Missionaries

Westside partners with missionaries serving in this local community. Check out their bios below and feel free to get in contact with them to learn more about their work and ministry!

Dave Olson

Athletes in Action Canada

Dave is originally from Abbotsford and studied business while attending Trinity Western University. God took him on a long journey after graduation of discerning where God was leading him. He felt called to full-time ministry in 2012 after coming back home from living in Australia for a year, but needed to go through a season of pruning and sanctification before stepping into his work with Athletes in Action. Dave is responsible for leading a national team of directors in the Sport Specific division that seeks to impact Canada and beyond through movements of evangelism and discipleship. His team does this through offering opportunities (camps, overseas tours, service projects, partnerships, etc.) for high performance athletes in volleyball, basketball, hockey, wrestling, soccer, and triathlons to encounter Christ personally and take steps of faith.

Westside’s ongoing support helps Dave and AIA equip their staff to meet, build relationships with, and encourage athletes to use their sport as an opportunity to glorify God. Dave serves the staff in a pastoral capacity and spends most of his time investing in those who are directly evangelizing and discipling athletes. 

• For more information, to help support, or to receive monthly newsletters please email Dave at davido@athletesinaction.com. He would love to connect with you and hear your heart for making Jesus known in the world.

Gord Carkner

Outreach Canada

Gord is originally from the Ottawa Valley and began to feel God call him toward mission in the last semester of his undergrad degree in Life Sciences at Queen’s University. After seminary training, he entered the adventure of campus ministry with its intense apologetics challenges. This started in Waterloo-Guelph, Ontario and then at University of British Columbia. Westside’s ongoing support helps he and his wife Ute (and their faculty partners) to bring God’s presence and the Christian voice and values to the secular university, while mentoring graduate students from around the globe for future leadership. Gord also builds a vision for discovering how our faith can engage late modern culture through blogging and his books. His most recent book was released Feb 2024, and his most video, Rethinking Identity Through the Lens of Incarnation can be viewed here.

• For more information and receive their newsletter, please email gord.carkner@gmail.com. You can also check out his thought-provoking blog here.
• Read the Christmas Message from UBC Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum here.
• Details about their upcoming Scholarly Lecture with Denis Alexander can be found here.  Their first Fall Scholarly Lecture featured William T. Cavanaugh and can be watched here.
• To financially support this mission, please visit the Outreach Canada site here or contact Doris Meers (Outreach Canada Donor Services) at dmeers@outreach.ca  or 604-952-0050 (ext. 1).

Michael & Amy Weidman

The Navigators

Michael and Amy are serving with the Navigators at UBC and citywide. They are Directors of Navigators International Ministries at the University of British Columbia and Directors of the Navigators “Real Life” Young Professionals Fellowship in Vancouver. The Weidmans started two fellowships for International students at UBC. The International Fellowship has students from 20 different countries from every continent. The other fellowship is the Navigators Chinese Fellowship in Mandarin for students from China, Taiwan and Singapore. The Navigators “Real Life” Fellowship is designed to give young professionals discipleship, training and the opportunity to develop deep, quality and meaningful relationship building.

• For more information about Navigators and the work that Michael and Amy are doing, visit the UBC Navigators website to learn more or contact them directly.