Lead Pastor Update
Jeremy Norton, Lead Pastor Quarterly Report
The Past 3 Months (Summer 2026)
Mountainview has had a great summer! Our Questions & Answers series ran through the summer months, working through some of the toughest questions our culture throws at us, like whether we can trust the Bible, the value of human life, sexuality and identity, faith and politics, and medical assistance in dying, to name a few. In the middle of our series, the Northwest Seminary President, Barton Priebe, joined us for a Q&A session on absolute truth. We also celebrated several baptisms over the summer. In September, we launched into our Idols series, uncovering areas of misplaced worship in our lives. This series will carry us into the fall.
The big milestone for this quarter is on the property front. At our Special General Meeting on July 23, our covenant membership voted to move ahead with purchasing a potential site for our future church building. Our architects from RAW Design joined us for the meeting. Thank you for the thoughtful questions and the unity witnessed that night!
The Building Team has been preparing the offer and working through due diligence, including legal review, ever since. I've continued to communicate with RAW Design as we plan for a congregational survey. The Range Road property project is moving along as well, with the rezoning process continuing alongside 3Pikas and ongoing conversations with the Government of Yukon. Both files are moving slowly but surely, as we trust God with the timing.
Our three Board Mission-Vision Goals for 2026 continued to move forward. (1) The Connect Lunch continues every couple of months, with over 20 attendees in September. We've also (2) continued our partnership with Kruse and Associates for our counselling pathway. (3) Our apprenticeship and mentorship programs relaunched as planned this September.
Chad Bark is our newest Pastoral/Chaplain Apprentice, already hitting the books and serving faithfully. And we have 11 mentees this year. Typically, the age bracket is 18 to 25, but this year we had several requests above that range, so we opened it up! Our 2026 mentees are Aaron Perrott, Amelia Knight, Anjali Rawat, Barbara Perrott, Colby Knight, Jealyn Minguito, Loammi Antigua, Logan Ness, Maggie Leary, Mandi Driedger, and Sandeep Singh.
We said goodbye to Long Nguyen as our Video Tech, who moved home to Vietnam at the end of July. In August, Erolyn Benitez moved on from Junior Youth Lead over to Northern Collective Church with her new husband, Brett. Noah McArthur finished his Canada Summer Jobs placement in August and continues serving on our tech team, filling Long's shoes nicely! And we're thankful for several new ministry leaders this fall. Reuben Kikkert has stepped into leading our Senior Youth ministry, Loammi Antigua and Anjali Rawat are co-leading Outreach, and Colby and Amelia Knight are leading Junior Youth. Helen Smith made the move from Outreach over to Missions, and she'll keep us in the loop on what's happening in the field this coming year.
In early August, I led breakout sessions at the Fusion Youth Conference in Anchorage on "Authentic vs. Synthetic," helping teens think about AI through the lens of God's design. It was a huge success, with positive feedback from students and youth workers. Then in September, we hosted an interdenominational launch event for InterVarsity, with hopes of a campus ministry at Yukon University. Two students showed interest, but so far nothing seems to be moving forward. We're praying for more interest and clear next steps for the InterVarsity launch at Yukon University.
On the administrative side, I worked with Kim, our Office Administrator, to roll out Google Workspace for our Ministry Team and Board. The hope is that this Google suite will consolidate our communication and limit emails and text messages in the future.
Outside of my pastoral ministry, I've kept up with my writing and the Lead Biblically platform, including the blog, YouTube, podcast, and other projects. I've also chipped away at our family YouTube channel, The Yukon Boys, when I have time. On September 1st, I dropped off our oldest, Jude, at college in Three Hills, Alberta. It was a good trip but a hard trip. We're adjusting to a quieter house, and we miss him.
The Next 3 Months (Fall 2026)
Our Idols series that started in September runs through the end of October, discovering the ways we drift to validate our identity, security and belonging; including relationships, children, work, platform, creation, possessions, and pleasure. The series concludes on October 25 with The Idol of Idols, focused on persona-centred worship.
Moving into November, we begin a four-week series on Jonah, with Pastor Herber launching the series. By the end of November, believe it or not, we’ll be launching our Advent series! The Story of Advent will take us through to Christmas Eve with the traditional themes of hope, peace, joy and love, ending the year with our annual Sabbath Sunday on December 27, via video for home gatherings.
On the property front, we'll keep working through due diligence and zoning for 2086 2nd Avenue, along with the Range Road rezoning. RAW Design is helping us prepare a congregational survey to shape early planning, and I'll be handling our communication with them. We'll update the membership as we reach each milestone.
Our 2026 Board Mission-Vision Goals will keep moving forward. Our next counselling visit with Kruse and Associates is planned for October, the next Connect Lunch is November 22, and I'll be facilitating a full-day Next Steps Discipleship Workshop on November 21.
Looking ahead to January 2027, I'm planning a half-day workshop on AI for parents and adults, building on the successful student breakout sessions that I facilitated at the Fusion Youth Conference. We'll also prepare the 2027 budget for the Board and membership at our November Board Meeting.
This quarter includes some travel for our family. A few members of our ministry team will be heading to Echo Ranch Bible Camp for the Haines Ministry Leader Retreat from October 5 to 9. Then our family will be travelling east at the end of October. The boys will spend a week with my parents, as Nicole and I travel on to New Hampshire to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Following that week, I'll be attending the Fellowship National Conference in Toronto, while Nicole meets up with the boys.
Prayer Requests & Closing Remarks
More than anything this quarter, I'm thankful for the faithfulness of our leadership and you, our congregation. As we look ahead to 2027 and continue to plan for a new building, may Psalm 127 guide us: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Ps. 127:1) We want to complete our work with open hands, trusting that He's at the forefront of every decision and project.
For our prayer warriors, here’s this quarter’s list:
Wisdom and favour as we finalize the offer, due diligence, and rezoning for our two properties.
Hearts open to Jesus through the Fall teaching series, and fruit in the lives of those baptized.
Growth for Connect Lunch, counselling pathway, Next Steps, mentorship and apprenticeship.
Encouragement and clear direction for our new ministry leaders as they step into their roles.
Clear next steps for the InterVarsity launch at Yukon University, and more student interest.
Safe travel, rest and renewal for our family as we travel east.
Strength and health for Jude as he finishes out his first semester.
Thank you for the privilege of serving as your pastor.
Peace,
Jeremy Norton, Lead Pastor
Mountainview Church, Whitehorse, YT