The movement to impact Winnipeg kicked off Saturday, April 7. Henderson Highway Church was closed as rallied together with our sister churches at the RBC Convention Centre in downtown Winnipeg.
The morning began at 10 am, where we explored this idea of Impacting Winnipeg. Pastor Chris Holland, speaker, and director for It Is Written Canada, together with Pastor Elmer Manzanares, coordinator for IMPACT Winnipeg, shared the vision. This is not a project or a program, as there are no end dates in sight. Rather, this is an intentional movement to flood the city of Winnipeg with the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Attendees were given an opportunity to ask questions to a panel of Winnipeg pastors, Pastor Chris, Elder David Ripley, President of the Manitoba-Saskatchewan Conference, and Pastor Lynn Ripley.
Our morning continued with inspiring music from the It Is Written Canada musicians. It is a soul-stirring experience to sing unitedly with 700+ others from our sister churches as we praise God through song! Pastor Chris spoke on the topic “Jesus, the Great Healer”. Through the experience of Nicodemus, Pastor Chris taught us that Jesus is the answer. He is where we can find wholeness and restoration. And if Jesus came to bring healing to all aspect of our lives, then we must have a work to do as well in follow up to what He began.
The morning session was live streamed via the Henderson Highway Church Facebook page. A children’s program also ran during the entire morning, for children ages 4 through 12. Located directly across from the main meeting room, the children were also encouraged to love and trust Jesus. There was a time for musical praise and worship, as well as crafts, a Bible story, a puppet show and more. They had over 80 children participate.
Our launch day events continued in the afternoon, where we met at Red River Valley Junior Academy for an interactive prayer and praise experience. The prayer time was intertwined with carefully selected music and scripture. In case you missed out, the music was amazing! While there were moments for the congregation to sing, there were also times for us to meditate on the music performed by the It Is Written Canada musicians. In addition to our musical prayers, there was spoken prayer, corporately and privately. The program was designed on the ACTS theme of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
The work to impact Winnipeg is not an easy task. Because we believe that this is work that God has called us to do, we wanted to spend time asking for His direction over us and over this call. We do not want to rush ahead of God and work without Him. In order to impact Winnipeg effectively, we need to respond to the call that God has placed on every one of us.
What’s the end of impacting Winnipeg? The second coming of Jesus Christ. If everyone you meet in and around Winnipeg has been introduced to Jesus and have decided whether or not they choose to follow Him, then our work is done. But there are still a number of people who have no idea who Jesus is.
There will be upcoming training events in Winnipeg (such as TMI Equip on May 26) as well as other health programs. We’re encouraged to support the events hosted by our sister churches. There is no competition as we’re all working towards the same goal. Save the date from now for Discoveries in Revelation with Pastor Chris Holland, March 15-April 6, 2019.
Let’s keep this question before God: How will You use me in impacting Winnipeg?
