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Summer's End
It's hot, and we can't wait for the cooler weather of the fall, but you still have time to enjoy the summer. School may be starting soon, but perhaps you might have time for one last day trip to the beach.
Kerry and Chris Shook wrote in their book, One Month to Live, "When was the last time you asked someone how they were doing and they said, 'Great. Things are really moving slowly. I had plenty of time to get everything done and spend quality time with my family and friends.'" Too often we gravitate to an overcrowded schedule. Perhaps this month you can create some margin in your lives to enjoy what's important. Taking this to heart, my wife and I tried something new. We went to the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival one night last week. Sitting outside and watching the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic movie,
Oklahoma, one of Vicki's favorites, was fun. Sometimes the important things in life don't have deadlines, so we don't take time to do them. Take a walk in the cool of the evening, go somewhere you haven't been and spend some time with those you love. Relationships matter, so invest in them while you have time this summer.
Have a great August,
Jim Smith
President
Pacific Church Network
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Free PCN Training Event
Come on Tuesday, August 23, to San Antonio Heights Community Church in Upland for a very helpful and practical training on how to keep your church growing and healthy. Dr. Paul Borden has been working with churches throughout his lifetime to encourage and strengthen the church. There will be something that you can use. It's just a quick hour-long drive for most of you. Bring a carload of church volunteers and leaders. 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.
Register for free lunch here.
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Canoga Park's New Pastor
On Sunday, July 31, First Baptist Church voted to accept Tim Pickard as their new pastor. Tim was actually born in Canoga Park and most recently pastored Redemption Church of Northridge, a church he founded six years ago. Tim also served at First Baptist in Auburn in Northern California for many years. Tim and his wife, Nicole, have three children. We enthusiastically welcome Tim to FBC and into Pacific Church Network!
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Strategy Game Night
Throughout the year, several of our new church plants host Strategy Game Nights. Just last month, Pastor Shaun Garman had this announcement on his website: "Bring your friends (or anyone you know who keeps trying to get you to play Catan or Axis and Allies every time you go over for dinner) for a day of open gaming hosted at the Seed House. There will be a small collection of games, but please bring any games from your stash that you'd like to play or teach." This is an effective and fun community outreach if you're into board games. PCN helped plant Seed Communities in Ventura in 2013 and they continue to reach people for Christ in that community.
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Great Night for Marriages
On July 16, our PCN Church,
Iglesia El Camino (the Spanish ministry of Pacific Coast Church in San Clemente), hosted a wonderful marriage conference. Twenty-five couples invested this special afternoon and evening to strengthen their relationships. Pi
ctured left, the ladies attend a breakout session during the event. Thank you to special guest speakers
Pastor Ismael and Alejandra Mejia, and Pastor Walter Reguerin, the pastor of Iglesia El Camino. Time well spent.
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Pregnancy Center and Church
Our Pacific Church Network church in Fallbrook called LifePointe Church has opened it's facilities to temporarily house the Fallbrook Pregnancy Resource Center while the center remodels their building. Pastor Rick Koole mentioned that this has been a great opportunity for the church to help a local Christian organization and at the same time have new people walking on their campus all throughout the week.
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Great Story from San Diego
New City Church in San Diego is one of Pacific Church Network's 2016 church plants. Pastor Vince Larson shared a great story of God working through their church. He writes: "
Kenny - one of the most highly intelligent people you'll ever meet - had been in a death metal band, smoked a lot of pot, and seemed to be on a serious downward spiral when God found him. A friend had invited him to one of our
Sunday
Gatherings and before we knew what hit us, Kenny was asking to be baptized and even leaning into leadership soon after. He's now newly married and helping lead one of our missional communities. His father, Scott, had witnessed this drastic turn-around from the sidelines...
A few weeks ago he told us he was ready to be baptized... that God had saved him and he believed Jesus was the Messiah! We took him out to his favorite spot on Coronado Island and baptized him!"
Read the whole story.
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Drive-Through Prayer Ministry
Mission Hills Church in Mission Viejo, is reaching their community in a unique way every Tuesday afternoon from 3-5 p.m. With thousands of cars going by their church every day, MHC decided to offer a quick prayer for people who drive into their parking lot. They have signs along Alicia Parkway as you approach the church that say, "Had A Tough Day?" and
"Got 60 Seconds?" The third sign says, "Drive-Thru Prayer."
Some share their requests, have someone pray for them, and drive on--never leaving their cars. Other choose to get out and talk to someone. Pastor Brian Anderson says as of July 2016,
they have had 587 cars pull in and have prayed for 852 people since they began in May 2015.
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Moving to Hollywood
Our recent church plant in Los Angeles, Recovery House of Worship, has moved out of the San Fernando valley and into a community center in the Hollywood area. RHOW draws people from all over the region and this new facility is more centrally located and better suited to their growing congregation. Pastor Mario Zamarono is very excited about this move. They have been invited to set up an informational booth at a weekend swap meet near the new location at Melrose and Fairfax. They also are excited about getting a new worship leader to help them at their 5 p.m. service.
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Oppose Cal Senate Bill 1146
Christianity Today wrote that "California is currently moving closer to adopting a bill that would subject religious higher-education institutions to regulations forbidding them to act on their religious tenets if their students receive state grants to support their studies. SB 1146 "could destroy the ability of numerous faith-based colleges and universities to pursue the mission for which they were created," warned Ed Stetzer, the executive director of Wheaton College's Billy Graham Center for Evangelism. Click here to get more information and practical actions you can take to let your opinion be heard. Biola University also has a website with a video message from their president. See it here.
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Believer's Baptism
Here's some news from a survey of our PCN churches. Twenty-eight churches have reported so far, and the most exciting information is that 209 people were baptized in 2015! A few of our church plants reported in these exciting baptism results: Mission 316 had 8, Redeemer Burbank had 7, Faith of Christ Simi Valley had 7, Response Church San Diego had 8, New City in San Diego had 5 and Recovery House of Worship Los Angeles had 6. We praise God for these new believers!
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Fall Retreats Will Soon Be Here
Start advertising and planning to attend one of our fall retreats.
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Russian Law, No Evangelizing
Last month, the Kremlin passed new amendments and laws against Christians sharing their faith outside of recognized church buildings. It would now be illegal to evangelize in homes, online or anywhere else.
Christians won't even be allowed to email their friends an invitation to church. Considered the country's most restrictive measures in post-Soviet history, this will effect missionaries and home churches the most.
Read more
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Taiwan Typhoon Destroys Church
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World's Largest Churches
In spite of restrictions on Christianity, it is still the largest religious group in the world, and it's growing fast! Leadership network has what they say is "t
he internet's most complete, current and sortable list of the world's largest-attendance churches.
This global list is growing weekly - especially with help from people like you! You can sort it by continent, country, city, church size, pastor name, pastor birth year, year pastor started, year the church was founded, theological family, whether it's multisite, whether it has branches in the United States, and more. You will also see a growing number of links to photos and videos from each church." Check it out
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The Insanity of God Movie Event
A special one-night movie entitled,
The Insanity of God, will be shown August 30th in select theaters.
The Insanity of God is the true story of missionaries
Nik and Ruth Ripken
. After the death of their son, this ordinary couple journeys into the depths of the persecuted church.
Check it out here
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