https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com Serving God as a web programmer with Digital Strategies. Fri, 09 May 25 12:23:11 +0000 en-US https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2011/11/23/recent-updates Wed, 23 Nov 11 13:19:05 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=1451 Recently one of the ladies in our live discussion was using the nickname “running away”. After one of the leaders shared God’s love and she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior, this woman changed her name to “Running to Jesus”. What a beautiful example of the transformation that takes place in a person’s life as they come to a personal relationship with God. While people are coming to know God and are growing in their faith, the trained volunteers are also growing. Here is a response from one of our new mentors this past week: “Wow... this is an incredible thing. I knew I was signing up for something good but I had no idea it would be like this. This is incredible! I am struck by the severity of the need and the opportunity for redemption.” Last month there were 2,000 more conversations than the month before. Our mentors are full to capacity and we are in desperate need for more mentors. Have you ever thought about mentoring? If you have a love for God, an Internet connection and as little as half an hour a week, we have a place for you. Come join us! Find out more at http://truthmedia.com/mentor/ Thank you for your prayers, James and Carolanne Warkentin]]> https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2011/08/02/august-2011-newsletter Tue, 02 Aug 11 11:26:23 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=1276 As many of you know I struggled with some health problems over the last few years and have had to undergo repeat surgeries attempting to correct things.  I'm happy to say that I'm "cautiously optimistic" about it all.  It seems that the most recent surgery has been successful and things are starting to go back to normal.  I'm very thankful that the Lord has allowed things to finally heal properly.  It's been a long journey and I feel that I've learned a lot about God's grace and will during this time, but I'm also glad that it seems to be over.  Thank you very much for your ongoing prayers for us in this. On the ministry side of things, the past few months have been super busy with preparation for our annual conference.  Our film team has been hard at work putting together over 1000 video clips of the staff across Canada, along with creating two documentaries.  This in addition to their regular video work for the site. One of the documentaries is actually now available on the Power to Change site.  The story is only 19 minutes long but it will change the way you see the people around you.  We showed it at our staff conference this past week and had incredible feedback.
http://powertochange.com/experience/spiritual-growth/as-they-pass-by/ This video is a great tool that you could use with a small group. We have created discussion questions to engage your group in a conversation about how it is that we know the Gospel, but it so hard to share our faith. We've also had some really cool connections happening in some of our online communities.  This excerpt was sent to our team from our director and I thought you would also find it encouraging. - - - excerpt - - - Jess, who has attended one of our online small groups for quite some time, had been causing a fair bit of trouble.   She had a fair bit of attitude and had been disrupting her group regularly. More than one leader had considered asking this person to no longer be part of the group.   One of our moderators reached out to this visitor and built into her life, sharing the love of Christ even when the lady was responding out of her own pain. Others on our team have regularly prayed for Jess for months. Then one day early this month, Jess was in a conversation in open chat and led one of our newer visitors to the Lord!   After sharing for quite some time, she came into the online small group (moderated chat) to share this good news with the ladies present that evening. The ladies rejoiced and prayed for this new life.  Would you join us in praying for her growth and that of others who have accepted Christ this month? It’s incredible that every single day, thousands of people come to the site looking for information, conversation and often answers to some of life’s tough situations.  Many people are looking for information on tough relational issues.  When they find our videos and articles, they often join the community. One of our articles reached over 1,000 comments this past week.   As people comment, we have mentors who are responding and coming alongside these people.  The goal is to connect current realities to God.   In the context of relationship, hearts are open to hearing the message of Jesus. - - - end - - - Thank you for your ongoing prayers for us in reaching these people with the love of Christ.  Please continue to pray that God would make us even more effective and show us how best to reach the next generations. Please continue to pray also for our support.  It has been really encouraging to see that it has been increasing lately, however we also still have a long way to go.  As it stands right now, we have raised approximately 46% of our total need. Thank you again to all of you who have been standing with us so faithfully.  We wish you God's blessing this summer in all you do. All the best from James, Carolanne, Benjamin & Julia.]]> https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2011/02/09/feb-surgery-update Wed, 09 Feb 11 11:32:59 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=1164 On Thursday of last week (Feb. 3) I received a call from the office of the specialist that we have been trying to see, telling me that they had an opening to operate on the following Tuesday (Feb. 8 ) and wondering if I could make it on short notice. Naturally I said yes and quickly arranged for a few days of sick leave from work. Though it wasn't ideal timing, I've waited for quite a while to have this surgery done and my boss has been very understanding and accommodating through this whole process. My biggest concern was regarding the cold that Ben and Julia promptly got. Typically when they get sick I'm quick to follow. I could pretty much guarantee that the surgery would be cancelled if I got sick. We prayed very hard through the weekend that I would not get sick in spite of dealing with lots of sneezing, coughing and runny noses. The Lord heard our (and your) prayers and in spite of all the germs, neither Carolanne nor I got the cold. That was definitely a miracle in and of itself. Another concern we had was how to get me there. The surgery was scheduled to take place in Burnaby at 10:45 am and I needed a ride to get there at 8:45. Though Carolanne could have driven me there with the kids and then driven me back again when done, it would have been a really long day for the kids as we had to leave at 6:30 in the morning. As it turned out, one of the pastors from our church graciously accepted our request for help and drove me out in the morning. (thanks again pastor Dave) Going in to the surgery I really wasn't sure what to expect. Though my wound had been healed over for the past few months, I just recently had a scare where things started to swell up again and our family Dr. put me on antibiotics to help try to prevent a full fledged infection. (that's what this whole thing started with originally) I explained all this to the Dr. before the surgery, and after examining things he basically concluded that he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to do much or not. He told me he would decide how much needed to be done during the surgery. Well the end result seems to be the best possible solution as far as I can tell. He did do some cutting so I have a small(ish) wound, but it doesn't *appear* to be really deep or big, and I don't have to go in for homecare every day. I would have been concerned if he didn't do anything since I know that there have still been problems with it. It also would have been frustrating if he had made huge incisions and I would have to take many months more of healing. Over all, it seems like quite a decent outcome. Thank you again Lord! Thank you to all of you as well for your prayers and concern for us over the past year and a half. This whole thing started July 13'th, 2009 and many of you have been praying for us since then. Thank you very much! I really hope that once I heal up, this will be the last of the surgeries for a LONG while!]]> https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2010/07/12/surgery-and-ministry-update Mon, 12 Jul 10 08:51:07 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=935 This week our sites have been flooded with responses as our sites are experiencing rapid growth. http://Powertochange.com has seen a 100% growth in traffic in the past month. It’s so humbling to have people of every religion and walk of life coming to our doorstep. This past week, some of the content on our site addressed the pain that people feel in stages of grief after losing children. We strive to share the message of salvation and have realized that the starting point is to meet people where they are at. This is especially true when people are hurting and experiencing loss. I was particularly touched by the responses we are seeing on one of our articles. A friend of the ministry, shared her personal story of the loss of her twins in this article http://powertochange.com/life/talk-to-broken-hearted/. Her story of pain opened up the doors for others to express theirs. ... As people respond, mentors communicate with them by responding on the blog and inviting them to talk privately with a mentor. This past week, there were over 700 comments by people on our site. Many authors join in the conversation on the website. Everyday we add four pieces of new content to connect with people in varying stages in their spiritual journey. We start the conversation and are ready to listen and help people come to know Jesus. I praise the Lord so much for the growth we are seeing in our traffic and mentoring. We need more mentors to help respond to those emails. We are especially in need of teen mentors. Last month our numbers of emails coming in from teens nearly doubled from previous months.]]> https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2010/06/21/surgery-cancelled-due-to-healing Mon, 21 Jun 10 06:54:19 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=912 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2009/11/15/surgery-results Sun, 15 Nov 09 17:27:10 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=699 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2009/10/14/update-on-james-surgery Wed, 14 Oct 09 13:26:50 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=692 the first. I am told that the recovery time after that will be similar to that of the first, which was 2-3 months altogether.  The good news is that during this time, I've been told I will most likely not have to go in to the homecare center every day.  However, if it is anything like the last one, I will still be very limited in my mobility for the first week or two. Thank you for your ongoing prayers and concern for us during this time.  It means a lot to us to know that there are people standing behind us in prayer.]]> https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2009/09/16/additional-surgery Wed, 16 Sep 09 20:30:23 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=667 emergency surgery due to a large abscess that I developed.  At that time, I was told that there was a 1 in 4 chance that I might need additional surgery to further correct the problem after 3 months.  About a month ago, I went for a follow-up visit to the doctor who confirmed that I was probably one of the "1" in 4 and would most likely need the additional surgery.  However, he had some hope that it might just heal on it's own and gave it another month to find out for sure. Since that time, we have been praying very hard that God would miraculously heal me or that the doctor would be wrong about his initial diagnosis.  We have also been asking many of you to pray with us.  Our main reason for this is that during the first month or so after the last surgery I was very limited in what I could do including being unable to drive.  This was a bit of a problem since I was required to go into the homecare center every day to get bandages and packing replaced.  Carolanne had to drive me there every day for almost a month.  If I have to go for this next surgery, I may need to go through that again, the difference being that we will have a brand new baby added to the mix.  Carolanne is due to have the baby on Oct. 8. Today we went to the doctor's again for the second check and final diagnosis.  It would seem that in spite of our prayer, faith and hope, God has other plans for me and I am not healing as I should be.  The doctor has confirmed that we will need to schedule a second surgery, resulting in another 2-3 months of recovery. Suffice to say, we're both quite devastated.  We had been praying so hard that God would heal me and that we wouldn't have to go through this again with a new baby, but it would seem that He has not chosen to answer.  We're not sure what the future weeks will hold but we would appreciate if you would continue to remember to pray for us.]]> https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/2009/07/15/james-surgery-and-recovery Wed, 15 Jul 09 09:50:54 +0000 https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com/?p=635