CBWC Announcement

The Board of Directors of Canadian Baptists of Western Canada is very pleased to announce they have reappointed Jeremy Bell as Executive Minister for another 5 years. His second term will extend to June, 2015.

“Jeremy was hired 5 years ago because he has a great ability to dream outside the box. He has great visioning skills,” said Jan Paasuke, the Board Chair. “Over the past 5 years, he has put many new initiatives into play, such as Listening Sessions, urban camping and local short-term missions as something separate from CBM. He has shown he has the ability to move us in a different direction and be more effective in the future.”

“He has laid the groundwork for the future over the last 5 years. He has an amazing tenaciousness with ideas. So much of the new things we are doing are his ideas even in a time when a lack of finances has forced us to live inside the box more than we would like,” said Jan. “Now we are ready to see what is outside the box and his skills as a visionary will really come into play.”

Read more on this after the link.

Over the last 5 years, we have deepened or initiated as a family of churches the following ministries. (In addition to Jeremy, there is strong leadership from the CBWC staff involved in each of these).

• Started Listening/Partnering Sessions to understand church needs and goals.
• Began clergy care ministry headed by John Prociuk
• With the leadership of Rod Olson, started Urban camping initiatives
• Tom Lavigne has put a new focus on church planting with 17 new churches on track to be received at Assembly and a further 15 being developed
• Through the work of Jeff Dyer, initiated bulk buying for camps for economies of scale
• Started scholarships to Edge Program at Rocky Mountain College to encourage youth leadership development. Led by Rod Olson.
• Under the leadership of Faye Reynolds, clustered youth, women’s, camping and family ministries to increase their reach and effectiveness in their ministry cluster and in our churches.
• With Ken Theissen, started church consultancy to improve church health
• Under the guidance of David Connop and Bob Webber, established a Communications and Stewardship committee

“There is so much I have been thankful for over the past 5 years, particularly the presence of God among us, the wise and steady guidance of the Board, and our gifted and dedicated staff who extend themselves out of their personal faith to support and resource CBWC churches,” Jeremy said.   “I am also encouraged by the changes in my own life as I have transitioned from pastoring a church plant to participating in God’s work with such a diverse, richly gifted community of churches as those in the Canadian Baptist family.”

“We have tried hard to listen to what the churches have said to us about their needs and I believe that we continue to improve our ability to respond to these needs and provide the support churches have asked for.  I look forward to the many ways God will surprise and lead us as we serve Him together over next few years,” he added.

Jeremy Bell began his term as Executive Minister in July 2005. Prior to serving as Executive Minister, he was the senior pastor at Kitsilano Christian Community Church in Vancouver. The Board expresses its gratitude that Jeremy has agreed to continue serving among us as we work together for God’s glory.