Christmas Party 2014

On Saturday November 29, CLR hosted it's annual Christmas party. Just over 50 souls sat down for a wonderful pot luck dinner that featured many blessings  in the form of food for our enjoyment. Turkey, ham, meat balls, perogies, vegetables, salads of all kinds, wings and more. Then the desert table featured pumpkin and lemon pie from Helen Rankin, always a favorite of mine.

President Bruce and the CLR singers entertained with a few Christmas songs. Vice Pres. Grace demonstrated her skills with a very informative Power Point presentation on activities that CLR completed. Some very good pictures of individuals in "action". Helen challenged the group with some games. There was a bit of hot air expended in one of the games.

Presentations were made to Helen and Gene Rankin on their retirement from being Area Representatives. After a good run at this executive position and with continuing medical issues they determined that it was time to pass on the torch to others. Grace and Hank Loewen have stepped in  to fill this position as the Area Representative.


As usual, we introduce the CLR executives for 2015. After a hard fought election the 2015 Executives are presented in the picture below.
Left to right, Treasurer Josh, Road Captain Ken, Secretary Ingrid, Chaplin Hubert, Vice President Helen, President Bruce.

Brandon Correctional Center Visit Sept 2014

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Time after time the Lord shows He is faithful answering the prayers of the saints and today was no exception as He kept the rain from falling on the Brandon Correctional Center courtyard thus blessing us with a wonderful environment to share His love.

Our ministry group was the smallest I've led since taking on this leadership role in 2008, only 8, but the Lord showed up in strength and power by His Spirit. He had put on my heart to preach a message on "God's Love". Three 20 minute messages were shared with over 100 inmates, followed by 20 minutes with inmates from each group for one on one prayer and fellowship. There were many in each group who had been there for our Spring visit and had already given their heart to the Lord. So we were able to do some followup with them and encourage them and share another message with them.

Today, there were 4 men and 1 woman who gave their heart to Jesus. There was also one re-commitment, and 15 others who received personal prayer. Being part of co-laboring with the Holy Spirit to lead men to the Lord is usually the highlight of my day. Although I loved this, my greatest blessing came from something I wasn't even aware of until our Vice President Grace Loewen shared it with me after the first inmate group departed. She told me that after the preaching was done, one of the ladies moved quickly with earnest to her saying she wanted the Jesus that had been talked about. She gave her heart to the Lord without reservation. Her name is Pam. I never met her or spoke to her but my blessing lies in the fact that I know this was the Holy Spirit wooing her into the Kingdom of God. The men the Lord highlighted to me were Matthew, Corey, Jordan, and Travis. Please lift these babes in Christ up so they may become mighty warriors for God.

Many Bibles were handed out as well as other God filled materials. Thank you Jerry for the supply of CMA Bibles which lasted through two seasons and only now has been depleted. You through the CMA Prison Ministry have blessed our chapter for two years in a row!

Although I didn't pray specifically for physical healing's, one inmate jogged up to me as they were being called to leave and thanked me for the message which he said brought physical strength to his body. A demonstration of the power of God through His spoken word and open hearts.

A final highlight for me was regarding two hard core inmates. One is named ***. I've been dealing with *** since I began my policing career 24 years ago. I have physically fought with him on more than one occasion while effecting an arrest. When he is drunk he can be verbally abusive and physically violent. He is of a large stature and has intimated many in the past. So today I saw him standing with another hard core offender I've dealt with several times. Both had stayed to hear my message which was a miracle in itself and then were hanging out near our motorcycles when it was over. I went over and talked with them. *** looked shocked that I wanted to speak with him and his friend told me at first he couldn't place me but after a while he recognized me. I showed them Jesus love and respect as we spoke. *** was a little hesitant at first to receive prayer but he did and let me lay hands on him. Next I prayed for his friend. When I was done he looked at me and with true sincerity in his voice and in his eyes and a smile on his face, he thanked me for the prayer and reciprocated a hug with me. Now there is an example of God's love working in our hearts; mine and theirs. It was an amazing afternoon and all praise and glory goes to the Lord.

2015 will see many changes and God will continue to bless as we live for Him to change the world "one heart at a time". Thank you Bethel pastors and pastors from other churches for standing with us in prayer in 2014 and commissioning us to go out in May. You have made a difference! We appreciate your love and support. Thank you to Chaplain Jim from BCC for organizing the Fall prison visit and for the BCC Superintendent and staff who made it possible. Hope you enjoy the attached photos from that afternoon.

Finally thank you to the members of the Christian Light Riders who ministered side by side and for those who were unable to attend but were faithful in prayer. It takes a team to lay a solid foundation; Jesus is our Rock and He uses the CMA and it's resources to spread His glory throughout the world.

Blessings & love from Bruce Ewanyshyn

President - Christian Light Riders of the CMA

Visit to Rideau Park Personal Care Home

 

This year of ministry for the Christian Light Riders is coming to a close as the summer fades. So many amazing stories from Senior Home visits and secular events which have left an impact on all our lives. One more Senior home visit to Hobbs Manor next Saturday and we are done for scheduled events. The last two visits, Hillcrest and Rideau Park had a greater presence of God than any previous visits. A week ago at Rideau Park PCH the first worker I met and was blessed by is strong Believer. She and the activity director asked me to bring my Harley right inside the meeting room - a first in Brandon. The last worship song we sang at the end of the hour was Days of Elijah during which an elderly man at the back of the room got up and began dancing and twirling around the room. When Jim spoke to him afterwards he said he didn't know how he did it because his feet were all messed up and he could barely walk.

Visit to Victoria Landing Retirement Home

Saturday July 19, another warm day in July. CLR members lead by our President Bruce converged at Victoria Landing. Victoria Landing has 148 small apartments with centralized dinning and central home care for retirement living for seniors. Yours truly drives the shuttle bus there several days each month, so I am familiar with a good number of residents there.

 Looks like they had a special events just before we arrived that had all the residents wearing some type of hat. So we just got with the program and joined in. Bruce did wear a hat for a while but gave it up when we started the program.

We did not do an official count, but I think there were about thirty that joined us for our little sing song and message.     As you can see Josh just completed giving me instructions on doing a "Selfie" So here it is for the first time. The picture below is one of the residents,  Mrs Cousens celebrated her 90th birthday recently and came out for a special photo op on Bruce's bike.

No Borders 2014

CMA's 2014 No Borders Rally was held July 9th to 12th in International Falls, MN. 11 members of CLR were able to attend the Rally.  During those 4 days we were ministered to by great Worship and Messages, the Holy Spirit was definitely present throughout the rally.  The Minnesota CMA Worship Team lead us at the start of each session followed by a challenging word from God shared to us by leaders from both Canada and the US.  It was a great time to renew friendships, make new friends, and to be able to strengthen relationships with fellow CLR members.  Throughout the rally we were able to see how God looks after us and knows the plans he has for us.

Praise God for His Love and protection.  We now look forward to the next No Borders Rally which will be held in Canada in 2016.

Here are some of the CLR members at the Saturday morning event.

Some other pictures are available in the library of pictures. Thanks to Grace and Hank for taking them and forwarding them.

CLR Visit to Fairview Personal Care Home July 2014

As the raging Assiniboine River roars through the City, CLR was at Fairview praising the Lord with our songs and ministry.
20 plus seniors blessed us by joining with us in our praise. President Bruce led the CLR team in a period of song and praise followed with a short message on the Love of our Lord for his children.

After that we went out to the bikes and had a time of socializing with those that were able to come out, Finally it was off to Tastees for some ice cream. Considering the day was very humid and about 30 degrees wonderful bike day.

Bondslave Rally in Stonewall June 28, 2014

The annual Canada Day weekend was held under threatening skies. Our attendance was whittled down to two CLR members and our area Coordinator James. Saturday morning was very foggy but rain was not expected for a  few hours, so it was a very enjoyable ride to Portage to meet with President Bruce, James and Helene.
On to Stonewall after our fill of coffee and goodies from Timmies, After dozens of "hello, how are you" things settled down to getting a burger and a drink. Soon the races would start up and that is always an entertaining time.
Little did we know that we were crashing another motorcycle wedding! Yes the Bondslaves do get hitched. This one was going to be a big one as there were many family members that would be coming for the wedding and not the rally.
Now the races, yes all kinds of bikes, even some full dressers, a little dirt bike and a wild go cart.
What followed was the tire burn out, man this is hard on the bike motor and tranny, but deadly for the tire. All for a $300 prize. Just covers the tire replacement.
After all this the bride seemed to be 30 min late, (normal) wedding went off really well Pastor Gavin doing the nuptials. Had a great message for the new couple and also a reminder of the process of getting married that the vows we make to each other are really vows to our Lord Jesus.
Anticipating the pork BBQ we set our sights on departing at 6:00pm, however the wedding took priority and dinner was delayed  so we packed up and left for Brandon. The ride back was marred by a few showers but got back before the monster winds and rain came that lasted all night. Praise the Lord for looking after his children.

Things that matter , or not! June 21, 2014

This is a slightly different post along with it's content. Attending different functions are part of the Ministry of CMA and CLR. Sometimes it' just for the  fun with friends and associates, kind of relationship investments. So here we go.
June 21, CLR members scooted to Wawanesa MB, to attend a wedding of one of our members. This was to be a motorcycle included event. The bride was given a motorcycle ride right to the alter that was a small arbor on the side yard of her rural home.
The day was sunny and mild with a nice breeze rolling through the freshly cut lawn, keeping the mosquitoes down. After the nuptials, the bride was taken away by her new husband on the motorcycle. The final event was the tossing of the bouquet that was caught by yous truly, however since I was already taken I tossed it to our single President Bruce, thus the evidence in this picture
What followed a time of picture taking, a great BBQ dinner then back to Brandon.

Say "yes" Helen

Roll With Us" Yorkton Faith Ministries outreach

After taking a one year hiatus and changing the name of the event from "Spoke and Smoke" to "Roll With Us", Pastor's Kevin and Pat Bundus of Yorkton Faith Ministries opened the doors of their church for a day of honoring bikers. Kevin and Pat are my cousins but our connection goes much deeper in that they are the ones who prayed me into the Kingdom of God. Thus my heart is to honor them in any way I can and one way is by supporting their Father's Day outreach event by riding out to Yorkton and sharing the Word of God with their assembly. 

Similar to two years ago, our journey to Yorkton SK was cold and wet and we encountered some rain however it was minimal compared to the storm we rode though in 2012. What really touched my heart was the commitment demonstrated by Vice President Grace Loewen, Road Captain Hank Loewen, and Jim and Jean Stremel to accompany me on this journey. It's one thing to ride almost 700 kms on a day that is warm and sunny but to do so on a wet, cold, rainy day is nothing short of honoring. It was also Father's Day! This level of commitment provided me with an example to share with the Yorkton congregation of men and women who honor each other and in doing so honor the Lord. When we honor each other, we honor God and He in turn honors and blesses us. Indeed we were honored and received a "rolling out of the red carpet" from Kevin and Pat and their precious assembly of Believers. We were treated to a wonderful worship set by their youth praise and worship team and then I was given the freedom to share an hour long message on growing in intimacy with God. Afterwards we were treated to an amazing BBQ meal and a great time of fellowship. Remember the honor part I wrote about? Well Pastor's Kevin and Pat honored all of us in one more amazing way; they paid all of our fuel costs to attend this event through a generous donation to our Chapter. The Lord truly honors those who honor Him by doing His good works in the earth. Personally I can't think of anything more special to my heart then preaching at the church where for me my new life in Christ began back in 2007. As I shared with the congregation, it always feels like a homecoming to me when I attend Yorkton Faith Ministries. 

Speaking of honor, a big thank you to all the members of CLR who were unable to attend this event but prayed for us and this event. You are a blessing too and we can not measure the value of your prayers since they may have prevented a break down, or a collision, or a sickness, or a cancellation of this event, or a terrible storm. Praise the Lord that we will never know for the Lord brought all things together on this day for His glory. 

The big man next to me in the photo is Pastor Kevin Bundus who also rides a motorcycle. Check out the sign hanging from the pulpit. The group shot was taken just before our departure and includes our Yorkton biker friend Wally on our far left. 

Visit to Riverheights Terrace June 21, 2014

After several days of severe rains, the skies cleared for your servants to do the visiting in Your name.  Riverheights Terrace is a seniors retirement home on the west end of Brandon. It it provides residential  accommodation to seniors in the Westman area.

CLR visited with a 30 minute sing song with some of the older hymns followed by a small message from the heart of President Bruce. There were about 30 residents attending in the open rotunda. One of the residents asked for prayer and it was done as part of our closing prayer.I passed out 8 small book of John to the same number of residents. Ice cream was presented by the all that attended in the activity room following the presentation.

One of the residents was showing me the front page of the Journal, a weekly paper in Westman, he was pointing out the news item about the Defender Motorcycle Club's ride. I mentioned that we were not part of that group. He said "I know,  your the opposite to the HA, and I am pleased that you are" Bless that man Lord for his insight.

Wawanesa Personal Care Home Visit

Under grey skies on June 14, 2014, we rode out to the Wawanesa PCH. The Lord blessed us by keeping the rain away and once we got there, it was anything but grey skies inside the Care Home. Many residents came out to greet us and join us in worship as the CLR singers (Grace, Helen R, Helen A, Ingrid, Jean, Jim, and myself) led a half hour of praise to the Lord. This was followed by a half hour message on "God's Love". Several residents came out afterwards and shared some laughs around the motorcycles. The highlight for me was meeting up with Clayton again whom I remembered from our visit in 2013. Clayton is passionate about horses and farming and you can still see the strong drive beneath his rugged exterior molded by years of farming. Clayton is the gentleman standing beside Grace in the checkered shirt. He also couldn't resist asking for his photo to be taken beside Grace our Vice President, whom he calls "the pretty lady". Indeed Hank is a blessed husband and Grace a blessed wife. The residents really love our CLR sister Helen Allen who has worked at the PCH in the past. This event find us just over a week away from Helen's wedding. All God's best to Helen and Walter. All God's best to the treasured residents of the Wawanesa PCH; we look forward to seeing you in 2015

CLR 2014 Run for the Son Shoal Lake Visit

Sunday May 24th at 9 a.m. we headed out on our annual Run for the Son to Shoal Lake Baptist Church. Twelve members started out from Brandon and joined our 2 members in Shoal Lake.  Thank you to the church and Merl and Glenda for welcoming us again this year and providing a great meal.  Special thanks to Cody cooking the burgers and to all the others who brought food and served it. 

 

We were privileged to lead in Worship and have the opportunity to share about CMA’s Run for the Son, our only fundraising event of the year.  Money raised for our Run for the Son is shared with two other ministries that CMA partners with; Missionary Ventures and Open Doors Ministry.  We then heard God’s message for us shared by President Bruce.

 

Praise God for a wonderful day, safe riding, and warm weather.

 

Bethel Christian Assembly VIsit

Recently we were at Bethel Christian Assembly to make a presentation for Run For the Son.

Bethel has always been very supportive of CMA, so it was an honor to do a presentation for RFTS.We were able to bring our motorcycles into the Church and President Bruce shared a little bit about what CLR does and shared a RFTS video.

Thank You to Bethel for your continued support and encouragement, and thank you to all the members who came to the presentation.

Dinsdale Personal Care Home Visit

On Saturday May 31st 10 members of CLR attended at Dinsdale Personal Care Home here in Brandon. This was the first one of many more that our President Bruce has schedule to visit this  season.     Again we were blessed with a wonderful day, bright sun and. There were 33 beautiful soles and several staff members that blessed us by attending.

There were a number of seniors there that I knew from a previous time in and out of the church scene. It was nice to visit with Abe, Sam and Dennis, they made us feel welcome just like they did in their homes before Dinsdale.
President Bruce and his helpers spent 30 minutes in a small praise session through song. I noticed a few of them were following along with some of the older hyms, that was nice to see. Following that session President Bruce spoke to the folks on the topic of Heaven. Heaven is real and several descriptions from the bible were quoted and expressed. An assurance of a wonderful place that has been prepared for them all.
 Following that the folks came out to the front drive. CLR brought the motorcycles out to the drive area and we mixed, spoke and prayed with them for another half hour. I met a British lady that married a Canadian soldier following the 2nd world war. He had taken her for a ride on his Harley 45, these were bikes that were used by a division in the army known as "Dispatch Riders" It just happens that my brother was a dispatch rider during that conflict, so I was deeply involved in the conversation. She challenged me to tell her the name of the back seat of a motorbike, she had forgotten.  Well no one knew the name. After a time I thought why not Google it? And so I was able to remind her that the name was "Pillion". We had a good chucled over this find and marveled at the technology at our finger tips, even to the joy of seniors that have no ideal of this technology.

Brandon Correctional Center May 24 2014

On the 24th of May we went and ministered at the Brandon Correctional Center, It started out as a cloudy day with a little sprinkle of rain as the first group came out, but soon the sun came out and it got HOT.
In past years it has been rainy and cold when we visited BCC, so the sun was a welcome change and we had a great time, we had eleven Christian Light Riders there with eight bikes.

Bruce spoke from Genesis about how Joseph went from being a shepherd boy, to becoming a slave,then in prison to finally being the second most powerful man in Egypt and how through all of the trials and difficulties that he faced, God was always with him and showed him favor in whatever situation Joseph was in.

 120 people heard the message, 16 people were prayed for, 4 people recommitted their lives to Christ and we had 10 salvation's, Praise The Lord. God is Good. One funny thing that happened while we were there; usually the people come out in three separate groups and usually the ladies are in one of the groups but this time they didn't come out with any of the groups, which made us rather sad. Then as we were getting ready to leave the ladies came out for some fresh air, so we received the opportunity to share the gospel with them and one of the ladies gave her life to Christ. God is so good that we had the opportunity to share the word and pray over them. 

Thank You to Chaplin Bernie for organizing this event, and thank you to the corrections officers and to BCC for hosting us again this year, we always leave blessed and Thank You to all of the Christian Light Riders who came and to all those that were praying for us.

Seasons of Refreshing

On May 9-11, 2014 we attended our first big event of the year up in Portage La Prairie. 

Seasons of Refreshing is a way for chapters across Canada to come together and get their spiritual batteries charged up before the season truly begins. Each province hosts their own Seasons with our national evangelist Carlos Hajen and his family coming to show us the direction God has for CMA that year.

Our focus this year was building up your inner strength and putting on your inner Armour so that  when the real enemy (the devil) comes to attack, you are able to deal with him. We had an awesome time of worship and some amazing messages were given by our national evangelist Carlos Hajen.

All in all we had 66 members and guests join us this year, with 3 chapters being represented. This year we also had the honor of having Roger and Rayleen Wilson; Roger is the national evangelist for the North Central Region of the  United States and he shared with us some awesome messages, it was truly a blessing to have them at this years Seasons of Refreshing. 

We want to thank the two worship teams for leading us in great times of worship. A special thank you to Louis and Cindy Quasso for organizing seasons this year and thank you to everyone who helped make this years Seasons a great success and we cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for us for the rest of the season.

Schedule of many activities for 2014

Run For The Son  presentation at Bethel Christian Assembly May 18th 10:30 am

Prison Visits May 24th and Sept 13th

Sunday afternoon  scheduled rides:
         June 8th and 22nd
          July 6th and 20th
          August 3 and 17th
          Sept 7 and 21st
           All riders are welcome to join. We depart from the Canadian Tire Lot @ 2:30 pm

CMA No Borders rally, International Falls, Mn  July 10th to 13th

Sturgis, SD Aug 4 to 10th

Alzheimer Society Poker Derby August 16th

Morden Corn and Apple Festival Aug 22nd to 24th

Dauphin Rally Aug 30th.

Christmas Dinner Nov 29th

                                      Need more information? Just call or text to  204 725 9260

Welcome the new Executive for 2014

Last November the elections of officers for the Christian Light Riders took place. Here is a picture of the executives following that election.

On the left is President Bruce Ewanyshyn, Road Captain Hank Loewen, Vice president Grace Loewen, Treasurer Joshua Preston, Chaplain Hubert Muckel, Secretary Ingrid Wilson. 

                                 Thanks for serving the Chapter in our new year of 2014.