By Franchesca Weeks December 5, 2014
The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario turns 60 this year, and we celebrated the occasion with the members, supporters and friends of the organization. This year's convention was held on Tuesday, December 2nd at St. George's Hall in Waterloo. The convention was a combination of presentations about both serious policy issues and the celebration of the past, present and future of the Christian Farmers Federation.
Listen here:
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On the election side, Lorne Small was unopposed and is now entering his fourth year as CFFO President. Ted van den Hurk and Ed Scharringa were elected as CFFO Vice Presidents. For the position of Director, Clarence Nywening and Simon de Boer were acclaimed, as was Peter Peeters, who returns for another term. We also want to thank Gerald Poechman for his years of service on the Executive Board.
The organization celebrated its past, present and future throughout the day. Dr. Michael Bootsma captured the spirit of the organization with his keynote address entitled "Let Christ be King - From Faith to Family to Farmyard." His message that we are God's partners and caretakers of the Creation captured the CFFO's tradition of connecting faith and stewardship.
The CFFO banquet is a time to relax and celebrate in an atmosphere of fun and fellowship. Tony Campolo gave an inspiring speech focused on what it means to live out our Christian faith in today's world. Delivered with passion and humour, it was an uplifting and inspirational closing to the celebration of the CFFO's 60th anniversary.
We want to thank everyone who attended for coming out and celebrating 60 years of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. We have a history of farmer leadership and a dedicated staff working for a better rural Ontario for farmers across this province. We hope that the next 60 years for CFFO will be even better. Finally, we want to thank all our members and supporters for their on-going support of our organization. Without you, there would be no CFFO.
Franchesca Weeks is the Communications Manager of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The CFFO Commentary represents the opinions of the writer and does not necessarily represent CFFO policy. The CFFO Commentary is heard weekly on CFCO Chatham, CKNX Wingham, and UCB Canada radio stations in Chatham, Belleville, Bancroft, Brockville and Kingston. It is also archived on the CFFO website: www.christianfarmers.org. CFFO is supported by 4,000 family farmers across Ontario.
