Mark MacKnight, MTS in Pentecostal Studies - Graduate, 2010

He and his wife Pam have two kids, Rachel and James, and both are in Bible College in Edmonton.

During a Sunday School class in Belleville, Mark prayed the sinner’s prayer. He was 8 years of age.

At the end of a Sunday morning service, after guest preacher Al Bowen had said that he felt there were some in the congregation who were called to full-time ministry, Mark responded and walked to the front of Ottawa Bethel. He was 13 years old.

After graduating from NorthWest Bible College, he served at Mississauga Gospel Temple with Fred Fulford, with Herb Barber at Calvary Temple in Winnipeg, then on to Morden, Manitoba, where he was senior pastor, then to Agincourt Pentecostal Church to work with Keith Smith. While pastoring this last assembly, he began his work with Master’s @ Tyndale. He was 40.

Similar to many of our students, who are in ministry or hold down other full-time jobs, Mark chipped away at the MTS in Pent Studies a bit each year. His goal was to finish before he was 50, or before the Lord returned.

He has been pastoring Christian Life Centre in Ajax for the last 7 years, but he has just resigned. This fall he begins a new chapter in ministry.
He is returning to his alma mater, now known as Vanguard, to be the Director of the School of Pastoral Leadership.

And Mark is only 49.

Dan Guther, MTS in Pentecostal Studies - Graduate, 2010

Dan is married to Kerri, and they are parents of Ben and Jenna.

Dan is serving as a supply preacher at a Presbyterian church and Kerri is working at Christian Missionary Alliance church, both in the Ottawa area.

Dan began his seminary program while pastoring in Musquodoboit Harbour in Nova Scotia. The first course he took was at the pentecostal camp ground in Debert, NS in 2001. I was preaching camp in the morning and teaching Dan and four others in the afternoon and evening.

Dan came to Christ at 15, after seeing the drama, Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames, at Bethel in Hamilton. His call to ministry came shortly after. He was at a Youth Convention in Western Ontario District when he felt a very direct sense of call to ministry.
After attending EPBC, he served a year as a volunteer in Sarnia with Pastor Bill Morrow. While a youth pastor in Charlottetown, he had a very distinct sense that he was not called to be a youth pastor.

What would follow would be 2 senior pastor positions in the Maritimes, and a growing conviction that God was calling him to further study.

No student of ours has travelled much farther than Dan. While I took some courses to the Maritimes, he commuted to Toronto for one-week intensives. This program has cost him time and money. But he has completed the work because his desire is to bring others to a better understanding of the Scriptures.

William Sloos, MTS in Pentecostal Studies - Graduate, 2010

William Sloos (MTS in Pentecostal Studies) is married to Renee. He is, as of Feb of this year, the senior pastor at Richmond Hill Pentecostal Church.
When 6 year old Will Sloos stepped out into the aisle to come to the front of the church to accept Jesus, his dad gave him the thumbs up.

When 17 year old Will Sloos stood in the gymnasium of the University of Waterloo, at a Western District Youth Convention, Jesus baptized him with the Spirit. It was at that moment the presence of God overwhelmed him and God called him to something greater.

So when he went to Bible College at EPBC, he did a 4 yr program in 3 yrs, because he didn’t want to waste time. God had called him.

He went to volunteer at Hi-way Pentecostal Church in Barrie as a youth worker. He determined to stay until they hired him. After one year, they did, and so he stayed for 7 more.

While serving as the pastor in Acton, he came to the conclusion that he needed to reconnect with his pentecostal roots, both historically and theologically.

So he came to Master’s Pentecostal Seminary @ Tyndale in 2007. And when Will heard me say in class that no one had bothered to look much at the history of our beginnings in Toronto, the Hebdens and the East End Mission, he decided to do something about it.

I am pleased to announce that Will’s original research into our beginnings in Toronto is being published in a future edition of Pneuma, a prestigious scholarly journal.

Dusan Kljaic, MTS in Pentecostal Studies - Graduate, 2010

By the way, Dusan is a 7th degree black belt in Karate, which makes him the one of the most powerful pentecostals on the planet.

Dusan called me in Dec 2006 and said he wanted to come to see me. It took him over 1.5 hours to get to the church by transit and he was early. He told me he had a dream to begin a seminary in his home country of Serbia. He wanted to attend seminary, but he thought he might be too old. Little did I know how far he had actually come to get to the seminary office.

Though raised by parents who were atheists in communist Yugoslavia, and brainwashed in school that there was no God, Dusan wondered if they were right. While serving his two years of mandatory military service in the Serbian militia, he was witnessed to a number of times by other soldiers. One day he prayed, “God if you exist, reveal yourself to me.” Returning home at the end of his term, he discovered his mother was attending a pentecostal church. It was a sign, and Dusan would soon meet Jesus.

Dusan would go on to study at a seminary in Croatia run by Peter Kuzmich, and then serve in missions work in Montenegro.
When the conflict in the Balkans broke out in 1991, he reported to the military conscription office in his hometown, and told them: “If you call me, I will come. But I am a priest and I will not kill.” They didn’t call him.

But Canada did. In 2002 he arrived in Toronto to pastor the Yugoslavian Pentecostal Church at Queensway Cathedral, and four years later he was sitting in my office.

Dusan had challenges – age really wasn’t the problem. The language challenge was huge. The first few classes didn’t go very well. I wondered if I should talk to him about quitting. But since he was a black belt in Karate, I decided to keep my thoughts to myself.
But Dusan was determined. He determined never to miss a class and never to be late for one. He never was. He worked construction to make ends meet. He persevered. Dusan is now one step closer to his dream.

Keith Jones, MTS in Christian Foundations - Graduate 2010

Keith Jones, graduate of MTS in Christian Foundations, with a minor in pentecostal studies.

Keith is married to Suzanne, and they have a 3 year old daughter, Maija-Liisa.

Keith was baptized as a Lutheran, but the family was not active in the church. So when depression took a hold of him in his high school years, his first inclination was not to turn to faith. He attempted to relieve his sense of despair through the party scene. His sister, all the while, was telling him about Jesus. One day, at 17, as the depression deepened and the despair broadened, he prayed: “God if you are real, show yourself to me.”
God showed Himself to Keith.

His early spiritual formation came at the Finnish Pentecostal Church on Bayview Ave in Toronto. After being involved as a youth leader there, he enrolled in Emmanuel Bible College in Kitchener to learn more about his faith.

He came to us while serving as Youth Pastor at Calvary Pentecostal Church in Lindsay. The desire to learn was still there. He chose Master’s @ Tyndale because of the opportunity to do graduate work and qualify for credentials.

While anticipating further opportunities in ministry, particularly in a church plant, he has decided to, in his words, “have a greater effect on his sphere of influence, that is, to love his neighbours.”

Carolyn Lawson - Graduate, 2009

Children’s Pastor at Evangel Church in Oshawa, Ontario

Carolyn grew up at Agincourt Pentecostal Church in Toronto, and as a high school student, knew that God was calling her into ministry. Her mother insisted that she get a university degree first, which Carolyn did, graduating from the University of Toronto with a B.Sc. in Integrative Biology. She then entered Tyndale Seminary – the natural route to follow, since seminaries were designed for the university undergraduate.

Her university years raised questions in her mind about her faith. Seminary was her opportunity to tackle them. About half way through, she transferred into the MTS in Pentecostal Studies program, a program that Master’s Seminary offers in conjunction with Tyndale. Carolyn told me that it was in this program that “pentecostal” became more than a label for her: being pentecostal has become part of her identity as a Christian, being pentecostal is forming how she is seeing ministry.

And her education has led to this resolve: She has determined to communicate the pentecostal message and experience to the next generation. We congratulate you Carolyn.

Veronique Trahan Moreau - Graduate, 2008

Graduate of the MTS in Pentecostal Studies program, 2008

Veronique is a preacher’s kid, who grew up in a French church in Northern Ontario. As a child, she felt a call to ministry. By the age of 12, Veronique was preaching Sunday evenings in the church where her Dad was the pastor.
While living in Timmins and serving in her church, Veronique completed an entire program of ministry preparation by correspondence through Institut Biblique du Québec. When she applied, and was accepted into Master’s Pentecostal Seminary, she became the first student to be accepted right out of our French Bible School.

Veronique enrolled in the MTS in Pentecostal Studies program, but one of the challenges that she faced was her desire to continue to live and pastor in Timmins while she attended seminary.

Here is how she did it: Veronique commuted to Toronto and Ottawa for one-week courses, and this past winter, she traveled to Toronto weekly. She did some subjects online, and Dr. Van Johnson, Dean of Master’s Pentecostal Seminary, arranged for others to be done as Directed Study so she could work on those from home. All the while, Veronique continued to serve in her pastoral duties—preaching, music, missions and youth. This past September, Veronique was married, becoming Mrs. Moreau.

Despite the challenges, Veronique was determined to finish her degree in two years. Why? Because the regional French university, Université de Hearst, had posted a job opening for a professor of religion for spring 2008. She could not apply without a Master’s degree.

Last April, Veronique graduated with her MTS in Pentecostal Studies and she walked into her first class as the new Professor of Religious Sciences at the university.

Veronique with her husband (left) and Dr. Van Johnson, Dean, Master's Pentecostal Seminary