President's Address by KEVIN STONE, PRESIDENT


Hopefully, you all read my report in the 2020 Annual Report, especially since you already voted to approve it. I am going to try to keep my remarks here as brief as possible.


I have spent plenty of time in monthly letters,


magazine articles, emails, and personal conversations stating that this has been a tough year, mostly because of our lack of live connection. I would say we have varied between challenging, frustrating, and depress- ing. We have not been able to serve you as well as we wanted to.


We suffered quite a bit of loss over the past year,


including Pastor Wayne Bergen from Wolf Point, Montana, Wendy Elgby, wife of Pastor Hans Elgby up in Hodgson, Manitoba, and others. We also lost our newest church plant — Bridge City Bible Church in Saskatoon, Sasketchewan. It has suspended operations indefinitely. Progress at that church had been slower than expected, and COVID-19 was an insurmountable obstacle.


However, amid the chal-


lenges and the pain of loss, I am pleased at how we have continued to connect. This year has brought ways to serve you that we never imagined a few months before. We helped you figure out how to live- stream your services, sorted


through government regulations to help you deter- mine how to comply, and dug into the issue of how we balance our duty to submit to the government with our responsibility to meet. Many of our churches have gone through difficult times that have nothing to do with COVID-19 — such as the search for a new pastor. We have helped in many ways.


We are pressing forward with the new Vi-


sion Statement approved at last year’s AGM — “Strengthening our churches with timely resources that strengthen their leaders.” This work incudes es- tablishing the new Commission on Pastoral Care, de- veloping a strategy and goals for resource development,


and reviewing and revising our resources. I am very pleased with the work our staff members have done to begin making this vision a reality. This process is truly just beginning and will continue for years. I am encouraged by the number of churches that have been actively using the new resources, such as the revised Pastor Search Kit and the new Elder Assessment Tool.


I am excited to see where God is leading us in the


future. Here are just a few examples: We were able to assist Iglesia De Cristo Mahanaim


in Omaha, Nebraska, with completing their legal documentation. They are now a full-member church of our Fellowship.


Richer Fellowship Church completed all require-


ments and moved from church plant status to full member status.


Community Bible Church of Indian Head, Sas-


ketchewan, took a loan (as a church plant) from the FEBC to purchase and renovate their building. Earlier this year they paid that loan off ahead of schedule, demonstrating health and financial commitment.


At our national meetings, we acknowledged the


ordination of three men (Jonathan Coutts, Jared Fast, and Crale Swanson) along with the licensing of Adam Fischer.


I have had conversations with multiple churches


who are interested in joining our Fellowship, including one delegation that joined us remotely at our national meeting.


I am also excited about how our new Vision


Statement has already impacted our Fellowship. We have had many conversations with church leaders who are using these resources. I am thrilled with the quality of resources that our team has been putting together. Even more than that, I am excited about the personal connections that come with the resources. Some of our re- sources are unique, others are similar to things you can find


FELLOWSHIP FOCUS, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 6


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