Larry and Karen pastor the Halifax Metro Vineyard in Nova Scotia. They are very grateful that their three married children and seven grandchildren are in the area which are a huge source of joy and blessing. They met in the fall of 1978 at what is now Providence College in Manitoba, Karen's home province. Following graduation and marriage in 1981, they returned to Larry's home province of Nova Scotia to pastor a Baptist church in a rural fishing village and for Larry to do an M.Div at Acadia University. This was followed by several years of travelling around the east coast doing music and speaking at youth retreats, coffee houses and churches.

They have always had a hunger for true spiritual awakening and the revitalization of the local church. This led them to attend their first Vineyard Conference (Power Evangelism) in Birmingham Alabama in 1987. You probably know what happened next as the Holy Spirit whispered 'Welcome home, this is your family'. Having just helped to start a new church with a handful of others, they became the first Vineyard in Atlantic Canada. Their hearts were connected to the other emerging Vineyard leaders and churches across Canada serving on the Regional and National Team for many years.

"The Halifax Vineyard has been known as a community of innovation and risk taking, initiating many bridges to the community such as our Indoor Playground, Ice Cream Hut, Avodah Cafe as well as overseeing partnerships in Rwanda and Burundi. We continue to engage, work and pray for reconciliation with our Black and Indigenous communities. And to be honest, the last several years have been really hard. We are smaller than what we were. We have experienced some significant relational loss. We are facing some big decisions with our land and property. We are at a low ebb and many of us are crying out for a renewed love for Jesus, and for vision and future ministry to flow from this. Over the next several years we will continue to work with our amazing team and to pray for the emergence of the next point leaders."

L&K's first conversation in 1978 included talking about a book they had both recently read based on Psalm 37:3-7. This became their life 'centering' text for the last 40 years, one in which they prayed often during walks on the trails near their home during this Covid season. They leave it with you as perhaps it will also be a word of encouragement for this present season:

Trust in the Lord and do good, and you will dwell in the land.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord and He will bring it to pass. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him.