Punk Monk Newsletter – June 2026

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Hey Team Punk Monk,

As promised in my last newsletter, here is a photo of my family, looking very spiffy at my daughter and son in law’s wedding in April.

As you can see we all clean up very nice. You might be interested to know that Zoe is wearing her Mom’s wedding dress that was transformed by a local dressmaker. Here is what Susan’s dress looked like in 1999.

Yes, that is me at 23 with hair!  I’m told (often) by my family that I’m too nostalgic, so I better move on to updates about what is happening in the here and now.

Changes at The Meeting Place Church:

At the end of June, my pastor Sue Carr will be retiring from The Meeting Place. Sue has been pastoring this little community for the last 20 years as a volunteer. The church started as a chapel service at the Mission Services men’s shelter. It later moved to the 541 Eatery & Exchange coffee house when Sue was the Executive Director of 541. 

I’ve been part of The Meeting Place in a number of ways for the past 5 years. I’ve done discipleship training, led music, taught spiritual practices, and most recently I have been doing prayer & outreach hours at the coffee house on Thursday mornings. Thanks to a grant from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, this was the first time someone was being paid by this scrappy little street church. 

When Sue first told me about her plan to retire, I knew I was going to have to take some time to discern what my role should be in the next season of this church. I took a couple months to pray, meet with a spiritual director, and discern with a few friends. 

During this discernment time, I knew pretty quickly that I wasn’t being called away from what I’m doing at GOHOP, but I also felt like there was something pulling me further into my church and ministry at 541. As my spiritual director pointed out, “It feels like it is alive when you talk about The Meeting Place and 541.” I also found it really helpful talking to Ian, my boss at GOHOP about how the church work I was doing fit so well within GOHOP’s values and mission. 

So to get to the point, I’m saying yes to being the next pastor of The Meeting Place, while still continuing my existing prayer ministry within GOHOP. I’m not able to volunteer my time in the same way Sue did, so I’ll be waiting to officially be installed as the pastor until after I’ve done some fundraising. 

I’m very thankful for the fundraising training the GOHOP staff team has been going through this year. It has been very helpful and timely. I kept thinking to myself, “I wish I had this practical step by step advice when I first started out at GOHOP.” With that in mind, I have decided that over the summer and fall, I’m going to implement all the fundraising lessons I’ve been learning towards this new opportunity within my church. My starting goal is to raise $1500 a month for The Meeting Place. That will allow me to do 10 hours a week for the church as the Pastor. That gets things started, and will help me start to build up a team and dream together about what is next for this little part of the kingdom. 

Sue Carr’s last service at The Meeting Place will be at 4pm on Sunday June 28th. You are welcome to join us in celebrating her 20 years of pastoring. As always we meet at 541 Barton St. E. Here is how you can be praying for myself and The Meeting Place Church:

  • Pray for Sue, as she enters retirement. She is looking forward to attending church with her husband Tony and to support him in some of the volunteering he has been doing with refugees. 
  • Leading as part of a team has become really important to me. Pray that I could find the right people to be part of this team.
  • Pray for my focus. Even with a good plan, fundraising is a slog. Pray that I would do the step by step work that needs to happen (creating promotional materials, building a website, letter writing, meeting with people and reaching out to churches). 
  • Pray for the people that attend The Meeting Place. There isn’t a lot of stability in the lives of people living on the margins. Pray that they would continue to feel connected even though change is always hard. 
  • Pray for affordable and safe housing. Homelessness and precarious housing is a sad reality in our community. Being homeless greatly increases all your risk factors and decreases your life expectancy. We just had a funeral for a young man who had been homeless for a number of years. Many of our new friends who have been dropping by for church are also homeless. 

Prayer Truck:

For one week every year, GOHOP turns the back of a U-haul truck into a street level prayer room. We park this Prayer Truck behind an at risk youth centre called Living Rock Ministries (30 Wilson St. at the corner of Hughson St. N.).

The Prayer Truck is a beautiful chance to pray for the streets and people of downtown Hamilton. IIt is amazing what a couple of chairs, some cold water and a sign that reads “Need Prayer?” can accomplish. We build friendships and pray for:

  • Youth from the Rock.
  • Homeless people who frequent the core.
  • Professionals who work downtown.
  • Neighbours in apartment buildings.
  • Visitors having fun at local restaurants and attractions.

Really it could be anyone who lives, works, or plays downtown. For some people that is a choice, for others it is just how they survive. 

If you live in Hamilton, consider dropping by the Prayer Truck between June 12 and June 19th. All the details of how you can participate are posted here: https://www.gohop.ca/prayertruck

If you want to drop by while I’ll be hosting the truck, here are my shifts:

  • Sat. June 13th, 6pm-8pm
  • Mon. June 15th, 4pm-8pm
  • Tue. June 16th, 4pm-8pm (with a special Asah Art & Music night from 6-8)
  • Wed. June 17th, 10am-4pm
  • Fri. June 19th, Noon-2pm

Here is how you can be praying for the Prayer Truck:

  • Pray for God to meet people in good and surprising ways. Pray for the hosts to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and strangers passing by to be curious about prayer. 
  • Pray for the staff and volunteers of Living Rock Ministries. Pray that they would be encouraged by the prayer truck and that they would know that they don’t do their work alone.
  • Pray for at-risk youth. The Rock recently sent us a prayer request and went something like this, “Pray that the youth would have the courage to take the very next step in front of them.”

Thank You For Being A Ministry Partner!

The only reason I have the privilege of doing the prayer ministry I do, is because you have said yes to being a partner with me in this ministry. It is the prayers, donations, and encouraging messages of people like you that allows crazy kingdom ideas like Prayer Trucks & Steet Churches to happen. Thank you for your partnership!

If you would like to sign up for a monthly giving plan or make a donation,  there are 3 ways you can do that:

  1. Donate Online with CanadaHelps: canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164
  2. Donate by E-transfer:
    Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
    You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” in the message section. 
    Please also include your mailing address to get a tax receipt next year.
  3. Donate by Cheque: randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate

Asah: Creativity & Prayer

Lastly, I posted a short video reel on Instagram about our Asah: Creativing & Prayer workshop in May. We were illustrating a Taize worship song. You can watch that here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYj1T_EOz4t/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== 

I would love to hear what things you have been up to in your own creativity. Creativity isn’t just about the arts, it is about problem solving, trying new things, rearranging furniture, or just turning off the beaten path once in a while.

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf 

Punk Monk Newsletter – April 2026

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It has been a very special month in the Neudorf household. On April 18th my daughter Zoe got married to Luis. It was a beautiful wedding. I had the honour of officiating the ceremony. I don’t  have any photos yet (I was trying to stay in the moment and just let the professional photographer do the documenting). Hopefully I’ll have some photos for you in the next newsletter.

There are also a number of non wedding related things coming up that I wanted to let you know about.

GOHOP Pancake Supper Fundraiser:

Learn about GOHOP and celebrate with us at this fun event. It includes a free family-friendly meal, a lively auction (I’m the auctioneer), stories, prayer and worship. Thursday, May 7 at Bethany Chapel (155 Gage Ave N) from 5:30pmuntil 8:30. You can find out all the details and sign up on our Eventbrite Page. 

Reflecting on the last year:

It is annual report time at GOHOP. Each staff member does a little write up about their role at GOHOP. Here is what I wrote:

Randell describes his job as being a “Punk Monk.” His gifts reside in the worlds of creativity, networking, teaching, and leadership support. In the prayer room he leads GOHOP’s Prayer for Pastors & Leaders, Barnabas Listening Prayer, Asah: Creativity & Prayer Studio, Hymn Sing, and maintains our new art wall with rotating installations. Each year he is a guest teacher at a number of churches, student groups, workshops and conferences, helping people feel free to play with prayer. As an active member of The Meeting Place Church community he leads weekly worship, prayer activities and outreach at the 541 Eatery & Exchange on Barton Street East. Randell stirs up meaningful conversations in the wider community through his one man show called “Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety,” as well as exhibiting his Kindness Cartoons at a number of art shows, markets and the James Street North Art Crawl. 

As I was writing this, I looked back through my agenda to remind myself of some of the extra activities I’d been up to. It is surprising what you forget. I was able to show my art and perform my music 14 times over the last year. That is more than once a month! I found that really encouraging. It also stood out to me that I was able to lead prayer workshops at 2 national church conferences (one for Mennonites, and the other for Presbyterians). Here are some things you can be praying for:

  • I am feeling like it is really important for me to build up teams in all the ongoing prayer ministries that I am a part of.Some things like Barnabas have really strong teams, other places it is mostly just me. Pray that I would recognize who God is sending to be part of leading these ministries. 
  • Pray for the Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety show. Pray that I would have opportunities to continue to perform. I’m doing a shortened version of this as a workshop for a Youth Conference. Pray that these stories open up good conversations for the youth. Also pray for me as I decide what things to include and what things need to be cut out for time.

Upcoming Art Shows:

I have a couple Hamilton art markets coming up in May. 

  • James Street North for Art Crawl on Friday, May 8th from 6pm until 9pm. I try to set up near the BMO near Barton & James.
  • I’ll be at Crownpoint Community Church’s Makers Market on Saturday, May 9th from 11am – 8pm. I’ll be located at 92 Ottawa St. N. This is happening at the same time as the Sew Hungry Food Truck Festival on Ottawa St, so it is a very yummy event.

Here are some ways you can be praying:

  • Pray for Crownpoint Community Church. Supporting the arts is one of the ways this church connects to their neighbourhood. 
  • Pray for the conversations I have at these events. Pray that God would use me to be a good ambassador. 
  • Pray that my art would whisper the Fruit of the Spirit to people through my Kindness Cartoons. 

Donations:

Thank you so much for being part of this partnership team, and empowering me to do this ministry work!

If you would like to make a donation or sign up for a monthly giving plan, there are 3 ways you can do that:

1.
Donate Online with CanadaHelps:
canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164

2.
Donate by E-transfer:
Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” in the message section.  Please also include your mailing address to get a tax receipt next year.

3.
Donate by Cheque:
randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate

I’ll have lots more prayer updates for you next month.

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf

Looking for Kindness Art Exhibit at 541 Eatery & Exchange

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Looking for Kindness, an art exhibit by Randell Neudorf is on display at 541 Eatery & Exchange in Hamilton from March 20th until May 20th, 2026. The cafe is open Tuesday-Saturday, 8am-2pm.

Artist Statement:

“Looking for Kindness” started as a few cartoons scribbled into my art journal. I had been struggling with ongoing anxiety attacks. Through therapy, the idea of kindness became very important to me. I decided that every time I noticed something kind, I would do a drawing and share a story about it on my instagram page. It was a way for me to feel seen and begin to heal.

After a while it seemed like these drawings wanted to live somewhere outside of my art journal. The first 30 images were turned into a book called “Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety.” This eventually became a one man show in the storytelling tradition of the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean. An old-school overhead projector allowed these little drawings to become a big backdrop for an evening of funny anecdotes and heart felt songs.

It has been 5 years now and I still find myself drawing, singing and talking about kindness.

FOR ALL ART PURCHASE INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT 
RANDELLNEUDORF@GMAIL.COM

$50 Framed Print
$25 Unframed Print
$20 Book

Punk Monk Newsletter – Mar 2026

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Hey Team Punk Monk,

It has been almost 3 months since my last update, so I thought I would give you some photo highlights with some short stories (one one longer one) about what I’ve been up to in my ministry with GOHOP.

Sold Out Show!

I had the privilege of performing my Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety show to a sold out room at Eucharist Church in January. Nina, the pastor of Eucharist really wanted this to be an intergenerational event. I’m happy to say that a number of people brought their kids (something we were praying for at GOHOP). I met one little guy who was very excited to show me that he bought my book. His mom shared that a number of people in their home deal with anxiety so my story really resonated with them.

Ash Wednesday Funeral Songs:

Every year on Ash Wednesday I host a very strange open mic called Funeral Songs. There is a real mix of people who attend. It is pretty evenly split between church people, people who have left the church, and folks with no Christian connection. There was one lady who came up to me at the end and said “That was way less churchy then I thought it would be, and I mean that as a compliment!” Turns out she is Muslim, and was having a rough day and just stopped in for some company and the pizza we were sharing. There aren’t a lot of places where you get this mix of people being open and honest with each other. I’m so thankful that God continues to place me in these in between spaces.

The Beauty of Being Part of a Team!

As I was getting ready for this year’s TrueCity Conference and Prayer Room (TrueCity is a network of Hamilton Churches) I was also preparing for a very hard task. I had been asked by a single mom to do the funeral for her 13 year old son who passed away from a very aggressive form of Juvenile Huntington’s Disease. The boy was a classmate of my youngest, so of course I said yes but I didn’t feel equipped to pull together a funeral for someone so young. I quickly messaged all the pastors from the TrueCity network for advice. Within hours, 4 people offered some amazing help. Dena (an Anglican priest) dropped off some books of prayers for me. She even took the time to bookmark all the pages she thought would be helpful. Nina (a Baptist pastor) emailed me a funeral resource her church uses that had specific prayers for child funerals.This resource also had important advice on how to speak to the other kids in the room. Dave (on staff with TrueCity) let me know that Michael (a Christian Reformed Pastor) was actually telling a story at the upcoming conference about a hard funeral he did for a teen. Michael phoned me and really helped me to internalize what I needed to do to be a good support for the grieving mom and school community. 

The teamwork kept going. During the conference, I had so many GOHOP friends and TrueCity pastors come up to me, give me a big hug and tell me they were praying for me. The conference ended with everyone lining up for communion. I was at the front of the line, and after I took communion, I decided to leave early so I could keep preparing for the funeral that was the very next day. As I was walking down the aisle, I had so many pastors and prayer friends quietly pat me on the back, knowing why I was leaving early. I could literally feel that they had my back. 

The Funeral took place during the first shift I was booked as a host for the prayer room. Ian (the Director of GOHOP) said he would take care of finding people to cover me. Again, I experienced the beauty of being part of a team.

I won’t go into all the details of the funeral, but I decided that I really wanted to focus on prayer & stories. It wasn’t a church funeral, so I wanted to give everyone (especially the kids) a way into the prayers. At the beginning of the service I name dropped that I’m a Mennonite Pastor and that prayer is something that is important to me, but that we often make it too complicated.

I invited everyone to hold their hands open with their palms face up. I said that they could do this as a way of being open to a prayer I might be saying, or a story that someone shares. It is sort of a “Yes Please,” or an “Amen!” I then had everyone turn their palms face down. I invited people to do this whenever they heard something that felt too heavy or too hard to hold. They could imagine that heavy thing falling to the ground or being dropped into the hands of their neighbour, parents, or even the hands of God. The beauty of this prayer practice is that you then reset your hands to be open again for the next thing. Each time I was praying, I would model this posture from the front with my hands, and I could see others around the room doing the same. 

Afterwards a few parents told me that they didn’t know what to expect but that the service was exactly what their family needed. I also had two different people come up to me and say that their dad or grandfather had been a mennonite pastor. Both individuals said they were no longer practicing but that they liked being reminded of the pastor in their family. Seemed like God was up to something.

50th Birthday!

I turned 50 years old on Sunday. I was celebrated by friends & family, and had a very good birthday weekend. That being said, 50 is a strange number. It seems like a time where it is important to do some self reflection. I booked some spiritual direction appointments to talk through some of these things. If you are looking for a spiritual director, there are some great ones connected to GOHOP. Many of them will meet over Zoom, so you don’t need to be in the Hamilton area to use this service. You can find out more here: gohop.ca/spiritual-direction

541 Art Show:

The 541 Eatery & Exchange currently has my Kindness Cartoons hanging on the walls. The show runs to about the end of May. I do prayer and outreach in the cafe on Thursdays, and I’m hoping that some good conversations are sparked by my art being up in the room. 

if you would like to check out the show, 541 is open Tue-Sat from 8am until 2pm.  

Fundraising Update:

I’m happy to report that Mennonite Church Eastern Canada has renewed the 541 prayer & outreach funding for another year. This allows me to continue to be at the cafe on Thursday mornings! 

The GOHOP staff team is continuing to lean into our fundraising training with the Sweet Life of Missionary Partnership Podcast. As we use and implement what we are learning, we are also looking ahead to how we could onboard and empower future staff members as well. 

Thank you so much for being part of this partnership team, and empowering me to do this ministry work. There are 3 ways you can sign up for a monthly giving plan or make a donation: 

1.
Donate Online with CanadaHelps:
canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164

2.
Donate by E-transfer:
Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” in the message section.  Please also include your mailing address to get a tax receipt next year.

3.
Donate by Cheque:
randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate

Prayer Requests:

The picture above is from one of the TrueCity Prayer Stations I created this year. People were invited to trace their hand and a wooden cross as they reflected on Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:24, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” 

As the hands and crosses overlapped and filled up the small canvas, people were reminded that Jesus had help carrying his own cross, in the form of Simon (Mark 15:12). 

Praying for each other is one of the ways we help each other carry our crosses.

Here are some ways you can be praying for me:

  • Pray for my health. I have been sick or injured a number of times already this year. This is one of the things that has helped me to really focus on the importance of ministering as a team. Pray that I would be able to build up more collaboration and teamwork in the work that I do. 
  • We would like to expand the staff team at GOHOP. Pray that the right people would be called into this ministry. 
  • Pray for my family. We are thankful that Susan got an extension on her current library position doing kids programming (she is always applying for permanent positions to do the same thing long term. My daughter Zoe is getting married to Luis in less than a month (I’m officiating the wedding). Ethan is working hard at building his business, Buddy Boy Dog Training (he also does dog walking and pet sitting). Troy will be starting highschool in the fall (most of his friends will be going to a different school, so pray that he meets some nice kids). 
  • Pray for the Mom who is grieving the loss of her son. Pray that she would be open to meeting with friends and neighbours who are trying to be supportive. 
  • I’m leading some prayer and art workshops in May and June. Pray that I have a clear idea of what God would like me to share. 
  • GOHOP’s annual Prayer Truck is happening a month earlier this year in June. This is a street level prayer room behind an at-risk youth centre in downtown Hamilton. Pray that we would have a strong volunteer team and that we would do a good job of connecting to youth and other people passing by on the street.
  • Pray for my fundraising activities. Pray that I would be consistent with my time. Pray that I would have opportunities to meet with people about becoming monthly donors. 

How could I be praying for you? This partnership team goes both ways!

Thanks for taking the time to get all the way to the bottom of my newsletter! 

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf