People of the Network — New Leaf Network

Posts in Advent Author

Traci-Lynn Burt

Traci-Lynn Burt

Traci-Lynn Burt is passionate about helping others discover who God has called them to be while pursuing the purposes they were created for. She is blessed to be married to Russ and mother to Nick, Matthew, Leah, and Katie. She is the Director of Leader Health & Development with the Central Canadian District of the C&MA and the founder of Cornerstone Consulting Canada. TL, as most people call her, loves coming alongside individuals and non-profit organizations and empowering them with a deeper sense of their identity in Christ so that they can live out of that identity on mission with the Spirit. She enjoys coaching others to live from their significance in Christ and helps them discover how that looks in their lives. TL desires to partner with the Spirit to equip Yahweh's children to live from a Kingdom perspective, embracing and delighting in the journey together.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 20, 2021Traci-Lynn Burt

Matthew Church

Matthew Church

Matthew Church, a Ukrainian/Scottish settler from Treaty 6 homelands, has lived as a guest within the beautiful traditional territories of the WSÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, and has called Victoria, BC home for the past 11 years. He loves his small family, good coffee, and everything driftwood.

This poem is from a broader work called, Strange Imaginations: Advent Poetics 2021 - and it is meant for sharing! The booklet is helping to raise support for Water First who partner to create water security and sustainability with indigenous communities in Ontario, please consider giving generously. Always interested in hearing from you at matthewondering@outlook.com

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 16, 2021Matthew Church

Randy Hein

Randy Hein

For nearly 30 years, Randy has been planting churches and engaging with grassroots initiatives in Victoria, BC. He has also worked at the local street church/food bank, taught as a sessional instructor, and has recently taken on a regional position with Vision Ministries Canada. Randy is passionate about revitalizing communities around restorative justice, the local Victoria arts scene, and has a longsuffering relationship with his beloved Canucks.

Advent Author, Writing Collective AuthorGuest PostDecember 16, 2021Randy Hein

Brandon Shillington

Brandon Shillington

Brandon Shillington is Pastor at the Madoc Wesleyan & Free Methodist Church. He and his wife Karen are learning and loving alongside their four children from their home in Belleville, Ontario.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 10, 2021Brandon Shillington

Sharon Schultz

Sharon Schultz

Sharon Schultz is a long-time pastor at Eyebrow Mennonite Church, a small, rural church in Eyebrow, Saskatchewan. She is married to Duane, who is a truck driver, and they have 3 adult children and a son-in-law; and a Siamese cat, Louis! Her hobbies include singing, playing the piano and reading. Sharon’s passion is for people to know and grow in the hope and joy of new life in Jesus Christ.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 10, 2021Sharon Schultz

Justin Sytsma

Justin Sytsma

Justin Sytsma was born, raised, and lives in Guelph, Ontario where he serves as the director of outreach and worship at Kortright Presbyterian Church. He is passionate about seeing churches develop a heart of justice for the vulnerable and marginalized and seeing churches have spiritually formative and meaningful gatherings. He is an Asbury Theological Seminary graduate and loves spending time with his wife Lindsay and daughter Iris.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 9, 2021Justin Sytsma

Krista-Dawn Kimsey

Krista-Dawn Kimsey

Krista-Dawn Kimsey is incredibly grateful that her husband Joel and two teenage children put up with her hair-brained ideas on most days. Together, they live in one of the oldest homes still standing in Japantown, a historic neighbourhood of the Downtown Eastside on the unceded and occupied traditional land of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish people. She is fueled by coffee, creative pursuits, collaboration with friends, and a desire to experience more shalom in her life and her community. Along with her husband, she is an executive director of Servant Partners Canada, a non-profit that pursues holistic transformation of urban poor communities alongside their neighbours. Want to explore what that means in your city? Check out their Community Transformation Certificate next year.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 6, 2021Krista-Dawn Kimsey

Jessica Isaak

Jessica Isaak

Reverend Jessica Isaak is a co-lead pastor at Hampton Free Methodist Church in Saskatoon, SK. She has a background in journalism and has worked in television and radio news for ten years. She is ordained in the Free Methodist Church in Canada and is currently working on graduate studies at Northeastern Seminary. She serves on the board of a local theatre company in her spare time, sings and plays guitar, and enjoys trying new foods from various cultures. She also really likes gummy candies. She and her husband Matt have been married for 18 years, and together they have two sons.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 6, 2021Jessica Isaak

Dawn Berkelaar

Dawn Berkelaar

Dawn Berkelaar lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her husband Edward and their four children. She is a scientist, editor, writer, teacher and homemaker.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 6, 2021Dawn Berkelaar

Beth Anne Fisher

Beth Anne Fisher supports ministry leaders and students through her work at Emmanuel College (U of T) and with New Leaf Network. She is also a PhD candidate at Emmanuel College. You can follow Beth on Instagram @beth.anne.f.

Advent Author, Learning Centre, Writing Collective AuthorGuest PostDecember 2, 2021Beth Anne Fisher

Ryan Turnbull

Ryan Turnbull

Ryan Turnbull lives in Winnipeg, MB and is a PhD candidate at the University of Birmingham. He teaches at Thorneloe University and is a postulant for ordination in the Diocese of Rupert's Land in the Anglican Church of Canada, attending St. Margaret's Anglican Church. Ryan’s podcast about Canadian political theology, True North Theology, launched in 2022 with the New Leaf Podcast Network. You can read more from him at his website RyanKTurnbull.com

Advent Author, Learning Centre, PodcastGuest PostDecember 2, 2021Ryan Turnbull

Dawn Chow

Dawn Chow

Dawn Chow is a lighter and dustier blue than she was a few years ago, which she takes as a sign of peculiar growth and becoming. A diaspora settler from hong kong, she is currently living in North York, Ontario, the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, the Haudenosaunee and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Dawn is sustained by bread, tea and coffee, and the silence that comes after the words. She labours as an M.Div student at Tyndale Seminary, an editor at inheritance magazine, and a routesetter at two rock climbing gyms in Toronto.

Advent Author, Writing Collective AuthorGuest PostNovember 29, 2021Dawn Chow

Josh Wallace

Josh Wallace

Josh Wallace is a backyard church planter and educator in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in Treaty 6 Territory. He also serves as Church Engagement Minister for Mennonite Church Saskatchewan.

Advent AuthorGuest PostNovember 25, 2021Josh Wallace

James Robertson

James Robertson

Dr. James Tyler Robertson is Assistant Professor of Christian History and Director of Distributed Learning at Tyndale University. He teaches the History of Christianity as well as courses on Canadian Christianity and Evangelicalism. His areas of research are on Church and War, Canadian Religious History, and Historical Theology.

Learning Centre, Advent AuthorGuest PostNovember 1, 2021James Robertson

Brigette VanHuisstede

Brigette VanHuisstede

Brigette VanHuisstede is passionate about using her words to encourage others and point people to Jesus. She is wife to Paul, mom to four energetic kids, a home educator, and a cancer-survivor who loves hiking, reading, writing, and sipping Bengal Spice tea. Brigette has her honours degree in English Literature and is actively involved with the Mercy Christian Church plant in downtown Hamilton, ON.

Writing Collective Author, Advent AuthorGuest PostApril 28, 2021Brigette VanHuisstede

Greg Langman

Greg Langman

Greg moved from Burlington, Ontario to Cochrane, Alberta with his wife Linda this past summer. They have 3 adult children and 2 sons-in-law that bring them great joy. He works for RockPointe Church in Calgary as the Pastor of Missional Discipling. He also equips church leaders and professionals through Transformational Coaching and Grip Birkman.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 30, 2020Greg Langman

Sylvia Keesmaat

Dr. Sylvia Keesmaat is a scholar, activist and farmer. She teaches courses at the intersection of biblical faith and radical discipleship through Bible Remixed (www.bibleremixed.ca). Sylvia is the co-chair of the Bishop's Committee on Creation Care for the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. She speaks frequently on topics related to the Bible and economic justice, climate catastrophe, gender justice, and Indigenous justice. Sylvia is the co-author, with Brian Walsh, of Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice (Brazos Press, 2019) and Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire (IVP, 2004), and the author-editor of The Advent of Justice. Sylvia lives at Russet House Farm (www.russethousefarm.ca) an off-grid permaculture farm in the Kawartha Lakes on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg, with her husband, Brian Walsh, and a fluctuating number of people and animals.

Learning Centre, Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 23, 2020Sylvia Keesmaat

Simon Lasair

Simon Lasair

Simon Lasair is a nationally recognized expert in spirituality and spiritual care, the practice of professional chaplaincy. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Manchester, UK, and is employed in a research role investigating how best to integrate spiritual care and fine arts-based interventions into health care. He is an experienced workshop and retreat facilitator, often using storytelling and humour to invite participants to reflect deeply on their experiences. When not working, Simon enjoys spending time with his wife and two young children, taking time outdoors, watching superhero movies, reading while listening to jazz, and baking gourmet sourdough breads.

Advent Author, Learning CentreGuest PostDecember 17, 2020Simon Lasair

Leah Perrault

Leah Perrault

Leah Perrault is the Director of Mission at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
She is a fumbling but faithful disciple of Jesus, a grateful wife, and a practicing parent with a heart for finding God in human experience. Her column, Barefoot and Preaching, is available online at www.leahperrault.com.

Advent AuthorGuest PostDecember 14, 2020Leah Perrault

Jon Coutts

Jon Coutts

Jon Coutts lives in Calgary where he is Assistant Professor of Theology at Ambrose University. Prior to this he pastored churches in the Christian and Missionary Alliance and most recently taught ethics in England. He is the author of the SCM Studyguide to Church Leadership and of A Shared Mercy, a book on forgiveness in the church published with IVP.

Advent Author, Learning CentreGuest PostDecember 14, 2020Jon Coutts