This Season

This fall has shot by as if it were on greased skids. I have had the opportunity to take in a lot of ministries - in Ottawa, Winnipeg, BC, Calgary, Windsor, Michigan, London, ON, Waterloo, Toronto and I have been in discussion with many more.

 As I go, I write - and I was about to publish a big batch of commentary on this blogsite when my previous ( former - now deceased ) computer seized up and fried a hard days work.

 I resonate with the plaintive voice of Richard Harris in the long playing ditty, of a previous era, "McArthur's Park"  " Someone left the cake out in the rain.. And I don't think I can take it because it took so long to make it and I'll never have that recipe, again... O No... (echoes). "

I would have  backed it up, but it happened just before the end of a long day of editing. I was about fifteen minutes of having it all up and posted.  So I am resigned that  if I want to recreate the stuff, it will have to be later :( .

Dave - up close & personal

This was a significant service for a number of reasons.

The previous Sunday, Dave Slater, the founding pastor of Lift spoke to the gathering. A few months ago, Dave had taken a call to Parkview Church in Guelph, about 45 minutes away. That means he moved away....  But he was back and brought  a worship team with him. It was a good night.


Dave had unique gifting as a networker , people person and visionary. With his gifting and experience, he proved to be a hard person to replace.

But, before I continue that narrative, let me give you a quick overview of this gathering.  Sunday nights at Lift church involve a number of elements, all of which are good...

They begin with good worship. They give it the time and focus it deserves.  They often rotate worship leaders, ( some of whom visit from other churches, with the core of the band consisting of Lift students).

There is a time of refreshment between the worship and the message. Allows a time to connect and stretch legs/


Announcments esp Simple Church which are small groups meeting around a main point. It could be guys issues, girl issues, a NT study, service or whatever.

Then the new lead pastor, Andrew Masters, got up to speak. I asked him if was nervous. He answered something to the effect that he had just moved across the country and was expecting a baby any moment. He had other things to be nervous about.

Andrew & Michelle Masters

Enter Andrew Masters.



After a summer long search process , which I was a part of, Andrew floated to the top of the pile. Originally from nearby Brantford, he had gone to school in Eston, SK and started his ministry in Manning, AB a few hours north of Grande Prairie. He spent the last 7 years at a church in Surrey, BC where he was far and away the youngest on staff. Now, at Lift,  he is one of the old guys on the block.


During the interviewing process, what captured us about Andrew was his strong emphasis on community and the track record he had on reaching out to the surrounding community. We found him eager to learn and fired up about finding fresh, creative ways to reach out to the surrounding community, whether on or off of the campus.


He and Michelle are expecting any moment. I am sure that by the time we go to press, the baby girl will have been born and they will be back home.

Andrew with baby Calli born Nov 15.

Anyway, Andrew started by offering a smattering of facts about himself, including his likes and dislikes and areas of expertise and incompetence. It made for good listening.

Things became focused when he underlined the difference that Jesus made in his life and his desire for people to know and experience Him. He presented an encounter with Jesus in a way that was disarming and compelling. It was real without cliché. I have every confidence that people will be able to come to Lift, or bring their friends, and they will be offered a clear contact point with the One who makes all of this possible and worthwhile.


On the back tables, there is something for the body and the soul. There is a book table with titles ranging from Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller to Simply Christian by N.T. Wright. For the body there was simple fare. Hot water for Hot Chocolate or Tea, Pop and coffee along with chips and hotdogs. There are periodic veggies to boot.

At the end of the month, Community Church ( the mother church of Lift, in nearby Waterdown )is providing a Chili feast, with all of the trimmings for the hungry student population.


There is an outreach to the mean streets of Hamilton. They do student tutoring where upper classmen help those behind them.

There is a lot going on at Lift. There are some really sharp young adults that have made it their home. It is going to be exciting over the following months to see just what God is going to do in and through them.

Peduli Merapi

Sabtu, 30 Oktober 2010, Himpunan Mahasiswa Jurusan (HMJ) Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip secara swadaya dan sukarela menyalurkan bantuan secara langsung kepada korban bencana Merapi. Tim berangkat dari Semarang sekitar pukul 06.30 dan tiba di Posko Gulon, Desa Gulon, Kecamatan Salam, Magelang, sekitar pukul 09.00 WIB. Di posko yang berada di SD Negeri 1 Gulon ini, tim menyerahkan bantuan berupa masker dan obat tetes mata kepada Tim FK Undip untuk dikelola lebih lanjut. Sementara bantuan lain diserahkan di Posko II di SMP Negeri 1 Salam, Desa Gulon, Kecamatan Salam, Magelang yang menampung sekitar 2.626 orang pengungsi.
Tim yang terdiri dari 14 orang ini menyumbangkan beberapa kebutuhan para pengungsi, seperti popok bayi, pembalut, pakaian dalam wanita, perlengkapan mandi, air mineral, susu cair, biscuit, masker, tetes mata, serta pakaian pantas pakai dari Indosat dan Hotel Dafam Semarang. Total bantuan yang diberikan senilai Rp 1.397.000,00 merupakan hasil sumbangan dari mahasiswa FISIP Undip dan komunitas online Semarang, antara lain Loenpia, Samtug (Semarang Twitter User Group), dan Indonesia Bertindak untuk publikasi dan donasi. HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi menjadi pusat sumbangan dari seluruh social media di Semarang dan sejak dibukanya posko sumbangan di Kampus FISIP Undip Tembalang maupun rekening di BNI pada Rabu, 27 Oktober 2010 lalu, telah terkumpul dana sebanyak sekitar Rp 3.900.000,00. Sumbangan ini dialokasikan untuk korban bencana Merapi sebanyak Rp 1.397.000,00 dan sisanya akan dikirimkan untuk korban tsunami di Kepulauan Mentawai, Sumatera Barat.
Hingga saat ini, HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi masih membuka dompet amal untuk korban bencana di Indonesia melalui rekening BNI atas nama Ika Rizki Yustisia dengan nomor rekening 0132548810.

Driving with James...

James Perraux

The following morning, I travelled down to Langley, BC with James Perraux. James, who was previously on staff with Arthur Howard and the staff team at UCM at UBC, is now merging beautifully with Matt and the gang at UBCO. It is pretty clear that he and Matt complement each other in their gifting and skills sets.

The time whizzed by as we covered how he began ministry at UCM, having graduated from Regent College, and just how God had been shaping and preparing him to take the leap into full time campus ministry. There is no doubt that the challenge of fundraising is real, but James has found that God has been faithful to provide for him all the way along.

Having been a key player at UBC which is amongst the strongest campus ministries of any type in the country, James has a lot to bring to the table in Kelowna. He is a people person who also has a strong administrative side. It is a great combination.  I am really looking forward to some great things.

Kelowna Bound

I landed in Kelowna on Sunday, October 3, and spent the afternoon hanging out with Matt and Sandra Duffie. Matt is the chaplain at the University of British Columbia at the Okanagan ( UBCO). Matt and Sandra are a team and it is great to see how she weighs in with the ministry on campus.

Over an early dinner, Matt and I had a deep ecclesiological discussion of what church actually is and what it means to be the church on campus, without taking on the structural obligations of being an institutional church. That is why I am grateful for the flexibility we have at Campus Mission Canada when it comes to defining and responding to our mission to being church without having to “be a church”. As I like to say, church is a noun. I also consider it to be a verb. We do church. We church.



As mentioned in a previous blog last year around this time, Matt is both the director of University Christian Ministry (UCM) at UBCO and the chaplain to the university. He has a strong ministry of presence within the university, among students, faculty and administration. He also works at equipping student leaders and developing reproductive community. I once wore both hats myself, at UBC. Most of my time was with UCM which was student run, although it was strongly ‘staff led’ or guided. The level of connection and engagement with the university community in general and with students in particular simply cannot be matched by a church luring students offsite.


They are both excited and pleased about the addition of James Perraux from the UCM at UBC to their staff. Matt , with tongue in cheek, said that because they were the “lowliest of the low”, they were able to “get the top draft pick”. There is no denying that James ( who I will write about in the next blog) brings a lot to the table. He will make a strong ministry even stronger.


The student ministry, this fall, is off to a solid start. Not only did UCM have a good initial response ( they fed hundreds of students in the first week ) but there was a large group who signed for the retreat occurring on the second weekend. Normally, interrupting your second gathering of the year for a retreat could be momentum killing. However, this was not the case, here. It was , by all reports, a strong time of bonding – even if it was in the rain…

Setting Up in the Atrium

Pre-Meeting Buzz

 

When I hung out before the evening meeting, I found that there were many things that I appreciated, even before the event officially started. The atrium is a particularly nice venue for a service. It is a high, multi-level room complete with tropical plants. The acoustics are well suited for the ‘unplugged’ band – which by the way led worship simply and powerfully. I also enjoyed meeting the students who were friendly and engaged. I was surprised to find out how many of the group were engineering students.

Solid Worship

The room quickly filled up and buzzed with expectancy. Students were putting icing on cupcakes and opening boxes of Timbits. Sandra brought kettles to boil water and prepare coffee and tea.

I had an opportunity to speak to the group for their Sunday evening service. It may come as no surprise to those familiar with my past year that I took the opportunity to introduce them to my son, David, and the last words he posted up on Facebook. They present a challenge to live our lives for Christ.. now. The immediacy and the power of the challenge is hard to describe. It is a message that speaks right to the heart of the student. I had the satisfaction of seeing God work through pain and brokenness in the way that only He can do.

Matt facilitated a question and answer period afterward. The questions were honest and perceptive. The students were sharp and engaged.


There is a strong work, here. It has been well led and it will only get stronger in the coming year.

KOMUSIKASI OSPEK “Opera Spesial Komunikasi”

Kreativitas merupakan kalimat yang tidak dapat dilepaskan dari mahasiswa. Kemampuan mengembangkan ide-ide kreatif merupakan salah satu hal yang mudah bagi mahasiswa. Dari ide yang berbau seni hingga keilmuan kerap kita jumpai. Maka tidak ada salahnya jika mahasiswa menampilkan kreativitasnya dibidang seni dan keilmuannya secara bersamaan. Oleh karena itu, Himpunan Mahasiswa Jurusan Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip akan mengadakan acara Komusikasi pada Sabtu, 23 Oktober 2010 mulai pukul 19.00 s/d 23.00 WIB. Acara yang akan melibatkan seluruh Keluarga Jurusan Ilmu Komunikasi khususnya dan seluruh tamu lainnya ini terbuka untuk umum dan tidak memungut biaya apapun.
Acara yang akan diselenggarakan di Halaman Tengah Gedung B-C Kampus FISIP Tembalang ini mengundang band lokal Lipstick Lipsing dari Semarang. Dan tak kalah menarik, para dosen Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip pun akan menampilkan bakat-bakat seni yang mereka punya. Penampilan dari kawan-kawan Komunikasi Undip mulai dari angkatan 2005 sampai 2010 pun akan turut memeriahkan pentas musik ini.
Komusikasi memiliki konsep untuk mengajak mahasiswa mengembangan ide-ide kreatifnya dibidang seni. Selain itu acara komusikasi kali ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan keakraban civitas akademika komunikasi. Diharapkan dari acara ini mahasiswa dapat saling bertukar dan mengembangkan ide-ide menarik mereka dan diekspresikan dalam komusikasi.



Contact Person:
PR Eksternal HMJ Ilmu Komunikasi FISIP Undip
Sita (085640322866)

KOMUSIKASI