Rigney Ministries

Red Bean Ice Cream? That’s crazy talk, right? Nope … there really is such a thing! We saw it at La Casa Gelato in Vancouver when we were there a few weeks ago … and that’s not all! There was Rice flavored ice cream and Iced Tea flavored ice cream too. I told Janet, our tour guide for the day, that we could have a complete New Orleans style meal right there at the ice cream shop! How cool is that?

Before leaving for our trip to British Columbia, we made arrangements to meet with the West Coast Baptist Association to see if there might be something we and our local churches could do to help support the missions work going on in the Vancouver area. Janet, the Missions Mobilization Director, gave us a very good introduction to the missions work, and she followed it up with a tour of the city.

That’s where we saw the strange flavors of ice cream, AND this butcher carrying a whole pig down the street! We were in an area of Vancouver known as Chinatown. Vancouver is filled with people of different nationalities, beliefs, and lifestyles. Many of them have never heard of Jesus, and reaching them with the gospel is the desire of the West Coast Baptist Association. The North American Missions Board has teamed up with the Canadian Baptist Convention in an effort to evangelize this city and establish new church plants. I read that this area is 93% unreached.

Benjy and I have been invited to participate as Advocates for the missions work in the Greater Vancouver area. As Advocates we will be communicating with Vancouver church planters and pastors and making an effort to help meet their needs for resources such as outreach materials, volunteer teams, prayer partners, and more church planters.

Real estate in this area is very expensive, so some new church plants rent space in community centers like this one. Pictured here are Janet, Benjy, Tammie, and Donna standing in front of the Collingwood Neighborhood House where the Urban Village Church rents space for 2 hours each Sunday. Donna is a NAMB missionary from Vicksburg, MS, and she works with church planter, Pastor Daniel, in this new church plant.

Benjy and I met with Pastor Daniel and discussed the needs of the people in their area and the challenges of urban ministry. Pastor Daniel and Donna are seeking the Lord’s guidance, and they are trying some creative outreach programs in their community. Would you pray for this new church plant and it’s leadership? We ask that you pray for us as well, as we encourage Mississippi churches to participate with church planting efforts in the mega city of Vancouver, British Columbia.

On His Exciting Journey,