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“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us.’” (Mt 1:22-23)

We thank and praise God for blessing our 2011 Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Christmas celebration at U of T on December 11^th.  204 people attended, including 108 Bible students which outnumbered missionaries  & 2^nd gens.

God gave us a very graceful and clear Christmas message based on Matthew 1:18-25 through M. Paul Lee. His message presented the meaning of each of the two names, Jesus and Immanuel--Jesus saves us from our sins and Immanuel, God with us. He is our Savior and faithful friend.

Instead of having separate programs, we combined the drama, choruses, dances, and videos into one integrated program entitled “Immanuel, God with us” – it turned out to be a great success. This year’s Christmas celebration was different from that of other years’ in that it was more student-oriented; most of the missionaries served as environment-making prayer servants. “Emmanuel” by Chris Tomlin was sung by the student choir before the Christmas message. The drama, directed by M. Charles Kim, and written by Paulina Lee (Toronto) was heart-moving. Mary Cha (Humber) made the video-clips. Samuel Mukwedeya (St. George), Paul Lee Jr. and Matthew Vander Kooij (North York), and Louis Perdomo, Scott Hillier (Ryerson) were the main characters in the drama; they played their role with heart and spirit. Joseph and Tino Minielli (Humber) wholeheartedly served the Christmas worship service through presiding, passage recitation and dancing. Jemmie Hwang (Toronto) was a representative prayer servant in the worship. There were also behind-the-scene student servants. In this way our growing student-leaders actively participated in our 2011 Christmas celebration. Through this God gave us a new vision to raise student leaders as coworkers for his gospel work in Toronto and for this generation. The proceeds from the Christmas offering will be donated to relief work in Somalia, Sudan, and North Korea. May Jesus, Immanuel be spread and glorified in all campuses in Toronto, for which we pray to be a holy city, and Canada, a kingdom of priests and holy nation!

In Christ,
M. Joshua Lee