On April 15^th we are hosting a seminar called “Discipling a Broken Harvest” that may be of interest to you. The presenters have asked us to pass on the email below to Christian leaders in our community so that they might have the chance to attend. I hope that you will take a few moments to check it out, I know that I personally am excited about attending this event on April 15^th.

Many of you may have heard about the ministry of Teen Challenge, they work with young men aged 18 and over who have life controlling substance abuse problems. On April 21, the Teen Challenge Choir will be appearing at North Edmonton Christian Fellowship along with special guest, author and humorist: Phil Callaway. Teen Challenge has an amazing success record as one of Canada’s most successful drug treatment programs. The program is based on Christian principles and provides spiritual, academic and vocational training and is recognized as a total cure for the whole man, equipping the individual to return to society as a responsible and productive citizen.

Thanks very much, I hope you and other interested individuals will have the chance to attend one or both of these events.

Have a great week.

Doug Petry

Assistant Pastor

North Edmonton Christian Fellowship

If you are one of the first 40 to register this conference is free.

Follow this link to register.

http://freedomsession.com/component/option,com_chronocontact/Itemid,100071/

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Newsboys Concert April 18th at Evangel Church, 7pm!

You can get tickets through either Ticket Master, or from The Fig Tree Christian Bookstore.

Also, new music this month includes:

Starfield “The Saving One”

http://www.ccmmagazine.com/reviews/music/11626622/starfield/

Lifehouse “Smoke and Mirrors”

http://www.pluggedin.com/music/albums/2010/lifehouse-smokeandmirrors.aspx

Toby Mac “Tonight”

http://www.pluggedin.com/music/albums/2010/tobymac-tonight.aspx

One Republic “Wake Up”

http://www.pluggedin.com/music/albums/2010/onerepublic-wakingup.aspx

Enjoy!

It’s that time again! Hope the past month has been enjoyable as you gear up for this Spring Break and Easter Season. Just a reminder that all of the Youth and Young Adults pastors will be meeting at the Starbucks on Ellerslie at 10:00. Instead of meeting at the location from our meeting in January we will be meeting at the larger Starbucks beside Sobeys on 111th!

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Tour Informatino Seminars

For senior pastors, Youth Pastors/ Student Leaders, And other key church leaders. The Rock The River Tour West is an outreach movement and not just a one-day event. Biblical principles and organizational steps will be shared for maximum impact in your commpunity.

Each seminar is IDENTICAL – Please only attend ONE

Monday Feb 8th 7-9pm

Grace Family Church 60 Liberton DriveSt Albert

Tuesday Feb 9th 7-9 pm

North Edmonton Christian Fellowship 9004 153 Ave Edmonton

Wednesday Feb 10 (2 options)

10-12 Greenfield Baptist Church 3712 114 street NW Edmonton

7-9pm Leduc Alliance CHurch 5503 Black Gold Drive Leduc

Thursday Feb 11 7-9pm

Charisma Church 8405 114 Ave Edmonton

Tuesday February 16 7-9

Gospel Centre Pentecostal Church 9445 153 street NE Edmonton

Wednesday Feb 17 (2 options)

10-12  Fort Saskatchewan Community Church 7810 95A Ave Fort Saskatchewan

7-9pm  Sherwood Park Pentecostal Church 1 Brower Drive Sherwood Park

Thursday Feb 18th 7-9

Spruce Grove Community Church 180 Century Road Spruce Grove

Saturday February 20 10-12

Church on 99   9908 67 Ave Edmonton

for more information contact them at:

1.877.907.9111

rtredm@bgea@org

www.billygraham.org/rocktheriver



The room was alive with nervous laughter as we prepared to have a conversation. The thirteen year-olds in the room were eager to talk, making the interview informative and fun. As we were finishing up, three bolted for the door, but I managed to catch one of the guys for a final question. For his previous interaction with me I knew he wasn’t familiar with Christianity. I said, “you know I work here at the church and I’m a Christian. If I wanted to talk to you about God, is there anything you would want me to do first?” Without more than a few seconds pause he replied, “Yeah, it might be nice if you knew what football team I liked.”

Build A Relationship

Investing in young people doesn’t have to be scary or complicated, but it does require a desire to cultivate a genuine interest in them as people, not as projects. I don’t remember anything else about the interviews I conducted that day, but I’ve never forgotten that young man’s response. His words remind me that my message of the gospel is best delivered through relationship.

Often as adults, when we want to invest in a teenager’s life we do so using positional power, as a coach, or a teacher, or a parent. But you may have noticed that utilizing positional power, “do it ’cause I said so,” isn’t always effective with teenagers.  The adolescent is more interested in negotiated decision-making, part ownership in the power structure, and respect. Making these adjustments requires self-management on the part of the adult and an authentic desire to encourage young people to think, not simply obey. When we work at developing these kinds of relationships with teens, we discover, often to our surprise, that they seek us out in times of need.

Judge Wisely

She couldn’t have been more than fourteen, but already hard as nails, she’d affectionately nicknamed me “the dork.” Until she discovered that I was one of the pastors on staff at the church, then she was kind enough to call me “Pastor Dork.” After a few weeks,  I began to pray that she wouldn’t show up, but we always managed to bump into each other and each time she was as foul, mean, and rude as she’d been the last time.

I began to hate our interaction, but one day everything changed for me. She asked me if she could use the phone to call her mother who had forgotten to pick her up, again. As I stood nearby watching her out of the corner of my eye I noticed something odd happening. Her shoulders began to slump and she turned away to hide the tears building up in her eyes. The voice on the phone was screaming obscenities and calling this little girl names no child should have to hear. The assault was loud enough for me to hear where I stood nearby four feet away.

As she hung up the phone something changed for me. For the first time I saw a broken little girl. In moments like this,  uncomfortable verses of Scripture often come to my mind, like the words of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged…” (Matt. 7:11).  I need to ask God to forgive me for my inaccurate judgements and I made a new commitment to build a relationship with this girl no matter what she did to me. The change in my heart made way for a relationship that I have never thought possible. Within a few weeks she was actually smiling at me! Sometimes investing in people isn’t difficult because of their behaviour; it’s difficult because of our judgments. Beware: making an investment in a teenager’s life might require personal change , repentance of attitudes, and sacrifice.

Invest in a Few

One of the remarkable things about Jesus was his simplicity. He had a simple message, he used a simple strategy, and he got it all done without email, power point, or a cell phone. He chose twelve, but he invested deeply in three. Who will you invest in? What’s your strategy for leaving a legacy? Life has to be more than working to get more stuff. I encourage you, look around, and identify a few teens that could use some adult influence. Take time to earn their trust, takeing care not to make the mistake I made in judging to quickly. Let God use you to make a difference that could last a lifetime.

Dr. Chris Marchand

Associate Professor of Youth Leadership

and Associate Dean at Providence College.

The Journey adult learning centre invites you to The Caring Church seminar on Friday March 5, 2010 from 8:30am- 4:30pm at Ellerslie Road Baptist Church. Dr John Auxier of ACTS Seminaries will be the presenter. Cost is $99,
registration forms can be found at www.acts.twu.ca.

The Caring Church seminar is being offered as a non-credit continuing education course for pastors and church leaders. A for-credit course (PTh605 Pastoral Counselling at ACTS seminaries) is being held concurrently, please see www.acts.twu.ca for more information or contact Dr. Ed Stuckey at estuckey@journeycentre.ca.

Seminar Topics:
- domestic violence and the church
- internet addictions: prevention and recovery issues
- child abuse: identifying and reporting issues
- crisis interveision
- suicide prevention
- boundaries for marriage and ministry

This is a great opportunity to receive some quality upgrading of skills, and you can even get credit for it through the Journey/CBS (extra work required). John is one of the most capable and qualified practitioners around, so it will be good!

You can also access this information on our blog at www.bgcalberta.ca

It was so great seeing some of you at the Next Generations  Conference this past  Tuesday, hopefully you will be able to make it to some of the upcoming RTRTW events.

Some of these events include:

Student Leader/ Youth Group Launch

February 25th 10Am-1pm

Evangel Pentecostal Church

4461 50th St

Edmonton Ab

FM419

April 9-10th

Beulah Alliance Church

17505 98A Avenue Northwest

Edmonton Ab

Be sure to check out the link to Rock The River Tour West on the Left hand side of your screen for more information!

Hey Everyone,

Just a reminder that Tuesday January 26th we will be meeting at the Starbucks on Ellerslie Road. The address is 9504 Ellerslie Road, Edmonton, AB. We will be meeting at 10 Am!  Looking forward to discussing where everyone is at, upcoming events, ministry opportunities, some hot topics that are current in your youth ministries, and how you have seen God moving over the last few months!