Leadership

Pastor Bruce and Birgid MacCallum

Pastor Bruce MacCallum
I didn’t grow up going to church other than the odd Christmas or Easter service. God used Birgid, my future wife, to lead me to Himself. I came to faith in Christ in my mid 20’s and I was in Ontario Bible College within three months of my conversion. Birgid and I were married in 1989 and I became the pastor of a small Baptist church south of Ottawa 1991 -98. We have raised our three children in Glengarry where I pastored Breadalbane Baptist Church for 20 years. After planting the REVIVE church we moved to Alexandria. My life verse has been so wonderfully fulfilled in my life …”the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” Ps. 16:6

Birgid MacCallum
Director of Women’s Ministry and Youth

Born in the 1960s, in Montreal, Quebec, to German, immigrant parents. She has lived most of her adult life in Eastern Ontario. She has been married for 30+ years to her best friend, Bruce, Revive’s senior pastor in Alexandria, Ontario.

Together they have three, beautiful children: Lischa, Hannah and Sheldon. Lischa is married to Birgid’s favourite son-in-law, Max. (Max and Lischa live and serve on the mission field in the D.R. Congo.)

Birgid has a deep desire to see people seek and find God, grow in their knowledge and understanding of Him and surrender more fully to Him. She also enjoys: all things summer.

Vocationally, she has worked in group homes with young offenders, as a counsellor at a crisis pregnancy centre, as a public school teacher and most recently as a certified spiritual director. At Revive, Birgid serves as the ‘Director of Women’s ministry and Youth’ and as the ‘Mission’s Co-Ordinator.’

Birgid’s passion is knowing and loving Jesus and investing in the people and relationships God has placed in her life.

Elders

From left to right: Alexander Cumming, Ruben Gandia, Mark Willock, and Pastor Bruce MacCallum.

Alexander Cumming
I was born fourth of five children to a dairy farming family near Lancaster, ON. We attended a small Baptist church in Cornwall for my first eight years of life. I always had an interest in things of God, but did not commit my life to Christ until I was 23 years old. At the time, I was married to my lovely wife Mary for about a year, and we were expecting our first of five children.

The balance of years has been a mix of life’s highs and lows with regard to our dairy farming, Mary’s piano studio, our marriage and the raising of our children. Our family has experienced a variety of church styles and structures over these years and now I find myself revisiting my roots with REVIVE Alexandria. My varied experiences and Bible teachings have fostered consistent growth in my life. I am learning the bigger picture of the Bible, and how that little baby born in Bethlehem upset the world order and brought hope to a dying world.

Ruben Gandia
Sunday School teachers beware. Your ministry is of utmost importance. My elderly Sunday school teacher was Ms. Grace Petts, and I remember her faithfully teaching young brats (mainly me) through all of my childhood in Quebec. One sunny spring day after Sunday school when I was 10, I just felt convicted, and I just wanted Jesus and what he offered. It’s still hard to explain, and I just knew I was in the wrong. I went up to Ms. Petts and surprised her by saying, “I want to ask for forgiveness and follow Jesus” (or something like that). I do remember that she seemed almost as surprised as I was because I had this strong conviction of sin and knowledge of needing Jesus. We prayed that instant, and although I wasn’t a convicted murderer, I just felt lighter. A long time afterwards, when I began to study the Bible in earnest, I understood that it’s the Holy Spirit’s work to convict the world of sin and all we need to do is accept this free gift which is available to all. Jesus’s sacrifice is sufficient for all, and the message is so simple!

A few years later on a Sunday night service, a missionary was showing slides of his time in Africa, and one slide depicted people getting baptized in a river. That weird thing happened again to me, and after that service, I told the pastor of the church that I needed to get baptized too! Although I knew it was not for salvation, it was an act that I wanted to follow Jesus. Again, I remember that surprised look on the pastor’s face because he probably thought I wanted to be a pilot like that missionary that just spoke. I was baptized shortly afterwards at thirteen. My love for the Bible was likely handed down to me, unconsciously by my father and mother. I found out when I was older. The Catholic Church excommunicated my parents because they stood by the simple Good News that is clearly stated in the Bible that by believing (repenting and following) in Jesus alone, you are saved, once and for all!

Growing up as they did in the 1930-1940’s Spain, it was a courageous thing to do. My father would show me those scriptures by which they lost family and friends, and I am still amazed how such simple words that scream love, compassion and giving by our only Saviour can make people so angry. Finally, this part of my young life ended when I ‘stole’ my father’s Bible when I was fourteen, as I forgot my Bible at home on Sunday morning and I asked for it. He handed it over to me in the back seat of the car, and I never gave it back. I still use it today, and I am reminded of how he underlined some essential truths that are available to all.

Anyone who reads this knows that God loves you and wants all to be saved in Jesus. (PS, He never asked for it back but instead bought one of those super Bibles with tons of commentaries), so it all worked out.

Mark Willock
My salvation story starts when I was around 5 or 6 years old. During the drive home, after church one Sunday evening, I was asking a lot of questions (to my parents). Once at home, the conversation continued. All I understood was that God loved me, and wanted me to be with Him in heaven one day. I love Him too, and wanted to be with Him. My parents told me I had to confess my sin, ask for forgiveness, and accept His Son, Jesus into my heart. I prayed right there, on the end of my parents’ bed, and have never regretted it since. My leading to Breadalbane Baptist Church was via my wife, who was hired to teach at Laggan Public School. She met another Christian teacher there by the name of Kathleen Hay. My wife told her we were looking for a good, Bible believing church, and Kathleen was happy to introduce us to Breadalbane Baptist Church. From there, the birth of Revive Alexandria Church came about because there was no more room to grow at BBC in Dalkeith, ON. I was asked to join the team tasked with ministering to Alexandria. I have been here since the beginning, and we have never regretted our decision to join with the family of God at Breadalbane Baptist Church, and now the extended family of Revive Alexandria Church, Alexandria, ON.

Deacons

Sam Taylor
I was blessed to be born to parents who were the only christians of their families. They were discipled very well as they grew in their faith and raised my sister and I with a strong sense of who God is and how important and worthy he is. They never pushed faith on us but made every effort to show us by their lives, who God is and how worthy he is no matter what. They led and put my sister and I both in position to make our own personal decision for Christ, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.

Through my own relationship with Christ I’ve benefited from learning lessons the easy way and the hard way, and through it all learned that God is worthy no matter what. I’ve been blessed to meet and marry the most incredible woman He’s brought into my life. We’ve been blessed with five wonderful children. Together we’ve been blessed to have been part of a couple of great churches, who genuinely seek the truth of God’s word and genuinely care for each other as family in Christ. We’re thankful to be a part of Revive, the one of those two churches we currently call home!

Cheryl Fast
I definitely do not feel like I have it all together, there are loose ends everywhere. I am married to Dave and we have seven children, living with eight other people adds to the chaos of what we call life. When we add people into our lives, the chaos just happens, mess happens, but I embrace this mishmash of a chaotic mess with my whole heart! It is beautiful, not perfect, but oh so beautiful. In the chaos and mess, is where we fall down and get back up. Where we make mistakes and learn from them, where the lightbulb goes on and we finally get it! Where we laugh, cry, stumble and soar. I am fragile and vulnerable, yet strong and steady. I am a person with too many interests ever possibly to pursue them all. I am crazy about my family, passionate about my Lord and totally in love with both. I want to serve those around me. I love opening my home to others. I have an incredible desire to see people in the community. We were never made to go it alone. People need people. If I can help someone connect in somewhere that gives me great joy. Dave and I found Revive in 2011 when we were looking for a church closer to home so we could be involved, we love the community feel Revive has. Lastly, I love to learn I enjoy studying God’s Word, it is endless in what it teaches, it does not grow old. So, that is me, serving Jesus, family and church in Glengarry.

Isabelle Tremblay-Summers
Born in Quebec city, I married my university British sweetheart, Mark, and we now live on a farm in Glen Robertson.

I officially came to Christ after the birth of our two boys and my first church was Breadalbane Baptist Church, which later sprouted REVIVE Alexandria. REVIVE’s simplicity and accessibility to all had a big role to play in my early faith and in becoming a Christian in 2003.

I have been involved in various community based ministries, have been part of REVIVE’s Leadership team since 2013, then became a Deacon in 2019. I travel a lot for my work and God is my home away from home. God’s guidance and Love sustain me.

Alexandria

Leadership

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