Winter 2020

In November I had the opportunity to spend two weeks on a sort of "book tour" visiting with both supporters and church leaders all up and down the west coast. 

It was a fruitful time, resulting in many new relationships and several new supporters. 

In December I had the opportunity to go on the Apologetics Canada Podcast to talk about the book and what Jesus is doing in Quebec. It was a huge opportunity to get the word out to their large listening audience. If you missed that you can catch it here:

Thank you (again) to everyone who has helped to share about the book. If you STILL haven't gotten yours yet, you can locate where to get a copy in your region here: stegnersonmission.org/books (and you'll also find five videos on that page explaining more about the book, why I wrote it, etc.).

If you ever decide to plant a church (or several), give me a call first: there are a few things you should know, like how complex things get when you migrate your core leadership from two guys having coffee to a team of 15 on a shoestring budget and in two languages. 

Answer: Very complex, very quickly.

For example, here is a shot from our leaders meeting we had a few Sundays ago:

Those are all leaders, meaning each represents anywhere from 3-10 folks who they themselves are leading, discipling, and shepherding.

That is JUST the English leaders. Add on to this that there is a whole other group of French leaders, each caring for more folks, you can see how quickly things can get crazy. Let's just say that the learning curve has been steep.

Yet it's so exciting to sit in a meeting of so many (young!) people who are incredibly gifted and incredibly serious about their neighbors and coworkers hearing the gospel, and seeing the many new and growing Christians in our church reach maturity in Christ.

We enjoyed a joint bilingual "Christmas" service in mid-December, packing out one of our theaters even after many students had left for Christmas break:

1. Getting our org chart onto paper for deeper clarity within our church staff and leaders:

2. Testing and validating a new online donation platform that allows us to receive Canadian donations with ZERO credit card fees (see an example of it in use here).

3. Migrating our staff onto a new payroll system that gives us more direct control as we add new missionaries, vocational students, and interns to our team:

4. Completing a long-overdue update to our policies and staff handbook, as well as implementing an annual review process for our staff to better monitor their work and health, promoting longevity:

5. A new project this winter has been to help Dwight (our founding pastor) with a project called Movement Montreal, which is working with churches across the downtown core of Montreal to collectively tackle demographic ministries in the city:

Our first project is in the area of discipling and mobilizing youth (ages 12 to 17). Our initial event is happening this upcoming February 21st. Please be in prayer for this first step. Already we have received God's favor in that the mayor of Montreal learned about this project and subsequently directed the City of Montreal to give us a small amount of funding, crazy! I have worked to build the branding & online platform, as well as provide operational coaching for our leader working over the youth ministry project. I anticipate significantly increasing my level of participation as the "Director of Operations" for this new ministry over the course of 2020.

And this weekend I'll be closing out our "Paranormal" Sermon series preaching on the subject of "The Occult":

It should be available via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify by around February 13th.

Severine and I have completely transitioned into the mindset of "parents of teenagers." Look how huge they are!

In step with our family discipleship strategy, I took Emma on her "coming of age 12-year-old trip with Papa" this past November. We spent a few days together hiking and exploring upstate New York:

And then ultimately she had wanted to go to NYC to see a broadway show, so we spent the second half of the trip there:

It was a very significant time for our relationship, and marked the end of an era for Severine and I as parents of "children."

Ben is fully back into ball hockey as a goalie, and he and I got to enjoy an NHL pre-season game together: 

Severine created the above as an illustration to accompany an article discussing mental health in an online literary magazine  You can check out the full magazine & article here.

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That's it for this time. Have questions about our ministry? Want to contact us for any reason? Please message us!

Blessings!

Brian, Severine, Kate, Ben, & Emma :)