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"Eve of the Eve Service -- A Complete Experience for me"

2009-12-23T23:36:01-08:00

Tonight on the eve of the Eve of Christmas service (a first for us) we experienced at packed service. Feedback from our members gave us good indicator that the service would be full -- guests began arriving as early as 45 minutes prior and for me I had a complete worship experience! So what made my experience complete? The evening featured a great run of Christmas songs and music offerings that was simply incredible and as great as that was that was not what made our my experience complete. There were some moving special music pieces done by some of our team vocalists, but that was not what made my experience complete. There was a stunning video/dramatic reading that told the story of our creation, but that was not made my experience complete. Our teaching pastor Ed Noble delivered another timely Christmas message that I have grown acustom to but that was not what made my experience complete. What made this service complete was that a friend I had invited showed up. This friend is in the early stages of his seeking process and trust me when you bring someone to a service it definitely completes your experience. There are three more services tomorrow and there is still time to invite someone. Trust me the service is meaningful and moving and full of wonder and excitement -- yet it goes to a whole new level when you invite and bring someone with you. For information on our Christmas services click...

Christmas at Journey!

2009-12-23T10:13:32-08:00

Later tonight we begin a run of four services to celebrate Christmas. This gives us one last opportunity to encourage you to drop off an invitation card, pick up the phone & call or simply walk across the room. We would be surprised at how many respond to last minute invitations. If you need more evidence of how powerful an invitation can be read this journey featured this past weekend and/or a recap of this journey shared earlier in the month. Just a reminder service times are Wed. Dec. 23 7pm & Thur. Dec. 24: 2,4 & 6pm. For specifics on the service click here. Also we covet your prayers -- so prayers for the following would be greatly appreciated: 1. Pray for invites that have been made and continue to be made to be responded to affirmatively. 2. Pray for a real anointing on those who are serving in all areas: lasting impression teams, childrens teams, worship/programming teams & operation teams. 3. Pray for God to be glorified. THE REST OF 2009: Please note that we will not be holding our Friday service this week in view of Christmas. However, be sure to join us on Sunday Dec. 27 at our regular service times of 9:00am & 10:45am as guest author/speaker will be presenting the last message of 2009 -- you will not want to miss it. Regular service times resume on the weekend of Jan. 1 & 3, 2010. See you this Christmas!!!

Thankful for a Simple Invitation

2009-12-21T12:20:08-08:00

In the church that I am serve in we desire to see the "lost", "un-churched" & "seeking" enter into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Now those descriptions do not mean reaching unbelievers only -- they could easily be referring to believers who are disconnected from God and others. Such was the journey of my friend Heather Surber. She shared her journey in our weekend services this past weeeknd. Here is the full transcript of her Journey: My husband Bob became a Christian at a young age and shortly after we started dating, he introduced me to the church he attended. In 1995 I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior and while that was the beginning of my walk, I hadn’t built the relationship. We were just regular Sunday observers. Somewhere along the way, our priorities began to shift. We sold our 1000 square foot home in Santee and bought a much larger home with an acre of land in Ramona. Our lives became filled with big trucks, luxurious trailers, boats, quads, dirt bikes and sand cars. For six years we played a tumultuous game of keeping up with the Jones’. During the fall and winter you could find us in the desert every other weekend and during the summer we would be at the river. It came to a screeching halt when I became unexpectedly pregnant with our third son. We sold all the toys and downsized vehicles, but it was too late. Our previous pursuits to prove our...

A Kaya Christmas Card

2009-12-15T16:00:53-08:00

Dear Friends and Family, Merry Christmas! We thought we would attempt the “Christmas letter” for the first time.As Rod’s uncle Lloyd preached last year in his New Years message at his church in Hawaii, it truly has been “Fine in 2009!” After Christmas Eve services last year at Journey we flew out Christmas morning to spend the holidays in Hawaii with family. It was great to ring in the New Year in true island style as fireworks abounded everywhere. The streets were so smoky it’s a good thing it rains there so often. One of the highlights of our trip was to meet our niece, Aila for the first time who was visiting from Japan. The kids loved playing with their cousin. January also brought a special event as Tara’s mom Linda, got married to Mike Orcutt. Rod performed the ceremony, Rhett was the ring bearer, Emmie the flower girl and Tara maid of honor along with Tara’s sister Desha and Mikes daughter, Rachel. It was a beautiful wedding and wonderful memory of friends and family celebrating their union together. It’s been over 4 yrs. since Tara’s dad passed away. We still miss him greatly but are so thankful for our new family. Mike is the greatest “papa” ever to Rhett and Emmie and it’s sweet to see Tara’s mom so happy. In April the four of us traveled to New York City for a few days of family, city fun. Rod and Rhett were able to attend the first...

Another Christmas Party to Attend.

2009-12-12T07:04:21-08:00

Last week Saturday our Lasting Impressions Teams (LIT) held their annual Christmas party which took on the form of a progressive dinner with different team members opening their home to host a stage of the meal -- appetizers & salad, main courses & the last home for dessert where we also included a white elephant gift exchange. We had a really great time! Now for many of us we have multiple Christmas parties to attend amongst our work, family, friends, children's school to name a few. And in the life of the church, depending on your level of involvment you could easily add another two to four gatherings. In fact later tonight I am attending the music team's Christmas party. A friend raised the question, "How many parties do I need to attend to make it a meaningful Christmas?" He sarcastically answered his own question by saying 12.Now this can be overwhelming with all these Christmas parties and it might be tempting to skip out on attending one of your ministry team parties and I want to encourage you not to. At the conclusion of our LIT party I shared from Mark 3:13, 14 that says "He went up the mountian and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whome also named apostles to be with him and to be sent out to proclaim the message." I pointed out that Jesus emphasized the importance doing ministry together with others by first...

What is Wrong With This Picture?

2009-12-11T15:26:01-08:00

This was given to a work colleague at a recent Christmas party. Can anyone tell what is wrong with this gift.

Just Walk Around a Circle

2009-12-11T09:48:37-08:00

A focal point in our announcements for the past couple of weeks has been encouraging our attendees to invited friends to our Christmas Eve services. We have equipped our attendees with what we consider to be an effective tool and to help envision our church we had three people paint a picture of how powerful inviting someone to a weekend service can be by telling their story. Pastor Bill Hybels wrote a great book on personal evangelism called Just Walk Across the Room. Well sometimes we just need walk around in a circle. (left to right Karen Olson, Becky Toth, Lauren Faiai & myself) Ephesians 5:15,16 says "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." Two friends of mine (Becky & Lauren) lived these verses out literally six years ago. In October of 2003, California was experiencing what would become a 5-month Grocery Union Strike. As Albertsons employees on strike they had to picket eight hours a day walking literally in the same circular pattern. Yet this time was redeemed as they got to know one particular fellow employee Karen a lot better. And through a series of conversations with her spiritual matters were brought up, weekend messages were given & an invitation to a church service was made. To fast forward the story -- Becky & Lauren decided to invite not only Karen, but a whole group of their fellow picketing employees and...

What I was Especially Thankful for ... Incredible Volunteers

2009-11-30T09:19:49-08:00

This past weekend as we celebrated Thanksgiving like all of us had much to be thankful for. Yet one unique situation stands out. Let me explain. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is usually a very productive day because we want to everything taken care of given that it is a short work week and that we want to enjoy our time with family and friends not preoccupied with work details. I had anything but that type of Wednesday. There was a last-minute pastoral situation that I had to take care of as I was about to leave for the day (a possible future post) and looming on me was the fact that a critical print piece that would play a central role in our service that Sunday was not printed and prepared yet. For months we had this vision of providing our church members with a tool to help them invite friends to services this Christmas. When we received the invites on Tuesay that would need to be put into holders there was a significant spelling error on the card. The mistake was not on our end. The team wrestled whether we could just give the cards but we unanimously agreed that was not option being that this would be for many of our seeking friends the first impression of our church in which we spelled Wednesday incorrectly. So we scrambled trying to find a printer to get it re-done no small task given the holiday and then there was the...

Rod Bell to speak at New Format Tonight

2009-11-29T18:02:36-08:00

Rod Bell, not Rob Bell the famous author & speaker will be speaking at New Format -- the college gathering of Journey Community Church tonight at 7pm. This is by no means a comparison or commentary of my speaking or oratory skills instead it is the college programming teams way of making fun of my enjoyment of the Twilight series. So the "Bell" part of the name is really shortened form of "Bella" and my first name is Rod so hence Rod Bell. Now it does help that there is famous speaker that has only one letter difference. I was tipped off to this by one of the college students who attends the gathering who showed me this (below) in their programming team planning room.

Weekend Update from Thanksgiving to Christmas

2009-11-25T14:26:13-08:00

This Sunday at Journey Community Church coming off of our Thanksgiving holiday we will be taking time in our service to receive communion to remember the One whom are all thanksgiving is due. Then like the rest of the world we will be turning our attention toward Christmas. When you drive up onto the Journey property you will notice that we have our Christmas service banners up displaying our service times. In addition a good portion of the service will given toward envisioning all of us for the season ahead. We will also be giving out what we believe is an effective invitation tool to invite people to a Christmas service. In addition there is still great opportunities to sign up for a "FIRST SERVE." Just a reminder that we are not meeting on Friday, in view of the Thanksgiving holiday, and are meeting on Sunday only at our regular times of 9:00 & 10:45am. We will be resuming our Friday service on Dec. 4 as we kick off a new series called "Hello, God." See you this Sunday and Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

As You Approach Christmas ... "First Serve!"

2009-11-25T10:54:56-08:00

I was first introduced to the concept of First Serve through a teaching series put together by the Willow Creek Association (WCA) called “Living Beyond Yourself.” What First Serve is, and we modified it a bit for best application in our setting, is giving those currently uninvolved in a volunteer role have an opportunity to get involved in a short-term one-time experience.It serve a few purposes. One being it shores up teams with extra help needed during a high impact events like Easter and Christmas services. Second, it gives those uninvolved in weekend serving roles an opportunity to participate. Third it gives the uninvolved a positive introduction to a serving experience. It is also positive because our team leaders and team go out of their way to make sure the serving conditions are optimum and the volunteer knows they are not tied into a long term commitment. The results of this process is incredible! The team leaders also do a follow-up with each first serve volunteer to get feedback on their experience -- it almost always is very positive. Yet here is where the real benefit of “First Serve” is. Many of these volunteers become long term, regular team members. Why? I believe it is the sampling effect. If they just try it -- you know they will like it. And when it doesn’t work out for the specific team they did a first serve with for whatever reason maybe it just was not for them, it did not match...

Respectable Sins -- Confronting the Sins We Tolerate

2009-11-10T10:57:19-08:00

The very first Christian book I read as a Christ-follower was the Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges that had a shaping role in my relating to God during my college years. I just completed another one of Bridges’ book “Respectable Sins -- Confronting the Sins We Tolerate,” and the timing of this read could not have been more beneficial. Bridges would define “respectable sins” (and this is my paraphrase) as those sins that are subtle in nature, that are not as bad as the flagrant ones of society like for example murder, stealing, theft and get often dismissed as minor behavioral challenges. Yet no matter what we call them Bridges reminds us is that they are still sin and they need to be addressed for they are more harmful and destructive than we realize. Though he mentions there could be far more exhaustive lists, here are some examples of these subtle sins: discontentment, pride, lack of self-control, anger, worldliness etc. As someone who has been a Christian for over 25 years and has served in vocational Christian ministry for over 15 – I found this book very convicting and found myself guilty of many these subtle/respectable sins to varied degrees. Now one of the issues that Bridges makes clear is this that the intent of this book is not to condemn or put us in a state of guilt over all of these areas that we fall short in. Instead it is to bring to the light subtle areas...

This Halloween Was a Real Treat!

2009-11-09T14:57:30-08:00

In my previous post "No Family Fall Festival This Year -- It's A Good Thing" I mentioned that one of the indicators that not doing this event was a good thing was because people were choosing to celebrate Halloween in their own neighborhood. What really help seal my conviction for not doing the event anymore was the insight I gleaned from reading the book Making Room For Life by Randy Frazee. In the book (to summarize his point) Frazee mentions how distant we have become from our neighbors with many of us never meeting them even though we have lived next to each other for a long period of time. Now this insight is nothing new, many studies have proven similar results. However the next bit of insight is where I had my "a-ha" moment. Frazee shared that there is one night when barriers are broken down and an opportunity to meet and connect with our neighbors just makes sense and is very easy to do, the night Halloween. However he further mentions that on that night when all of our neighbors our out and it gives us (the church) the perfect time to meet our neighbors none of us our home because we are at our Family Fall Festivals. So this year -- the first in the nine that I have lived in our neighborhood -- I was able to take our kids trick or treating! And we had a blast! It was incredibly cool to meet our neighbors...

No Family Fall Festival This Year -- It's A Good Thing

2009-11-09T09:46:23-08:00

Since year one of our church’s 16 year history we have put on an annual Halloween event called the Family Fall Festival that over the years has grown to be quite an undertaking involving hundreds of volunteers, thousands of pounds of candy and thousands of people in attendance. And for all-intention purposes was a pretty successful event in the life of our church. However, in the past two years including this one -- we have not had this event and it is a good thing. I will explain shortly, however let me first explain what I have deemed as some positives of the event in years past. It served as a great way to introduce ourselves to the community. In 1997 we relocated our church to a new community and with a name change to our church in 1998 we were relatively unfamiliar. This event served as great way to introduce ourselves by providing a “give” community event completely free to all participants. I liken the FFF to a better, more strategic open house. I have been a part of a church open house in the past where over 50,000 direct mail pieces were sent to neighbors to come and check out the newly built church in their area. In an eight-hour span -- I believe 50 people showed up -- with the majority of the people being attendees of the church who wanted to get an early look at the property. It served as a great invite opportunity for...

A Prayer on Behalf of the Persecuted Church

2009-11-08T09:56:00-08:00

Either today (Nov. 8) or next Sunday churches all across the globe are encouraged to take time during their weekend worship services to pray on behalf of the Persecuted Church -- the well over 200 million Christ-followers that live in under extreme hostile conditions in which their faith is persecuted. One my friends Jonathan Cervantes has a real passion to pray on the persecuted church's behalf not only on these designated Sundays, but throughout the year. The ministry he leads here at Journey Community Church is called "Bound With Them Ministry." In addition we encouraged to where these bands with the Hebrews 13:3 on them serving as a reminder to pray on the persecuted church's behalf. This morning he lead us in an incredible prayer that I hope can serve you well in praying on the persecuted church's behalf.Father God, As we gather today as your church, your bride; we lift up those in the many countries that make it difficult to be a Christ follower. We ask that you will give them the strength to stand firm as they under go the persecution, the torture, being imprisoned for their faith. We pray for the 150,000 Christians as they will face their own death this year, the very 17 who will enter eternity this very hour. We lift up especially the underground church in China. The church that is even larger than our nation. A nation where your Spirit is moving in great ways. You have given your church, your...

My 1st U2 Concert Experience

2009-10-17T13:02:16-07:00

In my junior year of high school a good friend was trying to broaden my music palette beyond the normal 80's pop music genre to a band exuded an incredible passion and conviction in their song writing -- he introduce me to the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2. It was a year later that the The Joshua Tree came out and two songs in particular grabbed me "With or Without You" & "I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For." That album was followed up with "Rattle and Hum" that also was a film documentary that I thoroughly enjoyed (I have it on DVD) and I was becoming a huge fan. However, shortly after this time I experienced a renewing in my relationship with Christ and with that brought a struggle in my spiritual journey that took an unfortunate all or nothing approach. And what I mean by this is that I would listen to, engage in and watch only "Christian" oriented material. As time passed my conviction in regards to this loosened. Yet the struggle of what is secular and what is sacred continued over the next 5 to 7 years and the question on whether something that was not specifically labeled or themed as Christian had much redemptive valued continued. It would be at an event over 12 years ago that brought forth an incredible awakening. It was a church event that primarily featured "secular music" to help tell the story of people's spiritual journey. It...

The Routine May Not Be So Routine

2009-10-02T17:48:05-07:00

Yesterday during my visit to Children’s Hospital to see a family in our church whose 5-month son had open heart surgery -- I was afforded a very pleasant surprise. Now first I want to mention the best news is that the surgery was a success and his recovery is gong well. Now for me the surprise was running into ICU nurse that was assigned to my son when he was there in that same ICU six years ago. (For a recap of my visit and my son’s medical journey click here.) I had not seen in her in five years and it a took a little while for her to have some kind of remembrance of me and she could not recall who my son was. I took no offense to this as I know she has probably seen hundreds of similar cases and patients in the past 5 years let alone her lifetime. I was just glad that I was able to express my gratitude toward her for the way she took care of my son. I even showed her a recent picture of my son, though she would not recognize him by any means, just to show that he is living a normal life. This brief interaction prodded an overwhelming sense of gratitude for not only her, but all who played a role in getting my son and wife & I through this. In my line of work where I serve as a pastor in a church of...

"So We Can Comfort Others ..."

2009-10-01T23:38:14-07:00

II Corinthians 1:3,4 (TNIV) says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” These verses are often quoted as way of encouraging others or possibly to shed light or offer perspective when someone is going through a critical life situation or crisis. The notion being that one day, it could be in the near or distant future, the pain or turmoil you are experiencing now will have a purpose to help someone else, though at the present moment it is unsightly. On Wednesday I went on a visit to Children’s Hospital to see a family in our church whose almost 5-month son was having open heart surgery to repair multiple holes in his heart. I was approached by the child’s grandmother about 4 months ago when the child was born to ask me to be available in the future when this day would come. So I strategically went to the hospital at around 11:30am -- the surgery was about 7am. I say strategically because I figured that it would be right around that time when their son should be out of post-op and in his intensive care unit room. The parents would have been able to see their baby, get a report from the surgeon and now breathe a sigh of relief...

San Francisco Eating Day 3 Meal 2 -- The Chocolate Festival

2009-09-21T09:38:38-07:00

Our last few hours in San Francisco were spent at Ghirardelli Square where by chance they were hosting the 14th annual Chocolate Festival. It was a two-day event that went from 12-5pm each day. I saw a special on this festival either on the Food Network or Travel Channel. The way it works is you purchase a ticket for $20 (the proceeds go to a local charity) and you are given 15 sample opportunities that are checked off by each vendor you receive a sample from. There were chocolate companies of various sorts throughout the square and the street in front of it. The great thing is that you can share a ticket and for Tara and I one ticket was more than enough. I never thought I would say I can too much chocolate, however after having multiple gelato servings, ice cream, cup-cakes, drinking chocolate, shakes, truffles, cookies and so on -- we were experiencing a chocolate coma. Our last 2 samples were used on tea -- we just could eat any more chocolate. Here are a few pictures from our day: Tara after a long wait gets a cupcake. One of the many vendors preparing his sample. Having some drinking chocolate even though it is a small cup I could not finish it. Well that is it for our San Francisco trip -- thank you for journeying with us.

San Francisco Eating Day 3 Meal 1 -- The Ferry Building

2009-09-20T10:00:17-07:00

Tara and my last day in San Francisco took us to The Ferry Building for breakfast. This place is unbelievable! The Ferry Building has been featured on multiple Food Network shows and most recently on Chefs VS City. One of the hosts of the show Chris Cosentino has a great place called Boccalone that features Salumi which is Italian for cured meats. Boccalone was featured on the show the The Best Thing I Ever Ate for its Salumi Cone which is a cone full of three different salumis -- you can have the suggested trio or choose your own three. I had to get one -- unbelievable! In addition on Saturday, when we there, there is an incredible farmer's market where you can foods of various varieties -- we at a couple of local vendors. Inside there are so many different shops you can check out -- I could spent the entire day there. About to shuck and oyster -- only $1.50.