Faith At Work In Canadian Cities
At 87 years of age, Maury continues to be filled with light and hope. From recounting the horrible child abuse he suffered to the overflowing joy of his journey with Jesus, we leaned forward to soak up the wisdom.
Maury continues to have daily conversations with people in his community to tell them about his hope.
Links:
Breakthrough Ministries
Revisiting Child of Woe
More of the Maury Story
After a couple years working in Mission Canada with Street Level Advocacy (Peterborough), Leigh-Ann Davidson felt the call to launch new initiatives in Cobourg, Ontario. Along the way, her biggest supporter (who happened to be her husband Thomas) joined in her efforts in reaching out to the street-affiliated and homeless population in the small city of Cobourg.
Together they are ‘Hope And Light Urban Outreach’ making a difference in a place of intensifying need.
Links:
Mission Canada Profile
https://paoc.org/donate/leighanndavidson
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564632950348
Intensity In Tent City - Sidewalk Skyline Podcast - Season 3, Episode 22
Joe Ritchie grew up with a history of trauma and abuse that nearly killed him. At age fifteen he was in a car accident that left him quadriplegic and without hope. After three times of dying and being resuscitated, it would be a vision of Jesus that would change his life trajectory.
Today Joe serves as part of the pastoral team at Windsor’s New Song Church. Listen as he shares transparently about his struggles with addiction and the journey to freedom.
Bob Gal has been an iconic figure in my life for 40 years. From my first recollections of his speaking at youth retreats and leading street ministry outreaches, he has been a man that has followed the cloud by day and fire by night.
He and his lifelong sweetheart Karen live in Edmonton, Alberta where he serves as our oldest Mission Canada urban worker at the age of 74. Today I want to hear Bob’s reflections as we review his relationship with Jesus and the nuanced perspective shifts for each decade.
Links:
Mission Canada Profile
https://paoc.org/donate/bobgal
Lovedmonton Chapel
Tim Fletcher is the Founder and President of RE/ACT (Recovery Education for Addictions and Complex Trauma). He used his skills as a pastor and counsellor to develop a program to help the people he cared for overcome addiction. He realized the need for individuals to first become equipped with tools, and then put those tools into practice in a healthy, safe and loving environment - and herein lies his unique skill.
During his early years, he learned that everyone has a loved one who struggles with addiction, and many people struggled with unrealized addictions and unhealthy coping techniques. He found that 97% of addicts also struggled from Complex Trauma (C-PTSD) - corroborating the research of Dr. Gabor Maté. After researching C-PTSD which was identified as, “A series of events that occur where a victim feels unsafe, and as such, develops mental disorders which inhibit them from coping in stressful or harmful circumstances”, he concluded that research was showing that there is a physical difference between the brains of those who grew up in loving and nurturing homes and those who didn’t – before any addiction became prevalent.[1]
Links:
Tim Fletcher Website
Theo Von Interview
(language warning. Theo is a comedian and a spiritual seeker)
https://youtu.be/K60u6ObDsrI?si=_Oc2yXE9OfWqS7lf
This is part two of my interview with Maury Blair as we revisit his traumatized childhood in Paris Ontario and the journey to wholeness through coming to faith in Christ.
If you have not yet listened to part one, go to https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/revisiting-child-of-woe-maury-blair-interview
Links:
Breakthrough Ministries
Years ago I read Maury Blair’s autobiography ‘Child Of Woe’. I was shocked at the severity of the child abuse he suffered from his step-father. How could a man be so filled with contempt for an innocent child and more miraculously, how could a child of violence grow up to be so compassionate and well-balanced?
In this episode I visited Maury at his kitchen table in Cambridge, Ontario as we revisited his faith journey and ministry. We walked on the streets of Paris, Ontario to see the old homestead, the church and the streets he lived on.
This is part one of two episodes.
Link:
Breakthrough Ministries
Bobby Reaume is the lead operator with Feeding Windsor-Essex’s Soup Shack. Every night from 7-9 pm he ensures that up to 140 people are served with food, snacks, clothing and personal care items. The food is prepared in the kitchens of Feeding Windsor-Essex, a charitable department of New Song Church.
This interview at the Our City Windsor 2024 Conference is filled with stories of hope and the continuing miracle of Bobby’s journey to recovery.
As an update, Bobby and some interested parties are attempting to start a charity of their own to provide a greater platform of services to Windsor’s homeless and street-affiliated population. The Soup Shack would be enhanced by a building where more than food would be served.
In the meantime, donations to help fund current operations can be sent to Feeding Windsor-Essex. Find out how at admin@feedingwindsoressex.ca
Links:
Feeding Windsor-Essex
https://www.feedingwindsoressex.ca/
From Fentanyl To The Soup Shack (Season Four, Episode 18)
Years ago, I worked as a federal chaplain at a halfway house. I learned so much about the value of faith-based community friendships for men and women returning to the community.
Alan Campbell has devoted his adult life to Jesus-inspired care for people being released from jail. He is humble and virtuous in his approach and remains focused on the mission. l am grateful to know ‘Refuge Ministries Canada’ and to serve them when I can.
Alan shares his story of conversion from incarceration for his involvement with the Toronto Mafia, God’s call to help prisoners and the role of suffering in his ongoing transformation.
Links:
Refuge Ministries Canada
https://www.refugeministriescanada.com/
Refuge Freedom Stories
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/refuge-freedom-stories/id1524349333
Braden Brodeur is a youth worker at Marketplace Chapel at the West Edmonton Mall. The chapel is staffed by Christians and provides spiritual and religious care to shoppers, employees, and wanderers. He is in process to become a Mission Canada urban worker.
The West Edmonton Mall is the 2nd largest mall in North America at 5.3 million square feet.
West Edmonton Mall has over 800 stores and services including nine attractions, two hotels and over 100 dining venues in the complex, and parking for more than 20,000 vehicles. More than 24,000 people are employed at the property. The mall receives about 32 million visitors per year; it attracts between 90,000 and 200,000 shoppers daily, depending on the day and season.
Braden currently interacts with 100 youth on a weekly basis.
Links:
Marketplace Chapel
West Edmonton Mall
Mission Canada Profile
At sixteen years of age, Nelly Latchman was on a youth group mission trip to New Song Church. The days in Windsor were an opportunity to experience God at work in an urban context outside of her own neighbourhood. That initial experience would eventually culminate in moving to Windsor after graduating from Tyndale Seminary.
Today, Nelly is a Mission Canada worker that serves as part of the national Serve Campus Network with her focus on the University of Windsor. She is also a young adult pastor at Parkwood Gospel Church.
Links:
Nelly Latchman - Mission Canada profile page
https://paoc.org/canada/workers/nellylatchman
Serve Campus Network
Red Frogs Canada
Parkwood Young Adults
https://parkwoodwindsor.com/youngadults
Today on the podcast we are taking a virtual walk on the sidewalks of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side and having a conversation with Aaron White.
Aaron is a pastor, justice worker and prayer instigator in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver for the past 20 years, where he lives with his wife and four children in a community home. He’s part of the team at Jacob’s Well, an ecumenical Christian centre of hospitality where his job description is resident theologian.
He is the co-author of Revolution and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Kingdom of God; co-creator of The Creative Way Down discipleship resource; and author of his newest book Recovering: From Brokenness and Addiction to Blessedness and Community.
Along with one of my previous guests Dave Carrol (Captain Kindness), he co-hosts the Two Wise Fools podcast, a light-hearted and sometimes emphatically, truthful conversation about all things sacred and profane.
Links:
Recovering Book
https://bakeracademic.com/p/Recovering-Aaron-White/41667
Jacob’s Well
Two Wise Fools Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/two-wise-fools/id1547557549
For thirty years, The Extreme Tour have partnered with community groups and clubs, civic organizations, churches, schools, government agencies and municipalities that are working charitably to meet the needs of the disenfranchised.
Collectively they have been in hundreds of communities scattered throughout 20 countries bringing music, art, spoken word, etc. They are musicians on mission and people that want to serve.
In mid-September they spent a week in Windsor, Ontario assisting New Song Church and Feeding Windsor-Essex. This is our round table conversation about who they are and the unique work that they are called to.
Links:
The Extreme Tour
https://www.theextremetour.com/
Danyelle Speaks
https://www.danyellespeaks.com/
Idiomz Da Prophesayer
Manny Hubbard (Flamuel)
https://www.youtube.com/@MannyHubbardMusic
Samuel Kislow (Salmon Friends)
Three years ago, Bobby Reaume walked into my office and said, “Hey remember me?” It took me awhile before I would remember that he and his wife Grace attended the church briefly a few years prior. When Bobby walked in, he had been released from prison, returned to addiction, and was living in tent city. He came to see me with John Button the founder of Launch Pad Recovery Centre as he was entering into a Christian recovery program.
Today Bobby is working full-time, sober, spirit-filled and serving the homeless population in our city of Windsor with the Soup Shack, a trailer set up to distribute food and basic supplies to people on the street.
Links:
Soup Shack organized by Feeding Windsor-Essex
https://www.feedingwindsoressex.ca/
Launch Pad Recovery Center
What are the things that urban churches need to be thinking about? Pastor Duane Henry from Portico Church in Mississauga hosts a conversation at Our City Toronto 2023 with four urban pastors that are on the forefront of strategy and mission.
Olu Jegede is a return guest on Sidewalk Skyline Podcast and continues to pastor at Christian Centre Church.
Jessie Knight is an assistant pastor with Olu with a focus on student ministries.
Godfrey Adderley pastors at Stone Church in downtown Toronto.
Joel Spiridigliozzi is a regional director for Western Ontario District working with pastors and ministries in the Toronto region.
Links:
Duane Henry - Portico Church
Olu Jegede
Jessie Knight
Godfrey Adderley
Jesse Sudirgo is the Assistant Professor of Contextual Ministry at Tyndale Seminary. He has a diverse breadth of experience in multiple disciplines of ministry in both the church and non-profit sectors. He is the former Director of Street-Involved Services at the Yonge Street Mission Evergreen Centre and continues to consult with churches in their engagement with poverty in the city. He brings to his work a conviction for interdisciplinary theological reflection that considers those most marginalized in society. His background in church planting in Boston Massachusetts has shaped his interests in missional lay leadership, community development, and urban poverty.
This session was recorded at Our City Toronto 2023.
Links:
Tyndale University
https://www.tyndale.ca/faculty/jesse-sudirgo
Rev. Sileen Phillips is the children’s minister at The Church of St. Peter and St. Simon The Apostle Anglican Church in Toronto. In this session at ‘Our City Toronto 2023’ she brings her insights from working with the vulnerable sector in government institutions and the community.
Links:
The Church of St Peter and St Simon-The-Apostle
Our City Toronto
Dagma Koyi is a visionary woman with an unconditional love and passion for people. She has an overwhelming desire to see all people live enriched and thriving lives and has become known as a social innovator, humanitarian, Minister, impactful teacher, leader, coach, author, and an entrepreneur.
Her passion for social innovation has led her to pioneering several remarkable ventures including REST Centre, a non-profit charity that takes a holistic approach to invest in homeless youth, and prepares them to face the challenges of adolescence and adulthood through structured interventions. Today REST has become a strong community support for hundreds of BIPOC youth in the Peel Region.
More than meeting Practical needs, ordained minister Rev. Dagma Koyi has a great desire to see lives transformed by the power of God's word and prayer. She is the founder Heart-2-Heart Global Ministry, an empowerment program that equips women to live out their faith audaciously. The ministry provides a community encouraging sisterhood and a platform where they can heal and receive transformation through the sound teaching of God's word. Her weekly teaching ministry reaches women across Canada, the USA and the Caribbean.
Dagma is supported by her loving husband, Olubusola. They are the proud parents of twins, Mishael and Rhema, and live in Toronto Canada.
Links:
Heart-2-Heart Global Ministries
Bill Reilly and I shadow the team of Street Level Advocacy in Peterborough, Ontario. Scott Couper, Leigh-Ann Davidson, Chris and a growing number of people are spending their days on the streets, in the Overflow tent city, shelters and agencies that work with street affiliated people.
You will meet Joe, the Aboriginal man run over by a snow plow and Will the bicycle recycler. Join us as we find God at work in desperate places.
Links:
YouTube version:
Scott Couper Interview - Season 2, Episode 24
https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/scott-couper-is-a-bridge
Scott Couper Profile
https://paoc.org/canada/workers/scottcouper
News:
Heskias Mandefro has been serving in pastoral ministry for over 17 years at the Ethiopian Evangelical Church in Toronto. As the English pastor in an Amharic language church, he finds himself functioning as a cultural translator between generations.
Heskias strives to lead with ideas that are well thought through biblically, and culturally. He is passionate to engage ethnic churches in reaching their city.
