Gary and Sharon
2006 has been a good year for us. This blog has something in it about everyone in our family. Please read and enjoy - we hope that this feels a bit like a visit, although we would much rather visit with you than write a blog!

Gary is in his 3rd year at Broadway Church as the lead pastor.(Look at him in this photo... doesn't he look stately?) As we continue to get to know the people who belong to this church, we feel more and more like we belong. It's a great church.

Gary was featured in the Chilliwack Progress as he explained our church's unique role in the Terry Fox Run in September. Each funeral that Gary has conducted was for someone who died of cancer. Since the Terry Fox Foundation has its national headquarters in Chilliwack (and both Terry's parents and brother Darryl live here), our church decided to participate in the Terry Fox Run. This meant volunteering or running to raise money for cancer research. Church was postponed to the evening and more than 160 people from our church participated. This matched the number of others who participated or volunteered in the run, doubling the size of the event. We hope to make this an annual event for our church.

Gary's sermon series have been thought-provoking - his latest series was "The Normal Christian Life" which looked at what is normal for a follower of Christ. He continues to grow in his preaching skill and ability to speak God's words of hope and purpose to the congregation at Broadway Church. The church is growing, particularly among young families. We have invited them all (sans kids) to our home for a New Year's Eve party. They are the age group that is totally into gaming, so they will bring their gaming equipment as part of the evening's entertainment.

This year has also been a transition for the church in that we have completed Phase One of a 3 phase renovation. The basement of the church has been transformed into an incredible multi-purpose space that will house the youth ministry, youth band and a coffee house. It's a job well-done!

I continue to work with Stir, my web development and internet marketing company. We had a great year this year, developing many new websites and relationships that go along with them. I have an excellent business partner, Brent Purves, with whom I continue to enjoy building our business. The highlight of the year was our trip with Alpha to Singapore, India and London. Although Alpha Asia Pacific hasn't pursued any further services to date, we accomplished all that we were hired to accomplish for them - our report served the purpose of initiating global decisions about technology for their organization. The Canadian branch of Alpha has hired us to provide much needed Internet Marketing.

I also taught an adult Sunday School Class on "The Normal Christian Life". This was both stressful and really fun. My class was full of ideas about what is normal and what isn't. We challenged old ways of thinking and considered new kinds of thinking about living as a follower of Jesus Christ. We used an outline of normal christian living in the areas of: source, beliefs/values, core (character), actions, experiences and challenges/threats. It was fun to have Linda Long in the class as she is involved in the academic world (director of distance education for Trinity Western University) and brought the class up a notch in a scholarly way. Linda and I plan on teaching together in the fall.

Gary and I look forward to 2007. Our kids are at the age that is so fun - they can all participate with us and enjoy activities. We bought 2 kayaks in the summer that have been excellent for our family. Kate is planning to go to Mexico with our youth group. Matt and Jon are planning on playing baseball and starting a band. Ben... well...

May God richly bless you and your family,
love, Gary and Sharon