Meet our new BC Conference President

The BC Conference has a new president! Below is a press release from the Canadian Union about our new conference president.

British Columbia conference elects new president

ABBOTSFORD, BC – On January 24, 2016, the Board of Directors of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (British Columbia Conference) unanimously elected Dr. Wesley Torres to be their next conference president.

Torres will succeed current president, Wayne Culmore, who will retire on February 29, 2016. “Because of Wesley’s gracious heart and his passion for soul-winning, I believe that we will see much growth for God’s Kingdom in British Columbia and the Yukon,” Culmore affirms.

Dr. Wesley Torres is currently the Vice President for Administration and the Executive Secretary for the British Columbia Conference. Torres has served in ministry for over 31 years as church pastor, departmental director, and conference administrator. He has shared the love of Jesus and the message of the gospel in four different continents, leading over 600 souls to Christ.

“Wesley Torres is a man who loves Jesus and loves people,” says Mark Johnson, President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada (SDACC). “I am confident that through his leadership, many people will come to appreciate the hope and wholeness that we have in Christ.”

His wife, Angela, and their three children, Kelly, Kevin, and Kenny, will join Torres in ministry.

“This call only enhances my commitment and responsibility to be of a greater service to God and His children,” Torres states. “I kindly request the prayers of all our church members as we move forward to fulfill His commission together!”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in British Columbia and the Yukon comprises approximately 11,300 members in 101 churches and operates 15 schools.

Their mission is to REACH people with a Christ-centered message of Hope and Wholeness. REACH is an acronym which stands for revival and transformation, education for discipleship, alignment within the church, community outreach and evangelism, and healthy leadership and management.

By Stan Jensen, Communication Director, Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada.

Please keep Pastor Torres in your prayers as he prepares to step into his new role.

Sabbath ~ January 23rd 2016

This Sabbath, Glenda had the Sabbath School and it was about lessons we can learn from birds.

Roland talked about sparrows and shared a few interesting points about them. He was going to show us a short video, but somehow it did not work this time.

Roland sharing about sparrows.

Here is a video I found about baby sparrows being rescued. Click the link to watch the video: Baby sparrows.

If Jesus said the sparrows are so precious to Him, how much more are we then?

Jerrie Lou agreed to lead the lesson study time and she really did a great job. There was lots of participation and the time went quickly.

It is great to have different people take the lesson study time when we have the fourth Sabbath whole-group class.

Praise Time with Keith playing his guitar and us singing choruses was a happy time.

"Swing Low" is a song everyone enjoys singing and doing the actions for.

Children's story by Rina was very interesting. She shared photos on the screen of her trip to England and a nice surprise they found there.

Rina shares her story about her favourite animal.

Rina's photo ~ one of the photos the children were looking at during the children's story.

A soft pillow and a stuffie sheep were passed around for all the children to see and feel.

The pianist who played the piano to accompany the violinist. It sounded very very nice.

He played "Because He Lives" and it was beautiful.

Brad had an excellent sermon. Thank you!

Update on David Asscherick and his family

This past Sabbath I shared with you about David Asscherick and what they found when they got home from their mission trip. Below is an update.

*Stolen Goods Update*

First, a huge THANK YOU to all of you for the prayers and words of encouragement regarding our recent misfortune with the burglarizing of our home! I've read many of the comments, but still have hundreds to go. Wow, the outpouring of concern and prayer has buoyed us through an understandably difficult time. So, again, THANK YOU!!!

What happened? Well here’s what we know: our home was broken into and left a mess by thieves about a week ago. The police have come and done their thing and they said it looked like the work of professionals who knew what they were looking for. Fortunately, most of our treasures are in heaven! In reality we’re not a particularly good target for thieves; we have no jewellery, hidden cash, liquor, television, fancy stereo, etc. Many of the items would-be thieves would find most desirable (laptop, cameras, lenses, spotting scope, binoculars) were with us in Tasmania, thankfully. Another blessing: my hidden hard drives with all my photos and sermon material were unfound and unmolested.

It could've been worse. Between the musical instruments, bicycles, guitar amp, and other assorted items, we conservatively estimate the value of taken things around $25,000 AUD. All of our keys were also taken, which will require changing the keys for our home and cars, which is a giant and expensive hassle. Fortunately, we have great landlords who have already changed the house locks. Thank you Phil and Gail!

And perhaps worst of all, our youngest son’s prized Lego collection was taken. This is beyond devastating to him. There are Lego maniacs and there are Lego MANIACS, and Jabel is the latter. Many of his sets are no longer made and are essentially irreplaceable. At this point, he is crushed; pray for him. I want my youngest to learn the valuable lessons of trust and heavenly-mindedness through this. He’s no theologian, so his questions are predictably pointed and raw. I feel his frustration. It’s the world we live in, yes, but it stings most when your children are its victims. God knows this pain well.

Did we have insurance? Unfortunately, no. Right after we purchased the family road bikes in December, I said to Violeta, “When, we return from Tasmania we need to get renter’s insurance.” True story. We will certainly have insurance going forward!

Many of you have asked if you could help in some way. That’s a tough one to answer. The answer is yes, of course, but as we all know, it’s not easy to ask for help, even when it’s needed. It’s humbling and difficult. I’ve raised money for others on dozens of occasions; I actually love doing it! But I never really imagined myself on the needy end of such an enterprise.

Amazingly, a church on the other side of the world, in Florida, started a gofundme account on our behalf. We didn't ask them to do this and didn't even know they had until a couple days ago. We are humbled and HUGELY thankful. If you feel inclined to help, thank you. We know that not all are in a position to do so and we have no expectations. Like I say, this is not something we initiated, though we are very appreciative to those who did—you know who you are.

On behalf of myself, Violeta, and the boys, THANK YOU for your prayers, words of encouragement, and, should you feel inclined, financial assistance. We cannot say this strongly enough or too many times.

The gofundme “goal” has been set by the church in Florida at $10,000 USD. Whether or not we get there, or even beyond there, or not isn’t our greatest concern. The love we’ve felt since this happened is what has really put our hearts at rest.

God is still good! And always will be!

Humbled and thankful,
The Asscherick Family

Click here to support David Asscherick Restoration Fund by Palm Coast SDA

As many of you have heard, our beloved friend Pastor David Asscherick had his home broken into while away in Tasmania preaching at campmeeting. His…

GOFUNDME.COM

OKAA choir at OCC ~ January 16th 2016

We had a snowy welcome to Orchard City SDA Church this Sabbath.

There was lots of snow, but there were men outside shoveling it away to make it easier for people to get inside.

Down by the Kid's Corner more people shovel the snow away.

By the front door volunteers are pushing the snow away to so people can enter the church easier.

Inside, the greeters are ready with a warm hug and a bulletin for each one.

Or a little chat.

Pat and Reg take their pew and Pat happily shares her thank you letter, with Beverly to read to us.

Angela had the Sabbath School time and shared with us more about angels.
She shared this little video clip by Dwight Nelson also.

Don asked for helpers to start off the lesson study in the upstairs class.
How do you feel when you make something and someone else (Bonnie) comes along and destroys it?

Time moves along quickly and soon it was time for the Praise Service and Children's story.
We had the OKAA choir share three special songs with us and it was so great to have them at Orchard City again. Sara DeZwan led them and with her quiet ways and bright smile she had the choir singing very nicely and we were blessed.

Dawna led the children's song "My God is So Great, So Strong, and So Mighty"

Listening to the story.

Sara explains their songs before the sing.

Each student adds such loveliness to the choir.

Thank you, OKAA choir, for a really memorable set of songs.

Mrs. Gerber had a short talk once the choir was finished. Thank you for your sharing.

A touch of springtime at church.

In the afternoon, The Prayer Team invited everyone to join in seeing "War Room."
Alex read a verse and shared a thought after we watched and were inspired.

Gay handed out little sticky note pads for all of us to put into practice our special prayer requests.

One happy scene from the movie. The dad and his happy daughter in the Double-Dutch competition.

Praying together is very encouraging and uplifting.

Thank you for joining us at Orchard City Church today!

Still Summer Sabbath - September 12, 2015

Glenda had the SS for Lori as she is away and will take the fourth Sabbath. We had a Back-to-School Theme that involved several classes.

Math class helped us find the number for the Opening Song and then there was Reading class with a Responsive Reading from the Hymnal. In Social Studies class we learned interesting facts about East Timor and Bangladesh. Economics Class let us remember that investing in Sabbath School is good for all of us, and then we had Spelling Class and thought up Bible verses starting with each letter of Sabbath School. Ruby excelled at Spelling Class, but everyone got an A+ this week.

Alex Mentes led our Lesson Study class and it is always an interesting time.
The two children's Sabbath School classes were alive with happy children and parents.

Our speaker for the Church Service was Ernie Dorosh. He spoke about Kindness and sang some songs, and it was enjoyed by all who were there.

Flowers just give a cheery lift ~ so great to see them as we walk into Orchard City SDA Church

Teacher Loretta with children at Kids Corner

Sabbath, January 9th, 2016 at OCC

You are most welcome to join us at Orchard City SDA church each Sabbath morning starting at 9:15 a.m. for our Praise Time before Sabbath School.

This week Lori had our Sabbath School for the adult group and brought us interesting ways to learn Bible verses.

One thing she suggested and showed us how it worked was the Bible game of saying a verse and having a friend find a certain word in it to link another Bible verse too and pass that verse back to the first person.  It keeps on going by finding one word in the first verse and then the second person finds a second Bible verse with that word in it, too.

We took a try at it and it was sure something to get us to open our Bibles and use our concordances and think. Thanks, Lori.
Please share your ideas on here if you know of some interesting ways to keep Bible verses in our minds.

Alex had the upstairs lesson while the group downstairs had Lori lead.

Alex uses the white board to help the visual people see the lesson.

I took a little walk out to the Children's Sabbath School room and on the way stopped at the Kid's Corner #2 Sabbath School for the older children.

Cherri had it all set up nicely with a big new black board she painted. It is all ready for children to enjoy the activities she has planned.

Thank you for what you plan and do for the older children, Cherri.

Just a little way away is the Kid's Corner #1 for the smaller ones. This Sabbath it was full of happy, singing children and smiling parents and grandparents.

The new theme ~ sign outdoors.

I was so happy to see the boat being used this time for a slide for the otters.

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Handsome, dressed up little lad.

Lovely children enjoy Sabbath School.

There were 8 cousins together this week.  So glad they came to OCC.

Dropping in a 'bubble'.

Bible story time at the other end of the room.

Pretty jelly fish by the background Loretta painted.

Back inside the church it was time for Praise Time singing and the children's song. And then story time with Jolanta. She was so nice with the children and her story was about losing her car key and finding it again.

Don't forget to look at the bulletin board. This week there was a nice letter from Quinton and Marguarite Covey.

To go with the ocean theme ~ "Deep and Wide".

The key that was lost and found.

I must get better at the video taking but the words and music were beautiful for Heidi's special music song. Thank you so much for sharing!

Doug L. had the sermon ~ A Fresh Start.
The Bible text was Colossians 2:16. Don read it from the NKJV and Glenda read it from the International Children's Bible.

After the service was over we enjoyed a fellowship lunch together. The theme was Greek foods and there was plenty of it. It was a nice relaxed time together.

Tabouli salad

Vegan lasagna

Bowtie salad

Greek salad on a happy person's plate.

Spanakopita tastiness.

Going to enjoy her Greek meal.

Once Rich and Naomi finished up the dishes and Edith and Bonnie and others had cleaned up the tablecloths, recycling, and other things, it was time to leave our little church.

It was soon time for Sunshine Bands at Sutherland Hills. Beverly led out and we had a surprise piano player take part.

The song leader group.

Our helpful piano player.

Friend helping friend with the hymnal.

A quick consult.

Alex read a poem about the New Year.

Glenda also shared two stories about a girl from many years ago who was a Pathfinder in Kelowna. They were very interesting stories.

Have a lovely week and please remember to pray for one another as it seems many of us have desires to share with God.