I’m sure all of us have had experiences where the hair on the back of our neck stood up because some unexplained circumstance that defied the odds played out in our lives.

A few years ago I was taking a few young people from church on a trip halfway across Canada. As I was driving I shared about a friend of mine who was dying of cancer. I had met Dave through teaching Sunday school years ago, and we immediately shared a special bond in our faith and love for the outdoors. Dave was a father figure to many young guys and had greatly impacted my life; how sad it was that the cancer was getting the best of him. I dropped off the young people at their destination and decided to start the two day drive back home. more…

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves as all such things as these: anger, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of it’s Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, cloth yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:5-14) more…

Ingredients of True Spirituality.

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!?’ These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:20-23)

In the letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colossae, he addressed some of the problems that the church was encountering as a new community of Christian faith. He uses his letter to teach them what true Christian Spirituality is and to avoid the fake spirituality of legalism. more…

Faith or Addiction

When life is tough or unfair we all come to questions in our mind about the reason for those trials. Sometimes it seems impossible to make any sense of the events and circumstances that shock us and bring us to our knees in grief. I’m reminded of the story of Nehemiah in the Bible. We can see in the first chapter of the book of Nehemiah a man who’s wrestling and grieving with life and God. Nehemiah was a nobleman and an educated man in the nation of Israel, who now finds himself as a slave in the courts of a king whose army had killed, raped and burned his hometown to the ground. He now finds himself as the cupbearer for the king; A crash test dummy to test the drinks for poison before they get to the kings lips. Grief and humiliation of this sort is the kind that shakes a person to the core, but as we see when we read through the book, Nehemiah becomes one of the most inspiring leaders of hope as he is granted his freedom to return to his burned out city to rebuild. more…

The Medium is the Message

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-20).

As a teen I would pick up a Bible from time to time and try to read something out of it. I was always perplexed as I read a bunch of jumbled stories and teachings that seemed to make no sense at all. “How can anyone say this book is God’s word?” I thought. Does God expect the average teen to be able to make sense of all these random stories and sayings? It all seemed like a strange mystery to me, until one day it seemed that someone had given me a key to the mystery. more…

As of September 6, 2009 Pastor Sterling Quinn has taken the position of Lead Pastor at Terrace Bay Gospel Assembly. Pastor Sterling’s wife Danielle has been working in the community for a maternity leave at the Terrace Bay Clinic.

This song searches the soul.  It is also really good.  Enjoy.

The one thing that stuck in my mind during the process of my mother dying of cancer was the mass amount of people who needed to see and talk to her before she passed on.  Us kids all moved home her last week so we all witnessed this flood of words that filled my mom’s ears.  Most of the stories went like this:  Your mom was there for me when I went through a hard time of life.  She cared, loved and listened.  Even after the hard time was passed, I would still talk to your mom about things.  She was wise.  She was an amazing person. 

And it is true – she was an amazing person.  She cared – she cared a lot.  She cared for her family, friends and the stranger.  When people needed help she was there and as a result they would always come back for advice or just for a friendly visit.

Why did people want to talk with my mom? – it wasn’t because she was wise first – no – it was that she cared first.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. 

more…

This month we are looking at how our church can participate in making this world a “greener” place.  The basis of this series is that God created everything and claimed that it was good.  In Genesis 2:15, God commissions Adam to “take care” of creation – use it but not abuse it.  As a church we will be taking that commission to heart as we serve God and save the planet.  In the message part of our site you will find the first two messages of this series:  “The Ripple Effect” and “Love God, Love Others” with Pastor Jaye.  We hope you get challenged as we have been challenged!

For reference, here are the main sources of our information.  If you go to the links part of our page click on “Urban Garden” and “Let’s Tend the Garden” for more ideas of what you can do in your own church!

DeWitt weaves scripture with the practical application of environmental stewardship beautifully. The author of this gem is a pastor who really wants to make a difference int he world

Written by a Pastor who really wants to make this world a better place

Redeeming Creation brings Scripture into fruitful dialogue with current scientific findings

A very conservative look at what the Christian can do at home to honour God and enjoy God's Creation