Posts by Ryan Seow (Page 2)

From our LifeSpring family to yours, we want to wish you a very merry Christmas! For those who were able to join us on Sunday, it was great to be together with family and friends to celebrate. Thank you to everyone for bringing food and helping to serve and clean up, and especially to our hospitality team for providing the main courses. Special shout out to our kids and shepherds for putting on an amazing presentation, and for all the…

Last Sunday, we had a chance to hear from Pat Koh, who alongside Alvin served as pastors of LifeSpring for many fruitful years. One thing I always love about Pat’s preaching is the way she is able to bring together teaching from Scripture with her understanding of where LifeSpring is at in its journey as a church. The theme of Pat’s message was what it means for us to be “small but mighty in the Lord,” like Gideon in Judges 6-8.…

We had the privilege of having Jon and Gabby Tirla as our speakers on Sunday. As you may know, this past October, a team of five people from LifeSpring had an opportunity to go on a missions trip to Greece. As part of that time, we ran a trauma care workshop out of a centre called Peace House. Peace House is a short walk from the refugee camp on Lesbos island. Jon and Gabby are the leaders of the ministry at…

Last Sunday, I had an opportunity to visit Mississauga LifeSpring with Ada and her family to share about our mission trip to Greece. I always enjoy visiting MLCF; along with the much shorter commute, getting a chance to see family friends and worship with the LifeSpring family at MLCF is great. One thing I always appreciate when I visit is the unity at LifeSpring, and the same sense of the Holy Spirit at both Toronto and Mississauga sites. Though we…

Last Sunday, I had a chance along with our missions team to share about our trip to Greece last October. Our team had the opportunity to travel to Lesbos, Greece to work with a ministry there that was serving the refugee community on the island. As I shared in September, Lesbos island is at the heart of the ongoing refugee situation in Europe. Since the beginning of the year, over 3000 refugees have landed on the island, with a large…

As someone who is interested in missions and has the privilege of teaching about missions, I’ve really enjoyed our guest speakers and their messages over the past few weeks. Mary Cho shared about her ministry in Sierra Leone, and thanked us for our support. Donnett and Daniel updated us about Compassion’s work around Rubongi, and we’re glad to be partnering with them in the new mother’s program they’re starting. Jenny spoke about ministry among refugees, and encouraged us in our own…

In 2022, LifeSpring had the opportunity to raise funds and partner with the Global Aid Network (GAiN) to build seven water wells in Benin, West Africa. Last week, Lyndon and Patrice from GAiN shared a testimony with us about these wells, and Gabe and I also had a chance to hear more from Lyndon and Patrice about GAiN’s work over a meal. From what I remember about the water well project, when we first considered the idea in 2021, we…

From October 19 to 26, a group of five people from the leadership and settlement teams at LifeSpring will be traveling to Greece for a mission trip. This past Sunday, I had an opportunity to update the church family about how the preparations for the trip are going now that we’re a few weeks out from the date. First of all, on behalf of the whole mission team, I want to thank the LifeSpring family for your support for our trip.…

Over the past two Sundays, we’ve had the opportunity to hear from Mary Cho, a missionary who serves in Sierra Leone, as well as Donnett and Daniel who shared about a new mother and baby survival program that Compassion is starting in Rubongi. Later this month, we’ll be hearing more about refugee ministry as well. Sierra Leone, Uganda, the Middle East – it feels like we’re traveling the globe on our Sundays this month! As we shared in Communion this past…

Happy September! It’s hard to believe that fall is upon us. But with the change in weather, kids returning to school, summer hours ending and the like, it definitely feels like we’re heading back to our regular routines. I know for me, it feels like summer flew by this year. I’m glad that as a church family, we had an opportunity to close the summer out by gathering with friends new and old at our central site this past Sunday. A big thank…

Last Sunday we had the privilege of having Joe Chong as our speaker. Joe currently serves as an elder at Lifespring, but I’ve also had the privilege of partnering with Joe when we served together as leaders in our youth group. One thing I always enjoy about Joe’s messages is how he shares from his own life–things that God has been teaching him, as Joe grows and learns in his own faith. His message was an encouragement for all of…

It seems like since Family Weekend, we’ve been seeing a lot in red, yellow, and green! A quick recap – red, yellow, and green relate to different parts of the brain as well as our emotional state. When we’re in green brain (neocortex), we feel relaxed and safe, and are able to think clearly. When we move to yellow brain (limbic) we are in a cautious mode. We feel uncomfortable and start functioning more emotionally, a good example being when we feel…