You might be wondering what this is all about, so here's the short (but not so short) version. About 5 years ago, God arranged for several things to come together in my life that became the seed of a vision for me. The first is that I "happened" to discover the "Maximum Impact Simulcast" presented by John Maxwell and INJOY ministries. Our church sponsored the event and we were able to host it in partnership with the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce.

The second "happening" was that I was invited to sit on the board of the Kamloops Chamber. That's a bit outside the realm of where most pastors find themselves, even though the vast majority are very qualified to serve in places like that. In my case, I'd never been to a meeting, wasn't even a member and was elected to the board at a meeting that I couldn't attend... (and some people say there is no God...) Suddenly, I found myself connected to a group of leaders and influencers in our city that were connected to the "inner circle" of leaders and influencers. What I found most interesting is that I wasn't excluded because of my role as a pastor, but found a genuine openess to who I was, what I did and mostly to WHO I represented. That was very interesting and surprising to me, because I had generally believed that most people in the leadership community weren't overly intersted in spiritual things. I discovered pretty quickly that community leaders were just regular, ordinary people who were very open (in fact, maybe even more open than others) to the spiritual dynamics that exist all around us.

The third dynamic in this stretching process showed up in a book called "Roaring Lambs" written by a guy named Bob Briner. The basic message was that it was time for the church to stop reacting to and complaining about the world we live in and become proactive and involve ourselves in making a difference at a leadership level.

As time went on, I became more and more consumed with a vision to impact and influence the leadership community of our province through a relationally focused ministry that was more about being at the right place at the right time so that decision makers could hear the right thing from somebody they trusted and respected.

Now you might be saying "that's all well and good Tim, but where does that show up in the bible?" The answer is simple: IT SHOWS UP EVERYWHERE! So many of the people that we hold up as heroes of the faith did exactly what I've just been talking about. Esther was elevated from country girl to queen "for such a time as this". Daniel and his friends were elevated from prisoner status to the role of political advisors so that they could influence an ungodly king in an ungodly culture. Nehemiah served as "cup-bearer" to the king and was able to leverage the influence that he had with the king to advance God's purposes and plans for His people as they rebuilt Jerusalem. Nehemiah had such favour with the king that he got a paid leave and the king picked up tab for re-construction of Jerusalem. Joseph became second in command in all of Egypt and wielded huge influence because of the prophetic insight and vision that he had. I could go on , but this is becoming a book...

We have a responsibility to be a voice and presence among the influencers and leaders of our society. The door is open... the time is now...

Love ya!!

Tim