This year's Church Planting Boot Camp will once again be held at Talbot Seminary , May 6-10 . Tim Jacobs, the EFCA West Church Planting Director, says, "You won't get yelled at or forced to do 50 push-ups, but this boot camp will give you a crash course in just about everything you need to know to pray, dream, gather, and launch a brand new church . Taught by an experienced cadre of church planting leaders, this is an opportunity for anyone remotely interested in planting or even pastors of established churches who want to see their church with 'new eyes.'" Click this link to register:  https://my.efca.org/netcommunity/myEFCA-rn-LA2019 .

The final gathering focuses on how to transition out of vocational ministry in the local church into whatever comes next. It will held in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 25, from noon until 4 pm.

The deadline for registering is Thursday, April 18 .

Email Paul.Schliep@efca.org if you have questions or want to register.

Hechos Para Más

Movilizando al Pueblo de Dios, a la Manera de Dios

El tema está enfocado en cómo cada uno de nosotros somos llamados para más en nuestras vidas, iglesias y redes. Caminaremos a través de los 6 capítulos de Efesios durante las sesiones principales.

Made for More

Mobilizing God's People God's Way

The theme focuses on how each of us are called for more in our lives, churches, and networks. We will walk through the 6 chapters of Ephesians during the main sessions.

May 3-4 in Long Beach, CA

Para más información o para registrarse/For more information or to register: https://register.exponential.org/espanol-2019/

Barista:  Would you like the ice on the bottom or the top?

Bob: Doesn’t the ice just float to the surface until it melts?

Barista: Some people like to have their coffee poured over the ice and some like their ice added to the coffee.

Bob: Does it really matter? Doesn’t the ice just melt anyway?

Barista:  It matters to some people.

Bob Osborne addresses our culture of Pervasive Preferences in this month's Something to Talk About. "We have come to expect that we should always 'have it your way'... The impact of pervasive preferences impacts our churches. People transfer between churches regularly to indulge personal preferences, oftentimes over very minor issues. The impact upon churches of a culture of pervasive preference is something to talk about."

No matter where you land on the Complementarian/Egalitarian spectrum, everyone agrees:

1) there are women in your church , and

2) some of those women provide leadership within the theological boundaries of the church, and

3) those women often need training as do the men who serve.

This video interview of Kadi Cole by Larry Osborne is helpful as you consider how to train the women who serve in your church. A number of the EFCA West staff have read Kadi's book Developing Female Leaders and have found it encouraging and challenging as it recognizes the differences between how most men and most women view and exercise leadership. Kadi uses interviews and surveys of more than one thousand women in key church and organizational roles , combined with current research, to create eight easy-to-implement best practices that help maximize the leadership potential of women in your local church.

In a blog post last February, Mike Bechtle writes about creating lasting relationships. While the post focuses on relationships like marriage and family, the implications for ministry in the local church are clear as well. While there will be differences between our familial and marital relationships, How Can You Make Your Best Relationship Last? has a great analogy for our best relationships and practical suggestions on how to improve the relationships that are most important to us.

In the March edition of Christianity Today, Jeff Haanen writes about Saving Retirement. The models have swung from " retirement as a never-ending vacation" to " encore careers" to " a different rhythm of living." Haanen highlights some shifts from vacation to sabbatical, from success to surrender, from independence to intergenerational, and from world-changers to simple servants. "Not all the questions about retirement have easy answers for the nearly 78 million baby boomers who are facing it. But many older Christians across the developed world...are simply being ever renewed and continue to serve God and neighbor as elders in their spheres of influence."

EFCA West has again been named a 2018 All Star Award winner by Constant Contact . The annual award recognizes the most successful 10 percent of Constant Contact’s customers , based on their significant achievements using email marketing to engage their customer base during the prior year.

"For the 10th year in a row , you demonstrated unmatched engagement with your audience. Once again, you set the standard of excellence. So we're recognizing your milestone with a 10-year winner’s badge!

Every year, the bar to All Star status gets higher and higher. Only 10% of Constant Contact customers receive it. Only 65% of AllStars, like yourself, are multiple-year recipients."

"Preparation for old age should not begin later than one's teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement." -- D.L. Moody