a boy in the neighbourhood named Hank who also attended the Christian School.
After school the boys built a wooden shed against Hanks parents’ wooden house.
When finished they painted on the wall above the shed in hand sized letters, ‘EBENEZER’.
About two blocks away from our house German soldiers had evicted seven neighbourhood houses and the soldiers started to live in those houses.
Hank’s parents’ house was close to the road, so the Ebenezer sign was easy to see.
After some time the shed fell apart, but the sign above it remained and was a remarkable Testimony of Who was in charge.
Every time going past the house with the sign, it was a constant reminder that God had brought us this far.”

Greetings to everyone from Burundi

We are in the home stretch of our stay in Burundi and after 10 years are looking forward to our return to Canada. We are busy sorting, packing, selling and giving away much of what we have accumulated over these past years. We have also been busy putting things in place for our time away from Africa but continuing to keep our perspective concerning our future in Congo.

We have made 2 significant trips into Congo in the past few weeks. The first was for a conference with 120 pastors in Uvira. These pastors represent 172 churches in Eastern Congo as well as pastors from other denominations. It is a blessing to see the unity that is being brought about by these conferences. Barney Coombs and Dave Bornman accompanied me and Pastor Ruben for this conference which ended with a crusade on the Sunday afternoon (complete with 5 choirs). We were privileged to distribute the first copies of a Systematic Theology Course for Secondary School in French to the assembled pastors. This was a course originally written by David Freeman specifically for Africa and it was exciting to see the fulfillment of this vision. We were also blessed to have some significant time with a 98 year old pastor who has been in the ministry for over 74 years (and still reads without glasses). His sacrifice and dedication to the gospel is an example to us all.

Our second visit was with two ladies from Canada who are with BC2Africa. We spent time in Ecole Shalom Primary School, participated at the 9th graduation of students from the Shalom Sewing Academy, and attended the 1 year commemoration service for the people massacred en route from Minimbwe last year. You will remember this was the transport Pastor Ruben and I were supposed to be on, but had a check from the Lord not to proceed. This was a very moving time, as we heard first hand from some of the survivors of this tragedy.

We are awaiting approval from the U.N. for transport into Marungu, but the security situation has not been good. There is at present an 8:00 p.m. curfew and extended travel out of Uvira has been stopped. We trust we will still be able to travel prior to our departure for Canada in order to visit the children, the projects and officially open the new school buildings. Please continue to pray for the peace in Congo!

We are looking forward to being with you soon,
Ray and Mary Anne Bale

On Sunday, Colleen Upton, the new Vernon representative for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) shared about God’s heart for Israel and our need as Christians to stand with Israel in these days more than ever before. She spoke about the birth of the Christian Embassy in Jerusalem in the fall of 1980 as an act of comfort and solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people in their claim to Jerusalem. In closing she led the congregation in a prayer for Israel and the Peace of Jerusalem

The ICEJ stands at the forefront of a growing mainstream movement of Christians worldwide who share a love and concern for Israel and an understanding of the biblical significance of the modern ingathering of the Jews to the land of their forefathers.

From their headquarters in Jerusalem and through their branches and representatives in over 80 nations, they seek to challenge the Church to take up its scriptural responsibilities towards the Jewish people to remind Israel of the wonderful promises made to her in the Bible and to be a source of practical assistance to all the people of the Land of Israel.

Colleen and her husband Ken will host a monthly “Friends of Israel” prayer gathering commencing Monday November 5^th, 2012 from 7 – 9 pm. E-mail Colleen at colupton@shaw.ca for more info.

For more information on the International Christian Embassy go to http://ca.icej.org/about/about-us

Currently Live Video streaming of the 2012 Feast Of Tabernacles which is taking place September 30^th – October 4^th 2012 in Jerusalem is available on the ICEJ website and on Facebook

Last Sunday we had a picnic at Rob and Kathryn Hettler’s house to welcome Innocent Mugenza to Canada (siblings Nathanael and Joy were unable to attend). Four years ago the Mugenza’s moved here from Burundi, but through some unfortunate circumstances Innocent was left behind. Finally they have reunited! We thank the Lord for this!  Innocent is 16 years old and VERY tall! He will be attending Seaton school. His oldest sister Ang said she thinks it is easier for him to adapt to Canada than it was for them especially when it comes to things like food. Ang cooks African dinners in their home. Please remember the Mugenza family in your prayers especially, Innocent as he adjusts to a very different life here. WELCOME HOME INNOCENT!

Introducing our new CUSTODIANS; Mark & Keri Nahirny and their children, Megan, Brianna, Eli and Kierra.  Together as a family they get out the mops, cleaners and rags and polish our buildings nice and squeaky clean.  Each of the children are given their specific jobs. Wow, what great training for them!  You are doing a great job Nahirny family!

Last Wednesday evening we had our annual House Group Kick Off night to begin our new House Group season. Duane Harder shared on the importance of House Groups. One thing he spoke about was in the area of trust; how it is necessary to be vulnerable in our groups so we can learn from each other. Often we hold back because we fear that exposing our authentic selves could ruin our reputation. Ultimately, it’s God’s reputation that is of true importance. We are happy to announce that Dan & Rebecca Reinhardt and Matt & Michelle will co-lead a new group together on Wednesday nights. Children of all ages are welcome to attend this House Group. Below is a list of our House Groups for the 2012/13 season. Feel free to contact them if you are interested in attending their groups. The Lord bless you all as we begin a fresh new season at VCF!
Tuesday 7:00 PM – Charlie & Karen McGarrity (Okanagan Landing)
Wednesday 6:30 PM – Dan & Rebecca Reinhardt with Matt & Michelle Brunelle (Mission Hill)
Wednesday 7:00 PM – Lloyd & Candy Fry (Foothills)
Wednesday 7:00 PM – Lois Catlin with Rob & Clara Relling (West Vernon)
Wednesday 7:00 PM – Rod & Heidi Dubland (Stepping Stones)
Wednesday 7:00 PM – Doug & Janis McKenzie (Armstrong/Falkland)
Wednesday 7:00 PM – Rick & Marg Wadsworth (BX)
Thursday 7:00 PM – Dan & Dawn Bragg (Armstrong)

On Sunday July 22^nd five VCFers took the next step in their walk of faith and were baptized. It is so beautiful to observe this powerful symbol of the water washing away the old and recognizing what Christ did for them when he saved them.  Congratulations to Ken, Sarah, Ashlie and sisters Megan and Brianna. May the Lord bless you as you continue on in your journey with him.