Everyone has felt pain. No matter how old or young, we have all been hurt by the things of this world, whether it be physically, spiritually, or emotionally. Pain is inevitable. There is no hope that we can, in this life, avoid pain. One day, when we spend eternity with Christ, there will be no more tears, and no more pain (Revelation 21:4). But for the time being, pain will be here. The fact is that we are all flawed people who live in a flawed world. Unfortunately, without Christ, many people seem to live their lives focused on avoiding pain. Our world focuses so much on pain and helping people relieve their pain. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, when our sole focus is ridding ourselves of pain instead of trusting the Lord with whatever He allows into our lives, there is a problem. And when we begin to use pain as justification for our actions and our sin, we have an even bigger problem.

None of us can control what happens to us or the pain that enters our lives. No one can avoid losing a loved one or getting cancer. Bad things happen to everyone. However, one thing we can control is how we respond to pain. 

There are two main problems that come with pain (i’m sure there are much more but I don’t have time to address them all). The first is that pain often leads us to question God. When something bad happens, people often ask God “why?” We ask how a great and perfect, mighty God could allow such terrible things to happen to “good” people. One way to answer this is to point out that there really are no good people. We are all sinners. So while we may have some great idea of ourselves, really, we are wretched sinners. Jesus says in Matthew 5:45 that the sun rises on the good and the evil and rain falls on the righteous and unrighteous. No one gets special treatment. In fact, even God’s own Son, Jesus, felt pain. We are often so quick to blame God for the bad things that happen. We think He must not love us or that He has it out for us. And yet we forget that He has already given us the greatest gift He could ever give: His Son for our salvation. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul speaks of how he asked the Lord to remove his pain, the thorn in his side. The Lord responded saying “my grace is sufficient for you.” I wish that I could have this mindset when I face pain. We must realize that God’s grace is sufficient. 

This is often a cliche saying. I have been pondering what this statement means. What does it mean when God says His grace is enough for me? The more I think about it, the more I must distinguish my needs from my wants. I want to be absent from pain. But do I need to be? No. I want to spend eternity with Christ. And to do that, I NEED grace. Grace is a need. Absence of pain is a want. So when I face pain, I remember that first of all, His grace is all I need. And secondly, God doesn’t allow us to go through anything that He will not help us through. All that we face in this life has been carefully sifted through the hands of God. It is pointless to ask God why. Who are we that we should ask our Creator why He allows certain things? I’d rather leave the planning of my life to God.

The second problem that comes with pain is that pain leads us to justify sin. We see this in cases of abuse where a father abuses his child or wife and then we later find out that the father himself was abused as a child. He blames the abuse on his father. We see this in a daughter who has no father figure in her life so she seeks love in other men. We see this in everyday conversations where we speak rashly or roughly to someone we “love” and blame our reaction on having a bad day or being upset from before. We see this in people who hurt us that we feel justified in getting revenge or cutting them out of our lives. When we sin, we often blame it on the pain that we have felt or even still feel. This is not to say that certain things don’t affect our lives. The father who was abused as a child was definitely scarred by what happen. The daughter without a father was hurt and confused. The person who was hurt by a friend is in pain because of what happened. However, is our pain an excuse for sin? Is the father justified in abusing his child simply because he himself was abused? Is the daughter absent of responsibility for her promiscuity because she didn’t have a strong father figure in her life? Are we justified in causing other people pain because of our pain? NO! Absolutely not. Why should we allow the pain we feel to lead us to bring pain to others? When we face pain, we have a choice. We can react in order to cause more pain. Or we can take the pain for what it is, deal with it, and choose to love. Instead of seeking revenge or just blaming our lives on the pain we have felt, we must take responsibility for our actions. We must realize that while the things that happen to us may be horrible, we have control of what we do with the pain. Lately, when facing pain, I have been asking God to show me more of Himself. I ask God to teach me what He wants to teach me. There is a quote by C.S. Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain that I love. He says, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Pain is the opportune time for God to speak to us.

I want to encourage you to see pain differently. First, when facing pain, remember that God is in control. He sees all we go through and the only power that Satan has is that which God allows. Second, don’t allow pain to be an excuse for sin. Take responsibility for your actions. You can’t control the pain you face, but you can control how you face it. Lastly, seek God for what He would teach you. God longs to teach us through our pain; don’t waste it.  

Just ask anyone who has ever tried to start a conversation with a teenager or try to start one yourself and you will find that this is by far the hardest group to reach through the act of conversation. What you will get is something that looks like an interview, you asking a lot of questions and them responding with one word answers. Q. “How are you doing?” A. “Fine” Q. “How are things at school?” A. “Good” Q. “How are things at home?” A. “Fine” 

In the end you feel stupid and ineffective, your desire to reach into their lives and offer some kind of meaningful guidance or advice is quenched and seems useless. The strange thing is that most teenagers desperately want someone in their life who cares and will listen and offer guidance and advice. Their life may be a disaster but they will not simply share that with you because you ask, there has to be something more that exist between you, a sense of trust, security, and respect. These are cultivated over time but begin with the act of conversation. 

If you have a heart to reach teenagers you must be willing to be patient as the farmer who plants, waters, and cultivates, though the season is long when the harvest comes it is truly plentiful. I have discovered in 9 years of ministry that teenagers are the most dynamic, exciting and rewarding group of people to serve in ministry. They will break your heart, blow your mind and bless you beyond measure. I have been privileged to witness God’s transforming power at work seemingly right before my eyes and every time my faith is strengthened.       

I have 6 easy to remember points to help lay the foundation for a lasting and meaningful relationship with a teenager that begins with the act of conversation.

1. Be Patient and Be consistent; The more consistent you are the faster a relationship can develop. I tell people interested in High school youth group it takes an average of one year before teenagers reciprocate in a meaningful way. In this setting(the youth center) you will have access to teenagers everyday so the relationship will move faster. The point is teenagers will wait to see if you are willing to invest in them before they will invest in you so be patient. It’s tough to disrupt a teen’s patterns, break through their barriers, and earn the right to be heard. Don’t expect teens to respect you just because you’re their parent or an “authority figure.” They won’t listen to you just because you’re talking. With teenagers we must earn the right to be heard. Be patient- Be consistent!; 

1. Be sincere; Teenagers can spot a phony a mile away. Don’t come off like a vacuum cleaner salesman, be yourself, be vulnerable, be real. As you come in contact with teenagers write their names down and pray for them. As God moves He will transform your sincerity into deep compassion. 

1. Engage their culture; For many of us the thought of engaging today’s teenage culture is comparable to taking a machete and walking into the Amazon jungle. It’s dark and scary, filled with strange creatures that speak a foreign language. But with a little preparation and a few tools you can navigate their world and be accepted as one of the natives. Go to Itunes and download the top 20 songs, get familiar with the songs and the lyrics and use them in conversation. Find out what books, movies and video games are popular and use them as well. Most of the material might not be up your alley but you will gain credibility points and soon you will be speaking their language. You will also learn just what is out there shaping the way teenagers think, speak and act, you will be better equipped to minister to them in a meaningful way. 

1. Respect their Identity; Every teenager is searching for their identity. They wear certain clothes, style/color their hair a certain way, listen to certain music, wear certain jewelry. Everything about them is designed to project what it is they think about themselves. While our goal is to help them identify with Jesus, we can use what they think about themselves as a starting point for a conversation that can lead to a relationship. Show an interest in what they are interested in. Ask them about the clothes they wear, the style/color of their hair, ect.  Seek to understand them. If they feel you are truly interested in who they are they will respond.

1. Validate their feelings; Be a good listener. Remember that life is very real for the average teenager. Things that seem like minor issues to us are the end of the world for them. Self image, friends, relationships, family dynamics are all very serious issues for teenagers. Listen intently, look them in the eyes, do not dismiss them or what they are saying as trivial. Don’t seek to fix everything just show that you are there and you care. 

1. Always be ready; A teenager runs on their own schedule, they may not say a word to you for two months and suddenly at the most inopportune time they want to spill their guts to you. My daughter always seemed to want to talk as I was lying in bed ready to fall asleep, I knew I had to take the opportunity to listen to her no matter how tired I was. 

Using these tools will help you relate and converse with teenagers at their level where they feel safe. Before long you will be engaging in a deeper more meaningful relationship. 

I wanted to start a discussion among parents and kids about thoughts concerning growing up.  As Christians, when it comes to any subject, it is extremely vital that we search the scriptures.  Firstly, we read one of the ten commandments is “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12.  So as children God is calling us to honor our parents.  But does this mean God doesn’t want us to grow up and become our own people?  Certainly not.  This leads to the next set of verses.  In the beginning of creation God proclaimed concerning man, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24.  Additionally Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”  Clearly God states in scripture this great paradox that He wills for children to honor their parents while He also wills for children to mature and become their own individuals.  Unfortunately this is not a process that happens over night.  So here is where I wish to begin the discussion for parents and children alike:

How do we find the balance between children honoring their father and mother and man leaving father and mother?

Sign up this Sunday to be invited to The City where you can join this conversation.

Definition of Eden: any place of complete bliss and delight and peace. 
(http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=eden)

Avatar: embodiment: a new personification of a familiar idea
(http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=avatar)

The movie “Avatar” is undeniably the most imaginative and spectacular to date, an experience unparalleled in the history of film. And it really is an experience, particularly when seen in 3D, which plunges you into the story, the characters, and elicits more than just a superficial emotional response. You feel connected, engaged, and completely enthralled with the spectacle taking place before your eyes. It is an experience not quickly forgotten, and one that leaves you with lingering emotions that cause you to reminisce long after seeing the film, about the wonderful beauty of Pandora and...either subtly or as it turns out, overtly, a longing to live on Pandora and experience the beauty firsthand.

An article posted today on CNN.com by Jo Piazza, details not just the amazing success of James Cameron’s Avatar, which according to the article “is on track to be the highest grossing film of all time,” taking in over “1.4 billion in worldwide box office sales” so far, but also details and begins to explore the effect this movie is having on audiences. 

In short, the article describes a growing number of people who have experienced everything from obsession, to mild “depression to suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora,” a planet which, when “compared with life on Earth […] is a beautiful, glowing utopia.” Sites & forums dedicated specifically to Avatar-related depression and anxiety have received thousands of posts. 

The article cites one user who writes:

“When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed...gray. It was like my whole life, everything I've done and worked for, lost its meaning. It just seems so...meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep...doing things at all. I live in a dying world."

This feeling of meaninglessness and longing for Pandora has lead some to such depression that they even contemplate suicide. CNN’s article quoted one person posting under the name “Mike” who wrote:

“Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it. I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.’”

These kinds of responses, prompted by seeing “Avatar” are first of all, a testament to the imagination humans are capable of, and the power of film to influence people’s lives for better or worse. And no, this isn’t going to be an article ranting against Hollywood or James Cameron or anyone else. I think “Avatar” was an excellent film more than worthy of two and a half hours of your life. It undoubtably has had an impact on millions of people, and as actor Stephen Lang put it, (who plays Col. Miles Quaritch - an enemy of the Na’vi people in the film) “Pandora is a pristine world and there is synergy between all of the creatures of the planet and I think that strikes a deep chord with people that has a wishfulness and a wistfulness to it.”

When I saw “Avatar” I admit I was completely caught up in the emotion the film elicits and the beauty of the planet Pandora. I was also struck by the union the Na’vi people have with their environment, each other, and their deity. There is undoubtably a symbiotic relationship between these three elements in the film. Additionally, the Na’vi people greet one another by saying “I see you,” a phrase that conveys not just a physical “seeing” but a sense of seeing into that individual and understanding who they are and accepting and relating to the very essence of their being. This phrase is powerful and is not just the inspiration for the movie’s theme song, but a motif, both musically and physically, carried throughout the film. The Na’vi are in a sense, uncorrupted and in perfect balance with life. It’s an idyllic world and way of life that in the film, humans are starting to destroy in their corporate greed. The human side of the story is filled with stark contrasts to the perfect communal life of the Na’vi. The humans (with a few notable exceptions) don’t “see” one another in the Na’vi sense and are in conflict not just with the Na’vi, but with each other, seeking their own individual and corporate gain.

No wonder people have overwhelmingly responded to this movie, in varying degrees from wistful to obsessive to depressive to even suicidal, with longing for a place like Pandora, and the life the Na’vi people posses. Yes, Stephen Lang was right. It does “strike a deep chord.” What he fails to relate, and perhaps fails to realize, is exactly what cord it strikes within us. And he is not alone. This is where most people stop. They can’t determine what exactly the movie touches on so deeply, other than perhaps a sense of beauty, longing for peace and harmony with nature, people, etc. And yet, here is where Christians can step in and connect the dots. I will do so succinctly for the sake of time and space but these points can be easily expounded upon and discussed:

1.) The longing for a place of perfect peace, beauty, and harmony with the natural and supernatural is God-given and is a desire that is at the core of every human being. This can quite easily be expressed and interpreted as a longing to return to Eden as it was before sin entered the world, when things were the way God originally intended, and everything was “very good,” or perfect as spoken by God. That is why the movie and specifically the planet Pandora are so appealing. It presents (albeit fantastically) a chance to return to an Eden-like world where everything is as it should be. Consequently it stirs up in us the desire, almost like an old memory, as we become reminiscent, melancholy almost for that kind of place, that Eden. 

2.) The fact that we cannot and will not ever return to in this life (and for those who do not subscribe to the Biblical account - perhaps were never at) that kind of Pandora-Eden state can quite easily become depressing because things in this world are broken. We don’t get along in community with each other (inter-personal & international conflict, crime, etc.), we don’t live in harmony with nature, (environmental destruction, over-hunting / fishing, etc.), and we are certainly not even unified in who or what we worship (numerous religions, belief systems, agnosticism, etc.). When you stop and take a look at the world from this perspective things start looking pretty bleak and depressing, and the world and even our own existence in many ways becomes meaningless and void because people live under the mistaken idea that there is no fix, no remedy.

3.) What we are left with then is something along the scope of wistful reminiscence or obsessive depression, as these old “memories” of eden are stirred up. These emotions demand a response, causing us to look for some hope that the memory, that “dream” will become a reality. This is where “Avatar” and the Gospel meet. 

We can lead people to the understanding that there is hope, that the longing they feel is meant for something. It is meant to direct them to One who did come with the remedy. The fix for our broken, miserable, self-destructive, self-indulgent, human state. The Gospel is about reconciliation, making things right, and putting us back in harmony, putting our soul and our lives back in balance. It’s the epic story where Jesus took on human flesh, took on our form and likeness, lived a perfect life and died in our place to reconcile us to God. And guess what? When we accept and live in this reconciliation to God, even though we will still experience the the broken and dying world we live in, he promises to fulfill our desires for that perfect harmony, when we get to heaven:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:1-7)

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-5)

This is where it ends for those who trust in and believe the Gospel. Where God dwells with us, and we get to experience that Eden-like unity with God and other people. Perhaps this is why we leave the theater feeling so connected to this fictional planet Pandora. Perhaps, Pandora is merely an embodiment of something so familiar, a place of complete peace and delight and bliss etched into our very soul. In other words, perhaps Pandora is just an ‘Avatar’ for Eden.

[ All biblical quotes from the ESV. Quotes from the CNN article can be referenced here]

[ P.S. And no, in case you were wondering, I am not blind to the political, sociological, and pantheistic commentary this film seeks to convey. However, I believe that this movie, beyond being just an imaginative and immersive experience, succeeds because it does strikes that chord deep in our soul that makes us long for a pre-fall pre-sin Eden existence, where everything is in perfect balance, and we are in perfect community with our surroundings and our God. This movie raises such powerful emotions in us because it prods at the ache in our soul for something so real and beautiful and meaningful that it seems impossible - something we can only dream about - and yet when we connect the dots to the Gospel, it becomes tangible. ]

calvary chapel nexus goes multisite - one church at multiple locations

nexus is: a means or place of connection, a connected group, or the center ...

One of the great needs in our community is a place for the next generation to connect and learn about Jesus - the real Jesus of the Bible, not merely some cultural icon. We need a place for young adults to call their home church in the city. We want a place where we can connect with God and one another, grow, and reach our community and the world for change. Nexus will be designed, created and implemented with the next generation in mind.

Our community needs another center that is a caring and safe environment for kids before and after school. There are single parent homes and homes where both parents work and in both types there is a need for someone to help care for kids, especially junior high and younger. Our community has a couple of good places that are trying to provide that service but something is missing. What we need is a place where parents can send their kids before and after school where they will: learn about Jesus, get help with homework, play sports and games, have music and performing arts lesson, etc. 

Our community needs a center to be a nexus between the church and the city.

Here's the vision ~

what's the nexus campus/community center going to be?

The nexus campus will be about 24,000 square feet including a sanctuary/gym, arts and craft room, performing arts center, homework/computer room, and game room/youth room to impact the community for Jesus. The facility will be used primarily as a youth center during the weekdays and as a church on the weekend and evenings. 

During the week, primarily after school, we hope to offer the sanctuary/gym for basketball and sports. The homework/computer room will be available for tutoring, computer/internet access, and video games. The youth/game room will be a place to receive mentoring and play games. The arts and craft room could be used for painting, drawing, and other works of art. The performing arts room can be a place where youth can receive music lessons make movies and learn to edit video. The fellowship hall will be available to be used as a coffee house-energy lounge. 

theme verse: John 8:31-32 "You are my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." The emphasis of nexus will continue to be Bible teaching to equip God's people to love God and live His Word. 

objective: what if we could launch a 2^nd campus similar to a church plant but retain some of the benefits of resources: people, provisions, and property?  what if we establish a gathering place to learn about God and encourage people to live for God in authentic community? what if we could reach the next generation and impact the community in tangible ways? 

methods: 

1. emphasize Bible-teaching in a casual atmosphere with contemporary worship

2.opportunity for dialogue: questions and discussion during teaching. create a place where people can ask life questions and get a biblical perspective [pastor bruce to be primary teacher at both campuses]. 

3. create a gathering place where people want to get to know one another and develop relationships:

• create a place for conversation: e.g. outdoor-space, coffee - energy lounge > food/fellowship/fun
• help people feel at home: where's my "home away from home" and why? what makes it feel like home? 
• help create relationships > get real
• meaningful relationships generally begin with time that allows people to get acquainted: be together/do together/have fun

4. monthly community impact service days [micro-missions]: give people an opportunity to make a difference. how can we bless our community for Christ? what are the needs/life of the community? how can our beyond sunday ministry impact those needs?  

5. how can we reach the youth of our community for Christ? how can we use our campuses most effectively to reach the youth?

goals: 

1. launch 2^nd campus (by) 4.18.10
2. pre-launch (monthly) prayer and planning meetings 1.10 - 4.10
3. team of 100+ adults by 3.10 committed to helping to launch Sunday services 
4. identify, train and develop functional leaders 1.10 - 4.10
5. train 100+ volunteers for youth center 1.10 - 4.10 

FAQs "the top 10"

1. why do we need another facility?

Phase I [2004] mobil campus consists of fourteen thousand square feet. The sanctuary seats 520, and includes six classrooms and a pre-kindergarten space. Phase II [2006] is an additional seven thousand five hundred square feet. Phase II includes four additional classrooms, a fellowship hall, and nursery. The two-floor structures are connected by a covered deck, and below the deck is a courtyard and fountain area. The 2 phases total about 22,000 square feet.

Functional capacity [the full factor] of the facility is estimated at 1,100-1,150 adults. Capacity is based on three Sunday morning and one evening service. Current growth models contemplate reaching capacity by the end of 2010. The nexus campus will give us an opportunity to reach well over 1,000 additional people for Christ. 

2. where's the nexus campus/community center going to be?

We will be located at 300 Lewis Road in Camarillo [the Imation property]. The church is on a main thoroughfare that is easy to find and get to. There is abundant parking and we will be close to CSUCI.

3. should the church undertake such an obligation in light of the economic times?

We continue to seek to provide for the current needs of our church family [benevolence] as well as needing to plan and prepare for our future.  We are seeking to be sober and wise stewards of the resources of our church community. There is an advisory board that is comprised of experts in business, real estate, finance and economics that call CC Camarillo their church home. They are godly people who advise the Church Board of Directors, and have been researching, analyzing and assessing the relevant issues for more than a year. We hope to continue to effectively minister to the needs of our community and to expand our influence to be able to serve the community for many years to come. It is their collective counsel that the proposed plan is prudent, wise, and of God.

4. why is the church leasing instead of buying?

The 5-yr. lease plan provides greater flexibility, requires less capital, and provides options for us to use the facility for 20 years. In our proposed location the cost of improvements to the structure for our use are relatively contained. Thus, the lease makes economic sense for this facility.

5. will pastor bruce teach at both facilities?

We plan on offering 2 Sunday morning services at both campuses at approximately 9 and 11 [total of 4 services]. I'll be teaching at both sites for the foreseeable future and we will gradually offer other teachers at both.     

6. will their be youth ministries available on Sundays?

We plan to offer age appropriate services from nursery to senior high at both campuses. 

7. are all ages welcome?

No one is checking ID ~ everyone is welcome!

8. will Pacific Camps be involved at both sites?

We thank God for our relationship with the Camps and look forward to continuing to work together to reach our community. The Camps will focus their efforts at the Mobil campus with elementary students. 

9. what types of programs will the church offer at the facility ?

We're not sure. We're exploring the needs of the community and welcome your input to develop flexible plans to meet the needs today and tomorrow.

10. when will the new campus be available? Lord willing Spring 2010.

Christmas newsletter 2009-2010

calvary chapel nexus: re:view – reflections and pre:view – vision

we’re passionate about seeing people connect with God and with one another, we love to see people grow and become spiritually mature in their relationship with Jesus, and our desire is to equip people to reach our community and impact our world for God. Yet, the most important issue is whether God is making a difference in lives through this local church? The answer is yes! The stories of changed lives are too numerous to tell … so here’s a snapshot – lookin’ in the rearview and then looking forward:

re:view - what makes calvary different is our emphasis on teaching through the Scriptures. Each week we study through books of the Bible. People who learn the Word in context tend to respond to God. We believe this is the best way to help people connect with God. God has continued to draw people to Himself through His word so that we now teach about 1,000 adults every Sunday. The church has a rep as a strong Bible teaching community where people love God, others, and are living His word.

we also have been blessed to see people connect with God through our large-scale outreach events. In spring, the women’s ministry hosted their 3^rd “Daughters of the King” conference for a packed house. We continue to celebrate the Resurrection with an outdoor service for a family of about 2,500 at the Camarillo House on Easter Sunday. During the summer we had the privilege of organizing a gathering of fifteen churches for an all-city service “One” where about 8,000 joined together to worship God. calvary chapel nexus gathered outdoors as a huge church community for “church at the park” and enjoyed our great weather, beautiful parks, worshiped, ate, swam, and played together.  

we continue to see people in our church family grow in their relationship with God. We have become a church of small groups rather than simply a church with small groups. The majority of people in our church family are involved in mid-week community and lives are being transformed. As our Sunday church community has expanded it has become increasingly important to connect and grow in smaller groups during the week. We’ve also been blessed to see people grow in our expanding youth ministries, college group, and school of ministry.

we also thank God for using us to reach our community. Our “beyond sunday” ministry hosted large-scale quarterly projects to help seniors, schools, the environment, and provide gifts for Christmas. They also reach the community through ongoing efforts with youth correctional facilities, our pregnancy center, the rescue mission, and a food pantry. We continue to go global to impact the world for Jesus as we have helped to establish and support Bible teaching churches throughout the world. Last year we sent teams to Managua, Nicaragua, Ensenada and Vicente Guerrero, Mexico, and Nairobi, Kenya.

pre:view -  looking forward to 2010 and beyond: we  are presently in our 3^rd building project in 5 years. God has been steadily growing His church at calvary chapel nexus but we are reaching a functional capacity at our current Mobil Ave. campus. Lord willing we will start a second campus on Lewis Road in Camarillo at the former Imation building in Spring 2010. The space is about 25,000 square feet and will allow us to serve another 1,000-plus. In addition to Sunday services with live teaching we are prepared to begin a youth center for our community. We will offer an after school program for junior and senior high students featuring: sports, mentoring, tutoring, art, performing arts [music and video], and games. The youth will not only have a safe and fun place to gather but they will learn about Jesus every day. Our plan is to offer the youth center to our community free of charge.

our only goal is to introduce people to an intimate relationship with the True and Living God who never changes yet reaches each new generation in a fresh way. I’m grateful for this last year and look forward to discovering what God will do this coming season …

In this powerful message, Dr. Clay Butler Jones, a Professor of Apologetics at BIOLA University, explores what it means to be a Christian and be adopted into the family of God. This is a must-listen for any Christian who desires to see the bigger picture of who they are in Christ and the amazing hope we have in Jesus as Christians, bearing the family name.

I was thinking how awesome it is to live in The United States of America. A few years ago I read an article about a Christian church that met under ground in China. It was a relatively large church considering the persecution that comes from being a Christian in nations like China. They were forced to meet in secret and on one particular Sunday morning 3-4 guys with black ski masks charged into the church service, each of them wielding guns. The church was about 200 seemingly strong believers, yet at the moment when the men with the guns yelled, "whoever doesn't want to get killed needs denounce Jesus and run out of here," the church lost roughly half of it's members. The people who ran out on Jesus were the people that at one point said they didn't care what the government would do to them, all they wanted to do was worship Jesus. Yet, when it came to life and death, they fell apart under the persecution and wouldn't stand up for the God who died for them.

I praise God that we live in a land where we are free to worship, for the most part, without having to worry about something like that happening. However, there is a flip side to that as well. I think that because of all the laws and safety that we have in America, it has made us soft. Our culture is constantly preaching "tolerance." The whole idea that "whatever you believe is ok, as long as it doesn't hurt me." We've become a "Christian nation" who is more concerned with living the American Dream then preaching the Gospel, no matter what the cost. Most of American Christianity preaches that we can be good worshipers, all the wile living an extremely easy and kick-back lifestyle. I have yet to find that example from Jesus anywhere in Scripture. In fact, the way that Jesus lived is the exact opposite of how most of us live.

For example, Jesus says in Matthew 16:24, that if any one of us desires to follow Him, we are going to have to deny ourselves and pick up our cross to follow Him. In Matthew 8:20 as Jesus talks to a rich young ruler, He tells Him that birds have their nests, and foxes have their holes yet Jesus had nowhere to lay His head.

Jesus lived His life with no concern for His own comfort.

Jesus also says in mark 10:45, that He didn't come to this world to be served, yet to serve and to die as a ransom for you and me! Jesus says that although He is the King and Creator of the universe, He came out of Heaven and glory to humbly live and ultimately die the most brutal death that anyone could die, all so that He could ransom us back to God.

Who lives like that?! Do any one of us have the mentality that "my whole life is surrendered to Jesus?" Meaning, that I am not here to live the easiest life possible, that i'm ready to die to myself everyday, and i'm willing to lay my life down for the name of Jesus. Do we ever stop to consider that we weren't put on this earth just so we could live an easy life and then make it into heaven?? Perhaps we were put on this earth to be servants to everybody in the hopes that some will meet and worship Jesus! Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:1, that people should regard us as servants!!! Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Later in Philippians as Paul un-packs Jesus, he tells us in Philippians 2:7 that Jesus made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. That being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross! Again, we see the picture of Jesus taking the posture of a humble servant and laying His life down for the sake of the Gospel and the advancement of God's kingdom, which pleased God and was worship to God.

This is ultimately how we should be living our Christian life. Not trying to make heaven on earth and live a life sheltered from pain, persecution, self-denial, and crucifying our flesh. To prove my point a little more, Paul says it like this in Galatians 2:20. Also Note the words that He uses to describe his Christian life: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Here's another one, Philippians 3:10 "that I may KNOW Him and the power of His resurrection and may share in His SUFFERINGS, becoming like Him in His DEATH." Paul doesn't say, "I really want to know Christ, but only if it doesn't involve any suffering on my end." Instead he says, I want to know Jesus no matter what the cost! There is nothing that can keep me from knowing Him and experiencing more of Him!

Do we live like that?

If we want to experience Christianity the way that it is meant to be experienced there is going to have to be a shift in the our outlook towards suffering, pain, and death. I hope and pray for myself and you, that we get to the point in our walks with Jesus that there is nothing this world can do to keep us from getting to know Him better and sharing Him with others. This means we might have to get up earlier, stay up later, do more dying to ourselves, and live a lowly meek life so that Jesus gets the glory and we get more of Him. This could ultimately call some of us to literally die for Him.

There was an ending to that story I shared earlier. After the guys in masks barged in and made there threats to the people and half of them left, they took off their masks and said this: "we only want to worship with real Christians." Are you a real Christian? Ready to lay down your life everyday for the sake of the gospel? I hope we all can be like the people that stayed and didn't run because we counted our lives so dear! (cf. acts 21:13)

For the last couple of days i have been wrestling with a question that has continued to pop up in my head that's somewhat hard for me to answer. At first blush it would appear to be an easy question, yet as you dig a little deeper into it there is more complexity to the question that one might think. Here's the question, 

What is your biggest reason for wanting to go to heaven? 

For some that's probably going to be a no brainer question, but maybe our answers will reflect where our hearts are. It is to be hoped that they are in the right spot. 

What is our greatest reason for desiring heaven? Is it that there will be no more death, we will get to meet up with loved ones, there won't be pain and suffering, having a perfect heavenly body, or to never have to cry another tear for the rest of eternity? Those are all great reasons and all of those things will be coming true in haven! 

Yet in all of those answers there is something missing; someone extremely big is missing from all that we long for when we get to heaven. That is God. We as a culture have a tendency to neglect the unbelievable statement that when we get to heaven we will spend eternity in the presence of the Living God (cf. revelation 22:1-4). Instead we focus upon everything else. Additionally our culture tends to put more emphasis on the gift rather then the giver. The way this can play out in Christianity is, we accept Jesus into our hearts, we understand all the work that Jesus did for us on the cross, in dying for our sins and taking the just punishment that was due to us. Yet Jesus substituted Himself in our place for our sins in hope to reconcile us back to God the Father. All of that is amazing, yet the big hope is as our sins our forgiven we now get to enjoy a relationship with God Himself!! That's the big point of the gospel, that we get God! 

David says it like this in psalm 27:4, 

"One thing that i asked of the Lord, that will i seek after: that i may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to mediate in His temple."

Here the psalmist prays to God asking Him for one thing. The only thing that David wanted from God was more of Him!! There was at some point in David's life where he experienced the true and living God, and because of that experience David was captivated by God and all that He wanted was more of God. Instead of asking God for blessing, protection, help, material blessings, etc. He simply wanted God. 

Additionally, David wanted to be in the house of God for one reason, "to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." He didn't go with the hope of getting some sort of spiritual or physical blessing from the Lord. He probably wasn't looking to obtain that "spiritual high" that we all are looking for. Yet His soul purpose was to be awe struck by the amazing beauty of our great God! When was the last time you were in awe of God's beauty? Paul says in romans 1, that God reveals Himself through creation. If you've ever gone on a hike or gone to the grand canyon etc. you can see God's fingerprints all over the creation and it's amazing!

Lord willing there will come a time in our lives where we understand that it's all about Jesus. That we don't need anything else but Him. Yet God in His infinite grace not only blesses us with Himself but has showered us with 10,000 other blessings. But, those blessings don't compare to the awesome and amazing knowledge of being able to know God personally! Don't be someone that gets to heaven and has know idea who God is. Live with Him, speak with Him, read His word, worship Him, and be ready to die for Him. He's so worthy of everything! 

So then, who is the gospel? The answer is God. The best news of the cross is that we get by grace to spend eternity in God's presence with Him and worshipping Him forever without any distractions. We are all in a place where we can grow more. Spend time searching out the character of God, see His infinite beauty! You watch, He will reveal more and more to you as you decide to go deeper with Him. 

Have you ever noticed that often our lives become stages of always wanting time to go faster? Often i look at my life and the thoughts in my mind and I realize i am just longing to be older, or longing to be more mature. 

Think about it! when we are little kids, we just want to be older to play with the older kids. Once we are in junior high, we want to be in high school. When we are in highschool, we want to go to college. Somewhere in here, we want a relationship. Once we are in a relationship, we want to be married. Once we are married, we want children.

We live our lives NEVER being content in the position we are in. This cycle continues until we reach an old age of looking back and realizing we never stopped looking ahead to just enjoy the position we are in. We realize that time is now passed and we wish we could go back.

I don't want to live my life always wishing to be a different age. I want to learn to be content in whatever position I am in. We can never be satisfied if we keep looking for another thing that will make us happy. Even as Christians, we forget that Jesus is enough. We forget that we don't need our next fix to be satisfied. 

In the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 1, Solomon says, with wisdom, that no matter how much we see or hear, we are never satisfied. Everything has been done before and that even though the river runs into the sea, the sea is never full. (Ecc. 1:7,8)

This is so true. Nothing in our lives can satisfy us. No relationship, no job, no success, no family, NOTHING! We waste our lives by wanting time to go faster. Not only do we lose that time and lose the chance to enjoy the moments we are living, but we also lose the chance to do God's work. I don't want to miss out on what God is doing because I am anxious to get to the next part of my life. 

The book of Philippians says not to worry about anything but instead to ask the Father for what you need in prayer, and if we do this we will experience His peace which is better than anything we can understand (Phil. 4:6,7)

God's peace is better than anything this world can offer. It is only in Him that we can be satisfied. Instead of looking to what may be ahead, I want to enjoy the moments I am in. 

Time is passing quickly. Don't waste it by looking ahead. We may miss an opportunity to do the work of God. Galatians 6:10 says to take every opportunity to do good to others. 

Let's seek to live and enjoy each moment as it comes. Some moments may be harder than others and there will be times when we are tempted to want to be in a different stage of life. But remember, today is all we have. We are not promised tomorrow. Don't miss out on your life. Live it for Jesus and live it satisfied in Him. 

nexus: a place of connection

generation integration ~ connecting generations to avoid a divided house:

every week I discover and rediscover the importance of love. I don’t think that it can be overestimated. when I was 11 years old, I won the MVP award in my local Little League but that was a tough year at home. my parents were struggling financially, Dad was seemingly working all the time to make ends meet and Mom was overwhelmed by it all. in essence they were unavailable. so, when the awards dinner took place, I went with my friend and his parents. when I went up on the platform to receive the award, I looked out and saw all these parents and kids but my parents weren’t there. i felt like I was the only one without a parent … I felt alone.

by the time I was 13, I was trying to fill the void with drugs, alcohol, sex or anything else I imagined could possibly fill the hole inside of me. the epic quest for love and fulfillment is played out in one form or another in every generation because it’s played out in every life.

in 2007, a survey revealed that 15% of students had contemplated suicide and 7% attempted it in the last 12 months. alcohol abuse, another attempt to fill the hole, was reflected in 19% of 12-20 year olds who report binge drinking. 1/3 of girls were pregnant before they reached age 20. Finally, almost 25% reported non-suicidal self-inflicted harm such as cutting and burning. why?  most likely the reason is that the next generation is overwhelmed by life, seeking answers, seeking real love and not discovering what they’re looking for. the problem is compounded by a lack of generation integration: getting clues from a prior generation that has discovered meaning, truth, purpose and love in Jesus.

each generation is convinced that the prior generation is clueless and that when the next generation is in charge things will be better. this hope is a catalyst for potential change and good, but it can also be a dangerous stimulus for abuse.

for example, after the death of king David, his son Solomon ruled God’s people with great wisdom. Solomon was surrounded by wise counselors. upon Solomon’s passing, his son Rehoboam ascended to the throne. when the northern tribes of Israel approached Rehoboam to request he lighten their tax burden, Rehoboam sought counsel from his advisors.

Solomon’s counselors, the prior generation, urged the young king to lighten the load, encourage the people, serve them and assured the young king the people would be loyal to him forever. Rehoboam’s peers, the next generation, offered the opposite advice. in essence, their plan was, “show ‘em you’re the king” and increase the burden. The young king rejected the wisdom of the prior generation, focused on the insight of his peers, and informed the people about “the new program” [heavier taxes].

the result: a civil war that divided the nation and harmed the lives of God’s people [1Kings 12:1-16].

the moral: we need generation integration ~ connected generations to avoid a divided house:

connecting with the another generation to help them connect with God

what’s the problem: 2 out of 3 high school students leave the church after graduation. over 40%of young people between the ages of 16-29 are now outside the faith [up from 27% in the last generation]. nevertheless, 77% of Jesus’ followers come to Him before the age of 21.

are we helping the next generation to know the  real Jesus who gives life, meaning, and shalom? are we developing relationships connecting the next generation to the transforming power and love of God? is there dialogue that creates empathy about a shared spiritual hunger; the epic quest for love and identity; and the hope of Jesus?

if we say that we love Jesus and that we love others [e.g. the next generation or the prior generation] we want to bring Jesus and them together. unfortunately, generally, there is a complete lack of generation integration: interaction between teens and adults, and between the college age demographic and the generation that preceded them.

the next generation has a deep longing and passion for “more.” not more entertainment, or more tech … more than superficial, more than spin and manipulation … for something [or someone] real. they are drawn to service, significance and sincerity. do we know each other? do we really care?

how can you test whether you really love God?

·       attitude: dependence upon God and relationship with God [communion]

·       affirmation: praise and worship

·       action: obedience to God and sacrifice in gratitude for His love

how can you test whether you really love the next generation?

·       attitude: relationship with people and interdependence [community]

·       affirmation: words of encouragement, expressions of gratitude

·       action: sacrifice of time, talent and treasure in gratitude for God’s love

if you love God and another generation you are passionate to bring them together

here’s my take:

1.   young people are not the future of the church nor are they the future leaders – they are the church and they are it’s leaders.

2.   the next generation has a responsibility to reach the generation that will follow them, and is the most likely group to effectively do it.

3.   the next generation would be unwise to ignore the wisdom of the generation that preceded them. 

4.   the next gen needs to be equipped and empowered to develop their own ministries beyond “the youth group.”

5.   the prior generation has the privilege to actively mentor the next generation. the most likely way to do that is by authentic relationships characterized by investing time – to know and to grow together [one-on-one or small groups].

6.   a healthy generation integration is based on lasting relationships. Young people often struggle to figure out critical life issues, and feel abandoned to make sense of life based solely on the input of similarly struggling peers. Effective generation of integration requires the pouring of one life into another. That sacrifice creates lasting relationships … a worthwhile investment. 

what’s your take? 

Lately, I have been asked this question so many times: When are you getting married? Everything in me hates this question. Unfortunately, I seem to get asked it at least once a week. The reason i dislike this question so much is because all it does is add pressure. I could be completely content in my dating relationship and enjoying every part of it. But the minute that question comes up, i feel some sort of pressure to be at a stage in my relationship that I am not yet at.

Questions begin to run through my mind: when am i getting married? why am i not engaged yet? why are other people getting married now and im not? why is it taking so long to get married? 

These questions would not be in my mind if it weren't for the ONE question. When i get asked that question, i feel pressured. I feel like i should know the answer. I feel as though i am apparently in a serious enough relationship that i should know; and because i dont know, it causes impatience. 

It seems that young marriage has become "the thing" in our church here at calvary chapel. Why? I think this is because of a couple of reasons. 

First, it is difficult to remain pure with a person you love. In a godly relationship, purity is essential and for any two people who are attracted to each other, this will be hard! So, because it's so hard, couples may take Pauls verse of "better to be married than burn with passion" to mean that if your hormones are raging you might as well get married! However, 2 Timothy 2:22 says flee the youthful lusts, pursuing righteousness, faith, love...It is possible to remain pure and God calls us to it. 

Second, people think you'll never be ready for marriage anyways, so why prepare? I know that i want to prepare as much as i can by seeking God and building my relationship with Him. I tell people I want to wait until i am ready to get married. You know what people say? "well you'll never be ready! so just do it!" of course there are things that i just can't prepare myself for, but i would rather be more prepared than less. Proverbs 18:15 says the heart of the prudent acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." the wise seek out knowledge. isn't preparing always wise?

Third, people think that because they have the means (money) to live together, that they might as well get married. Getting married should never be done because it is convenient. Just because a person has money and a house doesn't mean they should get married. Colossians 3:18 says wives submit to your husbands as is fitting to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. A man may have a solid job and a house but have no idea how to love his wife. Or a wife may have no idea how to submit to and respect her husband.

Good relationships take time to cultivate. We go through different seasons in our lives and in dating, it is helpful to go through these seasons together. I would rather go through the difficult times together BEFORE getting married, than go through them after. When i get married, i want to know how to love my spouse. i want to know how to handle conflict God's way. I want to have a better reason for getting married than just because we couldn't control ourselves, because we had the resources, or because i'll never be ready anyways. 

Of course i will never be perfect and no matter how much i prepare, there will be things that were unexpected. However, i want to wait on God's time. when i get married, the reason will be because God brought us together and He will be able to use us better together than apart. 

I hope the next time i get asked if i am getting married is when I have a ring on my finger! Instead of adding pressure, let's encourage the young to take their time to make one of the biggest decisions of their lives.

if someone told you that they had memorized the whole pentateuch, never missed a tithed on any sunday, and was in every way completely devoted to christianity; what would your first thought be? at first glance when you study about the religious leaders (ie pharisees, scribes etc.) you find quickly that they were some of the most devoted people around. with a few exceptions they blow the normal christian out of the water when it comes to discipline and devotion. the pharisees especially were willing to lay down there lives on behalf of these beliefs at anytime 

here's one example, the governor ponitus pilate made an agreement with the jews (mostly pharisees) that he would not have any of the roman soldiers come into Jerusalem wearing things that had caesars image on it. the jews regarded this as idolatry. there came a time when the roman soldiers no longer listened to that and would come into jerusalem with images of caesar on their clothing etc. the jews (mostly pharisees) were outraged at what was happening. on one specific occasion a large group of jews and pharisees went to poitius pilate's palace and in a sit down strike stayed outside for 5 days. pilate infuriated at this led all of them to the hippodrome were he had soldiers set up to ambush the group of jews. the soldiers threatened the jews that if they didn't stop protesting that each one of them would be executed. upon saying this every jew fell to their knees and bared their necks. they said that they were willing to die instead of allowing such an injustice to continue. pilate backed down. 

i believe it is safe to say that the pharisees were very much devoted to their beliefs. 

then why is it that while reading the gospel accounts we see Jesus ripping into the pharisees? there is numerous occasions through out the gospel that Jesus has some extremely harsh words for the pharisees. probably one of the most notable occasions is in matthew 23. there we see Jesus walk through 7 different "woes" he has against the pharisees. in doing so Jesus points out areas of their lives and ministries that are not acceptable at all. Jesus uses such words as blind guides, hypocrites, fools, brood of vipers, blind fools, and others. 

so then what is the real problem with the pharisees? i believe that is most clearly answered in one encounter that Jesus had with the pharisees. in matthew 15:8-9 Jesus rebukes the pharisees and saying, "this people honors me with their lips, but there hearts are far from me. in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." first Jesus' charge to them is that they never actually worship Him. all they do is give him lip service. what that means in the pharisees circumstance is that they can do so much yet if they don't worship God and do it for His glory that everything they do is useless. that's the great point of the gospel, is that its not what we can do for God it is what He has already done for us on the cross. the pharisees believed that if they were religious enough, and if they were devoted and disciplined enough then they were good. but thats not the way that God looks at it. God doesn't look at us and see how much we have done for Him, He looks past all of that and goes to see our hearts. 

the pharisees were known for being extremely proud and self-righteous. they wanted all the glory and attention for themselves. yet real God loving christians should know that we are wicked to the core and that if anything good comes from us that it's only because of God's grace and that all the glory goes straight to Him! 

Jesus wants your real worship. the funny thing is, is that when we enter into real worship of Jesus we begin to learn of who He is. we see how great and glorious He His, how mighty and incredible Jesus is. as we start to do that and He starts to reveal more of Himself to us through the word and through prayer we fall more in love with Him. which in turn will transform our hearts to make us a people who desire to do good works and desire to be extremely devoted as well as passionate about Him. 

now if you have the desire to serve and to give etc, and even if you don't; when you begin to experience the real God of the bible and He blows your mind your only response will be to worship. its not until you truly enter into and stop drawing near to Him with just your lips that you can have this experience. the outcome will surly be Jesus transforming your heart, mind, and soul to be more like Him. 

nexus: a second campus for calvary chapel of camarillo
(watch a clip of pastor bruce describing the vision for nexus)

nexus is: a means or place of connection, a connected group, or the center ...

One of the great needs in our community is a place for the next generation to connect and learn about Jesus - the real Jesus of the Bible, not merely some cultural icon. We need a place for young adults to call their home church in the city. We want a place where we can connect with God and one another, grow, and reach our community and the world for change. Nexus will be designed, created and implemented with the next generation in mind.

Our community needs another center that is a caring and safe environment for kids before and after school. There are single parent homes and homes where both parents work and in both types there is a need for someone to help care for kids, especially junior high and younger. Our community has a couple of good places that are trying to provide that service but something is missing. What we need is a place where parents can send their kids before and after school where they will: learn about Jesus, get help with homework, play sports and games, have music and performing arts lesson, etc. 

Our community needs a center to be a nexus between the church and the city.

Here's the vision ~

what's the nexus campus/community center going to be?

The nexus campus will be about 24,000 square feet including a sanctuary/gym, arts and craft room, performing arts center, homework/computer room, and game room/youth room to impact the community for Jesus. The facility will be used primarily as a youth center during the weekdays and as a church on the weekend and evenings. 

During the week, primarily after school, we hope to offer the sanctuary/gym for basketball and sports. The homework/computer room will be available for tutoring, computer/internet access, and video games. The youth/game room will be a place to receive mentoring and play games. The arts and craft room could be used for painting, drawing, and other works of art. The performing arts room can be a place where youth can receive music lessons make movies and learn to edit video. The fellowship hall will be available to be used as a coffee house-energy lounge. 

theme verse: John 8:31-32 "You are my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." The emphasis of nexus will continue to be Bible teaching to equip God's people to love God and live His Word. 

objective: what if we could launch a 2^nd campus similar to a church plant but retain some of the benefits of resources: people, provisions, and property?  what if we establish a gathering place to learn about God and encourage people to live for God in authentic community? what if we could reach the next generation and impact the community in tangible ways? 

methods: 

1. emphasize Bible-teaching in a casual atmosphere with contemporary worship

2.opportunity for dialogue: questions and discussion during teaching. create a place where people can ask life questions and get a biblical perspective [pastor bruce to be primary teacher at both campuses]. 

3. create a gathering place where people want to get to know one another and develop relationships:

• create a place for conversation: e.g. outdoor-space, coffee - energy lounge > food/fellowship/fun
• help people feel at home: where's my "home away from home" and why? what makes it feel like home? 
• help create relationships > get real
• meaningful relationships generally begin with time that allows people to get acquainted: be together/do together/have fun

4. monthly community impact service days [micro-missions]: give people an opportunity to make a difference. how can we bless our community for Christ? what are the needs/life of the community? how can our beyond sunday ministry impact those needs?  

5. how can we reach the youth of our community for Christ? how can we use our campuses most effectively to reach the youth?

goals: 

1. launch 2^nd campus (by) 4.18.10
2. identify a 2^nd campus location by 9.30.09
3. meet with pacific camps [the camp is an independent before and after school program, as well as a pre-school, that operates currently at our mobil campus] to explore more effective ministry by 9.09 
4. begin pre-launch (monthly) prayer and planning meetings 9.09
5. identify a team of 100+ adults by 1.10 committed to helping to launch nexus 
6. identify, train and develop functional leaders 10.09 -2.10 

FAQs "the top 10"

1. why do we need another facility?

Phase I [2004] mobil campus consists of fourteen thousand square feet. The sanctuary seats 520, and includes six classrooms and a pre-kindergarten space. Phase II [2006] is an additional seven thousand five hundred square feet. Phase II includes four additional classrooms, a fellowship hall, and nursery. The two-floor structures are connected by a covered deck, and below the deck is a courtyard and fountain area. The 2 phases total about 22,000 square feet.

Functional capacity [the full factor] of the facility is estimated at 1,100-1,150 adults. Capacity is based on three Sunday morning and one evening service. Current growth models contemplate reaching capacity by the end of 2010. The nexus campus will give us an opportunity to reach well over 1,000 additional people for Christ. 

2. where's the nexus campus/community center going to be?

We will be located at 300 Lewis Road in Camarillo [the Imation property]. The church is on a main thoroughfare that is easy to find and get to. There is abundant parking and we will be close to CSUCI.

3. should the church undertake such an obligation in light of the economic times?

We are seeking to be sober and wise stewards of the resources of our church community. There is an advisory board that is comprised of experts in business, real estate, finance and economics that call CC Camarillo their church home. They are godly people who advise the Church Board of Directors, and have been researching, analyzing and assessing the relevant issues for more than a year. We hope to continue to effectively minister to the needs of our community and to expand our influence to be able to serve the community for many years to come. It is their collective counsel that the proposed plan is prudent, wise, and of God.

4. why is the church leasing instead of buying?

The 5-yr. lease plan provides greater flexibility, requires less capital, and provides options for us to use the facility for 20 years. In our proposed location the cost of improvements to the structure for our use are relatively contained. Thus, the lease makes economic sense for this facility.

5. will pastor bruce teach at both facilities?

We plan on offering 2 Sunday morning services at both campuses at approximately 9 and 11 [total of 4 services]. I'll be teaching at both sites for the foreseeable future and we will gradually offer other teachers at both.     

6. will their be youth ministries available on Sundays?

We plan to offer age appropriate services from nursery to senior high at both campuses. 

7. are all ages welcome?

No one is checking ID ~ everyone is welcome!

8. will Pacific Camps be involved at both sites?

We thank God for our relationship with the Camps and look forward to continuing to work together to reach our community. We want to avail ourselves of their expertise, staff, and other resources to maximize our effectiveness in reaching the community for Jesus. 

9. what types of programs will the church offer at the facility ?

We're not sure. We're exploring the needs of the community and welcome your input to develop flexible plans to meet the needs today and tomorrow.

10. when will the new campus be available? Lord willing Spring 2010.

 considerations:

> if a compelling vision is continually cast and if everyone is invited to be part of the future > all will help make it a reality ~ common goals  

> answer the questions: why do we need a 2^nd campus? why would someone leave the mobil campus to attend services at another site?

> tell the stories of what is yet to be: people want to belong to a story that is being written ~ what's the vision for tomorrow?

> tell and retell the stories about the church's history and past

what does it mean to be the church?  I recently asked that question to a gathering of people and the answers quickly revealed our understanding that the church is not simply a building where people meet together nor is it an institution. Perhaps we can put away potentially trendy labels, such as “missional” or “relationship evangelism” that have entered into our collective christianese, and discover what Jesus likely wants when He commissioned us to be the church?

The most important concepts are: to know Him and to make Him known. It seems reasonable that I can’t share Jesus with others or represent Him to my world until I begin to understand who He is. In essence, I can’t make Jesus known until I know Him.

How do you get to know Jesus? Some people seem to know Jesus intimately. Why are they passionate about Jesus? They likely discovered Jesus as He spoke and opened the Scriptures to them [Luke 24:32]. The Bible is definitely the best way to know Jesus. If you try to learn of Him apart from the Bible you’re likely to create something other than the real Jesus … you can’t really know Jesus apart from His Word. He wants you to know Him even more than you already do.

People who are passionate about Jesus read their Bibles like people in love read letters [e-mails, texts, tweets, listen to voicemails, etc.] from someone they love. They don’t simply read as an academic or intellectual activity, or a religious chore, but read to discover and kindle an intimate relationship with the True and Living God who is soooooooooo in love with you. They are on an epic quest to discover the real Jesus.

You can’t make JC known to others till you know Him, but once you know Him you need to make Him known. How are you trying to reach your world for Christ? When pressed on the question, most of us admit that we’re not very intentional about reaching our world for Christ … about being the Church. So, how do we do it? Mark 16:15 records Jesus’ commission to us, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” [see also, Mt.28:19-20]. Realize that this mission is for all who know Jesus not just evangelists like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie or for "professionals" like your pastors.

go into: too often we invite someone to the church building/institution and say in essence, “Come and see.” Jesus encouraged us to go into ~ to actively engage the culture. There are 3 concepts that I believe describe the Church’s response to the culture around us: enclave, enrage, and engage.

Enclave speaks of isolation or enclosure. In the Dark Ages, Christians saw the decline of the culture’s morals and values, and built monasteries to seek God and protect themselves from the influence of the culture around them. Many followers of Jesus don’t even realize their tendency to “monasticize.” We try to create a Christian world full of Christian: family, friends, home, activities, music … we even have a Christian car and dog [I suspect cats may be Christian but it often seems unlikely to me]. We speak “christianese” without even realizing it. We drop terms like “prayer warrior” without even considering that the pre-believers around us have conjured up images of Rambo and have no idea what we are trying to say.

Enrage is the problem of “us against them.” We bemoan that the world is going to hell and rail against those people who are perceived as the primary culprits. We quickly judge those who are different than us. The person covered with tattoos is summarily dismissed and the person with body piercing is condemned. Ironically, never connecting that Jesus was into body piercing – He was pierced for our transgressions. We fail to consider that our transgressions are generally as bad [or worse] and that God loves them as much as He loves us. 

Engage is the solution … in essence be like Jesus. Jesus is full of grace and truth [Jn.1:14] ~ the perfect balance of compassion without compromise. Jesus hung out with folks that were perceived as the worst sinners by the religious establishment. He spent time with harlots [Bible speak for prostitutes/hookers] but He would not avail Himself of their services because that is beyond His boundaries. He drank wine with immoral people but he never got drunk because again, that is beyond his boundaries. Here’s a thought: if Jesus was in our culture and was invited to a gay bar I strongly suspect that He would accept the invitation. He would go and not endorse or condone the behavior/attitude but would also not condemn the people. He would seek to love until the very end.

In an effort to engage, we must learn what it means not to believe. To discover, learn from, respect, relate to and love. We must be patient and not try to “sell” Jesus and close the deal as though Jesus were a product and the most important decision in a person’s life could be reduced to an infomercial and a passionate plea to impulse shop … “But wait, you also get eternal life!” Generally, post-moderns have an aversion to claims of absolutes [e.g. absolute truth] and tend toward moral relativism. Thus, the paradigm of world views of Christ followers and pre-believers who adopt a host of different world views needs to be bridged. The bridge is built by dialogue – open discussion characterized by respect, love and gentleness, not debate or sales. A great way to begin to build a bridge is to serve others with no strings attached. This is simply an effort to show the love of Jesus in a tangible way. 

All the world: literally “as you are going throughout the world.”  In other words, as you go to school, work, the hood, the coffee house, In N Out, movies, market, dinner, the park, etc. Live it beyond Sunday, be real!

Preach: to proclaim a message. Be a missionary to your culture. I’m not suggesting standing on the corner with a bullhorn screaming at passing cars that the occupant are going to hell if they don’t repent – it doesn’t work and probably never has because that is generally not how God rolls. We proclaim the message with our lives and when relationship has been developed [sometimes quickly and often over an extended period] we share the message clearly and effectively with words [see below].

To every creature: Jew or Gentile, man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, gay or straight, mohawk, fauxhawk, shaved head or even mullet. There is no one who is too good for Jesus, and praise God there is no one who is too bad.

The gospel: means good news, what is it? The basic elements are:

1. An all perfect, holy, and awesome God loves you – we are His creation.

2. God is perfect and we are not. When we fall short of God’s standard the Bible calls it sin. All of us sin. Sin separates us from God and we can't restore the relationship with God on our own.

3. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, just as the prophets predicted, proved that He paid the penalty for our sin to restore our relationship with God [1Cor. 15:3-4]. 

4. God invites you to accept His gift of a relationship with Him, for this life and the life to come, by trusting in Jesus.

That’s the message we are to communicate. Jesus encouraged His original followers that He would be with them and that signs would follow to confirm the message. What sign will our culture accept as confirmation? It seems to me that the likely answer is love. 1^st, Loving God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and 2^nd loving others as we love ourselves. Jesus said when we do that, people will know that we are His disciples [Jn.13:35] and we will be the church.

Have you ever noticed while reading the new testament that the disciples are pretty weird guys? They get to hang out with Jesus everyday, as He pours Himself into them, they were right there while Jesus preached, healed, and did miracles. They saw it all! Yet why is it that we read of the disciples always blowing it? While Jesus is on the earth with them, it seems like they never "get it."  Jesus is constantly pouring Himself into them, revealing truths that nobody else on the earth got to hear, yet in the time when Jesus needed them most they were flakes. 

For example, Peter, remember him saying That all the other disciples would bail and flake on Jesus but he would stay and fight! Well, that was true for the most part. It was there in the garden of gethsemane when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus. Without a moments notice or second thought Peter went straight for his sword. As he pulled it out of its scabbard there was no doubt he was going to die to save His Lord. Although his intentions were good, his methods and actions weren't. In his huge crescendo and attempt to save he merely chopped off the soldiers ear. After peter's macho man attempt to save we see him encounter another adversary. A sweet cutie pie of a gal. In this second battle, peter did worse than he did in his first. The same guy that said He would die for Jesus and would never abandoned Him, denied, cursed, and refused to associate himself with Jesus at all to a little girl. 

Peter is one of my favorite bible characters. One of the reasons is because I can relate to him so much. Throughout the gospel we are constantly reading about him doing something dumb, weird, or impulsive. But how is it, that beginning in the book of acts we see a different peter? Peter is the man when the church first starts. He is the one who gets up and boldly preaches Jesus on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 get saved. Peter is also the one who wrote two books of the new testament. Furthermore church history records that he was crucified upside down because he told the men he wasn't worthy to be crucified right side up! That doesn't seem like the same peter that lost in a talking fight with a 10 year old little princess. The obvious question we might ask is what happened? What's the difference from the peter at Christ's denial to the peter that was willing to get crucified upside down for His Savior? 

Two words, risen Christ. Simply stated before Jesus died the disciples didn't really understand who He was. On numerous occasions they refer to Jesus as "rabbi" which means teacher opposed to calling Him Lord. They never fully understood who Jesus was in His full deity. Until, He rose from the grave. They experienced and saw Jesus in His glory. That He really was the Christ the Son of God. The one whom isaiah prophesied about hundreds of years ago, the Messiah that the jews had been waiting for, the one who would take away the sins of all and reconcile us back to God the Father. They saw Him as the Prince of peace and the Lord of Lords, and by seeing Jesus and experiencing Him like this they were utterly transformed. The gospel boomed after Jesus death, resurrection, and ascension. The disciples who saw and experienced Him preached the Word everywhere despite what the cost would be.

Now more than two thousand years removed, what we have is the book that contains everything we need to know to experience Christ in the way these men did. We have access, and the Spirit of God to prompt and give us all we need to enter into the lives of the disciples. So that we would be passionate about God's name, that we would be willing to lay our lives down so His kingdom would be advanced, to understand His deep and passionate love for us. In that He bore the sins of humanity for us, then three days later conquered sin, satan, and death. All for love and for the glory of His heavenly father.

May our response be that despite whatever comes our way, that we will stand firm in the knowledge that Jesus loves us and died for us. Not only did He die for us but He rose in victory three days later. That as we experience the risen Christ who did all of this, we would be in awe of His glory and motivated to live transformed radical lives for Him by His Spirit despite the cost! 

Have you ever heard or said the phrase "if you clean your room i will let you play your video game?" or something to that effect? I don't necessarily think there is anything wrong with that statement in and of itself, but it raises a few questions for me. One, why is it that the way we train our children, communicate with our friends, is based upon what they do and what they don't do? We tend to be a society that is based upon merit/demerit. If you do something good then you will be rewarded for it, yet on the other hand, if you fail to do what you were supposed to do; judgement is coming. 

We often to do this in other areas and relationship as well. For the most part we only hang out and socialize with people we "like" and stay away from the socially awkward, or those who don't fit our sense of social propriety. To take that a step further, if, God forbid, someone offends us or hurts us, we are quick to ostracize them from our group and lives. And choose to no have anything to do with them. Most of you have been doing it for so long now, that you don't even realize it and that response is now  built into the framework of your life. I would say, in fact, that all of us are guilty of judging in this manner.

I believe the biggest concern and problem with acting in this way is that it's un-biblical in every sense of the imagination. Could you imagine if God acted like this? We would all be doomed to hell! Thankfully, we have the doctrine of grace. What do i mean by grace? That God, through the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, has forgiven us all our sins and continues to forgive and bless us on a daily basis. Grace is the greatest anyone of us could ever hope to obtain. (cf. 2 corinthians 9:15)

The question that should be asked is: if God doesn't judge the same way we do, then how exactly does He judge the christian? God, instead of using the demerit/merit scale uses Christ's blood as His scale. While Jesus was on the cross, God poured out all His wrath that was justly due to fall on you and I, upon Jesus. Jesus paid the ultimate penalty for sin by what He did for us on the cross. Because of what Jesus did, we can now enter into relationship with Him through grace by faith. You see, now that we have began a relationship with Jesus, God doesn't judge us on what we do and what we don't do. He looks at you and doesn't see your sin and folly anymore, yet He sees the blood of Christ that has covered you. 

In light of this information, we should feel extremely freed from the pressure of trying so hard to be "good" for God. Because of the grace of God we don't need to keep track of what we did or didn't do. Paul says in Romans 8:1 "for those who are in Christ Jesus there is no more condemnation." God has cleansed you of all of your sins (1 john 3:16). You are a new creation in Jesus (2 corinthians 5:17). You have been saved by grace, and grace alone (ephesians 2:7). 

Additionally, God is not going to ostracize you when you fail (philippians 1:6). Once we have asked Jesus into our heart there is nothing more that we can do to make God love us. Similarly there's nothing we can do to make Him love us less. So for those that are stuck in sin right now, or for those who are depressed by life's circumstances, or you think that you are so far away from God that their is no way He can love you after what you've done, you're wrong. Jesus loves you despite what you've done and what you haven't done. 

The response that we should have towards this is freedom and motivation. Freedom in knowing that we are under grace and that we need not worry about God's un-failing love for us, His children. Additionally, motivation. We ought to be motivated by this deep and passionate love that Jesus expresses to us and seek to serve, worship, and love God with all our heart, mind, and souls. This is what happens to those who have tasted and seen how good and gracious our Lord is. 

Missional. As one of my friends said recently, “that whole word is pretty trendy right now.” Christian leaders, pastors, teachers, writers, and others are plugging this idea of being “Missional” to the point where now, the impact of this word often gets lost or confused amid the “Christianeze” of Evangelical Culture.

So what does it really mean to be missional?

At it’s most basic definition, “missional” is simply an alternative adjective for the word “missionary.” Essentially, if you are being missional, you are thinking, acting, and serving like a missionary would. In essence, you could define your existence in terms of being a missionary, which, quite simply, means someone who is sent out on a mission. This perhaps seems a little circular, or even confusing so let me expound on this idea.

Missional living is a term that is used in contrast with the model of institutional churches. Church leaders as well as Christians in general, often regard the Church as an institution to which outsiders must come in order to receive a certain “product,” namely, the gospel and all its associated “benefits”. Institutional churches are often perceived to exist primarily for the members / congregation, who in turn depend on the pastors, staff, and leadership of the church to reach out to others with the Gospel.

A missional church on the other hand, (made up of Christians who are committed to missional living), attempts to take Christ outside of the church building and bring it (contextualize it) to the culture, community, and the city / county in which the church resides. A congregation of believers in a missional church is personally engaged in reaching their communities with the Gospel, demonstrated by the way they live and interact with others who do not share their faith. In essence, if you boil it all down to the simplest and most concise definition, missional living means that you are sent by Jesus to bring the Gospel to the community and the culture.

Too often, Christians rage against the culture, condemning it either by the way they talk, act, or otherwise communicate, instead of being exegetical in regards to the culture, and discovering its values, philosophies, and ideas, and speaking to those and addressing them from a Biblical perspective. Being Missional does NOT mean that we are trying with all our might to make Jesus or Christianity relevant. Being Missional means showing our community and culture that Jesus and Christianity is already relevant. This means that we need to pay attention to the culture and know what is going on. 

If you are a Christian, it is far too easy to become assimilated into the Christian subculture where you have Christian friends, a Christian dog, and only listen to Christian music and Christian radio. If you are steeped in the Christian subculture, you really have no idea what people are looking for or how to be missional to them. This kind of living basically treats Christianity and the Church as a kind of bomb shelter where you can kind of hang out and be protected from the bombardment of the world. This kind of thinking leads to many “us” and “them” ideas where Christians are the good guys and non-christians are the bad guys. 

To the other extreme are the Christians who view the church as a mirror. They believe that the main purpose and goal is to be aware of the culture to the point where nothing is sacred and everything is negotiable. If the culture says something is okay, so does the church. This is essentially liberalism and while these kinds of people and churches are culturally aware, no attempts are made to redeem the culture, only to embrace, accept, and mirror the culture. This makes the church impotent in reaching people and changing lives. 

A church and a people that are truly missional on the other hand, are not steeped in the Christian subculture, are not engaged in theological or practical liberalism, and are not antagonistic or negative towards the culture, but practice an alternative way of living (Christianity) and invite other people to join them.

Consequently, we need to consider the message we are preaching with our lives! If your neighbors see your girlfriend leaving your apartment in the morning and they know you’re a Christian, what message are you preaching? If your friends know your’re a Christian or that you go to church on Sundays and you get hammered or stoned out of your mind with them after work on Friday, what message are you preaching? If your family and friends know you’re a Christian and you’re selfish and rude and bitter, or a gossip - what message are you sending about Jesus? If you pray before your meal when you’re at a restaurant and then leave a bad tip because the service was slow or because you’re stingy with the money God has blessed you with - what message are you preaching about grace, forgiveness, generosity, selflessness and what it means to be a Christian? Being Missional means living your daily life in a way that reflects Jesus and communicates the Gospel. You have to be intentional about it. You have to stop preaching a false gospel with your life and start living like a Christian. Start living like you mean it. Observe, study, and communicate to the culture. Know where people in the community live, work, and play. Ask the “why” questions. 

This means we have to change the way we think and stop being so lazy. Where I live, instead of just rolling my eyes and saying how ridiculous it is that even more new outlet stores are going in, or joking about the expansion of and constant refacing of the malls and shopping centers, I should ask “why is there such an overabundance of retail stores and shopping locations in my community? Why are the shopping centers and malls regularly being updated and refaced? What does that tell me about the culture where I live, the people who live in it, and their priorities?” If I ask these kinds of questions I can immediately make some basic observations: 

1.) people are really into buying things - they like to shop. it is not only a personal, but a social experience.

2.) there are a lot of clothing & retail stores - people who live in my community are probably concerned with the way they look and the kinds of things they have. consequently, I could conclude that the way they are perceived by others is of significant importance.

3.) on average, the stores / outlets / etc. in my community are not going out of business, so people must be frequenting these places and supporting them with their purchases - perhaps spending more than they make.

From these basic observations about this one aspect of the culture I live in and the people who live in it, I can begin to identify ways in which I can be missional to my city. For example, since shopping is such a big deal and shopping centers / malls / outlets are prevalent throughout my city and community, I can conclude that the culture I live in has consumerist and materialist tendencies. However, instead of preaching against materialism and consumerism, as a Christian desiring to engage in Misional Living, I need to ask more “why” questions: “Why does my culture appear to be materialistic and consumeristic?” Perhaps it is because people are searching for something when they are shopping. Not necessarily for the latest styles or trends, (though that most likely is part of it) but for something that will satisfy. They are searching for, shopping for something. Perhaps they are shopping so that they “fit in.” If they fit in, they will have friends, if they have friends, they will feel appreciated and loved. If they are appreciated and loved they will feel safe and secure and validated as a human being. Their life will have value. Their life will have meaning and purpose. And all of that from shopping. 

Our job as Christians engaged in Missional Living, is to ask the questions. To get to know our culture, and be able to connect the dots for them and show them how Jesus is relevant to their lives and how their fundamental worth as a human being is inextricably tied to the Gospel. Too often we are merely lazy and take the easy way out. Even in the  example I gave, I have not yet even begun to explore all of the complexities of the questions I asked and all of the related issues, (i.e. people who become Christians and join the church on its mission to the culture will most likely have consumerist tendencies and it might be difficult to get people to realize that being a Christian means being a servant and being selfless, giving, and generous with their time and money - so the church needs to intentionally teach people who come to church how to be good stewards, etc. etc.)

Too often, we as Christians stop at the surface level and instead of going deeper and continuing to ask the follow-up questions, not only in our own head, but also to others in the community to find out what they buy, what they spend time on, what they do for a job, etc. we stop at the answers to our initial questions and merely observe that people in our culture appear to be materialistic consumers. We then proceed to either look down on the culture in our pride because they are selfish consumers - or we antagonize the culture by ranting against their materialism, which only serves to prod and jab at the hurting and dying culture - making ourselves feel good when often we are just as guilty if not more so of consumerism, selfishness, and materialism. Instead of being a healing balm to the culture, we scar it even more, making people even more defensive and resentful towards Christianity and the Gospel, not only because of our attacks, but because of our hypocrisy.

Think about what it means to live missionally to your culture. Don’t be lazy. Ask the tough questions and get to the heart of the issues that affect your community. Get to know your neighbors, your culture, the people, your community as a whole and discover what matters to them so you can accurately and appropriately contextualize the Gospel to reach the city where you live. I’ve just barely scratched the surface in this blog. Missional living requires us to constantly observe, think critically, and make choices about the way we live our lives so that Jesus and the Gospel is reflected in everything we do. Our primary goal as Christians should be to live as good witnesses for Jesus and stop preaching false gospels by the choices that we make and the way we live our lives, and instead, draw people to Christ through missional living.

"In times of trouble, may the Lord answer your cry..." Pslam 20:1a

Have you ever tried to wrestle with the fact that our God is a good and perfect God and yet He allows evil in this world? If you never have, i don't recommend trying. It is a hard thing to understand. Lately, i have faced some hard times. I do not mean to complain. I am so blessed. I have more than i could ever ask for and certainly more than I deserve. However, life is hard. I feel pain and often I see no escape to that pain.

It is during these times of pain and hurt and anxiety that I call on God the most. I am embarrassed to say this because i truly want to be a person who praises God and calls on Him during the good and bad times alike. However, it's always during the painful times that I find myself on my face crying out to my God.

I have many fears that cause pain. I am scared of losing people I love; I am scared of things in my life falling apart. And i wonder to myself, God, if you were to take these things away, how could you still call yourself good? I pray that God continues to bless my life and Psalm 20 is a huge comfort to me ( i recommend reading the rest). But truly, I have to wrestle with this question:

Would i still praise and trust God if i lost everything?

When times are good, i usually answer with a quick yes. But when life's hard, i struggle with it. And through the tears and cries, I really can come to the point where I can praise and trust Him. That despite my circumstances, despite the pain i feel or am going to feel in the future, GOD IS STILL GOOD! and if he takes away a seemingly good thing, he must have a reason, a bigger plan that i can't see right now.

How much faith would i have if i only trusted God when i had what i wanted? Doesn't God, the one who made the whole earth, know what's best for me, even if it hurts for a while? And ultimately, He has already given me eternity. What more could I ask for.

I am not trying to tell you to be joyful through trials and just "praise the Lord" through your pain. I am not trying to be cliche. I'm just trying to be real. I have felt pain. I have been hurt. And through it all, even though it has been the hardest thing to do, i can honestly say the best thing to do is run to God and trust Him more.

Praising God is the last thing I want to do when I'm hurting. But I praise Him by being honest with Him. I share my pain with him and proclaim that even though i'm hurting, HE IS STILL GOD and He still deserves my praise.

This isn't an easy thing to do. And while i write it here, i know there will be days when I fail to praise God through my pain. But i'm trying. And the more I seek God and spend time with Him, the more I make him #1, the easier it is going to be when #2 and #3 let me down. It is hard to see God through our pain. But He is there. Cry to Him; He will never fail you.

"...not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some..." Hebrews 10:25

Home Groups often seem to be just an extra thing to do during the week. With Sunday morning and Wednesday night services already, the thought of ANOTHER Bible study seems overwhelming. We live in a society that thrives on busyness. We have to do so many things in so little time.

However, instead of seeing home groups as "another thing to do" during the week amongst everything else, I like to see it as a time of rest. It is not just a time to sit through another service. Home groups are a time to get away from the busyness and form relationships with REAL people. Through home groups, we meet people who have the same struggles as us. We build relationships with people we might not normally talk to. It is like a little family or community of it's own.

It is SOO hard to meet people on Sundays. It seems like there is barely room to walk in the sanctuary, let alone try to talk to someone new. This is why we have home groups. It is so sad to me that many people come to our church week after week but never meet people. They come and leave like clock work, never stopping to say hi to someone new, never reaching out for real relationships.

You can change that. If you click "more details" on the right hand side of this page, there is a list of some home groups that meet throughout the week. I encourage you to e-mail one of the leaders and get involved. At least just try it for a couple weeks. And if you make time for it, I guarantee you will be blessed.

nexus: a second campus for calvary chapel of camarillo

nexus is a means or place of connection, a connected group, or the center...

read the whole post by clicking here

days ago, i experienced an incredible celebration of the unity of believers at an event called One: one heart, one gathering, One God. after months of planning, the day had arrived. on 5.31.09 the majority of evangelical churches in our community suspended their sunday morning services so that we could gather as one [although we had not planned it, God seemed to orchestrate that the event would be celebrated on the day of Pentecost - the day His church was born]. 

it was 6:30 a.m. when i began to walk from my house to our local high school for an epic event. walking a mile or two, on a quiet grey morning gave me time to think, to reflect, to pray, to hope ... unfortunately, getting local churches to come together in unity is a challenge. There are perhaps countless reasons why but suffice it so say it is a challenge. also, coordinating large-scale events is a struggle. essentially, this epic event was a labor - yet a labor of love: love for Jesus, love for our community, love for His people, and love for those who don't know Him yet. as i arrived at the venue, the stage and sound system were in place, the sound check was completed the night before, prayer meetings had taken place and would continue but for now it was quiet. the bleachers of the high school stadium hold 6,000 seats and from the hillside the mountains in the background were shrouded in fog. soon guests and volunteers would arrive.

the event was scheduled to start at 10:00 but by 9:45 guests were asked to move closer together and people started to sit on the hillside and soon they would occupy the visitors bleachers on the opposite side of the field. certainly people wondered how many local churches were represented ... but there was only One church gathered that day.

Lincoln Brewster led us in worship - his passion for Christ, heart to worship, energy and joy were contagious. i had watched the crowd assemble, and now watched and listened as 7,000 or more voices filled the air with praise - AMAZING!

Josh Mc Dowell shared the message, his story of coming to Christ. his was a story of overcoming pain, despair, and intense bitterness and the hope and love he discovered in the truth of Jesus. when he invited people to come forward to make a decision for Christ, hundreds streamed down the aisles. God had touched the hearts of people and they wanted to respond. 

soon people would share: refreshments, love, the buzz of this historic event, a t-shirt, cd or a book. soon the clean-up would begin and soon it would be quiet. there was a stillness as if in the presence of the True and Living God - the One who does exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we could ask or think.

as i began to walk home there was a time to reflect. hours before the cross, Jesus had prayed for unity of his church - a prime concern, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" [John 17:20-21]. Undoubtedly, this is Jesus' desire, to see His church in unity as a declaration to the world of the truth that Jesus is alive.

certainly, in His wisdom, He has established countless varieties of local churches for no one local church could satisfy the tastes of all His people. Yet, when we come together as we had just done, we can see why the psalmist was moved to declare, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity" [Ps.133:1].

In Kid's Ministry we've been going through the book The Calvary Road and this week's chapter "the highway of holiness" (sounds pretentious, i know, but it's quite the opposite) really truly and spiritually collided with some other thoughts on my brain about the Lord.  God has had the phrase "the bride of Christ" on my mind like a hot dog over a campfire--slowly turning and cooking and now, with seasoning of fresh ideas, it's ready to eat and share.

The chapter was speaking of how after we have been broken before Christ, we are able to walk on His path and be continually refilled by His Spirit and it simply gave me hope.  For a while I've been discouraged thinking of how broken I need to be and how much being broken hurts--hurts my pride, my expectations--I forget the benefits of it.  First of all, I forget how much God makes me grow when I submit to Him, and how much I rejoice to grow and be closer to Him.  Secondly, I forget that being broken is NOT the end of the road.

Here is where the bride of Christ comes in.  We have to be broken to walk with Him, but He was first broken to walk with us.  Jesus' death and resurrection was  His marriage proposal to His church--he bought the ring with His blood to seal us and returned even from death to give us Hope in His life, that we may be married to such a bridegroom!

Jesus is like a man who, after proposing, patiently and persistently waits for his bride to answer "yes".  He approaches her door--our individual hearts--everyday with flowers and chocolates--gifts and examples of His beautiful creation hoping for the yes.  He never tires and never stops lovng her through all the rejection.  So we are the bride; when we finally realize Jesus is the only one for us we cry and get on our knees and ask for forgiveness for all those selfish, prideful days we sent Him away.

However, we also rejoice that we are finally with our true love.  Let us not forget that though brokenness is necessary, it is not the end of the road.  He didn't forgive us that we would be perpetually broken, but that he would make us whole (not fogetting humility).  This is where life begins. The hero picks up his broken princess and carries her towards his safe warm castle--away from the roaring lion and poisoning snake.  Be hopeful in walking with Him and not despair in your guilty fall. 

God has proposed and we have accepted. Now we get to enjoy the engagement, ever looking on in hopeful anticipation of the glorious wedding and then eternal life with our bridegroom.  Praise God, He is so romantic!

If you have served in ministry for any length of time you have probably noticed that it's a different experience then your job, or anything of the like. Working in a spiritual context should be different. we tend to have a different perspective on what we are doing and why we are doing it. for example, people will work a "job" for years and hate what they do. yet they need to in order to pay bills etc. ministry on the other hand places much importance upon the person to discover whether they are called to be their or not. what i mean by "called" is that God has spoken to you, through scripture, people, vision, or something of the like and has told you of where you ought to be in ministry.

In ephesians 4, paul encourages the church of ephesus to walk in their calling. To continue to fulfill what God has placed upon their hearts to do. We don't want people to do, and be in a ministry that God has not called them to be in. a question you might ask is: "am i called to one specific area of ministry my whole life?" i would say not always. Their are certain times and seasons in our lives where God wants us to do and be somewhere for His purpose. This could be a time of testing, breaking, learning, and maturing for us.

One way of knowing what you are called to do is what you are passionate about! What gets you excited? or, on the flip side, what breaks your heart? has God put something or a group of people in your life that you desperately and passionately want to see God reach and save them? God does not call us to something that we are not going to be passionate about, He can find someone else to do it. Rather He will break our hearts, or build a passion in us to see the need and have the desire to be a part of spreading the gospel.

This is what happened to nehemiah. nehemiah's job was the kings cup-bearer. Which meant that he would live in the kingdom with the king, that he would have access to the king on a regular basis and that nehemiah lived a very comfortable, care free life. In chapter one, nehemiah hears of the wall which surrounded Jerusalem had been torn down by an opposing nation. And the city is in ruins. Upon hearing the news of the wall, nehemiah is destroyed by it. He immediately begins fasting, mourning, and praying for three months. The shocking news in all of this is that the wall had been torn down for almost 141 years! After three months of prayer and fasting, nehemiah goes before the pagan king and asks him for help. Nehemiah tells the king that he will need people, material, and time off to go re-build the wall that surrounded Jerusalem so that God's people could once again meet and worship their God.

In God's providential care He puts it on the heart of the king to say yes, and nehemiah begins his trek to go and build this wall. The big point in all of this is that at this time it was common knowledge that the wall had been torn down for so long and that it wasn't as big of a deal as it used to be. Furthermore nehemiah had a great cushy job in the palace in which he never had to worry about much of anything. Yet God had called nehemiah to re-build this wall, so in doing this God gave nehemiah the heart and passion for building the wall. As God did this it completely rocked nehemiah's life. He became consumed with re-building this wall and making sure that God's people could worship again. That's what i am talking about in the discussion of "are you called?"

I would encourage each of you in the weeks and months to come to go before God and talk to Him about your calling. In doing so ask the questions of "what am i called to do?" "am i where i am supposed to be right now?" God may already have you in the right spot for this time and that is awesome, yet for some of you God maybe moving in you to do something else or be somewhere else. Ministry is a lot better and we are much more effective when we are walking in our callings. Jesus doesn't hide are callings from us, yet He does want to break us and have us search Him out for that calling and seek the answer.

I wanted to take a quick moment to let you know how excited we are about our new Missions direction at CC Camarillo.  Pastor Bruce and I met with Pastor Juan Domingo in Ensenada in April (truly a divine appointment!) and he shared his vision for planting churches in the Baja Peninsula.

Pastor Juan is building a Calvary Chapel Bible College and is in the process of training up pastors to send out.  He has already planted at least one of those pastors in a Calvary Chapel in Baja.

CC Ensenada is also building an orphanage for special needs children.  Both the Bible College and orphanage are on a 25 acre parcel of land that the ministry has purchased.

We have been praying and seeking God's direction for some time in regard to focusing our missions vision on a particular region of the world.  We truly feel that CC Ensenada and Pastor Juan's vision are where the Lord would have us focus at this time.

Please be in prayer with us for CC Ensenada, its Bible College and Pastor Juan's vision.

Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Have you ever just been tired of doing ministry? Do you ever just feel like no one is listening; no one is growing? Have you ever felt like what you are doing just doesn't even matter? 

I have. Lately I have just been so exhausted by ministry. I have felt like no matter what I do or say, no one is going to listen. No matter how much I pray or how much time i put into studying, it won't make a difference. I have felt useless.  I have felt like it doesn't matter how hard I try or how "spiritual" I am, no high schoolers are going to come to Christ. 

Through reading the book of Ecclesiastes, God reminded me of His work. It tells of a farmer and in verse 4 it says that if this farmer looks at the clouds and wind, he won't sow. If he is looking and waiting for "good weather" all the time, he will never plant! AND if he never plants, nothing will EVER grow. Crazy isn't it, to think if you don't plan anything then you can't grow anthing. DUH. 

Anyways, he goes on to say that all the farmer should do is plant and go about the rest of his business. This hit home with me. All i have to do is plant. All my responsibility entails is to just preach the word. Just to sow the seed of God's love. I shouldn't just wait til "better weather" where more people will respond. I need to plant in season and out.

It is never my responsibility to make something grow. I can't. The moment we begin to think that it is our responsibility to make people grow or make people accept Jesus, we fail at ministry. How can we take on the responsibility that is God's? We can't. God clearly says sow your seed. In verse 5 it says that we don't understand the wind or how a baby grows and therefore we also do not understand how God works. 

I don't know how God does it. But somehow, in His Almighty Greatness, He works. And all I have to do is plant the seed. How relieving! I can still give Him my best and seek to reach these kids. I think i should and I have a burden to. But I can never try to take on the role of the Holy Spirit. I can never try to take on God's role and try to change people by myself. That's God's role.

I think ministry would be a lot easier if i stuck to my role and I let God stick to His. So right now, instead of being discouraged, I can be encouraged. I can understand that I shouldn't look to see if it's a good time to plant the seed or if I should wait til a better time. I should plant now. I should sow my seed knowing full well that some of it will prosper and some will not. I never want to wonder what would have happened if I HAD planted. I need to plant. Let's all do some farming.

the culture that we live in today holds it self in a vary high standard. we love to seek self glory, satisfaction and self esteem. our brains are daily being polluted and intoxicated with the notions that humans are born inherently good and that we as people have a lot to offer in and of ourselves. it's always going to be a hard pill to swallow for us to admit that we are not as "good" as we have dreamt ourselves as being.

i love taking time to check myself, and evaluate how i am doing in my christian walk. more often then not by the end of my diagnosis i come to the conclusion that i'm doing pretty good, and am ahead of the game. i look at others in my life and examine how they are doing and often come up with a completely different diagnosis. there are times when i perceive i have the gift to see other peoples sin in them far better than i see it in myself. it's as clear as day for me to see failures and short comings in their lives.
what happens during this process is that i begin to notice others faults and failures compared to my own goodness, and elevate myself above them. in essence, what i have done is prove to myself that i am doing great as a christian and that there are others who have a lot of work to do. this is a perfect example of an oxymoron. namely, making me the moron.

we as a people do this day after day. it becomes a sub-conscience action for us to compare ourselves to others in order to boost our own moral and goodness. in our innermost beings we long to be acknowledged and to be seen and held in high regard. however, a problem arises because often we haven't figured out where we can go to fill the hole in us that craves, and longs for this acknowledgement. if we find ourselves in a low point in our day, it's easy to compare ourselves to somebody else in hopes that it will make us feel better and more appreciated or esteemed. 

although it can be rather easy and normal for us to do this with other humans, it's a different story when an all-holy, perfect God comes into the picture. it's not until we begin to have a solid biblical view of God that our eyes are opened and we can focus on who we really are. in doing this most of us become shocked at the reality we are not as "good" as we once perceived ourselves as being. i believe it would be highly beneficial for us to search out what scripture has to say about God and His characteristics and then for us to take a look in the mirror. not only is it beneficial to seek the scriptures to see where we land in comparison to God, but ask someone else that you respect to show areas of growth.

one question to ask is "who is God compared to who i am?" scripture speaks loudly about the characteristics of God in great detail, yet i will share one of His characteristics that stands out to me.

forgiveness.

God, who is all holy and without sin required a penalty and judgement for the sin of humanity in order to forgive us and allow us to enter in relationship with Him. it was Jesus who bore our sin that day on calvary. in one climactic, cataclysmic moment, all the sin of rapists, murders, child abusers, pedophiles, jay walkers, drug dealers, were put upon His shoulders. scripture tell us that it pleased God to have this done to His son so that we would be able to enter live in eternity with Him. (cf. isa. 53:10)

would any one of us be able to forgive like that? not only did He forgive us the one time on the cross, yet He forgives us everyday for the thousands of sins that we are constantly doing, whether that be in action, word, or thought. that's a type of forgiveness that only by the grace of God i'm growing into and will not be able to attain this side of eternity.

that is simply one God characteristic. take some time in the weeks to come to search out other ones, and you will be shocked and humbled, like i have been, to see how great our God is, and how wicked and perverse we are. yet at the end of the day, for those who are in Christ, God sees you as perfect because of the blood of Christ, and He perfectly loves you as His child.

There is a trend in our culture to idolize youth while seeing the more “aged” as out of style, too stiff, and as old news.  There is another trend which views young people as immature, inexperienced, and naive while older people are seen as having it all together.  Both views, like all stereotypes, although having aspects of truth, tend to be generalized and unfair in their assessments.  Like many other aspects of culture, some of these stereotypes have found their way into the church.  It is my intent to explore some of these attitudes, explain why they are incorrect, and suggest a biblical model for the young and old to work together.

There is a new movement within Christianity branded the “emerging” or “emergent” church.  Theologically, this movement is all over the map from conservative reformed theology to extreme liberal theology.  However, one thing that many of these churches and other “hip” churches have in common is that they tend to have a very young demographic (18-35) as the majority.  Additionally, their pastors and leadership tend to be in this same demographic as well.  I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with young leadership and churches, believe me.  The problem is the underlying attitude of some of these younger congregations.  Many of them have grown bitter towards older people saying that the older people just don’t get it.  They refuse to listen to the older leaders and leave to start new churches where no one will tell them what to do.  That is a recipe for disaster.  It is a serious problem for young people to write off everything an older generation would offer them.  It is not bad to want to seek the new that God is doing today, but this should not be done while completely ignoring some of the voices of wisdom God may provide.¹

In contrast, some more established churches can tend to look very much down on young people.  They are seen as immature and inexperienced.  As earlier mentioned, this is not completely invalid as those who are younger chronologically can also be spiritually immature.  However, this attitude can also be very prideful and unbiblical.  There is nothing in Scripture that would suggest that younger people cannot be in ministry and positions of leadership.  In the Old Testament priests would not enter the ministry until they were 30 years old.²  However, this was only for the Old Testament office of priest and nowhere in the New Testament is there a required age for ministry.  Many young people who feel called to ministry have felt frustrated when they are told no because of their age.  Their ideas are rejected and they are told to grow up first.  There are even expectations in some churches where certain men won’t even be considered for pastoral roles until they have reached a certain age.  This may be why some of these attitudes that are driving away so many young people from these churches in the first place.³

Between these two attitudes, there has to be a happy medium.  One of my favorite books is On Being a Servant of God by Warren Wiersbe.  Wiersbe explores this conflict of ideas and methodology in ministry.  He encourages older pastors, “When it comes to the younger leaders God is raising up in the church, and the new things He’s doing, we senior saints have a tendency to react instead of respond, to talk instead of listen, and to build walls instead of bridges.”⁴  He goes on to explain that the “senior saints” can make two great errors in passing the torch to the next generation.  The first is what he describes as “hovering and meddling”.  This is having too much control and not creating enough freedom.  The second error Wiersbe describes is “...imitating Pontius Pilate and washing our hands of everything, thereby abandoning our years of experience instead of investing them when they are needed.”⁵  Between these two extremes is where Wiersbe suggests older people should be.  Then Wiersbe goes on to exhort the young people.  He gives a short list that he wishes someone had given him 50 years ago. Wiersbe paints a beautiful picture of what it can look like when young and old people work together:

1. Never take down a fence until you know why it was put up.
2. If you get too far ahead of the army, your soldiers may mistake you for the enemy.
3. Don’t complain about the bottom rungs of the ladder; they helped you get higher.
4. If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm.⁶

One of my favorite characters in the Bible lately has been the apostle Peter.  I feel I can relate to him in so many ways.  He also strongly believed that young and old people need to work together.  In one of his most powerful sermons he ever preached he quoted the book of Joel, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh... Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.”⁷  Peter suggested that when the Spirit of God moves, He does so in young and old men as they work together to bring God glory.  Towards the end of his life he encouraged the older pastors to “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly...”⁸  He went on to say, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.  Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility...”⁹  Peter says that the young and old need to be working together in humility.  Additionally, the apostle Paul encouraged the older woman to mentor the younger woman in godliness and for the young and old men alike to be sober-minded and reverent.¹⁰  What is missing in the church today is the old and the young working together.  The world we live in needs the young man’s visions just as much as it needs the old man’s dreams.

In the church I attend, Calvary Chapel Camarillo, I see this being lived out.  This is not to say that the young and the old don’t butt heads a little and have disagreements, but both groups are genuinely seeking to learn from each other, be examples to each other, and work together for the glory of God.  I find myself in the younger crowd.  The church hired me as an intern at the age of 17 and had me overseeing the worship and junior high ministry at the age of 19.  Most people think our pastors must be crazy when I tell them that.  They probably are in some senses, but God is a God who can use the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.¹¹  I am completely shocked that God would choose me when I am so young and inexperienced, yet for some reason He has.  The pastors at this church have poured in to me, teaching and training me for ministry and every day life.  But at the same time, they are so humble that they would also stop to hear the visions God has put on my heart for the next generation.  The apostle Paul encouraged the young pastor Timothy, “let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”¹²  It is my prayer that we would see in the Church as a whole the end of division between the young and the old.  It is my prayer that “senior saints” would invest in the younger people.  It is my prayer that the younger people would be reverent and submit to the leaders God has put over them.  It is my prayer that the old and the young would begin to work together because it is only at that point that I believe the Spirit of God can begin to move in reaching all generations for God’s glory.

¹ Stetzer, Ed. "First Person: Understanding the Emerging Church." 19 May 2009 <http://www.crosswalk.com/1372534/>.

² Numbers 4:3

³ Comer, Perry. "Finding the perfect pastor." Biblical Recorder. 19 May 2009 <http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/post/Finding-the-perfect-pastor.aspx>.

⁴ Wiersbe, Warren W. On being a servant of God. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1999, 83.

⁵ Wiersbe, 85.

⁶ Wiersbe, 87.

⁷ Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28

⁸ 1 Peter 5:2

⁹ 1 Peter 5:5

¹⁰ Titus 2:1-8

¹¹ 1 Corinthians 1:27

¹² 1 Timothy 4:12

last week while i was praying during the national day of prayer, God reminded me of something so simple, yet so profound.

i’ve been a follower of Jesus for 30 years now. for the past three decades, i’ve studied the bible, been involved in small groups, served as a volunteer in various areas, and now i’m in full-time ministry as a pastor.

i’ve learned a lot over the years. hopefully, i’ve grown some. a lot of things in my life have changed.

but God reminded me of one thing that hasn’t changed- I AM JUST AS MUCH OF A SINNER IN NEED OF A SAVIOR TODAY AS I WAS THE DAY I FIRST PUT MY FAITH IN JESUS.

you see, after being a Christian for so long now, i realize i expect a lot more of myself nowadays: i shouldn’t be struggling with this sin any more, i shouldn’t be fighting that temptation any more, i ought not be feeling that way any more- in other words, i should be close to perfect by now! and, i beat myself up because i’m not living up to my own expectations.

on the other hand, occasionally i find myself feeling proud of how well i’m doing, how far i’ve come, how much i’ve learned and grown. oh, that’s nice- spiritual pride. what a hypocrite!

granted, i’m in the process of “sanctification” (being made more holy - more set apart for God). nevertheless, no matter how much i learn, how much i grow, how far i've come from where i used to be, i will never arrive, i’ll never be done growing, i’ll never be perfect- i’ll always need the mercy of God in my life for forgiveness, cleansing, renewing, and new life. just as much now as before, and just as much in the future as now.

because it’s not about how “good” i am. it’s also not about how good i’m NOT. it’s all about Jesus, and how good HE is.

i needed Him 30 years ago when i was lost in my sin and didn’t know what to do about it and i had no hope. i still need Him today, just as much, even though now when i sin i do know what to do about it, and i do have hope.  i need to stop trying to be good enough. i also need to stop being proud about how good i sometimes think i am.

in some ways, i have changed. but the fact remains i’m still a broken, sinful, lost guy who needs a Savior. every day. and that will never change.

when my dad passed away, my older bro, Seth, and I helped my mom go through my dad's things. one of the adventures was going through the top dresser drawer. that was the place where our dad stored all sorts of memories and memorabilia. there were pictures and cards that captured memories from many years before - birthdays, Father's days and family vacations remembered. there was a little box with foreign money - bills and coins. as a small boy i used to look at the currency and marvel at the many colors, images, and foreign words. it seemed so mysterious and marvelous ... a wonderful world to imagine but could not be truly appreciated by a little boy.

by the time my dad had passed, i was no longer a little boy but a man. one of the joys and blessings of maturity is perspective - the ability to see things that you did not see before, and to appreciate their significance. my family had never had much money growing up. so i began to appreciate that no one in my family had ever gone on a european (or any other foreign) vacation. the foreign currency was not merely a souvenir from a foreign journey but was tangible evidence that my dad had survived a war. the foreign coins and bills were full of significant meaning to my dad and had been left as a memorial ... for my brother and i to see, contemplate, and discover. it took many years to appreciate the significance of that treasure, essentially worthless currency but highly treasured value in a way mere currency could not measure.

in a similar way, i remember the first time that i partook of communion. it was a good friday service and we were outdoors sitting on the full green grass of spring. although the story of the cross was shared, i'm not sure i really appreciated the meaning. the little matzoh cracker, a fragment about the size of a fingernail, and mini plastic cup of juice were received by me, and i remember thinking sarcastically, "with portions this size no wonder he fed 5,000 with a few loaves and fish ..."

through the years, God graciously has allowed me to grow and mature in Him, to discover and appreciate. today, i have a deeper appreciation for the significance of communion and what  the bread and the cup mean. along the journey i've begun to realize that God loves me and wants to have a relationship with me and that my sin separates me from God. Jesus gave His life so that i could have an intimate experience with God through Him. now, when i take communion, i try to remember what Jesus has done for me and see the greater meaning of the communion elements [bread/juice]. like the foreign currency, i ask, "what do these things mean?"

There are many people who are Christians who seem think that it doesn't matter whether you date a Christian or not. Some Christians i know even think that if you're in love, it doesn't matter if you marry a Christian or non Christian but that what matters is love.

This breaks my heart! The Bible is very clear about marriage. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says "do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" If we are claiming to be walking in the light, how can we commit to being with someone who is still in darkness?

I came up with 3 solid reasons to set your standards high and only date and marry someone who has a serious walk with God. When I say serious, I mean someone who is in the word, someone who is seeking to find God's calling in their life, and someone who can bring you closer to God. Not a perfect person, but someone who really has a relationship with God. 

The first reason is passion. I don't know about you, but in my life, the most important thing is Jesus. And if we are claiming to be Christians, this is the way it should be. God SHOULD be the center of our lives. Claiming to be a Christian means clinging to Christ. This means dying to self! Christ is my passion. So if someone comes along who doesn't have that passion, why would I want to be with them? I won't be able to share the most important thing in my life with them. It would be like me having to hide the largest part of my life from the person I love the most. Can you imagine? When Christ does something in your life and grows you, you can't share it. You have to hide it. 

The second reason is growth. There is something amazing that happens when two people are striving to serve God together. They grow each other. They challenge each other. Prov. 27:17 says "as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another." As one grows, the other can benefit and vice verse. When one is weak, the other can be strong. Now imagine with me two people in a canoe. Both have row sticks. One is rowing feverishly and the other is not doing anything. The boat will go in circles. This is much like a marriage with one christian and one nonchristian. One is pursuing so hard and pushing to grow, and the other is doing nothing. The one rowing may get tired and even give up because they feel like no one is helping them. This is not to say that a marriage with a non christian is impossible, however, being with someone who can help you rather than hinder you in your walk with God is a blessing. I want to be with someone who is going to fight the good fight with me and help me become more Christ like rather than pulling me away from Christ. 

The third reason is values. As a Christian, I value many things. I value honestly. I value respect. I value morals. I value faithfulness. I value abstinence until marriage. I value humility. I value love. I value patience. To a person who does not know Christ, some of these values can seem CRAZY. This does not only come out in the dating aspect of the relationship by having different boundaries or expectations, but this also comes out when raising children. What happens when one parent tells the child that they should not lie but the other parent says its ok? What happens when one parent tells the child to wait to have sex until marriage but the other parent says do whatever feels good? These values clash! Clearly, people value different things and no two people are going to have the exact same values. But with a Christian who is on the same level as you, you have scripture to be your standard. 

These three reasons convince me to have my standards high. And on top of these three reasons, is one other thing: a blessing. What a blessing it is to be able to share Christ with the one you love! What a blessing it is to be able to grow each other and push each other to be more like Christ and be held accountable. What a blessing it is to have the same morals and values and be able to stand upon scripture! 

I'm not claiming to have it all together. I have never been married and I'm only in a dating relationship. However, I do trust that if I set my standards high and follow what God has set out for me, then he will bless me. The blessings of a godly marriage are endless.

Do you like good stories? I've noticed that we love good stories like Lord of the Rings and Slum Dog Millionaire ...epic struggles between good and evil [often within the same person]. Stories of love found and love lost, tragedy and triumph, despair and hope. Have you ever wondered whether the reason that we love good stories is because God designed us that way? What if the Bible is exactly what it claims it to be: God's story, His epic love story to give you hope ... What if you could know that it was true - would it change your life?  

The story of the Resurrection, the message of Easter Sunday, provides the answer to those questions (and more). As we consider the evidence, we discover that Jesus loves, Jesus is truth, and that Jesus lives. Let's consider the evidence together so that we can discover answers and a living hope!!

May we learn the truth that Jesus is alive and how that reality provides meaning for life ~

humans have the tendency in life to think that if we do something for somebody that they owe us something in return. we do this all the time in relationships. even though this motive is extremely selfish. 

there are times when we know that if we get a gift for our friend or significant other that they will most likely get us a gift in return. so we don't actually give the gift out of love or kindness, we are looking for something back. the gift is simply a means to get something from the other person. which ends up not making it that much of a gift at all. 

we do this with our relationships with God quite often. we feel if we do something for God, say come to church early and even stay late that God should bless us. what we fail to realize and understand is that God doesn't owe you and i anything! 

here is how it plays out sometimes. after we have done good for God and have tried to serve Him and please Him etc. we believe that we ought to feel His presence more, or have him bless us because of what we did for Him. which He ends up doing anyways. yet that's not how it is supposed to work in God's kingdom. the reason we have these types of motives and behaviors is because we don't fully understand how much God has already given us. 

here are just a few gifts that God has given to you and i.

1. Himself: God has given us Himself, so that we can be in relationship with Him through Jesus and that we have access to God 24/7 in prayer and worship. just for the record, He is the greatest gift any one of us could ever receive. 

2. Jesus: while we were still sinners separated from God, He sent Jesus His one and only Son to pay the penalty for our sin. This included a brutal beating at the hands of roman soldiers, the betrayal and abandonment of His closest friends, suffering and dying upon a cross, and worst of all the separation between Him and God while He was made sin on your behalf. 

3. Holy Spirit: Jesus said that although He was leaving the earth, that He would send another like him. one that would be a helper to us. Scripture teaches us how important the Holy Spirit is to us, and how much of a role He plays in our lives. 

4. eternal life: Jesus has been preparing a place for us in Heaven to be with Him and God forever. [cf. john 14:1-2] also heaven is a place where there will be no more tears, pain, sickness, or death. heaven will be illuminated by God's glory and He will dwell with us forever and ever. 

you see these are just a couple of gifts that God has so graciously given us. it's not that we deserve them or that we worked hard for them and this is what we are due. we don't deserve any of this. we deserve hell and condemnation. yet Jesus has given us grace and forgiveness. 

it should be our Joy in light of all that God has done for us that we would respond in love for Him and die to ourselves and serve Him and live for Him. not looking for anything in return but knowing that He has already given us so much! 

Hi All,

The children's ministry is so appreciative of everyone who helped out with our fundraisers. Toppers was so much fun and we raised over $300. Thank you to everyone who donated items for the March garage sale. Special thanks goes out to Elaine Schubert, Nathan Arredondo, and Matt & Sandy Hughes who helped us sell the items during the day. Because of all our hard work, we raised $800. We are truly blessed to have raised over $1,100 towards Jr.Camp 2009 in August. Our next fundraiser will be Sunday May 3rd. We will be having a bake sale immediatley following each service and raffling off some fun prizes. Thanks again to everyone! We couldn't have done it without you.

the community center and the bridge to the community
One of the great needs in our community is a place where parents can provide a caring and safe environment for their kids before and after school. There are single parent homes and homes where both parents work and in both types there is a need for someone to help care for kids, especially junior high and younger. Our community has a couple of good places that are trying to provide that service but something is missing.

What we need is a place where parents can send their kids before and after school where they will learn about Jesus, get help with homework, play sports and games, have music and performing arts lesson, etc.? Our community needs that type of community center to be a bridge between the church and the community.

I listed “learn about Jesus” first because that is not only the priority it is essentially the main issue. More than 70% of all the people who invite Jesus into their heart do so before the age of 14. Therefore, we want to help the children come to Jesus. Also, children are often extremely influential in helping parents come to know God. Accordingly the main, but often missing, ingredient is to insure that kids are learning about Jesus from people who love Jesus.

About 4-5 years ago we opened a brand new church building in Camarillo. It was [and is] beautiful. The idea of 100s of kids running around and “damaging” the building concerned some folks, but we were reminded about the words of Jesus, “let the children come to Me.” So we began our relationship with Pacific Camps to provide a place for kids to be loved, cared for and to learn about Jesus before and after school. The relationship has been a blessing but we’re outgrowing our current facility.  So what to do to help the children know Jesus?

For the last 8-9 months we have been fervently searching for an additional building for a satellite church campus and community center. Unfortunately, the government will not fund such a center primarily because we will be teaching the kids about Jesus.  On the other hand, or fortunately, the government will allow such a center and does encourage it through the tax code’s beneficial treatment of charitable contributions. Thus the responsibility and the opportunity, rests firmly upon the shoulders of God’s people – exactly where it should be.

We recently found a facility that we believe that God is leading us to occupy. This is very exciting but undoubtedly will prompt questions. So I’ll try to anticipate what I assume will be the FAQs as follows:

1. Why do we need another facility?

Phase I [2004] consists of fourteen thousand square feet. The sanctuary seats 520, and includes six classrooms and a pre-kindergarten space. Phase II [2006] is an additional seven thousand five hundred square feet. Phase II includes four additional classrooms, a fellowship hall, and nursery. The two-floor structures are connected by a covered deck, and below the deck is a courtyard and fountain area. The 2 phases total about 22,000 square feet.

Functional capacity of the facility is estimated at 1,100-1,150 adults. Capacity is based on three Sunday morning and one evening service. Current growth models contemplate reaching capacity by the end of 2010.

2. What’s the satellite campus/community center going to be?

The satellite campus will be about 22,000 square feet including a sanctuary/gym, arts and craft room, performing arts center, homework/computer room, and game room/youth room to impact the community for Jesus. The facility will be used primarily as a community center during the week and as a church on the weekend.

3. Should the church be undertaking such an obligation in light of the economic times?

We are seeking to be sober and wise stewards re the resources of our church community. There is an advisory board that is comprised of experts in business, real estate, finance and economics that call CC Camarillo their church home. They are godly people who advise the Church Board of Directors, and have been researching, analyzing and assessing the relevant issues for more than a year. We hope to continue to effectively minister to the needs of our community and to expand our influence to be able to serve the community for many years to come. It is their collective counsel that the proposed plan is prudent, wise, and of God.

4. Why is the church leasing instead of buying?

The 5-yr. lease plan provides greater flexibility, requires less capital, and provides options for us to use the facility for 20 years. In our proposed location the cost of improvements to the structure for our use are relatively contained. Thus, the lease makes economic sense for this facility.

5. Will pastor bruce be teaching at both facilities?

We plan on offering 2 Sunday morning services at both campuses at approximately 9 and 11. I’ll be teaching at both sites for the foreseeable future and we will gradually offer other teachers at both.     

6. Will Pacific Camps be involved at both sites?

Yes, praise God! We thank God for our relationship with the Camps and look forward to continuing to work together to reach our community. We want to avail ourselves of their expertise, staff, and other resources to maximize our effectiveness in reaching the community for Jesus. We’ll be working to figure out exactly what new programs can be offered through the new site. Typically, the camp will offer programs before and after school until about 6:00 pm.

7. What types of programs will the church offer when the camp is not using the facility [i.e. after 6:00 on weeknights and on weekends]?

We’re not sure. We’re exploring the needs of the community and welcome your input to develop flexible plans to meet the needs today and tomorrow.

8. When will the new campus be available?

Lord willing before the end of the year.

“let the children come to Jesus”

Ever wonder, “How can I help young people come to Jesus?” Perhaps you want to help, but don’t know where to begin or what to do. Maybe, you’ve never thought about it but perhaps we should …

When parents approached Jesus with their little children the disciples opposed them. The parents were seeking God’s blessing upon their children but the disciples saw it as a waste of Jesus’ time. Essentially, they thought that Jesus had more important things to do than to care about kids. Children in that culture, like in our culture, were generally not considered to be very important or influential [Mark 10:13-16].

Jesus was very upset and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Jesus urged the disciples and the parents not to create obstacles and to take action to remove obstacles. We are to tell the next generation about our wonderful God [Psalm 78:4]. So what should we do?

1. parent’s should demonstrate a real relationship with God. Your kids don’t need to see you’re perfect but they do need to see your faith is real.

2. family devotion time: create a time that works in your family’s schedule – maybe at breakfast or dinner. Turn off the electronics and talk. Spend some time talking together about the things of God. There are plenty of books available that are designed to help parents lead [I’ve written 2 that are available at our bookstore]. Make the family time with God a priority.

3. volunteer in a local church’s children’s ministry: the local church is to come alongside and help parents to raise their kids in the things of God. A great way to do this is for people to get involved helping as teachers in the children’s ministry. There seems to always be opportunities to show the love of Jesus to kids in the classrooms. Whether you’re a teacher, a helper who simply loves kids, a worship leader, or you own a glue gun and your not afraid to use it … there’s a need for you.

4. the community center: it would be great if there was a place where parents could send their kids before and after school where they could learn about Jesus, get help with homework, play sports and games, have music and performing arts lesson, etc. Our community needs that type of community center to be a bridge between the church and the community. More news to come …

When i was in high school, which was not too long ago, my youth leader came to a group of student leaders and asked us to come up with a name for our group. The previous name had been Virtuous reality. While it was creative, it didn't seem to fit our group. After much deliberation, the name haven was suggested. We all agreed. Haven means a safe place, refuge or harbor and it comes from Psalm 107:30. We decided on this name because we wanted our youth group to be a safe place where anyone could come and feel comfortable, welcomed and loved. 

Unfortunately, we failed at making Haven the place it was supposed to be. I remember one time, when i was a freshmen, there was a huge sleepover at one of the girls houses. All of my friends were invited. Basically, every girl in youth group was going. Except for me. I was the "uninvited" one. I was heartbroken. I cried. I got upset. And i hated seeing everyone after youth group taking their sleeping bags and car pooling over to this girls house. The girl explained that her mom said she couldn't invited anyone else and that she didn't mean to exclude me. That didn't help me. I still felt alone. Thankfully, me and that girl are now great friends and i have completely forgiven her. But at the time, i was so upset. 

 I made many people feel the same way as i grew older. I loved to plan things and i excluded people, sometimes selfishly, sometimes forgetfully. I would blow it off saying "well, i can't invite everyone!" Which is true. Sometimes i would try my best to include people and even then, i would forget someone or wouldn't have someones number to invite them. People's feelings would get hurt. That seems to be inevitable. the important thing was that i needed to make an effort to invite and welcome people.

Jesus seems to be the greatest example of this. As GOD, it would seem that he might want to hang out with those who were high up in the social status. He didn't. He hung out with losers and sinners. He hung out with the lowest of the low. We should have the same mind as Him. Not to say that there are people in youth group or church who are losers, but we are all sinners. Sometimes a simple hello or an invite to a group dinner is all someone needs to feel the love of Christ.

So why not make Calvary Chapel the haven that it is supposed to be? Why not take a break from sitting with the same group of friends and sit with someone you don't even know? Why not try to destroy the "clicks" and just be in one large group of friends? Why not stop gossip and mean jokes about people who aren't "like" you? Why not go out of your way to talk to someone who seems to know no one? Why not try to include new or less outgoing folks into the community of our church? Why not be like Jesus?

the expression “cut it out” is seemingly harmless [especially without any exclamation point] but context is king. When you tickle someone and they say, “cut it out” the tickling generally is guaranteed not to stop immediately. Similarly, when you're singing that annoying song and someone urges you to, “cut it out” chances are you’ll keep pushing their buttons. However, when the oncologist discusses your cancer and says, “We have to cut it out” the words are soberly received, pondered, and considered. What needs to be cut out? When? Will it hurt and will I live?

When life and death are added to the equation, “cut it out” is no longer a harmless little phrase. When it’s a renowned physician rather than “just a friend” we tend to listen … to hear the words, allow them to sink in, and impact our life.

Jesus talked about the need to “cut it out.” On His way to Jerusalem [Mark 9:41-50] he urged people like you and me to soberly examine our lives to see if there was any “spiritual cancer” that threatened us. He urged: if your hands, feet, or eyes offend you then cut it out. Hands represent our actions, feet our walk or general lifestyle, and eyes our desires. Obviously, Jesus used the concept as a metaphor He wasn’t suggesting that we literally cut off body parts, because that won’t solve the problem.

Now the idea of stopping my habits or ending a relationship that I know is contrary to God sounds painful, because it is. Jesus wants us to be radically in love with Him, because He is passionately in love with us. He wants to spend eternity hanging out with us in heaven – a place with no more pain, heartache, disappointment, etc.

Jesus encourages us about the benefits of life – zoe ­– spiritual, abundant, and eternal life with God as contrasted with bios – mere physical life. He also warns of the dangers of failing to “cut it out” … life threatening cancer. When Jesus warns about hell He speaks of eternal conscious torment flowing from separation from God. It’s serious and real … like news about cancer. Jesus is the Great Physician who not only gives the diagnosis but He offers the cure.

He prescribes a treatment plan of growing in your relationship with Him. We simply need intimacy and passion for Jesus: learning of Him by prayer, reading your Bible, and spending time to reflect. When we do that, we see Him more clearly as well as the cancer in our lives. We discover the danger of sin … how it threatens to ruin our lives today and for eternity. We learn we can trust Him and His love for us. We come to the place of yielding to the real Jesus and ask Him to “cut it out.”

The problem for most of us is our unwillingness to receive the news that there is something wrong in our lives that needs to be cut out. When confronted by the Word of God, family, friends and others that there are problems, issues, or areas where we need get right [especially with God] we often seek “a second opinion” to justify or excuse the behavior or attitude. In essence, we don’t want to deal with it because we don’t realize the danger and we don’t recognize the voice of Jesus speaking to us through all those sources … “cut it out.”

The Christian faith is full of paradoxes.  A paradox is a truth that is seemingly composed of contradictory statements which are in fact complementary.  Paradoxes are found by looking at something in a different light.  For example, haven’t you heard someone say before “it’s such a small world!” when they meet you in the supermarket and find out you both got your alligators from the same alligator breeder.  It’s funny how you can be so connected with someone you have never met.  So people will say it’s a small world.  It’s true.  But at the same time the world is really not small at all!  It is estimated that there are 6.75 billion people on planet earth!  

Often times, the failure to realize such paradoxes in Christianity leads to division, heresy, and even blasphemy.  For example, let us look at two attributes of God: Grace and Justice.  The two balance each other out.  God is a God of justice, so there must be punishment for sins.  However, He is also a God of grace so that He sends His one and only son Jesus to take the penalty for our sins.  Many people in history have taken this to great extremes by stressing one of these truths while ignoring the other.  If God is only a God of grace then He would never punish anyone and everyone would go to heaven.  This is  the heresy of universalism: that all people are saved no matter what.  This was a doctrine that found great momentum in the first five or six century’s of Christianity, which was greatly opposed by a few of our great church Fathers: Augustine and Tertullian.  To swing to the other extreme is to ignore the grace of God and to only stress His justice.  This leads to legalism: thinking that we can justify ourselves by moral acts which impress God and cause Him to therefore make a just decision in sending us to heaven.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  

So why do I say all of this?  Such examples scream of the reality that we desperately need God’s word and His Holy Spirit to illuminate these truths to us.  Such heresies were born because people put down there Bibles and started deciding Who they thought God was.  Sound familiar?  This is making God in our image instead of beholding Him for who He is.  It is so easy for us as Christians to take this point and think of all the people we know, whether on TV or next-door neighbors, that do this.  Then we pat ourselves on the back and say, “man am I glad that I am not as lost as that person!”  Sound familiar again?  Click here to read this parable of Jesus before you continue.   It’s almost like Jesus is telling us every time we think we are very godly and spiritual to watch out.  That maybe before we make a sly comment about one of our cultural idolators we should examine our own hearts and ask whether or not we have sought out God for who He is or if we make Him in our own image.

Paul tells us that all Scripture is “God-Breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16) and that it’s purpose among other things is to help us to form sound doctrine.  All of that is really a fancy way of saying that the Bible tells us who God is.  If we know God is a just and a graceful God from the Scriptures, we can come to a biblical understanding of who He is.  I read a great book called The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer a while back.  One of Tozer’s basic premises of his book is that people cannot truly worship God until they know who He is.  This is so simple, yet so profound.  I feel a tug lately to become more of a student of God’s word.  Not so I can go around church and quote verses, but so that I can find out more clearly who God is.  The more I can see Him, the more I will be complete.  The Bible often uses this picture of someone who is so thirsty and then finally their thirst is quenched when they see God for who He is and enjoy Him (Jeremiah 2:13, John 4:10-14, John 7:37-39).  I don’t know about you, but I can relate to that feeling of thirst where I know there is something deeper and something seems to be missing.  That something is God.  We find God, not by merely guessing or philosophizing, but by exploring His words where He has revealed himself to people.  I want more of this beautiful God Jesus so I will never have to thirst again.  Here are some lyrics from a song I wrote about this.  It is called Maybe it’s You.

There is a River, Her Water brings Life

I’m dry as a desert, just thirsting for more

I’m thirsting for more, I’m thirsting for more

I am crying for something

I’m not sure what it is

I just know something’s missing

Maybe it’s You, Maybe it’s You

There is a Forrest, you get lost in Her trees

You never want to leave, ‘cuz it feels like Home

I want to go home, I want to go home

I am crying for something

I’m not sure what it is

I just know something’s missing

Maybe it’s You, Maybe it’s You

Oh Jesus it’s You!

Oh Jesus it’s You!

Oh Jesus it’s You!

Jesus it’s You!

www.myspace.com/newwaters

have you ever thought that life could get so horrendous that you would have to go to a local city dump to be able to attain enough food/resources to make it through a single day? as a country we have hit economic struggles. without a doubt our economy has taken a down turn. i don’t want to denigrate or demean what some people are going through right now, but when you get a global picture of what others are must endure it seems that we aren’t doing all that bad. 

the reason why i asked the question could you imagine ever seeing yourself going to a local dump to find enough recourse to get through the day, is because there’s roughly 1,700 people that live in managua nicaragua that call the dump “home” 

they gather by their own laws, rules, and regulations. every so often there is a trash truck filled with grimy trash that is dropped off in the dump. during that moment as many as can flock to the heaping pile of trash like a group of vultures to its dead prey. the point in all of this is to gather the best trash that you can in the least amount of time before someone else takes it.

have things gotten that bad here yet? 

as christians we know from reading scripture that Jesus has said “the poor you will have with you always.” yet have we truly began to live with that type of attitude. or, our we so focused on our wants and not being able to meet them that we have neglected to see the needs of those whose suffering is greater then ours. 

Heaven on earth is unattainable no matter how hard we fight for it. paul encourages the colossians to have a heavenly focus. we ought to have tunnel vision on heaven and Jesus. not that we check out of this life, but are so focused on God and His kingdom that we forget about the new car that just came out or some of the cares our culture elevates. 

secondly, Jesus says it in the most clear way possible. “seek first the kingdom, and everything will be added unto you.” have we become so numb to a verse like this, that we have felt the need to seek first everything we want and have God continue to add onto that? 

once we put our focus upon Jesus the cares of this world will surely fade away. when that happens we will be left with a much more clear and accurate picture of Jesus. i don’t know about you, but that far surpass any type of trial and tribulation that i could deal with here on earth and gives us the blessing to see others that are in need.

“look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. for i am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” habakkuk 1:5

the book of habakkuk is an amazing book. only three chapters long yet filled with and amazing story that is so relevant to us. habakkuk whose name in hebrew means “to wrestle” is exactly what he did. in verses 1-4 habakkuk spouts off a list of complaints and questions to God. he asks God why He allows so much suffering, violence, and corruption. he questions God about why He allows the wicked to out way the good. 

sound familiar to any questions we have asked in our prayer life? 

habakkuk spends the first four verses in a wrestling match with God, and through the course of the book comes to an understanding that God is a good God and He has a plan and purpose for His people. what we see in verse five is something that all of us must catch. 

in the midst of habakkuk crying out and questioning God. God responds in a way that is so applicable to us. He tells habakkuk that i am doing such a work in your day that even if I told you everything that i was doing you wouldn’t believe it.

 i’m down in managua nicaragua right now and i have found myself asking God the same type of questions. from a quick glance as you enter managua all you see is dirt on the ground, people in haggard clothing, and an awkward smell. in the center of all of this is a little church called calvary chapel managua. a Jesus loving and bible preaching church. there aren’t a ton of people that attend on a regular sunday, yet the one’s that come are well ministered to.

my big point in all of this is that while it seems that there is nothing happening for the gospel in managua and some parts of the world [maybe even camarillo]. when you dig a little deeper and start seeing things through God’s lenses; He is doing an amazing work. i would encourage all of us to take a trip to go serve God in a different country! it will open your eyes to see that God has a vision for this planet, and it is to save as many people that will come to Him. He is not only looking to save the people in southern california! 

so for all of us. WATCH be utterly astounded. for our God is doing an amazing work that though we can't always see it. He loves His people and is doing a great work in the world today. although  even if He told us, we probably wouldn’t even believe it. 

I'm just going to confess it right now. Its way too easy for me to neglect doing a devotion each day and neglect spending time daily in God's Word. I think for the tech / creative types, it can be even harder because we are usually at least slightly ADD so even with the best of intentions we get distracted easily and can lose our focus. I have just discovered a tool that I feel will really help me, (and perhaps you) stay more accountable with reading and meditating on scripture like it says for us to do in Psalm 1:2. 

I found a way to put Bible readings in chronological order in my iCal so that it will automatically let me know which Bible portion to read each day for the year 2009. And, because I use my iPhone like crazy, it syncs to my iPhone calendar as well, so if I do run out the door in the morning without having read my Bible, it is there to remind me throughout the day so I can set a few moments aside at some point and devote my full attention to God, who created me and just wants me to spend time with and learn more about Him so I can love Him and love people better.

Let's not get so busy in 2009 that we neglect to spend time with God. Find something that works for you and get to know your Creator a little better.

If you want to use the tool that I will be using this year to read through the Bible in chronological order, you can use this link here and if you have a mac, it should automatically populate your iCal with a bible reading for each day. It also is supposed to work with PC's but i haven't been able to verify that since i am a mac junkie.

Eric Hoekendorf - Creative Director 

Video-addict

I love making videos! My last semester of high school, I needed to take an extra elective so i decided to take a digital video class. I only learned the basics, but i had a lot of fun learning what i did. My final project was a movie called Slave to the Beat. It was just an 18-minute movie that i threw together with not a whole lot of experience. Since then, i have made about 5 or 6 other movies ranging from slideshows, promo videos, and even a 35 minute sequel to Slave to the Beat. You can see the trailer for Slave to the Beat 2: No Turning Back below.

There seems to be no end to the creativity you can have in making videos. You can make anything and portray anything. I've learned the importance of music and how music can influence the emotion and add so much to movies. Without the music, it's boring and lacks emotion. Music adds ambiance and sets the mood for what the scene is seeking to portray. Movies make things exciting and get people interested. People identify with emotion and while emotion should lead to action and commitment, it is just the first step. The goal is not to make people feel good or make people laugh, but the ultimate goal is to bring people to ACTION! 

I love the power that movies have: captivating people, entertaining people, influencing people. Comedies are my favorite movies to make because I love making people laugh. I have yet to endeavor to make serious movies or action movies but i hope to try them out soon. The possibilities are endless. Bringing Jesus to people through movies is what i want to do. Maybe not for a profession, but just because i love making them. 

i began a series of studies on Wed pm about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. as an overview, we considered the characteristics of a spirit-filled church as described in Acts 11 and 13 regarding the church at Antioch. Unfortunately, it seems that so many either ignore the work of the Spirit or allow the pendulum to swing to the other extreme and look for experiences that have no basis in the Bible. thus, a passion to explore and discover the person, purpose and passion of the Holy Spirit as described in the Bible.

we considered 7 characteristics of a spirit-filled church: 1.grace: focus on what God has done for us more than what we need to do for Him; 2. people are encouraged to discover and use their spiritual gifts, 3. anointed teaching, 4. spirit-prompted sacrifice: no need to twist people's arms, 5. diversity and unity, 6. prayer and worship as an assembly,7. outward/external focus: a yearning to reach others for Christ.

i feel blessed to be part of a spirit-filled community, but i'm also not naive - we haven't arrived ... we're on the right road, but we haven't reached our destination. Let's enjoy the journey to Him and keep making progress together ;)

So why a blog? What is a blog anyway? watch this video to find out: