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Chris Koch, who for many years was the worship leader at Village, will be leaving on Sunday to start a new ministry at The Hague. His responsibilities will include leading in worship, preaching and other pastoral duties. You can tag along on his adventure by checking out his new blog. Blessings to you, Chris!
We have an incredible worship team at Village. I'll admit that I'm totally biased about it but knowing that we have a solid team allows me to focus on what really matters every Sunday: the corporate offering of ourselves to God in worship!
Earlier in the month our leadership team recognized our need to expand our equipment in order to make the best use of our worship team. We needed a larger sound board (we've been working with an 8 by 4 channel board from day one) as well as several other items to enhance the quality of what we hear on Sunday morning. The leadership team set a goal in front of the congregation: raise $6,000 over and above what is given in the general offering. It took only three weeks for us to get the job done. According to our treasurer, we have now have $6,205 in contributions and pledges to the Worship Fund (the campaign continues if you still want to contribute).
This news is incredibly encouraging to me, especially as we approach the Easter season! Last Sunday we debuted the new board (a 16 channel Yamaha digital mixer, expandable up to 32 channels) and everything sounded great. Other features will be added in the weeks to come, thanks to the commitment and sacrifice of many (and thanks to the technical expertise of Matthew Stark). Well done! The leadership and the people of this congregation have successfully completed our first capital campaign in only three weeks! That's really cool. It makes me all the more excited about Easter!
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the passing of the law, championed by William Wilberforce, which prohibited British ships to engage in the slave trade (find out more here). If you haven't yet seen "Amazing Grace," then let me add my strong recommendation.
If you want to see where our focus will be after Easter, you can check out the new sermon series here.
And if you're wondering about our summer theme, here it is: The Summer of Love! It's going to be groovy, man. So pull on a tie-dyed t-shirt and together we'll make the world a better place.
I'd love to get some feedback as I prepare this summer series. Your comments on the questions below would help tremendously. Please send me an email.
What images strike you when you hear the theme: the summer of love?
What issues are important in relation to love?
List any Bible verses on the topic of love:
What OTHER topic(s) would you like to see addressed on a Sunday morning?
Would you be interested in attending a backyard barbecue and Bible Study during the summer? YES NO MAYBE
Just think...this could be us on the Town Green!
A few years ago I met Kristin at a Solarize event in Venice. She was then on her way to Spain to work in the design department of a Christian mission agency. Since then she's returned to the States and is now a student at Fuller Seminary. I had a wonderful experience at Fuller and as I've followed her adventures in learning it's clear she's having a wonderful experience too. Kristin is also an incredible artist as this recent post makes clear. Expressions of faith are not limited to black letters on white paper.
I haven't been blogging much lately because I've been focused on after-Easter and summer planning. I'm excited about my proposed theme for the summer. To review, this is what we've done in the past:
2004 Enjoying Life Together in Community (1 Corinthians)
2005 Establish the Work of Our Hands (Prayer)
2006 Organic Faith in a Plastic-Wrapped World
and now 2007...you'll have to wait
As for what we will study after Easter, we'll continue in the Gospel of Matthew. Lots of great stuff. More later when the brew is ready.
Bono gets it. Are Christians listening? Thanks to tallskinnykiwi.com for calling my attention to this clip.
Matthew Stark and I just returned from a quick trip to Miracle Ranch. It was a beautiful morning and so the drive was wonderful. We delivered basic cleaning supplies and formulated plans to get stuff down there on a regular basis. Fortunately, Cesar travels up to our area once a month and so now we have a good reason to get together.
We also became aware of another need that I'm determined to do something about. There is a boy, Jacob, who has been at Miracle Ranch for many years. Jacob is deaf. He communicates in basic sign language. It has become clear to the staff that Jacob needs treatment beyond what he is able to receive south of the border. If there is a doctor in the United States who would be willing to treat Jacob, they could apply for a humanitarian visa and so travel to the US for treatment. Does anyone know a skilled, kind-hearted ENT in OC who would be willing to help Jacob? If you know of someone, please send me an email.
What's with the early imposition of Daylight Savings Time? We spring ahead tomorrow. Will you be on time for worship? It will be too late for most people reading this blog. Oh well, "for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
My operating system even had to install a daylight savings time update. This could be more catastrophic than Y2K. And I've always wondered, does anyone wake up at 2 to reset the clocks? Just wondering.
This summer the Wright family vacation will include a week of camping at San Onofre. The boys are excited about it. Joy and Mackenzie will tolerate it. We'll be keeping our van on site but it will be needed as a storage locker for our surfboards. This means we need something to sleep in at night. We're trying to find someone who has a tent trailer we can rent. Do you know someone with a camper, RV or tent trailer who might be interested in renting it to us for the week of July 15 to 22? Please send me an email if you do. Thanks!
