God's Fingerprints in FEBCAST

Regions - FEBCAST logo

 

 

 
 

 

FEBCAST consists of 31 churches and two chaplains in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.  Laurie Kennedy is the Regional Director and embraces his role to guide and assist pastors and leaders toward the FEBCAST Vision statement of “Healthy Leaders, leading Healthy Churches into the Harvest.”

Laurie says, "the most important part of my day is not the continual emails, phone calls and correspondence, but the time allocated each day to pray for the sixty-four individuals who represent the pastors, chaplains and key volunteers with FEBCAST."

Or, as Paul writes to Philemon, “I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.  Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints” (Philemon 4-7).

As my wife Char and I travel, we ask our leaders some key questions. One question is, “Have you seen our Lord’s fingerprint lately?”  We are so thankful for the awesome blessing our Lord has and is providing to our people.  Let me briefly review some highlights where we are seeing God’s fingerprint.

God’s Fingerprints

Growth: Our churches have reported 348 decisions for Christ (note that this is 10% of Sunday morning attendance), 70 baptisms, 163 home groups with 1,314 individuals attending weekly.  Our FEBCAST average attendance increased 7.3% to 3,333 in 2010.  The number of multicultural individuals attending our Sunday morning services ranged from 0% to 50% with an average of 20%.

Healthy Church Consultations have been completed in ten of our churches.  The Healthy Church Consultations are having a very positive impact.  We are prayerfully working toward the day when we’ll offer a Healthy Church Consultation to each of our churches every five years.

The Fresh Waters Annual Retreat for our pastors and wives is a weekend retreat with a guest speaker designed to help our pastors and their families in their personal relationship with each other and with our Heavenly Father. We also plan time to relax and enjoy the mountains of Canmore, Alberta. The weekend is positive and refreshing for those who attend.

Large Church Seminar: In late winter, we cooperated with Fellowship Pacific to co-ordinate a seminar for our larger churches.  This was a dynamic event as our pastors developed relationships with each other and learned together how to deal with issues unique to large churches.  We are currently under discussions with a resource to present a seminar for churches with under 100 in attendance.

The Journey: FEBCAST also partners with several evangelical denominations to present The Journey. The Journey is a very unique cooperative program based in Edmonton under the umbrella of Northwest Seminary in BC.  Accredited courses with very short, typically a week, in-class discussions are offered for individuals who want to remain in regular jobs while continuing their education.

Pray with the FEBCAST Region

They are in the midst of very positive discussions with two potential church plants.  These churches in Edmonton and Regina are praying with us for potential new growth in these locations.  Please pray with us as we work together.

We are in active discussions with FEBMID in Manitoba on the development of a new Region combining the 31 FEBCAST churches with the 8 FEBMID churches.  We are prayerfully anticipating a brand new Region incorporating these two existing regions sometime in 2012.

We have many dynamic pastors, board chairs and leaders across the FEBCAST family who are doing a tremendous work with their people. We need to continue to pray and work together as we continue to watch our Lord’s leading.

Robin Mark in his song, “Revive Us,” illustrates what I feel and sense on a daily basis:

I feel it in my spirit, feel it in my bones. You’re gonna send revival, bring ‘em all back home.  I can hear that thunder in the distance, like a train on the edge of the town.  I can feel the brooding of Your Spirit, lay your burdens down; lay your burdens down.  From the preacher preaching when the well is dry, To the lost soul reaching for a higher high, From the young man working through his hopes and fears To the widow walking through the vale of tears.  Revive us, revive us, revive us with Your fire.

 

About Laurie Kennedy

People - Kennedy, LaurieLaurie’s personal background is not a traditional Pastorate.  In Bible College, the Lord called him to the ministry, but this was to be after 29 years of training in the challenging world of business and Government.  Laurie has been a lay pastor of two churches, and he says, “I’m especially thankful for the tremendous opportunity to serve our Lord in the marketplace.  I like the phrase, ‘the future will be the same as the past, unless something changes.’ It is a thrill to watch, hear and be a part of something changing. Something is changing in FEBCAST, in hearts and relationships with the Heavenly Father.  We have so much to be thankful for.”