Sidewalk Skyline Podcast

Charles Hermelink brought this message at the Our City Windsor 2025 conference. In it he looks at how God is at work with the movement of people around the world and especially the relevance for us in Canada. Charles serves as the New Worker On-boarding and Development Specialist, and Coordinator for Mission Canada’s Cultural Language Groups. His focus is to mobilize new workers and strategically...

At 87 years of age, Maury continues to be filled with light and hope. From recounting the horrible child abuse he suffered to the overflowing joy of his journey with Jesus, we leaned forward to soak up the wisdom. Maury continues to have daily conversations with people in his community to tell them about his hope.

Today I am having a conversation with Richard Magnussen who last year released his memoir ‘Going Big: Lessons On Success In Business, Life And Faith.’ From the early years growing up in an immigrant family and building a productive life in Kitchener to becoming one of Canada’s big business success stories, Richard was able to remain focused on what was most important. His stories are worth hearing...

Kevin Mast has served as pastor of Hope City Church in Barrie, Ontario for all of its 12 years. It has grown to a family of ministries making a difference for the street-affiliated and marginalized of their city. Kevin and I reminisce about my visit a few years ago and how urban ministry always involves shifts and upheavals.

As we approach Canada’s federal election with political fever running high, I interviewed Tim Schindel to talk about the spiritual realities we hold onto, regardless of how the country votes. Tim Schindel is a visionary leader and strategic influencer dedicated to equipping and supporting leaders in Canada’s political and business communities. As the Founder and National Director of Leading Influe...

Diversity, equity and inclusion are all Christian virtues, but they can be disguised as PCIE - Pressured Conformity, Inequity and Exclusion. That can happen easily inside or outside of the Church, but the Church cannot afford to conflate virtue with political pragmatism. The prophetic Church does the quiet work of diversity, equity and inclusion without press releases. On today’s episode I have a...

Today I am having a conversation with Peter Ochs and Steve Fox. We are going to have a conversation about Peter’s creative response to helping prisoners get established in a new life. Peter Ochs is a lifelong faith-driven entrepreneur. His 30-year journey has been dedicated to building prosperous businesses God’s way. Pete’s life mission is to inspire and equip business leaders worldwide to live w...

In Elizabeth Oldfield’s book ‘Fully Alive’, she wrote, “ For most of the week, my value is in what I produce and what I consume. If I’m not careful my main goal in a day becomes impressive and competent, subtly signalling my status with the things I buy, say and post. Sabbath is the opposite. It is a line in the sand. Today I am just a person, and a person is beyond price. Sabbath is about valuing...

Michael Difazio and Lisa Shurrock were two young, successful entrepreneurs in Windsor Ontario. As they fell in love, they did not realize how God would appear in their lives to disrupt business as usual and surprise them with miracles. Here’s my interview as they share the lessons they’re learning about trusting God with everything.

After a couple years working in Mission Canada with Street Level Advocacy (Peterborough), Leigh-Ann Davidson felt the call to launch new initiatives in Cobourg, Ontario. Along the way, her biggest supporter (who happened to be her husband Thomas) joined in her efforts in reaching out to the street-affiliated and homeless population in the small city of Cobourg. Together they are ‘Hope And Light Ur...

Joe Ritchie grew up with a history of trauma and abuse that nearly killed him. At age fifteen he was in a car accident that left him quadriplegic and without hope. After three times of dying and being resuscitated, it would be a vision of Jesus that would change his life trajectory. Today Joe serves as part of the pastoral team at Windsor’s New Song Church. Listen as he shares transparently about...

Alan Roxburgh is a pastor, teacher, writer and podcaster with more than thirty years’ experience in church leadership, consulting and seminary education. I first heard of him through my friend Karen Reed who will be co-hosting our conversation today. Karen has been a past guest on the podcast and is very much entrenched in a life of loving her neighbours, a true example of intentional community bu...

Today, I’m talking with Doctor Meera Grover who works in Calgary, Alberta extensively in the field of addiction medicine. Working in Vancouver’s notorious downtown eastside to pay for her theological education at Regent College, Meera Grover was faced with questions about whether or not providing people who use drugs with sterile supplies and a place to inject contravened her faith. She knew she w...

Bob Gal has been an iconic figure in my life for 40 years. From my first recollections of his speaking at youth retreats and leading street ministry outreaches, he has been a man that has followed the cloud by day and fire by night. He and his lifelong sweetheart Karen live in Edmonton, Alberta where he serves as our oldest Mission Canada urban worker at the age of 74. Today I want to hear Bob’s r...

Tim Fletcher is the Founder and President of RE/ACT (Recovery Education for Addictions and Complex Trauma). He used his skills as a pastor and counsellor to develop a program to help the people he cared for overcome addiction. He realized the need for individuals to first become equipped with tools, and then put those tools into practice in a healthy, safe and loving environment - and herein lies...

Timothy Meisenheimer has spent decades on the streets with beatitude vision, first in Ottawa and now in Windsor, Ontario. This was his session at the Our City Windsor 2024 conference. Tim takes seriously the path of Jesus in his sidewalk vision of the Kingdom of God.

12 The word of God is alive and active. It is sharper than any sword that has two edges. It cuts deep enough to separate soul from spirit. It can separate bones from joints. It judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart. 13 Nothing God created is hidden from him. His eyes see everything. He will hold us responsible for everything we do.

How receptive are Canadians to the Christian message? Brian Egert is the director of Mission Canada, an agency that has over 50 workers across Canada to reach beyond the church walls. This episode features a plenary session at the Our City Windsor conference in March 2024.

This is part two of my interview with Maury Blair as we revisit his traumatized childhood in Paris Ontario and the journey to wholeness through coming to faith in Christ.

Years ago I read Maury Blair’s autobiography ‘Child Of Woe’. I was shocked at the severity of the child abuse he suffered from his step-father. How could a man be so filled with contempt for an innocent child and more miraculously, how could a child of violence grow up to be so compassionate and well-balanced? In this episode I visited Maury at his kitchen table in Cambridge, Ontario as we revisit...

(Recorded at Our City Windsor 2024) No one is exempt from the impacts of grief and loss. When serving others in community it is imperative that we learn to recognize when and how their grief is showing up. However, it is just as important to learn how our own grief impacts our ability to serve others. Kim Court and her husband Mike Morency help participants better understand grief and provide tips...

Bobby Reaume is the lead operator with Feeding Windsor-Essex’s Soup Shack. Every night from 7-9 pm he ensures that up to 140 people are served with food, snacks, clothing and personal care items. The food is prepared in the kitchens of Feeding Windsor-Essex, a charitable department of New Song Church. This interview at the Our City Windsor 2024 Conference is filled with stories of hope and the con...

Connie Jakab is planting a church at a new housing initiative in the Ogden neighbourhood of Calgary. As a long time community energizer, Connie has built an enduring presence in Calgary through her work within the arts community, mental health and business sector. Now her attention has turned to the neighbourhood she lives and grew up in. Ogden Church meets in the common room of a housing developm...

John Longhurst's journalistic reflections provoke thought and questions about faith, inviting readers to think beyond their own religions, theologies, and denominations. Why do people believe what they do? What might we learn from each other's acts of faith? John Longhurst is the recipient of the 2021 Lieutenant-Governor's Award for the Advancement of Inter-religious Understanding in Manitoba. He...

Karen Stiller is the senior editor for Faith Today magazine and has written for Reader’s Digest, Ekstasis, The Walrus and Christianity Today. She is the author of The Minister’s Wife and co-author on other books. She also lives in downtown Ottawa where life has shaped the writing of her most recent book entitled ‘ Holiness Here: Searching For God in the Ordinary Events of Everyday Life’.