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Jean-Raymond Théorêt has resigned as Professor and Registrar of École de Théologie Évangélique de Montréal (ETEM, formerly Institut biblique Laval), the French-speaking Mennonite Brethren college in Montreal. His resignation will be effective June 30, 2003. Théorêt has completed 22 years of service, 16 years as president of IBL. He has a B.Sc. from Université de Montréal, an M.A. from Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Université de Montréal. Previously he served for three years in the pastoral ministry in the Sainte-Thérese MB Church. He is presently moderator of the Quebec MB Conference and has also served on many Canadian MB Conference Boards. He and his wife Francine have two grown sons. They are looking for God’s direction as to their future.
Geoffrey Vandekuyt began serving as assistant pastor of Fairview MB Church in St. Catharines, Ont. on Jan. 1. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., he studied for a semester at Briercrest Bible College in Caronport, Sask., then moved to Abbotsford, B.C., where he served as a youth sponsor at Northview Community Church for four years, worked in a greenhouse and studied at Columbia Bible College. With his wife Miranda, a graduate of Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alta., he moved to Toronto, where he worked in Hope Fellowship Christian Reformed Church for two years. They then returned to Abbotsford, where he continued to study part-time at Columbia and they both worked full-time with Mennonite Youth Emergency Response Team. He plans to complete his Columbia degree through distance education courses from Briercrest.
Bernd and Kathryn Heyde resigned as youth pastor couple at Vancouver MB Church at the end of August, after serving for three years in a part-time position and five years in a full-time position. Bernd has a B.A. in forest resource management from the University of British Columbia and had previously worked for six years in construction. The Heydes have now moved to Saskatchewan, where Bernd is studying at Briercrest Bible College.
Craig Frere began serving as half-time associate pastor at St. Ann’s (Ont.) Community Church, his home church, on Dec. 4; he will be particularly overseeing care groups and Christian education. Previously, he was associate pastor at Houghton Brethren in Christ Church near Langton, Ont. for two-and-a-half years and pastor of Mountview MB Church in Stoney Creek, Ont. for almost four years. He has a B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. and has worked towards a master’s degree at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. Kim is a voice teacher. She has a B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University and a B.Ed. from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont. He and his wife Kim have three children, Geordi, 5, Mairi, 3, and Shona, 1.
On Sept. 1, Karen Voisin began serving a one-year, half-time pastoral apprenticeship in children’s ministries at SunRidge Community Church in Kelowna, B.C. through the B.C. MB Conference Pastoral Apprenticeship program. She sold real estate in Ontario for over six years before moving to British Columbia. She and her husband Steve have a son, Steve, 13, and a daughter, Avery, 10, and have been attending the SunRidge church for three years.
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Mennonite Central Committee Canada has hired Mary Friesen to fill the position of program coordinator for MCC’s Low German Program. She replaces Abe and Anne Peters, who jointly held the position until retiring in November 2002. Friesen was born in Menno Colony, Paraguay, is an instructor at the University of Winnipeg and spent 12 years as a teacher and vice-principal at Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg. She has a B.A. and M.Div. from the University of Winnipeg and a B.R.S. from Concord College, and recently completed her D.Min. thesis at St. Stephen’s College in Edmonton. Before joining MCC, Friesen helped development a “hemispheric vision” for the Low German program which streamlines how the regional, provincial, national and international levels of MCC serve Low German Mennonites. It was adopted by MCC in August 2002. She will be meeting with a variety of groups to discuss ways of implementing this vision. She will also manage MCC’s Low German program in Mexico, promote the development of educational materials and work with the publications Mennonitische Post and Das Blatt, which are distributed in Canada, US, Mexico and South America. She is a member of River East MB Church in Winnipeg. She and husband Gerhard have two children and three grandchildren.
Dan Wiebe, a member of Port Rowan (Ont.) MB Church, left for Asia in October for a two-year assignment with Operation Mobilization, serving with Asia Challenge teams in various countries.
Correction: In the Dec. 27 issue, we reported that Xavier Law, who resigned as assistant pastor at Port Moody (B.C) Pacific Grace Chinese Church, had an M.R.E. In fact, he has not yet completed a Master’s degree, but is now studying at Canadian Theological Seminary.
Baptisms and new members
Note: Baptism photos appear in the paper version of the Herald but not in the online version.
- Westwood MB Church, Prince George, B.C. welcomed 15 new members Dec. 1, 13 by baptism and 2 by confession of faith. Pictured are (back, l–r) pastor Mel Fehr, Robert Larson (b), Melanie Pierce (b), pastor Craig Reimer; (middle) Kerry Deschamps (b), Sandra Larson (b), Sony Chmelyk (b), Rod Tupala (b), Sharon Fremmelid (b), Ava Gladwin (b); (front) Tracy Carter (b), Christy Wilson (b), Terrance Chmelyk (b), Lisa Tupala (b), Tammy Littlechild (b) and Heather Durrand (cf). Not pictured, Brenda Miller (cf).
- Winkler (Man.) MB Church welcomed 19 new members Nov. 17, 1 by baptism, 3 by transfer and 15 by confession of faith. Pictured are (back, l–r) pastor Gary Loewen, Wes Ens (cf), Howard Hildebrand (cf); second row: Jakob Klassen (b), Greg Zacharias (cf), Albert Unrau (cf), Lillian Unrau (cf), Sandra Ens (cf), Marilyn Hildebrand (cf), Heather Olfert (cf), Terry Olfert (cf); (third) Libardo Sepulveda (cf), Sianiris Pabon (cf); (front) Jeremy Giesbrecht (cf), Colleen Giesbrecht (cf), Rosabel Doerksen (t), Sherry Thomas (cf), Sandra Penner (cf), Angela Froese (t), Nathan Froese (t).
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