LEGACY MINISTRY OVERVIEW

THROUGH EVANGELISM, DISCIPLESHIP, FELLOWSHIP, WORSHIP AND SERVICE,
DISCOVER HOW TO DEVELOP A LEGACY THAT WILL LAST FOREVER!

In 2022 we struggled with the lingering effects of Covid-19. In 2023, however, it felt like Covid-19 was just a bad memory, far in the past. There was an air of excitement and inspiration in all my leadership teams. With the help and ministry of 78 volunteers, providing 120 volunteer roles, I’m proud to share with you some of our ministry highlights.

If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.

EVANGELISM

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

Each year the Legacy Ministry oversees our contribution to OCC. We are the regional collection centre for SE Alberta. We had another great year collecting boxes for Operation Christmas Child. We had 22 people volunteer and we collected 1647 boxes (88 more than last year).

For more information on Operation Christmas Child, click HERE.

If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.

DISCIPLESHIP

WIDOWED AND SINGLES

Leadership:

·         Pat Anderson

·         Melita Leng

·         Ruth Moerman

·         Carol Kulhavy

·         Betty Kramer

We continued our first Thursday of the month Bible Study/Fellowship with about 10-15 ladies. We had a great study in the book of James. We spent time in prayer and fellowship.

We also had a couple of gatherings at Kin Coulee Park in the summer.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON BIBLE STUDY

Our Legacy Bible Study (Thursday evenings) was moved to Tuesday afternoons to help individuals who had difficulty traveling at night (especially in the winter). It was led by Ron Prosser. They studied Hebrews, Acts, and Romans and averaged 20-25 people.

GRANDPARENTING MINISTRY

Leadership:

·         Ruth Bruins

·         Doug and Heather Roberts

·         Phil and Annalora Horch

In 2022 we ran our first Legacy Grandparenting Summit. From that summit, the individuals listed above recognized the value and importance of training up intentional Christian grandparents and wanted to do more. In 2023 this group was formed and provided the following:

Grand Monday Nights (GMN): The team recognized that grandparents are busy people so they first wanted to provide resources that were unscheduled and flexible. We held an information night to expose grandparents to GMN. It is a free weekly webinar to help individuals grow as Christian grandparents. From the presenters each week, GMN helps nurture grandchildren’s faith and overcome grandparenting obstacles using relevant topics and speakers, testimonies from other grandparents, and practical ideas and information to help grandparents become intentional Christian grandparents. We had approximately 20 attend.

Grandparenting Matters (GM): The team also wanted to provide more formal training on a regular basis. GM is a six-session seminar that helps grandparents to learn key principles and to embrace their biblical role. It is designed to inform, equip, and inspire participants to become more intentional about grandparenting and build a spiritual legacy with their families. We ran the session in the fall on Sunday mornings during the 11:20 service for about 12 people.

Legacy Grandparenting Summit (LGS) 2023: This is our second year hosting the LGS. LGS is a two-day summit (Thursday/Friday, October 19/20) whose purpose is to encourage grandparents to embrace their biblical role and unleash the potential of intentional Christian grandparenting. We heard from amazing speakers such as Dr. Tony Evans and Dr. Crawford Loritts. We had 34 people in attendance. It is one of the highlights of my year and always makes a profound impact on those who attend.

If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.

FELLOWSHIP

THE VISITATION MINISTRY

Leadership:

·         Lynn Schellenberg

·         Melissa Toth

·         Darlene Hjelte

·         Ruth Moerman

Lynn Schellenberg continued to help me lead and evaluate this vital ministry. She continued to inspire me and help me care for our team. We held our annual kick off and training meeting in October. Representatives of the Alzheimer’s Society gave us a training session on recognizing and visiting individuals with dementia/Alzheimer’s.

Some of our visitees went to be with the Lord in 2023 but we were blessed to add some new visitees as well. We continued to visit approximately 27 people in our church family and had approximately 19 visitors visiting them.

Four times a year we sent out hand-made cards by Ruth Moerman to all our visitees. We sent cards with words of blessing, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, bookmarks, and this year I added a personal Christmas letter which included a picture from one of the children in our children’s ministry: Andres Soto.

YOUNG AT HEART

Leadership:

·         Mary Ann Westgard

·         Lance Duncalfe

·         Stella Friesen

·         Phil and Annalora Horch

·         Florence Schorr

For the last year, I have been training up MaryAnn Westgard to take over the leadership of Y@H. She has a wonderful passion for outreach in Chinook Village and great leadership skills. She has taken to this role and is doing a great job. We held a Hillcrest ministry presentation describing all that the Legacy Ministry does, two grandparenting training sessions and a Christmas production. We have had from 20-80 people attend our events from inside and outside of Chinook Village. Some of our events included Fraud Prevention, Alzheimer’s Training, Whispering Pines Camp, and a Big Marble tour.

LEGACY CHRISTMAS BANQUET

It’s been my intention since starting as Pastor of Legacy Adults to offer intergenerational ministry opportunities in our church. I strongly feel it’s important for our seniors to connect with our children, youth, and adults and to give them the occasion to share their spiritual legacy with those who follow. The intent is not only to bless those younger than them with their faith, history, and heritage but for them to be blessed and encouraged in return.

Pastor Alisha and I have worked together to bring the Youth and Legacy Adults together. Once again, she organized and brought in 10 youth to help set up, serve, and clean up. They were wonderful and the Legacy Adults were once again thrilled to be able to interact with them.

I want to recognize Val Seitz who came in to decorate for us and for her willingness to allow us to reuse the decorations for the Youth Christmas Banquet. She’s wonderful to work with and does such a great job.

For the last couple of years, my wife Jamie has been studying Jazz Piano and was excited to provide an hour of jazzy Christmas music during the meal. People really enjoyed the freshness of the music and Jamie’s willingness to provide live music for them.

Starting last year, we intentionally scheduled the banquet for Saturday night so that it fell on the King’s Kids production. They were thrilled with the production and thought it was a wonderful addition to the night.

Following the production a fellowship time was provided for everyone. I was so pleased and excited to see all the generations interacting with one another.

SENIOR’S DAY CAMP

We had a wonderful day at camp. The seniors enjoyed board games, lawn games, archery, RC cars, the shooting range and Vi Heller even tried the rock climbing wall (just kidding). We had several individuals who attended for the first time and we also provided bussing from Hillcrest for about 20 people. Pastor Lance Duncalf was our guest speaker.

LUNCH CAFE

During covid, when many businesses were closed and gathering together was limited in size, the ladies from our Widowed and Singles Ministry began meeting in Hub 2 once a month. They would bring a bag lunch, eat, read scripture, and pray together. Recognizing the value of getting together at the church and wanting to share the experience of a shared meal, we thought, why not open it up to the entire church, and why not make it a safe place to bring friends. Thus, Lunch Café was born. With Karen’s leadership in the kitchen and many volunteers, they provided fantastic meals and a safe and quiet atmosphere in Hub 1 and 2. Donations are requested but not required and people are encouraged to “bring a friend”. There is no program, just food, fellowship, and the opportunity to introduce new people to Hillcrest Church. It surpassed my expectations and we consistently had 60-80 people attend each month.

If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.

WORSHIP

CHAPEL SERVICES

With the help of Ruth Pahl, Jamie Deibert, Esther Weeks and others we provided monthly chapel services to:

·         River Ridge (2nd Wednesday of the month at 1:30pm)

·         Meadowlands (2nd Thursday of the month at 10:30am)

·         South Country Village (3rd Tuesday of the month at 6:45pm)

·         Meadow Ridge (3rd Wednesday of the month at 1:30pm)

·         St. Joes (3rd Wednesday of the month at 3:30pm)

·         Valleyview (4th Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm)

·         River View (4th Monday of the month at 2pm)

·         Hillcrest Church (4th Wednesday of the month at 1:30pm – Sept/Dec/Mar)

·         Masterpiece (4th Thursday of the month at 10:30am)

·         Chinook Village (Sundays, as needed)

Attendance has been roughly 6-50+ in attendance (depending on the facility).

In April, my wife and I were asked to provide an Easter Sunday service at Meadowlands. We had a beautiful service with nearly 100 in attendance. Normally, I have between 6-12 in attendance at Meadowlands.

We continued to send out copies of our Sunday services and HEMC chapel services to several facilities. Recreation directors used them weekly. We were even able to send over our Christmas Eve Service and Christmas Day Service for them to use. The response was excellent.

We continued to live stream the Hillcrest Chapel service to several of the facilities listed above and/or send DVDs. I estimate we had roughly 40-50 in attendance at each Hillcrest Chapel and after consulting the recreation directors, close to that number again watching online.

PRAYER TEAMS

I recognize and am very thankful to all of you who pray for me, my family, and the Legacy Ministry. This year, a group of several individuals in the church agreed to pray for my weekly requests and a second group was formed to pray more formally for prayer requests relating to all the upcoming events, activities and issues the Legacy Ministry is facing. It’s very encouraging to know that I have this support.

If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.

SERVICE

FURNITURE MINISTRY

Leadership:

· Christy Wonnenberg

I worked closely with Christy Wonnenberg as we navigated the numerous challenges of pickup and deliveries around the city. We have 3 different teams working together:

1. A cleaning team that goes through all the donations to make sure they are safe and clean.

2. An organizing and packing team who fills the request forms, packs the boxes and gets everything ready for the delivery team.

3. The delivery team that takes the prepared items around the city. The delivery team also picks up donations from town. We did 171 pick ups, 161 deliveries, and gave out 127 beds in 2023.

COMMUNITY CARE

It has been on my heart the last couple of years to provide services/events for seniors in our community that were especially relevant to them regardless of if they attended church.

 ALZHEIMER’S/DEMENTIA CARE

The first was an Alzheimer’s/Dementia information session held in March and October. We brought in two specialists from the Alzheimer’s Society. They helped us learn how to support and care for those with Alzheimer’s/Dementia and gave us useful tips and strategies. They also gave us practical advice for those in a care giving role.

FRAUD PREVENTION

The second special event was a Fraud Prevention information session held in October and November. One was held at Chinook Village and the other at Hillcrest Church. It was presented by Sgt. Adam Gregory and the Medicine Hat Safe Community Association. He covered topics such as:

1.    The different themes and types of fraud committed against seniors.

2.    Tips to be safe.

3.    What to do if you’re been a victim of fraud.

It was very well received. At Chinook Village we had over 80 attend.

GRIEF SHARE

With the leadership of Terrill Wiesner, Sherry Larter, Carol Kulhavy, and Ron Prosser we were able to provide two sessions, one in the Spring and one in the Fall. We had 25 people attend in 2023.

PALLIATIVE CARE BAGS

Leadership:

· Sarah Mellish


Palliative Care Bags contain all kinds of snacks and other items (including cards, Gideons Bibles and magazines, etc.) and are given out by the Palliative nurses at St. Joseph’s Home to all families of patients in their ward. They again are being made and delivered by Sarah Mellish and her children. In 2023 we gave out 97 bags.

If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.

PASTORAL CARE AND OTHER

I continued to spend as much time as I could with in-person and phone visitation throughout 2023. I continue to love and appreciate the time I’m given to spend with our church family, hearing their stories as they share their hearts and also with the opportunity to pray with such faithful servants of Christ. I feel I’m being blessed more than I am being a blessing in this role.

I was privileged to officiate/co-officiate at the funerals of Yvonne Baker, Raymond Stabler, Barbara LeBlanc, Walter Lietz and Mark Bolender.

Each year I send out letters and booklets called “Journey Through Grief” to encourage and support those who have lost a spouse. Each book describes the issues and feelings we tend to encounter at various points during the first year after experiencing a loss. In 2023 I send out 26 letters and booklets.

I was given the opportunity to preach a couple of times in July and once in December.

Along with Pastor Glenn and Pastor Jamie, I hosted our online service that runs live in conjunction with our 10am Service.

I occasionally helped the tech department on Sundays in the role of Production Manager, Worship Centre Sound, Online Sound, and covering for Alexis once a month to give him a much-needed break.

Finally, I have really enjoyed working with Pastor Steve and Pastor Jamie on the Lead Team. It has been a challenge but I’m learning to balance my role as Legacy Pastor and the added responsibilities from the Executive Pastor role. I have particularly appreciated supervising 13 of our staff members. It is a great staff to work with.

If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.