Overdue overview!

We are back in the land of stars and stripes, leaving the maple leaf behind. I wanted to share what we saw and learned on our trip to Southwestern Ontario.



There's a beer store on every corner. No, really. It's like McDs or Tim Hortons. Every few tenths of a mile. They love their beer.



They are very eco friendly! We saw several wind "farms" with many wind turbines. Not to mention that almost every farm we saw had solar panels! Pretty cool. Also, every farm or home that you see is neat as a pin! We noticed this before when we would drive into Canada from Maine. You could always tell you had crossed to border.


This is St. Thomas, ON. Really sweet town of about 38,000. They have a couple of larger churches there. Roger talked with a Pastor of one of the churches who said they would welcome the help- that they are not reaching the younger crowd.

Main Street, St. Thomas, Ontario

They like their coffee too- Tim Hortons, Second Cup of Coffee, Coffee Culture, and of course Starbucks!



There is one of these in every little town. A Catholic Church. They are all beautiful and well kept.


St. Thomas has a lot of American "chains". Walmart is at the end of Main Street.


This town was my favorite- Chatham in Kent. About 100,000 people. Very quaint and sweet downtown on the Thames river. We met several "persons of peace" while walking the streets briefly on our way to Windsor. Again, same story. The churches are not reaching the young people.



Windsor, Ontario is a nice city of around 220,000 people. We visited with the Director of Missions and the Missions director from the Michigan Baptist Convention. They drove over to Windsor to meet with us and to probe the area a little with Roger. The kids and I drove through the neighborhood below- it's called Ottawa Street and there are 2 Ukrainian Banks there and an Orthodox church.

Holy Toledo! Is that some cheap gas? Why yes, found in Toledo, Ohio!

We stopped in Fort Wayne, Indiana for the night on the way home. Fort Wayne- lovely town- who knew? We spent the morning at the Botanical Gardens, History Museum, and the Children's Science Center. It is really a nice town- reminded me a lot of Greenville, SC.

Isaiah loved the butterfly hut!

Sam did not love the creepy talking tree!

Emmie really can make friends wherever she goes!

We had a great trip. We made some really wonderful contacts and gained a lot of information on the state of the evangelical church in Southern Ontario. There is so much work to do there, but we are very encouraged by the show of support and interest throughout Clear Creek. It's a God sized job- can't wait to get started!

London, ON

We arrived in London, Ontario last night. 13 hours in the car, but a relatively easy trip. We traveled through Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana; Toledo, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan before entering Canada at Windsor, Ontario. I get really nervous at the border check- afraid I will say something weird or wrong! I played it cool this time, except when they asked us if we knew anyone in London and I shook my head no when Roger was saying yes! We decided later, that this is definitely the case- he knows the guys he's talked to there, but I don't! Checked into the hotel after eating at a double decker McDonalds- which the kids thought was really fun.



Cheap gas? I think not- that's $127.7 per liter! 4 Liters per gallon= $5+ per gallon! The dollar menu at McD's is $1.39! Everything here is a little more expensive. The US dollar and the Canadian dollar are at about even right now. The last time we went on mission to Canada, we could get 1/3 more for our dollar. Yikes! Needless to say, we are watching our budget very carefully and looking for deals.



Sam thought this was a funny picture....notice the sign! We stopped for Timbits (donut holes) between church services. Tim Horton's is like McD's in the US. There is one every 1/4 mile! They call it "Timmies". We used to eat at them in Maine after church- yummy soup and sandwiches to0.

We attended two church services this morning. They were very different from each other. The first one was at a large "mega" church that has 2300 people in attendance over the weekend. The service was well done, the building very nice, everything was very pleasant. Of course, we can't help but scope out things, and found it lacking in authenticity. No one greeted us. No one told us where the restrooms were (Nat!). No one pointed us to childcare (though we possessed an 18mo old). The service was smooth. The sermon nice. But that's just it! I'm not sure that Jesus was invited. The bible story (not even Jesus) was presented as a life additive.


Next, we worshiped at a multi-cultural worship service that was help in a secondary school. Much more authentic worship. Many cultures represented- 5 different African countries. Today they celebrated World Refugee Day because many of those present are refugees from their own countries. The Pastor/Elder leading this ministry has a real heart for these people. He told us that 20,000-30,000 people live within about a mile of the school where they are meeting! There are a lot of high rise apartments in the area. So, we enjoyed this experience much more. Isaiah didn't exactly blend in with the other kids!



After church, we went to the city center to walk around. There were a lot of people out and about. The weather was really nice and there were two festivals going on down there. We ended up eating at..... you guessed it- Subway!!! LOL!!! The best part was when the kids asked for American cheese and the young adults guys behind us made fun of us. the. whole.time.we.were.there. Roger talked with them and asked them to friend him on facebook. They were actually very nice!

Tomorrow, we are off to one of the outlying counties around London. We are headed into the areas where we have heard there are no churches. It will be interesting to see if that is true and to try to get a pulse for those communities.

O Canada!

Who knew? Well, I guess someone did, but I just found out! Can you believe that there is a 4 hour by 2 hour stretch of land in Southern Ontario, Canada that does not have a Southern Baptist church anywhere?! AND hardly an evangelical presence at all?! AND there are around 1 million people living in this area?!? WOW! I was (and still am) blown away that there is a place in North America within driving distance of my home that does not have enough churches to go around.

London, ON almost 450,000
80,000 university students

Sarnia, ON around 88,000

Chatham-Kent, ON 108,000

Not to mention the hundreds of towns in between!

Toronta, ON to Detroit, MI - no SBC churches!

You can find out more here: Canadian National Baptist Convention, Encounter Canada

Read this: Pushing Back the Darkness
These quotes are talking about the Greater Toronto Area. Other parts of Southern Ontario are worse off than Toronto.

"The GTA includes communities that are completely unengaged and unreached, meaning there is no evangelical presence at all."

Challenges in Canada
Canada has a “complete absence of a Christian subculture,” Blackaby said.

“On a typical work day, conversation about church, let alone Christ, you would not hear it. You would not expect to hear it. There’s not a natural predisposition within the general population that church is even a good thing.”

Blackaby said that in many areas witnessing and church planting begins not just with “breaking up the ground” but removing rocks, or those preconceived ideas about God and church, from under the ground. “You’re starting at a much earlier stage than you probably would in North Carolina.”

Many people in the targeted partnership area are two, even three, generations removed from any kind of real Christian experience.

They have no connection with the Bible, even the most familiar Bible stories, and are “disillusioned and disenfranchised,” Collison said. They have walked away completely from Christianity and the church. The gospel “needs to be lived out for them before it can be communicated verbally. It can be a fairly slow process of building relationships of trust and relationships of confidence,” Collison said.

We are very excited about our partnership with Canada at Clear Creek Association, and we are very hopeful that we can help! Roger and I have always had a special tenderness for Canada, and we can't wait to get started! Please pray for this area in Ontario- that Jesus name will be known!

Suspicion...

Products of our past, we act in ways that we never thought we would. A young woman showed herself at my door the other day. I opened the door a crack, then a little more. She wanted to know if we had any work for her friend. I said no, but call my husband. When I went in to write his number down for her, I closed the door behind me. Firmly. Without asking her in. Inside...out of the 95 degree heat.

Suspicion. I had allowed my actions to be ruled by my past experience. The unpleasant one where our house was broken into, and our stuff taken. My ring taken. So, instead of being ruled by love and by what Jesus would do, I failed.
I can't help think, what if she had been more than I thought. And even if she was mere mortal, she was more than I thought. Loved more by the Father than I allowed.

Next time...

Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

John 13:35
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Ephesians 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.