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Newsletter
November 2014
Compassion to those closest to Us
For many years my wife and I have been trying to convince my in-laws to move out to California. They have spent many winter months visiting us at our home for an extended stay. It was a tough decision, since they have lived in the same house in Illinois for 47 years. Finally, they decided to come. Along with many things we said, my father-in-law liked that I told him, "you and mom just go visit your other daughter in Seattle, and while you're there, Vicki and I will move your belonging to California."  So, this month, that is exactly what we are doing. It will be great to have them closer. I was reminded of the verse from 1 Timothy 5:8 when Paul wrote, "But those who won't care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers."  Even though many of us care for many people, it is important to care for those relatives that God has sovereignly ordained to be in our lives. 
 
Looking forward to change.
 
Jim Smith
Executive Director
Pacific Church Network 

 

Change Your Clocks
Don't forget to change your clocks this Saturday!! We all get an hour more of sleep. In case you didn't know, the official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time. For the U.S. and its territories, Daylight Saving Time is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Arizona. The Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy, even in Arizona, due to its large size and location in three states.
Soma Church Plant Launches 

Sam Ticas, our Santa Clarita Church Planter, reports on their exciting church launch: "We had a great time celebrating Jesus and the start of our Sunday Gatherings on October 19th. We had about 90 men, women and children celebrate with us on our Launch Sunday. After our Worship Gathering, we walked over to the park next door. We brought in a Taco truck and fed everybody. The kids played in the playground and we all had a great time forming new friendships. God blessed us in bringing several families from the surrounding neighborhood. A couple of these families were back the following week and several other families who came that day decided to become a part of Soma. We've already had opportunity to help a family that came, find their way back to following Jesus. We're thankful that our launch was effective in bringing new people to join us to establish Soma as a disciple-making church in our city. We're also thankful for all the prayers and support of our PCN family."

25th Anniversary Party! 
On Sunday, October 19 at 4:00 p.m., over 200 people filled Fil-Am Christian Fellowship Church in Long Beach to help them celebrate their 25 years of reaching their world for Christ. Special music, a video history of the church, a message from Jim Smith and fantastic food highlighted the celebration. Pastor Pol Pili was pleased at the huge turn out and expressed his delight in serving the church as the senior pastor since 2006. Fil-Am was planted by a group from Bethany Church in Long Beach and Oscar Baldemor served as their first pastor for a number of years. Congratulatons to Fil-Am Church.

Pastor and Wife Getaway 
This complimentary getaway is for the Lead Pastor and his wife of all PCN member 
churches. We value our pastors and want to refresh their marriages by offering this fabulously
memorable short getaway that includes two workshops, free overnight lodging and breakfast on Monday. Call or email us for more information TODAY if interested. 909.944.5600 or [email protected].

Inspiring Spanish Women's Retreat 
With 102 women from 10 different churches, the PCN Spanish-language Women's Retreat was held at Pine Summit on October 10-12. This weekend getaway in the beautiful San Bernardino mountains featured a variety of activities that the ladies enjoyed including workshops, the movie "God's not Dead," great music led by talented young women, and inspiring messages from Alejandra Mora Viveros, who did an excellent job in communicating God's word. One church mentioned that "my group of women came back excited and happy. It was amazing to be part of this experience." We thank Patsy Mazariegos, Mali Reguerin and Norma Bustos for their leadership and all their hard work to make this event happen!
A Time for Courage 
Over 240 men drove up to Pine Summit on October 3-5 to hear Thien Doan and Noe Lopez speak on what it takes to be a courageous man in today's world. Two programs were held the same weekend, one in English and one in Spanish. Fantastic weekend weather, great steak and salmon, good fellowship and many re-commitments to the Lord made this a profitable time in the mountains. Thanks to Emilio N��ez, Rolman Mazariegos, Walter Reguerin and Israel Gomez for giving time and energy to make this weekend run smoothly.
Improve Your Website
silver-keyboard.jpgThese days most people will go online and research churches before they make a visit. Also, it's not enough that you just have a website, you must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously. Pacific Church Network can recommend a person who is affordable and experienced in helping you get your church website looking great. He also can do "apps" for android, etc., so members can easily listen to messages from their phone, and other devices. He has been especially helpful in designing media players, forms, etc., and building tracking tools that send info from the site. Anything he's been asked to do, he seems to figure out in a short period of time. Below are some sample sites he has done. Contact our office at [email protected] for more information. 

K-Club with Ray Johnston 
Twice a year, Pacific Church Network sponsors a gathering of pastors and leaders from large churches with attendance over 1,000 to meet with one another to discuss matters that are unique to large churches. In November, in partnership with Transformation Ministries, special guest Pastor Ray Johnston will join our K-Club meeting. Ray is the pastor of Bayside Church in Sacramento, host of the leadership conference Thrive and author of many books, including "The Hope Quotient."  If interested, please contact our office for more information.
New Spanish Ministries Director
Pacific Church Network is excited to have Emilio N��ez join our staff on a part-time basis to help share our vision with our Spanish-speaking churches and leaders. Emilio pastors at the Spanish-speaking congregation of Bell Gardens Baptist Church (Iglesia Bautista de Bell Gardens) and has just finished writing his dissertation for the doctoral program he is completing at Fuller. Emilio has also taught at Talbot and Biola, and we are pleased to have him on staff. Emilio previously worked for Toyota and for 9 years was one of the top 50 salesmen in the U.S. out of a sales force of over 10,000.

Houston Mayor Drops Pastor Subpoenas

Christianity Today reported on 10/29 that "Houston mayor Annise Parker announced Wednesday morning that she is directing America's fourth-largest city to rescind subpoenas issued to five local pastors. The decision came a day after Parker met with Houston pastors (including Chris Seay, who wrote about the subpoenas for Leadership Journal), as well as clergy leaders from across the country who have defended the subpoenaed pastors' religious freedom." Read more 

   

Plan to attend our 2015 Annual Meeting

Next year's annual meeting will soon be here. On Sunday, January 25, from 3:45 to 8:30 p.m., we will be holding our annual meeting at Redemption Hill Church in Whittier, CA.   Come hear Emilio N��ez, Brian Howard, Jim Smith, Jesse Mendez, Vicki Smith and more. Workshops, dinner, and General Session. We will announce our 2015 new church plants at the meeting. Mark the date and plan to attend along with many more from your church.

 

Sunday, January 25

Redemption Hill Church
Whittier, CA  

What To Do When You Get Critical Email
Brian Howard

Opening up an email that is nasty or critical feels like a punch in the stomach. We have all likely experienced a critical email. Many of us have gotten dozens of them. Over the years, I have learned several principles that will help you choose wisdom over foolishness. What should you do when you get a critical email or harsh text message? Slow down, take a deep breath, and implement these five principles that could save you a lot of pain. Read what Brian Howard says on his blog.
Read more  

 

 

Church Planters Gather at Exponential

Last month, Pacific Church Network sponsored many of our church planters to attend the Exponential Conference held at Saddleback Church. This conference provided numerous opportunities to learn about: ReThinking Evangelism, ReThinking Outreach, ReThinking Witness,  ReThinking Preaching, and ReThinking the Great Commission. It also gave Brain Howard and Jim Smith a chance to interact and network with our church planters at the conference.

 

Pastor Cone Resigns

In October, Dr. Chris Cone resigned from his position as senior pastor at Mapleview Baptist Church in Lakeside, CA near San Diego. Chris started preaching on July 13 of this year, but after a short time, he felt that he and the church needed to go separate ways. Although a short tenure, both agreed this was best in the long run. Dr. Cone will continue at Southern California Seminary and Pacific Church Network will help Mapleview with an interim pastor during this transitional period.

 

CB Chaplaincy in Africa

Pacific Church Network supports CBAmerica Chaplaincy. The chaplaincy ministry has chaplains in the military, hospitals, and even as international speakers and professors. Chaplain Tom Pousche is one of those involved as an international speaker and professor. Tom just returned home several days ago from Nairobi, Kenya (Africa). Since leaving the U.S. on August 6, 2014, he spoke at 8 different churches and 2 major conferences. Tom had the strategic opportunity to be an International Professor at Africa Nazarene University & Manna Bible Institute. After each conference day, everyone could choose a workshop to attend. His one workshop was filled with more than 200 eager students wanting to learn more about 'Marriage & Family.' Each session lasted for about 2 hours. For more information about CBAmerica Chaplaincy contact Al Russell at 218-776-2813 or at [email protected].    

 

Van Needed in Hollywood
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Hope Hollywood is a church affiliated with Pacific Church Network and is located right in the middle of Los Angeles. They work with the poor and marginalized, and are always looking for those willing to serve alongside them. Whether serving food to the marginalized, discipling people in the gospel or doing labor and beautification projects at the church, they can always use extra hands. So please consider Hope Hollywood as you plan your short-term missions trips with youth or adults. They can provide room and board as well. Chris Barksdale, the Teaching Pastor at Hope Hollywood, writes... "We serve close to 200 people a day in the community with a warm meal twice a day. We can do this because we have a relationship with Trader Joes where we collect their soon-to-be expired food and bring it to the church to turn into meals. In order to do, this we need 15-passenger vans where we remove the back seats to transport the food. Currently our vans are on their last legs (we just placed one in retirement). So if you have a 15-passenger van which can no longer be used for transportation for insurance reasons, consider us as a destination for it! Thanks." Hopehollywoodchurch.org  

 

Pastor Appreciation & Electrician Needed
Many churches give special recognition to their pastoral staff during October, traditionally the month to celebrate Pastor Appreciation. On October 19, the members of Iglesia Bautista Fundamental, our PCN Spanish-speaking church in East Los Angeles, honored their pastor, Marcelo Bustos. Pastor Marcelo is also greatly appreciated by PCN for his willingness to help in the network any time we ask! At this time, his church is in need of a volunteer electrician to install some lighting. They have the materials, but just need some expertise to get the project completed. If you or anyone you know might be able to help, please call Pastor Marcelo at: (323) 268-8152. Thank you!

Just For Fun..The Nothing Box
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Check out this funny video on the difference between the brain of a male and female from Mark Gungor. We are wired differently.   

 

check it out


Correction from last month:
Pastor Dikran Shanlian has been at Armenian Evangelical Church in Glendale since 1986, not 1956. It's still a long time, 28 years!



909-944-5900  -  [email protected]  -  pacificchurchnetwork.com