We received two cries for help this past week: one from our bishop friend in Liberia, and one from missionaries in Burma. In Liberia they are experiencing a food shortage-money simply goes to supply basic needs. The ebola outbreak, civil wars, conflicts, skirmishes and perhaps corruption deny services to many. We send our small contribution […]
Category: Updates
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A Cloud of Witnesses
Our Celebration of the Faithful was once again a needed reminder of the “cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us and who both inform and help complete our faith. Contrary to the illusion of relentless individualism, we are indeed indebted. Probably more so than we could fathom even if we were to try. First […]
We just finished our Celebration of the Children and it was brilliant! Thirty some years ago our pastors conceived the idea of a church calendar where sacred events would be celebrated as a church family. We would celebrate the faithful, that “cloud of witnesses” such as the ones listed in Hebrews 11. We would set […]
“I will wait. I wait. I will wait.” So sing Mumford and Sons. Their words are literally music to our ears. Everyone longs for happily ever after, to be waited for, to be special, considered, loved. All too often we regard this as romantic love, but God has a far bigger vision than this. He […]
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Loneliness
Old faces light with joy, wrinkled visages are wreathed with smiles, gnarled hands tentatively reach out. Gifts are proferred- Graham crackers, withered apples, spotted bananas, and the kids receive them. The fog of pain, loneliness, and confusion is penetrated, if only fleetingly. Mother Teresa has said that loneliness is the greatest poverty, and we believe […]
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How Jesus makes all things new!
Our friend who babysits for us was having a conversation with me about how people who didn’t know her before she was a Christian can’t imagine was she was like. When she told them how she had gotten in the pastor’s face and yelled at him, they were shocked and aghast. “And they let you […]
A Banquet Anniversary Saturday night we served a banquet to 240 people who came to support a vital inner-city ministry. We realized this was something of an anniversary as we had been serving this group for 25 years; this also marked the inception of our banquet ministry. The first time we were asked to come […]
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Spring Break
You won’t find this on MTV’s “Spring Break”! Today a busload of teenagers and adults from Texas is arriving in El Segundo, California, donating time off work and school to improve a church building desperately in need of help. New lighting will be installed and new coats of paint will “cover a multitude” of scars, […]
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Angels unaware
“Be ready with a meal or bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it.” Hebrews 13:1-2 from The Message. For spring break we were blessed to entertain some angels from Concordia University in Irvine. Five college girls partook of our hospitality, building what we hope are lasting memories […]
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And God bless us all, everyone!
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…seems as if there are more and more of them each year. We talked about splitting up households for Christmas Eve/ Christmas morning, but I for one am not ready for that! We reluctantly acknowledge, however, that we will have to eat in two locations on Christmas […]