Part of caring for others is RISKING to share our spiritual story.
If we don't take the RISK of sharing how Jesus has changed our lives, others may miss out on taking another step towards having Him change their lives too (Rom 10..
Let's talk about RISK for a moment.
It's almost laughable but let's be honest...taking a RISK in sharing our story to a friend may be a bit uncomfortable and, in extreme situations, may cause loss of relationship but in comparison to the rest of the world, we have it SO EASY. For most of us, our lives would not be endangered for sharing.
From my experience, people want to talk about spiritual things BUT CHRISTIANS TRADITIONALLY HAVE BEEN UNSAFE people to talk about it.
Instead of being pushy, prideful or passive Paul was patient while being proactive!(Isn't alliteration fun?) From my understanding of 1 Cor 3.3-6 and 9.19-22, Paul sees people as on a spiritual journey, where we play a part of their seeking process. He builds relationships so that he can point to the ultimate relationship with Jesus. But ultimately he knows, it is God's job to "save" them and to cause the growth.
This weekend, Samako, a woman in our church, RISKED sharing her story.
She had two exchange students visiting from Japan and after they came to church with her, she shared with them both the forgiveness and hope found in new life with God through Jesus Christ. She RISKED to share with them!
She could have just brought them to church and let that be good enough. But she didn't - she shared with them her story and the gospel to personalize how Jesus changes lives. God used her and TWO young women will be forever changed and part of God's family because of it?
Who can we take a RISK with this week?
Is there anyone God is preparing us to share our story with?
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Will you commit to CARE this summer?
When one thinks about the needs in the world, it can be overwhelming.
So a great way to take a step to CARE is focus on the circle of relationships you already have - coworkers, neighbors, friends or family that don't know God's love yet. Summer is a great time to invest in relationships. And prayer is often overlooked.
Like you, the Apostle Paul longed and prayed for his community (the Israelites) to know Christ.
My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. - Romans 10:1 (ESV)
Prayer for our friends is important because it provides CLARITY in a world that can be confusing and distracting in the search for truth.
Satan,
the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don't
believe, so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News
that is shining upon them. They don't understand the message we preach
about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. - 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT)
So here are some helpful tips in praying specifically for your circle – you may…
· Ask God to open up your friends’ hearts to talk about their spiritual needs (2 Peter 3.9)
· Ask God to help you participate in someone's discovery process (1 Cor 3.6-9)
· Ask God to give you opportunities to help them or invite them over (Col 4.2-6)
· Ask God to give you sensitivity to where they are coming from spiritually (1 Cor 9.22-23)
· Ask God to give you confidence in sharing your testimony with them (Eph 6.19)
Don’t give up praying – it’s hard work but vital in helping people take steps in their journey toward Jesus.
Praying for you and with you,
Pastor Erin
Part 2 - Committing to Care: Share
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Pastor Rick showed up today in Irvine!
It was an amazing experience for our attenders and members!
I am so proud of our people who invited their friends and neighbors that never go to church.... boy, did they get an experience to remember.
I am amazed and humbled by all of our volunteers that were loving, flexible and sacrificial with the jam-packed parking and seating. (We had 1653 people in two services - Easter we had 1830 with four!. We had over 650 cars between the two services parking on both fields and that wasn't counting the shuttles...)
I am blown away by Pastor Rick's relentless schedule (6 services every weekend takes amazing endurance) and even taking the time to baptize people today - all 48 of them!
I was reminded of the talent and humble hearts our staff team bring to their roles - they rocked this weekend.
I love that God has blessed us with such a great church and campus!
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Come find out ways how you can respond to the plight of
human trafficking. This is an awareness and equipping event that will talk
about recognizing trafficking in the community, how to respond, new resource
tools, law enforcement learnings and stories of conducting community walks.
Date: May 21st at
6:30pm
Location:
Saddleback Irvine Worship Room, 4782
Karen Ann Lane
Want to serve?:If you would like to serve as a Saddleback Irvine greeter, show up at 6pm.
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I had the chance to visit Irvine last weekend, it was so great to see everyone in action. Everywhere I looked, people were working together to pull off the weekend.
TWO staff were gone last weekend: one had a planned trip and the other had an unplanned back injury, and everything went off without a hitch. That's pretty great, considering we're 8 weeks into a new campus!! If you're one of the volunteers who serves in Irvine: THANKS FOR WHAT YOU DO.
Here's the question: if you're not serving somewhere, what's keeping you? DON'T LET COMFORT keep you from going where God is leading.
There are some lessons that God wants to teach you and he can only teach them to you while you're serving. If you don't serve, then you're going to miss out on what God wants to do in your life. You don't want that!
If God's leading, then don't wait. There's tons of ways to get involved. Contact Erin today.
I also got to see Leo (STUDENT MINISTY GURU FOR IRVINE) in action, that was pretty great. It was his second week, and it looks like they are off to a great start. I've spent most of my years in ministry serving in youth ministry, so a part of me wanted to jump in and do something.
Think I'm headed down to San Clemente next week, to see how the ol' regional veterans are going.
great stuff all around!
Matt McGill
pastor of regional campuses
mattm@saddleback.net
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With the economy on a downward spin the requests for food has escalated to the
point that South County Outreach is running extremely low in their food stock.
South County Outreach and Saddleback Church have a wonderful working
arrangement. They have the volunteers, storage space, and distribution program
and we help in supplying the food.
South County Outreach is one of the few
programs that will help a single homeless man with food. One hundred percent of
the food donated is given to the needy. They never sell food to other food banks
as some organizations do.
If you'd like to help, here are the drop off times:
Thursday, April 17th: 9am -5pm
Friday, April 18th: 9am -5pm
Location: Irvine Campus Office (Portable)
Sunday, April 20th: 8am - 1pm during Sunday Services
Location: Irvine Campus Welcome Center Tables
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 My small group has already committed to doing some things differently
because of the What if You Had One Month to live? question.
So, to take Pastor Doug's message seriously and "Live like we are dying"...
- One person mentioned that he has planned a day and time to write a letter explaining all of the things he has appreciated about his parents - he had never done that before.
- Another was making a list of some close relatives that have never heard their testimony before and praying for an opportunity to share it with each one.
- One person committed to carving out 30 mins a day daily to study more about the claims of Jesus.
- What are you doing specifically to live differently?
Feel free to comment - we may share some of your ideas anonymously at the weekend service!
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With all of the exciting responses from Easter, I just had to take a picture of Jenn's car trunk FULL of follow up letters to people who made decisions for Christ or are still considering Christ. Off to the post office!
By the way, we are looking for some great people who would love to serve on our FOLLOW UP TEAM. If interested,just comment on the BLOG with your name, contact info and time availability during the week.
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Well... the reason why I haven't posted in a few days is because we are stillin a state of awe by how amazing the weekend was.
Our staff sat on Tuesday morning outside our office portable in the sunshine sharing stories of how God moved this weekend - not only in the hearts of new believers but of all the amazing volunteers that helped pull it off.
In all, we had 1,830 people (includes children) attend here on Easter Weekend to hear about the gift of God's grace in Jesus.
And we had 52 people commit their lives to Christ!
We are so proud of the various teams - the greeters, the ushers, the accounting, the parking, the shuttle drivers, the PAs, the band, the childrens workers, the cafe team and everyone at the Welcome centers!
Well done good and faithful servants! God certainly used Saddleback irvine!
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We are loving this location for Saddleback Irvine.
We have been here a few weeks getting set up and have learned some things about our new home:
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IUSD has a stellar staff - Martin, Kathleen, Mike, Joe, Tommy, Jorge, Ismail, Hector, Aaron have been wonderful!
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This is the perfect campus for a sports & potluck party on the grass.
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We have great law enforcement to protect our children - I tested it first hand with a rolling stop in front of the school. Bad pastor.
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We see a group of women who do morning calisthenics in the back lot – every morning.
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There are four coffee shops within a ½ mile radius of our location.
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3 million high school kids stream to Burger King for lunch from Irvine High School every day - its a hunger exodus.
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Little league!
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Everyone loves the kids mural in our new worship room (left from school days) just not IN the worship room.
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Staff meetings in the sunshine, on the grass with a frisbee or bocce ball is good team building time.
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There is a team of prayer warriors that pray here every Friday at 7:15am in the parking lot.
We are so thankful to God for this location.
What else should we know? Feel free to comment.
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Hello Saddleback Irvine Friends!
We have a blog! Check in regularly or subscribe (via rss) to get the latest updates, thoughts and musings on the story of Saddleback Irvine. The great thing about a blog is you get to comment below.
Here is a sample entry:
Two days and counting... Our team is running on a powerful combination of Starbucks, Chik Fil A, prayer and a passion for God! We can't wait to see people come this weekend!
We even prayed for our community and cities this morning with Pastor Rick. After giving a great message on the 7 Marks of Building a Biblical Church, he had all the regional campus teams prayed over. It was just what our teams needed before the Easter celebration.
This weekend is going to be a great experience - not only is Jesus Christ risen and offering restoration to God but Saddleback is now one church with four locations! Lake Forest, San Clemente, (New) Corona and (New) Irvine will all be having services this weekend.
Irvine Campus Easter Service Times:
Saturday 3/22 at 4:30pm*, 6:30pm
Sunday 3/23 9am* and 11am*
*Childrens programs (Infant-6th grade)
Normal Service times:
Sundays 9am, 11am
We can't wait to see you... You Matter to God (and us)!
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