A sincere laugh, by its very nature, is from something that catches us off guard. A punchline should be surprising in that way. But sometimes the laugh comes not from having your funny bone tickled, but from sheer audacity. Those "you gotta be kidding me" moments. The laugh when someone predicts or even pulls off the seemingly impossible. Turns out God LOVES pulling off those "you gotta be kidding me" moments. Join us for the Laugh of Disbelief ..read more

We don't typically associate "laughter" with God, Jesus and the Bible. Maybe that's our first blindspot - ascribing maximum solemnity to the God who created joy, humour and ROFL moments. We'll look at the humour of Jesus (even when you might not have known He was telling jokes). It might radically change the way you view Jesus and His teaching. We’ll dive into every instance and mention of the word "laughter" in the Bible. Even the laugh you definitely don't want to hear ..read more

We may notice subtle shifts in the acceptance of Christianity in Canada, but it's not the same category of what the majority-world Christian faces. 317 million Christians worldwide currently face "very high" or "extreme" levels of persecution. Tomorrow we have a unique service planned for you as our friends from Open Doors Canada, the organization begun by Brother Lawrence, will be presenting the incredible stories of faithful believers in North Korea and around the world who are choosing to follow Jesus no matter the cost. You won't want to miss it! opendoorscanada.org ..read more

Welcome to the Family. As we come to the finale of this series, there's one more piece that might just be game-changer for you. Indeed "God sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6) and He does this in various ways, but the most significant is the adoption of His Children into a new Spiritual Family. You are not an orphan. You are not alone. You are not un-parented. You. Are. Adopted ..read more

THE POWER OF A BLESSING The subtitle of this series has been "Breaking generational patterns of dysfunction" but another way of putting it might be "Breaking the generational curse" I'm not necessarily talking about witchcraft or that sort of thing, but many of you have in essence had curses spoken over you in your upbringing. Lies about your identity and destiny. What is the antidote to a curse? It's the power of a BLESSING ..read more

The Way Forward It's time in this series to get serious about breaking the patterns of generational dysfunction. I believe God is asking us to play a role in our own healing. There are steps forward - steps AWAY from our unhealthy past that we can take, but it will require some courage. Courage to LEAVE, to OWN, and to CREATE ..read more

"I can forgive my Mom for what she did, but I will NEVER forget the hurt she caused" That sentiment sounds about right to me. It sounds righteous and just. There are even times in our history when it has been noble to say "Never Forget" What IF there are times when it is MOST healing... MOST righteous to actually forget? Are there times when even the God of the universe - the one who promises that He will not forget us - actually CHOOSES to forget? Are there times we ought to as well ..read more

The Bible speaks about the "sins of the fathers" being visited upon their children. What has our family of origin done to us? Are we doomed to repeat those same "sins"? How can we break generational patterns of dysfunction? This week begins the HOW part of the series.. You may not like the prescription the Bible offers, but it's one we all need to hear! #siblings #parenting #parents #forgiveness ..read more

We promised a Part 2 that included some practical, wise steps to begin getting our finances under control - and those will certainly be part of this Sunday's presentation - but practical steps without a realignment of mindset... without a restructuring of our PRIORITIES won't be enough for the kind of financial freedom we're talking about. So be prepared to be challenged, and God-willing, be prepared to be set free from a toxic relationship with money ..read more

The most recent Canadian stats say that 47% of you who open this email are living paycheque to paycheque AND a great deal of your disposable income is going to consumer debt. That means for half of you, if for some reason you lose your job, you're facing real trouble. Whether we got this way from our bad decisions or circumstances beyond our control, we want you to know there is hope and there is help, and in this practical series you may just find both ..read more