No Ordinary Weekend Update

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Troy

What a great weekend we had!
The camp was full with nearly 100 teens and adults, and another 40 kids all being presented with a Creation-to-Christ overview of the gospel! We were all pretty tired after the weekend, but it was a blessing to be a part of it. We’ve already started inviting people to the next one in November as it is laid on our hearts.

Thank you for your prayers for this weekend! It is a life changing event for many of the people attending, and it is a joy to read their testimonies at the end about how the clear and simple teaching of the gospel message has impacted them. We are thankful for a number of volunteers, some from the youth group where Naomi is a leader, who came and helped her as she taught those 40 kids. We’re also so thankful for the sponsors who make the weekend freely available to those who come.

Highlights

Here is some of the encouraging feedback, some from people who have gone to church for a long time but never quite understood the message of the Bible.

“I have been a believer for 10 years now and it’s funny that none of the churches I have attended in all the years have ever cleared up the question of salvation, sin and how we are able to be righteous in God’s eyes.”

“From an early age I came to despise Christianity as it was constantly pumped into me that I was destined for Hell. HELL HELL HELL!!! As an adult I lived without church/the Bible but the need (longing in my heart) for Jesus remained. This weekend provided me with what my open heart was unable to provide…UNDERSTANDING. 37 years of missing pieces have fallen into place. Thank you!!”

“Before: I feared and was confused by the Old Testament, so I avoided it.
After: Thank you for explaining the OT (which I had tried to avoid) in a way which helps explain how it points to Jesus.”

“The wknd was amazing. When we got home, we’ve had so many interesting and cool conversations. My most crankiest kid told me that “I finally understand that God loves me.” I’m so incredibly thankful for the NOW event, it’s legit life-changing.”

“No Ordinary Weekend!!! WOW.
It has been indeed a delightful learning experience. I had a fairly good understanding of God’s Word, however I had not “tied together” all the Old Testament prophecies with the New Testament fulfilments until this weekend.”

“I thought to pray, be grateful, be kind… was good enough. Yikes. What an eye opener. Because I am a good person, I would surely enter the pearly gates of Heaven… Gosh, this has been an eye opening weekend where God has here yet again extended his grace and mercy upon me…”

“I honestly think everyone should read this book and attend No Ordinary Weekend, whether they believe or not! Incredible and life changing information – literally!”

From a man from who came to NOW from a couple provinces over:

“My goal is to bring a greyhound bus full to NOW. “

Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministry.

Troy & Naomi

February 2025

Posted on February 12, 2025 by Troy

The last couple of months have been a blur!

Ellie was home from Bible school and we had a great time together as a family. We celebrated Adelaine’s 18th birthday, made a day trip to the mountains, ate Christmas feasts, and enjoyed time with friends and family.

After the new year we have been even busier with end/start of year budgets and reports, Naomi helping edit a new book, revamping our main website and so much more.

This week finds us busily getting ready for another No Ordinary Weekend (NOW) event. On Friday we load up the trailer and vans and drive to the camp where we will be hosting around 150 people for an evangelistic weekend!

Naomi will be working with around 40 children, and we are looking at about 100 adults and teens in the classroom where Troy will co-teach.

Please pray with us and for us as we prepare for this important ministry weekend. We expect lives to be changed as we share a simple and clear Creation-to-Christ explanation of the gospel message.

The Johnstone crew back together at Christmas

A week after NOW, Troy will be making a quick trip to Europe for some important meetings. We’ve shared before about a ministry in Northern Ireland that prints and ships thousands of our books at no charge. Troy will be meeting with them to discuss future projects and how we can get more books printed and distributed to target areas around the world. After that, Troy flies to Germany for a couple days of meetings with our partners there. The need in Europe is so big, with so many different languages. We want to be able to equip churches, ministries, and people with tools to help explain a clear gospel message. Please pray for these short but full days of meetings as we look at how we can expand the reach of the gospel.

Ellie (center) with some friends at Frontier School of the Bible

November 2024 NOW review :: Ministry Update

Posted on November 21, 2024 by Troy

The No Ordinary Weekend for November is wrapped up, boxes of books are put away, we’ve caught up on sleep, and are now making plans for the next event. We had a really good weekend of teaching and talking to others, sharing meals with people and finding out where they are at spiritually. I had conversations with a few people who came at least once before, became believers and were excited to be back to review the life-changing gospel message again.

Naomi teaching one of the groups of children about Jesus.

Troy teaching about the Passover and how it pictures Christ

Feedback:

Here are a few of the testimonies from the weekend to encourage you:

Coming into this weekend, I was expecting to be brought into a place of “spiritual high,” like many other camps and retreats I’ve been to, but that’s not was happened. Rather, I am walking away with a spiritual understanding that is far greater than I could have ever been prepared for.

_____________

I never truly understood how we got into heaven. I always thought we would have to work harder for it. This was very helpful for me and my faith. Thanks for the amazing weekend.

_____________

It was so great to see the parallels from the Old and New Testament in an easy-to-understand presentation. I can’t wait to bring family and friends to this!

_____________

As a new Christian (baptized 2.5 years ago) the story of the Bible from start to finish was explained so well & helped me so much. The people involved, reading the passages from the Bible added so much and the things shown on front was amazing. ….everyone great!

_____________

I learnt so much about the prophecies and how they all show Jesus was sent to save us. Made me feel firm in my beliefs and hopefully help share more confidently with others.

_____________

Going through the booklets cleared my understanding of the message. That combined with the fellowship of other Christians at camp filled my heart with love and grace. In February of 2024, my first time at NOW, I was guided back to the Lord and gave my heart to Christ in the chapel here at camp. This weekend profoundly changed my life.

These weekend events are very helpful for us as well. Often we can feel disconnected here in the office, filling orders and doing work on the computer, but at these events we get to rub shoulders with people directly impacted by the ministry of GoodSeed. Thank you for partnering with us, which allows us to be a part of this.

Troy & Naomi

Ministry Update :: August 2023

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Naomi

Dear Friends,
We’ve stayed close to home this summer, but have somehow kept very busy still as we’ve tended to our garden, enjoyed time with friends, attended Naomi’s cousin’s wedding, and kept up with work and church responsibilities.

Ministry News

No Ordinary Story Series Audiobook
Last week we began recording book five of the eight book set, so we’re past the halfway point! It is slow going as we have to do at least two takes on everything, and we can only do a few hours a day before voices start to give out. I am discovering how many words I mispronounce! Naomi also spends time in the recording studio as she is the voice for all the Scripture in the book series.

Speaking Opportunities
I’ve had a couple speaking opportunities this summer, one at the church we regularly attend, and another one this weekend at a supporting church 1.5 hrs north of here.

Bible School in Texas
The last week of August I’ll be traveling to Texas to help teach a Creation-to-Christ course at 3D Training Center (Disciple, Develop, Disperse), a small 1-year Christian school. We will be kicking off their school year by teaching By This Name to the student body of around 20 students.

A Note from a Pastor
We recently received this note from a pastor in the US: “ I wanted to write to encourage you that your book has had a tremendous impact in the life of our church…. Many people, most likely hundreds, have come to know Christ in the last 15 years.”

Partnering with Missionaries Overseas
A few weeks ago, a missionary couple stopped by to pick up a large quantity of books for their ministry in Mexico. They, along with another visitor, joined us for a bite of lunch. As we all sat around, hearing about ministry in Mexico and how GS tools were used there, our other visitor commented, “This is what GoodSeed does!” As he observed in person how we partnered with this one couple to enrich their ministry and knowing that GoodSeed helps many more, he could see that GoodSeed is a multiplying ministry – helping others multiply their efforts for the Gospel.

Family Happenings

Ethan had a good week at a fly fishing camp with his grandfather who was the speaker for the week. This was followed up with Ethan volunteering at the camp for the next week which he really enjoyed.

Naomi, Ellie and Ethan volunteered at VBS at our church for a week and Adelaine has kept busy nannying twin girls of some friends of ours

We built a new greenhouse.

Prayer Requests

Family stuff:

That Ellie will be able to find a suitable job.
A replacement vehicle for Troy. If you know of something, esp. something AWD and less that $5000, please let us know.
That each one in our family would know Christ better and desire to serve Him.

Ministry stuff:

For Troy as he speaks this weekend and travels to and ministers in TX next week.
That we can get the audiobook recording finished. This project has had so many interruptions and obstacles.
For John Cross (Naomi’s dad), as he is making good progress on his writing of another book – Draft 1 almost complete.

We want to thank you for joining us in prayer and support for our ministry with GoodSeed and our family.

Troy & Naomi

P.S. A few photos from a family camping trip a week ago.

Geodesic Dome Greenhouse 2.0

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Troy

The greenhouse is dead. Long live the greenhouse!

After 9 years with us, and at least 3 years with the previous owners, our old greenhouse was rotting out. Spruce wood and high humidity don’t mix well, and some of the boards hardly had any solid wood left. But even in this condition, the dome could support my weight when I hung from the top.But it was time to go and in late May we tore it down and gathered materials to make a new one.

The new dome would be the same footprint, but with a different connection style. We used ABS pipes as hubs instead of having the wood come together in complex joints. This made cutting the wood pieces much easier.

The plans we used: https://acidome.com/lab/calc/#Flat_7/12_Piped_D90_3V_R2.75_beams_50.8×38

This dome is a 7/12th dome (just over half a sphere)

It is 5.4 meters across (or 18 ft, or approximately 1/20th a football field for my American friends), and just over 3 m or 10 ft high at the centre.

165 boards in 5 different lengths (would be just 3 but we want a flat base).

61 pieces of ABS pipe cut into rings as connectors.

Once the frame is up, you have to cover it. We ordered some greenhouse grade poly to cover it, but then there is the challenge of covering a partial sphere with a flat material. We ended up going in in rows.

The peak of our dome is a pentagon, so we decided to do one piece for the whole top to reduce the chance of leaks. This mean we had to do some folding to get it over the curve, but the folds are hidden under the cedar straps we put on. The plastic is stapled in place, then thin wooden straps to help hold it down in the wind.

The peak is hard to do as it is all ladder work. You could probably climb the structure, but cedar is a weak wood and I didn’t want to trust it.

We decided to cut the greenhouse plastic into strips rather than larger geometric shapes. It worked pretty well, and it gives good overlap from one layer on down. We were often able to do 4 or 5 triangles in a row at a time.

Putting up the center and the next layer down were the hardest, and that layer we had to work around the two windows. Lower than that it got much easier.

Putting on the plastic skin took a lot longer than I thought as each piece had to be cut out, stapled, and then straps put on to help hold the plastic in place.

Once the inside ladder work was done you can see Naomi at work planting tomatoes and peppers.