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Introducing Pastors Garrett & Abi Markham! 

This past Sunday we had the joy of announcing the addition of Garrett & Abi Markham as our new Family Ministries Pastors. Today I want them to introduce a little more about themselves to you. Before you read their note to you, some may wonder "how does a search process for pastoral staff go?" It's a good question and we have sought to keep you informed through the search in the details and updates we shared with you in the July 12th and August 9th e-bulletins. I'm happy to summarize the journey: 

  • Prayer. The process has been covered in prayer, at all levels of our organization and church. Thank you for praying! 
  • Input & Priorities. Upon learning of Pastor Trevor's new call to ministry in Edmonton, our leadership began gathering input and determining the qualities, characteristics, and giftings to prioritize seeking in the ideal candidate. We sought the input of our Leadership Council, Pastoral Staff, Pastor Trevor, as well as two Consultants and also welcomed any contributions parents, volunteers, and kids might have to offer. All of this helped to form a profile of an ideal candidate and influenced the direction of our search.
  • Recruitment. We created a short-list of candidates that we felt best matched the profile we were in search of and began reaching out to see who may be open to prayerfully exploring dialogue about a potential ministry role at CPC. We were quite thrilled with the level of openness and curiosity we found. 
  • Discernment. While on one hand this is a staff search that involves practical steps, it is also (or more of a) discernment process. And through the myriad of conversations, meetings, interviews, reference calls, all of which are covered in ongoing prayer, a sense of God's clear leading begins to emerge. This is important, because in a pastoral search we don't want to just simply hire someone, we want to discern who God is calling to our church. 

In the same way that our process was prayerful, thoughtful, and involved the input of many voices, Pastors Garrett & Abi's journey was also prayerful, thoughtful and involved the input of many voices in their lives. It became clear to us and to them that God had been preparing them for this call to serve in Family Ministries here in Comox. We are thrilled! In our journey with Garrett and Abi over the last several months many things stood out to us about them including their heart for young people, their solid character and reputation, their evident giftedness, their ministry dna, and their genuine passion for Jesus. 

Although Garrett, Abi and Charlie will move to Comox in early November, we are looking forward to introducing them to you in person on Thanksgiving Sunday when Abi will join Laura in leading worship and Garrett will preach. 

I know you will open your hearts to them and help to welcome them warmly. Please join us in praying for peace in the midst of transition (goodbyes are always hard!), strength in wrapping up ministry and packing up life and preparing to move, and for housing for them here in the Comox Valley. 

Thank you,
Pastor Mike 
 
Hi! We’re Garrett, Abi & Charlotte Markham! We’re so excited to be joining the team at CPC soon!

A little bit about us, we’re both originally from Ontario, and moved to BC to attend Summit Pacific Bible College. We met at college, and the rest is history! We got married in 2021, and welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world in December 2023.

For the past 6 years we’ve been serving at Christian Life Assembly, first as volunteers, and eventually as staff. Garrett served as the Youth Pastor, and Abi as the Worship Pastor. We’ve been at the Maple Ridge campus of CLA for almost our entire adult lives, and all of our relationship. We love the next generation, and felt God calling is to step into something new.

We’re so excited to serve you in Family Ministries! We believe that children are precious to Jesus, and can come into his presence with the same authority that we can. We hope to give kids the chance to encounter Jesus, no matter their age. And, we hope to equip parents to be the primary spiritual influence in the lives of their children.

We can’t wait to meet you all! See you very soon!