Pastor Jacob Birch and Ride for Refuge 2013

Update September 10th 2013

A big human trafficking bust this weekend in Niagara Falls. Read about it here:

I'm not, but if you want to help end human trafficking by cycling consider joining Ride for Refuge.

Human trafficking is a big issue here in Niagara Region. Just a small sample of the articles is here. 

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 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's Impossible to believe but true TED talk

Impossible to believe, but true TED talk. Learn to read Chinese, easily.

Easy to Read Chinese Language TED Talk

Pastor Jacob Birch's Prayer for the Day - Deuteronomy 9:26-29

²⁶ I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people,^(C) your own inheritance^(D) that you redeemed^(E) by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^(F) 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness^(G) of this people, their wickedness and their sin.²⁸ Otherwise, the country^(H) from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,^(I) he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’^(J) 29 But they are your people,^(K)your inheritance^(L) that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.^(M

Deuterononmy 9:26-29

Pastor Jacob Birch's World Prayer Request Today

From Operation World, today we are praying for Macau.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau

Pastor Jacob Birch's Favourite 1 Hour After Work Ride

http://goo.gl/maps/Zl9UF

Pastor Jacob Birch's Best Quote from To Transform a City

"Our understanding of the church is shifting from seeing it as a place where the many send the few to seeing it as a place where the few equip and send the many. Missional thinking embraces the belief that God intends for every one of his children to be living  on mission, partnership with him in his redemptive mission in the world." page 21

Pastor Jacob Birch's Prayer for Today... Habakuk 3:17-18

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,^(A)
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,^(B)
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,^(C)
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.^(D)

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=habakuk%203:17-18&version=NIV

Pastor Jacob Birch's Reading List May 6th 2012

To Transform a City Swason and Williams
Petrus Romanus Horn and Putnam
Think Piper
The Black Ice Connelly (audio book)