 Life is like a river, always moving and changing. Our family is growing yet again, with the addition of a soon-to-be daughter-in-law. She decided to change her name. My son, Andy, got engaged this past month to Anna Speakhard, and is planning a December wedding. Wow, this is going to be a little different being on the groom side of the wedding. No planning outside of the rehearsal dinner. With my three daughters getting married, I often thought of the traditional custom in the Philippines that the groom's family pays for the wedding. I thought about moving to the Philippines, but my language skills are not good. So, this wedding will be different, a change, and I think I will like it. I also like the name change our board voted on in August. Pacific Church Network. We wanted a name that is bigger than SoCal and it let's people know we are all about the church. Our doctrinal statement stays the same, but the name changes. Like this upcoming wedding, it's a little different, yet something I am excited about. We hope all of our association churches will be represented at our upcoming pastors' vision lunch to find out more.
Jim Smith
CB Southern California
Executive Director |
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November Vision Luncheon
 Some exciting changes are going on in our association. These changes are the result of much prayer, conversation, and counsel. One major change is our name. We believe that these changes position our association for a long future of gospel impact in Southern California and beyond. On Wednesday, November 6, we are inviting all our pastors to attend a free luncheon at which we will be announcing several significant changes for our new network and the four church plants we will support in 2014. Invitations to our pastors have been sent out, but if we have missed someone somewhere, please contact our office.
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Women's Retreat Season The Spanish and English Fall Women's Retreats have just been completed up at Pine Summit in Big Bear Lake. Oralia Cuellar, Fanny Arriaza, and their team did a great job planning the Hispanic Women's retreat. 165 women gathered for a great weekend of spiritual renewal and encouragement. Six women received Christ and 25 decisions were made to recommit to a life that is a testimony for the Lord. The English retreat had 213 women attend with many decisions to rededicate their lives to Christ. Many thanks to Vicki Smith and her retreat team for planning this annual event. |
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Men's Retreat Coming Up this Month  The Spanish and English Men's Retreats are coming up at Pine Summit on October 11-13. There is still room to sign up, but hurry. The guest speaker for the English retreat is Brian Howard, former pastor and current Church Planting Director for CB Southern California. The speaker for our Spanish-language retreat is Dr. Miguel Angel Darino, teacher and pastor. Both retreats will be on separate schedules at Pine Summit, but will share some activities and the meals. Don't forget your jacket for the evening bonfire....it will be quite cool. |
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Spanish Congregation Brunch  All pastors and wives from our Spanish-language churches are invited to attend a very special brunch in Long Beach from 9:00 - 11 am on Saturday, October 5. Reservations are necessary, so please contact our office at 909.944.5900 or info@cbasc.com. We will be announcing some exciting new changes coming to our network of churches and our new administrative assistant who will be working directly with our Spanish-speaking congregations. |
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Successful Independence Work Trip  Two churches, Calvary Baptist in Whittier and Calvary Baptist in Bishop traveled to Independence, California to help Pastor Perry White and his wife, Sally, at Sierra Baptist Church with several work projects needed around the church. Twenty people put in a full day of work on September 14 which included painting, laying a brick patio, gardening, tree trimming and more. Thank you Bishop and Whittier Calvary Baptist Churches. |
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Installation Services  Two of our churches set apart a portion of their morning worship services to publicly install their new pastors. On September 8, Pastor Rick Koole, most recently from Michigan, was installed as the new senior pastor of Fallbrook First Baptist Church, and on September 23, Bethany Church in Long Beach installed Jon Olson, recently from Oregon, as their lead pastor. Jim Smith was part of both celebrations and also concluded his 11-month interim position at Fallbrook. We welcome both of these men to our new network. |
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Changes at Sunrise  This past month, Art Valadez, multi-site pastor at Sunrise Church announced his resignation. Art has been at Sunrise Church for 12 years, assisting in its growth and expansion to include 6 campus ministries. Art will be moving to Santa Maria to plant a church in that community. He will finish up with Sunrise on October 13. |
Too Much Water
Chuck McCament, recently retired to Oregon, and former pastor of San Antonio Heights Community Church in Upland, had a seizure at home, eventually flown (Lifelift) to Portland to be checked-out thoroughly. The problem was hypoatremia - a low blood sodium level. It's complicated, but basically he was drinking too much water (!!) and that, coupled with a blood pressure med called hydrochlorothiazide, depleted his body of salt. He is back home and doing better. He would appreciate your prayers. Good to be a vet, they paid for the $80K bill in full! |
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CB Northeast Region Leadership Change  After 12 years as the Regional Executive Director (RED) of CB Mission Northeast, Randy Keeley has resigned and will pursue new opportunities. CBAmerica consists of 8 regions in America, with each regional director serving as a member of the board for CBAmerica. Our RED, Jim Smith, has appreciated working with Randy and will miss his thoughtful insights and dry humor enjoyed over the years. CBAmerica's Catalyst Mark Hoeffner and other leadership members of CBAmerica will assist the region in this transitional time. |
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700 Attend Apple Valley Joint Service  On Sunday, August 25, 2013, Apple Valley Baptist Church rented out a local high school for a Going Back to School Sunday. Pastor Chris Gillespie wrote in his blog, "Sunday was amazing! AVBC's four worship gatherings were brought together for one, big worship gathering at Granite Hills High School. It was such a blessing to see the gym fill up with our church family. What a joy it was to see 18 people publicly display their faith in Jesus by being baptized in front of 700 of their closest friends!" |
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"Little Feet and Friends" Ministry
 Dr. Frank Obien and his wife Rosie are members of our CB Church in Arcadia, Christian Bible Fellowship. In 2007 they founded a ministry to reach pre-school children in the Philippines. They now have 5 learning centers with 67 students. Each student has a sponsor that pays the $17 per month cost to attend. The centers are at a church, where the parents are given an option to hear the gospel, and over 50% of the parents have received Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you would like more information or wish to sponsor a child, you may contact Frank at agapeobien@yahoo.com. |
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 For more information, check us out on facebook at CBSC / Pacific Church Network. We love to add more friends all the time.
Sincerely,
Jim Smith
CB Southern California / Pacific Church Network
909-944-5900
info@cbasc.com
cbasc.com |
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| Religious Trends |  | |
Pew Research made some interesting observations. If you have time to plow through the report, you might find it interesting. They did find that one, Americans have long been, and still remain, the most religious people among the peoples of the Western nations, both in faith and in practice, especially compared to Western nations that are predominantly Protestant, as the U.S. is. Second, church membership and religious activity have waxed and waned and cycled over American history, but over the long run, over two centuries, both membership and activity have in net increased....Recently, for many nonconservatives, it is organized religion as a whole that has disappointed them, and many of the disappointed now opt for labeling themselves as "spiritual, but not religious."
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