It is Fat Tuesday, the day of the historic celebration in preparation for the Lenten Fast. Today's news will be filled with features from Carnivale in Rio and Parades in New Orleans. Many will mark the day with their last bit of sweets for a while, or savoring a soda. However you mark the day, tomorrow is the more important occasion. This past weekend, I was with the delightful members of the Winger Church of Christ (Disciples) in Wainfleet, Onatario. More about the visit in a moment, but I want to share with you what they will be doing tomorrow, and I will be joining them in. They have purchased a program wherein most members of the church will be reading the entire New Testament over the forty days in Lent. I received a guidebook for the program which has a New Testament published therein; and a CD ROM for my computer with dramatic readings . Later today, I will upload the CD to the Audio Player in my iPad, so I can easily take it with me. I am really looking forward to joining the church in this endeavour.

Winger Church of Christ (Disciples), Established in 1844, is everything I think of when I think solid rural church. As I prepared for my visit, people kept referring to "our little church". Needless to say, the image burned so fully in my head, I was surprised to encounter almost 100 folks in worship, a choir of almost 30, about 20 children, a great historic sanctuary and a marvelously modern fellowship hall. This is no little church! I will confess I was having trouble with distances in Wainfleet. My Canadian standard of how many Tim Horton's I passed failed me completely. The closest Tim's is 10k away! And yet, people seem to not only survive, but thrive!

There are two ministries I want to highlight as I tell you about Winger. The first needs a bit of a story: As I was sitting in church, I became aware of a number of "teddy bears" all around the sanctuary. There were probably twenty bears in the pews, another ten scattered about window sills, and at least six in the chancel. Now, had I read the website throughly, I would have been prepared for this, but I failed to do so. Winger has a "Prayer Bear" Ministry in which they repair Teddy Bears (or take new ones), and then they bring them into the sanctuary for a perod of time. According to the website:

Parishioners are encouraged to bring Teddy Bears which become part of the weekly worship. They are held, hugged and loved as the people offer prayers, scriptures, songs and sermons during the service. The Bears are then taken by our church family members to anyone who is in need of prayers and TLC. Young or old, our church folks have enthusiastically shared God's love through the giving and receiving of many "prayer bears".

So, I have a new "prayer bear" living on my desk. His name is Winger. The second ministry I want to highlight as I tell you about Winger is a bit harder to describe. It has to do with the commitment of the leaders of the church to "go deeper". I experienced this not only through the Bible reading program starting on Ash Wednesday, but also through the depth of reflection I heard in the prayers of the Elders and the People. This church truly is striving to witness to the Disciples Mission of exhibiting "deep Christian Spirituality"! As you may have guessed, you can learn more by going to www.wingerdisciples.org . Oh, and I should also mention that as usual, the hospitatlity I experienced was simply amazing. But that's true in every Disciples Congregation in Canada! Next weekend, it's off to Dartmouth and Wyndholme Christian Church!

PRAYER PARTNERS: Canada will be praying with Ridgetown Christian Church, now known as "The Gathering Place" and their pastor, Rev. Doug Rowley. The General Church Prayer partner this week is The South Idaho Region of the Christian Church.

NEWS and REMINDERS: The All Canada Convention and Youth Encounter will be here before we know it! Brochures and Flyers are being produced and expected soon. Dates for Encounter are August 5-12; and Convention is August 9-12. Both events will take place in Edmonton, Alberta.

Congregations in Search for a Pastor: Milton and Summerville, both in the South Shore area of Nova Scotia are searching for a Pastor. Inquiries can be directed in confidence to Rick Hamilton: Revrickhamilton@yahoo.com