You are invited to watch and resend our three videos on the 2023 BC Christian Ashram retreat with Rev. Dr. Rod Ellis, Dr. John Roddam, and Rev. Matt Henson, the Executive Director of the United Christian Ashram International. The theme was from the Lord’s Prayer: On Earth As in Heaven.
Sunday morning July 9th: Rev Matt Henson preaching at All Saints Crescent Beach on “Pursued” (John 9:35–41)
For more information on the upcoming July 5th to 6th 2024 BC Christian Ashram retreat, click. To learn about the United Christian Ashram International, click.
Everyone has a dimension of personality and life that is hidden from public view and known mainly by family members and close acquaintances. Read 14 details related to this lesser-known side of J. I. Packer.
— Read on www.crossway.org/articles/14-lesser-known-details-about-j-i-packer/
Many Christians on the west coast of Canada or in the Ottawa Valley will know the names of Rev. Dr. Ed Hird and Rev. David Kitz, authors of The Elisha Code and the Coming Revival. I have gotten to know both, by living, at different times, in both aforementioned communities, and by observing their respective influences in the field of Christian writing. Those influences have taken shape in their work with The Word Guild, one of two fine Christian writing groups.
In addition to long time pastoral work in British Columbia, in a couple of streams of Anglicanism, Hird has encouraged the development of many Christian renewal movements and retreats, on at least three continents.
Kitz, board chair of The Word Guild, is ordained in the Foursquare Church of Canada. His most notable writing achievement, The Soldier, The Terrorist and the Donkey King, is now into its second extended run. It is a fine example of creative non-fiction centred on a soldier whose life was changed by his encounter with Jesus at the time of his crucifixion and resurrection.
It is arguably fortuitous and timely that the two authors were able to collaborate on The Elisha Code …. In the book’s introduction, they note (in part):
At the darkest time, in the darkest region, Jesus appeared on the scene. There he began his ministry. In these dark and divided times, as the truth of the Elisha code is brought to light, we too will see Jesus revealing his grace and power among us.
Throughout the centuries-long history of the church, biblical truths have been lost – lost through sin, unbelief, and neglect – later to be rediscovered by thirsty souls searching for transformative change in dark times. Martin Luther triggered the reformation with his rediscovery of the truth of salvation by faith through grace. The truth of sanctification triggered the Great Awakening and the Methodist renewal with revival-fire starters such as the Wesley brothers, George Whitefield, and John Newton. The twentieth century began with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the truths of Pentecost were brought to the fore through the globe-spanning Welsh revival and the Azusa Street outpouring.
When biblical truth is restored, revival often follows. A harvest of souls is swept into the Kingdom of God, as surely as the morning dawns on a new day.
… By studying his earthly ministry, we can discover the blueprint (Jesus) was following to launch and establish the church of the first century. It is a blueprint that is patterned after the prophetic Old Testament ministries of Elijah and Elisha.
Having been involved in faith-based writing and journalism, myself, for around 60 years, I would hasten to point out that cracking a spiritual code or encouraging a spiritual revival is not confined to any one part of the Christian community. And I expect both Kitz and Hird agree, all the while effectively telling the stories that have shaped their particular faith communities.
During the time of preparing this review, the death of television’s 700 Club founder Pat Robertson at age 93 took place. In the obituary Christianity Today magazine ran on Robertson, he was cited thusly:
Robertson saw himself as an evangelical with a charismatic gift and ecumenical outlook, once saying, “As far as the majesty of worship, I’m an Episcopalian; as far as a belief in the sovereignty of God, I’m Presbyterian; in terms of holiness, I’m a Methodist … in terms of the priesthood of believers and baptism, I’m a Baptist; in terms of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I’m a Pentecostal, so I’m a little bit of all of them.”
In getting to the point of their revival prognostications, Kitz and Hird cite the examples of two Canadians – Alliance founder AB Simpson and Foursquare founder Aimee Semple McPherson. They note:
Have you noticed that most revivals in the last hundred years involved a renewed emphasis on the healing ministry.
Aimee Semple McPherson and AB Simpson were two Ontario-raised Canadians who challenged that assumption. Both asserted that spiritual gifts are still available today, including the gifts of healing. While both valued the role of medical doctors, they helped many discover that Jesus Christ our healer is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
… Both Semple McPherson and AB Simpson helped people rediscover the prayer of faith in James 5:15 where we read that if anyone is sick, they are to call the elders who will lay hands on them, anoint them with oil, and exercising the prayer of faith will heal the sick.
Word Alive Press announced The Elisha Code and the Coming Revival is the winning manuscript for the 2023 Braun Book Awards.
About Lloyd Mackey
Dr. Lloyd Mackey has close to half a century of experience in community, faith-based and leadership journalism, including 15 years working out of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa. Books he has authored include These Evangelical Churches of Ours (Wood Lake Books, 1994), Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW, 1997) More Faithful than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and The Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper/Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW, 2005/2006). He is founding editor/director of the Online Encyclopedia of Canadian Christian Leaders, an outgrowth of his Doctor of Ministry (DMin) studies, completed in 2015 through Tyndale University College and Seminary. In 1984, he earned a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at Simon Fraser University. He and his wife, Edna, are trying to practice “active retirement” and an examination of “social architecture” in the emerging Central City urban core in Surrey, BC.
Jesus shone through his smile and the twinkle in Dr. Neil Yorkston’s eyes. He loved the Lord and he loved people. When he took your hands, it was like Christ was reaching out to you with His compassion and kindness. Yorkston was a great prayer warrior with a gentle, gracious spirit.
He was born in 1928 to China Inland Mission missionary parents in Yunnan-Fu, China. When Yorkston was six years old, his parents took him to Chefoo school, on the east coast of China, where he attended as a boarder. He often talked about his being sent during WW2 to a Japanese internment camp in Weihsien. There he continued his education, and he worked in the kitchen. Yorkston often commented that Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire renown was an inspiring missionary teacher in his internment school. His athletic friend Stephen Metcalf was thrilled to be given Eric Liddell’s worn-out Olympic running shoes. Yorkston was interned in the camp until American soldiers liberated him in 1945. He was then reunited with his parents in Australia. Sadly, Yorkston’s two brothers died in March 1945, while in the Royal Australian Air Force.
In 1995 and 2005, Yorkston returned to China with his daughters where he saw first-hand how the Christian Church had grown throughout great persecution. He wanted the Chinese people to know the truth that would set them free. He never carried grudges and fondly remembered his 2005 reconciliation tour in Japan.
His son Ian said of his dad at the funeral: “His faith and work as a doctor were a unified whole. He did what he did precisely because of his yearning to be faithful to his service to God, caring for those in need.” As a medical student and young doctor, he and his future wife Elizabeth were very involved in running children’s camps for C.S.S.M, now known as Scripture Union. Following the birth of their first daughter in 1958, Yorkston became a medical missionary. He served as head of the medical department at the Haile Selassie 1 Naval Base, Massawa, Eritrea, from 1958-1960. In 1959, their second daughter was born.
Relocating back to London in 1960, he served in Guy’s hospital. There his wife Elizabeth gave birth to their son and youngest daughter. In 1965, Yorkston went on to become a psychiatrist in London. In the late 1960s, he spent three years at Temple University, Philadelphia, as Associate Professor of Psychiatry. From 1970-73, he worked in the Department of Psychiatry and Medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In 1973, he left the USA and returned to southeast London. He worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist at Friern Barnet Hospital in North London until he was appointed Consultant Psychiatrist at the Royal Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals.
In 1980, the Yorkston family moved to Vancouver, where Yorkston served as Head of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia. He later practised psychiatry in Australia in 1990, and Durham, England in 1992.
The All Saints Church community in Crescent Beach knew Yorkston for just over three years, the same length of time Jesus served on earth. During that relatively short period, Yorkston had a lasting impact on our congregation. His good friend Dr. J.I. Packer of Regent College recommended All Saints Church when Yorkston and his wife Elizabeth moved to White Rock. In fact, Yorkston was the one who made the church leaders aware of a newspaper article advertising the sale of Holy Cross Church in Crescent Beach. That was the catalyst for All Saints Community Church to miraculously purchase the building during the COVID pandemic! When it was felt impossible to finance the purchase, Yorkston quoted Hudson Taylor: “God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.”
Yorkston was a regular, not only on Sundays, but also during the prayer and Bible studies which sometimes lasted for forty nights. Not even rain or snow could keep him away. He loved to read and teach the Bible to fellow seniors. He kept current with medical literature and never stopped learning, even at the age of 94 years old. Yorkston introduced many All Saints parishioners to his favourite book Revival, authored by his mentor Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones. David Short, rector of St. John’s Church Vancouver, said at Yorkston funeral: “He would want us to encounter the astonishing joy that was at the centre of his life, that is the person Jesus Christ.”
Dr Neil Yorkston was a blessing to so many people. We thank God for a faithful servant in whom the Lord is pleased, whom He promoted to glory in the Father’s presence.
To the question, “What is home?”, Yorkston once answered: “Heaven is home.” His family find comfort in knowing that he has reached his final, truest home after travelling a long, extraordinary journey. Indeed, there is no place like home.
“No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
About Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird
Books by Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird include God’s Firestarters; Blue Sky, a novel; and For Better, For Worse: Discovering the keys to a Lasting Relationship. Dr Ed’s newest award-winning book The Elisha Code is co-authored with Rev. David Kitz. Earlier books by Dr. Ed include the award-winning Battle for the Soul of Canada, and Restoring Health: Body, Mind, & Spirit.
Dr. Lloyd Mackey has close to half a century of experience in community, faith-based and leadership journalism, including 15 years working out of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa. Books he has authored include These Evangelical Churches of Ours (Wood Lake Books, 1994), Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW, 1997) More Faithful than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and The Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper/Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW, 2005/2006). He is founding editor/director of the Online Encyclopedia of Canadian Christian Leaders, an outgrowth of his Doctor of Ministry (DMin) studies, completed in 2015 through Tyndale University College and Seminary. In 1984, he earned a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at Simon Fraser University. He and his wife, Edna, are trying to practice “active retirement” and an examination of “social architecture” in the emerging Central City urban core in Surrey, BC.
Books by Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird include God’s Firestarters; Blue Sky, a novel; and For Better, For Worse: Discovering the keys to a Lasting Relationship. Dr Ed’s newest award-winning book The Elisha Code is co-authored with Rev. David Kitz. Earlier books by Dr. Ed include the award-winning Battle for the Soul of Canada, and Restoring Health: Body, Mind, & Spirit.
Edhird's Blog 