Our pastors are asking for input. Plans are underway to employ a second full-time pastor and, as we learned during the church member's meeting, this won't be easy. It's going to require money, wisdom, unity, and courage. We have two great candidates: Lucas Enge and Dustin Smetona. Please pray. Please thank the guys for being willing to serve. If you are a member or regular attender, please take a moment to complete the form below. We will keep your feedback confidential.
This past Sunday we held our Spring Church Member's Meeting. This is a time for members and regular attenders to be equipped to participate in the life and ministry of our congregation. We download a lot of information. The members ask questions. We go home with bellies full of our world famous Buck-O-Slice Pizza. Here are a few highlights:
The Pastoral Team intends to employ a second full-time pastor. We have been deliberating and preparing for this for over a year and believe this is not only necessary but crucial to our mission. The target date is September 2017.
An additional staff pastor will enable us to capitalize on existing opportunities: member discipleship and care, member fellowship, newcomer assimilation, leadership development, pastoral team discipleship and care, our California mission, our global mission, etc.
An additional staff pastor will also protect us from existing vulnerabilities: an over-extended Pastoral Team, lack of current leadership development, our need for experienced pastors, and the challenges of a mostly bi-vocational eldership.
As announced during our Mission Night Santa Ana, we have shifted our strategy from “multiplying small groups” to “multiplying services.” A number of factors led to this decision: an assessment of Kyle Houlton’s strengths, the need for more participation from the Orange congregation, positioning Eric Turbedsky to participate, and a desire to intensify our investment in this mission.
Pastor Eric preached from Romans 2:1-11 last Sunday, alerting us to the danger of assuming we are an exception to the rule. Do we live as though God will treat us differently than he treats others? Do we judge yet not expect to be judged ourselves? And if so, why?
Joey shared the following...
Good morning church! I’ve always wanted to say that.
I want to start out by saying thank you to God for every person in this church. You have all blessed me, but I would like to talk about just a few really pivotal people and ministries that have got me through my high school years.
Firstly church, know this; I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like half of you half as well as you deserve.
Secondly, I’d like to talk about the two youth-oriented ministries that have really been helpful to me as a youthful man going through his youth. Youth group and youth mentorship. Despite our unoriginal naming standards, these two ministries have been worth so much to me. Sometimes I struggle with thinking that I am alone in my sin, which I know is wrong, yet I still think it. But, youth group has been great to see other christians my age struggling with the same sins that I do, but even more than that, seeing how God is shaping them through it all. It is always joyful, jolly, jubilant, jovial, and Jesus-centered. A huge thank you to Mrs. Blackman and David Christensen for organizing all of it and serving us throughout it.
Youth mentorship. What a weird idea, right? Young high-school students getting together with slightly less young college students to go through just one short book of the bible at a time. What a weird idea, but let me tell you, it was a good one. I’d like to thank my mentor, Dylan Sohie, for putting up with my rambling while somehow guiding me through the books we studied. You’re a pretty cool guy, I guess. Often times, studying these books helped take the importance of me out of the equation, and has shifted my focus onto a much better dude. The best dude, you could say.
Lastly, thank you, church, for displaying the love of Christ. Your prayers have certainly not gone unanswered, nor are they unappreciated. I pray that you never slow in your efforts to help the youth of the church, ‘cause trust me, we both need each other.
I’d like to end with a verse that’s meant a lot to me and the rest of the youth through tough times.
"He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, ‘Go up you baldhead! Go up you baldhead!’” 2 Kings 2:23
Here’s the real verse I want to end on, so listen up all you youngins. 1Timothy 4:12: “Let no one despise for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
Thank you.
Santa Ana now houses over 330,000 people. But it began with one man - William H. Spurgeon. And when he arrived, he climbed this sycamore tree to survey the land. The rest is, as they say, history. Now a dying and easy-to-miss collection of branches, it's a monument to small beginnings.
God builds his church through small beginnings. That's how God will build Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana.
Swing by the Callio Tree whenever or during a First Saturday Artwalk located on 5th Street just East of Broadway.
Get out this summer and enjoy music in Hart Park. Most Wednesday evenings you'll find a few church friends in the crowd. The city schedule is here. Watch our Facebook for alerts.
This is such an easy way to know and love our neighbors. Spread out a blanket and strike up a conversation. Then rock out.
All members and regular attenders are encouraged to stay over this Sunday for a bi-annual Church Members meeting. One hour, BYO lunch with our world famous Buck-O-Slice pizza available.
You eat. The Pastoral Team speaks. Everyone goes home better equipped to participate in the life and mission of our church. Our agenda this Sunday will include our efforts to hire an additional staff pastor and also updates on our work in Santa Ana.
Join us as we read 12 books in 12 months. This month we are reading a history book. Here are a few recommendations:
Church History In Plain Language by Bruce Shelly
The Great Bridge by David McCullough
The History of The World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage
The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs