Once again, our Lord Jesus has shown that He is faithful in leading His Church. In every season, through every trial, He invites us to wait on Him and trust in Him. I am thankful for the people that He has raised up to serve with Hope Ministries in this season and for those that the Lord allowed us to serve.
It is a joy to serve together with Pastor Ken Lehman and Pam Halvorson as a staff team for Hope Ministries. I appreciate their character and wisdom in Christ. I continue to learn much from them as we serve together in this way. Thank you for your ongoing prayers for us and for those entrusted to our care as a part of CrossRoads Church.
Here is a collection of stories and insights from this past year.
Pastoral Care
Over the past year, I am thankful for the doors God has opened to sit with people and hear them share some of their story. In these pastoral care conversations, I have seen how Jesus leads the time together and highlights particular things from His word. There can be laughter and tears, often all in the same conversation. Each conversation is unique, but the presence of Jesus in these conversations is the constant. The Lord makes these times rich as He ministers to people through times of sharing, reading His Word, and prayer.
Prayer Ministries
Prayer Team members faithfully serve throughout the year bringing people’s prayer requests to Jesus. I am thankful for this dedicated team of praying people. On Sunday’s following the services, it is a privilege for us to get to hear what people share and then take what they share to Jesus in prayer. One of the prayer team members, Fanie Van Heerden, writes, “It is always a privilege and pleasure to pray with and for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel that it is not only helping the person I pray with, but also strengthening my walk with my Creator.” Fanie has also expressed his heart to mentor young people as a part of the prayer team on Sunday’s and I would love to see this happen more in the year ahead amongst prayer team members.
With prayer team, we have started to use follow-up cards as another way to invite people to provide updates with us beyond Sunday according to how the Lord leads them. I am thankful for the connections that the Lord has brought this past year and being able to hear more about His ongoing work in people’s lives.
On behalf of our team, Pam Halvorson faithfully relays online prayer requests to the Prayer Team throughout the week. The Lord has allowed us to have some valuable connections with people in this way and opportunities to share encouragement with them in Jesus’ name. We have been looking at ways to grow in being more intentional with using the CrossRoads website. We truly appreciate the insights of the Communications Team here at CrossRoads and all the work that they do.
We are thankful for Matt and Hannah Dissen who, together with a dedicated team of people who pray, have served many people over this past year through Prayer for Inner Healing and Deliverance. As Matt and Hannah have shared, those who serve with this team seek to lead others in, “… drawing on the healing power of Jesus to see their hearts restored back to the Father so that they can walk in freedom and fullness of life.”
Since this past January, as a part of Community Life at CrossRoads, there have been two new courses facilitated on alternating weeks by prayer team members, Olga Chintea and Hannah Dissen. Olga has facilitated the course, Deeper which focuses on learning to hear from God for ourselves and others. Olga shares that, “Participants have been curious, excited, and hungry to hear from God and many have reported becoming more aware of God’s voice speaking to them during the week as well.”
GriefShare
In GriefShare over the past year, people shared their stories of lost loved ones and continued to process their grief in the presence of Jesus. In the fall season, Derek Tarling and Hetty Heaphy co-facilitated the 13 weeks of the group. In the winter season, Lynne Schneider and Derek served as co-facilitators. In both expressions of the group, I appreciated how the facilitators listened and intentionally asked questions according to the Holy Spirit’s leading. I would describe the group culture as one of warmth and safety. I am thankful for the doors that the Lord opened for group participants and facilitators to build connections with one another. Lynne, one of the facilitators shared, “GriefShare offers a safe place for the grieving to talk candidly about their pain & struggles. We often hear individuals say how relieved they are to be able to talk openly in a group where others understand what they are going through, because everyone in the room, including the facilitators, have experienced a significant loss as well, and there is comfort in knowing they are not alone on this journey of grief!”
DivorceCare
With DivorceCare, it was the second year of hosting this community here at CrossRoads, seeking to help people find care, support, and healing from the pain of separation or divorce. LeeAnne Tyerman and Ross Stuve co-facilitated the group over the summer and then Corey Giesbrecht and Lori-Anne Doerksen co-facilitated the next group in the fall. These leaders serve with competence, insight, and sensitivity to the needs of group participants. Corey has often commented how much he appreciates the value of the group interaction, people sharing their stories, and how the Holy Spirit leads this time. Corey shared recently how it is, “… about a group of people who are experiencing the same type of challenges and walking those challenges out, together.” Corey said that he experienced people find release of inner pain and shared how much he likes seeing the group lift one another up on a weekly basis.
Mental Health Hope Group
This past fall and into the early winter, Don Albers and I co-facilitated the second edition of the Mental Health Hope Group. I appreciated how participants felt free to share of their own stories and experiences in relation to the subject of anxiety. Jesus led the teaching and group interaction time. On more than one occasion, in relation to something that was shared or digging into Scripture, it was clear that the Lord was causing us to pause while speaking to our hearts by His Holy Spirit. Don shares, “As people engaged with each other, with God’s Word and with Jesus, they experienced God impact their lives.”
I appreciate how Don has developed and prepared the teaching content and tools for this course. Don writes, “There is much more to learn about ministering to those in places of mental and emotional distress. Our goal is to continue to press in and learn what works best for this type of ministry.” This material is immensely valuable and it was a privilege to see Don share an overview of it with the Single Mom’s community here at CrossRoads this past March.
Special Needs Community
Recently, Bev McNab and I began co-facilitating a Special Needs Community. I appreciate Bev’s heart for Jesus and her many years of experience in walking with people who have special needs. This is a group for those who have special needs or have a heart for people with special needs. For example, family members or those who work with people with special needs. We began meeting at CrossRoads on a monthly basis this past March and the group will meet until the end of August. It has been valuable to hear more of people’s stories as we meet together and see people encourage and support one another. After the group wraps up in August, we will pause and see what Jesus has planned for the year ahead.
CrossRoads Benevolence
As a part of her role as Administrative Assistant to Hope Ministries, my teammate, Pam Halvorson is the point person in the area of benevolence. Pam writes, “Assisting people who approach CrossRoads Church for help remains a ministry in which every individual is valued. No one, whether in person, on the phone or online, leaves their interaction with us without support or information to further find help for themselves.” I appreciate the care with which Pam has compiled and documented helpful resources available in Red Deer and the surrounding area. In Pam’s words, “After a brief chat & assessment of need, these resources, which may include pastoral care and/or community organizations that provide aid related to the individuals request, are given. Often, Hope Ministries staff lift persons to Jesus, with heartfelt prayer.”
Celebrate Recovery
by Vince Leckie
In January 2022, CrossRoads Church Celebrate Recovery celebrated its 13th anniversary.
Celebrate Recovery is a Christian 12 Step recovery program that helps those seeking healing from all kinds of life’s issues and hurts. This includes chemical addictions to drugs or alcohol, and it also includes additions to food, sex, gambling, shopping or other issues. We also have groups for Anger, Abuse and Codependency. People struggling with issues related to divorce, abandonment, depression and anxiety come and find a community that supports one another. By applying the eight recovery principles, based on the Beatitudes, and the Christ Centred 12 steps, those who follow this program will develop and strengthen their relationship with God and He will help them to recover.
Who can come to Celebrate Recovery? The answer is anyone — and everyone — who wants to bring Christ’s healing power into their life.
Celebrate Recovery happens every Friday night both at CrossRoads Church and online using Zoom. We have between 40-50 people who fairly consistently join in on Friday nights right now, either in-person or online. We have new people joining in-person through our Newcomer group. We have also had new people join our on-line group during this time, which has allowed us to expand our sphere of influence reaching the hurting and broken for Jesus.
We currently have an in-person ladies step study and an online ladies step study about to come to a close in June. We have both a men’s and a ladies in-person The Journey Begins step study starting in the last week of May. As participants complete their Step Studies, some are interested in joining the leadership group at Celebrate Recovery, and we have had new leaders join in the past year. Many of our participants also choose to get involved in service at CrossRoads.
For the families of our Central Alberta community we continue to offer our Children’s Program, Celebration Place, which we like to think of as precovery, and our teen program, The Landing, for our youth grades 7-12 / ages 12-18 interested in dealing with their own hurts, hang-ups and habits. Fabulous leaders in these programs bless us. Celebration Place continues to be a place that helps the younger family members learn the recovery principles at a young age so that they will be better suited to walk through negative life experiences. We have a large number of teens that attend the Landing to explore how to handle and work through the hurts of life. At this time we have no childcare for our 0-4 year-olds.
For the 2022 year, Celebrate Recovery’s 31st anniversary Summit is being held again in Texas and we’ll be attending on-line in order to stay up-to-date with the ministry’s current initiatives. We are hosting a watch party again this year at CrossRoads Church and will also be hosting other Central Alberta Celebrate Recovery ministries. This will be open to leaders and participants, pastors, and anyone new who might be interested in learning more about Celebrate Recovery. We hope to have a large number participate.
Pastor Dave has been a support and a blessing to Celebrate Recovery as he champions the ministry within the church leadership. Pastor Stu continues to be involved in our group and we’re very grateful for that. On behalf of the leaders and participants at Celebrate Recovery, I’d like to thank CrossRoads Church for their fantastic support of this ministry. People are being reached for Jesus and lives are being changed!
For more information, check out our webpage: crossroadschurch/celebrate recovery. If you need more information or want to contact someone directly, email cr@crossroadschurch.ca.
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Thank you for your time in reading these highlights from this past year. It is a joy to be a part of CrossRoads Church together with you.
Sincerely yours in Jesus on behalf of the Hope Ministries Team,
Pastor Dave
pamh@crossroadschurch.ca
