Mornings on CHVN

A theatre group in southern Manitoba is inviting the public to partake and enjoy their upcoming play called 'Our Lady's Legacy.'

"Grotto Theater Ministries is a beautiful Christian theater group," says founder Miranda Hutlet. "We are all run entirely by volunteers and we're based in the beautiful grotto of St. Malo."

Hutlet started the ministry in 2023. Previously, she had written and directed Passion Plays since she was 17.

Riding back through Winnipeg on his way back across Canada, a cyclist from B.C. stopped at the CHVN studios on Friday with an update. 

"I did, I cycled across Canada in three months," says Tyler J. Ashton from Port Coquitlam, B.C. "I have an auto immune disease called A.S. or Ankylosing Spondylitis. More people have it than M.S., ALS, or R.A. combined. That's over half a million Canadians."

A country rock Christian band from Saskatchewan with family ties has turned their miracle story into a means of sharing the gospel through song. 

"Me and my wife got married very young," says Joel Ivey, the co-lead singer and guitarist of Collect Assembly. "I was 20 and she was 18. I knew Morgan, her little sister, since she was very young. The calling to do music together was there."

Collect Assembly was created by Ivey and his sister-in-law, Morgan Groenewald. Their latest single, "Echo," was written during an Easter family gathering, according to Ivey. 

A brand-new animated film called Light of the World is set to hit theatres this fall and move hearts, depicting the life of Jesus. 

"It's a reimaging of telling the life story of Jesus through the eyes of a young disciple, John," says John Schafer, the director of Light of the World. "It's a fresh take on it. We made this movie for everyone, but we wrote it mind for people who may not have a concept of Jesus or the Bible."

August 19 is World Humanitarian Day, and according to Canadian Foodgrains Bank, it's the most dangerous time ever for aid workers. 

"World Humanitarian Day has been commemorated for about 20 years now," says Stefan Epp-Koop, the Senior Manager of Humanitarian Programming with Canadian Foodgrains Bank. "It's a day to do a couple of things. One is to remember people who have been killed or injured while doing humanitarian work. It's also to remember people who, every day, provide that lifesaving support for others, often at great risk to themselves."

A Manitoba advocacy group is putting on a family-friendly motorcycle ride event to help empower children who have been abused. 

"We're a child advocacy group that's focused around motorcycles," says Toaster, the treasurer with Guardians of the Children (GOC) in the Winnipeg and Steinbach area. "Anytime there's a child who's been abused and in the court system, we're able to surround them and accompany them to court."

On top of this, GOC spends time with the children and their families doing fun activities to bring a sense of normalcy through it all. 

Worship leaders and Christian singers/songwriters are invited to a two-day conference this September in Winnipeg geared specifically for them. 

"We are so excited about this, and it's been a long time coming," says Co-lead Pastor Richard Hale of Bethel Community Church in Winnipeg. "The time is now."

Hale and his wife, Krisjana, write worship songs of their own and have been involved in Christian music ministry for the past few decades. 

The shortage of pilots across Canada and the world is continuing to get worse. One Christian ministry is finding a way to train pilots faster and in a safer way using Virtual Reality (VR). 

"Simulator training is not a new thing in aviation," says Dallas Derksen, a pilot and the managing director at Prairie Aviation Training Center out in Three Hills, AB. "It's been happening for a long time. There's always been a big gap between airline-style simulators and what your average flight school can provide for training. Virtual Reality is a relatively new technology."

Alumni from Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) in Gretna are taking the time to remember how their lives were changed after attending the high school that has since been closed. 

MCI offered Christian education for grades 9-12, along with room and board for students who didn't live nearby, since 1889. 

During National Drowning Prevention Week, the Lifesaving Society Manitoba is encouraging people to stay safe when out on the water this summer. 

"On average in a year, there are between 22 and 25 fatal drownings in Manitoba," says Lynne Stefanchuk, the Executive Director at the Lifesaving Society Manitoba. "It's a statistic we would love to see come down in coming years."

July 21-25 is National Drowning Prevention Week.