I was at the new suburbia conference this past week. I’m not sure how true the conference was of its title, it was mostly about Christian community development in an urban setting, gentrification of city slums, and indigenous leadership empowerment.
There was some good material in there. However, I felt some of us gathered [...]

Posted in Church planting, Community, Toronto 6 Comments »

Suburbanites, lock your fences, the poor are coming!

I’m going, why aren’t you? It’s happening next week, and it’s not too late to register!
Discussions on:
Harnessing the Forces of Gentrification for the Kingdom
- Bob Lupton, FCS Urban Ministries
Indigenous Leadership Development
- Noel Castellanos, Christian Community Development Association
Church-based Community Development
- Wayne Gordon, Lawndale Community Church
Similar Posts…What’s new… by [...]

Posted in Toronto, poverty 2 Comments »

Yesterday I had breakfast with someone downtown to talk about God… lots of great questions, there’s not much I enjoy more than journeying alongside with people.
Dan Kimball recently wrote the book “They like Jesus, but they don’t like the church“; but I find what might be closer to the hearts of people (at least in [...]

Posted in Pictures, Toronto, art, poverty 5 Comments »

This month’s issue of Toronto Life covers a portrait of a mortgage-enslaved generation.
Why do we do this to ourselves? Who says we need a home that large or that fine?
I just recently realized that Bono closes off the song “beautiful day” with the statement “what you don’t have you don’t need it now”… which [...]

Posted in Character, Culture, Toronto 4 Comments »

The Toronto District School Board has approved a proposal for opening Afrocentric schools this year.
The hopes are to help remedy the 40 percent drop out rate amongst black youth.
The African-centred school would teach students from junior kindergarten to Grade 8. It would have more black teachers and mentors, a focus on students’ heritage and more [...]

Posted in Culture, Toronto, future 2 Comments »

Recently I finished a relatively old urban ministry book - Ray Bakke’s “a theology as big as the city“. This book rocks, and is filled with insights on God’s love for the city and our roles in it.One practical and disputable insight I’ve been mulling over comes from this quote of his “The local [...]

Posted in Cause, Church planting, Leadership, Toronto, mission 4 Comments »

For my audience around the world, yes it’s cold in Canada, and yes we do live in igloos, but only in the winter.
Here’s our family braving the blizzard this weekend. We went out just for pics and kicks.

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Posted in Pictures, Toronto No Comments »

Yesterday a life group I’m a part of helped out at the “Out of the cold” program which shelters, feeds, and clothes some of Toronto’s homeless. A few thoughts:
I arrived late, and really didn’t help out in any way. Yet one of the ‘clients’ insisted to thank me, and that I was still [...]

Posted in Toronto, mission, poverty No Comments »

The WCA is launching a new 3-day event in Canada called the Nova Experience.
The NOVA Experience - a brand new day!
April 10-12, 2008 - Doubletree International Plaza Hotel, Toronto, ON
A new dawn is here for the local church in Canada, bringing the promise of a brighter morning, full of hope, full of mercy, and full of [...]

Posted in Leadership, Toronto, resources 4 Comments »

A month ago, I preached a message highlighting what I call a ‘theology of new‘ of how God and humanity are to in many ways to be involved with ‘making all things new’.
The only real ‘new’ thing for me today is I’m not in Montreal with some friends participating in Makers of Fire right now [...]

Posted in Links, Toronto 2 Comments »