And their off! Round 1 of our virtual conferences went very well. “The Great Commission Cooperative” coordinated 15 mission agencies and 22 mission reps for a conference at Peace River Bible Institute.
What is the GCC you ask? A few years ago Ed Vencio (a colleague of ours at SEND Canada) and John were together at MissionsFest in Vancouver. Ed was musing on how to more effectively communicate the message of the unreached people groups, missions and opportunities to the many attendees. This led to discussions with other mission agencies with a similar ministry focus. Last year 9 agencies served together at two college mission conferences and two Missionfests – partnering in seminars, location and presentation. With the fall developing as it has, the GCC has been working hard at developing materials that we can share in a variety of situations, melding online and in person presentation opportunities. Interesting times….
Years ago I (John) was walking through the parking lot near our apartment in Kiev, Ukraine early one dark cold winters morning when I saw a glow underneath a car.
“Oh no, a cars on fire!” I thought. Then I noticed two things. First, the fire was small and underneath the engine area and secondly, a fellow leaning against the car casually smoking a cigarette. Hmm. That piqued my curiosity. Back in Canada, we usually plug our cars in when it gets cold (it warms the oil and makes the car easier to start). Well that isn’t an option in the parking lots there. So if your car is having trouble starting in the cold, you take a can, put some flammable material and start a fire under the engine. Definitely not something I would have thought of. These are challenging days – and sometimes the solutions that used to work aren’t quite working now. Thinking creatively is key. Don’t give up – step back and think outside of the box of your habitual response. That crazy idea just might work.
Conferences….
January is usually traveling to conferences month. This time it will be virtual conferences month.
January 16: Millar College – SK
Jan 22-24: Millar College – BC
Jan 29-31: Missions Central – Vancouver
We shall see what February will bring…
Missions Central Serve
(formerly Missionsfest Vancouver)
January 29-31, 2021
Obviously, this year for conferences of any type around Canada is challenging. Thus Missionsfest Vancouver – now known as Serve – will be a completely virtual event. One advantage is that now it is relatively simple to attend for anyone from across the country (and the world for that matter).
Drop by the website and register, and then follow the instructions that you will receive in order to attend the event. You will need to “get tickets” at this link https://conference.missioncentral.ca/serve and then you will receive a follow up email which you will use to access the platform that is hosting the virtual conference. The site is live now, so drop by our SEND International booth. Just look for us under exhibitors.
