For the last four years I’ve been a pastor on staff at New Covenant Christian Fellowship in Brantford, ON. A few Sundays ago I had the arduous task of standing before my church family to announce that I was leaving.

For someone sitting in the pew and listening to these words, it is easy to begin to analyze and wonder “what happened?” or “Is there something else that he’s not telling us?”

Anticipating these questions, I decided that to best explain the details and to avoid any confusion about my decision to leave, I had to write a letter and read it. My pastor called me up at the end of the announcements and I read my letter. I was so nervous that my heart was beating in my throat but once I got through the first paragraph I began to settle down. Afterwards I took a few moments to share a bit more from my heart.

Here are some excerpts from my letter to my church:

A big part of my responsibility as a pastor is to be obedient to God. When He speaks I must listen.

The decision to leave New Covenant does not come easy, or out of convenience for me, but is a decision of obedience as I discern the call of God for my life.

In the spirit of being transparent, with this decision also comes the difficulty in leaving behind the relationships we have made. It truly has been my privilege to work with, especially, the youth and young adults and observe, firsthand, their spiritual development and deeper love for God.

New Covenant has been a place of blessing for Priscilla and I. It was here where I feel my ministry has had a chance to flourish and I thank you for having allowed my gifts to make room for me.

Lastly, my prayer is to finish strong and leave well while you release us to do the work that God is calling us, and leading us to do in Toronto. May it be so of me not that I went, but that I was sent.

That Sunday morning was tough for me, but I’m quickly realizing that it’s hard to leave well.

That might sound a little confusing so let me clarify it by putting it this way. It would be really easy to leave on a bad note: Up.and.Out. But leaving well requires some hard work my friend.

Here are some things I am doing and that you can do too in an effort to finish strong and leave well.

4 Tips on How To Leave Well

1. Tell Your Senior/Lead Pastor As Early As Possible. This allows the church leadership to prepare for their next step. Be flexible with them if the situation allows and seek to honour the church you are leaving and the church you are headed to.

2. Continue to put Your Shoulder to the Plow Until Your Last Day. It’s really easy start thinking about your church and the journey ahead, but don’t stop working just yet. If you want to finish strong you’ve gotta work hard until your last day ends.

3. Share/Leave as Much Info About Your Ministries/Responsibilities as you can. For me, part of leaving well means making it easy for someone else to pick up where I am leaving off – to leave an obvious path of where my ministries have been in the last few months and even years. To make this a reality I’ve spent all of this week compiling a current database of all our youth and young adults, and a general run-through of what we’ve been doing.

Youth. Young Adults. Web/Design. Worship. Since I am responsible for these ministries in the church, I want to leave a sort of digital footprint. To do this I have created a master folder and copied in any pertinent files (i.e. contacts, attendance sheets, psd files, passwords, etc..). This actually turned into an 11GB digital resource containing  1,197 items. Here’s what the folder structure looks like:

4. Love The Church (by “church” I mean the people) and Take Time to Say Goodbye. Yes, it does feel much different after you announce that you are leaving, but that doesn’t mean that you are to back yourself into a corner and suck your thumb. Our ministry is to people and in many ways, they’ve become our extended family. Take time to honour them. They’ll miss you. They’ll feel a void when you leave.

Are you in transition? I’d love to hear how things are going for you. Let me know in the comments or find me in twitter.

Footnote:

So, I’ve shared all this with you without telling you where I’m going. I’ve accepted the position of associate pastor at Weston Road Pentecostal Church in Toronto. My responsibility will also include Worship and Young Adults and I will begin in March 2012.

It’s a new year and a slew of Christian concerts and tours have been announced in Canada.

Here are a few that I think are noteworthy for you to consider (in order by date):

Chris Tomlin – “And If Our God Is For Us” Canadian Tour

Ottawa – Fri. March 9 // Toronto – Sat. March 10 // Tickets

If there’s a worship leader that needs no introduction, it’s Chris Tomlin. Having written countless songs – How Great Is Our God, Our God, Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone), etc – you will probably find yourself being able to sing along in worship for the entire night.

Truthfully, what intrigues me the most about this night is the duo All Sons & Daughters. I’ve heard all the buzz surrounding these two but I have yet to actually stop and listen. I’m looking forward to waiting and experiencing what they are all about.

NineOFive Tour

Sarnia – Fri. March 16 // Cambridge – Sat. March 17 // Ajax – Sun. March 18 // Tickets

My NineOFive friends over at C4 in Ajax have been up to some pretty awesome things lately! On November 20, 2011 they hosted Ben Cantelon and Starfield for an awesome NineOFive Event. This time, they’ve crafted a tour with an incredible lineup: NineOFive, Parachute Band, and Aaron Gillespie.

This tour will come to a close at their home church with the first (free) NineOFive Event of 2012. Joining them on this night will be Leeland Mooring of the band Leeland (I still can’t stop listening to their latest album). I’m definitely gonna be at this one!

Paul Baloche – Truth Matters Tour

Ottawa – Fri. April 13 // Cambridge – Sat. April 14 // Toronto – Sun. April 15 // Tickets

Paul is one of my favourite worship leaders and I love his band mates (Carl Albrecht on drums, Michael Rossback on bass, and Ben Gowell on guitar) . They are worshipers and incredible musicians. Phil Wickham will also be with them on this tour. I’m definitely looking forward to having these guys in town again!

If you are a worship leader/pastor, you are familiar with Paul and His worship ministry, but why not invest a little in your team and bring them along. I’ve found it a great way to attend with worship team members and then chat about what each of us learned and observed from Paul and his band.

Micheal W. Smith – Wonder, Worship & Glory Tour

Toronto – May 5 // Ottawa – May 6 // Tickets

Smitty is in a class of his own. He’s a Billboard top ten Billboard Hot 100 recording artist and Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor (wikipedia).

I’ll be honest to admit that I’m not a huge fan of his voice, but I have to give credit to his incredible musical gifts. He has been influential in the lives of so many of today’s artists and has been a blessing to so many Christians.

If you’re a Smitty fan, this one’s for you.

Where and which concert(s) are you planning to attend? I would love to say hi!

To all my American friends I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

To all my blogging friends, wherever you live, I want to make sure that you are aware of the opportunity to grab the most awesome premium wordpress themes from 8BIT at 30% off.

Just so you’re at ease, this blog is built on 8BIT’s Standard Theme and so is WorshipDrummer.ca. I honestly will never buy another theme!

So here are three of their themes that I highly recommend you take a look at:

Standard Theme

A premium WordPress theme for professional blogging

Pro Photo Theme

Ideal for photographers, photo bloggers, and image enthusiasts

Live Theme

A premium WordPress theme for streaming video and live events.

Over a year ago I bought a standard license of the standard theme and within two months I upgraded to the support license. I don’t regret it one bit (and I paid full price too!).

If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog you will definitely want to consider these 8BIT themes. Let me know if you have any questions leave a comment and I will be happy to answer them for you.

Happy Blogging .. uhh I mean Thanksgiving!

Parallax is a difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along different lines of sight. The term derives from the Greek word parallaxis, meaning alteration. In web design, the parallax effect is a relatively new trend. The effect itself has been around for a while, but lately is becoming more used and talked about.

Here are some recent examples that I’ve found:

VNTG Conference

Mcdonald’s McCafe

Samsung Galaxy S2

Pretty awesome, eh! Like what you see? Check out 21 more beautiful parallax sites

A few days ago I had to show my pastor how to take screenshots on his mac. After showing him 2 common methods, I came across an awesome third method from iHospital. Here are all three methods:

1. To take a picture of your entire screen as it appears hold down the Command+Shift+3 keys in that order.

You will hear a snapshot noise and the image thumbnail will appear on your desktop.

2. To take a picture of a selection of your screen, hold down Command+Shift+4 in that order.

Use the tool to select the area in which you want to tae the picture of.

3. To take a picture of a window on your screen, hold Command+Shift+4 in that order, release all three keys and tap the Space Bar. Then click the window which you want to take the picture of.

Try them out and I bet they’ll become part of your workflow.

(via iHospital)

Louie Giglio (Passion) and worship leader Matt Redman have teamed up to write Indescribable: Encountering the Glory of God in the Beauty of the Universe.

Here’s an official book description from Amazon.com:

Putting this powerful message into print for the first time, visionary pastor Louie Giglio and songwriter Matt Redman team up to write a heart-stirring book about the mysteries of God’s creation. Indescribable takes readers on a journey through the vastness of outer space and into the depths of the soul.

Modern science allows viewers to see farther into space than ever before, and every step draws them closer to the God who breathed each star into existence. In Indescribable, the authors intertwine devotional insights with remarkable scientific facts that awaken both mind and spirit. As Giglio and Redman write, God turns wonderers into worshipers.

Above all, Indescribable is a call to worship—an invitation to know and be known by the God of all creation and to become more passionate worshipers of Jesus Christ.

As a worshiper, I stand in awe of God’s handiwork and this is a book I definitely want to read. Looks like I will be adding it to my Christmas list.

You can pick up your copy of Indescribable here!

I recently posted pics of Carey’s pink mask, which was in recognition of breast cancer awareness month. This Friday is Remembrance Day and Carey and David Arrigo have been busy coming up with another brilliant design. Can you say 8-bit awesomeness?

I don’t know about you but I think this is sweet! And since I am a native Montrealer myself, I love inclusion of the fleur-de-lis! Great job David and Carey!

For those interested (and with enough money), the mask will be auctioned off at LegendsDepot.com with the proceeds going to military family support groups. Anyone else besides me who would love to own this incredible piece of art and history?

(via davidarrigo.com)

On Wednesday, October 5, 2011 Steve Jobs left us with a lot to think about. Death, life, afterlife, work, making a difference. These are some of the conversations that have ensued following his passing.

Steve no doubt has changed the way the world uses technology. I haven’t read his biography yet, although it’s on my 2011 Birthday/Christmas list.

In so many of his keynotes, Steve would always say, “oh ya, there’s one more thing… .” Enjoy this one-hour documentary from PBS – Steve Jobs: One Last Thing:

Watch Steve Jobs: One Last Thing on PBS. See more from PBS Presents.

Have you, will you be reading his biography?

On Sunday, October 2, 2011 the General Conference of the Canadian Assemblies of God ordained me for Christian Ministry. It was an incredible service! I am grateful for the message that David Wells, PAOC General Superintendant, preached. I am grateful that Pastor David Di Staulo, my pastor for over 20 years, was officiating the ordination ceremony.

I am also blessed that my grandparents were able to make the trip from Montreal and that the rest of my family and close friends were there too (the only obvious exception was my sister Sabrina and her family – Australia is really far!).

Here are a few pictures that my father-in-law took:

So after a special night like this was all said and done, I woke up the next morning to find something extraordinary: Not much changed

You see, I treasure deeply, and value my ordination and the public recognition of the call of God that comes with it. In fact, looking back, I realize how long the road to my ordination actually was. But the reality is that I woke up the next morning just like I did every other morning: tired and wanting some coffee.

I realized that “ordination” is not the goal for a pastor. It’s the recognition of the call of God on your life. Yes, it legally allows one to marry and bury people, but the goal for a pastor is to be faithful to the call of God. Among other things, it consists of making disciples, living a life that reflects the character and glory of God to those around you, loving people, and serving.

Though I am far from perfect, I pray that in the end I will have been a good steward of everything that He’s entrusted to me.

Thank you to all of my family and friends who’ve been there for me through thick and thin and for encouraging me in my calling.

Most of all, I’m so blessed to get to do all this with the most amazing person in the world, my wife and best friend, Priscilla. You are an amazing wife and I love you.

I really have an appreciation for Carey Price and from time to time I like to blog about him. As the Habs’ season kicks off tonight against the Leafs, enjoy these pics of Carey’s new mask.

(via davidarrigo.com and canadiens.com)