I was tagged by Mike to post the first 10 Songs that showed up in my Ipod shuffle list – I thought I would go one step further and post the top 20….here they are:

1. “Holy Is The Lord” – Chris Tomlin
2. “Send Your Mind” – Van Morrison
3. “Elanor Rigby” – The Fray
4. “Hello Again” – Dave Matthews Band
5. “There Will Never Be Another Tonight” – Bryan Adams
6. “We Will Bow” – Brian Doerksen
7. “Walking Away” – Lifehouse
8. “Free” – Delirious?
9. “Cannot say enough” – Mercyme
10. “Sky is Falling” – Lifehouse
11. “Great Provider” – BNL
12. “If God Will Send His Angels” – U2
13. “How Great” – David Crowder Band
14. “Trying to Throw Your Arms Around” – U2
15. “Thank You for Hearing Me” – David Crowder Band
16. “He is Yahweh” – Vineyard Canada
17. “Lord, We Turn” – David Ruis
18. “Stealing Time” – Delirious?
19. “Mission” – Chris Cornell
20. “This Love” – Maroon 5

About a month ago I was given the phone by my my wife with the words: “The Police are asking for you?” I thought she was joking until I talked to the person on the other end. She informed me that they (the RCMP) had a subpoena for my at the police station. I have watched enough TV to know a subpoena had something to do with court, but not enough real knowledge to understand exactly what it meant. I asked for more information, which the lady was happy to provide, including the name of the accused (not me), court date and offense. I did the detective work in my head and realized that the trial had to do with our van being stolen about a year ago (see this link for the post I did about it) and I was being called as a witness.

Well, the trail date finally came and after the confusing gong show of finding parking, going through security and finding the courtroom, I was really to testify. Seriously…it was confusing…there was no one there to help (even the information desk was frustratingly empty), but after tracking down someone who didn’t look like a criminal, I got instructions and I was off to court.

I was lucky enough to meet the prosecutor at the courtroom doors and she gave me the “low down.” She also introduced me to the two officers who arrested the individual. She informed told me she didn’t think the accused would show and that if he did, it would not go to trial as he didn’t have a case. However, as a precaution, she began to brief me with what could happen if the trial began. I wasn’t nervous until she began briefing me for cross examination, then I got a little nervous as to what to expect and the specific questions that could be asked. To this day, I still am not sure why I was called to testify, as Laurie and I were not present during the theft and all I could do was say that it was indeed my van and the accused did not have my permission to drive it – I would have thought that the broken steering column would have cleared that bit of information up.

All that said, I was happy to do my duty and in the end, the guy didn’t appear. His attorney believes he is serving a several year sentence in B.C. (Why the provincial computer systems aren’t linked still mystifies me). Anyway, it was an interesting experience to say the least and one that provided me with many stories.

As many of you may know our family’s life will be taking a major change in the coming months. Yesterday, we resigned our current ministry position at Devon Alliance Church (effective mid-September) with the plan to attend school full-time in September (for 8months) in order to complete my Master of Divinity degree from Taylor Seminary. This is a decision that took months of careful discerning as we pursue God’s calling in our lives in the direction of Lead (Senior) Pastor after I graduate in April ’08. I thought I would include the letter I read in church on Sunday to explain why and what we are doing.

Devon Alliance Church Family,

It has been my sincere privilege to serve on staff at Devon Alliance Church. It is a rare experience to serve at one’s home church and I have been honoured with the opportunity. You have welcomed me with open arms and supported my ministry and family in so many ways.

Hence, it is with mixed emotions that I inform you of God’s leading in our lives. We believe that God is leading us into a new chapter in our journey. We have not come to this decision easily or lightly but with months of reflection, counsel and prayer. This new chapter revolves around God moving in my heart, gifts and passions to the area of Lead Pastor. God has been moving in my heart for a while but it has surged to the point where we feel we need to pursue this new calling with all our attention and energy. Many of you have known that I have been going to school part-time for several years working slowly on my Master of Divinity at Taylor Seminary. In preparation for this new direction, I will be attending school full-time in September to complete my Master’s degree (I should graduate in April). My hope is that during my studies I will be able to do some preaching in area churches as well as job search for a Lead Pastor’s position for employment after completion of my degree.

I want to make clear that we are not leaving for any reason other than trying to authentically and completely follow God’s leading in our lives with passion and obedience. Thank you for your support over the last several years and I look forward to sharing with you how and where God is leading us into our future.

Thank-you for your thoughts and prayers as our family takes this step into our future and I promise to keep you apprised of how and where God leads us in our future.

Here is a quick summary of my last few weeks:
1) Finished the book The Unhealed Wound: The Church and Human Sexuality which is about the Catholic’s church struggles with issues of sexuality – specifically in the priesthood. I will write something on it soon.
2) I was served a subpoena to go to court as a witness – stemming back to the theft of our van a year ago.
3) We had a great family holiday in Kananaskis with lots of good family memories.
4) I got to see a take down of a fugitive in the hotel we stay at in Calgary on vacation.
5) We finished a five-week Family Leadership Conference on issues related to the inclusion of people with disabilities that was both eye opening and challenging.
6) I am heading out tonight with a great friend of mine who works at a home for street kids in Bolivia – looking forward to it.
7) I am now on Facebook and spent way to long online last night getting nothing done.
8) I am slowly working on a Blog article about the past, present and future of the Church that has dominated my thinking over the last while.
9) I am currently finishing reading Technolopy by Neil Postman and Organic Church by Neil Cole.
10) I’m learning Blues Bottleneck Slide Guitar.
11) Laurie and I are currently working through the first season of Jericho and have been faithfully watching On The Lot.

Voluntold refers to those moments when someone is “assigned” a project due to their absence or by a supervisor to their subordinate. Voluntolding someone is an easy solution to a recruiting problem but it is often frustrating to be on the other end of a voluntolding situation. Voluntolding is also a great way to “punish” someone for not attending or leaving a meeting early.