Peter’s Blog

If you receive an email from someone using my name or the name of a member of the ministry team asking for money, or gift cards, or telling you I need you to call, please ignore such emails, or block the sender and delete it.  Do not answer the email.  These emails are not from me or from a member of the ministry team.  They are a scam.

There are so many scams.  It seems a day rarely goes by in which I don’t receive a phone call on either my cell phone or my landline from someone claiming to be from Revenue Canada to inform me that my Social Insurance Number is going to be cancelled, or from someone claiming to be from VISA to say that there has been suspicious activity on my credit card, or from someone else claiming to be from Microsoft to inform me that my computer has a serious virus.  Have you received any calls like these?  All of these messages are scams.  Each one is an attempt by someone to gain access to our accounts in order to steal money or even identity. They will inevitably ask for bank account information, SIN numbers, or computer passwords.  DO NOT GIVE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION.  The best thing to do is to hang up immediately.

One scam I have heard about from several of our members and even from my own mother, specifically targets seniors.  It comes in the form of a phone call from a young person identifying themself as your grandson or granddaughter.  They will inform you that they have gotten into a bit of trouble, but don’t want their parents to know and so could you please help them by delivering an envelope of cash to a particular address asap, but please tell no one.  It is a scam.  Hang up.  There are many scams that target seniors and others that specifically target new Canadians and refugees.

Be warned.  Last year alone in Canada there were almost 42,000 victims of such fraud and 569 million dollars was stolen from Canadians through such schemes.

Scam artists use not only the telephone, but also email.  Members of the ministry team have received numerous emails from someone using my name and informing them that I am in a bind and need help immediately with either money or gift cards.  While the scam email will use my name, these emails all come from an email address that is not my own.  Recently a senior in the church told me that she had received such an email and was very concerned for me and went to her bank ready to make a transfer.  Fortunately, her bank told her the email was a scam.  Please note: IGNORE ANY EMAILS USING MY NAME ASKING FOR MONEY OR ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION.  I will never send any such email and neither will anyone in the employment of the church.

With the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) these scams will undoubtedly become more sophisticated. There may be phone messages in which someone’s voice is being imitated, or even video messages in which their voice and face have been duplicated using sophisticated computer programming.

To learn more about how to protect yourself from such scams please visit the government website at: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/fraud-scams.html

Yorkminster Park has a long standing and well-established partnership with the Baptist church in Lebanon through the work of Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) and our own Board of Mission.

The recent invasion of Lebanon and the bombings and air strikes on Hezbollah targets have resulted in the killing of more than 2,000 people with 10,000 injured and according to the United Nations approximately 1.2 million people now displaced from their homes.

Lebanon is a relatively small country with under 6 million people.  Prior to the invasion they had already been facing the challenges of the highest per capita refugee population in the world, three plus years of triple digit inflation as well as the ongoing recovery from the destruction of much of their harbour during the explosion of 2020.

Last Thursday evening Joe Bridi of CBM visited Yorkminster Park and updated us regarding the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and the response of the Lebanese Baptists and their agency, the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD).

In the most challenging of times, our partners in the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development always look beyond their own needs by offering compassion and aid, love and kindness to those who are in need. For example, since the bombings and invasion, the Beirut Baptist Seminary has been housing displaced people from Southern Lebanon and the Beirut Baptist School, located in the Muslim section of Beirut where many of the airstrikes have landed, has been supplying the community around with food and other necessities.

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Lebanon as they respond to this humanitarian crisis. Joe Bridi also informed us that funds directed to CBM and marked Lebanon Relief will provide support for this humanitarian response. Further, through CBM’s membership in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and by extension the Humanitarian Coalition of Canada, individual’s gifts given to CBM and other coalition agencies between October 24 and November 3rd marked for Lebanon Relief will be matched by the Canadian Government up to a maximum of three million dollars.

When one of our members heard the inspiring response of our partners in Lebanon to the humanitarian crisis he was moved to go above and beyond. While choosing to keep his identity anonymous he has generously offered to match any gifts received by Yorkminster Park on or before October 31 and marked Lebanon Aid up to a maximum of $50,000.

This is a wonderful offer which means that thanks to both our generous donor and the Canadian government, every one hundred dollars given has the potential to result in four hundred dollars of humanitarian aid being offered through our partners in Lebanon.

I invite you to prayerfully consider your response and direct your gift to Lebanon Aid c/o Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. Make cheques out to the church with the Lebanon designation. Similarly, gifts can be offered online but be sure to use the drop-down box to designate it to Lebanon Relief.

Thank you for your prayerful support.