Tag Archives: faith

Punk Monk Newsletter – Oct 2025

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It is alway nice to be able to try new things. This week my family visited a corn maze. A couple of the kids had been before but we hadn’t ever gone all together. I’m very thankful that even though 2 of my kids are adults, they all still have fun playing together on our family adventures.

 As someone who is directionally challenged and uses Google Maps to get anywhere, I’m very proud that I actually made it out of the maze. You should also know that my wife’s favourite part was jumping out of the corn and scaring her children (good times!). 

Asah and a Damascus Road Encounter:

I was feeling very uninspired as I was preparing for October’s Asah: Creativity & Prayer Studio. I had used up all my new ideas in September, so I figured it was ok to use some past ideas this month. I picked two activities that wouldn’t usually go together but decided it was fine and didn’t really want to put too much more thought into it. 

Our first activity was called Four Images of God. A spiritual director introduced it to me at a retreat a number of years ago. You are asked to draw four images of how you perceived God in different times in your life. Here are the prompts I used:

  1. Draw your earliest image of God.
  2. Draw your image of God at your conversion, baptism, or confirmation (the time in your life where you felt like you made your faith your own).
  3. Draw your current image of God.
  4. Draw the image of God that God is inviting you into next.

The above photo is what I drew. The idea behind drawing instead of writing out your thoughts, is that drawing uses a different part of our brain (even if it is just stick figures). Through drawing we can sometimes access different memories or ideas that we have forgotten.

There was a new woman who joined us but she jumped right into the exercise. Afterwards the group was talking about the experience. Sharing is never mandatory but this new person was extra quiet during the discussion. After everyone else had shared about their drawings there was a long pause. I was about to move us on to our next activity when the new person said, “This has really helped me make sense of my story. I wasn’t planning on talking about this but I am a very new Christian. I actually had a Damascus road experience”

Without getting into the details of this person’s private story, she told us about some very dark things that were part of her life. Just as she was about to hit a dangerous point of no return, she had a very miraculous encounter. Just like Paul on the road to Damascus, God literally spoke into this woman’s life and pointed her towards Jesus. 

The whole time she was telling us her testimony, it struck me how all 4 of her drawings were from a very small, recent slice of time. I didn’t want to say anything but I kept having this thought that there must be an earlier image of God in her life, Something she doesn’t remember or didn’t have the awareness at the time to recognise as a God moment. 

This nagging thought wouldn’t let go, so just before she left I said,

“Thank you so much for sharing your story. It was a real privilege that you trusted us with that. It really struck me that all your drawings, even your first image of God, were so recent. I think as you mature, that God will continue to show you earlier and earlier times in your life when God was speaking to you and helping you in your life.”

Her posture relaxed and she exclaimed, “Thank you so much for saying that! I have been so angry with God! Why did He wait so long to speak to me? Why did He let me get so far into danger? Hearing you say that really helps.”

It struck me how amazing Jesus is. He can use a day where I was feeling guilty and apologetic for not having any flashy new ideas to bring some healing into a person’s soul. 

  • Pray for my new friend. Pray that she would mature in her faith and continue to discover Jesus in her life (both in the past and present). Pray that she would learn that God is ok with all her feelings (her thankfulness and her anger). 
  • Pray for me as I lead these creative prayer evenings. Pray that I would be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading. 
  • Pray that I would hold people’s stories well. Pray that I would be a good listening ear.
  • Continue to pray for my Asah co-leader Megan’s recovery from a concussion. She is slowly adding work back into her life. Pray for wisdom for her to know what she can handle and what to hold off on. 

Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals:
In Person & on Zoom – Tuesdays at Noon.

I’m always excited to let you know about an opportunity that you can take advantage of no matter where you live. Every Tuesday at Noon I’m part of GOHOP’s hybrid Common Prayer hour that is in person and on zoom. I’m the one managing the Zoom side of things, so if you show up online, you will definitely see me. There is a real justice emphasis to these meetings as we are pray into issues of homelessness, poverty, at risk youth, newcomers and refugees. Find out all the details here: gohop.ca/commonprayer

  • We have been inviting people from charities and social services to join us in these justice focused prayer times.We have had a good response. Pray for these front line workers who see a lot of hard things every day. Pray that our ministry at GOHOP would be a good part of their self care. 

First Things Class 

If you were wanting to dig in a little deeper to all things GOHOP, we have a new class called First Things starting on Monday, November 10th. For six weeks people will get to learn about the six core values of 24-7 Prayer & GOHOP:

  1. Prayer
  2. Justice
  3. Hospitality
  4. Learning
  5. Mission
  6. Creativity

Each theme will have a guest practitioner to share about their experience with the theme (I’m on for the creativity week). Participants will also get a tool kit to help them try on some spiritual practices that build on these core values. If you live in the Hamilton area, this is a very practical way to deepen your prayer life. You can find out more info here: https://www.gohop.ca/firstthings  (I have been told that we have room to add someone last minute so ignore the deadline date).

Fundraising Update:

I am thankful that a couple extra surprise donations came in last month. I’m continuing to work at inviting more people to become monthly supporters. I find this to be the part of my job that feels most daunting. Pray that I would be diligent about fundraising and meeting with people to invite them to join my support team.
If you would like to make a donation or sign up for a monthly giving plan, you can do that by any of the following ways:

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

Donate by E-transfer:
Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” 
in the message section. 

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

Looking for Kindness Show Trailer:

Consider bringing my Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety Show to a venue, living room, or church near you. Here is a trailer to give you a little bit of an idea of what this performance is like: https://youtu.be/cjhIXl-G898?si=_OR_lZltUzXYM08E

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. I am so thankful to have you in my corner.

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf

Punk Monk Newsletter – Summer 2025

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Hey Team Punk Monk! I hope your summer is going well. I wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to over the last few months in my prayer ministry with GOHOP.

Prayer Truck 2025:

Last week I spent most of my evenings in a U-haul truck, parked in an alley behind Living Rock (a ministry for at-risk youth). The truck was converted into a street level prayer room that was open for a week. We offered people water, friendly conversations, and prayer.

The prayer truck opened up on an evening where there was a fatal shooting downtown, so many people were understandably wanting us to pray about that. Praying for peace felt really important. A couple days later one of our hosts prayed for a family member of the woman who was shot. 

I got to pray with a teen who I would assume is trans. They asked me to pray for their mental health. I started praying, and half way through, I realized I hadn’t asked what pronouns they were comfortable with so I just went with  “they/them.” When I finished and said amen, I looked up at the person, they were beaming! I’m pretty sure I made the right choice. I don’t know why I didn’t think to pause my prayer and just ask what pronouns the youth was comfortable with, but I think God used my impromptu decision to show this young person that they were more than welcome at the Prayer Truck.

Another day I prayed for a young man who just graduated from an MBA program, had recently got married, and started a new job. I prayed for him in this season of new things. I prayed that when he looks back on this time 2 years, 10 years and 20 years from now, he would see the good roots put down in this time of change. Afterwards he thanked me and asked “How much do I owe you?” At first I thought he was joking but then I realized he was genuinely asking. I told him, “The prayer is free, this is just what we do!” I gave him a bunch of info on GOHOP and I’m hoping I’ll see him sometime in the future at one of our prayer times. 

  • Pray for peace in Hamilton. There is a lot of violence happening in the city right now. It seems like every week there is another shooting. At my church we sing “Mama, put my guns in the ground” (from Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door). That is what I pray, over and over again.

Prayer Workshops and a Festival of gifts:

At the beginning of July I was attending Mennonite Church Canada’s national gathering in Kitchener. I was a delegate for my church (The Meeting Place) but I also had some workshops and events that I was leading. 

I got to lead two prayer workshops. I was introducing an Ignatian prayer practice called Gospel Contemplation, where you use your imagination to enter into a gospel story to have a conversation with Jesus. It was very well received and many people had very profound Jesus encounters. Afterwards I had a conversation with one woman who said,

“I really loved this! I used to always try to read the Bible through my imagination but my church told me it is wrong. They told me God has cast down imagination and we shouldn’t use it to read the scripture. Now I want to bring this back to my church and share it with everyone!”

This quote is very different from what I’m used to in Mennonite circles. I have found the Mennonite Church to be really open to the intersection of spiritual & creative practices, so I was more than a little surprised.

There were so many emotions that came up for me. I was overjoyed that this person encountered Jesus in her imagination and that she wanted others to also be able to have the experience of having a conversation with Jesus. I was also very sad that this person was taught that God had cast down imagination, when our imaginations and creativity are in fact a gift from God that reflects God’s own divine creativity. After we had talked a while, I was scared, because I was pretty sure her church wasn’t going to be open to receiving her rediscovery of imagination and prayer. I advised her to hold off on trying to change everyone’s mind at her church. Insteady I suggested she try to find 2 safe people who might be open to trying out Gospel Contemplation and imaginative prayer with her. 

  • Please pray for this lady and the rediscovery of her creative prayer gifts. Pray that she would find some safe people to pray with. 
  • Pray for all the people who took home prayer resources. Pray that the seeds of these ideas, handouts, tricks, and tips would take root.

On the Friday night of the conference I hosted a large intercultural and intergenerational gathering called “Festival of Gifts.” There were a lot of moving pieces happening with13 different groups contributing art, drama and music. We also had over 20 new congregations being welcomed into Mennonite Church Canada. This was a very packed schedule. I put a lot of work into planning things down to the minute to squeeze all of this into just 2 hours!. 

I opened the night by telling everyone that there were a couple skill sets they were going to need to navigate this Festival of Gifts:

  1. They needed to have an open heart and posture of receiving. Iasked everyone to put their hands on their lap or table with their palms facing up as a reminder of this open posture. I let them know that everyone who was bringing something to the stage was sharing an act of worship with their Creator. It might not be in a language we understand, or it could be something we aren’t used to, but we honour their gift by having an open posture. When we do this sometimes the Creator can whisper something back to us through what is being shared.
  2. They needed to master THE SWIVEL! I let people know that this was going to be a very busy night and that sometimes while one person was sharing on the left side of the stage another group would be setting up on the right side of the stage. I knew this might feel awkward so it was important to name that ahead of time. I got everyone to get ready for this by all “swiveling” their attention to the right side of the stage and then to the left, back and forth, and back and forth again, as a stretch to be ready for all the hard working churches, music teams, and youth that would be taking the stage. 

No one was more surprised than I, that the plan worked. Everyone was so joyful in the room and we even finished right on time! Afterwards the head of the denomination came up to thank me and said,

 “This was the one night of the conference that I was really worried about. We didn’t really know how to pull this event off. Once I heard that you were brought on to help plan and host the night I wasn’t worried anymore. I knew you had the right energy and ability to improvise to make this work.” 

It was so nice to hear that. I had met him a few times in the past, but I wouldn’t have even expected him to know who I was. 

I was also thankful for the Mennonite Spiritual Directors who had created a prayer room for the conference with a giant indoor labyrinth. I spent a couple hours praying in that room before all the kaoss of sound check started. It was a very wise choice. I felt way more ready to tackle all the behind the scenes curve balls that happened right down to the wire. It is amazing how a prayer room can focus our prayers in a very different kind of way. A prayer room functions a lot like the secluded places Jesus would go and pray in. Space and time set aside for prayer is such a life-giving practice. 

Do you have a go-to location that you use for prayer? It could be a park, a trail, a specific room in your house, or a prayer room.

If you live in the Hamilton area, here are a couple prayer opportunities you might want to try:

  •  Visit the GOHOP Prayer Room. Our summer hours are 8am – 8pm on Tuesdays until August 12th. We will then be closed for a summer break. The prayer room will open up again on September 9th from 8am-8pm on Tuesdays & Wednesdays.
  • The Form & Fire Prayer Internship will be starting on September 25th. This is a great way to take 3 months to lean into prayer practices from across the many streams of the church. Get all the details here: https://www.gohop.ca/internship

Pray for GOHOP:

  • Please pray for GOHOP’s fall activities. I’ll be helping to lead our Barnabas Listening Prayer Learning Lab and Asah Creative Prayer Studio. Both of these workshops have had some great momentum in the spring. Pray that we would be able to help move people from participating to leading prayer activities. We really want individuals to be able to pass on what they are learning.
  • September 1st – 7th, we will be hosting a week of Zoom prayer times for people across Canada. Pray that good connections would be made and that people would be inspired to start their own rhythms of prayer. If you would like to join us for this week of prayer, sign up for the GOHOP newsletter to find out more info: https://www.gohop.ca/newsletter 

Looking for Kindness Church Shows:

I have a 45 minute version of my Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety show that is designed for sharing with churches on a Sunday morning. I just got to share it with the folks at Crosshill Mennonite Church and it was really well received. A number of people shared with me about their own mental health journeys and appreciated this being talked about so openly at church. One teen who is really into music, liked the sounds my telephone mic made. I could tell he was excited to hear music at church that sounded so different. I also had a bunch of little kids tease me for singing so weird. I thanked them and said “Isn’t it great that we can be weird sometime. It would be so boring if we all sang exactly the same.” I think that took them by surprise because they kept hanging around while I was packing up and told me about the instruments they were learning to play. 

My next church show will be at Westview Christian Fellowship in St. Catharines on Sunday August 24th at 10am. 

  • Pray that good conversations would happen at Westview. Pray that the people who need to hear a little more about kindness would attend. 
  • Pray that other churches would be open to trying something different for their Sunday service. 

Thank You For Your Support!

Thank you so much for all the prayers, donations, and encouraging messages. I couldn’t do this ministry without your support. I thank God for your generosity and trust. 

If you would like to make a monthly or annual donation to my ministry with GOHOP you can do that here:

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

You can now donate by E-transfer:
Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” 
in the message section.

You can also donate by Cheque:
https://randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate/

  • In the fall I’ll be reaching out to more people to ask them to consider joining my monthly support team. Pray that I would be able to meet with 1 person a week in October & November. 

Summer Fun:

I got to try out paddle boarding a few weeks ago, and it was so fun. Have you been able to try something new this summer? I would love to hear about it.

Grace and Peace to you on your own summer adventures,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf

Punk Monk Newsletter – April 2025

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I’m very excited that it is finally feeling like spring outside. I have been able to bike to work the last couple weeks and that has felt great. I wanted to let you know about a couple things I have been up to in my ministry life.

Easter Sunrise Service:

In my last newsletter I mentioned that I’m doing some prayer & outreach work at 541 Eatery & Exchange (the pay it forward cafe) on Thursday mornings. This is through a partnership between my church (The Meeting Place) and GOHOP. I have been meeting lots of people while visiting around the big harvest table in the cafe. I’ve had the chance to pray for a number of people over the last 5 months, which has been very meaningful. It has also been a great weekday check in for people who are attending my church on Sundays. 

We have an Easter tradition at the Meeting Place where we have a joint sunrise service in Beasley Park with our friends from Trinity Lutheran Church. Afterwards the Lutherans host everyone for a big breakfast. This year one of our regulars who is experiencing homelessness joined us for the 7am service. It was a big deal that he made the effort to be there right on time. He shared that he made it a priority because he really appreciates Trinity Lutheran. He told me a story about when he was having a really hard time and he found himself at a cafe drop at Trinity. He fondly remembers that they served toast with REAL BUTTER!!!! He hadn’t had such a treat since living rough. For some of us, real butter might not seem like a life changing experience, but for this man, it made all the difference, he felt appreciated and valued. 

It was a privilege to celebrate Easter with my Meeting Place friend. 

  • Pray for people in Hamilton experiencing homelessness. Pray that they would be able to find stable and supportive housing. 
  • Pray that I would be able to make meaningful connections with people at 541. 
  • Pray that there would be a few core people that would lock in with this weekly prayer time. It is a transient population, so I don’t always have consistency with who shows up. Having even one more person who really commits to being there every week goes a long way to welcoming new people.

Looking for Kindness Shows:

In March I was able to do a living room Looking for Kindness show in Guelph. The host family invited 20 of their friends to come hear me sing and tell stories about my prayer and mental health journey. They even dragged a couple extra sofas into their living room to create 3 rows of theatre style seating! I could tell people were really engaged with my story because after my last song called 4-track Gospel the room was completely silent (no one was clapping) but it was the profound type of quiet. It felt like a holy moment. 

I have a couple more shows coming up in the next week:

If you know anyone in Owen Sound or Dundas please let them know about the show.If you haven’t seen me perform yet, there is a little teaser trailer posted up on YouTube:: 

  • Pray for me as I talk to people before and after the shows. There are a lot of great conversations happening and sometimes people are sharing some very hard stories with me. Pray that I would be a good and supportive listener. 
  • Pray that I would have more opportunities to perform in both church and secular contexts. 

Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop:

Every month I help lead the Asah: Creativity & Prayer Studio in the GOHOP Prayer Room. There was a great turn out for our traditional Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop. You might not know this but traditional easter eggs are absolutely rooted in prayer. As you are creating your design, you are supposed to be holding someone in prayer. The whole thing is done by candle light through a very slow and meditative process. I was very happy to be able to add some calm and beauty to people’s lives as part of their journey towards Good Friday and Easter. This was a great follow up to our workshop where people created a cross filled with collaged images of things they wanted to add or subtract from their daily rhythms over Lent.

  • I lead Asah with my coworker Megan. Pray for us as we try to foster opportunities for people to engage with their creator through creativity.
  • This prayer workshop is always an experiment (there is no manual for this kind of prayer). Pray that we would continue to be open to trying new ideas. 

Prayer Songs:

Prayer & Music has been a real theme for me over the last month. 

I had the opportunity to perform at the Hamilton Public Library as part of an event organized by Public Health. I chose a mix of my original gospel songs along with tunes I would consider secular hymns (Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Man In Black, etc…).  A few days before this event a friend gave me a listening prayer image of me being inside a guitar filled with water. I was peering out of the sound hole, looking through the strings that were vibrating. He said there was a feeling of energy and power through the music. When I heard this, I immediately connected the image to the songs I had been preparing for the library gig. I was kind of nervous about singing so many “Jesus-y” songs in a very secular setting, and this listening prayer felt like a gift that put me at ease and made me feel confident that I had picked the right songs. The event went great and I really felt like I was praying these songs over the many newcomers and street involved people that attended the event. 

I also lead a monthly Hymn Sing night in the GOHOP Prayer Room. The idea is that we sing old hymns and then use the words that stand out from the song as our prayers. I had just been telling my coworkers that I was a little discouraged that I often had been singing and praying on my own, but the very next Hymn Sing someone joined me! I explained the idea of using the hymns as prayers and the person told me they really wanted to sing the songs but they weren’t so sure about the prayer part because they are agnostic. After every song something jumped out at this person that they named as their prayer. They also had lots of memories that came up for them and shared a personal story after almost every hymn. For someone who wasn’t sure about the prayer part, they sure did a lot of praying. Afterwards it occurred to me that if other people had shown up that night (like I had been wishing), my agnostic friend might not have felt so free to pray and be open to the memories the Holy Spirit brought up through the music. I was so thankful for this very special Hymn Sing night.

  • I get really excited about engaging with people on the edges. Whether that is the edges of the church, or society in general. I’m often told that I feel very safe for people. Pray that I wouldn’t take that safety for granted and that I would use these opportunities to connect with people on the edges well. Pray that these safe moments would allow people to be open to the Holy Spirit. 

Fundraising Update:

I have been trying to put more effort into setting up one on one appointments to invite people to join my monthly support team. I would really appreciate your prayers around this.

 It takes a lot of courage for me to put myself out there and ask people to consider giving toward my personal support raising. Some days I don’t feel very courageous at all (please pray that I would be bold and diligent in my fundraising)

If you would like to meet with me to talk more about my ministry with GOHOP (and to just catch up), or if you know someone I should connect with, please reach out to me. Fundraising happens best one conversation at a time. 

If you would like to make a monthly or annual donation to my ministry with GOHOP you can do that here:

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

You can now donate by E-transfer:
Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” 
in the message section.

You can also donate by Cheque:
https://randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate/

Some Exciting Family News:

Lastly, I wanted to share some exciting news. My daughter Zoe is engaged to her boyfriend Luis (obviously now her fiancé). Susan and I have loved getting to know Luis and are so excited to have him joining our family. I think I’m going to like being a Father-in-law. Any advice out there from other Father-in-laws?

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf