MEN'S NETWORK NEWSLETTER | SPRING 2022

SPRING 2022

The Wisdom of Grandfathers with David MacPherson (BC Men’s Ministry Chair) The other day I was sitting with my grandson Benjamin. He’s five years old, and is constantly wondering about things. How does this work?

Why does that happen? So many questions.

Well, he was sitting with me with a stuffed animal on his lap – a sloth to be exact – and he started asking questions. “Grandpa, why are his hands and feet like that? And his eyes are so big! He’s a funny looking animal. What does he eat?

Where does he sleep?” So I did what any grandparent in 2022 Benjamin would do, I went to my phone and called up a video of a sloth. He was amazed at what he saw, and even more questions were generated.

And then something hit me hard. Benjamin expected that I would just naturally know everything there is to know about the mysterious sloth. And, perhaps even more importantly, he believed everything I told him. Not once did he doubt my extraordinary knowledge of the lives and activities of these sluggish treedwellers! If I told him that the South American Brown-throated Sloth eats eucalyptus leaves, it had to be true!

So today I stand before you as a sloth expert! Because I am Ben’s grandfather.

This got me to thinking of course. What else would Benjamin believe just because I told him so? What pressure does that place on our conversations going forward?

Deuteronomy 32:7 gives us, “Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.”

(Continuation in page 4)

Our Purpose “Calling and equipping every man to be a transforming influence in their family, church and community.”

Encourage • Embrace • Equip • Engage ENCOURAGING:

Authentic encouragement helps people overcome fear and builds morale. It sets the example to build each other up and builds confidence to face challenges. The gift of encouragement can transform people and circumstances while creating the desire to take positive, forward thinking action. Encouragement establishes hope. When you encourage others, you encourage yourself. We believe in you and that you can make a meaningful difference in someone’s life.

The desired end-result would be stronger men who can influence others in doing the right thing.

EMBRACING:

Local corps events like Monthly Men’s Breakfasts, sporting events, golf outings, etc. and area and divisional events like The Gatherings, and other large men’s events with a focus to embrace men in each corps/ unit through multiple non-threatening portals of entry into a fellowship of men for friendship, inspiration and connections.

The desired end-result would be men connected to each other in every unit and to create avenues where men can invite their friends and co-workers to attend these events and eventually to attend church with them.

EQUIPPING:

Using resources like discipling tools, books, videos and seminars, the focus is to facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit to purify and transform men to pursue a life long path of Holiness. This would occur on a local corps/unit level but also in area wide gatherings for teaching.

The desired end-result would be Godly men committed to a life of purity and Holiness.

ENGAGING:

Upon embarking on a transforming life journey, partnered with other men, the focus is to re-engage the men to be a transforming influence in their families (husband, father, grandfather, etc.) church and the communities and relationships they find themselves.

The desired end-result would be increase spiritual leadership in the home and church and an embodiment of Christ where ever these men go in their communities.

Inside Story with Jeffrey Baergen Called to work with marginalized populations, Jeff spent the past 20+ years working with humans facing every kind of social challenge within the social services sector. He spent most of his career in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, before moving to Vancouver Island with his wife in 2015. Since, it has been a privilege for him to spend his time at The Salvation Army ARC in Victoria. He is as humbled as he is excited to work at the ARC and know for certain that God has great big plans for this Ministry.

How did you first learn about The Salvation Army?

In my first few years working in this field, I was an outreach worker in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver. Occasionally, I would be asked by a member of the community to help them access Drug & Alcohol Recovery Programs, which for most required detox at The Salvation Army Harbour Light. I wonder if some of the staff might still remember me begging them to make room for “just one more guy!”. They were always as accommodating as they could possibly be. They were and remain - the critical piece to recovery for the DTES. What made you decide to work in your profession and for The Salvation Army?

I was called to it.

A requisite course that every student must take at Columbia Bible College is a course called “Urban Plunge” – a kind euphemism for ‘Poverty Tour’. This course takes a couple hundred students every year into the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, where they spend most of their time doing volunteerism and running around the ‘hood’ to see first hand what poverty, homelessness and addiction looks like.

I had no interest in going. As a mature student at Columbia, I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about homelessness and ‘drug people’, and I wanted nothing to do with either. I tried everything to get out of it – but inevitably, could not.

The curriculum: write a pre-trip assignment, take the tour, write a post-trip paper.

I’ve kept my pre-trip assignment. I share it often. The crux: If the evangelical Christians would stop feeding ‘those people’, then they would have to get a job, or die. Don’t worry – God has fixed this in me. I am thankful that my gracious professor parked my paper on the corner of her desk, hoping I would want to rewrite it post-trip.

Then I went into the DTES. The bus dropped us off at the corner of Main and Hastings, and I quick-paced my way from the bus into the ‘hot-dog church’. Here we spent a few hours listening to a local pastor teach all things psychosocial, then we heard from a DTES resident named Claudia. She was a middle-

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Jeffrey Baergen, Victoria ARC Executive Director

aged woman who appeared to be 100. Claudia shared with us the story of her life – in horrific detail. She shared how her mom, a sex trade worker in the DTES, sold Claudia into sex work when she was nine years old, and described exactly why she began stealing her mother’s oxies and morphine when she was eleven – just to ease the physical and mental pain of her ‘workdays’.

That night changed my life forever. I’ve never found the words to express the right Holy anger I felt in that place, and that anger has never left me. What also landed that night, is that Claudia had zero control in any of it.

I never left the DTES after that. I immediately started volunteering, eventually doing an internship at Union Gospel Mission that led to years of employment there - where I was afforded every opportunity to spend my time loving people in desperate need.

I also spent the next six years leading the Columbia Bible College ‘poverty tours’, and saw many students changed and inspired as a result. I came to know Claudia well. She became a Christian. She even married. It was a privilege to hold her hand when she finally passed in 2014.

This is why I work in this profession. The reason I work at The Salvation Army, is because it is the only organization whose Mission aligns with my own and affords me the opportunity to do the work I truly believe in my life’s calling.

“Poverty was not created by God. It is we who have caused it, you and I through our egotism.” – Mother Teresa How do you reach out to others and get them to get into the services the Army is offering?

Getting people to utilize services at the ARC in Victoria is not a challenge we have. The endless queue of humans in need is

“The Salvation Army exists to share the love of Jesus Christ, meet human needs and be a transforming influence in the communities of our world.” more than we can manage on any given day.

I do however spend a great deal of effort engaging with humans who can help us help. I genuinely believe that if our community was aware of all that the ARC does in Victoria, we would have an abundance of kind, engaged, generous humans supporting the awesome work of the ARC. So I try, hard, at every opportunity, to bring awareness to our community who knows very little of what we actually do.

What are the challenges you have faced in your different roles in the Army?

In every one of my roles the challenge that I most wrestle with is feeling like I can never do enough, and discouraged that the work I am doing is not addressing the problem.

Once upon a time, there was a small village on the edge of a river…

One day a villager noticed a baby floating down the river. She jumped in to save it. Then she noticed two, then three … so she called for help from the other villagers.

It wasn’t long before the entire village was in the river rescuing babies… the villagers, too busy in the river, had no time to get out, walk upstream, and deal with whomever it was throwing the babies in the river!

(Terrible synopsis of ‘Babies of the River’ - Linda Crew) Rescuing babies is important work, but until we start upstream, it will never, ever end. The Salvation Army is in the River, and that can be a sad place to be.

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop” – Mother Teresa What kept you going in the middle of all these challenges?

A previous boss used to say, that if the job of changing the world is going to take a thousand years, all we can do, is start.

Greatest turning point wherein you had to look up to God in your life.

Great question!.. perfect segue. I was saved while listening to a Christian Radio station – specifically a radio show called “Turning Point’ hosted by Dr. David Jeremiah. I didn’t want to look – but I had to. The rest, as they say….

Favourite bible verse and how does this affect you as a person and servant of God. Constantly changing, but at my core, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

For years in our field, the biggest debates among social service providers have all been around harm reduction principles and models, housing first philosophies, the tension between a drug -user’s choice and facilitating drug use, and what a full, robust continuum of care could look like – if we can call it that anymore? Here at the ARC, we are committed to the human

reaching out for recovery, for life saving, truly transformative, reconciling support. That’s what we do here. We do it well. We fill a need.

While both ends of the spectrum, and everything in between, is in fact harm reduction, is in fact essential, and every bit critical to the continuum of care, the Safe Supply end of the spectrum often makes us feel like ‘we’re doing the easy work’ – though we submit there is nothing more difficult than recovery.

When COVID landed in BC, our homeless en masse, left the shelters and opted for the outdoors believing it was a safer option. In Victoria, there were hundreds of humans sheltering in parks and on streets. In response, the ARC operated an Emergency Meal Program to feed those living outdoors: 600 meals a day, 7 days a week, for 240 days. We came to know our unsheltered friends really well. The experience however, brought me back to my days in the DTES - the living conditions of the people were dehumanizing.

While it was a privilege to go out to the parks and streets to serve our community, and while we were of course happy to ‘meet them where they’re at’, what broke our hearts every day - was leaving them there. Every day, we brought food to humans living in obvious need of help - and every day, we left them there.

We have all heard the ol’ harm reductionist mantra ‘keeping people alive, so they can make a different decision on a different day’. Unfortunately, for years, we have seen the far end of the spectrum shrink, if not abandon, any effort encouraging drug users to make that different decision.

If we had the ability to rescue humans from *purgatory, wouldn’t we? Wouldn’t that be the only compassionate response?

A Good Samaritan found a person in need on the street, he cared for him there, but he couldn’t just leave him there. The Samaritan picked him up, gave him a ride and delivered him somewhere safe.

Meeting people in need where they are at is our calling. Leaving them there, is indifference (Luke 10:25-29). In this Parable I find my calling, which has made me the person and servant of God that I am today.

If you have a superpower, what would you like it to be and what would you like to accomplish?

Super ventriloquism. Think about it.

If given the chance to sit down with someone for an hour (dead or alive), who would it be and what would you like to discuss with that person?

Mother Theresa – obviously.

“I see somebody dying, I pick him up. I find somebody hungry, I give him food. I don’t look at his color, I don’t look at his religion. I don’t look at anything. Every person whether he is Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist, he is my brother, my sister,” – Mother Teresa Anything you would like to add? Words of wisdom for others?

Love people.

7 Small Changes that Produce Big Results with Kevin Elsasser 7 Small Changes to Men’s Ministry that Produce Big Results

by White Bear Lake

YouTube Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AhswYxxMzBU

1. Stop comparing Men’s Ministry with Women’s Ministry.

Principle: Smaller and slower is better with men.

2. Stop being overly creative with your marketing demand.

Principle: What you win men with is what you win them to.

3. Stop talking down to men.

Principle: Lead men to set weekly behaviour-based goals and check back in.

4. Stop being uncommitted to the Bible.

Principle: Focus on teaching men to discover the truth so they can find it on their own.

5. Stop waiting for men to show up.

Principle: Recruit your best men.

6. Stop focusing on mass outreach.

Principle: Men are far too busy so deploy them with mentorship into outreach.

7. Stop talking at men. Let men talk to each other.

Principle: Make a small group smaller with pairings for discussion with each other.

(from page 1...David MacPherson)

Of course, it is vitally important that parents model Christ in all that they do, so that their children might see and follow. But now I see the significant role that I have been given to play in the lives of my six grandchildren (Hannah, Lucas, Jordan, Benjamin, Theodore and Allison).

As they ask me questions – even very tough ones – it is important that I tell them the truth. It is critical that I witness to them about Christ honestly and without fear. It is essential that I am seen by them to be a loving reflection of the Living God in all that I do. I pray the Lord will provide me with wisdom as I share His truth with these children He has placed in my life.

This past Sunday, Benjamin started asking me about girlfriends, boyfriends and marriage. Lord, give me strength!

MEN’S NETWORK PLANNING COMMITTEE

UPCOMING EVENTS (Pending Covid-19 Public Health Permissions)

Chair: Major David MacPherson, Area Commander Committee Members: Dr. Tom Iwama Major Bill Blackman, Cariboo Hill Temple Major Robin Borrows, Nanaimo Corps Major Paul Trickett, Penticton Corps Major Neil Wilkinson, Prince George Captain Kevin Elsasser, Comox Valley John Polkii, Vancouver Harbour Light Captain Sharon Tidd, Area Commander

For more details on the program, contact: Cristina Lee (Program Department) Email: Cristina.Lee@salvationarmy.ca Tel: 604-299-3908 ext 833 Divisional Headquarters 103 - 3833 Henning Drive Burnaby, BC V5C 6N5

REGIONAL GATHERING EVENTS (TBA post-Covid) INTERIOR REGION | Kelowna Cancelled NORTHERN REGION | Prince George May 2022 MEN’S CAMP 2022 CAMP SUNRISE CAMP MOUNTAINVIEW

September 16-18 September 23-25

Web page: https://salvationarmy.ca/britishcolumbia/home/mensnetwork/ Facebook page: facebook.com/tsamensnetwork