Ministry Spotlight: Prime Time | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Trinity Talks.

Or as we were just saying right now, it's showtime with Primetime.

All right.

I'm excited to have Diane and Gary and Judy joining me today for the conversation.

And you are all members of the ministry here that we call Primetime.

So I was wondering, Gary, first of all, could you tell me who Primetime is for?

Well, yes.

Now, I often hesitate to put an age factor in the answer to your question.

You know, sometimes I'll get cute about it.

And I may say to some people, if you're collecting OAS and CPP, you can come out to Primetime.

Now, if they ask me what those initials stand for, I say you cannot come out to Primetime.

Okay?

I love it.

Anyway, some people might associate Primetime with people who retire.

And we know that some people retire early.

And we also know that some will continue working beyond their retirement years.

So I would say that if anyone's listening to this broadcast, I would just say, if there's

anything I'm saying right now that resonates with you, then come on out and see if that

two hours on a Thursday afternoon is right for you.

I love that.

Okay, which is great segue into this conversation because we're going to be talking all about

what Primetime is, what your experiences have been in it so far, and what is also to come.

So I'm looking forward to that conversation.

However, in true to Trinity Talks fashion, we're going to play a little game first.

And it's going to be about fruit.

So before I explain the game, could each of you just tell me maybe what your favorite

fruit is?

That's hard because I like watermelon and strawberries.

Watermelon and strawberries.

Sounds good.

Well, given my age, I like elderberries.

Oh, you never had one.

Yes, really.

I would groom in our backyard.

Is this a joke where you actually do like the elderberries?

Yes, elderberry pie is perfect.

Okay.

All right.

That's the first answer on this show for this question.

Your turn.

I would say raspberries.

Okay, all right.

Well, thank you very much, everybody.

Now, in front of you, you will see that you have a clipboard.

And on that clipboard, you have two fruit-based idioms, and it's just like fruit sayings that

are common, I believe, and they all have a fruit in them.

I'd like you to choose one.

So here's just some choice for you.

And using the markers beside you, you're just going to draw that idiom.

And we are going to see if your fellow interviewees can guess what you are drawing.

So I'm going to give you about a minute to draw one, and then we'll see.

Feel free to move your mics out of the way if you need to.

You have everybody here has been given a rainbow of colors, including black and brown, to make

sure that there is a nice equitable assortment of colors for everybody.

So really, there's no excuses not to have a beautiful picture here.

And the reason for those of you who may be joining us just now that we are talking about

fruit is because during our recent sermon series, we've been walking through the fruits

of the spirit, as they are described in Galatians.

And we are also having some fun and doing some fruit-based activities and recipes and

games alongside that to keep it more exciting.

So I see that Judy and Gary are using red.

Diane looks like maybe some brown over there and some yellow.

And they are deep in thought and deep artists.

So maybe what I'm just thinking is for the next primetime event, we could definitely

see some art in the future because there's some talent going on over here.

And I'm going to give you a countdown, everybody, of 10.

And we're going to wrap it up.

So we'll just count down from 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

That's for Judy.

I'm counting slowly.

And one, perfect.

All right.

So because Diane seemed to finish first, Diane, could you just turn your paper around and

see if your contestants, I'm calling you contestants now, can guess what your fruit idiom is?

A banana on top.

A banana on top.

Oh, ice cream or what's the phrase?

Sunday with a...

So I think Gary was pretty close there.

So you're the...

I don't know.

You're the cream of the crop.

You're the...

Not the bottom.

You're the top what?

The top banana?

The top banana.

All right.

You said a banana on top.

Pretty good.

That's actually pretty good.

Excellent.

Some of these were easier than others, by the way.

All right.

So I think Gary, you finish second.

So let's see what you've got going here.

This is what I've got here.

Everybody see that?

It's making me a little bit hungry.

Well, that does look like the ice cream with the cherry on top or the banana split.

Not the...

With a cherry on top.

Sunday.

With a cherry on top.

Cherry on top.

Very good.

Beautiful.

Well done.

The talent is just radiating.

Oh my gosh.

With a cherry on top.

I love it.

I always did really, really poorly in school with drawing.

Okay.

It's time to...

Yeah.

It's time to make a comeback.

The apple of your eye.

Oh, good for you.

Show it to the camera, Judy.

Hold it up there.

The apple of my...

With eyelashes and everything.

If I didn't get those eyelashes in at the end.

I know.

I know that.

It's a very easy one.

That's right.

That's right.

Oh my gosh.

Oh, that's fun.

That was fun.

So thank you.

You're great sports.

Oh.

And it's been a pleasure just getting to know you a little bit in the chairs here, but

maybe for the rest of us who are listening in, could you just take a moment maybe to tell

us a little bit about yourselves and maybe a bit about your experience here at Trinity

Church.

Diane.

Well, Dave and I started coming to Trinity 36 years ago.

Okay.

When we moved from having lived in Australia for six years.

And we...

This was the first church we came to.

We thought we'd go to others, but we never left.

And it was the beginning of Harold Percy's ministry here.

Okay.

And we got acquainted and he found out a bit about my background.

I had been a part of a, on a very large Episcopal church in Pasadena, California.

I was on staff and charge of the children's ministry for 10 years.

And so he wanted to get some things going here.

And I started helping with children's ministry, leading that and then organizing some parish

events and decided that I could be hired and be a part of the staff.

So I kind of became the director of programming and parish life.

And I did that for 24 years.

Wow.

Wow.

And my responsibilities were involved in meeting newcomers and helping them get involved

in the church and getting assimilated and planning at a parish life committee that planned

events, usually monthly events where we would get together for different social activities

and parties and all kinds of different things to just kind of help people build community

and get acquainted with people.

That's great.

And so there were numerous other things involved in that position.

And I also started the ESL program here.

And so I retired 12 years ago and started getting more involved in ESL, teaching the

classes and organizing that and leading some community Bible study, which we have hosted

here at Trinity for many years.

The CBS is the best.

The CBS.

That's right.

And then, oh, and it was 2017, we had a new pastor come and new staff members.

And we thought it would be a good idea to get our seniors together.

I kind of came to the conclusion, yeah, I guess I am a senior now.

And there are other people like me and we knew each other, but we hadn't really had

opportunity to gather together.

So I organized an event and we wanted to have an opportunity for the new pastor and staff

to get to know each other with the seniors.

And it was so well received.

They decided we ought to keep doing this.

And was that the birth of prime time?

Yeah, it was the birth of prime time.

It took us a couple of years to come up with a name.

I love it.

It's a good name.

That's how we started.

That's amazing.

Thank you, Jay-Ann.

Wonderful.

And what about you, Gary?

Well, Ann and I, my wife Ann and I, we have been attending Trinity for a total of 23 years.

Now, we were here for 20 years and then we left RATE and then came back for the last

three.

But over those years, I've been involved in a number of different things from table leading

at various events and greeting, if you will, the very beginning days.

But early on, I got involved with life groups and I really enjoyed that.

And so I've been leading life groups, perhaps maybe for the better part of the last 28 years

or so, you know, in total, the other churches and with Trinity.

And so there were times when Harold might have been without an associate.

And so he would ask me to oversee the entire life group ministry, you know, which I did.

And also another part of what I did, I got involved with international outreach.

And so back in, I guess around 1999, a long time ago, now I got involved with a number

of people here, including Diane and Dave and Harold and I think also a few other people.

And then we got involved with Honduras.

And so I led teams to Honduras for about seven or eight years.

And I think we finished off with a couple of trips to the Dominican Republic as well,

you know, building homes, usually building homes, right?

You know, so.

And so more recently, I guess today, I'm, I was, say I'm a mentor.

I am part of the Life Group Steering Committee.

So I participate in that.

And I've also been a coach over the years as well for other life group leaders.

And after this morning's service, I'll be going downstairs to be a mentor for two of

our camp leaders as well.

Wonderful.

All right.

So busy and active.

Yep.

Very much so.

Love that.

Thank you.

And how about you, Judy?

Well, I don't do nearly or haven't done nearly as much as Diane or Gary.

I've been here for 17 years or so.

And I started out in the nursery a bit and helping a bit with the camp before it got as huge

as it is now.

Nice.

I do belong to a small group, which I really like.

I guess I've only been doing primetime now for a year and a bit or so.

I'm not sure exactly.

And then now I do more on Sunday, either ushering or serving communion or at the prayer flag.

Wow.

Yeah, thank you.

That's great.

That's wonderful.

So maybe just in a moment or two, you could just share with me a sentence about what it

is that you love about this particular church community.

So Judy, how would you say you enjoy the church?

What do you enjoy?

Well, I enjoy the friendliness of the people and all the different choices there are of

things to do.

There's never a lack of a need for volunteers for things.

That's true.

But, and I really like that if I can't come to church, I can watch it either live or see

it later, that that's been a real boost to a lot of people, I think.

Yes.

That part, that would be my favorite.

Absolutely.

One of those beautiful things looking for COVID.

But I love the Sunday services.

Excellent.

Thanks, Judy.

How about you, Diane?

Is there something that you love about the community here at the church?

Oh, it's the people.

It's the people.

Just having gotten acquainted with so many people over the years.

And what really is a delight to me is to see people that started coming about 30 years

ago, 30, 20 years ago, whatever, and they're now in leadership and doing all kinds of things.

And she's just really fun to see that.

And I think the spiritual, the teaching has just been continually strong and helping me

grow in my faith and all the abilities to use my spiritual gifts.

Nice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Gary, do you have anything to add there?

Yeah.

I think, years ago, when we first came to Trinity, I would have said it's the preaching

and the music.

That's what really got us in the door and kept us here for all the length of time we've

been here.

But answering the question now today, I would say perhaps it's Trinity's diversity of people.

Many different cultures and backgrounds.

And I really appreciate the number of volunteers that will only step up to make this church

run.

Absolutely.

And in many other churches, it's the old 2080 rule, type of thing.

20% of the people do 80% of the work.

That is not the case here at Trinity.

We have a tremendous number of volunteers who have stepped up.

And that resonates with me.

I really appreciate that.

And it challenges me at the same time too, by the way.

So I would say to people that we are what you would expect to see and have happen in

a church community here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So we're here really to talk about primetime.

So what is primetime?

We know Gary described who it's for, what types of sort of things you're looking for.

And if it resonates with you, you're welcome to come out.

But how would you describe primetime and what types of things do you do at primetime?

Diane?

Well, we've sort of developed a routine.

And we start out with about 15 minutes at a table, discussion, some kind of interactive

game discussion, whatever, so you can get acquainted with the people that you're sitting

with.

And then Gary does an interview with maybe one of our attendees.

It's not sprung on them.

So it's a planned interview?

It works with them.

It's a planned interview.

Or we have someone from the church staff that's involved in some other ministry come and just

talk a bit about it.

So we just got to get acquainted with each other a bit better.

I like that.

And then we do some singing.

And we always enjoy having different, usually, Nancy Gwynvon comes and plays piano and her

daughter Grace comes and helps lead the singing.

But we have had other people come in and do some singing with us.

It's usually old time hymns.

And then after that, we break and have a huge buffet of refreshments that people have brought

to share.

And we have refreshment time together.

And then we have our special speaker or special activity for the rest of the time.

And we close with like a five minute biblical reflection that Paul Fowler does for us very

brilliantly and it always kind of brings the whole afternoon together.

That sounds so nice.

I'm learning actually right now from you about this.

And I love the structure, but I also love the diversity that you include in there and

the community building that follows this definitely seems very well planned out.

And it sounds very interesting.

And I'm sure that since you've had many of these meetings, you all have some good memories

or maybe some good memories.

So maybe starting with Gary, could you share with us maybe a story or a memory that you

have from a past prime time?

In the two years that I've been part of prime time, the one memory that stands out for me

is was one of our guests.

His name was Dr. Ken Schonk.

And Dr. Schonk came out to talk to us about the importance of laughter and humor in our

lives.

And his talk, he brought into his talk a lot of science and statistical information around

the importance of it.

And he had a slideshow as well and presentation.

I would say in the hour long presentation he gave, everybody was chuckling, smiling and

laughing.

It was a lot of fun.

And I would say that particular event was super charged fun.

OK.

Yeah.

Wow.

Really good.

OK.

Excellent.

And what about you, Judy?

Do you have any memories?

There have been a couple.

The one was a female police officer.

And she came to talk to us about so many scams that have been around for a long time, especially

one's targeting seniors.

And Gary reminded us the other day that one of the thing or two of the things she said

not to carry in your wallet was your SIM card and your birth certificate, which I've never

carried my SIM card, but I always carry my birth certificate or a copy.

So it's good to learn these things.

And the other favorite, because we have him every year, is of course Paul Henderson talking

about his life and career, but especially about his walk with God and his love for God

and total dependency and thankfulness on what Jesus has done for us.

So that's probably our biggest draw.

OK.

That's him.

I love that.

But all three of those examples and speakers are all so diverse, so different, but all equally

interesting.

I like that.

And Diane, what about you?

One of the strong memories I have is one of the interviews Gary did with Rita Gunston.

And she was as one of our participants and just hearing a bit about her life.

And she's so delightful and funny, and that was just fun to get to know her.

Just get to know her.

Right.

Someone that you can see every week and then get to know them.

And past years, we had a Gab and Games event, and we broke up into different tables of different

games that were available and just played games together.

Well, that's fun.

That's great.

I would like that.

That was fun.

That's good.

So how are each of you specifically involved in primetime?

Do you have a leadership role?

Are you just a participant?

What's your roles, Diane?

I sort of function as the coordinator to kind of bring together, lead the planning group

and we meet together by Zoom once a month or at least the month before our event.

And we do planning and I work out an agenda.

And then Gary and I kind of co-lead when we gather together.

Nice.

All right.

And both of you, Gary.

Well, I guess I'm the one who hosts those Zoom meetings that we have.

And as Diane had mentioned earlier, during each of our events, we're trying to interview

one of our participants.

And so I have the pleasure of interviewing those people for either 10 to 15 minutes.

And people have been here for like 20 years or more that I'm interviewing.

And most people in the audience, they're hearing things they'd never heard before.

So it's really good part of our event and what I'm involved with as well.

I'm also the co-editor of a primetime newsletter that we just launched a number of few months

ago.

Okay.

A few months ago.

And Suresh Jacob, by the way, is the other co-editor.

He's brilliant.

He can make me look good.

So he's really good.

And so we launched that earlier this year.

And I think that basically, as Diane said, I will help her out in terms of maybe the

agenda while being upfront in front of the microphone as well for that.

So I would say that's perhaps maybe some of the duties that I have, if you will.

And together, we represent a think tank.

So when we get together on Zoom, we're thinking about how it's going to go, you know, type

of thing and who we should be maybe looking at next to invite out.

Because so we put a lot of thought into that, knowing who our audience is, you know, as

well.

Thank you.

And Judy.

Well, oddly enough, I'm the one in the kitchen, but I'm the person who is least likely to

be in the kitchen at home.

But since I don't have to cook, it's fine.

Right.

So usually there's some other volunteers and they come and make a lot of coffee and tea.

And we put out the tables in the hall for people to self serve.

So that's a lot of coffee and tea and water and coffee cups.

And then we usually have about two tables of snacks that people have that we have snack

time after a while.

And those tables are just full of goodies that people bring.

And quite often there's enough that people get to take some home in snack bags.

So it works for both of us.

Because you get this sort of.

Yeah.

And then there's a cleanup at the end.

So I'm always looking around for helpers.

But usually people will show up even at the last minute.

I know like Diane's got to buy a lot of strawberries this week.

And so all of us will probably be cleaning strawberries as well as other things on Thursday.

Oh, that's fine.

We're going to talk about that in just a little bit.

Oh, I can imagine actually.

So what's the value?

Maybe Gary, you could answer this in a group such as Primetime that a church having this

type of ministry value.

Do you see?

Well, you know, I think it's all about keeping the community connected.

And in fact, that is our tagline.

We use that on all of our communication, keeping the community connected.

And it's the Primetime community I'm referring to, of course.

Primetime is also known for its outreach as well.

We have many of our members who will bring occasionally friends with them.

Some of these friends have never been in a church before.

Others have belonged to another church, but may not have something like what we're offering

here at Trinity.

You know, so I think it's a bit of an outreach for us as well.

And you know, the other thing is this, Trinity is an intergenerational church with programs

and events for everyone.

Many of our Primetime members helped build the church we're in today.

And so Primetime is a way of saying to them, you're not forgotten.

We love you.

And now let's have some fun together.

Great.

And by the way, if anyone doesn't have any transportation to come out, call the church.

We'll get transportation for them.

That is very helpful.

Very nice.

Wonderful.

So maybe your maybe hopes for this ministry going forward, Gary?

Well, obviously going forward, we're averaging around maybe 70, 75 or so each time we have

an event.

And I think going forward, I'd like to see that number maybe get to at least 100.

Wow.

I think we can do that quite frankly.

Yeah.

Now that we're kind of gearing up this past year, I think we've got some things in place.

But over the next year or two, I think we will reach an average of at least 100 people,

you know, type of thing.

And our hope is always to bring in interesting speakers and entertainment guests as well,

that we know that our primetime members will really enjoy, you know, and say, am I ever

glad I came out today?

Right.

Something that's worthwhile.

That's right.

We're also looking to expand our primetime newsletter, by the way.

And so we're looking for always for new information and say, we just started about maybe four

issues ago.

And so we're looking for other ideas for content and what have you.

One idea that I came up with recently was to maybe start something called, where are

they now?

In other words, we have a lot of parishioners who have maybe just left the church.

They moved away or something has happened that they're no longer here.

And so I thought to myself, we get into conversation, founded times saying, whatever happened is

so and so.

Right.

And you know, so I thought, I have a number of people in my mind right now who I'm going

to be calling and researching and finding out what's going on in their lives.

Because I think other parishioners that are here today would like to know that.

I love that.

And we're going to keep that in our mind.

A bunch of names just came to my mind.

Oh, good.

Absolutely.

What a great idea.

So let's talk a little bit in the five minutes that we have about this upcoming event that

is this Thursday.

And this is Strawberry Social.

Maybe in the background, we can just have any photos that we have from last year from

the Strawberry Social.

I'm not sure how much of these photos are going to show really the whole idea, but you

can definitely see there's a big crowd there.

Diane, what can we expect this Thursday?

Well, we're going to have a time to gather around the tables with our friends and meeting

new people.

And we're going to have an interview with one of our participants.

Okay.

And we're going to have a strawberry shortcake.

Okay.

So you can put out to the table and each have your own can of whipping cream.

Okay.

And you can put as much on as you want.

No judgment.

But the big, big event really is having Matt Zaddy and Heather Christine.

This will be their third time coming to entertain us.

Wonderful.

And they are just superb entertainers.

And it's just delightful to have them.

And we sing along some old songs and new songs and they entertain and that will be really

special.

Oh, that will be.

They're being sponsored by the Credit River Retirement Community, which is over on Off

Tannery.

Right.

And this is the second time they've sponsored us.

We've had them come for Christmas last year.

Okay.

We did a Christmas thing with them last year.

All right.

So they're just really special.

And we think we're going to have a big enough turnout.

We're going to have our first hour in Parrish Hall.

And then we're going to go over to the sanctuary to have our entertainment and singing.

Oh, that will be fun.

So that'll be a little different.

Yeah, it will be.

Good.

That's great.

Anything to add to that?

Gee.

I don't know.

I don't know.

That sounds pretty awesome to me.

You took a lot of my notes.

I know.

I have Mary down here on my notes, everyone.

I'm supposed to prompt him next.

No, you know what?

I would have spoken about the entertainment as well, because I think Matt Zaddy and his

wife Heather Christine, those are their stage names.

They are, this is their full-time career, by the way.

This is not just occasional stuff for them.

And they are really good.

They've made their mark on the Canadian music scene for the last few years.

Their songwriters, I know with Heather's music, she's played with some well-known

jazz bands as well.

And her music has heard on a number of radio stations.

In fact, I heard recently, even as far away as Spain, her music.

They're playing it on the radio there.

That's right, exactly.

That's great.

Yeah.

So they're really good.

So I'm going to be saying, welcome to the primetime stage, Matt Zaddy and Heather Christine.

Oh, that's exciting.

And so it's going to be good.

And we're looking forward to it.

And also, they've made available a couple of songs or maybe a few songs for us, and

they put the words on the screen.

So we're all going to sing along with them.

That will be fun.

And being in a sanctuary, we've got good acoustics and everything else.

So we're looking forward to this.

This is going to be a good one.

And as you said, lots of strawberries.

Lots of strawberries.

Yeah.

Well, it sounds like a lot of fun.

And I'm really happy that you took the time to come and join me today for this conversation.

And if you're listening in and you haven't yet registered for primetime, strawberry social

this Thursday, make sure to either contact us at the church and we'll get you on the

list or you can just sign in through church center and register there on the events tab.

So I just want to say thank you once again to Diane, Gary and Judy for joining me.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.