CCM Mission Trip to Vancouver, British Columbia
The Chinook Collegiate Ministry (CCM) Network is a network of church based collegiate ministries and college & university based collegiate ministries from the Calgary, Alberta community. Churches, Chaplaincies, the CSB Seminary and Baptist Student Ministries have united to provide worship, ministry opportunities, missions opportunities and student training for students from all the post-secondary institutions in Calgary. The CCM Network provided students an opportunity to be on mission in Vancouver, BC.
Mission Trip by Chinook Collegiate Ministry (CCM) Network students to Vancouver May 15-22
Josh & Tracy Mauldin, Leaders of the mission trip. Josh and Tracy have been serving as the campus ministers at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. This year their ministry expands to include the University of Calgary chaplaincy and BSM. Josh and Tracy have been key leaders for the Chinook Collegiate Ministry (CCM) Network.
The CCM Network partnered with Vancouver churches on a mission trip May 15-22. 20 Students and leaders serving under the CCM banner served with the following Vancouver churches.:
"The Point Church", www.pointchurch.ca
The Open House, www.theopenhouse.ca
the Bridge Church www.bridgechurch.ca
This was an incredible answer to prayer as students from many churches and campus ministries united together to minister to a number of sister churches.
Stories and pictures from this mission trip can be found on http://interchangeministry.blogspot.com/.
Those involved in this mission trip included:
- young adult professionals,
- students from
- UofCalgary,
- Mt. Royal College,
- SAIT,
- Alliance University College,
- Grant MacEwan College (Edmonton).
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Sending churches represented:
- Trinity Baptist,
- Bridge International,
- The Bridge (Edmonton),
- Bow Valley Baptist(Cochrane),
- Richmond Hill Baptist,
- Calgary Chinese Baptist,
- Truth Church.
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Students Serving
Team Shock:
Tracy Mauldin
Mike Blackaby
Carley Brandt
Rachel Crisby
Immanuel Nwachuknu
Sarah Lajuenesse
Joanna Wilson
Jeremy Doell
Gerard Moralda
Mel Cruikshank
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Team Awe
Josh Mauldin
Jef Tsui
Isadora Mok
Rob Booth
Tracy Arnell
Bo Neal
Matt Arsenault
Jon Redekop
Laura Cruikshank
Shawn Murphy
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By working together churches and ministries were able to accomplish much more "on mission" than they could independently. I believe that this type of networking will become a model that can be effective across Canada.
Mel Cruikshank, CCSB University Ministry Leader
By: Shawn Murphy
Here is a brief glimpse at my experience:
Half of the team after helping at the Shining Stars tutoring program
When preparing to leave on our recent mission trip to Vancouver, I was very excited to see what God was going to do. The first thing that it was evident that God was doing was unifying our team. Most of us had at least met each other in the past, but to see how quickly we bonded and became a group of friends was amazing.
Our week in Vancouver was filled with opportunities to serve the people in the city. The group that I was a part of helped two churches in particular reach out and make connections in the communities where they are ministering. We picked up garbage along Commercial Drive, helped plant a community garden, handed out flyers on behalf of the Vancouver Museum, prayer walked, and even helped with an after school tutoring program for inner-city kids. Through it all God allowed our team to show the city of Vancouver that there is a God who loves them and desires to have a relationship with them.
One incident that really sticks out in my mind was when we were driving to The Bridge in Kitsilano one morning. On our way we got a little turned around and we ended up on East Hastings Street on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. As we drove we saw all sorts of people from all walks of life. We saw the professionals walking to their jobs and we saw the homeless who were starving for some food. It broke my heart to see so many people with no hope. Later that night God brought me to a passage in Psalms 139, and He revealed to me how much God loves everyone no matter what there life situation is. He also showed me that I personally may not be able to meet and get to know everyone of those people I seen as we drove that day. However, I can pray for them, and there is power in prayer.
So through all of the fun times that we had playing soccer in the dark, eating deep fried Mars bars, and doing all the things that we could to love the people of Vancouver, God was with us, revealing things to us and moving in the hearts of the people that we met. It is truly an experience I will never forget.
Some of the team hands out lemonade and coffee to passers-by during the service at The Bridge in Kitsilano
By Gerard Moralda
My experience throughout the whole week in Vancouver was spectacular. I had no idea what to expect because this was my first mission trip ever. However, God’s plan was at work and has exceeded all my expectations for this because of the fellowship between my brothers and sisters that came along for this. One verse that spoke to me was from Esther chapter 4 that in relating with the whole mission trip is that whole team and I were sent here for such a time as that moment. God knew what was going on and He strategically planned that all of us got involved whether it was helping out the churches such as The Point, The Bridge, and Open House. I knew God was in control and His fingerprints were all over this mission trip. I was blessed and felt proud of what was accomplished and look forward to more opportunities like this.
By: Tracy Arnell
The mission trip to Vancouver with Josh and Tracy Mullden was my first “official” mission trip away from the Calgary area. This trip really opened my eyes to see how diverse ministry is and can be. Josh was the leader of our team. There were about twenty people on the trip and the group was divided into two teams of ten. Our group helped out two churches in Vancouver, the Open House with Kyle Martin and Kristin Cato near Commercial Drive, and the Bridge with Jerry Conners and Rodney Bartlett in Kitsalano.
I am taking my Mdiv at the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary and I was not sure where it would lead me, or where my ministry would fit in, in the traditional church. After seeing how Kyle and Kristen hold church, and are building relationships within existing frameworks in their community I got really excited. I realized that what they were doing, I could also do. As Dr. Kevin Peacock suggested to me after the trip to Vancouver, that maybe God was giving me a glimpse of my ministry call.
Vancouver was really exciting, because you can blatantly see God working. Just about everyone we met was open to discussing spiritual things – including God and Jesus. We had many opportunities to talk to people who were spiritual, but did not yet know about having a personal relationship with our Savior.
The team I was on also got to help at the Bridge. On a prayer walk with Laura Cruikshank, we were getting discouraged, because many people would not even say hi to us. At the end of a road we stopped and prayed and asked God to break down people’s barriers. We met and talked to four people in the next 45 minutes. One of the guys we met, emails me on a regular basis and I have to share a few spiritual seeds with him.
Another amazing thing I saw God do on the trip was develop a really strong unity and friendship among our teams. Our Bow Valley College and Career continues to meet regularly with the Trinity College and Career for fellowship events. I believe that God is going to use our group to draw many unbelievers closer, as it is a really fun, encouraging and exciting group.
It was an amazing experience! I sure hope Josh and Tracy organize another trip for next year!
By Imma (Immanuel) Nwachukwu
I, Immanuel was one of the students who was called to go on the Vancouver mission trip with the Chinook team. First I'd like to thank the Canadian Mission Fund committee for spiritually and financially supporting me. On the trip, I was with the group that worked on the Simon Fraser Uni. campus. Therefore, I worked with the Club Days( an event for the school clubs to publicize their existence ) for 2 days. We sang worship songs in our booth, and tried to reached out with food and conversation. It was evident God touched people through that, because we got a few people singing with us, etc. Another major project we did was a Movie Night, which although was not hugely successful in human eyes was an event that played a huge positive part in lives of those present. We also did things like distributing posters, picking up garbage, and helped in 2 worship services. Even though most part of this trip did not resemble a typical mission trip, I was glad God drew me in on it. For the first time, I was out for a week for the sole purpose of planting seeds of salvation (which I believe we planted a lot). I got to use my musical talent in worship many times. I used my design talent and education to design a poster for the Movie night, with the help of Jeremy Doell. I have never been called to go on a Mission trip or be a professional missionary, but a few years ago God showed me He could do a lot for his Kingdom with the numerous artistic talents He has given me. And this trip was the biggest fulfillment of that yet.
