Around Town: Word Guild winners, Mobile Showers, Hong Kong prayer

Bruce Hindmarsh, Carolyn Arends and Steve Bell are Word Guild award winners.

One Regent College professor and two others who often teach and sing there won Word Guild awards  at the group’s 31^st annual gala June 14 in Hamilton, Ontario.

The Regent College winners were:

• Academic Books: Bruce Hindmarsh: The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World (Oxford University Press)

• Column Series: Carolyn Arends: “A Curious Pattern” (Jan/Feb) & “A Convert’s Conversion” (Mar/Apr), Faith Today

• Poetry: Steve Bell: “The Name” (Novalis).

Another high profile winner was Tenth Church senior pastor Ken Shigematsu, for his book Survival Guide for the Soul (Zondervan) in the Christian Living category.

Writers involved in a book about Surrey attracted two awards:

• Christian Non-Fiction – Culture: “The Church In Surrey & White Rock: The Untold Story” (SWR Publishing Company). All 12 co-editors and chapter writers were cited: Neil Bramble, Frank Bucholtz, MaryAnne Connor, Marvin Hunt, Beverley Johnston, Ross Johnston, Lloyd Mackey, Joanne Pepper, Perrie Peverall, John H. Redekop, Jack Taylor, Barbara Warwick.
• Long Feature: John H. Redekop: “Christian Contributions to Political Affairs” (excerpt from The Church In Surrey & White Rock: The Untold Story)

Other Metro Vancouver / Fraser Valley winners were:

• Harvey/Mackey Award – Journalism: Jack Taylor: “Secularism and Medicine in Canada” (The Light Magazine)
• Castle Quest Best New Canadian Manuscript: Bosco H.C. Poon: Beyond My Wildest Imagination
• Christian Non-Fiction – Instructional: Leonard Hjalmarson: Broken Futures: Leaders and Churches Lost in Transition (Urban Loft Publishers)

Go here for the full run-down of awards.

I have posted write-ups about, or excerpts from three of these books:

• The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism
• Survival Guide for the Soul (and here)
• The Church in Surrey & White Rock: The Untold Story (also here and here)

Mobile support

Volunteers Wes de Vries, Anna Keyes, and Henry Penner greet patrons and clean the shower units.

Two new mobile services for the homeless have started up in Abbotsford over the past couple of months.

Refresh Mobile Showers

The first was reported on by the MB Herald:

It is easy to take the things we use every day for granted: the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the water with which we wash.

Refresh Mobile Showers, a ministry of King Road MB Church and other local partners, is helping to bring these essentials to people in Abbotsford, who don’t have access to them every day.

A couple of years ago, King Road member Henry Penner saw a video of a pastor who was using a mobile unit to provide showers to people who are homeless. . . .

When he brought the mobile shower plan to King Road’s missions committee, they encouraged him to get the city’s support.

After a positive response from the mayor, meetings with the city’s Homelessness Action Advisory Committee, and consultation with the police and fire departments and paramedics, there was nothing to stop Penner from taking Refresh Mobile Shower from idea to reality.

Local businesses, individuals and a fundraising campaign at King Road raised the $40,000 cost of the trailer.

Ongoing costs include fuel for towing the trailer. A local shop has offered to perform any repairs on the trailer, and a member of King Road is storing it for free.

On May 1, Refresh Mobile Showers were used in Abbotsford for the first time.

Go here for the full story.

Mobile Mission van

Union Gospel Mission officially launched its Mobile Mission van on Monday morning in Abbotsford. (Submitted photo)

The Abbotsford News posted a story about another new service which seeks out people needing help:

Union Gospel Mission (UGM) launched a mobile “rescue vehicle” in Abbotsford [April 29] to provide survival gear and food to homeless people.

Jeremy Hunka of UGM said the specially outfitted Mobile Mission van is the only dedicated vehicle of its kind in the Abbotsford area.

He said the service finds vulnerable people living on the streets – whether under bridges or in makeshift camps – and provides needed items such as pre-made meals and coffee, warm clothing, hygiene items, sleeping bags and more. . . .

The expansion aims to build on the success of UGM’s original Mobile Mission, located in Metro Vancouver, which will continue to operate west of the Fraser River and serve up to 200 people weekly.

Go here for the full story.