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By Peter Biggs
www.morethangold.ca
More Than Gold (MTG) is
a growing network of denominations, churches, Christian institutions and
individuals, gathering in preparation for the influx of hundreds of
thousands of visitors coming for the 2010 Olympic Games.
As BCCN went to press, MTG’s brand new website
(see above) was launched. Steered by MTG staff members Bob Kraemer and
Peter Biggs, and built by domain7, it is hoped the site will play a
significant part in coordinating the games-related activities of Christians
in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Along with regular web updates, Christian Info Society
is partnering with MTG and will have monthly reports in BCCN.
Opportunities
The Vancouver/Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Winter
Games will provide the local church with one of its greatest opportunities
to reach a large number of people in a short period of time.
It is a unique opportunity for churches to work
together in service and ministry to athletes, their families, games
officials and organizers – as well as hundreds of thousands of
visitors and local residents.
To help you and your church take advantage of these
opportunities, a number of Working Groups have been developed under the
banner of More Than Gold.
The organization is seeking to enroll volunteers from
as many churches as possible over the next six to eight months. These
church representatives will serve as the primary information conduits to
their local churches, regarding the activities of MTG-related ministries.
MTG staff have begun visiting local churches to share
the vision with pastors, who will each be asked to appoint an MTG Church
Representative to connect individuals with MTG and its different Working
Groups.
The Working Groups have been meeting regularly to plan
and coordinate the various programs scheduled before and during the 2010
Games.
For more details, visit: morethangold.ca.
Legacy – 2011 and beyond
Leaders throughout our area agree that this initiative
has enormous potential for ongoing relationships beyond 2010 –
between denominations, Christian leaders and ministries.
The staff and board of MTG are very focused on the
potential of the 2010 activities to leave a legacy of continuing and
unified outreach.
This will be facilitated by online information flow and
interaction, which will reinforce a growing unity.
Leadership: Karen Reed
More Than Gold is picking up significant momentum, and
has just appointed Karen Reed as its new CEO. She is a seasoned Vancouver
Christian leader, having been a pastor at Vancouver’s Broadway Church
for 21 years. Prior to her ministry work, Reed was a business leader.
Following is BCCN’s interview with her.
• How did you end up in full time ministry?
It’s hard to fully explain, as the process was
lengthy. But in one particular and unique week, after the end of a
year-long journey – when a series of profound factors came into play
– I was invited to join the pastoral staff at Broadway.
It was an immediate sealing of affirmation of where God
had been leading – and the culmination of that miraculous
orchestration, when he calls you into full time service. It was a
wild and impossible thing, yet I knew that I knew that I knew he was
calling me – and that Broadway was to be the place of assignment for
then.
• What important things have you learned about
leadership over the years?
I worked in the corporate arena for 11 years, prior to
pastoral leadership. I am deeply thankful for the experience in management
and business leadership that was discovered and developed in those years,
which I continue to draw from.
In the church, the distinctive is that all leadership
– paid and unpaid – is first and foremost spiritual leadership,
no matter what your competencies or experience. When leaders were chosen in
the New Testament for tasks, they looked for people full of the Spirit.
It was a long way down the journey before I discovered
that the call of Christian leadership is not about being a model of
strength to inspire people, but rather a model of faith.
One model directs other people’s attention to
ourselves; the other directs people to God. Depending primarily on our
strengths often hinders us from risking transparency – and can cause
others to lift us up
instead of Christ.
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We are to be leaders of faith in our good God, in spite
of our weakness, failure and frailties. I think when we begin to
‘own’ our brokenness, we begin to discover true strength.
Also, this is a complex, shifting time in our world
where we need leaders who are able to exegete – interpret – the
culture as much as we need to interpret scripture. At this critical time,
there is also a huge vacuum in terms of senior leadership across the
country.
More than ever, we need to be – and to raise up
– courageous, faith-filled leaders, who are full of the Spirit,
following Jesus with humble dependence, holy determination and a deepening
intimacy and joy, so that we can hear his voice as we navigate this
exciting and challenging time in history.
A sense of humour and a large capacity for flexibility
also helps!
You’ve been through some interesting transitions.
Yes! In the summer, after 21 years on the pastoral
staff at Broadway Church, and a lengthy process of seeking God’s will
and timing, I felt a completion of service.
Our denomination asked me to pioneer a new role as an
urban missionary. I moved into East Vancouver, in the Commercial Drive
area, in December, for this purpose. It has required an enormous amount of
active – not passive – faith, in ways I’ve never needed
before; but it has been a blast to watch God untangle impossible
situations.
As I was preparing for the move, an invitation came to
consider taking the leadership of the More Than Gold Network.
What excites you about More Than Gold?
I love interacting with the whole diverse body of
Christ, as it provides a taste of heaven. And it is only through the whole
church, working together in a unified way, that we can reach our cities and
nation.
More Than Gold was initiated by the coming 2010
Olympics as a network of the Metro Vancouver faith community, with the
intent to engage and mobilize people around service, social justice and
witness. There is a desire for something lasting, a legacy – that
activities and events centred around the games would increase attention on
what can only be accomplished together: the transformation of our city.
Networks are the best way to facilitate this and make
change. We want to expand and strengthen the faith network, to
connect people and needs and resources.
When there was a desire for the More Than Gold network
to increase the emphasis on sustainable change,my attention got captured
and I made myself available to serve in a season that holds such potential.
I sense a desire, in people and churches, as never
before, to no longer isolate [themselves] – but to advance the
kingdom, and to work together in unprecedented ways.
How can our readers pray for you, and More Than Gold,
in the coming months?
Thank you! I am desperate for prayer. I
have deepened my appreciation in this last while for faithful intercessors
in my life. I feel enormously privileged and humbled, to be entrusted with
this opportunity to serve – and more than anything, I want Jesus to
be lifted high, and well pleased.
I’m dreaming big . . . and I am believing for
others to dream and pray with me, for impossible God-things. For me,
I need discernment and grace at every turn, as I have lots of voices to
listen to. I need protection to not be outwitted by the enemy. I need
courage and focus to stay on task, and to be full of bold faith.
Pray also for the small management staff and volunteer
leadership core. They are an amazing group, with huge hearts and
competencies. And for the board, and partners who contribute significantly
in time and experience. Pray also for resources to follow the God-dreams
– not only funds, but the right people with the right gifts
placed in the right areas.
The organizational piece is huge, especially as we seek
to encourage and initiate micro-neighbourhood clusters to work together. We
want to do God’s work in his way . . . so there is no lack on
any level. If we operate on that track, I think it’s going to be
exhilarating!
February 2009
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