OC Director's Blog: November 2023

*During this season of transition at Outreach Canada, the OC Director's Blog updates are coming to you from different members of the LeaderSHIFT team. This update was provided by Rick Burdett, Outreach Canada's Chief Operating Officer and a member of the LeaderSHIFT team. For more updates from our LeaderSHIFT team, make sure to check out our OC Director's Blog!

Thankfulness

This morning as I sit with my coffee at my small table/office in an extra bedroom, with our puppy Annie wandering around looking for more toes to nibble on or a lap to leap into, I am thankful.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. Chris and I are citizens of two countries – Canada and the US. We are thankful. We live in a world experiencing so much turmoil, so much pain, and so much suffering. We KNOW we are blessed! Later today, we will celebrate as we have in the past, a traditional Thanksgiving feast with turkey, potatoes, dressing and pumpkin pie.

And we will give thanks to our great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, for the gift of life that every human on the planet is blessed with.

This morning I am also thankful for those I serve with at Outreach Canada - for each one who is part of our team. Together, we have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with our neighbours and communities!  

Leader-SHIFT team & the search for a New Executive Director

I serve as one member of what we call the LeaderShift team at Outreach Canada. When God called our Executive Director, Dr. Craig Kraft, to a new position leading the OC Global Alliance, our Board appointed a team of five to fill his role until a new Executive Director was chosen to fill the position. We are nearing the end of our first year serving in this capacity.

I can say, in complete transparency, that our team is as united and committed to this task as we were when we started. Moving from a wise and godly Executive Director to a committee of five has challenges. What has made this possible and allowed for this transition to be successful is the collective experience, wisdom, and commitment of each member of the team. Equally important is the universal support of every person serving at OC to the process we are in.

I am thankful to report that the OC Board and LeaderShift team, through a highly collaborative process, have finalized a job description for our soon-to-be-discovered new Executive Director. It is the Board’s responsibility, under Ray Woodard, OC’s Board Chair, to discover who God is bringing to this critical position at Outreach Canada. We know there are a few already under consideration, however we believe this process will require a good deal of time and careful consideration.

In the meantime, we continue to function fully as an organization, finding and bringing on new leaders and missionaries into the OC family.

• Lorna Johnston’s role on the LeaderShift team (as she continues to lead the Diaspora team) is to give oversight to our other team leaders – something we all agree Lorna is well equipped to do.
• Lorne Hunter, as he has always been, is the backbone of the Administration team and the source of all knowledge related to work OC has done and continues to do. Lorne is our go-to person in so many ways.
• Craig Kraft, during his transition to the OCGA, has been faithful and available as part of this team to give insights and knowledge as needed.
• My (Rick Burdett’s) role is to keep this team on task and moving forward.
• Phil Cox (Dr. Phil) is not officially a member of the LeaderShift team, but a key part of the team who adds and implements our advancing technology needs.

The LeaderShift Team is dependent on all those serving at OC. Outreach Canada is an organization of deeply committed people who want to share the love of Christ with a lost world.

We depend on each other; we trust each other; we pray for each other.

So yes, I am so thankful on this day for the LeaderShift team and all of Outreach Canada. Please pray along with us as God takes us into our future.

Rick Burdett is the Chief Operations Officer at Outreach Canada. Before joining OC in 2019, Rick served as an executive pastor in two churches over 22 years. If Rick had a free afternoon, you might find him fishing, kayaking, bike riding or napping. Rick is passionate about working with and supporting people who are sacrificially loving lost people into the kingdom of God. He loves listening to the stories of how God is using team members to bless our culture & world.