The Scanning Code of Practice

Few shopper have ever heard of the Scanning Code of Practice.  But the way it basically works is this; if the barcode on the item you are purchasing rings up at a different price than what was on the shelf you are allowed up to $10 off the item you are purchasing.  If the item is less than $10 it's free! 

 I'd known about this for a while but finally had the chance to apply it yesterday at a Toy Superstore (while doing some Christmas shopping).  The cashiers who were helping me had no idea what I was talking about so I had to explain it to them.  Then the manager came and without any argument or complaint I scored a free Christmas gift!

Aside from trying to help you potentially save a few bucks at Christmas it reminded me a lot about our Christian lives.  So many people receive Jesus to get "saved" but don't know their rights once they've become a child of God.  They don't know there's more being a Christian than going to heaven.

That's the struggle that I face working with our inner city kids.  Worse than having poor literacy skills is their spiritual literacy.  Most of them don't know that in Christ there is healing for the pain they feel, freedom from the sin that enslaves them, guidance to live fruitful lives, and more!  Outside of the few times we meet them they rarely pick up a Bible or have any knowledge of God or biblical principles.  

On a few occasions I remember taking some of the kids to a Christian bookstore and their responses being, "Wow, I never knew there was so much Christian stuff."  None of these kids have a biblical worldview.  Do you?

Footprints in the Sand..."Where's the bus?"

Whenever you see "Footprints in the Sand" as the heading it means I'll be sharing about something amazing only God could do.  Something that just yells, "God must be walking among us".  I hope your faith faith is lifted.

I still remember my first year co-directing Camp Good News with Bonnie.  I was at the camp with some counsellors getting everything ready for the kids.  Bonnie and a few counsellors were in Toronto rounding up the kids.  We were all excited for what God was going to do.  Everything was lined up and we were ready to go.

Then the phone rang.  Bonnie was on the other end;

Bonnie: "Ivhan, we're here.  Where's the bus?"

Ivhan: "What do you mean where's the bus?"

Bonnie: "Where's the bus?  It's not here."

Ivhan: "Hang on, let me call the bus company and find out."

So I called the bus company and it turns out they had booked a driver who was on vacation that week.  After my call they scrambled to find another bus driver.  While they scrambled, I got the counsellors with me and we prayed for God to intervene.  After praying one of the counsellors pointed out a picture hanging behind me that said,

"When God wants to do something great, He begins with difficulties and when He wants to do something wonderful He starts with impossibility."

Amazingly, the bus company found a driver, but the bus would be an hour and a half late.  During that time I got a phone call from a mother asking if it was too late to sign her daughter up for camp.  I told her the bus was running late and that she could still bring her daughter to the bus pick up.

As only God could know, that girl would be one of the kids to receive Christ at camp that week.  God did many wonderful things things.

Boys and Girls in an Adult World

The kids I see always walk around tough.  They've got their swag, they've got their bling, nothing can hurt them.  Or so they would want to have us believe.  At first glance the kids I work with seem wise beyond their years.  They seem like they know how to handle the world and all that it throws at them.  But when you scratch the surface just a little, you find a boy or a girl who's scared and broken.


The kids I see are just boys and girls in adult world.  They've been exposed to situations and issues no child or person should ever face.  They've had to deal with poverty, abuse, assault, addictions, crime, murder and more. They've seen things no child should ever see.  They know things no child should ever know.  They often raise themselves and are forced to mature faster than they should.

Why is it an eight year old girl knows the details of a murder behind her building.  Details that they cops might not even know?  How are ten year olds more street smart than most adults that I know?  I admire the kids for their determination to "make it".  But in the end, they're just kids.  They're forced to deal with adult issues without the maturity or guidance to handle them properly.  They try to handle it.  But they're just kids.

Take them away for a weekend and their shoulders drop.  They feel safe and don't have to worry about what they're going to eat next.  They don't have to look over their shoulders or carry the burdens of their family.  For a few hours they can just be kids.  They laugh, they smile, they play.  It's no wonder many of the kids want to live at Camp Good News all year.



I know we can't take them away forever and I can't take them all home with me, but I'm thankful for the moments we have to be God's love to them.  For some, it will be enough to soften their hearts to make a difference.

 Your partnership in this ministry is what makes this possible.  Your prayers, your financial support make a difference.

"Maybe he sells drugs to provide for your family..."

It's very easy to look at someone who's committed a crime and call them guilty.  It's easy to point the finger, to say there was another way, to think they had a choice.  But it's not so easy when you it's your family that's hungry, when you're the one who hasn't eaten in days, when you're the one suffering.

I remember twelve year old *Jason sharing with me and some of his friends that his dad was in prison for dealing drugs.  His friend said, "Maybe he sells drugs to provide for your family, you don't really know.  Maybe it's what he had to do."  My initial reaction was, "That's just an excuse."  But I stopped and listened and realized the truth to what the boys were saying.  Jason responded, "Yeah, probably."  And as he began to think about he said, "If my dad is in prison, when he gets out he can't get a job.  And if we can't get a job he'll have to sell drugs again to make money.  But if he sells drugs he'll go back to jail.  And when he gets out he won't be able to get a job... HOW'S HE SUPPOSED TO GET OUT?"

It's a vicious cycle.  One that  twelve year old boy has to deal with.  Around this time he shared this story his mom was going to court because her "friend" came over to the house with some drugs and got busted.  *Jason has been living with his grandmother for years and doesn't live in a safe neighbourhood.

*Jason is a good kid but the negative influences around him are overpowering.  He wants to do better, but he doesn't know how, he doesn't have the support that he needs.  He's now too old for our programs and we've started to lose touch with him.  Please pray that God would send people to walk alongside to guide him.

"God doesn't live at my house..."

Slingshot Yorkdale was off a fantastic start!  We had twenty five kids from the neighbourhood come out and about twenty seven volunteers come out for the day!

You'd think twenty seven volunteers was way too much, but after you take away volunteers for snacks and lunch, worship team, and some to focus on particular kids you have just enough!  Urban ministry is all about relationship and so the more the merrier! It was especially helpful having one of regular urban volunteers Ashley McGuire there as well as CYIA Martha Desta and Caroline Karwowski from Tandridge.

It was a pretty crazy day figuring out how to work with all the kids and volunteers but it was a blast.  I shared about David and Goliath and how God can help us with our problems, the kids were then challenged to receive Jesus if they had never done so before. Nine kids responded and were counselled for salvation.

I had the joy of counselling little *Nancy.  She is only three years old but it was amazing how much she understood.  As I asked her questions and talked with her she said she wanted to pray with me.  After we prayed and she opened her eyes she said, "Where's God?!!!"  "God is in your heart, and He is everywhere."  I explained.  "God doesn't live at my house.  He lives at my grandma's house."  she answered.

"...Your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones should perish."

-Matthew 18:14

What a blessing it was to see a three year old receive Jesus and many others, the oldest being a student in Grade nine.  

We're off to a great start.  Thank you for praying for the club.

Slingshot Saturdays

I've use the term Slingshot Saturday (SS) quite frequently and thought I should share a little bit about what it is and how it came to be.

Camp Good News, our summer camp for at-risk kids, has been running for about ten years now.  Some of the kids who come to camp used to be involved in a good news club in their community, and others just showed up at camp.  If you've ever been to camp you know how special that one week can be.

A few years ago when I joined Castlefield Community Church (CCC) I met Yvette who was doing some work with Angeltree (a ministry of prison fellowship).  Yvette had a desire to run a camp for those kids.  I also had a desire to run a camp for the Camp Good News kids.  In cooperation, CEF, Angeltree, and CCC initiated a march break camp for disadvantaged children.  It was a chaotic, but exciting week at camp.  The kids were all SO happy to get to see each other again and kept asking if we could have camp every weekend!

The thought seemed fairly ridiculous to me but I couldn't shake how effective camp ministry could be and felt we had to find a way to do more.  Seeing Angeltree kids once a year wouldn't be effective ministry.  There were clubs at Jane/Woolner and Tandridge but having everyone together was special.  After some prayer I felt a monthly Saturday program would help support the clubs at Jane/Woolner and Tandridge and open the doors for continued ministry to Angeltree kids.

With a lot of support from everyone we initiated our first Slingshot Saturday in April 2009.  We easily averaged twenty five kids a week...one ten year old boy even took a forty five minute bus ride every month on his own so he could come.

Interestingly, six months after Slingshot began the clubs at Jane/Woolner and Tandridge closed because there was no one to continue the work there.  Slingshot Saturday would be the only ministry to the kids in those communities.  Only God could have seen that coming.

Why the name Slingshot Saturday?  Because the vision is to "help children overcome the giants in their lives" just like David defeated Goliath.


The kids would love something every week but I think it would lose it's "specialness".  It would also make it more difficult to find dedicated volunteers who could come week in and week out.

Two years later Slingshot Saturday has now moved to Rexdale Alliance Church which is a walk away from Tandridge and a five minute drive from the housing co-op for battered women.  I am thankful I don't have to drive an hour and a half before and after the program to pick up kids now and spend more time hanging out with them.

This Saturday, November 12th", we begin a new Slingshot program near Yorkdale mall.  There's a housing co-op there with a lot of needy kids.  One of the church members from the church we're partnering with shared that some of the kids talk about their mom sleeping with guys for money.  There is no doubt these kids are surrounded by a lot of darkness, it is my prayer that we'll be a light to them.  It is my prayer that these kids will know that, God has a plan for them, a "hope and a future."  Please pray for this.

This is My Voice..."...at least I have a place to sleep."

I'll be using "This is My Voice" as a header from time to time to share with you some of the stories of the kids in the city.


Ten year old Carol lives in a housing co-op for battered women.  She lives with her mom, two older brothers, an older sister, and someone else.  It's a small apartment.  Her family is Buddhist.  Her brother a proclaimed atheist.  Her family doesn't have much.

When CEF staff Yvette Hewitson started working at the co-op Carol was allowed to come to the after school program, but never the good news club.  However she was allowed to come to Camp Good News: Winter Rush (our March break camp).  All week Carol heard the gospel and asked lots of questions, by the end of the week she made a decision to receive Jesus as her Lord.

The following summer she was allowed to come to our summer camp because her mother so how happy she was.  But Carol still wasn't allowed to go to good news club.  By the end of the week of camp, sitting around a campfire I asked Carol, "So what did you learn this week?"

Carol: "I learned that there is only one God and all those other gods aren't real."  She later said to another counsellor, "What am I going to do when I get home?  My mom's not going to believe me when I tell her those other gods aren't real."  We never taught these things at camp, God just worked in her heart.

I went to pick her up in the fall for Slingshot and asked if she'd be allowed to have a Bible.  She said,
"No, I'm not allowed to have a Bible, but read those comic books Bibles you guys gave me.  I also sing the songs I learned at camp and pray when I'm in the shower or no one's around."

At our programs Carol is often the only one to come up to me and say, "That was good."  "What was good?" I would ask.  "What we just did.  The stuff about the Bible and learning more about God."

One day I had this conversation with Carol.
Me: "So do you have your own room?
Carol: "No."
Me: "Do you share a room?"
Carol: "No."
Me: "So where do you sleep?"
Carol: "I sleep in the hallway under the counter.  But it's okay, at least I have a place to sleep."

I've since learned that on her birthdays there is never any cake, presents or singing.  "It's just like any other day." she says.  The first time she ever wore a dress was when one of the counsellors lent her one at camp for the banquet.

I was humbled by her gracious response.  Carol is now twelve years old and continues to grow spiritually.  She is still the only one in her family to have received Jesus but is steady in her faith.  She will soon be joining our Leaders in Training Program.  Life is not easy for her but she rarely complains.  Her light grows more and more each time I see her.  Her desire to follow Jesus never seems to fade.  During lunch at Slingshot one Saturday I saw her in tears all by herself in the eating area.  A counsellor went over to check on her and found out she was upset because she felt she had made a mistake and that it wasn't a good example if she wanted to be a Leader in Training.  She inspires me.

Please pray for Carol to continue to grow in her faith and for her family to come to Jesus.