Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for When You are Doubting

Psalm 77 is a great prayer to pray and recite and memorize when you are doubting that God has an Answer to the problems of your world or this world. Looking for answers when your "soul refused to be comforted"? Then Psalm 77 is for you.

I shall remember the deeds of [i]the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
12 I will meditate on all Your work
And muse on Your deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
You have made known Your strength among the peoples.
15 You have by Your [j]power redeemed Your people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer on PayDay

14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

1 Chronicles 29

Pastor Jacob Birch and A Spanish Speaking Intern

Pasante habla español quería lanzar servicio de la iglesia española en Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canadá

With a growing spanish speaking population and several native and bi-lingual spanish speakers in our congregation, I am exploring the possibility of launching a simultaneous spanish service with its own worship and speaker but sharing the administrative, children's and youth ministries of Glengate Alliance Church. Contact me if interested. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and Why Democracies Fail

As Canada Day approaches and we take a single day to celebrate our country and all that God has provided for us and it, I am more and more troubled by the signs of the times I see all around.

Canada is not today the country i was born in, neither is Ontario today the province i was raised and educated in. I will elaborate elsewhere on what I see and why it troubles me, but suffice it to say it is hard to argue with The Tytler Cycle of Why Democracies Fail. It should also be said that The Tytler Cycle is actually more likely to be attributed to Henning Webb Prentis Jr. Either way i find it eerily prescience:

"The historical cycle seems to be: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more."

What stage do you think we are in now?

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Poem for Wednesday

On a day that SCOTUS strikes down DOMA and it feels that "the center cannot hold" I am moved to quote from John Milton's Paradise Lost:

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe, 

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,

Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed 

In the beginning how the heavens and the earth

Rose out of Chaos; ... 

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Wednesday

Luke 22:40

On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

In his Disciples' prayer Jesus taught his followers to pray what is often translated "Lead us not into temptation". The word temptation there is more precisely translated "the time of testing"... perhaps a reference to The Tribulation Jesus' spoke about in Matthew 24 where he again says in verses 20 & 21

Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

So really both The Lord's prayer and this request for prayer in Matthew 24 are eschatalogical prayers whereby believers are implicitedly taught that there prayers can have some effect on The End of Days. Backs up what Jesus' taught elsewhere that we can "speed its coming" 2 Peter 2:32 by sharing Christ with the nations from Matthew 24:14. 

When was the last you prayed about the return of Christ? 

Here is the latest sermon from the pastor of the church my brother works at about the return of Christ. I listen to Pastor Tim each week on his podcast from Liquid Church. He has funny hair, but loves Jesus. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and the Tour de France

Excited about the Tour de France? I am. Visit Bicycling magazine's stage guide by clicking the picture below.

Pastor Jacob Birch and What Churches can Learn from Theme Parks

Starting with a quote from my Dad and drawing on lessons from 10+ family vacations to theme parks and a few years actually working for Disney, my brother's latest post is fantastic: and NO i am not be objective.

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Verse for Wednesday

6 Therefore leaving the [a]elementary teaching about the [b]Christ, let us press on to[c]maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits.

Hebrews 6:1-3

Pastor Jacob Birch and Triple C Bible Camp

So next week i am doing my first "bible camp conference gig"... where i speak every day, twice a day for 5 days from June 30th to July 4th at Triple C Bible Camp near Simcoe, Ontario.

Here are my topics for the upcoming week:

june 30
am Testimony
pm The Land: Israel's place in the world. Part 1 (physical)

july 1st 
am Canada: He Shall Have Dominion Psalm 72:8
pm The Land: Israel's place in the world.Part 2 (ethnocultural) - God has you right where he wants us... be ALL there.

july 2nd
am Mountains of Israel 1 (Sinai and Moriah) - Where do you meet God?
pm Mountains of Israel 2 (Tabor and Hermon) - What is your life source?

july 3rd am Rivers of Israel 1 (Tigris and Euphrates & The Nile) - What does God want you to leave "on the far side of the river" to follow him more fully?
pm Rivers of Israel 2 (Jordan) - Why and how you should be baptized

july 4th am Seas of Israel (Galilee and Dead Sea) - What do you need to trust God for right now?
pm A Tale of 2 Seas - Don't be Dead Sea Christian

Pastor Jacob Birch and the NRCCC Team to Ouje Bougoumou, QC

View Larger Map The 3 young people from the Chinese Christian church that meets with us here at 6009 Valley Way go to Ouje June 29th to July 8th to work with the children of that nation. Please pray for them.

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Verse for Tuesday

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

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Pastorj Jacob Birch and Buffer

I am now using bufferapp to tweet and post to Facebook. I will try and link it with this Blogger account as well...stay tuned.

Pastor Jacob Birch and Love In Motion

It is my hope to participate in the August 2nd to August 16th 2014 tours from White River to Montreal.

Updated - Pastor Jacob Birch and the CIA arming the Free Syrian Army

Update - August 31st 2013

In his column Friday, Rick Salutin of The Toronto Iskra (Star) writes that the citizens of Britain and North America are opposed to a retributive strike against Assad because they have "used the old noggin" and seem through the "vacuous bluster" of their leaders.

On first blush I couldn't agree more that people in the West have drawn the conclusion that "people elsewhere are similar enough to us — despite different languages, faiths etc. — that they can draw conclusions about what makes sense over there, by themselves."

What Mr. Salutin is advocating is that we let people "over there" decide that using chemical weapons indiscriminately upon THEIR OWN PEOPLE (which is the issue here) - including napalming children in a school playground - "makes sense over there" and should just be left alone to work out it amongst themselves.

The USA used depleted uranium and white phosphorous on enemy combatants - in Falujah.
The RAF's fire bombing and the USA's use of nuclear weapons on Japan are of such a different category - total war between entire societies - that they cannot be legitimately used to create a moral equivalency which lets Assad burn and suffocate his own civilians "just like the Americans or Brits did in their war".

Furthermore Mr. Salutin's argument smacks of exactly the kind of racism The Star and Canada have been trying to wipe out both at home and abroad. We don't want to nor should we treat people differently because they were born somewhere different, or look different or think differently or worship differently.

To actually read him write during the week that we are all celebrating MLK's dream of a time when "the content of their character, not the colour of their skin" would become the barometer of his children's worth in the eyes of the world - I have to ask Mr. Salutin... Are children and civilians "over there" afforded a lower value and fewer protections from annihilation for any other reason than simply because they are "over there" where chemically attacking them seems to "make sense" to their leaders?

I refused to be "inspired" by the thought that children who have been born "over there" where "it makes sense" - to use Mr. Salutin's very unfortunate phrase - to allow governments to suffocate and burn them and other civilians expecting immunity in the process. Unlike Rick i have abandoned hope at the thought of letting my Canada stand idly by while Syrians bury their charred children precisely and only in Mr. Salutin's point of view because they are "over there".

Being "over there" shouldn't especially endanger children and civilians no matter how much "sense" it might make to the leaders with the chemical weapons.

Update - August 30th 2013 

With the British parliament voting against action in Syria before the inspectors have completed their work, one has to think that is a vote for rationality more than anything else at this time of confusion and chaos.

Hot on the heels of the UK government's vote, it is reported today that napalm was used in Aleppo against school-children playing in their playground.

Notwithstanding members of my wife's family own interests and plea for no Western involvement Syria, i have to ask:

If children and civilians can be gassed and burned alive with impunity do we not AS HUMANS have a duty to come to their aid?

What will the friends, family and progenitors of these victims say about us who stood by impotently with all sorts of fancy political arguments as to why NOT to get involved, when we had the power to do so?

And i hate to ask this but... What other conclusion can one draw from this situation other than life is cheap to Muslims and to Islamic cultures in general given that many self-identified Islamic nations have the power to stop these atrocities and yet do nothing at best or help perpetrate them at worst?

All the while the people with the "real" influence on the ground in Syria - the Russians - advocate a hands off... let the Syrians (Assad backed by Russia, Iran and Hezebollah) settle matters with Syrians (Al Quaeda, Turkey (a NATO member don't forget), the Kurds, Qatar).

So while i understand the argument "The West's missiles will not solve anything", the argument "let Syrians work it out amongst ourselves" is not a valid option. Why? Because those chemicals used in Damascus and that napalm dropped on those kids on the playground might as well have come labelled "From Russia with Love" or "Thinking of You! Iran".

Update - August 28th 2013

Together with the Coptic Church, the Antiochian Church is the oldest strand of Christianity in the world. 

The West's support of Al Quaeda linked groups in their attacks on the vicious dictator Bashir Al Assad is helping to destroy this historically important remnant of believers in what was the apostolic heartland of Christianity. Here is a blog post about it. Its too terrible to contemplate. 

My wife's niece is asking people to sign a petition against the NATO missile attacks on Damacus. Please consider signing it.  

Please pray for Yohanna Ibrahim, archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox church and Paul Yazigi, Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox church. They both kidnapped after their driver was killed in April 2012. Their whereabouts and condition are unknown. 

Update - August 23rd 2013 


I responded a Daily Mail story about over 1300 dead in one Sarin nerve gas attack today in "a suburb of Damascus"... a city where a relative of my wife still lives, though is not there now.

@DRUDGE_REPORT Only 1 way this ends: the Israelis invade, occupy, 90% of pop. are better off, 10% start an intifada 4 which Israel is blamed
— Jacob Birch (@JacobBirch8) August 21, 2013

Why would i say such a thing?

Because it is clear that the only country with ALL 3 of the following necessities:
   1. The naked self-interest in their own security
   2. The commitment to human rights to not just slaughter everyone making the situation worse.
   3. The military muscle in theatre, trained and able to do the job

is Israel.

No body - least of all the Israelis i suspect - WANTS Israel to do this: invade Syria, wipe out all the guys with guns on every side, free the civilian population for their terrific predicament and restart the necessities of life (food, water, sewage, electricity, schooling and health care) but who is going to do it?

When 1300 men but mostly women and children are gassed and all the EU can muster is a call for things there to be "thoroughly investigated" while the USA baldly admits it won't get involved because the rebels "wouldn't support American interests if they seized power today" it is clear NO ONE is coming to the aid of the Syrian people any time soon.

America and the EU lack necessity #1 from the list above.
Russia lacks necessity #2 and probably #3 in the strictest sense of the word.
Turkey is the closest regional neighbour to Syria but still lacks most of #3 and a lot of #2.
Iraq? No to all 3.
Iran? No to all 3.
Saudi Arabia? No to all 3.
Lebanon? No to all 3.

As Sherlock Holmes said, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Israel has the most experience policing large hostile populations.
Israel has the most experience invading and holding territory against overwhelming odds.
Israel has the economy through which the world could funnel aid reliably and with a minimum of corruption.
Israel has a framework for negotiating the eventual return to self-rule for the Syrian people.

If not them... who then?

The Chinese? They have 1 borrowed aircraft carrier that isn't even seaworthy yet.

So the question that remains then is who goes to bat for the only workable solution on the table to create the diplomatic cover needed for such a bold - but ultimately most humane - possibility?

IT would take a former Arab enemy of Israel's to do so.

Saudia Arabia? Regional stability is in the House of Saud's best interest as they are pretty much next up on the dance card for overthrow if things go badly in Syria.


Original Post - June 15th 2013

Who honestly thinks this will turn out well?

In a classic "the enemy (FSA) of my enemy (Assad) is my friend" type of gambit that saw the CIA back Saddam Hussein, the Mujahideen and an endless list of baddies that subsequently used the very arms and training supplied to them to kill the soldiers of the US and their Allies, Obama has at long last "done something" about the situation in Syria as hawks in Congress have been harassing him to do.

This type of logic of course is meaningless on the ground in that part of the world. Both sides massacre civilians. Both sides hate "the West" and the democratic values we espouse. Both sides are liquidating churches and emptying the Middle East of its historic Christian populations.   The FSA will have NO QUALMS whatsoever about using those arms against Assad... but also against Israel, who is ostensibly the US' best friend in the region. They will also have no hesitation to use those very arms and training against the coalition forces that will one day have to go to Syria to quell this civil war, as has happened in Afganistan and Iraq before it.

As always... the IDF will have to remain extremely vigilant and continue to develop its significant technological edge in the region to stay ahead of the advanced weapons that its enemies will receive from its "best friend". With friends like these...

Pastor Jacob Birch and Flowers

Pastor Jacob Birch and Church-As-Community-Centre

7 Advantages (and 3 pitfalls) of the church-as-community-centre model

With 6 years experience, 10 acres and over 100,000 sq feet of multi-use space developed and developing into a church-as-community-centre model for ministry i have learned a few lessons that i want to share in this blog post. 

What do i mean by "church-as-community-centre ministry model"? I mean in the simplest terms that your church building has 2+ permanent tenants/partners with your congregation that are not primarily religious organizations/charities. I am not talking about renting out your gym once a week to the local badminton club. I am talking about you and the badminton club running simultaneously full time out of one facility. 

At Glengate Alliance Church we are still working on - and will always be working on - our model for this type of ministry. We haven't perfected it, nor have we finished what we currently envision but we do share our facility on a permanent basis with:

UPDATED - Pastor Jacob Birch and The Motel Mission

Great band of trubadours here in Niagara Falls head up the Christian Motel Mission out of the Continental Motel. A housing and discipleship ministry that also provides meals, a clothing bank and addiction recovery.

Not yet a registered charity, but doing great frontlines, shoe-string-budget ministry to the large and growing population of under-housed, under-employed people of Niagara Falls.

Their Thursday morning free breakfast from 10am till 11am is a great entry point for locals looking to get a grip on what is actually going on in what has become the worst place in Canada to be looking for a job.

Adam and the many Brians as well as their whole team are doing great, grinding work loving and caring for people that have many needs and often a tough history in Jesus' name.

UPDATED: Article in the Niagara This Week newspaper about CMM came out today. Click the link to read it. Great job CMM. 

Top 5 Questions to Ask about Your Charity's Building Plans BEFORE You Start

There are two articles sitting one above the other on the front page of The Niagara Falls Review today that - together with my own experience here at GAC - have provoked the following reflections.

The 1st article is how the 3 year old, $37,000,000 Gale Centre quad pad ice rink needs $400,000 in "immediate repairs" that will require its shut down for 4-6 weeks.

The 2nd article on the same front page is how the District School Board of Niagara, after declaring it had 34 surplus buildings a few years ago and recently admitting it is losing 1100 students a year voted "unanimously" to build a new High School for Fort Erie and Ridgeway/Crystal Beach.

My reflections - could be particularly salient to "people" or "mission" focused organizations like charities and governments but also true at some level to "Return-On-Investment" organizations like your average family, sole proprietor or share-capital corporation - are not new or particularly insightful. They are just mine. For example, most Canadian Banks - considered the most profitable and stable in the world at this time - have been shedding their "building businesses" for years due to the risk that they determined those structures posed to their core business of lending and investing money.

Why should you read my reflections about this topic? Good question.

Not because i am an expert.
Not because i am theoretician.

But because i am an experienced, "end user" of a large 108,000 sq foot building and 10 acres land that was purchased by a congregation which felt its main "constriction" to growth was a lack of facility space. So after a multi-year search it commissioned a study that recommended it build 25,000 sq feet to replace their 12,000 sq foot, land-locked, parking-constricted church facility.

So what are my reflections?

Question #1. Do you see our building as the new business unit it is?

When you build/buy a building as an owner you are adding at least one whole entirely different AND usually unfamiliar business unit to your enterprise... it is called The building.  It becomes an asset and liability to you.  This may seem like an awfully simplistic observation but given all the board, town hall and Elder's meetings i have sat in that talked about facilities, i have rarely - if ever - heard this issue discussed at "the philosophical level". Do we WANT to get into the building business - in addition to the insurance or church or government services or whatever business  - as well? For example: If you have a trucking company and have trucks, a freight tracking system and a driver training, monitoring and pay system... do you really need to add another business unit called The Building to all that? Ask yourself - in every meeting if needed - the olde timey Peter Drucker Consulting Questions:

What business are you in? 
and
How's business?

Application #1 - If your answer to the question "What business are you in?" does not on a prima facie basis include the need for a building then QUICKLY ask yourself the question: Is there a way to deliver your program, services, products without taking the risk/enjoying the reward inherent in the ownership of those spaces? Invariably the answer to this 2nd question for nearly every business, charity and non-profit organization i have ever been apart of or consulted with is YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES.  There are companies and non-profits in "the building running and maintaining business". Contract with one of them and stick to what your "business" is... usually the delivery of a set of programs, services or the production of a set items that have very little to do with owning, maintaining, upgrading, securing, heating, lighting, powering, cleaning and financing of a steel, concrete or wooden structure.

Question #2 - Does your service-oriented organization have "building business" expertise on hand? 

Unless you are Menkes or Bentall or CBRE you didn't get into the "building" business. You were in the t-shirt business or the aggregate business or the poverty mitigation business. You build or made or delivered some product... often out of your garage or your basement or your shed. You used surplus time and space in your private dwelling or someone else's to store, manufacture and deliver your goods and services. You didn't give the "building" part of your business much thought at all. But you did become - because your business grew large enough to require its own dedicated space - an expert at producing or delivering whatever it was you were producing or delivering. Once you take the plunge into your own facility - particularly if you buy it - you not only have to keep on the growing edge of your own industry and maintain the competitive advantages you developed in your start up phase... you have almost instantly become an "expert" at at least the following 25 different aspects of facility ownership and management just so that the building you have purchased or leased doesn't become a life-threatening threat to the business you thought you needed that building in the first place for. The 25 different disciplines you need to immediately either learn or hire the expertise to deal with are:

1. Municipal Building Use Zoning Bylaws
2. Municipal Signage Rules 
3. Municipal Business Use of Water Regulations 
4. Municipal Fence Regulations (eg. has your neighbor fenced in a 10' by 150' strip of your land?)
5. Municipal Waste Water Regulations
6. Municipal Garbage Collection Rules 
7. Municipal Landscaping Rules (can you spray the weeds on your own property? most likely not)
8. Municipal Parking Regulations
9. Municipal Lighting Regulations
10. Municipal BIA rules (re: holiday openings, mandatory hours, signage, etc,etc)  
11. Provincial Accessibility Legislation
12. Provincial Commercial Tenants Act Legislation
13. Federal Hazardous Waste Storage and Removal Regulations (can anyone say asbestos?) 
14. Federal Workplace Safety Legislation
15. Security Systems
16. Fire Detection and Suppression Systems Testing (eg. Ontario requires public buildings to have a fire drill 1/month... yes it does. check the Ontario Fire Code.)
17. Fire Detection and Suppression Systems Maintenance (eg. its costs $65 to have an extinguisher recharged after kids play with it in the stairwell)
18. Keys (oh the humanity... stay tuned for a post about Keys)
19. Opening procedures
20. Closing procedures
21. Commercial Mortgage Financing (if you can get one)
22. Custodial Services and Schedules
23. Building Preventative Maintenance Program
24. Preventative Maintenance Long Term Financing (eg. flat roofs cost $11/sq foot to replace every 25 years)
25. Hydro, Sewage and Transportation right of ways (eg. does all sewage from the north end of town flow under your building so that if you demolish part of it, you could never get permission to rebuild it now?) 
26. HVAC Operation
27. HVAC Preventative Maintenance 

 So once you have the pride of ownership and are handed the keys... as the owner and in many cases as the lessor as well you must immediately begin tracking, documenting and just all together "dealing with" these issues and many and many more i haven't mentioned WHILE staying on the cutting edge of the business that has done so well heretofore. 

Question #3 - Do you realize adding a building multiplies not adds complexity? 
I think you probably see that already.

Question #4 - Have you made a ruthless estimate of your real building "needs"? 

How much space does it really take to deliver a discipleship and outreach program to the youth of your town? I sat on the District Executive Committee of my denomination when a largish, growing church brought plans to use for a $2.6 million dollar 5,000 sq foot "warehouse style" addition to their building to "reach the youth of their city with cutting edge programs". It came complete with fast-food restaurant style booths, a multilevel stage, lights, a sound booth, a large media saavy office for the Youth Pastor and a disco ball. Their church was located on the edge of town, on a bus route thankfully and was now across the street from 2 or 3 large strip plazas behind which were clustered the 10-15 apartment buildings full of youth they wanted to reach.

It had been "the church in the field" at one point, but the city had grown up around it.

Unless they took the bus, to get to the church however the kids had to be dropped off out front by cars or cross 5 lanes of very busy traffic on foot. Not likely. They couldn't bike there as the road was WAY too busy and dangerous for most parents to allow.

My suggestion to them at the time was... rent a vacant, empty unfinished store across the street in one of the strip malls at $10/sq foot per year net, net. Do $100,000 in upgrades to your storefront putting in booths, lights, etc,etc. Then your remaining $2,500,000 would provide for 50 years of rent of a facility just like the one they wanted to build.... an empty store is a warehouse... metal ceiling, exposed piping, spartan surroundings.

It would also have not required crossing the dangerous street and would have been much closer to all the apartment buildings where the youth were that are clustered in behind the strip malls.

Additionally it would have been more "incarnational" than "attractional". It would have taken the ministry to where the youth were rather than asking them to come to where the church is.

It would also have given the church the flexibility to cut that long term capital financing, maintenance and replacement cost, if the church finances or ministry vision changed.

It also would have addressed this question of "right-sizing". Going into the store front... even for 3 years... would have allowed the church to "experiment" with this model of ministry in order to see just what exactly they could do out it and what was and was not important.

For example... our church has a warehouse style youth room. We have found that that lighting and staging of much more importance than the restaurant style booths (that were donated to us). So running out and spending a bunch of money on booths because a designer or youth pastor thought it would "be cool" doesn't actually help "right-size" the facility for the programs you want to deliver.

Question #5 - Are you ready for cost overruns? 
At least 10% more on new builds and between 12-15% more on renovations. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and his 100th Blog Post

What should i do for my 100th Blog Post? Give glory to God is the best option of all those available.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

Pastor Jacob Birch and the DS of the St. Lawrence District of the C&MA in Canada

French to English translator needed, on stand-by

So excited that Rev. Francis Pearson will be coming to speak at Glengate some Sunday in the next few months and update us on all that God is doing in Quebec. This is a direct result of Michael Gagnon and I sharing 7 days riding together as part of RIDE 2012. We invited Michael to speak... he got our men excited about his intentional intercultural church plant in Montreal... our JUMP guys have been raising money for that church plant and then at the TriDistrict Conference Rev. Pearson expressed his appreciation for our generosity and now ... viola... our hope is to have him drop by one weekend when he is already in TO so we can have him inspire us with the stories of what God is doing in the St. Lawrence District.

And to be clear Francis can speak both languages VERY WELL... but i want him to preach in his heart language so he can be more free to express his heartfelt passion for God and His work in Quebec.

Pastor Jacob Birch and Pray for Those in Taksim Square

Please pray for A, P and M... friends of mine reaching out to the people of Turkey. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and his 1st Ever Patriot's Jersey

Pastor Jacob Birch and the Temple Sifting Project

So it is my hope to go next January or February for 2 weeks to work at the Temple Sifting Project. 

Want to come with me?

Update: I am booked into going to the Temple Sifting Project from Sunday February 16th through Friday February 21st. Who else wants to come? Very excited. Going to try and do it all by bicycle. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Tuesday

I just know so many people - including myself - that are looking for deliverance of one type or another.

We aren't alone in our prayers... David joined us a long time ago.

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.

Pastor Jacob Birch and Glengate Gardens Buried Water Supply Hose

So here is the hose attached to the faucet, going under the skid and travelling through its trench on its way north to the gardens. 

Here it is unburied as it travels east along the southern edge of the garden. 

Here it is travelling under the middle walkway as the trench makes its way to the barrels. 

And here the hose is emerging from the ground and emptying into the barrels. 

No more bucket brigades! 

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Poem for A Nation of Immigrants

Hearing of an in-law's visa denial by FAIT Canada - though they need it desperately - and watching and reading all these stories about NSA/SCE eavesdropping and government corruption, i wanted to remind myself again what living in "America" (i know i know) was meant to be. And so from Emma Lazarus The New Colossus:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Update June 26th 2013

My 4 greats grandfather Simon Girty was raised in Pennsylvania but was human trafficked to the Seneca Indians when his mother and step-father's (John Turner) village was overrun in 1755. Young Simon watched his step-father tortured and killed before being separated from his mother and 4 brothers and raised by his captors for 7 years. 

 After starting the War of Independence on the American side, Simon abandoned the colonial cause and joined the Indians and their British allies after witnessing the massacre of Christian aboriginal women at  Fort Pitt by American General Edward Hand. He swam to freedom in Canada West (not yet Upper Canada) across the Detroit river hanging onto the tail of a horse and for his subsequent interpretative and military exploits on their behalf was given several hundred acres near Amhertsberg in what is now Essex County, Ontario. For those same exploits he died with an $800 bounty on his head from the Americans. 

A victim of ethnic cleansing and human trafficking, an American traitor and war criminal, an illegal immigrant and a British war hero... my 4 greats grandfather reminds me and should remind all Canadians that our borders need to more open than closed.  

Pastor Jacob Birch and Canada's New Cycling Jersey

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Road Trip to the Temple Mount

Well not quite a road trip to the Temple Mount but just about the next best thing. November 8th Dr. Gabriel Barkay of the Temple Mount Sifting Project will be speaking in Ottawa at Agudath Israel Synagogue. I intend on going up that day to hear him speak and then visit my son at Carleton on the Saturday before making the long trek home. Anyone want to split the gas and hotel costs? It will be a fascinating lecture about the discoveries of the oldest known Biblical texts to-date ever found as well as about what is being unearthed on a daily basis from within the Temple Mount itself. 

Pastor Jacob Birch and John Wesley Quote

"When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn."
- John Wesley

Pastor Jacob Birch and Educational Streaming

File it under the heading... what goes around comes around... i graduated from Chatham-Kent Secondary School - having also studied at the "old" Saltfleet High School - in a "streamed" educational environment: Advanced, General and Basic. Terrible but accurate monikers which produced what Mike Stafford of AM640 affectionately lampoons as "the greatest generation". That kind of streaming has never really gone away... just the names have been changed to protect the... underachieving? socially disadvantaged? You pick.

What i didn't realize was that for the whole of my elementary education i was streamed as well. My children however have grown up in "integrated" classrooms where teachers have been expected to "differentiate" the curriculum for as many as 5 or 6 different levels per 30 kids.

Now it seems after 20 years that streaming is back!

Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for Monday

Less of a prayer... more of an inspirational passage for a Monday morning from Revelation 21...

I saw the Holy City,(A) the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,(B)prepared as a bride(C) beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.(D) They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.(E)4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.(F) There will be no more death’[a](G) or mourning or crying or pain,(H) for the old order of things has passed away.”(I)

5 He who was seated on the throne(J) said, “I am making everything new!”(K) 

Pastor Jacob Birch and 3 Crosses Work Team - Updated!

A  list of jobs for those interested in helping out at 3 Crosses Listening Centre June 17 to 19 are:

running some basic electrical (Jeff doing) 
install batt insulation
stapling vapour barrier
drywalling - screwing, mudding, sanding 
painting walls interior
painting exterior (lower 3 feet of foundation)  
sanding upper floor (mostly done)  
staining upper floor 
assembling 10 cafe style tables
assembling 4 more bunks
possibly installing drop ceiling

3 Crosses have a trailer that sleeps 6 and two bunkies for sleeping (at Pastor's place). 

We will eat at Pastor Jeff's place as well.  Meals provided.  

Sauna and workout room and showers all available. 

Items to bring include...

$50 for gas
general carpentry tools 
work clothes
work boots and gloves
eye protection
towels
sleeping Bag
pillow
bug spray (black fly season) 
bathing suit (for sauna) 

From Pastor Jeff "A good attitude good hearts" 

Monday June 17th 
9am Leaving from 6009 Valley Way
Lunch on the road (own)
2pm arrival at 3 crosses
3pm Orientation and 1st work shift
6pm Dinner (3 crosses)
730pm 2nd work shift
9pm Clean up, devotion and hang out.

Tuesday June 18th 
7am Wake Up
730am Breakfast (3 crosses)
755am Devotion
815am 3rd work shift
1030am Coffee break
1045am 4th work shift
12pm Lunch (3 crosses)
1240pm Prayer Time
1pm 5th work shift
330pm Coffee break
345pm 6th work shift
6pm Dinner (3 crosses)
730pm 7th work shift
9pm Clean Up, devotion and hang out.

Wednesday June 19th 
7am Wake Up
730am Breakfast (3 crosses)
755am Devotion
815am 8th work shift
1030am Coffee Break
12pm Lunch (3 crosses)
1240pm Prayer Time
1pm Pack Up
2pm Leave for Niagara Falls
5pm Dinner (own)
7pm Home