MOMENTUM | FEBRUARY 2016
Momentum: Voices
Dave Hearn, President of the C&MA Canada
“The Lord your God is with you, the
Mighty Warrior who saves. He will
take great delight in you; in his love
he will no longer rebuke you, but will
rejoice over you with singing”
(Zephaniah 3:17).
All of us have voices that speak into our
lives and impact our thinking and
behaviour. These voices can be either
negative or positive, healing or
condemning. Some of these voices are in
the present; family, friends, and coworkers all share opinions, evaluations,
and perspectives that impact our
viewpoints and choices.
Because these individuals are speaking in
real time, we have the opportunity for
questions, clarifications, debate, and
challenge; however, there are other
difficult voices interacting with us. They
are voices from our past. Opinions,
expressions, and declarations that come
from a variety of sources can lodge
themselves in our souls. They can become
a permanent and relentless echo of how
we see and respond to life.
A few weeks ago, Agnes and I attended a
three-day conference about emotionally
healthy leaders. During our participation
in the seminar, we were asked to venture
into our past and identify voices that
continue to impact us in the present.
Agnes was able to identify the voices of
some girls from her childhood who
established a club known as “People
Against Agnes.” These early impressions
of rejection have made it a challenge for
her to feel accepted, wanted, and valued.
I also became aware of a voice from the
past that has impacted my pace of life and
ministry. The voice to which I am referring
is my father’s. My dad was an amazing,
Godly leader and a loving father; however,
his verbal affirmations had an impact on
me.
cmacan.org
Two in particular are “don’t quit” and
“don’t disappoint (except your family,
because they will understand).”
My interpretation of these phrases
was, “always work harder and longer
than those around you” and “always be
available to others, and if you need to
sacrifice some family obligations, they
will understand.”
Over the years, I have battled with
these expectations and have
succumbed to the pressure, leading to
a feeling of shallowness in my soul. I
am constantly convicted by
conversations around Sabbath, and I find
that one of my greatest challenges is
cultivating solitude and contemplation.
Running has been a huge gift to me in
listening to God, but I know I need to
deepen my journey of silence. On
many occasions, I have had to
apologize to my family for neglecting
them and disappointing them by
choosing to meet the expectations of
others while neglecting theirs.
Healing requires replacing these voices
with the voice of God. God speaks into
the deepest places of our soul. He tells
us that we are free from condemnation
(Romans 8:1), we are forgiven (Romans
5:1), we are deeply loved (Colossians
3:12), we are accepted (Ephesians 1:6),
we are kept (Ephesians 1:13-14), and
we are secure (1 Peter 1:3-5).
We can enter into rest because God is
sovereign, and we do not have to fear
the future, because God is the author
and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2;
Philippians 1:6). It is His voice that must
become the voice in our lives.
What voices from your past are
speaking to you? It is time to identify
them and bring them out of the
shadows and into the light. Tune your
heart to the voice of the One who loves
you without condition and sings over
you with unbridled love.
Global Advance Fund Update
The Global Advance Fund covers the costs of
sending and supporting international
workers overseas—salaries, benefits and the
costs associated with ministry in various
countries—and some is designated to
strengthen the sending base, to train
international workers and to fund
administrative needs, including the National
Ministry Centre.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU
Our faith goal for GAF was tracking well
in 2015, but then shortfalls in October
and November left us in a difficult
position: we needed $2.6 million in
December.
You responded and gave generously.
Find a thank-you letter from Dave at:
cmacan.org/thank-you
ABOUT THIS NEW FORMAT
Year-to-Date (2015):

Income:

Faith Goal:

Surplus:
$15,001,500
$14,634,000
$ 367,500
Month of December 2015:
 Income:
$ 2,867,400
 Faith Goal:
$ 1,914,400
 Surplus:
$ 953,000
A.B. SIMPSON, FOUNDER
“God give us the
spirit of Scriptural
faith, personal
consecration and
true self-sacrifice…”
(A.B. Simpson).
MOMENTUM | FEBRUARY 2016
Operation Intercession
Brent Farquhar, Assistant District Superintendent, CCD
Brent Farquhar is Assistant District
Superintendent of the Central Canadian
District (CCD). A longer version of this story
can be found in the Spring 2015 issue of
cmAlliance.ca at macan.org/stories/
operation-intercession
Jesus describes His prayerful dependence
in John 5:19: “…the Son can do nothing by
himself; he can do only what he sees his
Father doing, because whatever the
Father does the Son also does.”
I saw this happen at General Assembly
2014, and it has encouraged me to keep
pressing into prayerful dependence and
Spirit-directed intercession.
They had just completed a deep
intercession. There had been deep
groaning, weeping, and Spirit-led
intercession for the past hour.
Someone confidently declared, “It’s
done.” Others shared words like, “the
spirit of contention is broken”; “the
powers of darkness have been
defeated”; “pride is uprooted.”
Do you have a passion for prayer?
General Assembly 2016 needs
intercessors from May 31 to June 4.
Pray at Assembly, with a church
group, or in your comfy La-Z-Boy. For
more information, go to
allianceassembly.com/newsletters
Then they described what would
happen on the floor in precise detail!
The intercessors’ prayers resulted in
Kingdom blessings at the Assembly.
Only God knows what was bound and
what was loosed that day.
In response to the National Ministry
Centre’s invitation to pray throughout
General Assembly, 24 dedicated
intercessors made the journey to Ottawa
in July 2014. The Spirit quickly united this
group for strategic intercession on behalf
of the Assembly.
DONATE TO ANY PROJECT
To support any C&MA fund, please
indicate the project and donate by:
 Giving at cmacan.org/give
 Sending a cheque payable to C&MA
Canada to: 30 Carrier Drive, Suite
100, Toronto, ON M9W 5T7
At a time when contentious issues were
soon to arrive on the floor, I headed to the
prayer room only to be met with laughter
and joyful praise.
Questions? (416) 674-7878 ext. 234,
[email protected]
CMF Fund
At the end of December 2015
(NOTE: These figures are as of each district's fiscal year-end).
Students at Ambrose University
The Canadian Ministries Fund supports
ministry in Canada. Most (70%) is used for
district ministries such as church-planting
and leader development. 15% is used to
support ministry in Quebec and national
multicultural ministries. The balance is used
to support the leader training ministries of
Ambrose University and Institut Biblique
VIE (IBVIE).
cmacan.org
District
Year-end
Income
Budget
Surplus/(Shortfall)
Cdn. Pacific
Dec.
$288,332
$315,000
($26,668)
Western Cdn.
Jun.
$324,548
$332,000
($ 7,452)
Cdn. Midwest
Mar.
$270,088
$263,428
$ 6,661
Central Cdn.
Mar.
$176,721
$217,000
($40,279)
Eastern Cdn.
Mar.
$216,198
$225,000
($ 8,802)
St. Lawrence
Dec.
$64,711
$50,000
$14,711