Staff Writer – Page 5 – The GoodSeed Blog

Altos to the left, sops on the right! Gearing up for Easter performances of “No Ordinary Story”

Monday evening. Seven o’clock. The sanctuary of First Baptist Church is a lively place. Almost 40 people are trying to position themselves on four levels of risers on the stage. The choir director is waving her arms at her singers.

“Altos to the left, sopranos to the right, and tenors and basses in the middle. No… everyone move over a few feet to the left. The screen needs to be visible behind you. There… that looks right. Can everyone see me? Hmm… Allan can’t see from where he sits at the piano. Let’s adjust a few more things.”

Then Allan gives a thumbs up. It looks like everyone is ready to sing. Continue reading “Altos to the left, sops on the right! Gearing up for Easter performances of “No Ordinary Story””

She had very little to say

Luc and Rachelle* had made the big decision. It was time to sell their house and downsize in order to lower their expenses. The couple began the process of reducing their belongings and they went online to post household items for sale.

One night, a couple responded to one of the furniture listings. Bruno and Therese, a recently-immigrated couple from Africa, were interested in a number of pieces. Arrangements were made but when they arrived to pick up the items, Bruno realized their vehicle wasn’t big enough to hold it all. Luc offered to load some of the pieces onto his vehicle and drive it over to Bruno’s place. Bruno and Therese were very appreciative as Luc arrived at their place with the items. He even helped them carry the furniture into the house and set everything up.

Continue reading “She had very little to say”

Video: The production of “No Ordinary Story”

Music resonates with people of all ages and backgrounds. No Ordinary Story is the gospel message, told through music and drama in a fresh, compelling and objective way. The vision for this musical is to share the gospel message with music lovers and those who prefer not to read. We are excited at how far we have come in this project: the script, the scores and the backing music tracks have all been completed.

Continue reading “Video: The production of “No Ordinary Story””

This can’t wait! There are only hours left

“Ming Wei, you need to come home urgently. Your grandmother might not last long!”

When he received the phone call from his parents, Ming Wei’s* heart grew heavy. Not only was he concerned about his grandmother’s health, he had a much deeper concern—he was worried about the spiritual state of his grandmother.

As an overseas Chinese student, Ming Wei had the opportunity to learn about Christianity and had become a believer just a couple of years ago. Now as he packed to go home to China, he was anxious about how to broach the subject of the gospel with his ailing grandmother. Since coming to Christ, he hadn’t found himself in this position before and he was at a loss as to how to talk to her about Christ. One thing he did know—time was short and this would be his one and only opportunity to address her eternal destiny.

Continue reading “This can’t wait! There are only hours left”

New year, new opportunities to share the gospel

Betty Scott Stam, a young wife and mother serving as a missionary to China in the 1930s, didn’t just know the gospel in theory. It was her life. And it ended up costing everything. She and her husband, John, were martyred as a result of their witness for Christ. Years before this happened, she wrote,

“Nobody can force a single soul to turn to Christ. All that the followers of Jesus have to do, all they can do, is to lift up Christ before the world, bring Him into dingy corners and dark places of the earth where He is unknown, introduce Him to strangers, talk about Him to everybody and live so closely with and in Him that others may see that there really is such a person as Jesus.” *

What Betty understood is something that each of us is called to. We are ambassadors for Christ. This is not a part-time job that we somehow “fit in” to our busy schedules. All believers are given the biblical mandate to live a lifelong lifestyle of being ready to share the gospel at a moment’s notice.

Continue reading “New year, new opportunities to share the gospel”

The darkness that I carried around was lifted

Last year, Willow Creek Baptist Church (fondly known as “The Creek”) was a host church for one of our TERM Seminars. It was exciting for our staff to interact with the pastor and the congregation because many in the church had come to faith with the help of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. A number of their members have shared their testimonies on video.

Here is one from Ashley Murphy. This is a quote from her story:

It didn’t make sense before that. Reading through The Stranger, everything clicked, everything finally made sense. It was the first time that I ever felt that… Jesus did that for us, that I could have my sins forgiven. The darkness that I carried around… it was lifted…. That was huge because I’ve lived with it my whole life…. This has made such a difference in my home and my marriage…”

Continue reading “The darkness that I carried around was lifted”

Twelve most-read blog posts from 2015

Each of the stories that come through GoodSeed is unique and we enjoy sharing them with our blog readers. This past year was no exception. We thought it would be fun to look back at some of the highlights—those posts which were most popular and widely read. So, with no further ado, here are twelve of the favourite blog posts from 2015:

Continue reading “Twelve most-read blog posts from 2015”

Giving thanks for the purchase of our international office building

On November 29th, we had a very special event in Olds, Alberta. We were celebrating God’s provision of the funds to purchase the international office building. Together with friends and supporters, we gathered in the other part of the building that was currently being used by another business. We are deeply thankful for what the Lord has provided and are so grateful to all who have prayed, donated and shared the project with others.

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I never had the courage to read the Bible

Reading Fieldnotes Marion* had read little of the Bible during the 20 years she had been away from church. She felt it was too daunting. Recently, however, she started going to church again and even offered to help prepare the meal for a session of a marriage course. To thank her for her effort, one of the leaders, Kat, gave Marion a copy of Fieldnotes, GoodSeed’s annual compilation of testimonies.

Reading through the book, Marion was struck by the stories of those who began with no knowledge of the Bible but, by the end of each account, had come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Continue reading “I never had the courage to read the Bible”

Recording the music for “No Ordinary Story”

In late October, GoodSeed’s songwriter Allan Ellingsgaard and special project consultant James Janzen, along with our video team, made a trip to Surrey, British Columbia, to record all the instrument tracks for No Ordinary Story. With the invaluable help of a professional recording studio and quality musicians, this goal was achieved over a span of nine days.

When asked about how he felt about the whole experience, Allan says that he entered this phase with a lot of nervousness. “Having just the piano until this point had made me feel sort of boxed in,” he recalls. “I knew I wanted something but I didn’t know exactly what.” The idea of working with professional musicians was a little intimidating. Would they appreciate the musical for what it was?

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