Pastor Ken Solbrekken

Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland”.

Do you ever wish God would just tell you exactly what He wanted you to do?  It seems that few people have that kind of crystal-clear insight, especially on a daily basis.  At times, with some individuals, their testimonies can make you think, “What’s wrong with me, I don’t have that kind of direct hot-line to heaven”. 

Supernatural leadership can pose severe trials for our faith. We might be liable to think of ourselves as more spiritual than others who haven’t had our experience. Supernatural guidance also could make the decision process too easy for us, robbing us of the incentive to take the sort of responsibility for our choices that truly develops faith.

That said…God does speak to us every day through His word and through a variety of spiritual gifts that He has imparted to His church.  Over the past several years, as we have been listening to God’s voice speak, our desire has been to understand His plans for our District.  We have been leading the Alberta & NWT into new territory with Fresh Direction.

At our recent Banff gathering, we passed resolutions that will allow us clear and direct passage into our new reality. Here are some of the highlights:

Minister’s Gathering

Our Minister’s Gathering/District Conference in February was called Fresh Direction and the entire year is being themed with these words in mind.  Our conference greatly enjoyed the ministry of Pastor Denny Duron who began the first session with the captivating phrase, “God is always doing more than what you think He is.” How applicable these words were to the delegates as we shared the following vision.

• To better fulfill our District’s mission statement, our framework for care & governance needed to change to reflect two vital goals:

-          A stronger network of pastoral care for credential holders

-          A governance structure that has greater focus on vision and strategy

• By fulfilling these goals, we will:

-          Cultivate healthy leaders, churches and ministries

-          Maximize gifts in leaders through involvement in areas of passion and proficiency

-          Build a broader base for credential holders to engage in expanded district leadership.

• What will this look like?

-          Executive Lead Team(ELT) – the 4 elected officers will continue to function as currently determined in District Constitution & Bylaws and part of the DLT

-          District Leadership Team (DLT) – composed of elected & appointed individuals

-          District Area Pastors (DAP) – composed of individuals appointed by the DLT from a suggested roster of names submitted by the Pastoral Care Committee, after consultation with the credential holder within a specified geographic region.

Building Healthy Pastoral Teams

In December 2010 a Task Force of four was established for the purpose of discovering way to increase health on ministry teams with the following mandate:

1.  To establish Core Values for Pastoral Team Dynamics
2. To create best practices for Pastoral Team relationships.
3. To bring recommendations as to how the Alberta & NWT could provide on-going education regarding team relationships/dynamics.

This report was presented and with vast enthusiasm received for implementation.  This is such a step forward in our Fresh Direction vision.

CP2020 (Church Planting 2020)

The District’s vision of 100 by 2020 (one 100 church plants by 2020) has been received with great anticipation and some honest questions.  Questions like, “Where we will get the leaders and financial resources?”  The answer is…“The Lord will supply”.  If the vision is attainable without a miracle, it isn’t a vision at all.  Praise the Lord; already we are witnessing a number of ‘new beginning’ plants and numerous inquiries from interested individuals and churches.