Saturday, October 8 is upon us. Please do not forget the various things you signed up for in connection with the Walnut Family Festival.

Those who will help set-up and take down the booths should remember the following schedule: Set up will start around 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 7 at the Suzanne Park festival grounds. We will plan to take down the booths around 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. Those who will help set up please meet at the church by 4:15 p.m. on Friday.

The Festival Parade starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Our group who will march at the parade will meet by 9:30 a.m. at the gas station located at the corner of La Puente and Lemon in Walnut.

Two booths will be set up by Gospel Life. One will be at the Community Awareness area where other non-profit organizations will be situated. This will have our display of brochures and also our Blood Pressure and Diabetic Screening clinic. Several of our healthcare professionals have signed up for the clinic and many more have signed up to man the booth.

Another booth will be set up by the Youth in the Game area of the Festival. This will be a fund raiser for the Youth and the game they will offer is shooting paintballs at certain target(s). Please make sure to help our youth in their booth as well. A Prayer Ministry team will be available.

Most of the newly ordered red shirts with the GL logo were distributed last Sunday. Those who may not have taken delivery of their orders can do so at the Festival. Please make sure to wear this shirt at the parade. You may also use the shirts with the GL logo that we used a couple of years ago. Just roll up the sleeve with the US Census logo on it.

Thank you all for supporting our participation at the Festival!

The Men's Prayer Breakfast is tentatively set for Saturday morning, October 15. That's just the Saturday after this next one! All who plan to participate please sign up on the sheet provided at the church foyer.

We thank Leo Williams for taking the initiative to start this event which can become a regular part of our Gospel Life activities. Please invite your family members, friends and neighbors to come with you. But we need for our men to sign up so we will know that there is enough interest to hold this breakfast. It will be not only a physical breakfast but one to also feed us and strengthen us spiritually.

Please call Leo (626-965-5625) for further details and to let him know what breakfast item(s) you would like to bring with you. Perhaps items for a continental breakfast are what you would be asked to bring, unless you all prefer to have a cooked breakfast. But you will need to decide this among yourselves, and probably not much later than this coming Sunday.

Our theme for the month of October is the "Destiny-Driven Life." Pastor Joannie's sermons will revolve around this topic for the next three Sundays.

Let's not miss these messages that the Holy Spirit is preparing for us through her ministry.

Remember when Gospel Life went through the "Forty Days of Purpose" based on Rick Warren's book, the "Purpose Driven Life?" That was a few years back and it may be a good idea to re-read that book to refresh our memories about what a "Purpose Driven Life" is all about.

If we know what our purpose is in this life, then all our thoughts and actions can be truly "destiny driven."

Allowing God to Promote
 

"So David's fame spread throughout every land, and the LORD made all the nations fear him" (1 Chron 14:17).

We live in a day of self-promotion. Marketing firms are hired today to persuade others to view a person or situation in the way they want you to. There are millions of dollars spent annually by sports companies, personality agents, and marketing firms to create fame for their clients and products. They negotiate sponsorship deals and try to get the most money for the most exposure. The ultimate goal is fame and notoriety.

There is a great danger in self-promotion. Self-promotion is trying to move from the place you are to a place ahead of where God may want you. It is not wrong to become famous, popular or desired by others as long as it happens as a fruit of your calling. However, when you begin to orchestrate things in an effort to inflate who you are for the sake of gain, you have crossed the line.

David's fame was a result of his fulfilling his mission in life. When he failed, he repented. When he was successful, he acknowledged the Lord. Never do you see David exalt himself over the Lord. Yes, he made some selfish decisions that led to sin. But David could not be criticized for self-promotion.

We all must carefully balance the difference between marketing designed to inform and educate versus promote and manipulate. Describing the true attributes of a product, service or person is good marketing communications. However, persuasion designed to inflate reality is not.

Proverbs says, "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips (Prov 27:2).

Following this principle will keep you from moving beyond God's method of promotion.

(Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.) 

October 9 - Vonnie & Tito Cabrera

October 16 - Penny & Conrad Miranda

October 23 - Eunice Alinsod

October 30 - Lelit & Tony Luciano

November 6 - Ruby & Ding Dijamco

November 13 - Linda & Danny Santos