Hey Everyone,

Welcome to the “I lost track of what week it is at school” week. I had an epiphany just now; writing papers is a lot like exercising, when you don’t do it during the summer you’re definitely going to have to work harder to build up your abilities again. I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel the burn of trying to get work done on time especially since there are so many things going on. For any of you who are a bit down in the dumps right now wondering “How will I ever complete all assignments on time?” here is a top five list of things that may help you in your studies:

1. Prayer: Take time to pray to God that you’ll do well, who knows He may have mercy on you?
2. Take breaks: Without breaks it’s easy to become subject to burn-outs, so make time for your brain to rest every hour or two; trust me it will help you think better in the long run.
3. Drink lots of coffee: It’s TECHNICALLY beans and water and those are healthy right?
4. Express yourself: How do you feel about this crazy epidemic of homework that’s sweeping the campus?
5. Write for the Voice- I mean have fun: Homework doesn’t have to be boring, try to trick your mind into believing that what you’re studying is the most fascinating piece of work you’ve ever had the pleasure of working on or if you can’t do that just keep your main goals in focus; you’re doing this for God.

With all that said, here is a list of what’s coming up in the paper for this week:

Main:
Spiritual Life Announcements- Robbie Olenuik

Social Concerns:
Article Review: Children’s Aid Societies Seek More from Province- Andrena LeBlanc

Global Perspectives:
My Trip to Bolivia- Daniel Musselman

Opinions and Editorials:
The Deficit of Politics- Andrena LeBlanc
The Voice Article on Politics- Andrena LeBlanc
EBC Can be a Very Lonely Place- Tim Chester

Spotlight:
Student Council Member: Stephanie VanSpronsen

Creative corner:
To Dance- Wesley Hague
Anniversary- Rachel Schader
A Sea of Stars- Wesley Hague
What is love- Christie Heemskerk

Voice on the street:
“What Superpower do You Want?”- James Fretz

Publications Editor,
-Christie Heemskerk

Hey Everybody!

Did you know it is November? Crazy eh? I cannot believe how fast this semester is going. Sooner than we know it we’ll be off on Christmas break. Before that happens though I want to update you on what the Spiritual Life Committee has going on right now.

There is a prayer box in chapel for anyone and everyone to put their prayer requests in, a prayer room is also open in the library and there is a binder there that you can write things down for others to pray for you. Along with Pj’s and Praise there is prayer in the Common Lounge on Thursday nights at 10:00pm. I apologize for not getting a program up and running this semester. It may start going before December, but I did not work hard on it enough earlier and I am sorry for that. On a more exciting note, next week is Prayer Week in chapel. I am really excited for the week because it will provide an opportunity for us all to learn more about prayer and take part in a 24 hour prayer marathon at the end of the week. There will be announcements coming soon about sign up sheets.

When I started this semester yesterday, actually two months ago, I had a lot of dreams and goals of what I wanted to see on campus this year. In some ways God has done way more than I ever dreamed Him doing. The theme of Freedom has been a powerful tool in the school that God has been using to break many people free from the sin and baggage in our lives that Dr. Dow talked about early in the semester. I feel that those crazy first years are getting into the routine of EBC even if they still pretty ridiculous at times (don’t worry I still love you guys). People are working hard at their school work and I believe that the teachers have really done themselves proud.

Even though there are many things in the school that are going great I want to make a challenge as I often try to do. I’ll start with the first years – I want to challenge you guys to talk to more experienced students and gain from the wisdom that is there. Second years – I want to challenge you to not get hit by the sophomore jinx and realize that despite the fact we have a year of experience we still have a long way to go (notice the we, I am in this group). Third years – I understand that school work is getting near impossible and that the graduation crunch is coming up, as you try to fit all the credits you need into your schedule, but I want to ask you to not pull yourself away from the rest of the students so much so that you miss out on all the good things going on here. Fourth years – now is your last chance to really get the most out of your Bible College experience as well as pass on what you have gained to younger students. Staff – I want to thank you for your great attendance at chapels and ask you to continue getting to know the students. Teachers – I want to challenge you to not let students pass you by without making a difference in their lives. If you fit into one of those groups or not I believe that we can all do better at reaching out to the other EBC’ers around us, whether commuters, residents, staff or teachers; blessings and being blessed by one another.

Robbie Oleniuk
Spiritual Life Coordinator
EBC Student Council 09-10

Summary
The Children’s Aid Societies (CAS) in Ontario require more funding in order to effectively rescue children from abusive environments. According to the article the CAS is starting to use their line of credit in order to pay the bills and it will need to lay off one-third of its staff if funding is not acquired. Although they have requested funds, the province has declined their request for more funding. The new minister of children’s services has also given no indication that CAS will be given any more money. The lawyer who chairs the board for Toronto’s Native Child and Family fears that the lack of funds will keep social workers from reaching all cases and that it might take a child’s death for them to get the additional funding from the province.

Critical Review
Is this situation a result of the government benefiting the strong at the expense of the weak of an economic recession? This is a very important question to ask and it can be answered by examining the factors surround this article. Although the former does contain some truth, the latter appears to have a better understanding of the situation.
First, the federal and provincial governments are running on a deficit. The federal deficit automatically affects all of the provinces and territories in terms of how much financial support they are going to get in the budget. The provincial deficit also means that even though the province is getting money from the federal government, it will have to be wise in how it spends and allocates the money. Second, there are many other organizations crying to the government for money. Giving money to all of them would only deepen the deficit. It is unfortunate that the CAS is low on funds but during a recession everybody is and the government cannot financially help everybody without raising taxes. Therefore, the CAS will have to find other ways to get money or wisely use what they have been given for the time being.

A Christian’s Response
As believers, we should be concerned about people in need and try to help people in abusive situations. Although the government cannot help the Children’s Aid Society, the church can by raising funds and providing homes for foster children. If the churches of Ontario rally together to help, it would be a tremendous witness to the people of this province and to the children, especially teenagers, in need of foster homes.

References
CBC News. (2009, October 14). Children’s aid societies seek more from province. CBC News-Toronto. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/10/14/cas-budgets.html

-Andrena LeBlanc

My first overseas missions trip, first airplane ride, first time in a new culture—I had so much to learn. I spent about 1 month in Bolivia with a mission’s team from Emmanuel Bible College. The first day we got there was filled with learning about what to expect in the new culture and what to do and what not to do. Most of the ministry we helped with was with children. El Jordan was a place where mothers could come off the street and get some sort of training or teaching while their children had day care provided for them.

The work we accomplished there varied from time to time. One time we moved everything from one kitchen into the other so they could get the termites exterminated. Another time we baked doughnuts for an afternoon so that we could make house calls and bring the doughnuts we made.
We helped out at two boys’ homes once a week; one home was for children who have been abandoned or orphaned and the other was for abused children. These homes were about an hour’s drive from Santa Cruz. Most of the time we crammed up to 7 or 8 people in a 5 passenger jeep in 35 degree heat and the roads weren’t the greatest with pot holes that felt like craters when driving through them.

From people just passing through on their way to other places to people we worked with in the ministry places, the people we met there were quite interesting. One person just passing through stayed at our first home. He was working with a college to raise funds by milking cows. At that time they milked 14 cows and wanted to get up to a herd of 25 cows. This was small compared to the 180 I milk at home, but it’s a different culture. Another missionary couple we met was helping out with many different ministries, from the boys’ homes in the mountains to the new girls’ land. Tim and Melinda are from Georgia and Tim owns a company that builds houses so his skills were very useful on the mission field.

The work we accomplished at the girls’ home was a day of clearing the fence line so a brick wall could be built. That day was very memorable, first the fence line was filled with ant hills, both fire ants and harmless black ants, and they attacked some of us. Sarah got an allergic reaction to something and Andy had a branch fall on his head which caused a bleeding mess. We were happy to see that day go.
You get a different view of things from the air and that’s just what we did one day. The road out to the boys’ home was closed so we went up in a little six-seat airplane one afternoon and flew over the mountains and Santa Cruz. This was a great experience to see small groups of people out on mountainsides (they had no roads to the city) and also what the city looked like.
And that’s just a bit of what happened in Bolivia…

-Daniel Musselman

Review of CBC Article: Ontario deficit could reach $24.7billion: Duncan

I was too young to vote during the previous Ontario provincial election in 2007. My 18th birthday was not until December and the election was a couple of months prior to it. So, I had to watch on the sidelines to see who my fellow Ontarians would elect to govern the province. Now that I can vote, I try to evaluate parties based on their campaign platforms before I decide who should be elected. I also prefer to examine how they stood on certain issues, such as abortion. However, clearly my own values and seeing whether the politicians being elected shared my values proved to be inconsequential because the liberal majority government elected did nothing but lead Ontario into becoming poorer than my home province, Prince Edward Island.

How ironic that everybody was pleased that Dalton McGuinty and his liberal party were elected in a second back-to-back majority. It caused the former Conservative leader to be kicked to the curb and gave more seats to the NDP. The majority of Ontarians all thought Ontario was in good hands. Half-way through the party’s leadership, people are now second guessing the choice they made on their ballots and wondering if they really want to wait two more years to get the chance to make him join the former Conservative leader in the graveyard of bad provincial party leaders who should never have been elected in the first place.

The CBC article I have chosen to analyze states that Ontario’s finance minister, Dwight Duncan announced a $24.7billion deficit for the end of this fiscal year. “Declining corporate tax revenues and increasing demand for public services have dragged down the government’s bottom line, Duncan said.” Although I was furious to read this, it came as no surprise. After all, I did just find out a couple of weeks prior to this that McGuinty’s government blew $1billion on useless things like muffins and vacations. So, that is $1billion that the province does not have spent on useless, irrelevant stuff because it was already on a deficit prior to this.

CBC news did well to remain neutral in this article and allowed all of the parties screen time to articulate their response. Naturally, the only ones optimistic about this are the Liberals and their supporters. Everyone else, including people who voted Liberal in 2007, are as furious as me and want them ousted. Progressive Conservative leader, Tim Hudak gave his opinion that “Canada’s worst government is now running Canada’s worst deficit.” Well, it must be the worst because most governments would wait until the last two years of their term before going on spending sprees. This government still has two years to go. Two years!!!!! Can I vote him out of office now?

Unfortunately a full term for a majority government is 4 years. Therefore, McGuinty has two years to clean up his act or send Ontario further into debt and spend billions of more dollars on useless, irrelevant stuff. The only way Ontarians can vote him out of office earlier is if he were to call an election now or resign his post. I doubt the former will happen because he would be voted out of office with his party tagging along for sure. The only way I could see this guy stepping down is if a third scandal is just getting ready to be unwrapped. Then the opposition parties, everybody else in Ontario and the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario would frown upon him and give so many evil eyes that he would just resign and walk away from the provincial legislature and never look at politics again. So, the Christians attending Emmanuel Bible College will just have to wait and see what our “glorious” provincial government will do next.

Action Points:
1.Perhaps governments are behaving so badly because Christians don’t care about politics and then don’t pray for their leaders? Pray that Dalton McGuinty and the liberals make wiser financial choices in the future so that Ontario can have brighter years financially.
2.Start watching the news. CBC has a new political show called Power and Politics which is on CBC News Net (formerly CBC News world)
3.Visit http://4mycanada.ca and see what other what other areas of politics need prayer
4.Watch the At Issue Panel and the Rex Murphy report every Thursday night on The National on CBC. It is the political views panellist and offers impressive insight on what is happening in federal politics.
5.Go to http://www.cbc.ca/politics/ for national and international political information.
6.Pray, pray, pray!!!!!! Prayer is powerful. God can change the way politics is done in Canada and could make our political parties more reliable. So pray for our municipal, provincial, and federal governments so that we can live peaceful and godly lives (Romans).

References
CBC News. (2009, October 22). Ontario deficit $24.7B: Duncan. CBC News-Toronto. Retrieved October 22, 2009, http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/10/22/toronto-fiscal-report-091022.html

Introduction
The last month and a half has seen a lot of events occurring on Parliament Hill that will shape the future of Canadian politics. As Christians, it is important that we pay attention to both because God calls us to be in the world but not of the world and to be a light of the world. Therefore, we need to know what it is happening in it and that includes politics on the municipal, provincial, federal, and even the world stage. However the world and Canada are spinning too fast to discuss what is occurring in both, so federal Canadian politics will be the focus for this article.

Summary of September/October
Canadians inside and outside of politics were worried at the beginning of the fall on whether or not we would be going back to the polls a year after we put our politicians in. This Parliament was elected last year (it was the first time I had ever voted) and it has seen its fair share of political shifting and instability from the previous winter and the coalition crisis.
This fall, the Liberals made the move to refuse to support the minority government anymore and would vote it down at the next and every possible opportunity. Two opportunities have passed and it was the NDP that chose, after all of these months of refusing to go along with Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, to save Canadians from another election. Now, this support by the NDP was solely based on seeing that the changes for Employment Insurance passed in the House of Commons, which was something that the NDP had been seeking for years. Therefore, the NDP support is very unstable and could be revoked if the Conservatives do anything stupid.
This is something the Conservatives might do if the Harper government continues to openly support Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). HST combines GST and PST into one tax and is already being used in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland; British Columbia and Ontario wish to bring it into provincial law as well. This would mean that for everything we buy would include PST and GST. For some things only require GST is required, for other things only PST is required, and for some foods tax is not added on at all; many critics of HST say that it will mean Ontarians pay more money for many things.

This is being put condemned by the NDP recently in Parliament because it will mean that Canadians will have to spend more money- money that many of them do not have and they are against average Canadians having to pay more than they need to. Parliament going to vote on whether or not to aid the other provinces in switching to harmonized sales tax and it will be also be a confidence motion. So is the Conservative going to cooperate with the NDP and rethink HST or will this bring Canadians back to the polls?

Opinion
I think that the threat for an election was more of a bluff by the Liberals than something that they really want. Canadians do not want an election and all the parties are aware of this. Ignatieff’s purpose was to remove the responsibility for supporting from himself and the Liberal party. He was also putting the ball in the NDP’s court because if an election were to occur he would need the support from another party. Last winter the NDP would have gladly given their support. However, times have changed and Jack Layton has clearly realized that he needs to be willing to bend a little in a minority Parliament or else no one will really care for the NDP anymore. One year after Canadians went to the polls is not the time for an election, especially when Canada is coming out of an economic recession and an election would only hurt the nation’s progress. Thankfully, the NDP realizes this and will not bring Canadians to the polls just so they can spend more money and not accomplish very much unless it generates a Conservative majority.

Stephen Harper has some responsibility too. He needs to be wise about how he runs the government, and it is not by trying to deliberately, but indirectly force an election. What will that gain his party, except perhaps another minority government or a minority government where the Conservatives are a part of the opposition? However, if Stephen Harper goes along with the HST then the NDP would most likely refuse to support the government any longer and the Conservative Party may greatly cripple this time because HST is something that no one in the country really wants and they will not vote for a party that wants to support it. Unless of course, Ignatieff keeps barking up the “I will always vote down the government” tree and people just get so sick of the Liberals and their political games. Then, well, Harper may be wise in getting the government to vote them down because the Liberals will be gift-wrapping the majority for them.

Action Points
-Pray for our government. This is something that the Bible calls us to do and it would be wise for us to obey it.
-If there is an election this year, you should find out who in EBC’s riding supports Christian values so that maybe it will be a Christian majority instead of a mixed minority.

-Andrena LeBlanc

I have been around EBC long enough to know that this campus can be a very lonely place. I know there are always people around and lots of people to talk to, but sometimes a loneliness that transcends social contact has a way of creeping into our lives. No disrespect to the community here, the people are wonderful, the teachers care about us and I have found wonderful friendships. But still, I remember many times I walked through the cluster of maple trees and just felt utterly alone.

If anyone feels this way, please take a suggestion: learn to refresh yourself in the Lord. This may involve getting on your face before God. It might mean taking advantage of the student counseling services (that are free for students, by the way). It might mean taking a personal retreat between you and God. It might mean confiding in a friend and being transparent. Whatever it means, it will involve pressing through and holding onto the truth that God is still for you, he loves you and will not give up on you. I know the refining fires of life are not fun in any respect, but I am certainly glad we have a Saviour who is with us in it all. With Christ there will always be better days ahead, if not in this life then in eternity. Our hope as Christians lives on.

I love this community.

-Tim Chester

Stephanie VanSpronsen is our Student Council Administrative Officer and is from Brampton, Ontario. In Brampton she grew up attending New Covenant Christian Fellowship Church. Here she served as a youth leader for a number of years. As Administrative Officer she is in charge of the organization of things. Her role involves keeping the calendars updated, as well as updating the television screen in the Sherk Lounge. She also helps out with major events and keeping records of all the different papers that come through the Student Council Office. On top of being on Student Council she is in the BRE Counseling Program taking a few courses while also maintaining a part time job.

Before coming to Emmanuel Bible College Stephanie went through a lot of phases before deciding on what path to go. Her father didn’t approve of Christian education; especially Bible College. She had been slated to go to the University of Windsor to obtain a degree in social work and before that, the University of Prince Edward Island to become a Veterinarian. After her father left the house, Stephanie was free to go to the place she most wanted to go and that was here at Emmanuel Bible College. She first heard about Emmanuel Bible College from her youth pastor who was an alumnus of the college. She said that he was like a surrogate father to her. So when Stephanie had decided to go into a ministry-type setting it never occurred to her to go anywhere else. When Stephanie completes her program at Emmanuel she wants to go into frontline youth work possible working for an organization like Ray of Hope or Pregnancy Crisis Center.

Fact Profile
Residence: Down the street above a garage
Roommate: Erica Woodford

Favorites
Favourite Color: Purple
Favourite Animal: Horse
Favourite Bible Verse: Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the evidence of things not seen” This is Stephanie’s favorite verse because it lets her know that it’s ok not have everything figured out because your not supposed to.
Favorite Music: Classical, Stephanie took classical voice lessons starting at the age of 8, she also likes country music.
Favorite Place in the world: Prince Edward Island, this is her favorite place because her mother’s family live there and she like going there to visit.

-Roland Flemming

This is my fifth year at Emmanuel Bible college, hopefully my last year but one that I have learned a lot especially in regard as to how I worship and praise God. A lot of this has to do with musical worship but I think the lessons can be applied to other forms of worship. I write this as much for myself as I write to hopefully let other people see my mistakes and hopefully learn from them.

To start with my background, I came from a fairly conservative Church; no huge amount of expression, maybe the occasional hand raise and clapping. I didn’t though because my brothers and family teased me relentlessly about my lack of ability to clap on time, so I’d stop.

When I came to EBC my first year was intense, I was introduced quickly to a lot of different forms of worship, musical or otherwise that I had not really been introduced to, and it ignited a hunger inside of me. I wanted more of it and this would peak in my first semester at a worship event put on by one known as DJ Cubix. It was an intense and stretching experience. There was no traditional music, but I worship and danced, and praised God in ways that I never had before. This was intense, this was a high for me something that I wanted to achieve again.

While my first year was intense, it was not to last. In second year I tried to replicate the high I had in my first year, but it would not happen. Throughout my second year I repeated what I did in first, attended all the chapel services I could, attended all the Pj’s and Praise events, and yet something felt wrong, I wanted more of what I felt first year and yet by my own effort I could not achieve it, and things would go from bad to worse. Worship and spiritual experience became dry, the more I tried to experience the drier it felt. By my third year, it was simply starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth; still going and seeking that high, that spiritual drug. I still attended events out of ritual, yet the music sounded sickeningly repetitive. I spend time at church counting the number of songs waiting for the music to hurry up and get over. Hearing songs, the same songs over and over, I simply became sick of it, and so I pulled back.

Through the second half of my third and beginning of my forth year I backed off. I attended chapel because of my involvement in making sure the computers ran properly, but stopped going to Pj’s and Praise unless I felt I was meant to be there, and when I did go, I didn’t try to dance or force some experience on myself.

As I stepped back from this forced effort, I was able to see and watch. It dawned on me that I had been treating my spiritual experience like a drug. I was trying to “take” more of it, to satisfy a craving for it. It was a high that I wanted to achieve and then replicate, but that was not how it works. Our experience with God, the joy we get from it, comes not by our own effort, but by the will and decision of God. As I stopped trying to force something out of my worship experiences, and simply just worship, it start to feel fresh again to me. Even the some of the songs that I had started to hate became new and fresh as I simply was just able praise God. As I publically prayed, it no longer felt like I was doing so just to hear my own voice. I once again was able to feel free in worship, and not like something that I was just doing out of habit.

I hope that for everyone here at EBC, that our times of worship are freeing and not something we feel like we have to do. Don’t just go to chapel because it is there everyday, or Pj’s and Praise because it’s what everyone else is doing, but attend because you want to meet God, and let yourself meet him. God is already out on the dance floor simply waiting for us to stop trying to dance by ourselves and join him.

-Wesley Hague

Today we made it this far
A world of fear but we surpassed it all
You’re special to me and that’s a fact.

Today and forever until we part.
God hoping and willing we never do
Because that will break my heart

I hope this makes sense
Please don’t get me wrong
I want to say how much you
Mean to me, baby

I have 3 simple words
I should have said, but wanted
To be, well here they are instead

These special words you’re dying to hear
I wouldn’t sugar coat it no lying here, but
Instead how should I best know how to say this?

Here I go I am saying how much I care,
How much I care, I love you
I hope this is no shock, I wanted you
To know how I feel inside

I hope you know, I am sure you care,
That today you know how much I care
Let’s move on together in love, faith
And sweetly I need you, for now and forever

Happy Anniversary
Love Always,
Rachel