Upcoming Events & Prayer Requests

Upcoming Events

• IVCF Fall Fundraiser - Nov. 22
• National Staff Conference (Toronto) - Dec. 1-5
• AMMiC Planning Meeting - Dec.12
• Winter Conference - Dec. 27-31

Students & Campus

• Pray for our community as we continue to identify the fears that paralyze us from loving God and loving each other.
• Pray for the Executive Leaders as we learn what it means to be leading out of our brokenness
• Pray for the Small Group Leaders as they are trying to understand why they are leading small groups.
• Pray that we will have a base foundation of prayer and intercession as we continue to fulfill God's Mission on the SFU Campus.
• Pray that mine and Barron's funding will be fully funded by the end of this semester.
• Pray for the health of our community.  There has been a nasty virus going around and it's really affecting everyone.

Personal

• Pray for my growth as a leader and mentor.
• Pray for me as I continue to network and connect with other Churches in the Lower Mainland.
• Pray for the Inter-Generational Dialogue between 1st and 2nd Generation Chinese Pastors.
• Pray for mine & April's relationship in our marriage and a deeper understanding of God's Love for each other.  We have just crossed the One-Year mark in our marriage.  Pray for opportunities to be witnesses to our neighbors.
• Pray for more opportunities and clients for April in her field of work.
• Pray for our general finances.  We are asking God to allow us to break even each month.
• Pray for me that I will rest well during my Sabbaths.
• Pray for me that I will be exercising more regularly.
• Pray for my health as the has bee a really bad virus going around.

Praise Item

• Praise that Lord that despite the negatives happening that we still see fruit and light coming out of the negatives.
• Praise the Lord for mine and April's One-Year of Marriage.  We celebrated through a wonderful trip to Portland and the Coast.

Family, Food, and Mosquitoes

As I walked through an all-too familiar doorway, I was welcomed with the sweet smell of dad's home cooking.  As a family, we highly value hospitality and usually when people walk through our doors, they leave full.  This time it was no different.  Even though we had the company of all my uncles, aunts, and cousins on my mom's side (about 25) and in some cases up to 50 people, everyone still feasted on rice pot chicken wings, Chinese broccoli, home made BBQ pork, beef tenderloin, fish, sweet & sour salmon, ribs, and steak to their hearts content.   

Now, why would we be feeding 25+ people?  This trip to Regina was a bit special.  The celebration of my great grandmother's 100th birthday,  Along with that, to introduce my wife to my uncles, aunts, and cousins, and to celebrate with Saskatchewan friends who weren't able to make it out to our wedding.

The whole Family and Great Grandma.  Happy 100th Birthday!

Multiple celebrations were in order and with the company of family and friends, it made April and I feel really special and appreciated.  We are reminded that even though there are literally thousands of kilometers between us and our families, that they will always love us and care for us.  With my Regina friends, I know I am loved and appreciated and the acceptance of April into our friends circles, I am eternally grateful.  Finally, I want to give a shout-out to all the mosquitoes in Saskatchewan.  The MANY mosquito bites on April and I are enough for both of us to know that you also love us.  Can you do us a favour though?  Please love us less.  Thank you all for making our trip so memorable.

All the Cousins

Family doing all the prep and cooking for mine and April's Party

This is just the snacks...

The guests have arrived

Upcoming Events & Prayer Requests

Upcoming Events

• Student Leadership Training (SFU) - Sept. 1st
• Tabling at SFU - Sept. 2-4
• SFU Burnaby Clubs Days - Sept. 9-11
• SFU Surrey Clubs Days - Sept. 16-17
• Inter-Generational Dialogue - Sept. 25
• AMMiC Planning Meeting - Oct. 3

Students & Campus

• Pray for a good Student Leadership Training.  That our executive will catch onto the vision of IVCF.
• Pray for the community house over this fall.
• Pray for the Executive Leaders and Small Group Leaders Teams 
• Pray for all the Tabling and Clubs Days.
• Pray for an abundance of First Year interest.
• Pray for mine and Barron's funding that the rest of it will come over the summer.
• Pray for our President Catherine as she will be leading the community in the fall.

Personal

• Pray for my growth as a leader and mentor.
• Pray for me as I continue to network and connect with other Churches in the Lower Mainland.
• Pray for the Inter-Generational Dialogue between 1st and 2nd Generation Chinese Pastors.
• Pray for mine & April's relationship in our marriage.  We are coming up to our One-Year Anniversary soon.  Pray for opportunities to be witnesses to our neighbors.
• Pray for more opportunities and clients for April in her field of work.
• Pray for me that I will rest well during my Sabbaths.
• Pray for me that I will be exercising more regularly.
• Pray for my health.

Praise Item

• Praise that Lord for an Executive Team heading into this Fall Term.

Mark West Pacific Session 1

The Bible Studies

Imagine this:

At the end of April, students just finished a long year of countless hours of classes.  They just finished studying and writing their final exams and are worried if they have passed or not.  Some are worrying about finding summer jobs or figuring out what classes they need to take in the summer.  Then the students decide after all this stress, "I'm going to go and study half the gospel of Mark for 40 hours and pay $400 to do it."

Oh and did I mention that both Christians and Non-Christians do this?

For those of us who are used to working with youth in the church, it's hard enough to get our youth to be excited about studying scripture.  Some of us couldn't even pay our youth to study scripture.  So what is so different about Mark West and what is so intriguing about it that students would PAY money to go STUDY the Bible?

The Beautiful view on Thetis Island

 For me, this will be my 8th Mark West.  Over the duration of these year of participating, serving, and teaching at Mark West, I have had the joy and privilege of seeing hundreds of students changed and transformed by God's word through the study of the Gospel of Mark.  I have seen first-time commitments, baptisms, re-commitments, etc.  If you were to ask me why students would pay money to study the Bible, I would say first and foremost that the Holy Spirit has to be alive and active but the main reason why I have seen students choose to go is because of the community.  Now I understand that community is a big word and it can mean different things to others but in the IVCF situation, community is a considered a safe place for students to come and explore issues of faith and to be loved and accepted.

Mark II Track

This year, SFU brought a total of 21 students + 9 students and friends who were not at SFU.  If you compare it to last year when we brought 12 students + 7 students and friends who were not at SFU, it's quite a difference.  The difference in this though is not just in numbers but in the quality of our relationships.  Each of our executive team was choosing to be involved in the lives of our first years and other communities such as church, campus clubs, etc.  What I mean by being involved is seeking out genuine friendships with those who are different than us.  The simple act of studying, going to the gym, eating, grabbing coffee, walking, going to the movies, with classmates goes a long way.  Because of the hard work of building intentional relationships from our student leaders, over 20 students had an opportunity to have scripture change and transform their lives.

Some of our SFU Crew hanging out

The Dance Party

 

The Fun Activities

Some of the talent at the coffee house

Coffee House Art Display

 

Enjoying each others company

Worship Time

Wide Game

Schooool's Out for Summer!! Not for SFU...

Post Mark West Pacific BBQ for SFU Students

Did you know that SFU went from being a dream to registering for classes in just two years?  It is indeed a unique campus in a sense of the immediacy of it's birth and also along with it's Tri-mester system.  On average, universities have Fall & Winter/Spring Semesters while offering a few intensive courses over the summer.  However, at SFU, with it's Tri-mester system, along with the Fall & Winter Semesters, there is a full on Summer Term.  The expectations for students is to actually take classes year round.

So as Barron and I have been a part of IVCF's Global & Urban Partnerships (GUPs), we noticed that this is based out of the assumption of Universities not offering to many classes over the summer.  We realized that for SFU students, the risk of them doing a GUP was not just losing the summer and the financial opportunities, it could literally mean that they will be taking an additional year or years to complete their degree.

Knowing this, Barron and I decided to try something different.  Instead of doing a GUP this summer, we decided to do a full on Summer Semester.  It has only been a few weeks into the summer but already, we are seeing the benefits of having a Summer Fellowship.  It's giving Barron and I more opportunities to follow-up with students after students and also creating more options to hang out and build community.

Some of our hopes for this summer is to keep the students connected with the IVCF @ SFU community over the summer to build excitement for the Fall Semester, which in the past has been generally slow to start.  We also hope to build up an executive team and create excitement around small group leadership.

To prepare for all of this, we want to focus our Wednesday Night Discussion Nights on Cultural Awareness which includes:  Ethnicity, Gender, & Sexual Identity.  Hopefully students will start to become aware of their own cultural identity as well as the cultural difference around them.

Please be praying for the SFU community to be culture creators and culture changers in their workplaces and campus.

A Yuen Update

When April and I mention to people that we got married 6 months ago, one of the first responses we get are, "Oh you're in the honeymoon stage."  I just have to wonder about that statement because for April and I, we've been in conflict well pretty much since day one and continue to have a healthy dose of conflict at least one a week.  The thing is though, since we've worked through so much conflict during our dating and engagement time, we have established healthier ways to sort through disagreements.  We're not perfect though but it has been pretty nice to know that we have the tools to effectively work through conflict.

This year, April got to attend Mark West Pacific as part of the Prayer Ministry Team.  At first, she was skeptical and unsure of how things would turn out but as time went on and when Mark West Pacific came around, her view of prayer changed.  What she received was the constant movement of the Holy Spirit in students lives.  Student lives being challenged, changed, and transformed through scripture and her being directly involved in the intercession and prayer ministry.  It was indeed a breath of fresh air for both her and us as a couple.  We have been finding it so much fun to be serving together.

Shortly after Mark West Pacific, April and I audited a Marriage Enrichment course at Trinity Western.  It's nice because we only had to pay one fee since spouses can come for free!  Through this course, we were able to confirm some of the things we were doing well along with learning new models and perspectives of what a marriage could look like.  We learned useful tools such as Speaker-Listener to help with conflict resolution.  Towards the end of the class, we then received training in the Prepare Enrich Assessment.  With the increasing amount of relationships forming in our church and the number of students in the IVCF ministry getting into relationships, we are really excited to have this tool that we can do together for our friends and students around relationship building.

Upcoming Events & Prayer Requests

Upcoming Events

• Wednesday Night Discussion Meetings (Wednesdays)
• Street Talk (June 13)
• Campus Gathering (June 17-20)

Prayer Requests

Students & Campus

• Pray for continued follow-up for students who went to Mark West Pacific
• Pray for the Summer Fellowship and continued connection with students
• Pray for the community house over this summer.
• Pray for the upcoming executive and small group leaders in the fall
• Pray for mine and Barron's funding that the rest of it will come over the summer.
• Pray for Catherine as she will be leading the community in the fall.

Personal

• Pray for my growth as a leader and mentor.
• Pray for me as I continue to network and connect with other Churches in the Lower Mainland.
• Pray for the Inter-Generational Dialogue between 1st and 2nd Generation Chinese Pastors.
• Pray for mine & April's relationship in our new marriage.  Pray for opportunities to be witnesses to our neighbors.
• Pray for more opportunities and clients for April in her field of work.
• Pray for me that I will rest well during my Sabbaths.
• Pray for me that I will be exercising more regularly.
• Pray for my health.

Praise Item

• Our previous student President Lida has been accepted into Medical School!