By Peter Biggs

www.morethangold.ca

More Than Gold (MTG) is a growing network of denominations, churches, Christian institutions and individuals, gathering in preparation for the influx of hundreds of thousands of visitors coming for the 2010 Olympic Games.

As BCCN went to press, MTG’s brand new website (see above) was launched. Steered by MTG staff members Bob Kraemer and Peter Biggs, and built by domain7,  it is hoped the site will play a significant part in coordinating the games-related activities of Christians in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Along with regular web updates, Christian Info Society is partnering with MTG and will have monthly reports in BCCN.

Opportunities

The Vancouver/Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will provide the local church with one of its greatest opportunities to reach a large number of people in a short period of time.

It is a unique opportunity for churches to work together in service and ministry to athletes, their families, games officials and organizers – as well as hundreds of thousands of visitors and local residents.

To help you and your church take advantage of these opportunities, a number of Working Groups have been developed under the banner of More Than Gold.

The organization is seeking to enroll volunteers from as many churches as possible over the next six to eight months. These church representatives will serve as the primary information conduits to their local churches, regarding the activities of MTG-related ministries.

MTG staff have begun visiting local churches to share the vision with pastors, who will each be asked to appoint an MTG Church Representative to connect individuals with MTG and its different Working Groups.

The Working Groups have been meeting regularly to plan and coordinate the various programs scheduled before and during the 2010 Games.  

For more details, visit: morethangold.ca.

Legacy – 2011 and beyond

Leaders throughout our area agree that this initiative has enormous potential for ongoing relationships beyond 2010 – between denominations, Christian leaders and ministries.

The staff and board of MTG are very focused on the potential of the 2010 activities to leave a legacy of continuing and unified outreach.

This will be facilitated by online information flow and interaction, which will reinforce a growing unity.

Leadership: Karen Reed

More Than Gold is picking up significant momentum, and has just appointed Karen Reed as its new CEO. She is a seasoned Vancouver Christian leader, having been a pastor at Vancouver’s Broadway Church for  21 years. Prior to her ministry work, Reed was a business leader.

Following is BCCN’s interview with her.

• How did you end up in full time ministry?

It’s hard to fully explain, as the process was lengthy. But in one particular and unique week,  after the end of a year-long journey – when a series of profound factors came into play   – I was invited to join the pastoral staff at Broadway.  

It was an immediate sealing of affirmation of where God had been leading – and the culmination of that miraculous orchestration, when he calls you into full time service.  It was a wild and impossible thing, yet I knew that I knew that I knew he was calling me – and that Broadway was to be the place of assignment for then.

• What important things have you learned about leadership over the years?

I worked in the corporate arena for 11 years, prior to pastoral leadership. I am deeply thankful for the experience in management and business leadership that was discovered and developed in those years, which I continue to draw from.

In the church, the distinctive is that all leadership – paid and unpaid – is first and foremost spiritual leadership, no matter what your competencies or experience. When leaders were chosen in the New Testament for tasks, they looked for people full of the Spirit.  

It was a long way down the journey before I discovered that the call of Christian leadership is not about being a model of strength  to inspire people, but rather a model of faith.  

One model directs other people’s attention to ourselves; the other directs people to God. Depending primarily on our strengths often hinders us from risking transparency – and can cause others to lift us up instead of Christ.  

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We are to be leaders of faith in our good God, in spite of our weakness, failure and frailties. I think when we begin to ‘own’ our brokenness, we begin to discover true strength.  

Also, this is a complex, shifting time in our world where we need leaders who are able to exegete – interpret – the culture as much as we need to interpret scripture. At this critical time, there is also a huge vacuum in terms of senior leadership across the country.  

More than ever, we need to be – and to raise up – courageous, faith-filled leaders, who are full of the Spirit, following Jesus with humble dependence, holy determination and a deepening intimacy and joy, so that we can hear his voice as we navigate this exciting and challenging time in history.

A sense of humour and a large capacity for flexibility also helps!

You’ve been through some interesting transitions.

Yes! In the summer, after 21 years on the pastoral staff at Broadway Church, and a lengthy process of seeking God’s will and timing, I felt a completion of service.  

Our denomination asked me to pioneer a new role as an urban missionary. I moved into East Vancouver, in the Commercial Drive area, in December, for this purpose. It has required an enormous amount of active – not passive – faith, in ways I’ve never needed before; but it has been a blast to watch God untangle impossible situations.

As I was preparing for the move, an invitation came to consider taking the leadership of the More Than Gold Network.

What excites you about More Than Gold?

I love interacting with the whole diverse body of Christ, as it provides a taste of heaven. And it is only through the whole church, working together in a unified way, that we can reach our cities and nation.

 More Than Gold was initiated by the coming 2010 Olympics as a network of the Metro Vancouver faith community, with the intent to engage and mobilize people around service, social justice and witness. There is a desire for something lasting, a legacy – that activities and events centred around the games would increase attention on what can only be accomplished together: the transformation of our city.

Networks are the best way to facilitate this and make change.  We want to expand and strengthen the faith network, to connect people and needs and resources.

When there was a desire for the More Than Gold network to increase the emphasis on sustainable change,my attention got captured and I made myself available to serve in a season that holds such potential.

I sense a desire, in people and churches, as never before, to no longer isolate [themselves] – but to advance the kingdom, and to work together in unprecedented ways.

How can our readers pray for you, and More Than Gold, in the coming months?

Thank you!  I am desperate for prayer.  I have deepened my appreciation in this last while for faithful intercessors in my life. I feel enormously privileged and humbled, to be entrusted with this opportunity to serve – and more than anything, I want Jesus to be lifted high, and well pleased.  

I’m dreaming big . . . and I am believing for others to dream and pray with me, for impossible God-things.  For me, I need discernment and grace at every turn, as I have lots of voices to listen to. I need protection to not be outwitted by the enemy. I need courage and focus  to stay on task, and to be full of bold faith.

Pray also for the small management staff and volunteer leadership core. They are an amazing group,  with huge hearts and competencies. And for the board, and partners who contribute significantly in time and experience. Pray also for resources to follow the God-dreams  – not only funds, but the right people with the right gifts placed in the right areas.

The organizational piece is huge, especially as we seek to encourage and initiate micro-neighbourhood clusters to work together. We want to do God’s work in his way . . .  so there is no lack on any level. If we operate on that track, I think it’s going to be exhilarating!

February 2009