Connexus Community Church

Connexus Hero: Sare Martin

Sare Martin

She is a fantastic leader within our children's ministry here at Connexus.  A fellow team member summed it up best by saying "She definitely has her heart for kids and winning them to Christ a priority and serves almost every Sunday."

Sare helps on the weekends and can often been seen floating around the Connexus office mid week and helping out.

So today we nominate Sare for the "Energizer Bunny Award of Merit" at Connexus for her dedicated service and the incredible positive energy she brings to it!

Thanks Sare!

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Connexus Community Church

p.s. if you have nominations for Connexus Heroes - drop me an email with a description and picture!

Can You Beat Our Volunteers? Don't Think So....

So today our staff team (eight or so in all) got to say thanks to our volunteers.  Apart from what God is doing in people's lives, my completely favourite story of the first seven months of Connexus is our volunteers.  You folks humble us week in and week out with your incredible spirit and selfless service.

Today, over 200 volunteers gathered for a thank you barbecue.  We cooked lots of burgers and dogs, and ate enough salad to feed a small town.  It was SO much fun being able to serve YOU for a change.   

It was a thrill to give away some prizes to this crew.  We gave away two weeks of free camping for at Camp MIni-Yo-We, ten free massages courtesy of Georgian College, an iPod shuffle, some DQ and Tim Horton Gift Certificates, camping gear, kids toys and more.  Thanks to Camp Mini-Yo-We and Georgian for the donations, and to Shaw's Catering for donating the ginormous bbq today!

In typical Connexus volunteer fashion, our volunteers have already started thanking the staff for serving them.  You guys are nuts.  Hope you enjoyed the day!

Hey - thank you to ALL our volunteers. God is using you every day to shape and change lives! 

If you want to become part of our amazing team of volunteers, email us.  We'd love to hear from you!

- Carey Nieuwhof
Lead Pastor

Connexus Heroes: Sarah & Matthew Chaloux

Hello friends!  We wanted to bring you up to speed on something going on with a couple in our church this week.  Read on . . . and help how you can!

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Connexus Community and friends,

Hello! We hope everything is going well with you. We can’t believe how fast this year is flying by! We'd really love to let you know about some of the great things that are happening in our lives.

This past year has been a huge life change for both of us since we are now attending York University in Toronto. Matthew is working towards his major/minor in film and photography, and Sarah is working on her BA in international development studies. Being at home in Muskoka for the summer is a wonderful and welcomed break from the stress of school and city life. The shift from schoolwork to paid work is nice, but we'll both be glad to be back in school come September. On top of having a wedding on August second, we are going on a mission trip on June 6th to Africa with an organization, Seventy Two, located in St. Louis, Missouri. The head of Seventy Two is Ryan Hale, who attends the church Matthew's brother in law is the pastor for. As soon as we heard about a trip to Africa with them (two of Matthew's sisters went to China with Seventy Two), we signed up. It will be an amazing experience to see how God is changing lives in Africa, and how He will change our lives through this trip.

On June 6th, we will be flying from Toronto to Paris, where we will stay for one week. On June 13th we will fly from Paris to Johannesburg, South Africa and connect to a flight to Manzini, Swaziland. When we reach Manzini we will meet with the rest of the group that is coming from St. Louis, Missouri. From Manzini we will travel to the remote village of Mgambeni (not found on a map) to begin worshiping and working. Swaziland the country most affected by the AIDS pandemic; it has the highest rate of infection at almost 40 percent. Because basic sanitation is not practiced and clean water is not readily available, AIDS has had a larger effect in Swaziland than any other country in the world. Swaziland is also the smallest country in Africa. Our mission is to build a chicken coop which will provide the orphanage with an income to provide all basic needs that the children require. It is difficult for the community and nation to financially support orphaned children especially when the local community can barely provide for themselves. Our work will have a huge impact on the children orphaned by AIDS in the Mgambeni area. We will also be integrating with the local Church and joining them for worship.


This trip provides an opportunity to meet the physical and spiritual needs of a community that is desperately in need. More than anything, we would value your prayers for our team and those whose lives will be touched by God through us. We believe that God answers prayers, and we’re asking you to pray for the safety, good health, and smooth travel of our entire group. We also ask that you pray that God will be able to use us according to His will and that we will bring blessing to the community. Our hearts ache for the children and communities that have been living in poverty and with AIDS and we want them to know that God hears their cries. Just knowing that you will be praying will give us peace and comfort as we go into an unfamiliar place.

Beyond your prayers, if you feel led to financially support this mission, we would be very grateful. As students, money is not something we have an abundance of, especially with a wedding to pay for. God has been so gracious to us to allow this mission to happen. We dedicated ourselves to the trip, and it is finally coming together. This is a journey that God has called us to and we would greatly appreciate any level of support you are able to offer.

We also are willing to take any donations you can offer. We will be travelling with some extra luggage so that we can provide the villagers with the basic needs that we are so blessed with. If you have any of the following that you wish to donate then please contact us and we will be willing to pick it up before Friday, June 6th. Some items of high demand include: blankets, clothing, underwear, toothbrushes/paste, flip flops, and mosquito nets for protection from malaria while sleeping. Some other fun donations could include colouring books, crayons, balls, hats, or anything you can dream of.


As soon as we return from Africa or if we have access to the internet in Africa, we will update you with a blog posting on how the trip went with LOTS of photos of the children, the church worshiping, and your donations being handed out and enjoyed.

Again, we really hope things are going well for you. We’d love to hear anything you wish to say about the trip, so please don’t hesitate to contact us. We will definitely be praying for you. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this letter, and if you have any questions, please let us know. Take care, and we hope to hear from you soon!

With gratitude,

Sarah and Matthew Chaloux


Mission Information: http://www.seventytwo.org/swaziland

Contact:

Sarah & Matthew Chaloux
Email: chaloux@gmail.com
Phone: 705-323-5599

190 Tiffany Trail
Gravenhurst Ontario
P1P 1A6

Team Member of the Week: The Walkers

This week we want to highlight two families that have meant so much to the launch of Connexus.  It's because of people like the Walker's that we are able to be the kind of church that we invite our friends to.  Thanks so much to all of our volunteers for working so hard to build a fantastic church for so many people.   Although they have the same last name . . . they don't think they are related!

Barrie: Tim & Stephanie Walker (& Dax!)
The first set of Walker's today serve at our Barrie Campus.  Tim serves as our team leader for our video team and provides excellent leadership to the team of people that generate excellent images every week for use at our Orillia campus and online.  Stephanie serves as the team leader for our Security / Check-Team within our Family Ministry environments.  Every week she ensures that parents feel great dropping of their kids within our environments and that all of the kids are safe and sound during our services.  They also serve "above and beyond" by helping with lots of other stuff around Connexus during the week - like just yesterday they were helping us paint our new office!  Don't be fooled though . . . the real heroes of the Walker's family is their dog Dax!

So today we name Tim and Stephanie "Wonderful and Willing Walkers!" for all their help in so many areas!

Orillia: Dave & Amanda Walker
This post could be so much longer than we have space here for.  Dave & Amanda Walker serve Connexus in so many different ways.  Dave serves as a part of our senior volunteer leadership team called the elders, he drives trucks for us Sunday morning, and provides so much support to us with help during the middle of the week.  Amanda serves in leadership with our welcome team in Orillia, a small group leader with our student ministry and is always ready to help out with what ever needs assistance at Connexus.  They also have provided us great office space within their home for the last 5 months!  Their girls even let us set up our photocopier in their playroom!  WOW!  To put it simply . . . Connexus wouldn't be what it is today without these Walkers!

To honour Dave & Amanda Walker we crown them "Prince and Princess Walker" for their royal treatment of everyone they interact with at Connexus!

Remember if you have nominations for team member of the week - email them to me!

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church

Team Members of the Week: Justin Piercy & Mike Hiscock

Today we have a bit of a tech theme to our Team Members of the Week!  Don't forget to send your ideas my way for people you want to see nominated!

Barrie:  Justin Piercy
Justin is the audio team leader for our Barrie Campus.  Let's be honest for a minute here . . . audio tech's only get noticed if things go wrong.  When Justin is at the board - he doesn't get noticed!  He brings a level of professionalism and care to the role that helps us create great audio experiences week after week.  He is an example of a volunteer who uses his training and expertised from "real life" (Justin is training to be an audio tech.) to help us fulfill our mission at Connexus.  (On a side note . . . a couple weeks ago Justin was one of the team leaders I was bragging about in this post on our blog.) 

Thank you Justin for your service to your team and to Connexus as a whole.  Today we dub you "Mix-Masta" for all your hard work in audio!

Orillia: Mike Hiscock
Mike is the audio team leader for our Orillia Campus.  During the week Mike can be seen flying huge planes for Air Canada . . . on the weekend he works hard to ensure a pleasant audio experience for people at our Orillia Campus.  One of the many things I appreciate about Mike is his positive outlook on life at Connexus.  He is always willing to look at how we can improve things and has made a number of improvements in the last few months but at the same time is so positive about what's happening at Connexus.  Mike has done a great job on training and motivating his team.

Thank you Mike for all your hard work at Connexus!  Today we give you the title "Captain Sounds-Great" for piloting our audio so well!

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church

p.s. We are looking for more people to join our audio team.  Mike and Justin do a great job with training on our equipment and approach.  Drop me a line if you are interested!

Team Members of the Week: Leslie Cox & Henry VanBoxtel

Again we want to take a chance to thank a few members of our volunteer team at Connexus.  There are so many people that are helping in so many ways!  We are thankful for them stepping up and helping us to launch the kind of church we can invite our friends and family to.  Thank you so much!

Lesley Cox (Orillia)
Lesley is one of those team members that seems to serve on everyone's team!  We had multiple nominations for her from a couple different areas at Connexus.  She arrives early on Sunday mornings and helps with the Eteam - she is one of the many people on our ETeam that have been serving virtually every weekend since launch!  She then changes hats and helps with the check in team - welcoming families into our environments.  Then once people are checked in she switches over and is a small group leader with our grade five kids.

So today we name Lesley "Ms. Stretch" for her incredible flexibility in serving so many people at Connexus.  Thanks so much for all your help Lesley!

Henry VanBoxtel (Barrie)
Henry has been a key leader in our community for quiet a while.   He serves as member of our small group leadership team where he helps provide oversight to this critical area of our mission.  He also serves as a group leader for our most southern Community Group.  (Don't get too excited it's not in Florida!)  Henry is also a part of our ETeam in Barrie in - where he serves as a lynch pin because his passion and understanding of our systems. 

Thanks so much Henry for serving at Connexus.  Today, we dub you "King Henry the First" for your service at Connexus.

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church

p.s. If you have ideas for Team Member of the week - pass them along to me.  (Plus pass along a photo of them too!)

Team Members of the Week - the Sabos and the Jermeys

I'm pinch hitting for Rich Birch today.  Rich is on his way home from a well deserved week of holidays with his family where there's not nearly as much snow.  Nice!

So it's my privilege to introduce the team members of the week.  This week, we're thanking two families that serve together unbelievably well week in, week out. This was a total surprise to us.  I think we imagined adults serving...but entire families?  That blew us away.

Our staff is just amazed at the dedication of these families who get their entire household up at ungodly hours to do incredibly godly work.

Orillia: Ross, Jennifer, Derek and Colin Jermey
Every Sunday morning, the Jermeys get up long before the sun and Ross and his sons head over to our Orillia trailer site to get the trailers ready for our drivers, ensuring the trailers arrive at our Orillia campus by 6 a.m. sharp.  But that just begins the day.  They serve on e-teams and help get our environments fueled to perfection.  Colin helps out with sound and lights, as does Derek. 

Jen's a dynamo, and is one of those team members who can stick handle through just about anything.  She set up computerized registration for Upstreet and Waumba at our Orillia campus, volunteers in small group ministry and in our office (and is currently pinch hitting for Cindy a couple days a week while Cindy recovers).

If there's one phrase that describes the Jermeys it's "willingness to help".  If they see a need, they'll always pitch in.  And every single time, they thank you for the opportunity.  If you know them, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

Barrie: The Sabo Family
Lewis and Anna Sabo have taught their family the value of serving in phenomenal ways.   Their youngest son, Simon, was the first person to roll a case off the first Connexus trailer back in November 07...and that led the way for their family.  Simon's sister Victoria, brothers Jacob and Dylan, and mom and dad are there week in week out getting our Barrie campus set up -- with smiles on their face.

The Sabos are also synonymous with Xtreme and InsideOut.  Lewis is our campus point person for Xtreme. Jacob leads in Waumba Land.  Victoria and Anna are always there helping out in whatever way they can in multiple roles. You've just got to see their incredible dedication to believe it.

I have watched the Sabos retreat to their van to grab packed lunches for the whole family as they serve in ministry -- they hang in there as long as anyone, sometimes longer.

I think we have a lot to learn about being a family from the Sabos and the Jermeys!  Guys -- you rock, and this week, we thank our God for you and applaud you!

- Carey

Team Members of the Week: Ron Hooft & Marcel Chaloux

We've decided to make a shift in our "Team Member of the Week" posts.  We have had such an overwhelming response from people that we're going to feature one person from each campus each week.  Thanks so much for your submissions (to me via email) of Team Members of Week - keep 'em coming!  (Ron moves so fast that I don't have a picture of him - if you have one - email it to me!)

Barrie - Ron Hooft
Ron has been "anchored" in our music teams as a great bass player.  But it doesn't fully describe all that he's up to when we just talk about his great musical talents because he has helped in a number of ways at Connexus.  It's not the volume of "work" that Ron does at Connexus that multiple people commented on about Ron - it's his attitude.  Ron has the ability to approach whatever he's doing - whether it's flying the line array, playing bass, or helping with another project - with an incredible sense of passion, and positivity.  People love being around you Ron!  Thanks for serving!

So today we name Ron the "Best Bass in the Place" for all his help in so many different ways with such a positive attitude!

Orillia - Marcel Chaloux
Marcel has been a part of the small but incredibly decided team of volunteers that sorted out all of our electrical problems at both of our campuses.  This is probably one of those areas that lots of people don't even think about but is a critical "backbone" to us hosting irresistible environments.  Over the Christmas break Marcel spent hours working to pull together these snazzy rolling electrical panels that mean we aren't blowing fuses and that our power is evenly distributed.  But Marcel isn't satisfied to just say "the job is done" he has been working these last number of weeks on Sunday morning to ensure that the power is implemented really well.  Marcel - you are such a servant!

As way to honour Marcel today we crown him "Prince of the Power" because he has served regally to help us in this area.

Rich Birch
rich.birch@connexuscommunity.com
Executive Director of Operations
Connexus Community Church