ART SMITH – CANADIAN FIELD APOSTLE
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VONDA DENBOER – CANADA EAST MISSION CO-PRESIDENT
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LEANDRO PALACIOS – COMMUNITY OF CHRIST IN CANADA COMMUNICATIONS
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EDITH WALLACE – MUSICIAN
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GWYN BEER
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SHANNON MCADAM
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KAT GOHEEN
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BECKY MIDDLETON
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2:00 PM |
Pre-Legislative Session: Online only – We will discuss the business meeting agenda and have time for questions and discussion. JOIN ONLINE SESSION |
7:00 PM |
Pre-Legislative Session: Online only – We will discuss the business meeting agenda and have time for questions and discussion. JOIN ONLINE SESSION |
5:30 PM |
Doors open |
6:30 PM |
Welcome and songs |
7:00 PM |
Telling Your Story, with Leandro Palacios In this presentation and group discussion we will consider how to be inclusive on social media and why this is vital for inviting people to church. JOIN ONLINE SESSION |
8:00 PM |
Snacks and board games in the Social Hall |
9:00 AM |
Coffee, muffins and visiting |
9:50 AM |
Gather together in Quiet Reflection |
10:00 AM |
Morning Worship Service |
10:45 AM |
Community of Christ in Canada Updates, with Apostle Art Smith This session will offer an overview of the important next steps for Community of Christ in Canada as we continue onward guided by Onward Together, a plan derived from the ideas, testimonies, and dialogue gathered in the All Voices discernment process. We will also consider together the Draft Policy on Priesthood and Personal Relationships. JOIN ONLINE SESSION |
12:00 PM |
Lunch |
1:30 PM |
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2:30 PM |
Games and fun |
3:15 PM |
Polling orientation. JOIN ONLINE SESSION |
3:30 PM |
Business Meeting. JOIN ONLINE SESSION |
5:00 PM |
Dinner |
6:30 PM |
We Celebrate, We Remember Videos |
7:00 PM |
Evening Activity – Music with Edith Wallace |
8:00 PM |
Dessert and visiting |
9:30 AM |
Coffee, muffins and visiting |
10:30 AM |
Guided prayer and meditation |
10:45 AM |
Communion Service – Guest Minister Vonda DenBoer. WORSHIP WITH US VIA ZOOM |
12:15 PM |
Lunch and visiting |
Apostle Art Smith
Canadian Field Apostle |
Arthur is a minister for Community of Christ and a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles, the lead missionary quorum of the church. He is assigned to the Canada Mission Field and the Haiti/South Central Asia Mission Field, in addition to working with Indigenous Ministries and Temple Ministries. He has served in various church leadership and leadership development roles in Canada, Latin America, and in the South Pacific, where Art and his family lived for a time on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
A native of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, Arthur received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion from Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa, and a Master of Arts in Religion from Park University, Parkville, Missouri. Arthur speaks English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Arthur Smith and Laura Horning have been married for 33 years. They have two children, Eliza (deceased) and Tiona 18. They’ve lived in Independence, Missouri for 20 years. |
Vonda DenBoer
Canada East Mission Centre Co-President |
Vonda is a third generation church member. She was raised on a farm and cherishes those roots. Her career in health care spanned four decades and ranged from pediatric to palliative care. She retired early from her executive role of a home nursing agency. She has served as Sunday school teacher, pastor, worship leader, reunion director and for the past three years as mission centre president in Canada East. In retirement she took up painting in addition to her passion for gardening and preserving fruits and vegetables.
She is married to John and has two daughters and two grandchildren. Vonda has degrees from University of Windsor and Central Michigan and is currently a seminary student with Graceland University. In her effort to leave a smaller carbon foot print, Vonda has chosen to be a vegetarian and strives to follow the principles discussed in our “Heal the Earth” reunion text. |
Leandro Palacios
Information and Communications Officer for Community of Christ in Canada |
Leandro (he/him) is responsible for developing and executing marketing and communications strategies. He is one of the directors at Centre Place Toronto, where he designed and implemented the systems that make possible the online services and lectures broadcasted weekly on multiple social media platforms, including the Centre Place YouTube channel, which currently has nearly 77,000 subscribers. In addition, he oversees marketing efforts to continuously invite people into the community and directs the Beyond the Walls Choir, which has recorded over 170 hymns from the church’s current hymnal Community of Christ Sings.
Leandro was born in Argentina, where he worked for two decades as an Information Systems Engineer. He has lived in Toronto since 2009, where he became a member and later an elder of Community of Christ. He is expected to receive a Master of Arts in Religion degree from the Community of Christ Graceland University Seminary at the end of 2024. |
Edith Wallace
Musician |
Edith was adopted by the Vancouver congregation almost 40 years ago. She was invited to sing by Brian Gibson, picked up last minute by Vic Suddaby and his trusty Honda, at the Petro Canada on corner of Hastings and Kaslo…333 Kaslo, not 3333 Kaslo. BC Transit, sporadic Sunday service, and Edith experiencing bus route issues. She was new to the city.
Basically, she never left. Love does that to a soul. Home is written in heartbeats. Family is a gift. Writing of life around her. Ridiculous and sublime. The blessings and curses of the journey. Her commitment is to see ordinary things in their extraordinary unfolding, and tell of it all, through song. Laugh and cry…sometimes at the same time. She realised recently, that she has never enjoyed sitting for hours just playing an instrument, or writing songs. She does both, but only so she has something to share, to perform for an audience. She cannot wait to sing a new song for the first time to an audience. This cycle of energy between performer and listeners is part of her Life Purpose. She loves her work. Loves the words and rhymes as they fall into place. Loves the search for the next line, all tied up in emotion and storytelling. These days, she has been enjoying time in Edmonton with her daughter, Lindsey. Life is lovely. She even made it to Hills of Peace. She almost turned around on the back 40, but an accommodating herd of cows and calves urged her to go to the next hill. Home arrived a few minutes later, along with Gwyn Beer. She is busy organizing a North American Spring tour for 2025, Ireland and Scotland in the summer, and hopes to see you all on the road. House concerts, church services, coffeehouses. Out in her little van, all set up for the journey. |
