Barry Pendergast developed this draft and supplied it twice to Pastor Cumberlin, first in April 2003 and last in August 2003. The letter was never sent despite 20 couple identified as being in trouble. The Retreat left Barry & Jennifer with mixed feelings. Over the years they had taken a major interest in marriage well-being at South Calgary and had successfully led the Alpha Marriage Course twice. Yet the retreat was organized with no reference to the work being currently carried out. It seemed the retreat was an excuse to bring in a professor - Dr. Langston Haygood , Pastor Wallace had had at Beeson College, Samford University for his Ph.d ministry course. Dr Langston Haygood did an excellent job but was surprised he had not been informed that The Pendergasts were involved in ongoing marriage ministry at South Calgary. It was the start of some frustrations they tried to deal with in their letter to Kevin Phillips, the Chairman of the Elders on 22nd August 2003. A letter that would lead to their first excommunication.

To all of you who attended the “A Lasting Promise” retreat last weekend wasn’t it an incredible weekend for all of us as couples. Dr. Langston Haywood was able to share his incredible insights into marriage with experience, knowledge and humour. Being in the beauty of God’s world with mountain scenery, great accommodation and the fellowship completed a memorable weekend.

Even though you have returned to the hustle and bustle of normal life I trust you have been able to implement some of the lessons learnt into your own marriage. As Dr. Haywood suggested sometimes this requires tackling issues one at a time as you progressively strengthen your relationship and proof it against future challenges. It takes time and effort yet the rewards of an improved relationship have an over overwhelmingly beneficial impact in our lives and those we love.

However we have to face the stark reality of marriage statistics on divorce and the great sadness and long term hurt they cause the couple, children and other family members and friends. Few aspects of our lives are more damaging than marital breakdown. How can we all work together towards long term solutions that strengthen our relationships? How can we be a model to our children, family and friends?

South Calgary Community Church is committed to following up on the retreat - making marital relations and family issues a major focus in the future. We want to provide ways to encourage the investment of time and study to strengthen and make relationships strong - make them examples to others.

We are building up our resources of information, education and counseling services.
Over the next few months we are planning a series of seminars on issue such as

• communication
• parenting, ,bullying,
• CPR,
• grief
• sex,
• finances

In the fall we will resume our Marriage Course for the third time. We are exploring taking the course to a venue where we can accommodate a larger group and attract couples from the community to attend.

We also plan to build up an ongoing data bank of articles that provide solutions and success stories - if you see something of interest or are willing to share your own success story please let us know.

lastly we are looking for other couples who share a passion for wanting to help in this important ministry.