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April 2013 Happy Easter - Jesus is Risen!
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Loyalty |
Years ago I became pastor of a church that had a strong history, but recently had gone through a church split and was struggling to stop the decline, which was already south of 200. I came in with some new ideas and many changes. Some worked and others caused some commotion. While on vacation, some board members approached my youth pastor and asked if he would restart the Sunday evening service which I suspended because of low attendance. He said they would have to wait for me to return from vacation and that he supported all the changes that were implemented. We eventually turned the church around and started heading toward the 500 mark. He "had my back."
I have always appreciated his loyalty, and we worked together successfully for many years. Loyalty brings peace and unity, allowing for focus on a given purpose. Disunity and divisiveness destroys, which is why God stresses unity so strongly. It took the disciples some time to become unbelievably loyal, even to the death, to Jesus' plan. But Easter brought them together--no longer did they have different ideas of what the kingdom of God was going to look like. They saw Jesus and understood His plan. They were not thinking about themselves anymore, but about others, putting Jesus first. Easter changed the perspective, and they suddenly became unselfishly loyal to the cause of Christ. Stand strong for the things of God and stay loyal.
Jim Smith
Executive Director
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Quick Link |
The Conservative Baptist Association of Southern California started in 1954 as an association of churches and ministries coming together to defend and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. We continue to establish, encourage and strengthen churches throughout Southern California, Hawaii and Guam.
As we welcome our new Church Multiplication Director this month and begin working toward our goal of planting 76 new churches by 2026, would you prayerfully consider adding CB Southern California to your missions budget to support us on a monthly basis. If you're already on our support team, would you consider increasing your giving. We need your partnership to see new churches planted for God's kingdom and see more people coming to Christ. Thank you! You may also click here to give online:
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Extraordinary Brotherly Love |
On Tuesday, March 12, Ron Thomas submitted his resignation as the senior pastor to the Elder board of Mapleview Baptist Church in Lakeside, CA, located east of San Diego. Ron has been on pastoral staff at Mapleview for 30 years, the last 15 as the senior pastor. Ron has been a strong bible teacher and outreach minded leader over his many years as senior pastor. He was instrumental in leading Mapleview through a major facilities renovation, church growth assessment, mission trips overseas and outreaches. He also has been involved with CB Southern California as a board member, ordination committee member, and mediation/coach for several churches in need. Ron's wife, Connie, has been the church office manager working alongside him for many years. Ron and Connie are planning to move to Arkansas to become the caregivers for Ron's unmarried brother who is in the later stages of Lou Gehrig's Disease. Ron's farewell will be on Sunday, April 7th.
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Temple Baptist Fullerton Celebrating 60th Anniversary |
In 1953, Temple Baptist Church was planted in Fullerton.
In honor of those who started this church, Temple Baptist will be celebrating their 60th anniversary on the weekend of April 6-7. It all starts on Saturday with a catered meal with friends and members gathering together. Jim Smith and others will briefly share at the dinner. On Sunday, former associate pastor Rev. Fred Morse will bring the message and Dave Musgrove, a former music leader, will lead the singing. In the midst of all this, current pastor Joe LoMusio will be celebrating 32 years as the senior pastor. We thank Pastor Joe for his faithful ministry at Temple.
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Montebello Christian Fellowship Celebrates its 90th Anniversary |
On Sunday, March 17, over 500 people came to Montebello Christian Fellowship to celebrate the 90th anniversary of their church, which began in 1923 as First Baptist Church of Montebello. Pastor Paul Taylor currently serves as the pastor and has over 200 regularly attending their services along with a very healthy Spanish congregation under the leadership of Pastor Josue Duran and a christian school. Paul started as pastor in 2010 and has done a significant work in the ministry of Montebello Christian Fellowship.
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A Day With Larry Osborne |
Cornerstone Pastors Network contacted the CB Southern California office to offer an opportunity for us to join other pastors May 9th for a day of learning with lead pastor Larry Osborne onsite at Northcoast Church, Vista, CA. In addition to Larry's teaching, the day will include plenty of time for informal discussions, Q&A with Larry, a tour of the Northcoast facilities, and the opportunity to connect with other pastors from across the country. The early bird registration fee of $159 includes a continental breakfast, lunch, breaks, a copy of Larry's latest book, Accidental Pharisees, and all other materials. After April 15, the fee will be $179. Registration is limited to 40 pastors. Click HERE to register. WATCH this video with Bill Nicoson and Larry Osborne.
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Great April Conference - Free of Charge
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Gather as many church leaders as possible and spend a day at this very practical and helpful conference at Centerpoint Church in Colton, out near San Bernardino. It will be worth your time and gas money. It's also FREE, so take advantage of this very great offer. Topics include: - How to make your Church a place where people want to come
- Messages that Change Lives
- Orange Strategy (Family Ministry)
- Children's Ministry
- Steering the Church
- Counseling Resources for the Small Church
- Youth Ministry
- and more!
Seriously, don't let this slip by. Highly recommended! For more info and registration, click here.
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Annual Meeting Embraces New Documents and Direction | The lights remained on all night, and our 59th annual meeting concluded with our constitutional changes, adopted CB Global statement of faith, new articles of incorporation, and new board members all approved. Among the 265 people in attendance were Keith Crosby, Senior Pastor of Fellowship Baptist in Riverside and Jim Leonard, Staff Pastor at Cornerstone Church in West LA who were voted in as our newest board members. Our new Church Multiplication Director, Brian Howard, spoke on our new focus on church planting. It is our goal to plant 76 new churches by 2026! Brian inspired many to dream, pray and participate financially in this exciting work of fulfilling the great commission. We also revealed a plan to "Empower a Pastor" in Central America. Thanks to all those who came. We hope you were inspired and encouraged for ministry in your area and together as an association of churches.
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"The Bible" Mini-Series Watched by Millions | Executive producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett's, THE BIBLE, continues to be a cultural phenomenon and draws audiences from across all platforms including books, DVDs, and downloads, inspiring viewers as it heads into the Easter weekend and the series finale. THE BIBLE, which has been viewed by close to 80 million people, took over the number one spot on iTunes for top TV show downloads. The series is currently ranked number two on the list of 100 on Amazon's Best Sellers list in Movies and TV.. read more
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Missional Apartment Outreach | An interesting missions outreach is starting in SoCal. It's called Apartment Life. It has an interesting and successful approach to ministry. There's a need for Christ in apartments as 95% of apartment residents are either unchurched or dechurched. What they do is place teams of 2 known as "CARES" teams (from local churches or church plants) to live in apartment communities with the goal of building relationships and creating Acts 2 type of community. They work directly with the owner/management to help them build "a sense of community." The CARES team is incarnated into the community and receive a huge discount on rent; their role would be to simply welcome residents when they move in, create social events monthly (bbq's, superbowl parties, etc.), and care for residents in times of need... all things that flow naturally as Christ followers. What's unique is that they partner with owners/managers who even pay most of the bill for them to be there. There's a financial benefit to the apartment owner as community creates retention, but more importantly, it allows the CARES team to build spiritual relationships, share the Gospel, and connect residents to the local church.
Apartment Life has been around for 13 years in 10 states and has been operating in SoCal for a little over a year. They currently have 16 CARES teams across the Southland serving the unchurched. Interested? Contact Matthew Svajda at 949-295-4956 or visit apartmentlife.org.
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Have a wonderful Easter. We are having our whole family over for the afternoon, after everyone is done with their church activities in their respective cities. We will all drive about one hour, including myself, to our home to be together in Rancho Cucamonga. Enjoy your time together.
Sincerely,
Jim Smith CB Southern California
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