|
Mover and shaker
Vancouver Magazine named Tom Cooper as number 39 in its Vancouver Power 50 for 2009. This edition
of the annual list of powerful people gave bonus points to those who have been
most instrumental in readying the city for the Olympics. Cooper, a businessman,
is president and founder of City in Focus, a Christian ministry that organizes
conferences, fosters city-wide volunteer work, and raises over $200,000 a year
for social agencies and individuals. He is also chair of More Than Gold, which
unites 15 denominations and many non-profit groups for joint ministry connected
to the 2010 Games.
Their AIM is true
Aboriginal International Missions (AIM) originated with Vancouver Native
Pentecostal Church (VNPC). In 2006, an AIM team went to help impoverished
Christians in war-ravaged northern Uganda. They raised funds to send some
children to school and equip one pastor with a motorcycle – which led to the planting of 14 churches. In 2008, four AIM teams provided
motorcycles and bicycles to various pastors, and funds to help pastors start
businesses to employ church members. This month, five AIM teams will head to
Uganda: three consisting primarily of Chinese Canadians; one led by an Alaskan
native; and the other led by VNPC pastor Bruce Brown. The January 8 – 23 initiative will include a pastors’ conference, the development of a well and the establishment of an orphanage
program.
Remembered in awe
Dr. Kerry Morrissey and her six month old daughter Sarah (pictured below) were
among the six people who died November 29 when a float plane crashed on takeoff
from Saturna Island. Morrissey, 41, with her husband Patrick, was a member of
Tenth Church in Vancouver. She is survived by one other daughter, two year old
Claire. Kerry is remembered as a deeply spiritual Christian who demonstrated
immense love and selflessness. With the dedication of a missionary, she had
practiced medicine in far-flung corners of the world, from Inuit communities to
refugee camps in the Peruvian Amazon.
Pastor predator
Larry Robert Collins was convicted of possession of child pornography and
sentenced to 15 months in jail and three years’ probation December 8. Collins was pastor of the Church of the Nazarene in
Guildford when police began investigating him concerning a video. The video
showed a young teen girl in sexually explicit poses, accompanied by words
encouraging the viewer to rape her. Collins, who was subsequently fired by the
church, admitted to making the video and distributing it on the internet.
Collins also posted the girl’s name and home town, impersonating her online to encourage web surfers to visit
the site where the video was displayed. The girl is now with her family.
The Vancouver Sun
Continue article >>
|
Double the harvest
By December 1, the Harvest Project in North Vancouver had registered over 6,300
client appointments in 2009, compared to 3,150 in the same time period in 2008.
It is feeding more than 900 clients and their families monthly; more than 300
are children, and 36 percent are single parents. The ministry also provides
clothing, life skills training, client care coaching and resource referral.
Volunteer executive director Terry Byrnes says the ministry needs to raise more
money so it won’t have to turn people away. Harvest Project has 160 volunteers. It is open
Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm; and Saturday, 10 am to 2 pm. Contact:
harvestproject.org.
Good press for Tenth
Tenth Church in Vancouver was the subject of a 2,500 word profile in the October
16 issue of the Vancouver Courier newspaper. The once flourishing Christian and Missionary Alliance church, with
over 1,000 attenders, had shrunk to an aging congregation of 175 Caucasians
when Ken Shigematsu became pastor in 1996. It now attracts 1,600 people from a
broad range of ages, cultures and socio-economic groups to the three Sunday
services in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. Last fall, it launched a fourth service, Sunday
mornings in the amphitheatre at Kitsilano Secondary School. The church also
runs a broad range of social programs from an after-school program to a winter
homeless shelter.
– Jim Coggins
January 2010
|
