AiG–Canada 2018 Year-End Update!

Timeline highlights for 2018

• Jan. 1: AiG–Canada officially launches!
• March 23: AiG–Canada’s 1st event! (Manitoba Home School conference)
• April 12–14: Ken Ham speaks at Alberta Homeschool conference
• May 7: AiG–Canada webstore launches
• May 18–20: Ken Ham speaks at Canada Christian College
• Aug. 24: AiG–Canada Warehouse set up in Cambridge, ON
• Aug. 26–31: Answers Boot Camp for Youth
• Sept. 18: Gospel Reset mail-out begins!
• Nov. 8–9: AiG–Canada Conference with Dr. Terry Mortenson
• Nov. 28: $100K matching campaign begins!

What the Lord has brought about with your support!

Events

I have been extremely busy in 2018! Amazingly, AiG–Canada participated in 31 events all across Canada this year! The hunger for the type of faith-building information we provide in our country is evident.

AiG–Canada warehouse set up in Cambridge, ON, August 24, 2018.

From the single events, homeschool and Pastor’s conferences, and Answers Boot Camps to the multi-day, multi-church conferences where Ken and I have spoken, we estimate that we have reached over 10,000 people already (through speaking engagements) with faith-building information and resources. By God’s grace, next year we plan on reaching even more.

Online Store

Canadians have been taking advantage of the opportunity to get great apologetics resources, curriculum, and VBS materials at our Canadian online store (without having to pay in US currency and incurring extra shipping charges). We launched the online store in May this year, and since that time the orders per week have grown to over 50 (on average).

Even more encouraging is the fact that over 23 churches have purchased our VBS, and over 113 have purchased our Answers Bible Curriculum this year! This means ongoing, in-depth, faith-building information will be working in the hearts and minds of people participating in these programs for years to come.

Plans for 2019

Answers Boot Camps

AiG–Canada is dedicated to raising up a next-generation of Christian youth that love the Lord with all of their heart, strength, soul, and mind. To assist in doing this, we initiated two of our Answers Boot Camps for youth this year, and already have five planned from coast to coast (British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and two in Ontario) for 2019! Visit AnswersOutreach.ca to find all of our events.

Our Answers Boot Camp for Youth took place August 26–31, 2018.

The Legacy Project Mentorship Program

This year we announced our Legacy Project initiative and began to receive inquiries from interested students and mentors! We are hoping 2019 will be our official launch year for the program. Please be in prayer for this important and exciting mentorship program.

For those young adults interested in pursuing a career in science, the Legacy Project can help recommend a credentialed mentor involved in the same field of interest as the student to help them navigate the (often difficult) road involved in attaining a PhD or other post-secondary degrees in a secular institution, without compromising with theistic evolutionary or “old-earth” ideas.

AiG–Canada has developed relationships with many Christian scientists who are staunch biblical creationists very competent in their scientific field that hold to a high standard of Christian ethics and belief in the authority of God’s Word. We have identified a group of creation scientists that have indicated they are willing to mentor Christian students in their field.

Mentors can help their mentees through prayer, answering questions, and providing insight/advice throughout their education. In this way (by God’s grace) we hope to see a next generation of Christian scientists who represent Christ in our culture and proclaim the truth of his word.

For more information contact us.

Gospel Reset Conferences

In September of this year the unprecedented mail-out of Ken Ham’s new book, Gospel Reset, along with tickets to the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and Museum of the Bible, went to approximately 15,000 Canadian churches! We are seeing many churches downloading their free tickets every week, which is encouraging!

We are now in a follow-up process with every one of those churches to involve them in major Gospel Reset apologetics-equipping conferences to be held all across Canada. Churches will have access to an amazing array of apologetics resources at each event, including the Answers Bible Curriculum (a four-year Bible curriculum for all ages currently being used by over 10,000 churches worldwide), VBS materials, homeschool curricula, and much more. This will provide ongoing resources to help counter the secular school system currently producing a 70%+ fallout rate among children from Christian homes by age 18.

Potential

By galvanizing multi-denominational churches across Canada to come together and share resources, with the ultimate goal of equipping believers to defend their faith and share the Gospel, this initiative has the potential to be the most impacting ministry effort Canada has seen in recent history!

Our needs for 2019

Opportunities bring challenges

This tremendous opportunities (listed above) to impact the Canadian ministry landscape have been made possible by the generous contributions of enthusiastic AiG–Canada supporters, and we are very grateful to you for your tremendous support. However, these opportunities bring certain challenges, and because of the immense scope of our potential outreach, a significant infrastructure needs to be implemented very quickly by AiG–Canada in order for us to reach maximum potential here in Canada.

While at the same time being part of and able to draw on the strength and experience of an incredibly established and dynamic ministry team in the US, AiG–Canada is currently in its infancy as a charitable ministry and is significantly under-staffed/-resourced to take advantage of this incredible opportunity God has provided us through the Gospel Reset mail-out.

Even a 1% participation rate among churches reached through the Gospel Reset mail-out would involve 150 churches for AiG–Canada to serve, with an optimistic eventual participation rate of 10-20% over the next few years resulting in over 1,500–3,000 churches to equip.

At this point we do not require a tremendous amount of overhead by way of large assets (e.g., offices) and so are able to devote our supporters’ resources almost entirely to ministry activity rather than administrative costs. We do, however, need a dynamic team (dedicated to create and maintain a robust database infrastructure and to implement an advertising and marketing campaign combined with outreach coordination) to be assembled rapidly.

Specific need: AiG Ministry Vehicle

Aside from our general ministry requirements, we do have one specific need that would help us be better stewards of our donors’ support, and that is acquiring a van for transporting resources and staff to local speaking engagements.

Renting/mileage costs for vehicles required to transport resources and speakers to events (and for other ministry needs) has been a major expense this year (over $8000), and one that we would like to eliminate or reduce significantly. Purchasing/being gifted a vehicle will allow us to spend far less and also let us claim depreciation. If you are able to help in this area, please contact us. (Such gifts are tax deductible.)

Matching Campaign

AiG has always emphasized the importance of a strong foundation: spiritually, theologically, in regards to the family, the church, and in all other areas of your life. And we know a strong foundation for a ministry to grow properly is also critical.

We consider every person, church, and foundation that has supported AiG–Canada this year to be part of what we call our “Founders Circle.” They are the people that were the first to step up and partner with us in our effort to launch the ministry in Canada and support our efforts both prayerfully and financially.

Our Founders Circle members will get special invitations to ministry updates, special offers, and inside information regarding our outreach efforts throughout the year, as well as a special mailed report showing the fruit of their partnership with us at year's end.

We would love for you to become a Founders Circle member by becoming a monthly gift-giver. And now you have an incredible opportunity that will match your gift dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000 in this foundational first year!

Once again we have had a staunch AiG–Canada partner step up and offer to match any donation to AiG–Canada dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000. That means your $25-a-month gift becomes a $300 yearly bonus to help AiG do outreach in Canada! Your $50-a-month gift secures an extra $600 simply by joining our Founders Circle by December 31 this year. So please take advantage of this amazing generosity by supporting us and enabling us to continue outreach to the Christian community here in Canada where it is so desperately needed.

I pray that you might partner with us by donating online and play a key role in this never-before-seen opportunity the Lord has provided to have a profound impact (a Gospel Reset revival) across our nation and around the world.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Calvin Smith
Executive Director and Speaker
Answers in Genesis–Canada