Praise the Lord Greetings!

Last Friday I returned from Canada after a 7 day trip. The trip had several goals:

  • Become familiar with the sports venues and downtown areas in Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal.
  • Make preliminary preparations for the Grey Cup (the Canadian Football League Championship) being held in Hamilton Nov. 16 - 19, 2023.
  • Meet Pastors in these areas.
  • Find a CPA and attorney to work with our new charity.


In summary the week was exceptionally fruitful and the above mentioned goals were met. The Pastors and Seminary Dean I met were an excellent start to learning about the church in Toronto and beyond; the ministry at the four venues was excellent; an attorney and CPA were found that would work with SFOi Canada and the plans were beginning to surface for the Grey Cup scheduled for Hamilton Nov. 16 - 19.

A few unexpected lessons: Ottawa, Canada's capitol, surprisingly has lots of foot traffic and a good stadium so it should be a good destination; Toronto has lots of foot traffic too, a train and light rail for traveling in the city; terrible car traffic so staying in the city is a must in the future and the Lord is working.

In other words the timing is good to invade Canada with consistent evangelism. The Canadian web site is being built now but this is the current Canadian info including the address in Burlington, a suburb of Toronto, of our office and the beginning info for the Grey Cup: SFOI.CA


This is a schedule of the highlights of my week from Friday, May 26 - Friday, June 2.


Abbreviations:

CFL = Canadian Football League
FC = Football (soccer) Club

Friday:

Ottawa CFL/ TD Place Stadium

Saturday:

Book Store Grand Opening in Brantford near Hamilton. A good resource for us.
Hamilton CFL / Tim Horton Field
Toronto FC / BMO Field

Sunday:

Pastor Joshua Mills at Trinity Reformed Baptist Church
Pastor Tyrell Haag at Pineland Baptist Church
Visited Niagara Falls: a ministry location in general and for the Grey Cup

Monday:


Tuesday:

Toronto Blue Jays / Rogers Centre

Wednesday:

David Tang Attorney with Miller Thomson
Toronto FC / BMO Field

Thursday:

Toronto Blue Jays / Rogers Centre

=========================================

As a reminder you can always check this page for updated Ministry Partner info. It's been updated and better organized so you can more easily see the fruits of your investment in the Kingdom of Christ: www.sfoi.org/mp
BMO Field
Top left: BMO Field from our ministry location.
Top right: Gates into BMO Field.
Bottom left: fans walking from train to stadium on Nova Scotia Ave.
Bottom right: huge banner on the side of BMO Field.

Maps of BMO Field: BMO Field. The fans began to walk towards us from where the map reads: Exhibition Loop. Michael & I stood where the you can begin to read Nova Scotia Ave.
Top left: Roger Centre home of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Top right: BMO Field where the Toronto CFL & FC teams play.
This link has all the SFOI Canada video: SFOI Canada
Tim Horton Field
Top Left: Tim Horton's Field.
Top right: Niagara Falls - a Grey Cup ministry destination.

This link has videos associated with the Grey Cup: Grey Cup
Above are pictures of Tim Horton Field from left to right. You can see the Plaza and the crowd from from the left and the right creating ministry opportunity as fans walk to the Plaza for the tail gate activities and to enter the game, This map shows the location of the field: Tim Horton Field. Michael & I were standing on the south or bottom side.
Gospel Invasions - events led by someone other than Bill and usually at non sporting events.

The next two pictures are the team from the Riverbend Festival Outreach and the bottom picture of the Myrtle Beach Outreach.
Riverbend Festival Team - left to right

Brad - Chattanooga Event Leader; Tim - Calhoun, GA; Joshua - Belle Center, OH: Steve and Mark - Calhoun, GA; Stirling Dawsonville, GA; Shane - Lookout Valley, GA.
Myrtle Beach Team - Left to right

Joe - Raleigh, NC; Nick - Graniteville, SC; Paul - Raleigh, NC; Jason - Loris, SC Event Leader.
Below is the video link for upcoming Gospel Invasion events which are events SFOI hosts but are led by someone else. The next one is the Music City Grand Prix led by Ben Grady. Click the link to watch the latest one. It is less than 1 minute.
Thank you Greetings! again for your continued partnership in the Gospel. The Lord is working in Canada and we want to join Him!