EV. DON EHLER MEMORIAL CHAPLAINCY FUND	
 							
FINANCIAL STATEMENT REPORTS	
							
FUND BALANCE	
							
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS	
							
FOR THE PERIOD ENDED  DEC.  31, 2013	

							
REVENUE:						
	Individual				 $1,120.00 		
	Church Groups			      200.00 		
	Baptist Churches			      200.00 		

	

             
Eastern Valley Assoc. Offering		            -   		
	West Hants Baptist Fellowship Services -	   		
		Windsor		      164.20 			
		Falmouth		      340.97 			
		Scotch Village	      226.10 			
		Mt. Denson                                                                            				
		Hantsport		      462.35 			
		Upper Vaughan	      251.80 			
		Windsor Plains	      222.65 			
		South Rawdon	      174.50 			
		Kempt		             -   			
		Dykeland		             -   			
					   1,842.57 		
	Christian Unity Service		            -   		
	Dykeland Component -		   		
		Individual		             -   			
		Fund Raiser	   1,322.03 			
					   1,322.03 		
	Memorial Donations			            -   		
	Ladies Breakfast			            -   		
	Men's Breakfast			            -   		
	Concert - I'm Still Here		            -   		
	Interest -						
		Bank Interest	3.52			
		Baptist Foundation - Int.	2051.53			
					   2,055.05 		
	TOTAL REVENUE				 $         6,739.65 	
							
EXPENDITURES:						
	Eastern Valley Association of Baptist Churches	   2,055.05 		
					            -   		
				-22-			
	TOTAL EXPENDITURES			 $         2,055.05 	

EXCESS OF REVENUE OVER EXPENDITURES		 $         4,684.60 	
							
FUND BALANCE,  JAN. 1, 2013				          73,532.90 	
							
FUND BALANCE,  DEC. 31, 2013			 $        78,217.50 	

Respectfully submitted,
David Rafuse
David Rafuse, Treasurer

                                * * * * * * *

Oasis Report 2014
       Convention began with the Pastor’s Leadership Forum Thursday afternoon. Dr. Peter Reid, our Executive Minister opened this forum with a welcome to us all. 
Greg Monette followed Peter sharing with us the different Bible software packages available to us from Logos.
       Dr. Garth Williams followed Greg with a report from the convention on conflict observations. 
Garth brought to our attention a few areas that ministry has changed over his years. He reported that it appears that churches are less likely to be patient with the leadership when the boat starts to tip in a negative direction. And that clergy are less likely to ride out that tip or stay in a situation that is perceived to be abusive. It became very apparent that not all congregations are patient, kind and loving when things begin to go badly. 
       He pointed out for us that there are two levels of conflict, Surface conflict, this includes ministry, leadership and relational. The second is Internal conflict includes spiritual, physical, emotional and family. 
Ending his talk with just how important it is for all of us to find balance in our lives and become healthier in each of these areas. 
       Rev. Cheryl Ann Beals was up next explaining to us the results of the survey that was completed by a number of Pastors from our Convention. The results were not very positive, it turns out that most of our Pastors are having difficulty with stress, their health and spiritual health as well. This report was an eye openener. It is difficult to apprehend that most of our pastors are not satisfied with these areas in their lives. 
        Each time she was giving the results the same scripture kept resurfacing for me, Matthew 16:18, 18And I tell you that you are Peter,b and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hadesc will not overcome it. No matter what hardships, challenges and struggles the church and leadership go through. God will prevail, the church will survive. It brings me great comfort as it should each of us to know

-23-
that regardless of the time we live in, times of persecution and pain even the gates of Hades will not hold us back! This would be true throughout all of Oasis. God is Faithful!
       Dr. Peter Reid brought us our first message of the conference called “Lead where You Are.”
       Directed towards Pastors and Leaders that God is in Control, wherever you are, you are meant to be there in that place and for this time. Like the old saying “Bloom Where Your Planted” some of us are guilty of looking into the past or into the future rather than doing the best we can and focusing on the present.  Dr Reid reminded us that we cannot be good leaders unless we deal with our own demons. That spiritual highs are usually followed by spiritual lows, not to quit on a Monday, get rest and get perspective. Laugh at yourself and our mistakes, to know how to delegate and to have a life outside of ministry. He also warned us that ministry is not for the faint of heart, that trouble and difficulty is normal and in every crisis there is opportunity for growth. That we are not meant for smooth sailing, in the course of life there will be pain. He recommended that we all adopt the Jesus rhythm, stopping, resting, reflecting and then returning. Most importantly to have someone that you can debrief with!
       Thursday evening the pastor from Stevens Road Baptist Church shared with us
a project they are involved with, helping to bring awareness and prevention of human trafficking right here in the Atlantic Provinces. Difficult to understand how this could be happening right here in our own province, but the testimony is here if we want to listen.
Rally #1 
       Dr Peter Reid brought us our first message to the general assembly entitled “Have You Been to The Mountain Top?’ Speaking to us about the hay day of the Atlantic Baptist Churches and how difficult it is to find positives now. That these are challenging days for the Church. Attendance is down, number of baptisms is down, number of churches in our convention is drastically reduced in number, asked that we pray for our churches, for renewal, that we have disturbing trends in all areas.
        Again I want to say God is Faithful! Exodus 34:6 “6The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,“Yahweh!b The Lord!The God of compassion and mercy!I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
Dr Reid then went on to say that the future can be different! That we need to have faith, that faith has always pleased God. That in our weaknesses and frailty we need to have faith, have faith that God will do something wonderful. Then he posed the question....do you believe that God will fulfill His promises? Do You? 
God has chosen and does continue to choose weak imperfect people to lead us, to that I say a big AMEN!
       Dr Reid reminded us of our 2025 goals.
-Our convention will have 65 new churches.
-80% of our churches will be displaying missional culture.
-Active development of healthy and effective leaders
-Stronger, effective churches sharing resources with others. 
He quoted Jim Herrington, stating that “ If we are going to impact our world, success will only come from changing our own behavior.”
We watched a short video of Dr. Martin Luther’s Speech to the Sanitation Workers in Memphis Tennessee the night before he was murdered. Inspiring us that change is possible, if we believe!

-24-

       Reminder that without faith we cannot make a change!
The Assembly was then challenged by our Director and Assistant Director of Youth and Family in our Convention, wanting to know if we would join with them in the challenge of changing one neighborhood at a time. Through events such as Tidal Impact that through acts of kindness and reaching out to others, it is possible to change our own neighborhoods.
       To finish off Thursday evening we were then introduced to all the successful candidates who went before the Examination Council this year! We were all called up on stage and introduced to the general assembly. 
We were then all invited to the Executive Minister’s Kitchen Party.
Friday Morning we were greeted by Dr. Bruce Fawcett who brought us our morning devotion entitled “Reading The Book.” 
That only God has the authority on how we should live and how we should think and the only place to find this authority is in the Bible. He challenged us to read one chapter every day. He shared with us some stats, only 14% of Canadian Christians read the Bible at least once a week. That only 23% of Christians in Church’s today believe that the Bible can be applied to their present day life.(There were many other not so encouraging statistics)
He warned us that it is imperative to read the Bible, that those who read the Bible
regularly are more likely to trust the authority of the scriptures.
If we don’t look to the scriptures about how to think and how to live we will make up our own ideas. 
       God is faithful, He will guide us if we believe what we read and apply it to our lives.
       Do you know that we have more than 450 churches in our Convention, more than 650 credentialed Pastors, 21 Associations and 26,000 on average in attendance on Sunday morning.
       No matter how bleak the news may have sounded over the week we are still alive and well in Atlantic Canada. 
Following Dr Fawcett’s devotion we moved into our first Family business session. 
We were introduced to our president elect and heard a brief statement from him, Rev. Michael Palmer.
       We listened as they discussed our proposed Budget for 2015. It was voted on and approved by the assembly. 
 We listened as the nominating Committee report was read.
Acadia Divinity presentation was made by Dr.Harry Gardner and ended with their staff and faculty being called onto the stage for introduction and recognition. 
The proposed New Purpose Statement for Canadian revenue Agency was read. 
We listened as our Executive minister gave his report including the possibility that our Convention office may have to be moved that the current building is no longer sufficient for their needs. 
       The Vice President Nominee was introduced and accepted being the only candidate, Mr. James Allison McIsaac from Florenceville, New Brunswick
Crandall offered their alumni a BBQ for lunch on Friday!
Friday afternoon we were introduced to our Guest Speaker, Phillip Yancey.
It was a question and answer session where questions were asked of him that had been submitted to Convention prior to Oasis.
What is the biggest challenge to evangelical churches today?
       “God goes where he is wanted” Yancey also stated that there has been a decline in Europe and that we are not far behind.
-25-

Which of your books is your favorite, and most important to read?
Soul Survivor
       How can we help others overcome their disappointment with God?
I loved what he had to say on this matter he used the analogy of a scuba diver. The deeper you go  the slower you need to surface.
 When you are scuba diving if you come up to the surface too quickly you can experience pain and other difficulties. 
       He suggested when dealing with grief we need to let the grieving person come up at the speed that they need to, to surface in their own time from their grief otherwise they too will experience pain and difficulties. 
He also encouraged us distinguish between whether or not we are disappointed with God or are we disappointed with life?
       There were a dozen questions all together, all responses equally riveting.
I would like to share what he said about how we could encourage introverts to share their faith. He said often it is what we do not what we say. That if we offer helping hands that in turn reaches the heart of a person and in turn then reaches the head of that person evoking in them the opportunity to share your faith. From hands to heart to head!
       Following the Q &A session with Philip Yancey we were treated to a powerful drama presentation by Chameleon Jo Productions. 
ADC offered their alumni a BBQ for supper on Friday. Very well attended!
Friday evening was Rally # 2 with Philip Yancey His message was “The Question That Never Goes Away”
       How we need to look at Jesus example of helping.  That when bad things happen look for the helpers. Helping is evangelism. When people are hurting and asked what helped, rarely will they say it was anything that someone said, it’s what you do for them that they remember as helping. To lean on each other, that it is community that counts. God gets pleasure when we help one another. That when your prayers go up and seemingly appear to not get answered that it is God sending them back down for someone here to help us. God is Faithful; He sends others to help us in our time of need. God wants to visible through us to others.
Saturday AM the devotion was brought to us by Dr. Harry Gardner entitled “Who will Roll Away the Stone?”
       He told the story of the determined women who went to the tomb after the death of Jesus, they were so determined that it didn’t matter that there was a stone in the way, they wanted to know who they could get to roll the stone away so they would be able to anoint their Lord Jesus. He spoke about how we tend to focus on the obstacle or stone in our way rather than the mission that we have been called to. That to remember that there are times when the obstacle may be God’s will. That He assists us the same way He assisted Paul, keeping us from going in the wrong direction. A reminder that the provision of God is Plentiful!    
       Philippians 4:19 “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”NLT
That we should personalize the scriptures and the promises made by God in His word for example: John “I am with you always!”  His promises are for each of us according to His word.
       If we personalize the scriptures and promises of God it does help us to see those promises are for us just the same as they were for the disciples and every person who follows us.

-26-
       Following the devotion we had a presentation by our youth team reminding us again of the challenge of changing our world one neighborhood at a time. They told us they surveyed a large number of youth and reported to us that the youth of our churches are looking for:
Mentors
       Authentic community
       Opportunities to serve
       Opportunities to make their faith their own, 
       How encouraging that our youth are seeking such things.
       Steve McMullen shared with us about a course on Church renewal is being offered in October in Digby for all those who would like to attend. You can audit this course.
       Paul Carline reminded us of the grants that are available through Convention to help with outreach. These are available to all churches; all we have to do is apply.
       Business session for Saturday included the re-appointment of Dr Lois Mitchell,
       Proposed nominating Committee guide lines, Atlantic Baptist reducing the size of their board. All proposed items were presented, voted on and passed. 
       In all my 15 years attending Convention this was the least amount of business and the least debated items in all of those years. 
       We ended our business with the announcements of number of registered at this year’s Oasis, 798 adults plus 100 children in the children’s programs. 
Oasis next year will be held at Acadia University with Dr. Anna Robbins as our speaker.
       For the sessions where Philip Yancey spoke we had 800 in the gymnasium as well as 200 in the overflow. 
       Philip Yancey offered us an opportunity of book signing Saturday afternoon.
There were many, many workshops offered, although it seemed like everyone had bleak news where our churches and convention were concerned and yet the underlining message that God is Faithful flowed throughout the entire Oasis. 
Saturday evening we heard from Philip Yancey once again, speaking about his newest book “Vanishing Grace” Whatever happened to the Good News?
       The message he gave he called “The Rise of The Nones” meaning when there are surveys done and people are asked about their faith, or what denomination they belong to, more and more mark the none category. 
How it doesn’t take much grace for us to be around each other, it is when we are around the unwanted, the dirty, the imperfect that is when much grace is required. How in Jesus day the more educated, richer, religious they were, the more threatened they were by Jesus. It was those very people who were the dirtiest, poorest and most imperfect that were attracted to Jesus. It is the same today, we have to get out there and reach those unwanted in our society, offering the grace given to us by God. Jesus was a safe place for sinners. He posed the questions to us about “How do people feel when they walk into your church?” 
“How do people feel when they walk out?”
       He talked to us about how God used imperfect people to build His church; He still does, so no one can say God can’t use me! God is Faithful!
Grace is free to all, but your hands have to be open to receive the gift of grace, we have to be open to receive what God has for us. What happens when a gift is offered to closed hands, it falls to the ground!
       Yancey shared Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one misses the grace of God.” 

-27-
       Dr Reid thanked Philip and his wife for coming and presented them with a gift. Peter then shared with us his concerns when the idea was first discussed to have Phillip Yancey as our main speaker. He said “he is a great writer, but is he a great speaker”? We all laughed because I’m sure every person that attended Convention this year would agree that indeed he is a great speaker.
There were many other opportunities for us for entertainment, workshops, receptions, Oasis Cafe after hours, and many more. The time was filled with a great variety of each. 
       Sunday Morning brought us more seminars again too many to mention, followed by a presentation by Greg Jones to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of Atlantic Baptist Mission Board. We watched videos of churches and the mission work they have been doing in the Atlantic Provinces. Greg reminded us that there are also Mission Board Grants available as well to all of us who may have a project for missions.
       The Jeff Summers band played for all of our worship times in the general assembly including our last!
       We then shared in a meaningful communion service, with the Convention staff serving us with Rev. Charlie Harvey leading us in the celebration. It really was a church service built around the act of communion.
We concluded our time at Convention/ Oasis this year as always with the passing of the gavel from the exiting president to our new president. And of course all sessions were opened and closed with prayer. This year the closing prayers of each session were brought from people of other cultures and languages, so we were blessed and able to enjoy prayers in a variety of different languages. 
       The offerings this year totalled more than 15,000 dollars.  I would strongly encourage all of you to attend our Convention/ Oasis, more than anything it provides us with the knowledge that we are not alone. We belong to a very large family of churches, associations as well as our Convention.
	
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Baker
Janet Baker

Eastern Valley Association: Convention Report
Oasis 2014: Refreshment for the Journey

The event was hosted by Crandall University, Moncton, New Brunswick on August 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 2014. 
Jeff Somers band was the worship leader, which provided a very uplifting, refreshing, and fulfilling worship experience.
During rally #1 our executive minister Peter Reid addressed the challenges facing the Baptist Ministries of Atlantic Canada. He addressed the fact that we need to change our approach to ministry, because “changing our own behaviour will effectively impact the world around us.” He presented to us the convention’s goals 
-28-
to be accomplished by 2025: 65 new congregations, 80% mission minded churches, effective and healthy pastoral leadership, and stronger churches coming to the aid of struggling churches. The mandate set before us is to join God in changing Atlantic Canada one neighbourhood at a time which was the running theme throughout the whole convention session. 
The guest speaker was Philip Yancy, the author of many books that attempt to answer the big questions of our faith, such as, “Where is God When it Hurts?”  Philip’s message during the first rally addressed this question. The bottom line is that God is not the cause of the horrors of life. He is there to comfort us when things fall to pieces. He picks us up and puts us back together. 
During the seminars, I chose to attend the seminar called “Temporary Shepherds: Helping Churches in Transition by Gordon Sutherland. His focus was on intentional interim pastoral ministry. This ministry has the intention of helping churches during their search for new pastoral leadership, and involves a pastor whose goals are to help the church transition from their previous pastor to the new pastor, which can be a very trying time. It assess the attitude of the membership, addressing issues that may have arose with the pervious pastorate, that may hinder the success of the new pastorate, and helping the local church grow to health, within a 12 -24 month period. This is one of the possible outcomes of the Lay Pastor Training Program which I am currently enrolled in. It is a major consideration for my future in the Baptist Ministry. 
The second Rally hosted by Philip Yancy focused on the role of the church in today’s society. Are we reaching out to people to proclaim the gospel message or are we sitting comfortably and complacently in our pews on Sunday mornings? Are we accepting the lost or are we rejecting them? Are we living the Jesus way? This was a very powerful message, addressing the church and where it sits in its complacency when the world is crumbling around us. 
The second seminar I attended was Church Planting: Organic Church by Teemu Lehtonen. Because people have lost faith in the institution of the great mega churches we need to look at a different form of church, more specifically house churches. Meeting together in a local community home, for food, fellowship, and Bible study has proven to be very successful in England and is proving to be very successful in our western culture. The less formal setting is less intimidating to the non-believer and is more inviting to them than the great institutional experience. 
The Atlantic Baptist Mission Board celebrated 200 years of service. There was a very thorough and positive presentation regarding all of the work the mission board has done over the years and is doing now. Our work includes international missions, national missions, and local missions. It called out to those who attended Convention to participate in our mission efforts and to encourage our local churches to do the same. 
-29-
Oasis 2014: Refreshment for the Journey was just that, it was refreshment for the journey. We have come away with a new vision for where our ministry is going and what we must do to get there. It was both a privilege and an honour to represent both the Billtown Baptist church and the Eastern Valley Association as a participant in local ministry within the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches. It is also a privilege to share with you the outcomes of this year’s convention rally, to communicate with you the direction and vision for the ministry of our convention in our immediate future.
Respectfully Submitted,
Valetta Wile
Eastern Valley Association Delegate

-30-

Eastern Valley Baptist Association					Budget 2015		
REVENUE	Actual 2013	Budget 2013		Actual 2014	Budget 2014		Budget 2015	
Church Allotments	26153	29,000		21882	27000		24000		
Convention rebate	7163	8,000		6501	8000		8000		
D Ehler Memorial Fund - Interest	1033	2,050		2055	2000		1200		
Pastor Leadership Workshop		0		1439					
Association offerings	1134	800		1330	500		1000		
Interest income	1054	950			1200				
Chaplaincy-Grand View Manor	9333	8,400		10000	10000		10000		
Chaplaincy - Dykeland Lodge		0							
Miscellaneous		0		155					
Kingswood Donations				30821					
Faith givings				348	6500				
Chaplaincy Donations	1060	0		3071	0		500		
Total revenue	46930	49,200		77602	55200		44700		
EXPENSES: General and Administrative									
Chaplaincy Committee	55	400		201	200		200		
Evangelism Committee		150			150		150		
Mission Committee	150	150			150		200		
Leadership Development	355	100		875	400		400		
Stewardship Committee		50			50		50		
Social Action Committee		400			200		200		
Postage	66	75		59	70		70		
Bank Charges	107	30		11	35		35		
Convention Delegates	160	500		324	500		500		
Association meeting expenses	466	300		606	200		200		
Registry of Joint Stocks	30	40		40	40		40		
MIscellaneous		300		92	100		100		
Travel (Moderator/other)		100		0	0		100		
Web page	225	380		300	300		300		
Total General & Administrative	1614	2,975		2508	2395		2545		
EXPENSES: Payroll									
Chaplains	29725	29,878		30886	30000		31504		
Chaplaincy supply	100	600		200	800	 	400		
Pension & Benefits	3632			3996	4358		4358		
Travel Allowance - Chaplains		200		102	200		200		
Kingswood Director	9000	9,000		9000	9000		9000		
Continuing education	240	500			500		500		
EI Expense	791	735		813	900		918		
CPP Expense	1771	1,274		1292	1400		1318		
WCB	604	633		558	600		600		
Total Payroll	45863	42,820		46847	47758		48798		
Grants and Donations									
Kingswood- Donation	5000	3,000		5000	5000		5000		
Kingswood- Donations collected				30821	0				
Total Grants and Donations	5000	3,000		35821	5000		5000		
TOTAL EXPENSE	52477	                 48,795 		85176	55153		56343		
NET INCOME	-5547	405 		-7574	47		-11643