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SCA International
Board of Directors
Rick Hayden, Chair
Bruce Malcolm, Vice-Chair
David Stouffer, Treasurer
Lyndie Malcolm, Secretary
Les Alton
Tom Friesen
Brad Lawrie
Phil McConnell
Michael McCormick
Sheldon Street
Delores Walters
CHAIR'S REPORT 2008
Dear Members, Friends and Supporters:
Greetings to you all in the name of our Saviour. I wish I could be with you tonight for our Annual meeting but I am out of the country at this time. However, I would like to share a few words with you.
To start off, I want to thank the Board, our Executive Director and our Staff for the hard work and dedication they have shown in the past year. They deserve the highest praise for their commitment.
For almost six years, Geneva Wright has been an invaluable servant of Christ in our office. Her pleasant smile, strong work ethic and competence is remarkable. In just a few weeks Geneva will be leaving us to serve Christ as a missionary in Africa with her husband Alan. Geneva has always had a missionary heart and that made her such a valuable part of our SCA team. I want to say, “Thank you, Geneva. You will be missed.”
I thank God for all of our office staff who bring such a high level of commitment and dedication to their jobs. I thank God for the kind of energy and work ethic that our Executive Director, Ken Godevenos brings to the job. His tireless efforts and commitment to the Mission are without question. Thank you to all of you.
Now, regarding the ongoing work of the Mission:
As you will see from our Executive Director’s report (to view this report, click on "About Us", then "Operations") this has been a very active and exciting year for SCA. The new Ministry Centre (Eagle’s Cove) is up and running under the capable leadership of Bera and Bonita Ledua. This is an exciting work which reaches out to both native and non-native people in the Thunder Bay area. Praise God that there is excitement among local leadership and we are looking to see God do great things in Northern Ontario through this Ministry Centre. Our other Ministry Centres, Blueberry in Northern BC, Eagle Bay in Manitoba, and Eagle’s Nest in Northern Alberta reach out to hundreds of people every year and people are coming to faith in Christ. By God’s grace, someday we’d like to see at least one Ministry Centre in every province and territory in Canada.
Our Field Missionaries continue to bring the Good News about Jesus to isolated peoples all across the country whether it be in homes or prisons or in the workplace or where ever. It takes a special person to be a good and effective Field Missionary. At the present time, our number of Field Missionaries is lower than in the past and that creates a challenge for us as we seek to fulfill our mandate. My dream is that in the next few years we could recruit a good number of high quality individuals or couples with a passion and a plan to reach lost people in isolated communities across Canada.
There are challenges that we face as a Mission in the next few years. Let me outline a few of those challenges and some steps that are being taken.
1. Financial Challenges and Opportunities
Much of our support base is growing older and with that often comes diminished giving potential. We have seen this coming for some time and with a combination of other challenges we’ve faced, it became crucial for us to broaden our financial base. Your Board is taking bold steps to do just that and to let more people know about the excellent work of the mission and challenge them to invest in the Kingdom through the work of SCA. We have engaged the services of one of Canada’s best fundraising organizations to help us design a plan to raise significant funds for the ministry as well as taking other important measures to strengthen SCA’s financial position.
2. Recruitment Challenges and Opportunities
Every organization has recruitment challenges and we are no different. We must continue to attract and recruit the highest quality people to lead and work in our Ministry Centres and to be Field Missionaries with bold spirits who will forge out new ministries, often where no one has dared to go before. We’re so pleased that Jonathan Welch has become our new Director at the Eagle Bay Ministry Centre. Jonathan and his wife Nicole bring the kind of excellence and passion to the ministry that will honour God. They are an outstanding couple. We will continue to seek and recruit a new MC Director for Eagle’s Nest as well as Field Missionaries who want to make disciples among the unreached of Canada. I am excited at the possibilities and opportunities that are before us.
3. Outreach Challenges and Opportunities
Now into our second century of ministry to unreached people in Canada, it is no time for us to rest on the victories of the past. Even though people are moving to our cities in droves, there are still unreached people in isolated areas, not to mention the teeming millions of people who though they live in the city are still isolated and unreached in many ways. We have to continually be looking for new ways to reach these people with the gospel. We can’t always do ministry the way we did a hundred years ago or even ten years ago. We will never change the message, but we must find new ways to take that message to an ever-changing world. Over the next couple of years, our Executive Director and the Board will be looking at ways to do just that. Already, we’re looking at a partnership with another organization to bring medical services and the gospel to isolated First Nation reserves. I believe this will be a first in Canada. We’re also in the process of defining and strengthening our Field Missionary program so that we can recruit top quality candidates with a passion to reach people across Canada.
4. Building A Strong SCA Team and Sense of Identity
The last few years have been challenging years for the Mission, as they have been for many Christian organizations. The world around us is changing faster than ever and if that represents the tremors of change I believe that the quake of change in the next ten years will be the greatest we’ve ever seen. In the midst of that, we need to build a strong team at SCA, including Missionaries, Ministry Centres, Staff, Board and supporters to lead us into the next hundred years of ministry. We want to raise the profile of SCA and its ministry (MC’s & Field Missionaries and national initiatives) across the country. Though we may work in isolated spots, we are not isolated. We are a team. We are connected by our commitment to serve Jesus Christ together under SCA International. Working and cooperating together we can do much to take the Good News to the unreached peoples of Canada and thus bring glory to God.
As always, we will face challenges in the year ahead, but there are also opportunities that wait. As we pray and work hard together, I believe that we have a fantastic year ahead of us and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to SCA and for your continued prayer support.
Because of Calvary
Rev. Rick Hayden
Chair: SCA International
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