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| the John Sleeman mansion |
I
will grant you, it's a stretch. Jack and Sharon and their ministry colleagues
are teaching, sharing, singing, and being gospel, good news, in the most likely
of places. If you have been following the past two articles about this, here's
a recap with further details to make your mouths drop open. The Manor in Guelph, Ontario is promoted as Canada’s premier Gentleman’s
Club located just 40 miles west of Toronto. The Manor is self-touted as one of
Ontario’s most elegant strip clubs and it is located in the historic John
Sleeman Mansion built in 1896. In this exceptional building with elegant decor,
signature VIP Room and Bottle Service Lounge, beautiful dancers serve and
entertain patrons at almost all hours of a work week. But for a few hours on
Sunday afternoons the interior is transformed and the emphasis and message and
music is changed in ways that seem to be incompatible.
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| The Manor Gentlemen’s Club |
How
can there possibly be any harmony, any congruence between liquor excesses and
lifestyles that are endorsed in this facility and the three hour truncated
gospel communication. Well none at all. That's the astoundingly dramatic impact
of the Church at the Manor. That's why it is working. The contrasts are so
vivid that for people whose lives have been screwed up by bad decisions,
addictions, violence and abuse, the authentic loving welcoming news
demonstrated in real, live people is not lost. It's more real than anything
they have ever experienced in the name of Christianity or Christ. Faith becomes
a viable option. Jesus Christ becomes a sustainable Saviour. Jack and Sharon
Ninaber and friends put food in people's stomachs, redemptive seed thoughts in
their minds and contagious love into embraces and sincere conversations. Does
it get any better than that? Only as some of the seekers become believers and
then are baptized and become disciples of Christ and that is already happening.
The question might be asked, "then shouldn't those new converts leave such
a place?" It's probably the wrong question. Rather, "now that you have trusted in
Jesus and you sense your freedom and strength and you see the changes happening in your attitudes, conduct and choices and
family life, don't you want to share that with a few other people?"
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