More Baptisms at Grace Fellowship Church!

This Sunday will, Lord willing, be another highlight reel in the life of Grace Fellowship Church. We are having a baptism service in the evening where three will publicly proclaim their faith in the Lord by following Him into the waters of baptism. Baptisms are always wonderful, but this one is a little more special as I am scheduled to baptize my mom.

It is one of the great privileges of my ministry to have much of my family a part of our church. What is an absolute delight for me is to watch the Lord work in their hearts independent of me – it is a joy that is hard to explain.

Anyway, please pray for my mom and Tom and Peter who will all give testimony to the Lord’s saving work in their lives, then be baptized at the local pool. We will meet at Timothy Christian School for the first part of our service then make the one block pilgrimage to the pool. (I love baptisms in the pool! It is about as public as you can get in snow-covered Toronto!! Speaking of which, I just looked outside and it is starting up again! Another couple of inches with freezing rain to add to the two feet on the ground!!)

After the baptisms, we will head back to TCS for time in the Word and a glorious season of praise to God in song. Pray that God will use the testimonies of the three and the preaching of His Word to bring even more souls to Himself!

The Lord continues to bless our church. We are undeserving.

Keeping to the Centre: Spurgeon on How Paul Evangelized Lydia of Thyatira

He might have been so interested in his enquiries about Thyatira as to forget to speak of the way to the city of light. A dozen subjects might have claimed attention, if his heart had not been set upon one object. He could have spoken of his journeys, and even of his plans, without actually preaching Christ to her. He might have spoken about the gospel, as I fear we often do, and not have spoken the gospel itself. Some sermons which I have heard, though faultlessly orthodox, have contained nothing that could convert anybody; for there has been nothing to touch the conscience or heart. Others, though very clever and profound, have had no possible bearing on the needs of the hearers; and so it was little wonder that they were without result. But I am sure Paul's talk would aim straight at the center of the target: it was evidently addressed to the heart, for we are told that it was with the heart Lydia heard it. After all, it is not our most orderly discourses, nor our aptest illustrations, which bring people to Christ; but some little sentence which is slipped in unawares, or some burning word which comes straight out of our own heart's experience. There would be sure to be many such that day in that earnest simple talk by the river side. Let us multiply such conversations, if we would win more Lydias for the church.

Registration Almost Full!!!

Still thinking about attending the Worship in Song Conference on March 1^st? You had better think fast, as there are only 14 spots left before we cap registrations! You can register today by sending an email to julian[at]gfcto[dot]com. Include your full name and put "Worship in Song Registration" in the subject line.

We will begin a waiting list once we reach our limit. If there is a considerable number on the list we are open to changing venues, so keep an eye here and in your inbox to verify things closer to the date.

A Special Need for Special Needs

Imagine dashing to the hospital with your wife in order to deliver your first baby! You get checked in, everything is going well, the baby arrives... and a look passes over the doctor’s face. You don’t know what he sees, but in an instant you know your life has changed.

The medical community calls it an “accident of nature” or a genetic disorder – you learn to call it by whatever particular name it has been given. “It” changes your child. He is never going to be “normal” and neither is your life. You begin to learn words you had never heard of before and doctors and hospitals seem to be your best friends. Along the way, little dreams die – I guess we will never do “that” together... I suppose it will always be like “this.” And with each realization the door to despair cracks open a little wider.

You are a Christian parent and trust that in God’s good providence, He will provide you with all the resources you need in Christ and through His church. But life under the sun proves the church may not be quite on top of serving parents like you. They have never had to deal with a small intelligence in a large body or a medical fragility that requires nearly 24 hour a day care. They don’t understand.

Then days turn into years. Moments of joy and grace pop up all the time, but so do seasons of fatigue and feeling overwhelmed. Mostly, there is that gnawing frustration of no one seeming to understand. “If people just knew what this was like they would...” and we fill in our own blanks.

Such is the life of many parents of children with special needs. That is why I love and endorse and do all I can to serve The Elisha Foundation.

TEF exists to serve parents of kids with special needs – and it does so in the best of ways. Every year, they hold one or two family retreats. These parents are invited to bring their families for a few days of peace as a team of volunteers cares for their special needs child and the rest of their kids.

While the kids are being ably cared for, mom and dad are being ministered to. The TEF folks bring in volunteers to lead worship (imagine half an hour of uninterrupted corporate singing!), preach, provide meals, consult on educational, governmental and financial issues and even things like a relaxing manicure for mom! Three days of respite. For some parents, the first such break in many years. Yes, years.

I will be in Oregon again this year to serve these families. And I wanted to offer you an opportunity to do the same. I realize there are one thousand worthy charities hoping for your money, but if you can relate a little to what I describe above, perhaps you would consider supporting TEF? Besides all the hard work of an army of volunteers, they need money to make this happen. Donations can be made via the website – just have your VISA or MasterCard ready.

Worship in Song Conference! (March 1, 2008)

[UPDATE: Registrations nearly doubled overnight since this posting. Please do be sure to sign up soon if you hope to come!!]



The details of this year's Worship in Song Conference are really starting to come together nicely. I am expecting this to be a great time together.

One of the things we are trying at this conference is a series of workshops for all the different folks involved in leading other worshippers. You need to come with your ideas since we want these times to be a pooling of great ideas and the application of Truth.

The registrations are beginning to take off - so if you are planning to come, please get us your name ASAP. We plan to limit enrollment to 80 people.

WorshipGod08 Conference | Every other year worship conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries and Bob Kauflin

WorshipGod08 Conference | Every other year worship conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries and Bob Kauflin

Getting set for our own conference on how to lead corporate worship (March 1, 2008 at Timothy Christian School), I was thrilled to see that Worship God '08 opened up its site for registrations today. I cannot commend this conference to you highly enough!

Forests, Dog Attacks and Discernment

I have been enjoying Tom Brown Jr.’s 1978 book, The Tracker. In it, Brown chronicles his childhood development into an amazing tracker and survivalist. So far, I have read about dog attacks, cabin building, spending days alone in the wilderness, finding lost persons, walking through snowstorms in summer clothes... and all this by age twelve!

One of the principles Brown stresses throughout the book, is that a tracker must spend endless hours observing the forest in its normal routine. In fact, for what others might attribute as some kind of “sixth sense” of approaching danger, Brown has a much more logical explanation. He suggests that when you are so familiar with the rhythm and flow of the forest, you will be quick to notice when some things are missing. Knowing what it should be like enhances your awareness of what is missing or out of place.

For instance, after his first dog attack he writes, “I should have noticed when the birds stopped singing that something tense was going on.” The “something tense” was getting stalked by a near-rabid wild dog!

The same holds true in our Christian life. The more familiar we are with the warp and woof of Scripture, the more quickly our mind will discern teachings that do not line up with the Word. The grade 6 educated Grandma in the back pew may spot a false prophet much faster than anyone else because of this developed “sixth sense.” Although she cannot explain all the terms and complexities of say, postmodernism’s epistemology, she can “just tell” that guys like Brian McLaren are not teaching what the Bible says. Most of what they say does not sing in harmony with what she knows to be true... and she rightly withdraws. She does not know what the error is, but “the forest tells her” that something is wrong.

Are you a person of the Book? Are you reading your Bible enough that it informs your thoughts and frames your understanding to the point that discerning error is less consideration and more reaction? Do you own the Scriptures so that your heart is set free to worship as the Word is ably expounded?

We need to become Word-trackers! Tracing out God’s remarkable story of redemption from start to finish and glorying in Him at every stop along the way.

Dr. D. A. Carson Toronto Itinerary

Ian has put together a great list of where Don Carson will be preaching next week.

Ruminations By The Lake: Don Carson - Spiritual Life Conference

Just a reminder for those who can make it: GO TO THE TORONTO SPIRITUAL LIFE CONFERENCE THIS YEAR!!! D. A. Carson is the keynote speaker - well worth the price of the ticket (free).

Also, Carson will be speaking at the January Sovereign Grace Pastor's Fellowship (aka. FRPS) on the Monday at 10am. The pastors meet at Thistletown Baptist Church on Kipling, near Albion.

On Tuesday he will be speaking at Tyndale College for their chapel service (don't know the details).

On Wednesday he will be at Toronto Baptist Seminary speaking in our chapel at 11:15am. We're at Jarvis and Gerrard in downtown Toronto.

So next week is definitely a Carson week. Make it worthwhile!

Great Idea for Special Needs!

A job to look forward to | Further | EducationGuardian.co.uk:

"Special needs teachers can sometimes wonder what is the point of the work they do. They spend years providing students who have learning difficulties with the life skills to go out and find paid employment, only for them to end up in day-care centres or at home.

Sharon Gould and Jenny Carr felt like that. Both lecturers at Havering College in Essex, they felt nothing but frustration at seeing their hard work lead to nothing productive for their students.

So, two years ago, they set up the Rose project, designed to find jobs for their students with local employers. Now, it is growing beyond their wildest expectations. Forty students have found jobs with more than 20 local employers in a project that has had senior politicians beating a path to their door to find out more."

Hey, Preacher! The Next Time You Think About Illustrating... with Yourself...

Brian Regan

"I Walked on the Moon!"