My name is Cory Vail, and I am the Atlantic Field Director for One Hope Canada. Let me tell you a little bit about our journey and how we got here. A long, long time ago, Emily and I were married on Oct 4, 2008. I had just finished a summer of tree planting, and she had spent the summer at Cape Enrage (an outdoor adventure tourist spot with a lighthouse on the coast of New Brunswick). When we were reunited at the end of the summer, I proposed.
Just prior to that summer, I graduated from Crandall University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and a Certificate in Youth Leadership. I sensed a call to ministry in my second year of university, and I thought I would be a youth pastor or maybe a church planter. I knew I wanted to serve the Lord and reach the next generation with the gospel. In 2009, we had our first boy, and our world was turned upside down. We now had the responsibility of keeping another human being alive. I was 23, and Emily was 20.
I worked whatever jobs I could to make ends meet. In the first several years of marriage, I worked at a concrete factory, I was an industrial painter, I worked at a lumber mill, I got a job as a carpenter, I managed a restaurant, and I started my own construction business. We rented an apartment above a gas station for the first 6 years of our marriage and brought three children home from the hospital there.
Ministry Beginnings
I was saved and discipled in a church that valued homeschooling, and Emily’s parents were early adopters. She was homeschooled herself all the way through high school so we both knew we wanted to homeschool our kids. I began to do more and more ministry work, primarily as a volunteer in the local church at first but then gradually had more and more opportunities to do ministry vocationally. I started doing pulpit supply whenever I had the opportunity, and I ended up preaching weekly at a church 20 minutes down the road. We loved it there, and they asked me to come on as the part-time pastor. We accepted the call.
AWANA Ministry
Around the same time, I was volunteering and doing regional events with the Awana ministry in Atlantic Canada. When the regional director for Awana resigned, I stepped into the role of being the regional Awana representative. I served in these dual roles over the next several years. During this time, we brought 3 more boys into the world. After several years of dual occupation ministry roles and homeschooling the boys, we were sensing a new season was upon us.
Next Steps With One Hope Canada
I was asked if I would consider applying for the role of Regional Field Director with the Ministry of One Hope Canada. I prayed about it and felt that God was leading us in this new direction. I went through the interview process, and my call was confirmed by the One Hope Canada leadership.
The ministry of One Hope Canada has 40 Bible Camps across Canada. Originally the ministry was called the Canadian Sunday School Mission (CSSM), sending children’s ministry missionaries to the far reaches of Canada to present the gospel to children and youth, particularly to those having the least opportunity to hear of Christ, and discipling them for living and serving through His church. This is the purpose that One Hope Canada still embodies today, not only through Bible camp ministries but through community missions and missionaries, online ministry, training and resourcing, and coming alongside in partnership with the local church to reach every boy and girl in Canada with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Maritime Local Ministry Options
My role as the Atlantic Field Director is to work with our six ministry points in our region through encouragement, support, and resourcing the frontline missionaries to take the gospel to children in our area. There are 3 ministry points in New Brunswick: Hampton Bible Camp, Sandy Cove Bible Camp, and Miramichi Bible Camp; two ministry points in Nova Scotia: Blomidon Bible Camp and Cape Breton Bible Camp; and one ministry point in St John’s Newfoundland. I represent the Ministry Resource Centre to help equip and strengthen the frontline missionaries.
Would you be willing to pray for us in this work of presenting the gospel to children? If you would like to learn more about the ministry of One Hope Canada, please reach out to me. I would love to share more about what is happening here in Atlantic Canada and how you could get involved.
Written by Cory Vail
Cory first served at a One Hope Canada Camp in the summer of 2005 after his roommate invited him to come “out west” to work at Camp Silversides. Several years later, he was reintroduced to the ministry in Atlantic Canada when he was invited to speak at a One Hope Canada camp. After participating in many different ministries over the years, in 2022 he joined the One Hope Canada family as the Atlantic Field Director. Cory graduated from Atlantic Baptist University with a B.A. in Biblical Studies and a Certificate in Youth Leadership. He is married to Emily, and they homeschool their six sons in rural New Brunswick.
Would you like to support Cory in his mission work? You can donate online, as you feel called, by giving a one-time donation or a recurring donation.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).