A Year Off
On July 16, 1999, Sarah and I were married at South Abbotsford Church in front of our friends, family, and many Doxa-attenders who joined us for the ceremony. Months later we noticed in the pictures of the reception that there were faces in that crowd as well who hadn't been formally invited. It was a discovery that delighted us and seemed quite hilarious at the time.
(Vijay and Sarah Manuel,
July 16, 1999)
There
were a number of contributing factors to the decision to
end Doxa at the height of its popularity and success. On a
personal level, I knew that I wanted my first year of
marriage to be a time focussed on my wife. It was important
to me to be free of all the various commitments that came
my way in order for Sarah and I to build a solid foundation
for the coming years in ministry together. Although I
didn't know what the ministry would look like, I knew that
it was what I was called to, and now, we
were
called to. Both Sarah and I had grown up in homes that had
an open-door policy for guests and family. This made it
difficult for us to take a year that was focussed on the
two of us and our growth in the Lord together. Our
families, parents in particular, respected our need for
privacy and the fact that we lived in a condominium made it
easier for us to focus our time together. It was wonderful
and important for us. We both agreed that we would rather
cancel an outing with people than attend while we were
working through an issue. This would train us to always
work on the things that needed to be worked on in a timely
manner and to never pretend
that we
were okay in a group setting when in fact we were
experiencing frustrations with each other. (You can learn
more about this time in our lives by reading the following
article entitled: Marriage and
Happiness,
2005).
In
January of 2000, a tragic accident left three Abbotsford
youths dead (Article: Faith rises out of Abbotsford teen
tragedy,
CanadianChristianity.com, 2000). Sixteen-year-old
Matthew Peters was one of the young people who were
killed. I remember Matthew fondly because he had brought
me his uncle's latest song book & CD from London,
England. His uncle was Brian Doerksen, a local worship
leader who has gained international recognition for his
song-writing and worship leading. At the time I hadn't
met Brian nor did I know anything about him other than
his music which we used at Doxa. Matthew was so excited
for me to meet his uncle and had wanted to see the two
of us leading worship on stage together. He had even
given me Brian's phone number in England, one evening
after Doxa. Sadly, the first time that Brian and I would
lead worship together would be at Matthew's memorial
services in January, 2000.
(Brian Doerksen with the
Doxa Band, 2000)
Brian
called me and asked if he could put a few of Matthew's
favorite Doxa songs on a memorial CD which featured a song
Brian had written entitled Matthew's
Song. I was
asked to join Brian on stage at the Abby Senior Secondary
memorial and play one of my songs and join Brian on
Matthew's
Song. It was
an honour to be there for Matthew. It was the comments that
were spoken into my life during this time that began the
process to start Doxa again. One lady in particular
encouraged me by saying: I
don't know why God has allowed you this time off from
ministry, but you'll be back soon. It
stuck with me. I knew in my heart that there were still
hundreds of teens, in particular, that needed to hear the
Gospel of Christ through Doxa's ministry.
(Discussing Doxa's Re-Start. Left to right: Rick Porter,
Cam Broad, Vijay Manuel, Chris Douglas, 2000)
I met with our youth pastor team and the senior pastor of
Central Heights Church, Chris Douglas, to discuss the
possibility of starting Doxa again. They agreed that it
should happen, but under new guidelines. There was to be no
loitering in the foyer or outside. I knew that this would
change the event, but I agreed that it would be a good
thing. The next question was that of the band. There had
been so many changes in the past few months that I knew
everyone wouldn't be available or perhaps called back into
this ministry.
I was at
church when I saw Dustin Freund playing in the worship
team. I asked him if he played bass, and he said no. I knew
that he was a talented young man, but there was something
else about him that made me want to work with him; I
believed that to be the Spirit of God at work in him. Sarah
had already agreed to play piano/synth and to sing, and I
had spoken to Jared about drumming again. The thought of
playing in a band without Jared was actually quite scary
for me. We had a musical connection that allowed me to
operate with great ease and peace in the ministry side of
things. Also, I just loved Jared. He always had a special
place in my heart. It felt like Dustin would be the missing
piece to both the musical side and the ministry side. I was
very disappointed that Dan had declined my invitation to
play, but I had great respect for him and his choice. My
commitment was to find worshipers for the new band and if
that meant waiting to fill Dan's shoes, we would wait. This
would make the electric guitar position difficult to fill
partly because of how good Dan was and partly because of
the ministry-heart requirement.
(Travelling with Jared and
Dustin wasn't always easy, especially for
Sarah)
Dustin
was a fantastic addition to the team. He became more than a
bass player to me and Sarah as we welcomed him into our
home and into our lives as a younger brother. I knew he
felt we were like family by the amounts of food he would
consume when at our home. Of course, this was met with joy
as Sarah enjoyed feeding both Dustin and Jared at any and
every hour of the day. Over the course of the next few
years, Dustin and I enjoyed a friendship that comes along
rarely in one's lifetime. To this day I thank the Lord for
Dustin and his passion for doing what is right and doing it
well.
We
started a Monday night service at Rick Hansen Secondary,
where I was teaching, and called it LTCOBY after the
song Love
That Can Only Be You. Again,
with no promotion other than a mention on our very amateur
website, the service ended up hosting around 50 people by
the end of the 8 week run. This is exactly what I wanted to
happen and I thanked God that we had a chance to worship
together free of the crowds of people. This was a very
important training period for my new team. Kevin Fedrau,
who was to be our sound man, joined us at LTCOBY with his
new wife Colleen. Kevin and I had met when I was singing in
the Trinity Western University choirs. Our friendship was
to become a life-long brotherhood that was strengthened
through our involvement in Doxa and a year of teaching
music together.
It
was at LTCOBY that I met Jeff Curnew who volunteered to
create a professional website for Doxa. He had offered a
year earlier but I hadn't processed the request too
seriously. Jeff went on to not only create the website
through his self-edit technology but to handle all our
projector and powerpoint needs for the coming years of
ministry. Jeff's support of God's work has always been an
inspiration to me. If it's for the Lord, Jeff will get
behind it!
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The Doxa Story //
Beginnings /
Growth /
Major Moves /
Events /
A New Direction
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Take It To The
Streets /
A Year Off /
Doxa Begins Again
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More Changes
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Shikina Publishing 2008