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CB Southern California Newsletter
May 2012
Happy Memorial Day
In This Issue
Easter Stories Around CBSC
Baptisms in 2011
Great Opportunity to Buy Bus
Sunrise Planting New High Desert Campus
Strategies for Helping the Poor
CB Chaplains Using Government $ Well
Food Ministry Growing in Hollywood
Hope Again's Walk of Hope
Sample Policy Documents to Consider
Free Legal Assistance
World Happiness Report
Crystal Cathedral Sold to Roman Catholic Diocese
Join Our Mailing List!
A Mother's Request

gateI liked my backyard. Pool and patio looked good. But my daughters, mothers of growing children who run around too close to the pool, said I needed to get a temporary fence put around the pool, otherwise they would not feel safe around our house. Since I love my grandkids and my daughters, I now have a new and improved backyard, with a temporary fence. We all are like that, I hope. We like what we have, but we always could improve it for the benefit of others. Paul said, "do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." (Phil 2:4 NASB) I wonder if he was thinking of temporary fences? How about understanding the need for new music, a more effective preaching style, using PowerPoint, different clothing styles, technology changes, new paint, clean restrooms or just a good attitude about things that change. Jesus seems to want us to continue to improve and make changes. Even if we are doing well, he said that the Father "cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more." (John 15:2 NLT) "Good is the Enemy of Great" is the first sentence of Jim Collins' business best seller, Good to Great. What can you improve?

 

jim
Happy Mother's Day

signature

Jim Smith
Executive Director
CB Southern California

Easter Stories from Around CBSC

guamWe thought you would like to hear some of the Easter weekend stories received from our CB churches around the association. 

 

Guam: Pictured here is the band playing at the Sonrise Service in Guam. Pastor Greg Atkinson wrote, "On Sunday morning we had our special SonRise Service beginning at 6:00 a.m. with a little over 300 in attendance and beautiful weather. We had many guests and Pastor Kevin gave a great message on The Stone Rolled Away... several people rededicated their lives to Christ and we had several seekers plus many Believers full of praise."

 

Oxnard: Pastor Shaun Garman from our new CB church plant wrote, "Sunday was Seed's first worship gathering.We met in the barn of one of our key leaders in Oxnard. Pretty great to get to bring the message of "A Seed must die in order for many to live" for resurrection. Got to close the message with 2 live lambs...atonement/scapegoat. We had around 80 people. The amazing part of the day was realizing how many unbelievers that have been invited into this new plant. 30-40% of those gathered were unbelievers. Our worship time was wonderfully weird realizing that many had never sung to Jesus their awe or wonder of what He has done for them. A "not so good" moment was when 2 of our team members miscommunicated about the bread & wine...WE HAD NONE!!!! We all shared a meal and many stayed until 10 pm at night. (We started at 4 pm.) Hope your day was wonderful as well and love being connected to you guys. Actually, wouldn't do it, AT ALL, without you."

 

Other Church Plants:  Creekside San Juan Capistrano met in the local AA building and had a great service. Mission 3:16 is now meeting at the New Senior Citizen Center in San Marcos and their attendance is almost at 70 people already!!

 

Perris: Pastor Ray Grignon of Temple Baptist wrote, "I believe the count was 340 in the English. The Spanish ministry was close to 300!!!"


eggsLake Elsinore: Dave Metzger, Senior Pastor at LakeHills wrote, "We had 60 at our egg hunt. Five decisions for Christ at our invitation during our service."

 

Rialto: Pastor Jay Pankratz of Sunrise Rialto wrote,"We had a total attendance Easter week of 15,329 with more than 200 that came to receive Christ at the conclusion of our services and personally prayed to invite Jesus into their lives."
 
 

Ontario: Pastor Dave Gaunt, Sunrise Ontario wrote, "We had 10 days of prayer back on March 21st - 30th, @ 5-6 a.m. and 9-10 p.m. From that commitment to prayer we saw so many volunteers work events and invite people that we were not surprised to enjoy our biggest Easter yet. There are so many stories of God's love and forgiveness impacting lives. 5 decisions for Christ, and a total of 1,449 on Campus between Wednesday night and Sunday Morning. "

 

Glendale:Pastor Dikran Shanlian of the Armenian Evangelical Brethren Church wrote, "The attendance grew from last year. During the week attendance averaged 80, but on Sunday morning it doubled, at least 30 people were standing. We praise the Lord for everything that He is doing." 


Wrightwood: Pastor Wayne Robbins of Sunrise Wrightwood wrote, "We had 3 great Easter services with a 37% increase in attendance overall from last year. We also had 6 people come forward for prayer and decisions." 

 

Oceanside: Pastor Hal Seed from New Song in Oceanside wrote, "We had 3,023 attending one of nine services. 70 came to Christ, were given New Testaments, and have appointments to begin a four-week discipleship program." A board member wrote, "I sat next to the hubby of Christina who gave her life to Jesus at the 9:30 service. (The husband has) been praying for this moment for 3 years.  

 

filmMontebello: Pastor Paul Taylor of Montebello Christian Fellowship wrote, "We had a great Easter week...The English and Spanish ministry did a lot of ministry together last week to reach the community. On Wednesday, we showed the Jesus film in Spanish with English subtitles and had people from the community visit for the first time and hear the gospel. On Good Friday we had a Bilingual service. I preached in English and it was translated into Spanish. We had a full house and first-time visitors. Saturday: Resurrection Easter Egg Hunt. We hosted an Easter Egg hunt and BBQ for our neighborhood with a large turnout from the community. Sunday: The English service had in attendance 230 people. Spanish over 100. Both services saw adults and children make professions of faith. A large number of the church body used their gifts and served to make all of these events and services happen. It was a great picture of the body of Christ serving in unity.   

 Baptisms in 2011
baptismRecently, CB Southern California asked for some information from our churches regarding attendance, new ministries, and other items. So far, 34 churches have responded and out of these churches, the total amount of baptized individuals in 2011 was 447!  Praise the Lord! That's an average of just over 13 per church.
 Great Opportunity to Buy a Bus
busThis good looking bus is for sale. It has been a reliable means of transportation over the years, but lately they have not been using the bus as often. So, Grace Church of Glendora is offering to sell their 51 passenger GMC bus. If you can use it, make an offer.
  

For more information contact Stan Smith: 626.335.4067 

Sunrise Planting a New Campus in the High Desert
sunrise
Sunrise Church in Rialto has closed escrow on its newest campus up in the High Desert. Many Sunrise families live in the High Desert and travel to the main campus in Rialto every week. After hearing of an opportunity to purchase a new church building in Victorville, CA, they purchased the building and are now are in the midst of forming Core Groups. This is the 5th campus ministry for Sunrise Church. The other campuses are in Beaumont, Rialto Mission, Wrightwood and Ontario. The campus pastors meet together weekly with Lead Pastor Jay Pankratz at the Rialto Main Campus.
The Impact of 10 Stategies for Helping the Poor Worldwide 

waterChristianity Today recently published a study that rated the impact of 10 popular strategies for helping the poor. Perhaps you or your church are involved in some of these strategies. Here are the most effective strategies they rated... 

1. Get Clean Water to Rural Villages
2. Fund De-Worming Treatments
3. Provide Mosquito Nets
4. Sponsor a Child
    read on 
CB Chaplains Using Government Dollars Well
strong bonds

CB Chaplaincy Director Al Russell has seen the government using our tax dollars wisely in providing funds for chaplains to lead military couples through a weekend filled with seminars on building a strong family, especially after a deployment. Al got to see Chaplain Christian Groenendal and his wife Christina leading a Strong Bonds weekend in Nashville at an upscale hotel with some 25 couples from Fort Campbell. The budget was upwards of $15,000 for the weekend. The couples are not charged to attend. Rooms, meals and child care are provided. The military is taking care of their families.

 russell

Each quarter our Army chaplains are allotted funding to hold such seminars. Praise the Lord. There is usually a waiting list for couples to attend. Pray for our chaplains as they conduct these seminars--that their marriages are strong and that they can be used to encourage other couples. Keep praying for all of our chaplains. If you have questions about chaplaincy contact Al Russell at chapruss@cbamerica.org or by phone at 218-776-2813.

Food Ministry Growing in Hollywood
ed
Pastor Ed Carey, of International Bible Fellowship in Hollywood, has seen his church's food distribution ministry grow tremendously into a network of churches working together to distribute food in their own communities. Last year IBF prepared 1,620 meals weekly, on average, but also distributed food to 16 other churches who in turn prepared over 6,500 weekly meals! Help is received from local restaurants and grocery stores who donate food to the church for this great ministry. In 2011, they gave food to 1,166 families and 2,523 individuals!
 
Hope Again's Walk of Hope
hope again
The annual Walk of Hope Fundraiser is on Saturday, May 5. Located in Hollywood, Hope Again is a great Christian organization that has been friends with many CB churches for years. Hope Again is dependent on the generosity of individuals and churches as they provide assistance for people who are in need and much less fortunate than most of us. All financial donations are gratefully accepted.

Come
Celebrate Hope Again and Cinco de Mayo at the same time, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. at the Walk of Hope, starting at the Hope International Bible Fellowship Church, 4903 Fountain Ave., Hollywood, CA or just send them a huge one-time gift. You can support them regularly as well.
Hope Again
5121 West Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027
Phone: (323) 661-4004
Email: information@hopeagain.org
Hope Again, Inc. is a 501(c)3 religious corporation
Sample Policy Documents to Consider

polExecutive Pastor website (http://www.xpastor.org/) has some interesting articles for church leaders on a variety of subjects. Check out the latest policy papers:
M
arriage and Divorce Policies: from First Evangelical Church of Memphis, Tennessee; Believers Church of Chesapeake, Virginia; Harvest Bible Chapel of Davenport, Iowa.
 
Sexual Offender Policies: from Hope Community Church of Raleigh, North Carolina; Autumn Ridge Church of Rochester, Minnesota. 
 

Free Legal Assistance
brotherhoodBrotherHood Mutual offers free legal help to ministries who face legal questions and challenges every day. You'll find free, ministry-focused resources and services offered by their own in-house legal team. Check out this free resource here.
World Happiness Report
happyIf you care to know, the UN published a study they did to determine the happiest countries in the world. The top countries are all in Northern Europe (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Netherlands). Their average life evaluation score is 7.6 on a 0-to-10 scale. The least happy countries are all poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Togo, Benin, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone) with average life evaluation scores of 3.4. But it is not just wealth that makes people happy: Political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption are together more important than income in explaining well-being differences between the top and bottom countries.  USA is 11th. Read the report
Crystal Cathedral Sold to Roman Catholic Diocese
Crystal Cathedral Rename
Recently the Crystal Cathedral was sold to the Orange County Roman Catholic Diocese. Faced with staggering debts and a bankruptcy filing, "Schuller himself gave his blessing to what once would have seemed unthinkable: the conversion of his sleekly modern masterpiece in Garden Grove, a place where fresh breezes blow through open walls and church services feature talk-show-style interviews, into a Catholic cathedral redolent of incense and ancient ritual.


In a letter to the court, the 85-year-old minister said he could not abide the thought that Chapman might someday use the cathedral for nonreligious purposes. Catholic leaders assured him, he said, that they would "take on your calling of proclaiming Christ's message to humanity" and "care for this campus like the treasure it is."

more details

 


Thanks for reading our newsletter. If you know of others who might be interested, please click on the 'forward this email' below and invite them to sign up to receive it on a monthly basis.

Sincerely,
 
Jim Smith
CB Southern California
909-944-5900

PS: Here's some extra info as a reward for those who read all the way to the end of the newsletter: I turn 56 this month.