A note from Pastor Barry

Greetings Church Family & Friends,

We trust you are keeping well as we enter the third week of this current coronavirus crisis. At this point in time, we believe that no one from our church family has contracted this illness for which we are grateful to God! We continue to pray for protection and provision for you and your family. We are especially praying for all those of you who are on the front lines of the health-care system. They have to work while knowing the threat of getting this virus. We honour you, love you and appreciate all you are doing during this outbreak to help the sick and hurting. I would like to encourage everyone to make it their ministry to call five people you know from the church and just check-in on them, offering your love and support! The Lord is with us but we also need to be reminded that we are not alone in this moment.

Our pastoral and administrative staff are all working hard from home to continue to do ministry in this new context. We are endeavoring to connect with you in a personal way through emails, texts, and phone calls. Our children, youth, young adults and Life Groups are beginning to meet online to connect, encourage, support and pray for one another. Please keep connected with us through these means and our other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

We are seeing a very strong online presence from you and many other people joining us as guests on our digital platforms. The stats indicate we are ministering to over 1,000 people every Sunday through our livestream services! We had 128 new subscribers to our YouTube channel since this crisis started. The number of people calling in to our Prayer Conference Calls has doubled and at times tripled. So, we are continuing to go forth in the mission of God to share the love, hope and faith of God in these uncertain times and the days that lie ahead.

We want to encourage you to remain faithful to the Lord in your giving of tithes and offerings. There are so many ways to give and if you require any assistance, please let us know.

We will continue to connect with you daily through the following digital platforms:

• Livestream Service on Sundays, 10:30 am

• Prayer Conference Call at 8:00 pm on Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat

• Prayer Conference Call at 5:30 am on Wed

• Pre-Service Prayer Conference Call on Sundays at 9:30 am

• Pastor’s Chat on Livestream & Conference Call on Wed & Sun at 8:00 pm

So many of you have called, texted, and emailed to connect with us and express your love and appreciation for what we are doing. I want to personally say, how encouraging it is to our hearts, as we all adjust to this new reality. We look forward with anticipation to the day we can gather together again to worship, pray and be instructed in the Word of God!

Pastor Barry Risto
Lead Pastor

An update from Pastor Barry

Dear PPT Church Family,

How our world has changed in such a short time. I’m sure everyone is concerned about the Coronavirus and its effects on our lives, families, friends, and church. So we wanted to write you and explain what we are doing over these next few weeks.

First, we are adapting with the news. Things have changed drastically over the last couple of weeks. We’ll continue to pay attention to new developments and directives from the government, health officials and district officials and respond accordingly. So, currently the church office is closed and all of our staff are working from home.

Throughout history, Christianity has grown the most when the times were darkest. Our opportunity is this: people are social beings. We like getting together. For the next few weeks, no one will have major events to attend. As long as we are safe and healthy, these next few weeks might be a good time to pray, dig deeper into the Word of God, and deepen friendships with others through phone calls and various digital platforms.

Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. Some of us may suffer a bit during these next few weeks, but we’ll never be without the awareness, love, and care of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Have faith and choose hope. The Lord wants to redeem this crisis and use it for good!

OUR PLANS, FOR NOW

We hope the Sunday livestream services the past two weeks and Pastor’s Chats have been helpful and a blessing to you.

This weekend, because the government has mandated a stay at home directive, we will be livestreaming our service, but I will be preaching from home! You don’t want to miss it!

Join the service on Sunday at ppt.church/live. You can also listen to the broadcast on our Conference Line. Just dial 647-977-2648 and enter code: 827-220-552#

• We will continue to have our Prayer Conference Call every day at 8:00 pm – 8:30 pm, so we can pray and support one another.

• We invite you to our Pastor’s Chat livestream on Sundays & Wednesdays at 8:00 pm – 8:30 pm, so we can communicate and encourage you in this journey.

• We will be using Zoom (video conferencing) for our small groups, children, youth and young adult ministries.

• Let’s continue to support the work of the kingdom of God through our giving.
  Please note the various ways you can give.

  • Give online at ppt.church/give

  • Text any dollar amount to 84321

  • Mail any cheques to:

    Peel Pentecostal Tabernacle
    Attn: Accounting
    2005 Countryside Drive
    Brampton, ON  L6R 0N6

  • For assistance with giving, call 905-792-9193 and press 0 to leave a voicemail in the general mailbox.

• Visit our website for the latest news and updates from PPT.

We will continue to stay flexible. We will pray. We will continue to trust God in this moment. Let’s help each other, and care for our family and neighbors and those more isolated than others. 

Some trust in chariots, others in horses, but we want to continue to trust in the name of the Lord our God. Let’s rise above this situation, in faith!

We love you and are praying for you!

Pastor Barry Risto
Lead Pastor

Changes at PPT

Dear PPT Church Family,

As part of our continual effort to remain safe during the COVID-19 outbreak, please note the following changes effective immediately through to March 31.

• We will be holding all Sunday Services online and over the Conference Call.

• All midweek ministries, including Life Groups, Youth, Young Adults and School of the Arts will be on hold.

• Wednesday Bible Study will be held over the Conference Call number at 8:00 pm.

• There will be prayer every evening at 8:00 pm over the Conference Call line.

• Pre-Service Prayer on Sunday will be held over the Conference Call number from 9:30 am to 10:00 am.

• Our Annual Business Meeting originally scheduled for Sunday, March 22 will be postponed until further notice.

• The number of office staff present throughout the week will be reduced each weekday.

To access the Live Stream online, visit: ppt.church/live

To access the audio only Conference Call dial 647-977-2648 (Canada) or 202-602-1295 (USA) and enter code: 827-220-552#

To continue to support PPT financially, you can give online or text any dollar amount to 84321. You can also drop your offering in person during office hours—one of our staff will be able to assist you.

Stay tuned to our website for further updates as the situation develops.

Pastor Barry Risto
Lead Pastor

Update on CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

Dear PPT Church Family,

We have spent a lot of time in prayer and preparation for the upcoming weekend. However, in light of the growing national concerns and precautions many organizations are taking as they pertain to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) we have decided not to hold a public service this weekend. Instead we will hold our Sunday service online only.

This is a great opportunity to gather in your home with your family and worship together as you watch online. Our service will air Sunday, March 15, at 10:30 am and can be replayed any time after that.

You can join us at ppt.church/live. We also encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on notifications for the channel.

For many, the spread of this virus has caused fear and anxiety. Yet we are grateful that the Bible tells us, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). We pray that you would sense God’s peace in the midst of these difficult circumstances. This does not mean we should be careless or reactionary but rather walk in wisdom as we serve the Lord and our community in a way that demonstrates our trust in God and our love for people.

We love you and are praying for you and your families’ continued safety and well-being and for all those who have been affected by this virus. We’re also praying for a cure from heaven and for our medical community as they deal with the impact of this crisis.

Pastor Barry Risto
Lead Pastor

Official Statement on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Dear PPT Church Family,

Our Staff at PPT have been closely monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Please rest assured, we are taking precautions to keep our church community safe and healthy.

We ask that you avail yourself of our hand sanitizing stations that will be at all building entrances and by entrances to the Main Sanctuary. As we greet each other, we will still be friendly and welcoming, but without shaking hands.

For upcoming communion services, we will be using prefilled and sealed communion cups that will be handed out to the congregation by our communion servers who will be wearing gloves.

If you or someone in your family is not feeling well and need to stay home, don’t forget that you can worship with us through our live stream at ppt.church/live.

We will be using special collection stations for the offering on Sundays. If you are watching the service from home or simply prefer not to handle cash or envelopes, you can give online or by texting any dollar amount to 84321.

Based on current information and official guidance, there is no need to cancel any of our church activities. The church is acting with due diligence to stay informed.

Let’s not forget that God is entirely in control. It’s easy to forget as fears run high. Let’s be reminded of the prophet Isaiah’s words, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Be in prayer for those who are sick, caregivers, as well as doctors and scientists working on a vaccine. We will continue to monitor the situation and communicate any changes to our Sunday or mid-week gatherings.

Pastor Barry Risto
Lead Pastor