online. But with our resources, you get the support of real people who understand your church. If you want to talk over how to use the resource properly, or even have one of us come to your church to help you imple- ment the resource, we are more than happy to help.


Our Fellowship was built on the idea of “join- ing our hands to strengthen His church,” and that is what we want to do in new and powerful ways.


I want to thank the Directors


for their help, support, and wis- dom. I want to thank the commis- sion members for their hard work to keep our Fellowship moving forward.


I want to thank the staff for


all their efforts. Gary Krehbiel and I work full-time to support and encourage you, but we also have


several part-time staff members: Janet Rosenquist and Samantha Nemanishen handle finances and adminis- tration, Jennifer Guthrie has been our Fellowship Focus Editor, Kaileen Jones is our Publications Specialist. and Crystal Klassen is our Convention Coordinator.


Each of them contributes in amazing ways to


make our Fellowship more effective. I thank each of you. Your church is not required


to be part of this Fellowship. Each of you chooses to be involved because you see the value in working together to build one another up. You see the value in accountability and mutual support. You see that there is a mission field in North America that our churches are serving. Thank you for your financial support, for your prayer support, for your volunteers, and for your participation in events such as this one. I am so very grateful.


Praise God for this Fellowship, for his work among


us, and for his everlasting faithfulness. May he richly bless each church within our Fellow-


ship family.


Strategic Update First, I just want to take care of some


housekeeping: One item of business we usually handle at Con-


nect is the announcement of scholarship recipients. The following individuals have been awarded $1,000 scholarships for the coming school year:


Christian Ministry:


• Zachary Hall (Crosspoint Bible Church, Omaha, Nebr.), Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.


• Shawna Mwakikuti (Salem Church, Waldheim, Sask.), online studies at Liberty University.


• Marcus Obianime (Northeast Bible Church, Cal- gary, Alb.), Alberta Bible College.


• Anabel Stucky (Community Bible Church, Omaha, Nebr.), Word of Life Hungary Bible Institute.


• Alternate: Eryn McDonald (Dalmeny Bible Church, Dalmeny, Sask.) — Millar College of the Bible.


Continuing Education:


• Ben Bedlion (youth pastor at Evangelical Bible Church, Dallas, Ore.), pursuing an MDiv degree at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.


• Lori Stucky (principal of a Christian junior high school in Brazil), studying online for a BA in Christian Counseling at Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA. Lori is a member of CBC, Omaha.


Other updates: Rev. John Harwood retired from ministry at


Christian Fellowship Church in Winnipeg after serving since 2010. I thank John for his many years of faithful service and for his involvement in our Fellowship.


We have a few very long-standing commission


members that are retiring from service today: Paul Boeker, CoE; Fayth Boeker, CoGP and Anna Louise Schultz, CoGP.


I don’t mention every commission member who


steps down, as I assume they will be back. But each of these members says they are “really retiring” this time. They have served for many years and have faithfully served our Fellowship well beyond the role of com- mission member for many years beyond that. I am so grateful for each of them and their contributions. We will miss you, and we appreciate and thank you for your years of service.


I want to thank Jennifer Guthrie, our Fellowship


Focus Editor for the past year or so, who has done a tremendous job taking the torch from Paul Boeker and giving our magazine a fresh focus. Unfortunately, Jennifer is resigning from her position to care for her growing family. However, I am pleased to announce that we have hired Jennifer Kopsa from Community Bible Church in Omaha, Nebraska, to take the reins. Jennifer will bring fresh perspective and an energetic


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