10 years of ShawnCuthill.com! Happy Anniversary everyone!

It's a historic day for the athensBLOG!! 10 years ago today I fired up this online journal to keep track of the Cuthills adventures as we started in full-time ministry, specifically taking a team to the Olympics in Athens. This explains the name athensBLOG and along the way someone showed me how to register a domain name and www.shawncuthill.com was also used as an easy to remember URL for those who prayed & supported us along the way.


It was a great way to fire off a blog post once a day or so, in the pre-facebook era, and have friends and family updated on everything that was going on.

After a while the athensBLOG got quite a following and comments on my posts piled up along with regular readers. After one contentious debate that went on and on and on, I asked the great people at Quist consulting (ie: Russ) about using server space to host an online forum as an outlet for these discussions. And so after about a year SimpleGathering.com was born. Many of you participated in the early discussions debates and diatribes as the pre-facebook internet lurched toward more social interaction.

The SimpleGathering discussion forum was fascinating and drew many from brethren churches around the world to discuss a myriad of topics. From this collaboration of brethren voices came BrethrenPedia.com, a wiki to help record the history of brethren assemblies. These sites still continue today although I was not able to spend as much time on them as transitioned from Bridlegrove to start our own ministry in Thorncliffe Park.

Our new ministry: www.jesusnetwork.ca

Other sites sprang up like YouTube, then eventually facebook and twitter and challenged blogs for relevance on the web. Posting on social media became the norm and while I bid farewell to regular daily blogging in 2008, I've continued to post on here every couple months. Hopefully some time in the near future all the different online pieces mentioned above can be woven together into one big ShawnCuthill.com experience.



But till then take a look at some of the features on this blog over the years:

The Sayings of Lukas - here        The Sayings of Sylas - here         The Sayings of Olivia - here
Mondays hot topics                     Wednedsay prayer requests        My Jesus years | Only the Injil
My new favorite song                  Greece trips                                Israel trip

So after 1500 odd posts and hundreds of thousands of visitors today I'm taking time to look back on that first blog post on July 21st, 2004 and thank each of you who have been with us along the way! Here's to another 10 years!

http://www.shawncuthill.com/2004/07/2-weeks-and-counting.html

Hello everyone, my name is Shawn and I created this blog for myself and my team who are going to the Olympics in Athens from August 4th to September 2nd. I figured a blog would be the best way to tell everyone what we are doing, and keep everyone updated whilie we are overseas. Be sure to check in OFTEN to get up-to-the-minute prayer requests.

A decision that changed his life - Orlando Franklin in the Superbowl

As my faithful athensBLOG readers will remember, we used to work at Bridlegrove Bible Chapel in Scarborough. We were responsible for youth and community outreach in the Finch/Pharmacy area and made many great connections in the community. We ran a Friday night basketball drop in at the church and hosted various events and retreats. That was 10 years ago. One of the connections we made was with a troubled youth named Orlando Franklin. He was referred to us by the folks at Guelph Bible Camp and had recently got into some trouble with the law. At that camp and one of our youth retreats he gave his life to Jesus and decided to turn his life around. The picture below is from 10 years ago when Orlando was at our place for our youth Superbowl party:

Orlando, center, with other youth from Bridlegrove Bible Chapel

As the New York Post article recalls, Orlando, after getting out of jail made a promise to his mom to turn his life around, and dedicate himself to football. Those who have been following his career know he did just that. Soon after he was involved with our youth, he moved with his mom to Florida, then played for the University of Miami Hurricanes and finally was drafted by the Denver Broncos! He's been a starting offensive lineman for the past 3 years. Today's Superbowl will be the culmination of his promise 10 years ago.

We're very proud of Orlando and what God has done in his life. We continue to track with many of the youth like him that we have known for over 10 years now. It's a good reminder that with any goal you set, it takes time. With discipleship, it takes time. If you want to reach out to others and invest your life in something it will take time. We can't expect that our church/ministry/life will be an overnight success. Don't believe that lie. Instead commit yourself, like Orlando did to getting your hands dirty loving what you do, loving people, making a goal that may take a long long time. 

God is waiting for you to hit rock bottom and make a decision that will change your life. Have the courage to call out to God and ask him to change you. You never know where you might end up.

ps. LET'S GO BRONCOS!!

"This big guy is going to make a lot of money in the NFL"

A while back I reported on one of our old Bridlegrove youth named Orlando Franklin - here. When we met Orlando he was 6 foot 7 and 250 pounds in Grade 10. Now he's playing college football for the Miami Hurricanes and I found this scouting report on him:

Orlando Franklin: This big guy is going to make a lot of money in the NFL some day and he’s probably going to do it at offensive tackle. He’ll play guard again this season and, unless he has a monster year, will return for his junior campaign and switch to tackle. Cha-ching!

Way to go Orlando!!

Wednesday prayer requests - Cookie coming for the summer!!

You may remember Cookie (video below) from our Bridlegrove days. Well this summer Cookie is coming to live and work with us! We are thrilled to be able to continue the mentoring process as Cookie finishes up high school.

Cookie will be a summer intern, which will be a summer job for him, and we hope to pay him something as he works with me. Please consider sending financial support (to Leaside Bible Chapel) so that we will have the funds to pay him something. Most importantly remember him in prayer as he prepares for his future, that God would continue to mold him into a fine young man!

The sayings of Sylas v13 - Cookie

This edition of "The sayings of Sylas" features another one of our Bridlegrove 'homeys'. "Cookie", as he is known to all of us, dropped in on Friday and stayed with us this weekend. You may remember he lived with us for a while last year and so it was lots of fun catching up, reminiscing and hearing about what he's been up to. Cookie is a favorite with our kids so when it was time for him to go tonight we figured our kids would be sad:

Daddy: Sylas, come say bye to Cookie, he's leaving
Sylas: No thank you
Daddy: Sylas, Cookie's going away don't you want to say goodbye?
Sylas: No, i don't have to say goodbye...he's still right here in my brain!!

One more reason why I love facebook

Those of you who have added me on facebook know I have some pictures up of my "Bridlegrove Homeys" - click here.

One such 'homey' is a young lad (at left) I met in 2004 named Orlando Franklin. Remember that name. When I met Orlando he was just 16 years old but already stood 6 foot 7 and weighed around 280 pounds.

Like most of the 'homeys' that live in Scarborough, Orlando moved away and I completely lost contact with him. That is until someone tagged him in one of my pictures on facebook and we got reacquainted. Much to my delight I discovered that Orlando is now the starting offensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes and making headlines across the football world!! Way to go Orlando!! I believe he could go quite far in football, so say a prayer for this little 'homey' whenever you hear about the Miami Hurricanes.

Wednesday prayer requests - Reading and Running

Yesterday I had an amazing meeting with Silvia Ruegger and Brian Warren about their Running and Reading clubs through their organization Kidsfest. The program started in 2004 at Chester Le Junior Public School near Bridlegrove and we have worked with the same kids over the years. I had kept in touch with them, and was very impressed by their work helping inner-city kids in poverty get fit and literate! These clubs are rolling out all over the country and Silvia and Brian are a real inspiration so pray for them as they manage this huge task.

Also continue to remember the Bourgeois family in prayer. We still have no word on when Steve's funeral will be. It's also difficult for them as today would have been Steve's 28th birthday. On the Steve Bourgeois facebook group Mark Jenkinson offered this birthday prayer:

Steve, today we remember your birthday, because your life changed ours forever.

A birthday prayer, "Our heavenly father, we thank You for each and every day that you gave us with Steve. You blessed us so poignantly and profoundly with Steve's smiles, laughs, kind words and selfless acts. Each and every moment was a gift. We reflect on his life and the indescribable impact that he made on ours, and we can't help but offer up our thanks to You Lord, the one who works all things for good, and has ensured this outcome because of the death and resurrection of your One and Only son, Jesus. For it is in His name we pray, AMEN."

Video of the week - My new favorite song

Lukas graduated from Bridlegrove's kindergarten on Thursday. I'll post some videos of the graduation soon. Friday was his very last day. He starts grade 1 at Thorncliffe Park school in September.

While I was driving to pick him up for the last time on Friday, this song came on the radio. I think it's about a relationship ending. I couldn't find the MP3 so here's the video. In many ways Friday was the end of our relationship with Bridlegrove. Sure there will be visits, but Friday felt like the end. Thinking over the time we spent there brought back many memories. So many people. So much time. Like any relationship, the end is sad even if there's something good to move on to. In many ways Luke's graduation felt like many other 'last days' I've experienced. Knowing it's time to move on. Not wanting to part with people and memories. Wishing it could last forever. Grieving the circumstances that brought it to an end. It's always hard to say goodbye. Why do all good things come to an end?

The sayings of Lukas v32

This past Monday Lukas resumed Kindergarten at Bridlegrove! I drove him up for his first day and we started talking.

Daddy: So Lukas, are you excited to see your old friends again?
Lukas: (smirking) Stephen and his gang will be destroyed! Muhahahaha

Can't wait till he's a teenager!!

More missionfest!

Well the hot topics will have to wait until we're all moved in. Things are going well but we don't have phone/internet at home so I'm blogging here from my parents. I wanted to add a story from MissionFest that I thought was pretty cool. Next to our booth was the Freedom Village booth. Freedom Village is home for troubled teens in the states - click here. Standing there I looked over and saw on the front of one of their brochures the face of one of our old Bridlegrove youth Andrew!!! Andrew is featured on the Freedom Village website - click here to read his story. He used to live down the street until he ran away from home. You can read about him in our Q2 2004 report. When he did run away/get kicked out, he left us his basketball net that some of you may have seen outside of the house at Bridlegrove. This is an encouragement to all of you who are working with kids who you're concerned about. God has a way of finding them. Just pour in loads of love and pray hard. You never know what God will do :)

Early wednesday prayer requests - "I was born and raised in the ghetto"

Tonight we move to Thorncliffe Park. As I reported last week Thorncliffe is a neighbourhood in Toronto that is inhabited mainly by new Canadians from Pakistan and Afghanistan. 30,000 people. 34 high rise buildings. The biggest elementary school in North America. It's a different kind of 'ghetto' than the Steeles-Lamarouex/Chester Le area we lived in for the past 3 years working at Bridlegrove, but it's still a ghetto. I wanted to post a video that you can watch until we arrive in Thorncliffe. It's about ghettos in Toronto and those who grow up in them. It's strange to think that my kids qualify for that category.

The video was sent to me by Geoff Ryan, my Salvation Army officer friend who is doing an awesome work in the legendary Toronto ghetto - Regent Park. I'm excited to be working with Geoff, who will be helping and coaching me in Thorncliffe.

I love the 'hook' for the song..."I was born and raised in the ghetttoooo". I'd challenge you to watch the video at least 5 times until that little hook penetrates your soul and mind with empathy. It gives me shivers listening to it and thinking of all my homeys that we worked with at Bridlegrove. I miss those kids a whole lot. I made a photo album on facebook. Lord, be gracious to them.



While we are driving the 18 hours from PEI I'll be praying that more and more people will be like Jesus and move into the ghettos. These 'bad areas'...like the one Jesus grew up in. Jesus was a kid 'born and raised' in a ghetto called Nazareth, where 'no good thing' could possibly happen. Maybe that's why he loves these kids so much. As you watch this video, say a prayer for all the kids in the ghettos in Toronto.

Monday's hot topics - Defrocked Volume 2

A fairly heavy topic for us over the past month has been "What happened to you guys?". We have appreciated the prayers and support of many of you during our time at Bridlegrove, and many have been confused as to why things had to end. We have asked ourselves this question as well. Thanks for understanding that things aren't easy to process or explain. Part of the process for us is evaluating what went wrong and taking time to heal. Along with my first post about being "defrocked", I'll attempt to put together a sort of ongoing therapy session over the next few weeks and months to help me deal with some of the trauma.
On the forum, someone even brought this up - click here - and I have gone into a little more detail about why we aren't at Bridlegrove anymore....well we are still members...but...well see for yourself.

Monday's hot topics - Happy Martin Luther King Day!

In God's providence I was down in Atlanta at the Martin Luther King memorial just last week. It was quite a moving experience, similar to the holocaust museum in Israel. I was overcome with feelings and thoughts that I had never experienced. "How did this happen", "Why", "Who would do something like that". I had experienced these all before but one emotion came up that I hadn't felt before, "Lord forgive me and my ancestors for my our attitude of collonial domination". I'd never really thought of how we as white, euros EXPECT things we don't even realize. We think we are civilized. We think we are the best. We think others need to become "like us" instead of "like Jesus". We came to Canada and booted the natives cause they were "not like us", not "people". The land was "uninhabited". Disgraceful.

Same with slavery. While we here in Canada have abolished slavery a long time ago, I saw things at the MLK jr. memorial that happened in very recent memory. Walking through the memorial I saw a picture that i will never forget - click here for my pictures. It was a picture of a lynching in Atlanta. A black man hanging. Whites all around. Little children watching. The thought that struck me was that the little children in that picture would still be alive today. Racism exists and we need to ask God's forgiveness for how it has affected our lives.

I didn't think it existed till I started at Bridlegrove and moved to Scarborough. People would say to me "Oh that's the black church"....Huh? Pardon? I felt like saying on many occasions "Do you attend a 'white's only' church"? I'm not saying that people do this on purpose but examine your heart to see what's inside.

So what are you doing to end racism? Do you live in a nice white picket-fence community? Are you segregated? Do you have friends of other ethnicities? Do you intentionally seek to break down those barriers? *Click here to post your thoughts on the forum

May God remove all racism, expressed or hidden, from us this day - Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2007

Random ministry pics/video

I was back at Bridlegrove today, missing all my little homies. Sadly I didn't see any of them there. Here's a picture from a much happier time in the summer of 2006. Also a video of the same day in church:
I did have a great time with the young people who were there! They were asking about those funny guys with name tage called Mormons. What they believe, what they don't believe, who Joseph Smith was, how Mormonism is a cult and different from biblical Christianity. I left the young people with a challenge and so I thought I'd put it out there to you to - > Order a Mormom.
To your house, to someone you love. Give a Mormon missionary a challenge. Show them that you know your stuff. Click here to visit the Mormon.org website and sign up to have two friendly folks with name tags arrive at your front door. I dare you. Lemme know if you take the challenge and how it turns out.

Remix - Year in review

(I had originally posted this on December 20th, but thought it would fit better on December 31st)

Here's our 2006 year end report:
Microsoft Word document - here
Adobe Acrobat PDF file - here

Seems a bit anticlimactic going on about all the great stuff that happened this past year seeing as our ministry is over, however when I sit back and think about all the opportunities God has given us it is encouraging. You could say this is a "year in review", like they have on TV this time of year. As you look over the various events of 2006 don't pray for us so much, pray for all the special people who we've come in contact with along the way. Here's an overview:

January report -> Mounting huge gospel sign at Bridlegrove - here
February -> Horrific tripple murder down the street - Shawn on the national news
March -> 4 Boys complete Christianity Explored course
April -> Q1 report
May -> My mother's stroke
June -> End of school CRUX youth rally, featuring Gyasi Ferdinand, Florida team visits for missions trip to Toronto
July -> Q2 report,
August -> Greece missions trip, Chester Le Sunday school
September -> Kevin moves, Cookie moves
October -> 5 youth from Bridlegrove baptised - videos here, Q3 report
November -> Year end report

Plans

Here's what we know for sure:

1. We are still members of Bridlegrove Bible Chapel
2. We will still keep in touch with the youth at and around Bridlegrove
3. Our stuff is currently in storage while we go to PEI for Christmas
4. When we come back from PEI we will be relocating within Toronto
5. Lukas will finish kindergarten at Bridlegrove's daycare

More details in the near future.

Wednesday prayer requests - Defrocked!

Just a quick prayer request on a personal level. The picture to the left sums up how we're feeling. I'll talk about the picture at a later date but for those who don't know yet, my ministry as youth worker at Bridlegrove Bible Chapel has come to an end. This was a very painful experience. If anyone has questions just leave a comment or email and I'll try to answer. We have really appreciated the prayers and support of so many of you over the last 3 years. Please continue to pray for the youth in this area. The Lord has blessed us abundantly and no one can take those wonderful memories away. We look forward to keeping in touch with these youth in the future.

While this is a very difficult time we know that God is at work in a big way despite current circumstances. First though, we're going to PEI for Christmas to recover and relax. So, we may be in the tomb for 3 days, but the resurrection is coming soon!! Thank you so much for your prayers. Please pray specifically for Lukas who may have the most difficulty adjusting to a change like this.

I can't wait till Sunday morning

There is a song by a Toronto musician named K-OS - here - called "Sunday Morning" that will always remind me of our time here at Bridlegrove. Specifically, the fond memories of driving around picking up kids on a Sunday morning. Sometimes I would even sing this to them to help them get up for church :)

Everyday is Saturday night, but I can't wait for Sunday morning, Sunday morning

R.O.C.K.in myspace

For those who don't know R.O.C.K. he's the homegrown Toronto christian rapper that we've had at Bridlegrove/CRUX 3 times now. We were hoping to have another CRUX next Saturday but things didn't work out. Luckily he's doin another youth rally on the Friday night if you want to check him out. You can get details on that youth rally and also sample some of his flava on his myspace page at :

http://www.myspace.com/rockmc

Video of the week - Bed time at Cuthills

Ever wonder why it's sometimes difficult to get us on the phone? Here's a peek into a usual bedtime at our home :) (is bedtime one word or two?)

PS. You can also see some videos of the baptism that took place on Sunday at Bridlegrove - click here