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Astop: The Rev. Sean

Sean is originally from Vancouver, B.C. As a young adult Sean moved to Whistler and taught snowboarding while working as a cook at the Keg Restaurant.

At his home church, Whalley Presbyterian Church in Surrey, B.C., his passion for ministry deepened. Sean enjoyed building relationships with youth and worked with Urban Promise Ministries as a summer intern for children in under-resourced neighbourhoods. At Trinity Western University where he studied Business and Intercultural Religious Studies (B.A), Sean met his wife, Jennifer, originally from Zephyr, Ontario.

After university, Sean worked as a District Sales Manager at a large maintenance distribution company. He later followed God’s call to ministry studying at Tyndale Seminary and Knox College (MDiv) in Toronto. While at Knox College, Sean was a student minister at Knox Presbyterian Church in Oshawa. Sean enjoys reading, sports (baseball), traveling, guitar, and movies. Jennifer and Sean have two children – Catherine (18 months) and Daniel (newborn). Sean is looking forward to ministry at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Grimsby.

Posted: August 2011.

Bablitz: The Rev. Curtis

Curtis was born and raised in and around Vancouver, BC, the third in a family of six kids. After high school he started volunteering at Camp Douglas, the Presbytery of Westminster's summer camp. At camp he met his wife, Johanna, and there first started to investigate God's calling in his life, a calling that deepened over the following years worshipping at Haney Presbyterian in Maple Ridge, BC. After graduating from the University of BC with a BA in History, Curtis spent four years at Vancouver School of Theology earning a Masters of Divinity with Honours in Preaching. During the last half of his M.Div, Curtis preached regularly at St. Columba Presbyterian in Vancouver and served as Interim Director of Camp Douglas in the summer of 2009. Curtis enjoys playing video games, singing, attempting to play golf, and cheering for the Vancouver Canucks. Curtis and Johanna, an elementary school teacher, were married in 2006, and are very excited to be starting a new adventure in Burlington at Brant Hills church.

Posted: February 1, 2012.

Beals: The Rev. George

The Rev. George Beals came to Hamilton to be the Minister of the two-point charge of the Church of St. John and St. Andrew, and St. David’s Presbyterian Church, in late August, 2006.

He is married to Sue and together they have three children – Daniel (Dan), Aaron and Sherry. George has been a Minister for thirty-one years. Previously, he served congregations in western Prince Edward Island; Madoc, Ontario (north of Belleville); and in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

George and Sue were born and raised in Toronto. They met through their involvement in the Presbytery of West Toronto PYPS. George completed all his post-secondary, academic studies in Toronto: a Bachelor of Technology (Business Management) [B. Tech.] at what was then Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University); and, followed by a Master of Divinity degree (M. Div.) at Knox College. Sue is a graduate of the nursing programme at Toronto, Sick Children’s Hospital.

George served for thirty-two years as a Chaplain with the Canadian Armed Forces on the Supplementary Reserve List. For seventeen Summers he served as a Chaplain at the Atlantic Region Army Cadet Camp Argonaut, located at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick.

Sue and George are deeply involved with the congregations to which they minister. They now enjoy their Summers camping in the provincial parks of Ontario. Sue is an avid reader while George relaxes watching television. They take as much time as they can to visit their children and grandchildren – Dan and Bonnie (Solomon) in Kingston; Aaron and Shireen (Nate and Josh) in Madoc; and, Sherry in Richmond Hill. God is good! (Posted: July/09)

Billard: The Rev. Dr. Thomas

Three and half years ago Tom was ordained in White Oak Presbyterian Church in Mississauga and then two weeks later was inducted as minister of Kirkwall Presbyterian Church. The last four years have seen many changes at Kirkwall beginning with the 2007 amalgamation of Knox PC Sheffield and Kirkwall PC. The past four years have been a time of making the vision behind the amalgamation a reality which included the building of a new church addition. The congregation has a strong commitment to mission, hospitality and pastoral care but it also recognizes that there is work to be done in reaching out to people in the surrounding community who don’t have a church family and inviting them to learn more about Christ with our congregation.

Tom's family roots in the Reformed church go back hundreds of years to Huguenots on his father’s side and Scottish Presbyterians on his mother’s side (Caldwell). He was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and, as an “army brat”, he grew up in small communities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. At the age of ten, he took communicant’s class with Rev. Stanley Self, the Presbyterian padre at Camp Gagetown, and joined St. Andrew’s PC in Fredericton, N.B. As a teenager, he landed on the south shore of Montreal and continued to grow in the faith under the tutelage of Rev. Dr. Art Van Seters, minister at St. Andrew’s PC, St. Lambert.

After finishing his B.Sc. in chemistry at McGill, Tom moved on to the University of Toronto to get a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. His research included the study of the degradation of Egyptian antiquities and included a field trip to the temples and tombs of Luxor.

While in Toronto, Tom was a member of St. James PC part of the Tri-congregations in the east end of Toronto (now Faith PC). He was elected an elder and spent a stint as the representative elder in the Presbytery of East Toronto. It was during this time that Tom married Laura and his two children were born, James and Katie.

Tom worked in the manufacturing industry for about twenty years before accepting God’s call to ordained ministry. During that time he was an elder at White Oak church, an education activist in Mississauga, as well as a school board trustee for Peel Region. He also volunteered with “The Dam Youth Drop-in”, an interdenominational youth ministry in Mississauga.

Tom greatly enjoyed his three years of study at Knox College. During that time, he worked part-time for Rosedale PC as their “Outreach Coordinator”, where he helped initiate outreach work into the St. Jamestown area. He spent three summers as student minister at Knox PC, Stokes Bay, on the Bruce Peninsula.

Because of his experience in mission and outreach, Tom was pleased to join the Mission Committee when he became a member of the Presbytery of Hamilton. He is very excited by the new mission to Arabic speaking Christians as well as by the congregations in our Presbytery that are growing in strength and vitality. He is hopeful that these congregations will inspire others who are struggling with maintaining and growing their ministries.

While at Knox College, Tom wrote his M. Div. thesis on mainline church revitalization. He believes that the Holy Spirit is at work in the mainline churches calling faithful Christians to mature discipleship and to renewed commitment to evangelization, the sharing of God’s word and grace with others. While moderator of the presbytery, Tom hopes to continue to support the on-going work of congregational revitalization and growth.

(Revised; July 2011.)

Brice: The Rev. Dr. Larry

Larry, the son of the Post Master of Maple and his mother, a home-maker, elder and community volunteer, grew up in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Maple. Larry attended the University of Toronto where he earned a B.A., B.Ed., Th.M. and D.Min. and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland for three years earning an Hon. B.D. Larry was ordained in 1981 into his first charge at Chalmer's Walpole and Knox, Jarvis (1981-1992). Married in 1984 to Karen Ebert (who has had a much appreciated music ministry in churches where Larry has served), started their family in 1990 with two daughters, Erika and Alena.

Having built a Confederation Log Home on the shores of Lake Erie at Long Point, they moved in in 1992 and together with his wife started an international Evangelistic Ministry, Reachout Ministries (1992- ). Larry began his television ministry in a week long, live crusade on national television on 100 Huntley Street in 1994 and responded to David Mainse's urging to air a program on CTS. This began in 2003, with a show called Reachout for Life, now in its seventh season, and can be seen three times each week across Canada on CTS. During these years as an evangelist, Larry never gave up his calling as a pastor, serving St. Andrew's Welland, 1996-98 and part-time at Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church in West Toronto Presbytery from 1999-2008. Larry and his family are delighted for Larry to have started part-time stated supply at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Burlington and are making many good friendships there. Larry and Karen and their daughters thank God faithfully for their many blessings over the years, serving Christ in His church in Canada and around the world! They look forward to seeing what God is going to do next!

Posted: July 2009.

Dawson: The Rev. Bob

Bob Dawson grew up on a farm, in a family of six children, and, after attending one-room country schools from grade one to grade eight, graduated from high school in Woodstock, Ontario He met his wife, Linda in 1970, and they were married in 1972. Linda grew up on a family farm near Tavistock, Ontario, and, after graduating from high school in Woodstock, received her BA from WLU in Waterloo.

During a career in retail management, Bob was very involved in his congregation, and served as an elder, clerk of session, and convenor of the Christian Education Committee at Doon Presbyterian Church in Kitchener, where the family were members for 17 years. Bob and Linda have three children; William, who lives with his wife Judith in Hamilton; Debbie, who lives in Burlington; and Brian, who lives in Lake Louise, Alberta.

Feeling a very strong call to ordained ministry, Bob returned to school in 1993, attending University of Waterloo, prior to graduating with an M.Div. from Knox College in 1997. While at Knox, he completed a course in Clinical Pastoral Education at St. Mary’s Hospital, Kitchener. During his time at Knox College, Bob worked most weekends as an on-call chaplain in a busy downtown hospital He also very much enjoyed the opportunity to complete two graduate school courses, Biblical Archeology and Talmudic Quest, taken jointly from Hebrew University in Israel and Toronto School of Theology. Bob has also found his having attended a study tour in Eastern Europe to be very helpful in his ministry.

Bob was inducted as the Minister of Brant Hills Presbyterian Church on July 6, 1997, and has thoroughly enjoyed the past eleven years as minister at Brant Hills. During that time, the congregation has moved to blended/contemporary worship, with PowerPoint streamed throughout all worship services. He is looking forward to joining members of Brant Hills on their third annual mission trip to Biloxi, Mississippi in mid-October, 2008.

Bob retired as Minister of Brant Hills Church, Burlington on December 31, 2010 and is presently serving as Stated Supply in St. Andrew's Church, Hagersville..

Updated: February 2012.

Ervine: The Rev. Dr. W. J. Clyde

Dr. Ervine was raised in a happy, hectic Presbyterian home in Northern Ireland as one of four competitive siblings, amidst much banging of pianos, doors and egos! He was educated at the University of St. Andrew’s and the University of Cambridge, where he completed a doctorate in nineteenth century church history. After a year of pastoral training at Presbyterian College, Montreal, Clyde was ordained in Cornwall, Ontario, and began ministry at St. Andrew’s, Sutton. Pastorates in Niagara Falls and Toronto followed. In 2000, Clyde was appointed Director of Pastoral Studies at Presbyterian College, Montreal, teaching pastoral theology and supervising field education. However, the allure of congregational life took him back to congregational ministry in 2006 when he received a call to become Minister of Central Church, Hamilton.

Since then, Clyde has been busy helping to retool an historic congregation making its way from a Christendom context to a much less certain but exciting post-Christian context. Over the years, he has remained active within the life of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, currently teaching a worship course at Knox College, Toronto, and serving on the denomination’s Church Doctrine Committee. He also convenes the Students and Colleges Committee of the Hamilton Presbytery. He has published a number of articles both popular and theological. One entitled Singles in the Church: Eunuchs in the Kingdom, was published in the British theological journal, Churchman. In 2012, Clyde plans to use a two-month mini-sabbatical to write a book on church leadership.

Committed in principle and in practice to the priority of congregations in God’s kingdom strategy, Clyde focuses on preaching, teaching and leadership. His time off allows for concert-going and plays, but is otherwise spent recovering!

Jenvey: The Rev. Stephen

The Rev. Stephen Jenvey was ordained by the Presbytery of Hamilton on September 5, 2007, and on that same date he was inducted as Minister of West Flamboro Presbyterian Church. Steve was born and raised in Vancouver where he attended Kerrisdale Presbyterian Church. After completing a University degree in Agriculture he moved to Prince George, BC, where he worked in the BC forest service for a few years. He also has ten years experience as a Silviculture Forester for a forest products company.

Steve began his theological education at Regent College which he attended for two years in the 1990s. And now, after further study at Presbyterian College in Montreal, he has received his Master of Divinity Degree at their Spring 2007 Convocation.

Steve and his wife Sandy have two children, Lydia and Graeme. He says that he enjoys music and plays the trombone. He also indicated that he enjoys cycling and squash. (Reviewed July/09)

Kerr: Susan Ingram

Susan began her journey of ordained ministry in November of 1999 when she was called to Knox Presbyterian Church, Waterdown. Before her studies at Knox College, Susan was a high school French Immersion math and dramatic arts teacher at Westdale in Hamilton, and has been involved in youth ministry for over twenty years--and the Presbyterian Church all her life. She enjoys contemporary and traditional worship, and has served in congregations that honour one, or the other, or both!

In 2004, Susan "retired" from full time ministry to spend more time at home. Since then, she has worked with congregations in transition in the capacity of stated supply, vision and strategic planning facilitator, mentor/supervisor for field education students, and anything else that comes up. She has co-authored "LIFE Groups: A Small Group Leaders Manual" (and the twelve week accompnaying training program) and "Wisely and Fairly for the Good of All: a bible study on faith and the global market economy" (PCC, 2007). She is also the author, lyricist and composer for two musicals: "L!ght!" (a children's epiphany musical-2008) and "To Live Out Loud:the story of Esther" (2009). She is currenlty teaching theatre arts part time at Burlington Christian Academy.

One of Susan's ongoing ministries is her theatre company, The Company of Saints, which involves youth from Grades 2 and up. The Saints have been recognized nationally as worship leaders at youth conferences, as well as performers for smaller venues. They generally undertake at least one major production per year, but the main focus of the Company is to enable youth to grow in self confidence and to gain experience in theatre skills and performance. 2010 will mark the ten years for the Saints!

Susan is also now serving as Director of Music at Chalmers Presbyterian Church in Hamilton.

Mansour: The Rev. Amin

Rev. Amin Mansour joined the Middle Eastern Ministry (Almanarah) in the Presbytery as it started in September, 2011.

Amin is originally from Egypt and speaks Arabic. After finishing his B.Sc. in mechanical engineering and the Bachelor of Theology (BTh) from the Evangelical Seminary in Cairo, he was ordained in The Delta Presbytery, Synod of the Nile, Egypt on March 31, 1995. His wife, Wafaa is an accountant and holds a BTh as well. Both Amin and Wafaa have deep Presbyterian family roots. God gives them the privilege to raise two sons, Philip (16 years) and Freddy (13 years).

In Egypt, Amin worked as a production and quality control engineer, and owned a private business for interior design. During that time, he was a member of the Gideons International for three years. While he was working on his theological degree and after, he worked in revising, editing, and adding footnotes for the most common Arabic version of the Bible (NT). Also, he reviewed and edited many translated books from English to Arabic. Amin established many strong and deep relationships with many people from different backgrounds, cultures, churches, and organizations. He represented his seminary in some conferences.

Youth and Children ministry is one of most important parts on his life. He served in thirteen churches for almost four years for training the leaders and teachers of Sunday school, preparing and editing curriculum. He was the pastor and speaker of some summer camps for children and the teachers as well. He prepared a Catechism (Q’s &A’s) with biblical references for the young people. He taught Greek of the New Testament in the Coptic Catholic Grand Seminary in Cairo, Egypt as a part time teacher for six years. He was a senior pastor in the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in Benha, Egypt before leaving to the United States.

Amin and Wafaa were serving as volunteers in their church in Boston, Massachusetts in some ministries such as, Sunday school, VBS, Outreach (Street ministry), home Bible study, teaching Arabic as a second language (ASL) while he practiced mechanical engineering and teaching in a high school in the USA.

Amin enjoys watching, playing, coaching, and refereeing soccer. Reading and studying languages are his favorite practices. (Posted: September 2011)

McAllister: The Rev. Scott

Scott was inducted as minister of Caledonia Presbyterian Church, on September 14, 2008. Born in Guelph, Scott is the eldest child of John and Holly McAllister. He spent most of his childhood in Clifford, Ontario, attending school in both Harriston and Palmerston and his home church was the Knox-Calvin Congregation in Harriston. He was heavily involved in both the choirs and the youth group in his hime congregation. He also became involved with the PYPS of Southwestern Ontario and served on the executive for four years. In 2000 Scott spent a year traveling abroad in the Up With People Worldsmart program which is aimed at leadership development and bridging cultural divides. He returned to study psychology at the University of Waterloo where he recognized God's call to ministry. Following his graduation from Waterloo he spent three years at Knox College where he earned his Master of Divinity degree. At Knox he was awarded the Chris Vais Memorial Award in recognition of his contribution to the community life of the college. He met his wife Erin at a Synod young adult retreat and they have now been married for almost three years. Together they have enjoyed serving Dorchester Presbyterian Church as the Junior Youth Ministry Co-ordinators. In his spare time Scott enjoys reading, music and sports of all kinds.

McAnsh: Bruce

Bruce is originally from Toronto Ontario and is the son of a long time Toronto Police officer. He is married to Donna and they have three grown children, Sarah, David and Natalie.

Before graduating from Knox College, Bruce worked for the Toronto District School Board for over twenty-five years. During his time at the TDSB Bruce worked as a computer systems programmer, web designer, trainer/educator, adult training curriculum developer, taught elementary and high school students computer courses (short term contracts). He has also taught computer programming at Humber College. Bruce has owned and operated a business designing, installing, training in the use of digital projection systems in churches, he has designed and implemented web sites for several churches in southern Ontario.

His church work has included working as a youth leader for 10 years in Toronto, designed and led bible studies in various congregations, he has been a guest speaker on the subject of "Contemporary Christian Music", he also played in a Christian folk/rock band for nearly ten years and has led worship music (youth praise) in a variety of churches for many years. Bruce has also completed a summer chaplaincy internship at Southlake Regional Heath Centre in Newmarket. Bruce has a passion for congregational and pastoral ministry. Bruce looks forward to an exciting ministry at Burlington East Presbyterian Church.

Wilson: The Rev. Dr. Philip M.

Philip began his ministry in the Hamilton Presbytery by being called to the Eastmount congregation in mid 2003. Then, on April 1st, 2005, the Eastmount congregation amalgamated with the congregation of St. Enoch’s to form the new congregation of Trinity Presbyterian Church and Philip became the first minister of this new congregation.

Philip is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University (B.A.), Knox College, University of Toronto (MDiv) and Princeton Theological Seminary, NJ (DMin). Before coming to Hamilton, he served the congregation of St. Andrew's, Corunna, for nine years.

Philip is married to Elaine (a District Manager for the Canadian Red Cross). They have two grown children, Erin and Brian (Erin now works and lives in Toronto and Brian works and lives in Hamilton) and two cats. Philip's sports of choice are bicycling, golfing and curling. (Posted: July/09)

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