Ignite Gap Year

Looking for an excuse to blog...

2007-03-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

SO! Last week was March Break camp, and now half the leaders have some form of cold or flu virus. Yay us. Including me - I've been coughing up a lung for over a week now. Should really get some replacement lungs...

ANYWAY!!!
We have the Project 1:17 guys visiting us from New York! Yay! So they get to hang with us, and do a heap of our community and church things for a week. I think they go home on Monday or something... We will be reciprocating their visit when we head down their way for a week later in the year :) Did that sentence make sense?

We FINALLY got our Ignite hoodies made up :) The first order is in, and they look okay, so yeah! We've only been trying to get THAT all sorted since November or so... If anyone wants to order one, I think they'll be putting pics up on a website somewhere, and they are $45 plus postage I think... BUY ONE!! They're cool :)

And we are all madly doing our saints assignment... or at least, I am... We got "two months" to do it in, but they also happened to be the busiest two months of the year, so really we got about a week total to do a 10-15 page assignment... WHY did I pick Luther, WHY??? I'm trying to get a sound understanding of the mechanics behind the protestant reformation AND find out about Luther's life, but the reformation is complicated, and noone seems to want to write books about Luther!!! Convenient!
MOVING ON...

OH! And it apparently reached 13 degrees today which is a full miracle - normal Brisbane (Australia) winter weather! Holy mackerel! I was walking around without my huge bulky jacket AND I wasn't freezing!!! But it rained and all the snow melted. Meh. Wasn't really any snow left anyway, just grotty looking ice...

And for me, it's just the usual - trying to figure out God's will for my life after Ignite. Yay. :)

So on that note, having appeased Fiona's hinting that I should blog, I shall continue my assignment...

Stephanie

The ultimate t-shirt

2006-12-28T14:54:00.000-08:00

Grace was supposed to blog the first half of this, but seeing as she piked, you get my awesome version of events :)

So, me Grace and Kingsley went to Kensington Market last...Monday I think, on our day off anyway, and we came across this t-shirt place with all these awesome t-shirts saying such random things as "Better life through Jesus" and "It's Jesus Time!" So, naturally, our thoughts sprang instantly to our exalted corps officers - we thought they'd love such witty and humorous slogans across their shirts... **insert choked laughter here...**

ANYWAY... Grace thought of it first :)

So after a long and involved search through various t-shirt shops, and dollar stores looking for shirts and fabric paint, I was on my way to relieve Grace from a kettle, when I walked past a place offering cheap prints on t-shirts. AND they sold t-shirts too. So I told Grace about it and on her way home she got the first shirt printed. (this one was Geoff's)

(this is the bit she should be telling)
So Grace goes into the store with the t-shirt, and tells the guy what she wants. Basically "I WORK FOR JESUS" in bold capitals. So the guy sets it up, gets all the letters and everything, and irons them onto the t-shirt with his fancy-schmancy iron on thingo.

Then he takes the shirt off said iron thingo to show to Grace. She looks at it:

"I WORK FOR JEJUS"

Grace: um...you spelt "Jesus" wrong
Dude at shop: I did?
**dude stares at shirt for a good 20 seconds**
Dude: oh yeah. That says "Jejus"

So the guy tells Grace to get another shirt and this time (with Grace watching his every move, lol) he prints it right. And keeps the Jejus shirt.

So the next day, I (Stephanie) go in to get Sandra's shirt printed, and having heard Grace's story about the illiterate print guy...watch his every move like a hawk, cos we got this t-shirt from another place, and can't go back to get another one. While I'm waiting for him to get organised, I look around the shop... and see the muffed up shirt from yesterday. The guy sees me looking (looking whilst suspiciously silent I might add...but he didn't know that...) and says, "Oh yeah, your friend probably told you about the shirt yesterday. I fixed it up though - we do stuff like that."
The guy is fully proud of his fix job, like, it's hanging in an aisle of the store and everything. Only now he got a patch with an "S" on it to fix up the "JEJUS" stuff-up of yesterday.

Now the shirt reads:

"I WORK FOR JSJUS"

**Grace and Steph are currently rolling on the floor laughing...**

No joke.

Grace comes in and whispers: "Does that shirt say "JSJUS"?"
Stephanie (whispers): "shutup shutup say it later..." (desperately trying not to look like I'm trying not to laugh)
Grace (whispers): "Did you tell him?"
Stephanie: "No WAY! He was fully proud of his fix job - he just finished showing it off!!!"
Grace then reiterates the need to double check Sandra's shirt. Because of my blatant perfectionism the guy then offers me a job, which I reluctantly decline... :)

This is a true story. It DIDN'T happen to a friend of a friend of ours, it happened to us!

And the t-shirt remains there to this day.

group blog numero 1

2006-12-22T06:02:00.000-08:00

grace: hi fiona.
steph: look, we're blogging.
grace: together!
**kingsley stares blankly at computer screen as if to say, "you guys are freaks."**
grace: anyway. we're blogging from our kitchen today because we have found very kind neighbours to share their internet connection with us. i love the christmas season.
steph: is this illegal?
grace: no, don't worry about it.
steph: we found some mouldy bread this morning. it was disgusting. yeah. i threw it out suprisingly...
grace: we're having a hard time finishing our groceries without our three other lovely roommates around.
steph: we have three tonnes of capsicum.
grace: and by that she means PEPPERS... ugh, australians.
steph: don't diss my culture? ancestry? country!
grace: too late.
**kingsley sings along to random boyband song**
kingsley: that's NOT a boyband song! that's babyface's brother, kevin edmunds.
grace: so... anyway... we're waiting for tara to come and do bible study with us. we're happy we're meeting at home because we don't have to change and look decent.
kingsley: i'm cleaning the kitchen cuz the girls aren't doing it.
steph: that's a load of garbage. and he only cleaned his saucepan from last night this morning. harrumph.
grace: ooh! tara's here! by the way, fiona, i broke curfew last night. i went to a party. sandra made me do it. steph passed out from exhaustion.

**intermission for bible study and team meeting with tara**

steph: that's because i was awake at quarter to five in the morning and didn't get to sleep till 10:45.
grace: i compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey.
steph: we're listening to kiss from a rose by seal...
grace: and other quality 90s hits...
steph: like gangsta's paradise. which i had in my head for some reason. woot.
grace: well tara has come and gone. what a lovely lady.
kingsley: guys... guess what. i went to the movies last night. don't tell fiona.
steph: we know.
grace: we already know. you saw "rocky."
kingsley (perplexed): how'd you know? who told you??
grace: don't worry about it. we know everything. go back to cleaning the stove. :)
kingsley: "quit playing games with my heart... my heart... my heart... baby..."
steph: he didn't sing that, you big fat liar! quit editing our words grace!!
grace: :D so as you can tell now that fiona's gone everybody here has been trying to make us break curfew. we're going to eat now. this has been a taste of daily life in the ignite house. bye now!

darling darling, christmas is coming

2006-12-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

waiting for the computer in our office to load so i thought i'd fit in a bonus blog. yesterday God was totally speaking to me through songs on the radio, and he actually spoke to me through this one avril lavigne song, no kidding!! i'm no avril fan--actually i used to be an anti-fan (back when i used to be a hater, lol)-- so it immediately made me think of a Bible study we had a while ago wherein we learned that Jesus often used taboo symbols (for Jewish culture) to make the point that good can come from what apparently seems "evil," and to do away with our tendency to see the world in distinct categories of good and evil. so yes, God spoke to me through an avril lavigne song, proving once again that all things can be redeemed for kingdom purposes, even trite pop songs.

better make it home for curfew, later!
grace

finally

2006-12-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

So are you guuys satisfy now that i started to blogg well i am the jamaican who is here to freeze in the winter cause in ja we dont have snow and geoff is making fun at me for that i dont know why

The best word in the English language...

2006-12-08T17:21:00.000-08:00

I bet you all think it's something all holy like, grace or emmanuel...or chocolate...

But NO! It's "UNDISPLACED"!!!
I had x-rays on Tuesday to see what was wrong with my thumb which I had hurt three and a half weeks ago. It was all swollen and immobile for a couple of weeks, but I thought I just jarred it until it took forever to stop hurting... So THEN I decided to get it checked out...

So I went to the emergency ward of the hospital to avoid having to wait forever... and they said it would cost me $400 for the privilege. Instead I went to a walk in clinic to get a refereral to an x-ray place. I went last Friday, and they said that the x-ray place wouldn't be open again till Monday. So I went back Monday, paid $65 and waited three hours to see the doctor for 5 mins and get a proper x-ray request ($65 for a piece of paper...). By then the x-ray place was shut AGAIN. So I went back on Tuesday to get my x-ray, and after the x-ray they said call your doctor back in 3 days. So I called at 12:10pm today, and they said the doctor wasn't in yet, call back at 1pm. Then I called back at 1:15pm, and they left me on hold for 20 mins till I had to hang up on them to go do kettles by 2pm.
FINALLY I called AGAIN at 6:30pm tonight...stayed on hold for 15 mins... and FINALLY got in touch with the doctor!!!!

And he says... I have fractured the bottom part of the lower bone in my right thumb (the metacarpal) BUT it's an UNDISPLACED fracture!!!!! Which means it hasn't moved out of alignment, and if I keep it splinted I don't need to come back in for a cast or whatever, it will heal okay by itself. Yay! Hence UNDISPLACED is the best word ever because it means I am finished with the doctors and I don't have to pay more to get my thumb fixed!!!!

Meanwhile, I should write something about Ignite... We are currently being urged to do a million kettle shifts each (at least 4 per week really) to try and fill up all the shifts that are currently NOT being filled... There are now outdoors ones too; honestly, some of the indoors ones are pretty cold as it is, now we get to freeze outside too :) But generally it's not too bad, if I'm not falling asleep on my feet...

Also there are the christmas party things that we need to attend or help out with - one this Saturday, one next Wednesday, and one next Saturday. Hmm. We're finishing up alot of our placements for the year (which gives us more time for kettles) and organising our weeks off at the start of January. At least, Grace is...

I think I'll buy some track pants. Jeans are cold by themselves...

Stephanie :)

emma

2006-12-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

emma - also known as 'the kiwi' - left us today. she had graced us with her presence over the last two weeks or so. we really loved having her around. she jumped straight into the life of a 614-er and an igniter - she is the 5th official person to call themselves the 4th igniter for the year. but definitely one of the most genuine.
anyway, we love her and will miss her happy face around the place, though she'll be back in may and then (hopefully) an igniter next year.

Fee

Stephanie says - Hang on, wasn't Joe saying she was from Austria...?

two australians, a jamaican, a canadian, a mexican and a tibetan monk went skating one night...

2006-12-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

... the start of a bad joke, or a night in the life of an igniter?? :)

As a long-time Torontonian, I sometimes take for granted the glorious diversity in my city. I forget that it's not like this everywhere; in fact, there are probably few other places in the world where so many diverse peoples coexist in relative peace. When I was in university we spent much time in my Canadian studies classes debating the pros and cons of Canada's policy of official multiculturalism. Is the Canadian ideal of the "cultural mosiac" (as opposed to America's "melting pot") realistic, does it actually exist, does it engender social cohesion or only perpetuate old tribal/ national antagonisms that immigrants bring with them? Does multiculturalism encourage meaningful cross-cultural engagement, or simply foster a consumeristic appreciation of "food and dance" aspects of culture without addressing the "heavy stuff"--politics, religion, etc.?

So yea, school got me cynical about multiculturalism policy. That's not to say I'm not, like many Torontonians, a cultural consumer. I love that I can eat cuisine from all over the world in this city: wicked papusas and empanadas in Kensington market, spicy tofu stew in Koreatown, pho and dim sum in Chinatown, great Indian food and sushi everywhere, and even Somali, Persian and Ethiopian. I don't think it's necessarily bad to be cultural consumers--it can lead to deeper levels of engagement and understanding, and opportunities to make new friends who don't look or think like me. But building a genuine, active peace across colours and cultures requires hard work and effort, something that "food and dance" notions of culture neglect. I don't know whether an official policy of multiculturalism is an aid or a hindrance to this peace, but I do know that the image of Canada as a multicultural utopia is more myth than reality. As far as racial reconciliation goes, the Church in this city have our work cut out for us.

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:26-28) To borrow Cpt. Geoff Ryan's terminology... I see this passage as prescriptive for the Church, for the simply fact that it is as yet definitely not descriptive.

Well that was a bit of a digression.
But I hope you enjoyed.
It's kettle season in Army land and life is good.
later!
grace

*for the record, our Tibetan friend couldn't make it to skating last night, but we did make two more Mexican friends :)

patience is a virtue

2006-11-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

wait, steph, you mean you didn't appreciate getting woken up at 9am?? i had no idea! ;) for the record, i had tons of fun shopping with steph, especially the 10 full minutes we spent at the meat cooler, deliberating whether to buy chicken on the bone because it was cheaper (of course we did, hello, it was cheaper!) and then deliberating how much bone we could handle. oy. hilarious.

so those who are at 614 will know this, but for our far-away readers (who are also far-OUT for checking our blog! yikes, i've picked up the awful art of punnery from our leadership development teacher:P): the technology here isn't exactly top-of-the-line. the internet connection is often hit-and-miss, computers are old, and most of the TVs, VCRs, computers and stereos lying around don't work. i suppose it's proof that at 614 we really do prioritize relationships over less important things, like fixing machinery. :) now, i'm no techno-nut, and i never thought bad technology would bring out my anger management issues, but i must confess that in the past couple of weeks dealing with the slow computers has pushed me close to my breaking point more than once. things that i think i could get done in x amount of time always take considerably longer because the connection is slower than what i've been used to from my university days. (interestingly enough, my university kept up to speed when it came to technology, but was not exactly a people-friendly institution....) as another example, today tim was helping me hook up a DVD player to a TV, but all the TV cables are nowhere to be found. needless to say all this has been patience-building, or at the very least, has shown me that the fruit of patience still needs to take root and grow in me.

now i have to drive to the supermarket for an errand. i'm usually a pretty contained driver and not given to road rage, but then again i haven't done too much downtown driving. we'll see how this goes :)

look fee, i'm blogging!
grace :)

LOOK I'm blogging, see? lots of blogging...

2006-11-13T11:08:00.000-08:00

Oi check it out! I'm actually blogging...
This is of course in direct response to Fiona sending us lots of emails saying BLOG guys BLOG, c'mon, you know you want to, everyone else is doing it... :)
So what have we been doing lately? This is going to be a really boring blog, cos I fully only woke up again like, 15 mins ago. Grace wakes me up to go grocery shopping at like, 9am this morning, depriving me of my sleep-in, so I'm trying to catch up on sleep by napping sporadically in between bouts of reading and eating. It's OK I'm allowed, it's my day off, and all the reading I've done so far has been bible stuff, so yeah.

ANYWAY! Yesterday was Sunday, and it was the week we go to the Korean corps (which we do every second week) and this week Sandra and Kim went with us, and Rob (who was preaching) I scored the lucky job of having to organise the prayer time (have I mentioned how much I suck at public speaking) which I think was a complete fiasco. Really I think it can only have been about three quarters as atrocious as I remember it being, because along with memories of my brain being disconnected from my mouth, I'm fairly certain I saw some people praying at some stage, so yeah...
Anyway, we had some awesome Korean food afterwards, and got back to the office only ten minutes later than we had wanted. Oh, and I blasted half the people in the car for not wearing seatbelts on the trip home. Not that they paid any attention...crazy Canadian drivers...

We helped pack the van for church, then went to Soldiers class where we discussed the ideas behind why we did certain things in our lives, like, how do we spend our money, why we dress the way we do, or eat the way we do, who do we spend time with and what do we do in our spare time? Are we doing these things in a specific way just because we are reacting to things? - My culture says I need to dress this kind of way to look good; or if I'm seen with those kind of people it will wreck my reputation etc. Or are we doing things intentionally to influence the people around us in a good way? - Speaking to people we normally wouldn't cos you can see they're alone and uncomfortable, and pretending they don't care; and maybe not pigging out on junk food and snacking whenever you want all day a) because it's not healthy, and b) because you could be modelling like good eating habits, or how to spend your grocery money etc., especially to kids (who are growing up on fast food...)

Yeah. Then we had our church and invited random people from there to come to our second B&B night (which was Brad Pitt and Brownies) and we watched Oceans Eleven and ate brownies. I reckon we need to find another time to do random social stuff. Because half the people was ask are like, "I'm busy" or "I have a Prayer Ministry meeting" or "I have a date"... SURE guys *snif* we know when we're not wanted :(
Or maybe it was the Boy Band music last time that turned people off...

Yes, I know I suck at blogging. I'll do better next time.
Stephanie :)

The New Ignite Team

2006-11-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

the new ignite team 06/07 is made up of three unique individuals. kingsley, grace and steph. they will all be blogging here over the next 10 months. hopefully they will give you some insights as to what ignite is all about as well as what they are learning!
hope you enjoy.

Fiona

What Matters Most?

2006-08-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

It's been two months since Ignite 2005/06 was disbanded and things have changed for all of us. Some Igniters find themselves back in downtown Toronto seeing what urban mission is like outside of the safety of Ignite, others are back home to work and save cash for school or whatever's next, still others have moved to new places and on to different things.

Personally, I find myself missing the days "forced" discipline. I miss having the built-in accountability 24-7 that challenged and encouraged me to get up early and read the Bible, spend time in prayer, to excercise and eat healthy, the encouragement and direction to engage in meaningful relationships and be a servant to those around me.

Life on my own is much more difficult.

At the beginning of our year together, back in September 2005, we sang a Billy Joel song, "Time to Remember" and though the team mocked the song and dreaded the sound of it after that (it was a song that just got stuck in our heads), it's message rings with truth for us today.

"This is the time to remember, for it will not last forever. These are the days to hold onto, 'cause we won't all though we'll want to. This is the time, but time is gonna change."

It was easy to moan and rail against having to be in our rooms by 11pm, or up at 3am for prayer, but these are the times I find myself missing most now. I have been realising what is really important in life. It was the things that matter most that I learned through Ignite.

Our days on this earth are limited. As the Psalmist wrote: "For we are like a breath of air; our days are like a passing shadow." (Ps. 144:4) But, we have a choice of what we want to do with them. We are only young once, and as Colonel Max Ryan once said, "It is not being old or even dying that I fear most, but being young and having done nothing."

So, if you have never taken the time to do a year on a program like Ignite, what are you waiting for? Carpe Dium! Seize the day! Don't let this time pass you bye. Your youth won't last forever; as the saying goes, why not "give a year to get a life?"

"Honor and enjoy your Creator while you're still young,
Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes,
Before your vision dims and the world blurs
And the winter years keep you close to the fire." (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

Free at last!

2006-06-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!"

Ignite 2005/06 is over and all have graduated and gone-on to greener pastures.

Some are at camp, some have gone home for a bit of a rest, others are still working-hard at 614 to help prepare for SAROOTS.

We may miss each other, we may not, but for now, we are all spreading our wings a bit and seeking some fresh wind.

Bethany in Williams Lake, BC

2006-05-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

Bethany is currently in Williams Lake, B.C for her mission trip. She is there with the Salvation Army under the leadership of Captains Rick and Diana Zelinsky. Bethany returns on July 5th and she sends this update of her trip so far...

Tuesday I went and helped out with cooking for a drop-in that they have. Joe, the Youth Pastor, can do a few card tricks and other illusions. He goes to the high schools sometimes and does these tricks in the cafeteria. I go with him sometimes to the different schools. It's surprisingly a great ministry! The kids, and well everyone, seem to love it!

Wednesday I went out to lunch with a really nice woman from the office. A lot of my down time when I'm at the office is spent hanging out in Joe's office with him, a girl named Fiona (she's really nice! very energetic!) and a guy named Alex, who is actually leaving on Monday. He's in a group called Katimavik. Katimavik is a group of people around my age or a bit older, and their program is a lot like Ignite, but it's not Christian. That is the main difference.

Thursday's I served breakfast in the drop in. The people that come into the drop in are pretty cool. I look forward to getting to know them. I ended up serving lunch too because some volunteers were sick.

Friday I was in charge of cooking the lunch for the drop in (about 40 people or so.) The people seemed to really like the soup I made, so that was great! Again I ended up serving lunch too because Alex was the only one there. Everyone else was late. Long story short, Fiona and I ended up cleaning and closing up the drop in when it was time. It was my "afternoon off" Oh well, I figured I'm here to work anyway! It doesn't take much effort to serve, and then I got to hang out after with people. I helped with Jr Youth in the evening. They did a game of The Amazing Race, (scavenger hunt around the church). Afterward Rick and Deana took me and Fiona out to see Mission Impossible III.

Today was pretty low key. I went to a Ladies lunch, and then went dirt biking in an open field with lots of jumps. I tried to ride a few times; once I managed to fall off and get a nice sized bump and bruise on my leg (Meh I'll live) and another time I somehow managed to do a donut, before falling off. Then I hopped on with Rick and he took me over some pretty nice jumps.

Classes

2006-05-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

"Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life." ~Henry L. Doherty

The Igniters are on a week of class right now. So far they have had great and inspirational teaching on Evangelism and Nehemiah from some of The Salvation Army's best instructors.
They are discovering that they still have old constructs and ideas that need to be broken-down, challenged, and figured-out anew for themselves. It's not enough to do things that way because "that's the way it's always been done."

So, this is a week of challenging, inspiring and deepening.

We are still awaiting the arrival of Elais and Maeva, who will be returning to us from their month-long placements. It will be great to have them around again.

We are at THQ for the week. Mixing and mingling with the folks here can be a fun and amusing adventure.

Myself and Bethany returned from our trip to Birmingham, Alabama, late Sunday night. We didn't have much time to adjust, as we were right in with Classes/Work Monday morning. For an update on our trip, check-out the Ignite Media Webpage: www.gennet.ca

Diminished Team

2006-04-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

Things around here feel very quiet with alot of people away for various trips.

Heather and Bethany are away representing the Media Unit in Birmingham, Alabama are there shooting a promotional video for the 614 down there.

Paul is away in London, England on his mission trip. He is there for the roots conference and then will be traveling around some of the neo churches.

Maeva and Elais continue their trips in Russia, and BC respectively and are returning soon.

Rob has even left the city to travel to Ottawa. He is 'handshaking' with the territorial commander on parliament hill, and meeting some important polititions(apparently)

So that leaves Jono, HP, Mike, Mark and Colin to hold the fort. Although diminished the boys left remaining are doing well and are stepping up their various relationships within their community.

So all and all, very soon people will be back and we will soldier on as a renewed and refreshed team.

Update from Russia - Maeva's placement

2006-04-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

Lately I have led the 1st prayer walk in one of the corps, it was really good, we didn't have that many people (5), but it's just the first time, sooo... I think they are exited about it because it is something they have never done before, so it is new.

I went to visit some kids in their "house", it was really a shock for me to see that: They live under a subway platform. It is 75 cm high and 2 meters long. The good thing is that they have electricity because of the subway, so they have a light, and a little electric stove to cook some soup. But it is still outside... There are 4 kids in that spot and one of them just turned 15. He is a little bit sick, he is small and skiny, with a little voice, and a boy's body. It broke my heart to leave him in that situation, but we can't really do anything, he doesn't have his documents anymore...

The day after, I went to a hospital for homeless people, same thing, it was really bad, it looked more like a prison than a hospital. There were fences everywhere around the hospital, the walls were falling down and the beds are metal with a tiny matrass and a blanket. It is really dirty and there are bugs running around. The patients smoke in the rooms and there are 10 to 15 in every room. The patients have to clean there own rooms so it is quite bad. We played some games with them, and then did a bible lesson, it was very good.

On Sunday for the street kids program, I led an art activity (the same one that I did at March Break camp) and they loved it. It was really good to see these 40 kids painting together and they did some amazing things.

The people I live with (Maureen, Katya, and Igor) are really cool, we have a lot of really deep conversations about God, about the Army, about life, and about our future ... It is good ...

I gave my testimony at church last week, and the officer asked me to give it again on good friday meeting but with a subject : carrying your cross ...

So as you see I don't have time to get borred, it is really intense and interresting.
With Joy

Maeva is currently on her placemnet in Moscow Russia. She left on March 31st and returns May 5th after a week with her family in Paris

New Website

2006-04-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all...

Well as the saying goes 'with the kids away, the parents will play.'

At least this time it is the Igniters who are away for there week off and the staff who are playing...well, I guess we actually missed out on that.

Some hard work has gone into the re-image of the Ignite Web site,
so check it out

A big thank you to Tim from Fewster Publications for putting the site togetehr for us.

Hope to see some of you in September,

Rest?

2006-04-04T04:52:00.000-07:00

The Igniters are on their week off-well, some of them.

Elais is in B.C. on a "practicum" and Maeva is in Russia on hers.
One lucky duck, Mark, gets to spend the week in sunny Bermuda.
Colin and Bethany also have gone home to be with family for the week.
Paul and Mike are still kicking-around Toronto, eating pizza and watching movies.

Rob, Heather Power and Jono are at THQ today blessing them with their presence.

And me? Well, I get to spend the morning organizing some things, and the afternoon working in our community's Peace Garden with some pretty amazing and wonderful "Dreamers." ("The Dreamers" are a group of ladies who have lost family/sons to street violence and are trying to make a difference).

Hopefully, everyone will return from this week rested, refreshed and ready to go!

Hope

2006-03-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

"Hope is believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change." (Jim Wallis)

Hope is a powerful word.

The presence of hope brings about positive transformation, while the absence of it breeds devastation.

This past week, the Ignite Media Unit completed a project we've been working on for the past month (Congratulations, team!). We had been asked to create a Promotional Video for 614 Toronto. For the background track we chose the song "Hope" by Faith Evans and Twista Feat.
There was something interestingly endearing about the video, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
As I spent hours staring at the computer screen, during the editing process, seeing the familiar faces over and over again, it began to sink-in for me.

In everything, there was a sincere presence of Hope.

Where, five years ago, there would have been devastation and despair, I was witnessing how that has been transformed into hope and joy.

We, on the Media Unit, are pleased with our project. But, we are even more impressed with what God has accomplished in five years here, in Regent Park and now, St. Jamestown.

Watching the video, I realized that the "evidence" of hopelessness has been changed into a reality of hope.

The end of camp, the start of recovery

2006-03-21T06:44:00.000-08:00

With March break over, and everyone back to school (sorry college students), the team are in in a state of recovery. Long days with kids and winter have combined to leave a few of the team a little under the weather, we hope they are able to recover quickly.

This week is back to regular programing for most the team.

Final week for ordering your Ignote hoodie for this year, talk to one of the team if you are interested.

Mark arrives back from the US on Wednesday (YAY!)

Also our website update is nearly completed and ready to launch. Look out for the new look at the end of the month

Until next time, .....

2006-03-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

This week marks the final week before our March Break Kids Camp. The annual event at Camp Wabana is run by 614 and most of the Ignite team is involved.

We leave Sunday night after church for two 3-day camps. Returning the following Saturday.

Mike gets back from Australia today after his mission trip, while Mark continues to serve in Atlanta where he is currently on mission.

A few of the team have been sick, so please pray for heath and stregnth to carry on.

Ignite 2005/06

2006-03-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

This year's team is truly international.

France, Bermuda, Australia, New Zealand, Canada.... a truly international expression.

With 4 months left in this years program what will become of them after Ignite is finished?

The potential and options seem almost limitless and world changing.

The best is yet to come!