Ministry Update :: New Video

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Troy

Ways to guide an evangelism study

This past summer our team put together a short video to illustrate various ways you could guide others through an evangelism and discipleship study using GoodSeed resources. We wanted to show how simple it can be and to encourage people–who may think it wasn’t something they could do–to use these resources .

It took quite a team to pull this together, with some writing the script and storyboard, finding and coordinating the many volunteers to appear in the video, filming and directing, and post production with recording the narration, music and animations.

Please take a couple minutes to watch this video, and share it with your friends and your church!

Production of this video also included a trip to skateboard and hardware stores. We needed a way to move the camera smoothly, so with some YouTube help, we created a DIY camera dolly with PVC pipe, some MDF boards, aluminum angles and skateboard wheels. The rig worked pretty good! Almost every shot in the video features the camera riding on this rig, sometimes with me standing on it to operate the camera and someone pushing me along.

After building this dolly, we had some fun around the office testing it out. Watch it!

Remembrance Day 2016

Posted on November 12, 2016 by Troy

Remembrance Day 2016

This year we took the kids to two Remembrance Day events. In the morning we attended the service in town, and in the afternoon we went to the Field of Crosses in Calgary. Located along Memorial

Drive, this field has a cross (or Star of David) for each of the soldiers from Southern Alberta killed in combat since the Boer War. With over 3000 crosses, it was a powerful reminder for our family.

We found someone who shared two names with Ethan. While he is very unlikely to be a relative, Ethan still wanted to leave his poppy at this cross. We also found someone who is probably a relative of Naomi’s who died in WWI, where the girls left their poppies. I left mine at the marker for the unknown soldier.

While there, we witnessed the sunset service and the lowering of the flags, the bugler, and a piper. I also had a long talk with the kids while standing amoung the crosses about sacrifice and thankfulness. I hope this will be a day they don’t forget.

Remembrance Day 2016

Ethan = Eight

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Troy

Ethor is eight! Our youngest, but heaviest and likely soon to be tallest, child celebrated his birthday with another Johnstone Birthday Family Adventure.

We started off in downtown Calgary visiting shops and restaurants where we would order one thing to try. The kids enjoyed their first taste of sushi, and didn’t enjoy their first taste of wasabi! We then went to a large aquatic facility with a wave pool, slides, and a rope swing. All three kids love water and after years of swimming lessons, it was nice to not have to be constantly watching them. Next, we took in an afternoon showing of Finding Dory, followed by supper at Chuck E Cheese. I took earplugs.It was the first time for the kids at a place like this, and they really had fun.

Happy birthday big little guy!