We have been on many different teams. We have been the junior members, the senior members, the leaders of teams. Some have been strictly task orientated others focused on people and relationships.

I’ve always believed that developing teams need to be built on 4 C’s. You need character, competency, capacity, and chemistry. If you have people who bring those four aspects together you have a great team.

In these pictures, you see some of the same people – friends and partners in ministry who, like us, were part of those groups and teams. Some I thought had great integrity, competency and courage. Others I did not see eye to eye on matters. But together we were trying to achieve significant things for The Kingdom.

The corps ministries department, the national advisory board, the executive team, a few golf partners and many other experiences were highlights.

This was a special group to me and a special evening – it was a visit of the national advisory board to London Ontario. These are super smart women and we had such rousing conversation and laughter that the TC wondered what on earth was going on at our table. Simple, we were having a great time together.

This was a visit of the cabinet to Montreal. I highlight this because of Mark and Sharon -they were/are superb leaders. Integrity and encouragement in bundles of joy! I wish we could have worked with them longer. They made the journey enjoyable even in tough times.

The team visiting Bermuda – who could complain about this assignment. The island is not the easiest place to work and live, but for us who had some time even just a few days it was wonderful. Especially if it happened to be during Canada’s cooler months.

Booth UC board of trustees was a team I enjoyed. We were navigating some tough decisions and I thoroughly enjoyed my part in these days. I was on this board six years…and that meant lots of change to the team.

During the early days of the pandemic we ended up meeting like this – we tried one in person meeting but we were so far apart and it was so hard to hear everyone that we went back to our Teams video conferencing. It was however interesting to see and hear how we showed up on screen! Some people were really good at this….others? well….

I truly love this photo because it shows the team that worked for us at Camp Selkirk and/or were in the divisional youth band. These lovely people were teenagers with us, and we were in our 30s. They were a great bunch to be with! We had lots of fun and watched them grow up.

A more formal picture of us in Vancouver – the executive team of the day. From this picture I count 4 who are still in the leadership, some have left the country, some have retired. I always smile when I see Wendy standing beside Dusty – her boss! He was so tall.

While this wasn’t my team it was Wendy’s to manage. These are some of the Canadian Staff Songsters and yes in Ottawa. They let me hang around a bit – I enjoyed these people! They are good folks and lots of fun to be around.

This is a historic picture. You would have to know how the legal structure of TSA works, but let me say this much. This is the moment we signed into being a new corporation, the Toronto Grace Health Centre, and the Governing Council is signing and voting it into existence. We had a few extra people in the room but the lawyers are there too. I was glad to put my signature to the document.

This photo comes from Northern BC. I was moving the agenda forward for Indigenous peoplein our congregations. We organized a round table for indigenous ministries and these were the team that we first brought together.

Now this is the original team for us in some ways. These are the people who we trained with to be Salvation Army officers – many had resigned or retired. We lost five to cancer. We have known each other for over 40 years.

And then there are the people in those teams that became friends. My good friend David was always fun to be with. I’m sorry that he and Marsha live in Germany not Edmonton – that would be great.

So that’s just some of the people and teams we’ve been with or worked on or led. I think there’s nothing better than being part of a great team.