Friday, May 31, 2013

Updated - Pastor Jacob Birch and the Job Situation in Niagara

Niagara is the worst place in Canada to be looking for work... 100 applicants for each job.


As the number of job seekers leave the region for "greener pastures" what is Jesus response to those that remain behind... those that have work... those don't have enough work... those that don't need work and those that can't find the work they need?

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and the Schmidt's Are Going Back to Cambodia

http://mikeandcindyschmidt.blogspot.ca/

Pastor Jacob Birch and Reflections on #tridistrict

My reflections on the Eastern, Central and St. Lawrence Districts of the C&MA in Canada's tridistrict conference are as follows...

1. It is great to be there but worse to miss them. I have - for various reasons - missed a few of these gatherings and while it is great to be there it is much worse to miss them. What do i mean by that? I mean the worship and teaching and inspiration and business times are wonderful to experience, but can be received from elsewhere and in other ways. But the connecting personally with this army of people you share a "family of churches with" is indispensable and can ONLY happen at something like this. This is my tribe and knowing with "whom" i do tribal things is very important.

2. Christ-Centred, Spirit-Filled, Mission-Focused... these are President David Hearn's watch-words and his focus for our family at this time. What animates these "old timey" values is his passion and personal incarnation of them. A real 1 Corinthians 11:1 lesson here.

3. Sharing a district conference experience with our other tribe-mates was very positive. It would have been interesting to see if there could have been one truly tri-district initiative signed or worked on... for example... a unified approach or offering or something to Muslim ministry for example... but perhaps without causing us to focus on working together we could just enjoy being together. A worthy goal in and of itself.


Pastor Jacob Birch and Some Pictures from #tridistrict Conference May 27-29 Kingston, ON

Was gone for 3 days at TriDistrict Conference so i haven't been blogging. But should have been.

Here are some pictures...






Saturday, May 25, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and The History of Rome Podcast

With a degree in Classical Studies from the University of Waterloo and an intense professional and personal interest in history, languages and peoples of The Levant i find this podcast outstanding.

  The History of Rome


Thursday, May 23, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and Saving $100 off camp!

Send your children to the greatest Christian camp ever! My family has over 23 years of camping experience and we highly recommend Camp Mini Yo We. Ask me how you can save $100 off your camp registration this summer as well!

Pastor Jacob Birch and His Secret Passion for Architecture

Great video about something i care deeply about but have almost NO experience in or actual knowledge about. His three proposals are right down my thinking about these questions as they relate to churches... 1. Don't Build 2. Go Small 3. Go Amateur

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Thursday

13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain,(V) or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,14 if my people, who are called by my name,(W) will humble(X)themselves and pray and seek my face(Y)and turn(Z) from their wicked ways, then I will hear(AA) from heaven, and I will forgive(AB) their sin and will heal(AC)their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

2 Chronicles 7:13-15


Pastor Jacob Birch and the Fastest Growing Religious Choice in Canada

The fastest growing religious choice in Canada is "no religious affliation" at all.

That doesn't Canadians are less spiritual or less Christian necessarily... nearly 2/3rds of Canadians affiliate with some kind of Christian denomination... it just means that now 25% of Canadians (up from 16.5% in 2001) chose not to have or - at the very least - chose not reveal to a pollster what religious affiliation they have... if any.

Read more about the study here.

Implications for evangelicals who according to Ed Stetzer have remained "pretty steady" over the last 20 years in Canada (2001 and 1996) are many and various.

Here is an infographic about the rise of the "nones" in America also put together by Stetzer.

Here is a map of the world showing were nones are (darker) and aren't (lighter).




Pastor Jacob Birch and "All is Lost"

This is the first and last time i will recommend a movie that i haven't seen and based solely on a review from the Cannes Film Festival. Go see "All is Lost" a movie without dialogue about a sailor who's ship is imperiled on what we learn is the Indian Ocean. It stars Robert Redford. I am going to see it... you should go so it too.

Here is the review that attracted me.




Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and Father's Day 2013

Glengate Alliance Church... looking for dads to share about the influence of their dads on them on Father's Day June 16th... get back to me by FB or text or email or 905 354 9073

Pastor Jacob Birch and Dying Well TED Talk

Pastor Jacob Birch and The Siq from Petra, Jordan


Pastor Jacob Birch and Outdoor, Wood Fired Pizza Oven


Pastor Jacob Birch and what Liquid Church has learned about Relationships


Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Wednesday

I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;(M)
    turn your ear to me(N) and hear my prayer.(O)
Show me the wonders of your great love,(P)
    you who save by your right hand(Q)
    those who take refuge(R) in you from their foes.
Keep me(S) as the apple of your eye;(T)
    hide me(U) in the shadow of your wings(V)
from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
    from my mortal enemies who surround me.(W)

Psalm 17

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and Pastor as Coach not Professor

Very interesting article as Pastor as Coach not Professor from Church for Men.


Pastor Jacob Birch and a Poem for Monday err...

Something insightful from Emily Dickinson for a Tuesday that feels like a Monday...

By a departing light
We see acuter, quite,
Than by a wick that stays,
There's something in the flight
That clarifies the sight
And decks the rays.


Pastor Jacob Birch and the Fight for the Golan Heights

I was in the Golan 1 year ago this month teaching on a tour of Canadians visiting Israel. We had a wonderful time bumping up and down and around all the farms, settlements and kibbutzim of the Golan. We visited a bottled water factory and an olive oil company. We had lunch in Qatsrin. The mainly Russian Jews who live there all have to sign an agreement to leave on as little as 6 hours notice by order of the IDF in the event of a Syrian or Iranian or whomever invasion. The climate is more moderate than the rest of Israel and it is lush and beautiful. There is a water plant there that -reportedly - has a standing offer from a Emiratey prince to purchase it in the event that Syria is give back the Golan Heights in another of the doomed "land for peace" deals that Israel has signed over the last 50 years (Sinai, Gaza & Southern Lebanon).

Damascus is exactly 50 km from the border with Israel and would today be part of its Golan territory (perhaps along with parts of Iraq and Jordan who both belatedly sent troops to the Assad's reqime aid in the last days of that conflict) were it not for the Russians threatening nuclear war at the close of the Yom Kippur War to keep the IDF from marching unopposed through its streets.

It was a warm, sunny, peaceful and beautiful day. Not so much lately.

Pastor Jacob Birch and Seniority Hiring in Ontario's Schools

Toronto Star Article about Seniority Hiring

If the Ontario government really wanted to end discrimination it would end the monopoly that Roman Catholic Church has on hiring on its members to teach in the 100% publicly funded Catholic school system. Further it could simply merge the two systems together and do away all together with the obvious discrimination of one religion receiving public funding at the expense of others. But these arguments have been made ad nauseum in Ontario for decades... to no avail. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Monday

Blessed(A) are those who have regard for the weak;(B)
    the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.(C)
The Lord protects(D) and preserves them—(E)
    they are counted among the blessed in the land—(F)
    he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.

Psalm 41

Monday, May 20, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for the OK City Tornado Victims

Psalm 27:1-3

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the 
defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I [b]shall be confident.

Prayer for Tornado Victims

Give to OK City Red Cross

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Poem for Apolcalyptic Thursday

William Butler Yeats

The 1st stanza of The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre 
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;   
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
   
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

Yeats, (not a Christian) writing at the end of WWI and the Russian Revolution, about how 20 centuries of "of stony sleep" brought on by the Christian worldview were about to be overwhelmed and devoured by the "blood dimmed tide" and "rough beast" of violence that he saw arising in the 20th century. Given the news of late... one can't help but reflect upon Yeats' vision with a mixture of admiration and horror. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and Bike to Work Week

So i bike to work at the church. 12 months a year but not 365 days as some days my schedule takes me out of town.

I am 6 ' 4" 270+ lbs.

I ride a Giant Cypress with a few modifications. It is a "comfort" bike... which i find sorta embarrassing as a title but it works great for me and my large frame. It was a gift from my family a few years ago and so i cherish it. I also completed a 6 day bike tour on it last summer and have had many training adventures on it, so that means i will be keeping it for the forseeable future.

That doesn't mean i don't enter every road bike contest i come across.

My fav contest right now is this one from Giant...


Pastor Jacob Birch and a Rationale for Community Gardens Part 1

I plan over the next 3 or 4 weeks to publish a 4 part series on Community Gardens based on my experience here at Glengate Alliance Church 

The 4 parts will be:

1 - The Whys of a Community Gardens
2 - The Whats of a Community Garden
3 - The What Nows of a Community Garden
4 - The Whos in a Community Garden

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Thursday

But I pray to you, Lord, in the time of your favour; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.

Pastor Jacob Birch and Marc Driscoll's Evangelical Tribal Matrix


Pastor Jacob Birch and a Video for Thursday about Love and a Bike




Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Poem for Wednesday

Canto II from Keat's The Fall of Hyperion

'Mortal, that thou may'st understand aright, 
'I humanize my sayings to thine ear, 
'Making comparisons of earthly things; 
'Or thou might'st better listen to the wind, 
'Whose language is to thee a barren noise, 
'Though it blows legend-laden through the trees. 
'In melancholy realms big tears are shed, 
'More sorrow like to this, and such like woe, 
'Too huge for mortal tongue, or pen of scribe. 

Fall of Hyperion

The gist here is that revelation - be it divine or poetic - is ultimately a mystery... something that must be "humanized" to our ears and eyes using "earthly things" to speak of heavenly matters... a task which ultimately  fails for it is "too huge for mortal tongue or pen of scribe". I am contemplating "mystery" this week as i prepare a sermon on Romans 11:25-36... where Paul speaks of the mystery of the Gentiles now included in Israel.

Pastor Jacob Birch and #feartheconspiracy


Pastor Jacob Birch and Short Term Mission Trips

I have led 3 short term trips (1 Japan and 2 to Mississippi) and raised many thousands of dollars for individuals and groups of all ages to go on STMs from the various churches i have been apart of. There are many positive attributes to STMs and most of them are found by following these 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Go on a Short Term Mission Trip. Add Pastor Jake's 11th... give 10% of your total short term missions trip budget to a long term missionary through something like the Global Advance Fund of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. Read, understand and Obey.


Update - August 30th 2013

I just received a short term missions prayer letter from a congregant that has probably gone on 20+ STMs through our church, denomination and many other missions. They shall remain nameless. But i read their letter over and something bothered me. So i read it again. And again. Then it hit me. 

Using the power of Google I search for the terms "God", "Jesus Christ", "Jesus", "Lord". "Mission" and "Holy Spirit". Here were the results:

God - 0 found
Jesus Christ - 0 found
Jesus - 0 found
Lord - 1 found (noting that someone they met had accepted the "lord" some years beforehand) 
Holy Spirit - 0 found
Mission - 5 found (all either used in the word missionary, describing someone they met or in the title of a group they were working with) 

I,Me,We,Us - 22 times 



Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Wednesday


Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,(C) you alone(D) are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear,(E) Lord, and hear;(F) open your eyes,(G) Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
17 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods(H)but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.(I) 19 Now, Lord our God, deliver(J) us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms(K) of the earth may know(L) that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and Israel Picture of the Day

Well actually this picture is taken in Jordan at Petra. Two tour members riding camels in front of the Indiana-Jones-made-famous "Treasury" tomb. 


Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Tim Bosma


Psalm 10[a]

Why, Lord, do you stand far off?(A)
    Why do you hide yourself(B) in times of trouble?
In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,(C)
    who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He boasts(D) about the cravings of his heart;
    he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.(E)
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
    in all his thoughts there is no room for God.(F)
His ways are always prosperous;
    your laws are rejected by[b] him;
    he sneers at all his enemies.
He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
    He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”(G)
His mouth is full(H) of lies and threats;(I)
    trouble and evil are under his tongue.(J)
He lies in wait(K) near the villages;
    from ambush he murders the innocent.(L)
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
    like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;(M)
    he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.(N)
10 His victims are crushed,(O) they collapse;
    they fall under his strength.
11 He says to himself, “God will never notice;(P)
    he covers his face and never sees.”(Q)
12 Arise,(R) Lord! Lift up your hand,(S) O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.(T)
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?(U)
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?(V)
14 But you, God, see the trouble(W) of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;(X)
    you are the helper(Y) of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;(Z)
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.
16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;(AA)
    the nations(AB) will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;(AC)
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,(AD)
18 defending the fatherless(AE) and the oppressed,(AF)
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror.

Pastor Jacob Birch and Bike to Work Week

You biking to work this week? I hope so. It is such great exercise and -as a pastor - it connects you to the neighbourhoods and people of your city in a way that flying about in a car never will.

Here is a fantastic Bike to School program that also includes lots of the "gamification" aspects that so fascinate my wife and her academic research.



Pastor Jacob Birch and a prayer for Tuesday

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup(A) be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26:39

Monday, May 13, 2013

Pastor Jacob Birch and his Lanny MacDonald Story

My father worked in sales for Canadian Fram, the maker of those orange oil filters on sale at most 10 minute lube places by the shelf-full, when i was about 6 or 7 years old.
As a salesman he received tickets to a Leafs vs Wings game in Detroit's Olympia Arena. They were right beside the visitor's (the Leafs) bench. In fact they were folding seats. The players and the play was so close that my mother brought a towel and every time the play came near to the bench she would lift the towel up "protecting" me from the puck and the sticks but obscuring my view.
The Leafs and Wings were tied 2-2 late in the 3rd period.
The door to the bench swung open and onto the bench came a giant with a blue Winn Well helmet, red curls flowing out from under it and a giant red handlebar moustache.
Through the drizzle and sweat stained rodent that had died on his lip, Lanny MacDonald stepped around the goalie opening the door and held out his stick to me and said, "Kid, slap my stick."
I looked up at my mom... she hadn't covered my face with the towel...
I looked back at Mr. MacDonald who again insisted "Kid, slap my stick"
So i reached up and gingerly touched the ice damp end of his twig and he proceeded to all of the other players touch, spit and rub the lumber with various parts of their body.
And... wouldn't you know it...
Lanny MacDonald went out and scored the winning goal!
Leafs over the Wings 3-2

My hope is something of Lanny's luck will rub off on the buds tonight. Go Leafs Go! Leafs 3 - Bruins 1


Pastor Jacob Birch and today's poetry reading

I read (or try to) one poem a day from a giant book of English poetry given to me by a caring congregant. Here was part of today's entry from John Donne entitled A Hymn to God the Father:


I.
WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
    Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
    And do run still, though still I do deplore?
        When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
                    For I have more.

II.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won
    Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
    A year or two, but wallowed in a score?
        When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
                    For I have more.

III.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
    My last thread, I shall perish on the shore ;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
    Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore ;
        And having done that, Thou hast done ;
                    I fear no more.

Pastor Jacob Birch and a video for his teenage kids

ATTENTION ALL BIRCH TEENAGE CHILDREN... Watch this video.

Pastor Jacob Birch and Using "The Bible" for outreach

The Bible TV Series as an Outreach Tool


Pastor Jacob Birch and Prayer for Monday

“But blessed(Q)is the one who trusts(R) in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.(S)
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought(T)
    and never fails to bear fruit.”(U)

Jeremiah 17:7-8