THIS BLOG IS MOVING!

So, the blog is moving, but you can still acces it, just off of our website!

I want to encourage you to bookmark a NEW Soulpastor Blog at either www.soulsanctuary.ca/blog or www.soulsanctuary.ca/soul-pastor

Thanks

A Special Night

I would like to remind you that the annual Empowering Families Dinner is on Friday, December 2, 2011. This year's guest speaker is world renowned social justice advocate Dr. Tony Campolo.
For $25, you will enjoy a great meal, hear inspiring stories of how local families are being empowered to break free from the cycle of poverty, and hear Dr. Tony Campolo share a passionate message that is sure to inspire you. It is going to be a fantastic evening!

The ticket deadline is tomorrow, Friday, November 25th.

Tickets are available online at www.northendfamilycentre.org

A Blog Post You MUST Read!

My friend Rob Dale has shared a personal story that you need to read!
http://www.robdale.ca/?doing_wp_cron

Book Review

I enjoy reading a good biography, I even like watching them on A&E even more. So, I got an offer to review what thought was the Ed Thomas story…I was strangely thinking Wendy’s!!! DUH! That is DAVE THOMAS….however I saw the cover of the book The Sacred Acre and I immediately thought of “Friday Night Lights.” I was wrong, again.

Prior to reading The Sacred Acre, I’d never heard of Ed Thomas or the town where he coached football for 37 years. I am Canadian! And our high school and college football is not as greatly embraced as it is in the US. That said....Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans would enjoy this read! ANYWAY, I learnt that Thomas was a man who deeply cared for his community and the students he taught over his career. He was a man who loved his wife and family, he wasn’t a perfect husband or dad but he was a man of great integrity who understood the meaning of hard work and discipline.

The first chapters touch on the longtime coach’s personality, especially his obsession with maintaining the football field at Aplington-Parkersburg High School. Eventually the author takes the reader inside that awful day when a tornado devastated the town and then through the rebuilding process and you pick up on the dedication of the town’s leaders, from adults to the scores of teenagers who worked, in the unrelenting summer months of 2008, to rebuild. The key in this story though was Ed’s push to make the football field ready for late August, three months after the tornado rolled through.

Yet where this story gained national attention was amid the tragedy of the murder of Ed Thomas in the weight room at the high school on June 24, 2009 at the hands of a former mentally ill student. The book does not shy away from the tragic events of that day and the reader goes inside the fear, the tension and, ultimately, the tragedy of the loss of a husband and father.

The result is a book that highlights Thomas’ character more than his just his accomplishments, but more importantly the full story of the family’s and the community’s journey of faith and forgiveness. A great read and a special SHOUT OUT to The DeMoss Group who graciously provided me the copy! Sorry the review is late!

A way you can help!

Most of us have a car and that car needs gas. Here is a simple way that anyone and everyone can help contribute to our fund raising efforts to buy our piece of land. When you need to fill up go to Red Rivier Co-op and put it on our number 0343680

Don't make the mistake of doing nothing because you can only do a little! Do what you can!

Thank You

Building Update:

I will be doing a flurry of blogposts as things are moving here at Soul Sanctuary fairly fast.

As you or may not know, we have an offer to purchase in the works for a facility and almost 5 acres of land.

Here is the plan: Very simply we need to raise as much cash as possible so that our mortgage is small. Simple enough! The beauty of it is that we have until Dec 30 to do so. That means that all of us can determine what we can give between now and the end of the year to the building fund. I need to remind all of you not to move your giving from general to building and think you are making a difference…you’re not. Continue to give as you have been doing, but also make a special attempt to give over and above to the building fund. We are not building a new facility to make us look good – we are building it to glorify God – to bring glory to Him through it. It will be put in place to minister to the people of our area. It will be a facility that will be in use the majority of the week, rather than sitting empty the majority of the week.

2 Corinthians 9:7 is a scripture that is written on our joy basket and want to bring it to our attention today. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

This verse is one reason why we do not "TAKE" an offering at Soul. Please note what it says: Everyone should give. Everyone should decide how much – from his heart. Everyone should give out of desire and love for God and His work – not feeling obligation or necessity. Everyone should offer it with joy. So your faith@home home work is determine what number you will be able to give by Dec 30th when our Building fund committee contacts you!

Secondly, be prepared to ask for a financial commitment or pledge regarding your giving for the next year so that we have a solid budget.

Third, we will be presenting an opportunity for small businesses to be challenged in that there is an anonymous contributor who is willing to match contributions from other businesses before Dec 30th. There is a potential for us to raise over $500,000 alone in this challenge. More info will be coming on this meeting.

So, raising hard cash before the end of the year is critical. Secondly, we will have investment opportunities in the form of a document called a "Mortgage Certificate." We will explains how this works in more detail with a special meeting, so stay tuned.

Finally, there are those of you who are specialists in then building trades and we are looking for your input and involvement when our building committee gets off the ground. However, before we bring in architects and engineers we need to raise the money. There it is in a nutshell!

Needless to say, we are trying to get all our ducks in a row so that we can close the deal by December 30th. What we are looking for simply is cash donations. If you are able to contribute financially to our building fund it would be greatfully appreciated! You can do so on line by clicking Here

What's with the red wrist band?

As I said last week I see the Church as an nemergency room. Think about it, when you go to emergency, you check in and are given a wrist band to identify you. Then you are seen by a nurse and later the doctor comes in. The doctor hears your request, your complaint, he listens to you vent, He hears your whatever and then hopefully you allow the doctor to diagnose your life. What takes places is the most critical and sometimes the most painful. He begins to probe and poke and pull and peels back the layers and he begins to expose the wound and tells you what is wrong and what needs to change and what you need to do differently so that you can experience life fully.

I presume that all of us have issues. The interesting thing is that only you know what that issue or issues are. The church is supposed to be a place where spiritually sick people come to get well.

This last Sunday we issued red wrist bands to all who walked into Soul and encourage people to keep it on as a reminder of what the doctor (GOD) is going to do in thier life. It is a reminder for prayer, for discussion, to the fact that you are being real with GOD, real with each other and most importantly real with yourself.

The perscriptions that were issued yesterday were:

1. Taking responsibilty of where your relationship is with GOD.

2. Identify the barriers that are keeping you from GOD.

3. Establish time with Him. Read the scriptures, pray, get in a life group, serve and be prepared for worship.

Sounds so basic...........

Thoughts?