Modern-day scout opening Canada for church planting

COCHRANE, ALBERTA (NAMB)— Dwight Huffman climbs up a hill and looks down on the town below. The cool Canadian breeze ruffles his hair as he surveys the environment, a vast wooded area untouched by development—until now.

For related coverage, click image.

What had been pristine wilderness is now slowly being transformed into the town of Chestermere, a rapidly growing community 15 kilometers from Calgary. With the trained eye of a seasoned pro, Huffman makes a mental note of the community of about 5,000 and asks himself the best way to bring Christ to its residents.

“Chestermere is representative of many towns that are springing up around the province of Alberta. Some of these towns have no evangelical witness, but that’s why we are here as Canadian Baptists. We want to discover the needs of the community and meet those needs in the name of Christ,” he says.

Huffman and his wife, Judy, are among nearly 5,200 missionaries in the United States and Canada supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. They are featured during the March 6-13 Week of Prayer and North American Mission Study, which this year focuses on the theme, “Answer His Call.”

Today, Huffman is a scout in the vein of the old fur trappers who first trudged through the rugged terrain of Western Canada. The only difference is they were traveling by foot and looking for beavers and bears, and Huffman drives by car and visually maps the terrain for others to follow, sharing Christ.

As the strategy coordinator for Western Canada, which is made up of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, Huffman travels about 60,000 kilometers a year in his car.

His area is approximately the equivalent of the Continental United States, but has less than 140 Canadian Southern Baptist churches and missions.

At the core of Huffman’s approach are the scouts. They are people who go into a town or neighborhood in advance of a church planter to engage in simple exploring.

“Anyone can go to any neighborhood, walk and talk with God, hang around that neighborhood, and do a casual interview with some of the people they meet,” said Huffman.

Critical to a successful scouting assignment, Huffman said, is finding “a Lydia” (Acts 16:14-15) who will open up her (or his) home as a safe place to build relationships and start a Bible study. Only when that core group shows potential for becoming a church is a church planter enlisted.

But to reach the goal of having an evangelical church in each community, Huffman needs more scouts. And for that, he’s counting on help from Baptist churches throughout North America to share his vision and partner with him.

Huffman is gone from his family a lot. Judy, and their daughter Ashley, who is in grade 12, understand his calling and patiently await his return. Another daughter, Amber, is a third-year student at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., Huffman’s alma mater.

Judy teaches sixth-grade students at Bearspaw Christian School, in addition to being the vice principal of the school. She also leads a care group in their home once a week.

They are both passionate about their call to Canada.

“One of the joys of my life is seeing the Heavenly Father send someone to a community without any solicitation or marketing. He just sends someone here to work in His field. Sometimes I think God is just waiting to hear the prayers of His people so He can respond.”

Huffman says he feels Canada is a forgotten country to many Southern Baptists. There are more Southern Baptists in Brazil than in the country to America’s north. And as much as God loves Brazilians, those who come to Canada don’t have to learn a second language, he says.

“Canada is a place where an English-speaking person can come and walk with God and hang around lost people and see a movement of God.”

For more information on church planting in Canada, visit www.ccsb.ca/cp/.