• The Kings from Global Recordings
• The Rumbaughs currently in Honduras
• Dave Spurdal currently in Japan
• Kristian Solaranzo who recently went on a relief trip to Louisiana
• A team from Invisible Children

It seemed the church was buzzing with excitement about taking the words of Christ seriously and going out into our communities, and further with the Gospel - the love of Christ, in many forms. Here’s a few pictures from the day in case you missed it!

How were you challenged this weekend? We’d love to hear YOUR story!

Military Ministry

Thank you everyone who helped! We had 18 boxes worth of stuff donated and enough money to cover the postage. We still have some money left over, so we will put them in reserves for the next project. We’re thinking Independence Day. What do you think?

At any extent, I would consider 18 boxes a success for the first ever event buy our Military Ministry. Thank you again to everyone who helped!

Jim & Melissa are a very cool couple at our church that I’ve had the privilege of getting to know over the past year or so. I wanted to include their story in this Generosity series because, well you’ll see when you read their story. I had a chance to do a little interview with them this past week:

Melissa and I joined a group called Wycliffe Bible Translators shortly after we were married. I had trained in aviation so that I would be prepared to fly missionaries living in difficult situations. We served with this mission for 16 years. I flew in many challenging situations and I thank God for his care. We experienced living in several different countries, mostly in Africa. Our oldest son is 21 now and he was a baby when we first went overseas. Our two other boys were born in Africa. Luke is 17 and Trevor is 12. We left Africa in 2001 to return to California. I think all 3 boys have a very broad perspective on the needs of the world because of the places they have lived. We have lived in California for the last 7 years and I have continued in aviation by working in the private jet charter industry.

We have always been a family that is willing to take risks. I have tried to teach our kids that nothing in the world is more important than people. In the past we had done foster care for needy kids, and we even looked into adoption several years ago but nothing really came together. We really weren’t looking to adopt anybody when this situation came to us. During the summer of 2007 we agreed to host an 8 year old girl who was visiting California for 3 weeks with a group of orphans from Ukraine. After we got to know her we couldn’t imagine sending her back to the orphanage with no hope of having a family. Kamila wanted to belong to us more than anything, and we couldn’t say no, so at that time we agreed to start the official adoption process. We didn’t know how it would all work out, but we knew it was the right thing to do.

When Kamila returned to the orphanage in Ukraine last year we promised that we would stay in touch with her during the adoption process. A few times we have actually succeeded in talking to her on the phone. She doesn’t speak English, so it has to be a conference call with a Russian translator. It was during one of these conversations in March that she announced to us that her two older sisters had just joined her at the orphanage! She was anxious to know if we would adopt them too! This was a shock to us, so we decided to look into the situation. I made a trip to Ukraine in April and spent a few days at the orphanage gathering information about these kids. It turns out that they are the sweetest girls ever. Their mother died almost 2 years ago and the girls have been in separate orphanages until recently. We knew it would take a miracle but we were convinced that we had to try to rescue them.

Through blogs we have come in contact with many other people who have also been involved with adopting. We have been able to share ideas and information, which has been a big encouragement. It has also given us a great tool to keep people informed on current developments with us so that they know how to pray and support us.

We have learned a lot of patience! It’s a very long and tedious ordeal, but we have tried to keep focused on the end result. We began the process 15 months ago and I wouldn’t have believed then that we would still be trying to finish now. If it’s hard for us, I know it really seems like forever for the girls.

When we told the girls that we would try to adopt all three of them I knew that it would take a miracle for us to fund it. Even adopting one girl was going to stretch us to the limit financially. I had some periods of serious doubt and anguish. I was grieved over the possibility that I had given the girls false hope for something that was impossible. Melissa suggested that we let all of our friends and family know about the situation and see if people wanted to contribute financially. This would be a sign as to whether we should proceed or not. To our amazement, money started coming in! Last week we just sent the final payment of fees to the adoption agency! Now we are actually about to travel to Ukraine for our appointment with the adoption ministry on November 17.

I don’t think you would ever regret helping people in need. James 1:27 tells us that true and pure religion is to help widows and orphans in their distress. I’ve been encouraged by Galations 5:13 which says, “serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Don’t be afraid to step out on faith and do what is right. If God is with you it will be a blessing.

We would love to have prayer support and encouragement from everybody at LifeChurch! Melissa and I and our son Trevor are about to go to Ukraine to see if we can finish up this process. It should take about 2 or 3 weeks to finish up the legalities. It’s going to be an adventure and we’re not sure exactly what to expect. We may have to make a second trip a few weeks later to actually bring the girls home. We would love to have the church make them feel welcome and included when they finally arrive. People can follow our progress on our blog. Thanks, Alex, for asking about us and letting us share what’s going on!

I love hearing the ’story behind the story’ in people’s lives - these are the kind of people that are sitting next to you in church, just living out their faith, being extrordinarily generous. It’s encouraging and challenging at the same time. Would you join with us as we pray for this family and follow their story?

-Pastor Alex

It all started about 2 months ago when we decided to teach a series called ‘Be the Church’ and talk about the idea of putting our faith into action. We began looking for a real need in our community, and we found a great place to serve: Oak Grove. So we sent a team out to check it out and come up with some projects for our people. After a lot of planning and preparation, the day came, and it didn’t disappoint!

About 200+ men, women, & kids showed up today to clean, paint, dig, wash, demolish, sand, stain, build, cook, and just be a presence in our community. I estimate that we spent about 1,200 man hours today ‘being’ the church to our community. It was awesome to see people of all ages serving with such great attitudes, and with such determination. I was talking with one of our people and they remarked that it was ‘amazing what we can do when we do it together’, wow.

I think people were changed today, more into the image of Christ, more compassion, more love, and more aware of the needs that our community has. It was like food for the soul. I just wanted to brag on our church, and brag on our amazing God who compels us to serve those around us for his glory.

Today was a good day.

We’ll have a ton of photos here, and we should have a video done in a week or so. For those who showed up and served, a huge thank you! Maybe some of you LifeChurcher’s will comment on your experience today!

-Pastor Alex

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display Of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.

ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did.

The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.>

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, ‘Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?’ She nodded through her tears.. He continued on with, ‘I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.’ As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, ‘Mister….’ He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes She continued, ‘Are you Jesus?’ He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: ‘Are you Jesus?’ Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference. As we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, Life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.

You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

If we LIVE His word, then we ARE the Church!

Lisa

We’ve been going through catalyst as a staff over the past few weeks. A great tool to talk about difficult issues in leadership. This week we went through an article called “The Diamond Life” by Ken Myers. Wow. Ken compares the leadership journey to a baseball diamond (please don’t think Warrenback). Here’s some of the nuggets that I loved:

Home Plate: The Purpose Base

…[is] knowing your purpose involves winning dependence… You gain confidence in your purpose by remaining totally dependent upon Him.

First Base: Win Within

The very first thing that the power of God is designed to do in your life is change you. The Spirit of God is in the business of internal restoration.

The first base is all about character and God’s desire to reshape us in His image.

Second Base: Win With Others

As you win within the personal base, you gain credibility to go on to second base and win with others in community. It is only within a team where you can experience what God can leverage through your leadership gift in the lives of others.

Nothing compares with being on the same level with people to realize how to treat others with dignity - to serve them and care for them and cease being self absorbed. No one wants to hear a vision in which you are standing and they are bowing. [amen!]

Third Base: Win Over Obstacles

Third base is all about success. Third base however, is not the end. You do not score on third base.

The pattern of the world tells us to run to third base first. We are a performance driven society that finds value in what we to do and the results we generate.

Home Base: Back Home

If we fix our hearts on finishing well, our lives will bring us right back to the place of purpose at which we started.

We must yearn to press on until God has his way with us completely. As Christians mature, it can be tempting to invent new missions to accomplish. But in this game, the idea is to start on purpose and to finish on purpose.

This resonates so clearly with me right now and it’s also blowing my mind.

One thought I wrote down was this: We get so involved in the task that we forget the why… It’s like this post, where the point was brought up that we throw out the Great Commandment in our pursuit of the Great Commission. Sorry for the church talk. But we put our relationship with God and his forming of our lives on the back burner because we get so busy doing what we think he wants us to do with our lives… And we look at our success and say to ourselves - we’re doing a great job! Are we missing the point? Am I?

Like I said, mind blowing. Humbling, and refreshing.

-Pastor Alex

We enjoyed this past weekend at Palm Desert!! 9 couples joined us at Palm Desert Best Western and we had a blast! As Pastor John said, we all need maintenance in our marriages and that’s just what we did in this past retreat!! We really enjoyed it and hope that the next time around many of you can join us!! We talked about what does a healthy, successful marriage look like?  The answer to that question is that marriage it’s a team effort. I invite you to read Acts 18.  In this chapter you will find a couple, Priscilla and Aquila that were always mentioned together, worked together, learned together, and taught together! In our marriages we need to learn to trust and respect each other. We need to protect our marriages by setting up boundaries and by continually adjusting those boundaries.  When money comes between the couple check these verses: Genesis 2:24; Matthew 6:21, 24–33; Philippians 2:3, 4:19; 1 Timothy 6:6–10; Hebrews 13:5 and discover the Eternal Principles

—one: We look at money differently. It’s just money and this is not your God!!!

—two: We can accept our differences.  Men and women look at money differently, but we need to accept those differences and agree in how we spend our money together!!

—three: God owns everything. Do I dare say more??

—four: We can serve either God or money. I hope you choose to serve God!!!

Here are a few tips to Keeping Your Christian Marriage Strong and Healthy

Step 1 - Pray Together:  Set aside time each day to pray with your spouse.

Step 2 - Read Together:  Set aside time each day, or at least once a week, to read the Bible together.

Step 3 - Make Decisions Together:  Commit to making important decision together.

I’m not talking about deciding on what to eat for dinner. Major decisions, like financial ones, are best decided as a couple. One of the greatest areas of strain in a marriage is the area of finances. As a couple you should discuss your finances on a regular basis, even if one of you is better at handling the practical aspects, like paying the bills and balancing the check book. Spending secrets will drive a wedge between you faster than anything else.  If you agree to come to mutual decisions on how the finances are handled, this will strengthen trust between you and your partner. Also, you won’t be able to keep secrets from each other if you commit to making all important family decisions together. This is one of the best ways to develop trust as a couple.

Step 4 - Attend Church Together: Get involved in the church together.

Step 5 - Continue Dating:  Set aside special, regular times to continue developing your romance. Once married, couples often neglect the area of romance, especially after the kids come along. Continuing a dating life may take some strategic planning on your part as a couple, but it is vital to maintaining a secure and intimate marriage. Keeping the romance alive will also be a bold testimony to the strength of your Christian marriage.

God bless you!

Pastor Danny

Some times Change is VERY GOOD (I couldn’t resist, sorry David Bowie fans). If you’ve been around LifeChurch for any length of time you’ll be very familiar with one word: Change. We value change, we have to change to grow, and when we grow we change! So here’s a quick update to some of the changes around LifeChurch.

1. Time Changes! We’re changing our worship experience times starting this weekend (September 13 & 14). All of our worship times will look like this:
   Saturdays at 6:00pm
   Sundays at 9:00am & 11:00am
   We will no longer be offering the 8:00am worship experience, but we’re adding 2 additional worship experiences, which leads us to our next Change…
2. Life Unplugged! As we have grown through the summer we’ve realized that we need more room! We need more empty seats to accommodate our guests and regulars. We’ve recently been blessed by acquiring the use of an empty suite right across the parking lot, so we pimped it out and got it all ready for an amazing worship experience we’re calling Life Unplugged. It’s LifeChurch, unplugged. The same church, the same teaching (via video), with a different, more intimate worship style. We’ll have a venue pastor there, full on worship team, and teaching via video from right across the parking lot. Drop your kids off to the same KidsLife, GodStock, and Youth Ministry, then head over to Life Unplgged for a very cool worship experience. Life Unplugged will meet at 9:00am and 11:00am. - previews start THIS Weekend!
3. Youth Ministry has Moved! That’s right, God has continued to bless us at LifeChurch! We were OUT OF ROOM for our Youth and Kids. So guess what - that’s right, we got another empty suite (actually 2!), just around the corner for our Youth to meet in. Talk about exciting! One room is setup for worship and teaching, the other is an indoor skatepark and game room (currently under construction). This is the coolest place EVER for our teens to come and hang out and hear about Jesus, and to grow spiritually. We’ve got a map and directions over at whylifechurch.com and if you have any questions, please contact Pastor Steve.
4. KidsLife & GodStock have some Changes too! GodStock (Worship for Kids) has taken over Sundays now as well as Satudays! That means for your kids in 4th & 5th grades, they’ll be meeting in the former Youth Room. Some other rooms have changed for KidsLife, so just check it out when you drop your kids off this weekend, Steve, Kendra, and all our volunteers will be happy to answer any of your questions.
5. Saturday Nights! We’ve got 2 changes for Saturday Nights. First, be sure to get to LifeChurch at 5:15pm because we are featuring local restaraunt catering and offering a great deal for our families, plus a fun connecting time. Meals are $5 per plate, and we split ‘em up for the kids. The second change is that we’re adding an extended time of worship for those who enjoy music and have craved that extra time to spend in worship. These changes really make Saturday nights an attractive alternative to Sunday morngings at LifeChurch.

Whew! Did you get all that? This fall is an exciting time at LifeChurch, a time of change, a time of growth. This is a great time to invite a friend or neighbor. This is also a great time to get involved in serving, as we’ve just opened up a ton of staff positions in ministries such as, parking, tech, hospitality, youth, kids, worship, just to name a few! Take your SHAPE profile today and we’ll get you plugged in.

One last note. Please keep your church & staff in prayer. We’re in an awesome place right now, really experiencing God’s blessing as he is bringing more and more people to his church. Pray that we stay faithful to his call on our church. Pray that many would come to know him and to grow in him. Pray that many would choose to give and to serve sacrificially. And pray that we would be successful in “Bringing Life to the Valley!”

Humbly, Pastor Alex

We know that hope is a very necessary commodity for our well being. As human beings, we tend to look for hope in a lot of wrong places. You probably know what I’m talking about!! But, just because people look in the wrong places for hope, and just because a lot of people get their hopes destroyed due to circumstances, it does not mean that there is no hope available to every person who looks in the right direction. The apostle Peter says in his first letter: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3)

A living hope! A life giving hope! We have a living hope that is sure and unwavering, a hope that is rooted and grounded in a living relationship with God!!! This living hope assures us that God is with us in the midst of our trials and tribulations!!

This life was not designed to be easy or free from difficulty or sorrow or suffering.
Too many people base their whole lives on this false belief that says life should be easy. We all have struggles; we too have financial collapses; we too have people break their promises or act terribly toward us; we all worry about bills, house payments, etc. We all face health problems. We all face death. There are no exemptions just because you are a Christian. Life is not easy. But this hope, this living hope will keep you going.

In the midst of your disappointments, take comfort in this, “I have a living hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and he is getting me ready for glory!” and it will make the trials easier to bear.

Peter continues to write, “and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:4-9).

The trials and difficult situations we encounter in our lives will result in praise if we keep grasping to the arms of our Living Hope, our Lord Jesus Christ!  Down deep inside every Christian heart is a joy that cannot really be stopped or contained. It is a joy that is not natural; a joy that is not emotional; it is a joy that is rooted in your relationship with God, that continues to grow as you endure trials, and a joy that nothing that can happen to you can get down into your life will be able to destroy that which God has placed there in the core of your soul.

The true Christian should be the most joyous person that walks the earth. This joy should show out through your eyes, through your face, through your expression, through your body language, through everything about you. Everything about you should speak to others about your relationship to the Lord God who has saved you, through the death, burial and resurrection of His own Son. God loves you with an everlasting love, and that should put a smile on your face, gladness in your heart, and a light in your life and a bounce in your steps that speaks about Jesus.

My friends, this is the Living Hope!!!  The glory of the Christian life… in the midst of a hopeless appearing world, and we can share it with others who are still searching for hope! Be the church!

Pastor Danny