Pernell & The Freeway

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with Pernell Goodyear, the planting pastor of The Freeway in Hamilton.

Pernell, who has a great blog here, is a great guy, full of vision and passion (the phrase "tightly-coiled spring" comes to mind), and a quick wit, who appreciates the finer things in life, like Guinness. We even met, appropriately enough, in an Irish pub in downtown Hamilton that reminded me of the King's Head in Winnipeg (ah, nostalgia!).

Our conversation bounced all over the map, but at one point, I asked Pernell what the biggest surprises were as they've led this church plant (for three and a half years), as part of their denomination, the Salvation Army of Canada.

"That it's actually working," was Pernell's immediate response, laughing. "I was ready to have it never grow beyond the few of us meeting in our living room, if that's the way it ended up." The Freeway has grown beyond Pernell's living room, as they put the finishing touches on the Freeway Cafe, right in the midst of downtown Hamilton.

One of the things that has really encouraged Pernell -- and me, once I heard the story -- was that the Salvation Army, as a denomination, is fully supporting this venture. Not just with endorsement, but with actual assistance in the funding of the project. The emphasis on justice and caring for the poor, which the Army has a well-deserved reputation for, is one of the main reasons that Pernell loves being a part of the Army. And the support he has gotten from the denomination to do something that is outside of the normal Army box has been generous and enabled them to focus on the community around them. We need more denominations and churches with this kind of attitude.

As we parted, we had a brief time of connection with a homeless man in the parking lot; somehow, that seemed the most appropriate way for our time to end.

Now, back to preparing for our next adventure. First of all, packing -- hardly a visionary activity in and of itself, but when seen in perspective of our continuing 21-year ministry journey, it takes on greater significance.