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Agape Love

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Agape Love

“ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35

Coming out of the pandemic restrictions, and the disagreements within the congregation as to how we should have navigated it all, the Lord pressed one thing on me. Love.

Now it is easy to say “love your congregation”, but as we know love – agape – means spending yourself for others. So I’ve spent the last two years asking God to make me more loving. When you pray for that, believe me, God is going to stretch and test you in all kinds of ways! However if the supernatural agape love of God is “the greatest of these”, then it is well worth pursuing – no matter how costly. Jesus’ love as demonstrated by the cross is the only answer for our divided world, and it was the only answer for our congregation.

As I deliberately sought God’s love more and more, the congregation responded. They too sought the same. Disagreements were reconciled, people became more willing to serve one another, unity and community were slowly but steadily restored.

So much so that this winter our wee little church put on a free community breakfast every Sunday for 8 straight weeks. We invited the entire town, free of charge. Our congregation cooked, served and cleaned. We wanted to embody an example of God’s free love to us all. So coffee, eggs, sausages and toast were the medium. Single moms, low income families, lonely skiers and snowboarders from all around the world came and experienced a little taste of agape, many staying for the service to feed their souls too.

Instead of new strategies and improved media, we just tried to love one another better.  We still have a long way to go!

-Rev. George Brodie, Revelstoke Alliance Church

Carmen Kinniburgh

District Children’s Ministry Partner

Children’s ministry involves developing leaders, discipling children and families, exercising creativity, with an emphasis on fun and building relationships that help others to experience God’s love as they are loved by people who know God’s love. Carmen has served in children’s ministries as a volunteer, coordinator, curriculum writer, camp speaker, and pastor. Her desire in ministry and life is to help others (whether they be children, youth, or adults) to hear God’s voice and to experience the freedom and fullness of love found in knowing Jesus and living kingdom lives. Whether your children’s ministry is led by volunteers or a pastoral leader, Carmen would love to connect, build networks, support, resource, pray with, and provide care in whatever areas are needed.

Carmen lives in Vernon with her husband, Jeremy, and their two teenage kids. She loves playing soccer, hiking, camping, and theatre. She and Jeremy have founded two new ministries called Threshold Initiatives and Contributing Pastor.

Terry Ann Opperman

Official Worker

David has served at Lakewood Alliance Church since the fall of 2002, first as an associate, then as Lead Pastor starting in November 2005. David has been on various committees including DEXCOM, District Nominating Committee, a few General Assembly Committees, and the Rules Committee for District Conference. David has an interest in church governance and seeing healthy leaders serving on healthy boards in order to better equip and serve the church.

David and Tara are in the process of launching their three young adult sons and enjoy seeing the trajectories their lives are taking. David enjoys woodwork and getting out cross-country skiing in the winter.

Steve Schneider

Lay Person

Steve is a layperson and a member of Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey. He has been married to his wife Brenda since 1984. They have two adult daughters. He is an engineer by background and holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University. He works in the paper industry and is also the President of SGS Consulting Ltd. He has recently become a licensed worker in the CPD.

Steve has served in varied ways over the years but has more recently been focussed on church board work. He served on his first church board 36 years ago. Since that time, he has served on four different church boards and the District Executive Committee of the CPD. Over the last 12 years Steve has actively been teaching and consulting with church and not-for-profit boards within and outside of The Alliance Canada to help them develop healthy governance practices.

Keith Cheung

English Lead Pastor at Burnaby Alliance Church

Keith was also an active member at Westside Calgary Chinese Alliance Church before moving to Vancouver to begin full-time pastoral ministry. After a brief stint pastoring in a church from another denomination, Keith began serving as the English Lead Pastor at Burnaby Alliance Church in 2017 where he continues to serve today.

Keith is married to Cecelia (20 years this year!) and they are raising 2 beautiful daughters (11 and 6) who they adopted from Taiwan and Korea respectively. He loves, in no particular order, cooking and eating and conversations, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, road cycling, family reunions, and good movies and music.

Carol Goh

District Chaplains Committee Chair

carol@mycac.ca

Carol Goh has chaired the District Chaplains Committee and served on the Association for Alliance Chaplains (AAC) National Committee since 2018. She completed her Masters degree in Chaplaincy in Spiritual Care from Trinity Western Seminary and is the Neighborhood Chaplain and Pastor for Seniors at Chilliwack Alliance. As a chaplain, Carol invests in the neighborhood (parish) around the church through connecting with those who live, work, and go to school there. She intentionally supports the local public elementary school and other local organizations so that together they can weave together the fabric of care for the inhabitants. The Goh household includes her husband Andrew, their three teenage sons, Andrew’s mother, and their golden doodle.

David Driedger

Board Leadership Training Partner

dave@lakewoodalliance.com

David has served at Lakewood Alliance Church since the fall of 2002, first as an associate, then as Lead Pastor starting in November 2005. David has been on various committees including DEXCOM, District Nominating Committee, a few General Assembly Committees, and the Rules Committee for District Conference. David has an interest in church governance and seeing healthy leaders serving on healthy boards in order to better equip and serve the church.

David and Tara are in the process of launching their three young adult sons and enjoy seeing the trajectories their lives are taking. David enjoys woodwork and getting out cross-country skiing in the winter.

Daren Wride

Transitional Pastors Network Coordinator

dwride@shaw.ca

Daren Wride has been serving in transitional roles since 2011. He has been on the ground as Transitional Pastor in multiple churches around the province and has engaged as a Transitional Coach with several other churches. Prior to his transitional work, Daren pastored three churches in Alberta and BC for a total of nearly 20 years. Daren has also spent time in the professional speaking and internet marketing worlds and usually has a related project on the go.

Geoff Stewart

District Youth Ministry Partner

geoffs@peaceportalalliance.com

Youth ministry is among the most demanding ministries in the church from a relational standpoint, serving young people who are defining the ever changing culture we live in. Leading in youth ministry is best not done alone, and Geoff desires to help our youth pastors serve and encourage one another through the sharing of resources, wisdom, experience, and perspective. In the ever-changing world of today’s high school student, it is vital for us as youth pastors to be changing with them to understand the world they are navigating and share with them the life changing truth of the Gospel.

Geoff has been a youth pastor for 6 years at Peace Portal Alliance Church and volunteered for 10 years before that in the same church. He is passionate about seeing young people transformed by Jesus and becoming leaders in their school and community. He and his wife Lavonne live in South Surrey with their cats Norman and Puff Daddy.

Andy Lambkin

Team Lead - Property Development & Nest Housing Society

andy.lambkin@gmail.com

Andy wears two hats in the Canadian Pacific District. He serves as our New Venture implementer, helping new communities of faith emerge across our province, and he also leads the Nest housing Society, a non-profit affordable housing society working with local churches to utilize their land for social good while fulfilling critical ministry priorities. If you have questions about either of these areas, please reach out.

Personally, Andy is married to Jolie and they have four kids. Residing in North Vancouver, they call simplechurches, a network of house churches, their church home.

Carmen Kinniburgh

District Children’s Ministry Partner

cekinniburgh@gmail.com

Children’s ministry involves developing leaders, discipling children and families, exercising creativity, with an emphasis on fun and building relationships that help others to experience God’s love as they are loved by people who know God’s love. Carmen has served in children’s ministries as a volunteer, coordinator, curriculum writer, camp speaker, and pastor. Her desire in ministry and life is to help others (whether they be children, youth, or adults) to hear God’s voice and to experience the freedom and fullness of love found in knowing Jesus and living kingdom lives. Whether your children’s ministry is led by volunteers or a pastoral leader, Carmen would love to connect, build networks, support, resource, pray with, and provide care in whatever areas are needed.

Carmen lives in Vernon with her husband, Jeremy, and their two teenage kids. She loves playing soccer, hiking, camping, and theatre. She and Jeremy have founded two new ministries called Threshold Initiatives and Contributing Pastor.