BOB JONES

It all began with a simple statement. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16(NIV) Jesus made it very clear what our purpose is. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you . . . " (Matthew 28:19–20) For almost 2,000 years men and women have been undeterred in carrying out that commission while facing huge challenges - persecution, crucifixion, beheading, stoning, torture, imprisonment, cannibalism, or being burned at the stake.…

“Goodbye England's rose May you ever grow in our hearts You were the grace that placed itself Where lives were torn apart.” These were the words Elton John used to immortalize the late Princess Dianna. Dianna was known to have placed herself in the midst of causes such as AIDS or the removal of landmines, which graced the lives of people in need. I can think of no better descriptor of the spiritual gifts spoken of in the New Testament than "grace that places itself where lives are torn apart." Whenever a gift of the Holy Spirit is observed, its because someone's need is being met, supernaturally. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit (charism - "gift of…

My first class had me standing as straight as I possibly could stand while reaching my clasped hands as high into the air as was physically possible. At first I thought, “This is yoga? I can so do this.” Until I learned that THIS was the entire class. Nothing else. Just reaching up. Straight up, as in, straighter than a wall sorta straight. Just up. FOR ONE WHOLE HOUR!!! Up. And I should mention here that a. I am so not flexible and b. I am so not graceful – so you can imagine how quickly I was eating my, ‘yoga-is-a-piece-of-cake’ words, as my friend looked on in amusement smirking from ear to ear. Our instructor, taking cue from our/MY…

Ambition - Jesus never criticized the ambition of his disciples - he re-directed it. He told them, BE GREAT but don't strive, serve. Whoever serves the best wins. The way up is down. Descend into greatness. Find your SHAPE and make a difference. Phil. 2:6-8(The Message) "...he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” There are upside down churches and then there are churches that turn the world upside down. North Pointe…

Jen Gray has found her “sweet spot” much to the delight of food lovers' “sweet tooths.” Jen, the Events Co-ordinator at North Pointe, is using her SHAPE to create one-of-a-kind, edible architecture. She was recently featured in the St Albert Gazette. Her love of creating ultimately helps her friends and clients celebrate important occasions in their lives. Jen decorated her first sheet cake in Grade 6. In Grade 9 she was raising money for a field-trip to Vancouver.  She baked two character cakes and put them in the teachers' staff room with business cards. The cakes were about $12 and she raised about $400, enough to pay for the trip. By the time she was 15, she challenged herself by…

Reflecting back on my past I sometimes wonder what would’ve become of my life if someone hadn’t reached out to me and shared Christ. I clearly wouldn’t have been a Music Pastor and my value system at the time would’ve caused me to make decisions that I wouldn’t choose today. Would I have gone to post secondary school? Would I have been working at a job I despised? Would I be married and have children? Would I have been a mess because of poor choices. Would I have blamed circumstance and problems in my life on others and been paralyzed in life by feeling sorry for myself. Would I have been aimless? Would I have been wondering about the meaning…

Rebekah came into this world as a fragile 2lb 11oz baby girl, born as the fourth child into a family already challenged by financial pressures and a paradox of love & violence. Her mother's pregnancy, distraught by a fall and multiple hospitalizations, resulted in Rebekah's premature birth. The emergency C-section delivered a tiny, fragile 2lb 11oz baby girl with her own set of complications. Each day that she survived was a victory, but also brought more issues to be addressed. By the time Rebekah was 18 months old, she had the diagnosis of “spastic-quadriplegic cerebral palsy," and was now the child of a single mother. During the next 2 years, it became apparent that a motorized wheelchair would be a…

I'm sure that by now we have all had quite our fill of shoveling snow and chipping away at ice. As frustrating as the many 'dumps' of snow have been this winter, maybe for you it has opened doors to reach out and help your neighbors. My story begins on a VERY snowy weekend in January. It was 11:30 on a Saturday night and I was spending some time 'reaching up' to the Lord before going to bed. It was then that I felt the Lord speak to me saying, "Jeremy, now it's time for you to reach out. Look out your window." As I gazed out my window, I saw a car stuck in the snow with smoke all…