2023 Speakers

Colin Brewster head shot image

Colin Brewster

Teaching Pastor at Trinity Grace Church, Toronto

Colin Brewster has been teaching English to non-native speakers for over 40 years. He began teaching in Turkey, continued in North West China, and for the past 20 years, he has taught Communications and English as a Second Language in community colleges in Toronto. Colin is also involved in the ESL outreach of Trinity Grace Church, Toronto where he enjoys developing and testing different teaching tools and materials for church-based ESL programs.

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Miriam Charter, PhD

Speaker and Mission Practitioner

Living in Calgary, Miriam is a mission practitioner, speaker, and mobilizer called to the nations. She invested 15 years in the underground church in communist Europe and the early post-Communist era church in Russia. She studies transition from one culture to another and is committed to helping newcomers think about culture, understand Canadian culture, and better understand their own culture.

Sandy Howell

More information coming soon

Coming soon

Rick Love head shot

Rick Love

Pastor of Intercultural Ministries, Foothills Alliance Church, Calgary

Rick and his wife Patti started Love New Canadians, a ministry that has worked with more than 400 churches and ministries in 8 provinces across Canada to help them develop pathways to Jesus for immigrants in their neighbourhood.

Nasser Mahamud

Manager of Refugee Inclusion, Palm, Edmonton

Born in Ethiopia to a Muslim Somali family, Nasser ran away from his home country during a civil war and lived in refugee camps in Djibouti, Somalia and Italy (where he married). He moved to Canada in 1992. They have four grandchildren. He entered full-time ministry with Palm in 2003.

Dr. Tom McCormick

PhD, Intercultural Studies

Mission theorist and practitioner with over 50 years of experience in cross-cultural seniors ministry.

Information coming soon!

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Tim Nielson

Senior Pastor, City Church Winnipeg

Former director of Intertribal Christian Communications, an Indigenous Literature Ministry, in 2008 he was the lead church planter of City Church of Winnipeg, an intercultural church. In 2017 he spearheaded the establishment of Naomi House, a home for newly arriving refugees and a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) with the Canadian government. They have six adult children and seven grandchildren.

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Brian Seim, PhD (cand)

Missiologist and Mission Practitioner

Brian and Sally have worked with newcomers to Canada since 1980. Seim is the author of “Canada’s New Harvest – Helping Churches Touch Newcomers” “Moved with Compassion,” Mixing Colours Without Making Them Run and “Urban Mission Toolbox – Methods and Ministries for an Increasingly Urban World.”

Alison Witt

Church Engagement Coordinator, International Association for Refugees Canada (IAFR Canada)

Check back for more information soon!

Noral Woodburn head shot image

Noral Woodburn

Cross Cultural Pastor, BP Church, Calgary

Born in England, Noral immigrated to London Ontario at 6. He serves with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Noral has a passion for New Canadians, Canada’s First Nations and visible minorities to be transformed through a relationship with God. He is the Cross-cultural Pastor at BP Church in Calgary and Executive Director of Agape Language Centre, showing the love of Jesus while teaching English. He dreams of the day when every tribe, language, people and nation will worship God as one. Noral has been married to the love of his life for over 35 years, and together the couple have raised two boys, Tristan and Taylor.

Joannie Yu

Older Adults Services / Abundant Life Institute Manager, Gibson Centre Markham

More information coming soon!