BRIEF HISTORY OF PASTOR JOSEPH BULGIN AT AJAX SDA
Pastor Joseph Bulgin was installed as the Pastor of the Ajax SDA Community Church on September 6, 2014, in the ninth(9th) year of the existence of the Ajax SDA Community Church.
We know that it was hard for Pastor and Sister Bulgin to leave their previous church at Ruth to come to Ajax SDA, however, they quickly showed 100% commitment to Ajax SDA by transferring their membership and were officially welcomed into fellowship as Ajax SDA members on November 29th, 2014.
Pastor Bulgin preached his first sermon on November 15, 2014 during our music day under the theme “Praise Him Anyhow”. This gave us an opportunity to experience his dynamic preaching and his love for presenting God’s word.
Pastor Bulgin was a great supporter of Christian education and since our church was in a rented facility, he was very determined that we should make use of the newly purchased Crawford Adventist Academy East school for rentals to have our meetings. He saw this as a way of financially giving back to assist the school. He worked alongside the then principal, Wendy Hutchinson to implement the use of renting the facility for Storage, Board meetings, Pathfinder/Adventure meetings, Gym nights, and for church services when our rental location was not available. This vision for rental use of the facility began on Nov.16th, 2014 and continues until today.
Pastor Bulgin believed in having an organized church with effective planning, and because he wanted to ensure that every department and ministry in the church was supported, he right away encouraged the heads of Departments to complete the Strategic Departmental Planning Forms that he provided to us to help guide the yearly direction and goals of our respective departments. He showed great support for every department. We looked forward to seeing him dressed in his Master Guide uniform to support the Pathfinders and Adventurers on their special days.
We admired the way Sister Bulgin supported him in ministry from the very beginning and right away became involved in the Ajax SDA Women’s Ministry Department. She was truly his rock, and we appreciated the support she provided to him.
When Pastor Bulgin arrived at Ajax, it was quickly made known to him that our main mission was church building and right away following our building fund promotions he said to us that the promotions were great, but we needed to “close the deal”, meaning that we needed to start collecting funds from the congregation when we do the weekly promotions. This collection began in December 2014 and continues until today.
Pastor Bulgin held his first baptism at Ajax SDA on December 6th, 2014. Four souls were baptized, and we welcomed two members by profession of faith.
His first Communion service at Ajax SDA was held on December 20th , 2014 and on that same day he supported the Prayer Ministry department in an “All Night Prayer Vigil” at one of our members homes. Prayer was very important to Pastor Bulgin’s ministry, and he used his very own personal cell phone number as the Prayer Line for the Ajax SDA Community Church. Pastor Bulgin was one of those pastors who always answered his phone, or he would return your call right away if you left him a message. His prayers and counsel were a comfort to many.
He ran his first Evangelistic series at Ajax SDA from March 7th - April 11th, 2015, entitled “Hope for the Family”. Many were inspired and blessed by the series which resulted in 3 baptisms on June 13th, 2015.
He was always very supportive of his children in ministry, and we were privileged to have his son Jason and daughter Kimberly speak for us on several occasions. He also believed in supporting and encouraging many young Pastors and many were mentored and given an opportunity to speak at Ajax SDA during his tenure with us.
On December 5, 2015, we moved to our current facility at Christian Life Centre at 1030 Ravenscroft Rd and Pastor Bulgin was very instrumental in arranging a rental contract with this facility and maintaining a very good working relationship with the host Pastor Sam Sibley who expressed his sad and deepest sympathy on his passing.
Every January Pastor Bulgin felt inspired by the Holy Spirit to start off the year with some type of motivational and inspirational series that would improve the spiritual lives of the membership. His prayer was that the membership would take heed and be drawn closer to Christ as a result of these series.
As mentioned, Pastor Bulgin found out very early that the main focus of the Ajax SDA church was church building, so he began working tirelessly with the Building Committee and was very happy when in May 2017 we finally acquired the last piece of land zoned for church in the Town of Ajax. Even when Pastor Bulgin was experiencing poor health, he would make himself present and available to attend every visit or appointment that had to do with acquiring a property for the church. We were very grateful for this commitment.
Pastor Bulgin was very committed to winning souls and even during the Covid Pandemic when many churches were experiencing a drought in baptisms, he worked alongside the leadership to have baptisms take place in the backyard pool at his residence. Baptismal candidates completed a Covid waiver that was developed by the Ontario Conference and we were able to have Covid baptisms in his backyard pool on August 16th, 2020 (7 souls), September 13th, 2020 (3 souls), May 23rd, 2021 (7 souls), June 27th, 2021(3 souls) and Aug. 28th, 2021(7 souls). All praises go to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bulgin preached his final sermon at Ajax SDA on May 20th, 2023, and it was appropriately entitled “The Last Message for Planet Earth”. The closing song was “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, I’ll Be There”. We all sincerely believe that without a doubt when the roll is called up yonder, Pastor Joseph Bulgin will be there.
Pastor Bulgin died in the line of duty. He was scheduled and prepared to preach and perform Communion Service on Sabbath June 24th, 2023, but God had other plans and called him to take his rest on June 23rd, 2023. His Sermon topic for the service was “Restoring Broken Relationships”. The closing song he had chosen for that service was “It is Well With My Soul”. Pastor Bulgin, go ahead and take your well-deserved rest. You have fought the good fight and it is indeed well with your soul.
Judy Hutchinson-Boyce
-Ajax SDA Communications
-June 28th,2023
Pastor Joseph Bulgin was installed as the Pastor of the Ajax SDA Community Church on September 6, 2014, in the ninth(9th) year of the existence of the Ajax SDA Community Church.
We know that it was hard for Pastor and Sister Bulgin to leave their previous church at Ruth to come to Ajax SDA, however, they quickly showed 100% commitment to Ajax SDA by transferring their membership and were officially welcomed into fellowship as Ajax SDA members on November 29th, 2014.
Pastor Bulgin preached his first sermon on November 15, 2014 during our music day under the theme “Praise Him Anyhow”. This gave us an opportunity to experience his dynamic preaching and his love for presenting God’s word.
Pastor Bulgin was a great supporter of Christian education and since our church was in a rented facility, he was very determined that we should make use of the newly purchased Crawford Adventist Academy East school for rentals to have our meetings. He saw this as a way of financially giving back to assist the school. He worked alongside the then principal, Wendy Hutchinson to implement the use of renting the facility for Storage, Board meetings, Pathfinder/Adventure meetings, Gym nights, and for church services when our rental location was not available. This vision for rental use of the facility began on Nov.16th, 2014 and continues until today.
Pastor Bulgin believed in having an organized church with effective planning, and because he wanted to ensure that every department and ministry in the church was supported, he right away encouraged the heads of Departments to complete the Strategic Departmental Planning Forms that he provided to us to help guide the yearly direction and goals of our respective departments. He showed great support for every department. We looked forward to seeing him dressed in his Master Guide uniform to support the Pathfinders and Adventurers on their special days.
We admired the way Sister Bulgin supported him in ministry from the very beginning and right away became involved in the Ajax SDA Women’s Ministry Department. She was truly his rock, and we appreciated the support she provided to him.
When Pastor Bulgin arrived at Ajax, it was quickly made known to him that our main mission was church building and right away following our building fund promotions he said to us that the promotions were great, but we needed to “close the deal”, meaning that we needed to start collecting funds from the congregation when we do the weekly promotions. This collection began in December 2014 and continues until today.
Pastor Bulgin held his first baptism at Ajax SDA on December 6th, 2014. Four souls were baptized, and we welcomed two members by profession of faith.
His first Communion service at Ajax SDA was held on December 20th , 2014 and on that same day he supported the Prayer Ministry department in an “All Night Prayer Vigil” at one of our members homes. Prayer was very important to Pastor Bulgin’s ministry, and he used his very own personal cell phone number as the Prayer Line for the Ajax SDA Community Church. Pastor Bulgin was one of those pastors who always answered his phone, or he would return your call right away if you left him a message. His prayers and counsel were a comfort to many.
He ran his first Evangelistic series at Ajax SDA from March 7th - April 11th, 2015, entitled “Hope for the Family”. Many were inspired and blessed by the series which resulted in 3 baptisms on June 13th, 2015.
He was always very supportive of his children in ministry, and we were privileged to have his son Jason and daughter Kimberly speak for us on several occasions. He also believed in supporting and encouraging many young Pastors and many were mentored and given an opportunity to speak at Ajax SDA during his tenure with us.
On December 5, 2015, we moved to our current facility at Christian Life Centre at 1030 Ravenscroft Rd and Pastor Bulgin was very instrumental in arranging a rental contract with this facility and maintaining a very good working relationship with the host Pastor Sam Sibley who expressed his sad and deepest sympathy on his passing.
Every January Pastor Bulgin felt inspired by the Holy Spirit to start off the year with some type of motivational and inspirational series that would improve the spiritual lives of the membership. His prayer was that the membership would take heed and be drawn closer to Christ as a result of these series.
As mentioned, Pastor Bulgin found out very early that the main focus of the Ajax SDA church was church building, so he began working tirelessly with the Building Committee and was very happy when in May 2017 we finally acquired the last piece of land zoned for church in the Town of Ajax. Even when Pastor Bulgin was experiencing poor health, he would make himself present and available to attend every visit or appointment that had to do with acquiring a property for the church. We were very grateful for this commitment.
Pastor Bulgin was very committed to winning souls and even during the Covid Pandemic when many churches were experiencing a drought in baptisms, he worked alongside the leadership to have baptisms take place in the backyard pool at his residence. Baptismal candidates completed a Covid waiver that was developed by the Ontario Conference and we were able to have Covid baptisms in his backyard pool on August 16th, 2020 (7 souls), September 13th, 2020 (3 souls), May 23rd, 2021 (7 souls), June 27th, 2021(3 souls) and Aug. 28th, 2021(7 souls). All praises go to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bulgin preached his final sermon at Ajax SDA on May 20th, 2023, and it was appropriately entitled “The Last Message for Planet Earth”. The closing song was “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, I’ll Be There”. We all sincerely believe that without a doubt when the roll is called up yonder, Pastor Joseph Bulgin will be there.
Pastor Bulgin died in the line of duty. He was scheduled and prepared to preach and perform Communion Service on Sabbath June 24th, 2023, but God had other plans and called him to take his rest on June 23rd, 2023. His Sermon topic for the service was “Restoring Broken Relationships”. The closing song he had chosen for that service was “It is Well With My Soul”. Pastor Bulgin, go ahead and take your well-deserved rest. You have fought the good fight and it is indeed well with your soul.
Judy Hutchinson-Boyce
-Ajax SDA Communications
-June 28th,2023