From Pastor Chris:

Dear Safe Haven Family,

By God's Grace we will be celebrating Mother's Day this Sunday. For most of us, this will be a day of gathering together and celebrating good family memories. May the Lord bless each one of our Mothers! At the same time, for those who have lost mothers, spouses, or other family members, it may be a day with empty places and feelings of loss. May the Holy Spirirt, our Comforter, help us to be aware of the Lord's caring presence and His healing Care.

In my message for this Sunday, I will have us focus on the love story of a single family, shattered with grief and famine, but bound together and blessed with Love and Loyalty: the story of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz. The theme will be "Finding Favour through Love and Loyalty" using the passage of Proverbs 3:3-6 as a springboard and visiting some of the many followers of God who "found favour in the eyes of the Lord".

May the Lord richly bless us together as we worship Him, and as we celebrate Mother's Day.

Pastor Chris

Good News - Building Permit:

This week is a milestone for Safe Haven! All the paperwork has been completed and sent to the Town along with the financial deposit required to ensure that the permit is forthcoming. Optimistically, we are looking at 1 week at the least, and possibly 2 at the most. We have worked hard and diligently to get this far in the process, in order to reach completion. Congratulations Safe Haven, it is going to happen and very soon! Praise the Lord for what He has done for us!

Searching for a Fundraising Team:

As we get into the erection of the church, we will need to have a co-ordinated team to come up with ideas and put them in place for Safe Haven. If you would like to be part of this important team, please make your name known to any of the Elders. We look forward to the success of this much needed endeavour. Please don't be shy, remember this is a way you can serve the Lord!

BAPTISM:

We are aware of 3 individuals who potentially desire to be Baptized. The Elders are working together to make this happen soon, either indoors or part of an outside celebration. If you are feeling the need to take your faith forward in a more meaningful way, please contact an Elder and we will take care of the rest.

Mandarin Senior Fellowship:

An opportunity has become available for a senior fellowship get together - 11:30am on Friday May 26th. David and Irveen Powley have indicated that they would like to have this fellowship for Safe Haven seniors. Details as follows:

Mandarin Restaurant on Kingston Rd., Pickering

Seniors 65 plus

Price is $24.00 each (cash only) and includes the full luncheon, drinks and tip.

To register please advise David or Irveen ASAP.

Birthdays:

Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their birthdays between May 7th thru May 14th!

May 12th - Mike Ward

If you would like to have your name included in our birthday announcements or if you prefer not to have your name shown, please contact Sid at sid.snider@outlook.com. We do not need the year you were born.

Wednesday Night Prayer & Praise Meeting:

We have people coming out to pray over our church, our town and our church family. The more attendees the better, so please come out at 7pm Wednesdays at 82 Church Street.

ALL ARE WELCOME!

We are continuing to grow which is amazing, please come out if you would like to pray or be prayed for.

Join us on Wednesday nights at 7pm at 82 Church St., for a time of prayer and some worship. We are so excited to see God moving on Wednesday nights so far! It is very encouraging and we would love to see you there.

Subsplash: PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR iPHONES OR TABLETS TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY!

The replacement app for Faithlife was up and running on May 3rd, 2023. In order to make it easier to load this application, you can bring your tablets or smart phones to church this Sunday, and after the service we will help you download this app.

St. Francis Centre July and August:

God has answered our prayers once again! We have been informed that the renovations at the St. Francis Centre will result in minimal inconvenience. What this means is, we do not have to rent the gym from the school behind us. WE WILL CONTINUE TO STAY WHERE WE ARE DURING THESE MONTHS. PTL!

Your Safe Haven Volunteers:

Elders

Roy Smyth

Walter Vanderknokke

Carlos Mejia

Sid Snider

Roy Douglas

Huntley Cowie

Deacons

Trevor Hayes

Icy Scott

Lisa Hettich

Building Committee

Doug Hill

Edna Hayes

Roy Smyth

Maria Javor

Trevor Hayes

Finance Committee

Trevor Hayes

Walter Vanderknokke

Huntley Cowie

Music Team

Roy Smyth

Jennifer Smyth

John Bije

James Camporedono

Wayne Cordiner

Danica Luistro

Missions

Leona Slomka

Janet Hill

Walter Vanderknokke

Social Committee

Trevor & Doreen Hayes

Maria & Jozef Javor

Edna & Bert Hayes

Roy & Jennifer Smyth

Volunteer Contact Information:

Roy & Jennifer Smyth (roysmyth@rogers.com)

Walter Vanderknokke (waltervdk44@gmail.com)

Carlos Mejia (carlosmejia@rogers.com)

Sid Snider (sid.snider@outlook.com)

Icy Scott (iscott@rogers.com)

Lisa Hettich (lisahettich@yahoo.ca)

Trevor & Doreen Hayes (dandthayes@gmail.com)

Doug & Janet Hill (doughill@rogers.com)

Edna & Bert Hayes (ednahayes311@cloud.com)

Maria Javor (javorjozef@hotmail.com)

Leona Slomka (lslomka@hotmail.com)

John Bije (johnbije@yahoo.com

Roy Douglas (eddieroyd@yahoo.ca)

Huntley Cowie (hcowie@gmail.com)

God bless you all!

Financial Update for May 7th, 2023:

General Offering: $8,845.60/ Building Fund Offering: $590.00

Weekly Budget need: $5,482.00

YTD General Offering need: $101,584.00

YTD General Offering: $100,199.83

YTD Building Fund Donations: $5,687.48