Sex Trafficking and Courage For Freedom (Kelly Franklin part 2)

This is part 2 of my interview with Kelly Tallon Franklin.

As a young Torontonian living in an upscale neighbourhood, Kelly lived with the secrecy of sexual abuse. Fuelled by her insecurities she took to the street with a vengeance. Her associations would eventually lead to her being trafficked.

Today Kelly Franklin leads Courage For Freedom, an organization committed to ending trafficking in Canada and helping its victims find a new life of healing and recovery.

Learn more at www.courageforfreedom.org

Kelly is available to speak and can be reached through office@courageforfreedom.org

Sex Trafficking and Courage For Freedom (Kelly Franklin part 1)

As a young Torontonian living in an upscale neighbourhood, Kelly lived with the secrecy of sexual abuse. Fuelled by her insecurities she took to the street with a vengeance. Her associations would eventually lead to her being trafficked.

Today Kelly Franklin leads Courage For Freedom, an organization committed to ending trafficking in Canada and helping its victims find a new life of healing and recovery.

Learn more at www.courageforfreedom.org

Kelly is available to speak and can be reached through office@courageforfreedom.org

Meet The Transformers - QUEST Conversation (part 2)

Robert D. Lupton wrote a book entitled ‘Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help’. In the book he has this intriguing quote:

“Giving to those in need what they could be gaining from their own initiative may well be the kindest way to destroy people. We mean well, our motives are good, but we have neglected to conduct care-full due diligence to determine emotional, economic, and cultural outcomes on the receiving end of our charity. Why do we miss this crucial aspect in evaluating our charitable work? Because, as compassionate people, we have been evaluating our charity by the rewards we receive through service, rather than the benefits received by the served. We have failed to adequately calculate the effects of our service on the lives of those reduced to objects of our pity and patronage.”

So, what do you think? How do we move from creating dependency on services to supporting initiative in the people you are helping? And how do we promote the vision of the organization in ways that dignify the people that we are committed to serve?

Kevin Coghill is a pastor and staff member at Royal City Mission in downtown Guelph. Their tagline is to ‘Make the Invisible Visible’.

When I was a youth pastor in Exeter, I would bring some of my youth and our musicians to help at Ark Aid Street Mission in downtown London. That was a place that had a great influence on my later decision to move to Windsor and start New Song Church. Ark Aid Mission outgrow the little storefront and moved into larger quarters in later years. One of its directors was the recently retired Doug Whitelaw and the one replacing him was Sarah Campbell.

After I moved to Windsor to begin New Song Church, I became acquainted with Mike Morency. He would leave his youth pastorate in Kitchener and move back to his hometown of Windsor and join as part of the pastoral team in our first few years as a new church.

Eventually he would return to University of Windsor and get his degree in social work. After working in the field, he returned to a faith-based organization named Matthew House, a residence that assists refugee claimants as they integrate into Canadian society. Mike then led them from a three-bedroom bungalow to a complex that can house many more.

Our very first podcast in season 1 was with Rodger Fordham, director of Feeding Windsor. What started with a handful of people at a downtown Presbyterian church then migrated over to New Song Church where I pastor, once the starting church closed for good. Together we have witnessed the growth of Feeding Windsor.

Links:

Part 1 of this interview:

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/meet-the-transformers-quest-conversation-part-1

Rodger Fordham - Feeding Windsor interview

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/windsors-little-church-with-a-big-kitchen

Royal City Mission, Guelph ON

https://www.royalcitymission.ca/

Ark Aid Mission, London ON

https://arkaidmission.com/

Matthew House, Windsor ON

http://matthewhousewindsor.org/

Feeding Windsor

http://www.feedingwindsor.ca/

Meet The Transformers - QUEST Conversation (part 1)

We have been examining model of ministry in Canadian cities using the acronym QUEST. There are five models from our urban guiding group survey that start to give definition to God at work in our communities.

Q – Qualitative Neighbouring. These are people who choose a front porch instead of a pulpit and view being a neighbour as a primary vocation.

U – Urban Churches. These houses of worship seek to be an expression of God’s goodness in their city context. A love for God and city keeps them located where needed, and not necessarily where it will be easy.

E – Energizers. Who are the communicators, artists and influencers that bring God’s Spirit to the surrounding culture?

S – Street Ministry Workers. With a backpack and a cell phone, these are the mobile pastors and evangelists that will follow the scent to people in trouble and on the margins of society. Like St. Bernard dogs, they will go the distance to save someone that has fallen.

T – Transformers. Who are the people that organize relief and development for the most vulnerable citizens? As they feed, clothe, shelter, and bring hope to their city, community transformation inevitably happens.  

Today we are going to meet the transformers. No, not Optimus Prime and company, but men and women that are just as heroic in their own real -world context.

Kevin Coghill is a pastor and staff member at Royal City Mission in downtown Guelph.

When I was a youth pastor in Exeter, I would bring some of my youth and our musicians to help at Ark Aid Street Mission in downtown London. That was a place that had a great influence on my later decision to move to Windsor and start New Song Church. Ark Aid Mission outgrow the little storefront and moved into larger quarters in later years. One of its directors was the recently retired Doug Whitelaw and the one replacing him was Sarah Campbell.

After I moved to Windsor to begin New Song Church, I became acquainted with Mike Morency. He would leave his youth pastorate in Kitchener and move back to his hometown of Windsor and join as part of the pastoral team in our first few years as a new church.

Eventually he would return to University of Windsor and get his degree in social work. After working in the field, he returned to a faith-based organization named Matthew House, a residence that assists refugee claimants as they integrate into Canadian society. Mike then led them from a three-bedroom bungalow to a complex that can house many more.

Our very first podcast in season 1 was with Rodger Fordham, director of Feeding Windsor. What started with a handful of people at a downtown Presbyterian church then migrated over to New Song Church where I pastor, once the starting church closed for good. Together we have witnessed the growth of Feeding Windsor.

Links:

Royal City Mission, Guelph ON

https://www.royalcitymission.ca/

Ark Aid Mission, London ON

https://arkaidmission.com/

Matthew House, Windsor ON

http://matthewhousewindsor.org/

Feeding Windsor

http://www.feedingwindsor.ca/

Sidewalk Pastors - QUEST Conversation (part 2)

In the second part of the Sidewalk Pastors interview, we talk about the stereotypes around poverty and the spiritual formation that is grossly neglected in the field of social work. We will hear more amazing stories about real life people and their courageous struggles.

Our guests are great examples of Street Ministry Workers (letter “S” in our QUEST acronym).

If you have not listened, to part 1 please go back and listen to that first to get a proper introduction to our guests Bob Gal, Anna Morgante and Ejay Tupe.

Links:

Mission Canada

https://paoc.org/canada

Bob Gal

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/bobgal

Anna Morgante

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/annamorgante

Ejay Tupe

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/ejaytupe

Urban Churches in Canada - QUEST Conversations part 1

Tim Keller writes, “Cities, quite literally, have more of the image of God per square inch than any other place on earth. How can we not be drawn to such masses of humanity if we care about the same things that God cares about?” [1] Timothy Keller, Center Church p.143

So what do we mean by the term ‘urban church’? Our working definition of urban includes High Density (population), High Diversity (culture) and High Disparity (socio-economic).

Each of our guests today are pastors in urban churches from coast to coast. Each urban centre is so different from the other, but we are finding lots of common ground in what it means to be an urban congregation.

 Simon Gau is at Broadway Church in Vancouver, BC. He serves as the community pastor and Executive Director of Cityreach.

Debbie Kunst is the pastor of Edmonton’s Father’s House.

Bruce Martin is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Winnipeg, another historic Pentecostal congregation that has remained in the downtown core.

Across the Prairies, let’s land at YYZ. Pearson International Airport in Toronto. We’re renting a car and driving 20 kms NE to the Jane-Finch corridor. Olu Jegede is the senior pastor of Christian Centre Church.

Let’s get back on our private jet and fly to Montreal. Kyvenz Amedee is the pastor of Eglise Gospelvie, a multicultural church located in the heart of Montreal’s South-Central district.

And finally our Maritime urban pastor Chad Nickerson. He is at Calvary Temple in St. John, NB.

Links:

Broadway Church, Vancouver BC

https://www.broadwaychurch.com/

Cityreach

https://www.cityreach.org/

Simon Gau

Broadway Church, Vancouver

Edmonton Father’s House

http://edmontonfathershouse.org/index.html

Debbie Kunst interview from Season 1:

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/spiritual-mother-in-the-fathers-house-debbie-kunst-interview

Video version:

https://youtu.be/FK5ghUOu-EQ

Debbie Kunst

Calvary Temple, Winnipeg

https://www.ctwinnipeg.com/

Bruce Martin

Christian Centre Church, Toronto

https://ccctoronto.com/

Inner City Outreach, Toronto

https://innercityoutreach.ca/

Olu Jegede from Season 1:

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/gangland-preacher-olu-jegede

Olu Jegede

Inner City Outreach

Eglise Gospelvie

https://www.gospelvie.com/

Kyvenz Amadee

Calvary Temple, St. John NB

https://www.calvarytemplesj.com/

Chad Nickerson from Season 1:

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/saint-chad-in-saint-john-chad-nickerson-interview

Video version:

https://youtu.be/i365tAy9duU

Longevity In Urban Ministry (with Michael Krause)

Dr. Michael Krause has a broad range of ministerial experience in an urban context in churches, social service agencies and educational institutions.  He was the director of Evergreen, Yonge Street Mission’s outreach to street-involved youth, supervising 20 staff overseeing a thriving menu of programs including health care, housing support, employment training, drop-in and meal programs, and a broad range of advocacy support.

He was the youth pastor at Flemingdon Park Church, the assistant pastor at the Stone Church in downtown Toronto and the senior pastor at Church on the Street, an experimental church reaching out to street youth in the urban core. He has been active as a church planter in other contexts, pioneering Hills Church, an innovative, house church network based in Thornhill. 

Before joining the faculty of Tyndale in 2014, he functioned as the Staff Care director at Yonge Street Mission where he provided leadership development, ministry coaching and counselling to staff members working with the urban poor. He has been teaching courses with the TIM Centre Diploma program since its inception in 2010. He also has a private practice as a leadership coach and church consultant. Michael is ordained with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. (description from Tyndale faculty page)

In this session from the Our City Conference (2019) in Toronto, he shares principles of longevity. How do you prepare and maintain a ministry life for the long haul?

Links:

Tyndale University

https://www.tyndale.ca/faculty/michael-krause

Yonge Street Mission

https://www.ysm.ca/

Church On The Street Reunion

Michael & Ejay Tupe

Six Degrees Of Separation From Chris Chase

In this two part series, we have a conversation with Chris Chase.

Part one discusses his early years as a kid in Montreal and his journey to adulthood. We joked about how there are six degrees of separation from David Wells, the General Superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies Of Canada; but, it’s just as likely that there are six degree of separation from Chris Chase.

Much of his adult life has revolved around the Greater Toronto Area as a student, pastor, Bible College faculty and family man.

Part two will take us into a deeper discussion on race, theology and urban ministry but this episode tells us his story thus far. When we recorded earlier this year he was between things and has since landed as the lead pastor of The Meeting House in Newmarket.

Catch more of Chris Chase on his YouTube series ‘The House Of Common Show’.

Links:

The House Of Common Show

https://www.youtube.com/c/HouseofCommonShow/videos

That Chris Chase

https://www.thatchrischase.com/

Masters College & Seminary

https://www.mcs.edu/

The Meeting House - Newmarket

https://www.facebook.com/tmhnewmarket

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thatchrischase/