YES! Si Se Puede

I just love meeting with our Youth Education Task Force Leader, Leticia. Her passion for students and their families oozes out of her pores. She loves students as Christ loves them and it is a huge witness to me.

This past Friday, we met with her to catch up on what is currently happening in our local middle schools. She comes in using Somatra (another key volunteer in homelessness) as a crutch to walk due to her arthritis. Leti gives me a big hug and is so excited to share her stories.

Hamilton Middle School just received a 900K grant with CSULB and YMCA to fund "YES! Si Se Puede". 34 Latino students will receive academic mentoring, digital media skills, career development, college preparation and physical fitness activities for three years. They hope to promote health and academic success to create a better message of Latino leadership. Unfortunately, only 15 families applied for the program. So Leti and a friend spent the weekend calling families. On the last day to turn in applications 40 families applied! Leti praised God for answering her prayers and could not hold back her tears. I cannot help but think how fitting the name is for this program and even for this specific situation.

Si Se Puede!

Yes, We Can!

I am so thankful to God that He has placed people like Leticia into our school system.

We have a current opportunity to provide snack packs for 1000 students at their annual Math Madness and Vocabulary event on March 6th. We need 1000 snack packs (bottle of water, granola bar, and fruit snack) on March 5th. If you would like to join with Leticia and Kingdom Causes please contact us at longbeach@kingdomcauses.org

Homelessness Assistance Training Feb 20th!

Saturday, February 20, 2010 9 AM - 12 PM
Long Beach Rescue Mission Samaritan House

1335 Pacific Ave, Long Beach (map)

Come learn from a panel of homelessness leaders in Long Beach!

Some of the topics covered are:

• What do I do when someone comes to me or my church asking for help?
• What resources can I refer people to?
• How can I tell if someone has a legitimate need?
• When is NOT providing the requested assistance the right thing to do?

Who should attend?

• Church staff (pastors, administrative assistants, etc.)
• Church leaders who deal with financial requests for assistance
• Anyone with a heart to help

All are welcomed! Please let us know if you plan on coming! Refreshments will be provided.
Contact Susana at susanas@kingdomcauses.org or 562-961-1902

If you know anyone who would benefit from this training feel free to pass along this information to them!

THE BIG MOVE

Somatra, volunteer leader for Kingdom Causes in Homeless Hospitality Group, shares her experience of collaboration with several local congregations to furnish empty apartments:

There we were, local churches from all around Long Beach, gathering together to join in a city movement to house the homeless. I was thinking to myself, “REALLY! This is so awesome.” How that looks like and the details of it were beyond me at the time but I knew I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity. It was not just an opportunity to serve a homeless person but it was an opening to new relationships with local churches and a chance to show the city that churches can work together under the provision of Christ! It was a true delight to see the heart and excitement of people in the room and I couldn’t wait for our first move-in project together.

Susana Sngiem from Kingdom Causes gave us all a call about the first move-in. It was short notice and it was right before Christmas. This was a crazy time for everyone but that didn’t stop people from helping. So many different churches got involved despite a few challenges and we were able to officially house our first homeless couple! Becky and Anthony have their own home now. They were so grateful and enthusiastic with all the furniture and items we were able to supply for them in a very small time frame. God works fast and all things are possible!

Through these local connections we were able to help another man named Tony who just recently moved in an apartment also. He was living in his car and has been sober for a while now. This was another opportunity for us to work collectively and bless him with some items for his new apartment. What was great about this move-in was how we worked so fluently together in getting the items and how quickly we responded. Keep in mind this was all during the holidays so it was a difficult time for people to help. But people did help and now Tony has all the items he need for his apartment. He was speechless and was in awe of how amazing God is. He didn’t say how amazing we were…he said how amazing God is. This was a sign of hope to me that God is present in his life and we are doing a good thing here. I am so proud of everyone involved but what makes this so significant is that all the glory goes to God. It’s not about me, it’s about Him. I’m just in for the ride. So I am excited to be a part of this and I can’t wait for future move-ins. It was without doubt a big move for Becky, Anthony, and Tony, a big move with the churches and people involved, and certainly the one of many big moves God will do.

If you are interested in theses move-in projects contact me somatra.sean@lbfc.org

Somatra Sean

Kingdom Causes Long Beach Homelessness Volunteer

Long Beach Friends Church

Inner City Ministries

Click here to read the article in the Press Telegram

Hamilton Parent Graduation

On Wednesday, December 9th 23 parents graduated from the Parent Institute for Quality Education at Hamilton Middle School. Parents learned how to prepare their children for college readiness by attending an eight week program. They were all Spanish speaking parents. Everything had to be translated. It was wild! Along with Principal Downing and Leticia, I was proud of the parents because of their courage to learn for the betterment of their children! I was proud that they would do this for their children and the next generation. I was just honored to be there to represent Kingdom Causes and meet the parents. It was a privilege for Kingdom Causes to be a part of the celebration by providing snacks. Thank you to the parents, Hamilton Middle School, Parent Institute for Quality Education, and California State University, Long Beach for their commitment to youth education and development.

Hamilton has another thing to celebrate! Hamilton and CSULB received a $900,000 grant from US Department of Health, Human Services for their project called "Youth, Empowerment for Success! (YES!) Si Se Puede!" They will provide academic mentoring, digital media skills, career development, college preparation, and physical fitness activities to promote health and success among local Latino Middle School Youth. The three year grant was one of just 12 community projects awarded nationwide! Congratulations Hamilton!

Thanksgiving at Hamilton

Principal Downing with parent volunteers

On Monday, November 23, 12 families received Thanksgiving boxes. Kingdom Causes Long Beach coordinated the donation of 12 turkeys and sides to identified families at Hamilton Middle School. Parent volunteers decorated cardboard boxes and assembled the meals. We are truly thankful to those who contributed to blessing these 12 families in North Long Beach!
To view more pictures visit our Facebook Page.

Applying Community Development

Within the past year there has been many happenings in community development in Long Beach, so here are just a few highlights that Kingdom Causes Long Beach has been involved in. I was able to work in Linden Avenue between Market and South Street as an AmeriCorps worker. Through the Atlantic Corridor Project, I trained two interns from Victory Outreach and St. Athanasius Church in Asset Based Community Development. Together we surveyed the neighborhood to find out the top concerns of the neighborhood. At the first neighborhood meeting we reported back the neighbors and placed in their hands what they would like to do about things. The neighbors decided to attract more neighbors to the meetings by hosting a neighborhood clean up. The eighth district, Rae Gaeblich's, office sponsored the neighborhood clean up. Several neighbors donated their time, treasure, touch, and talent into the clean up. The clean up started at eight o'clock and by 9:30 AM the industrial sized dumpster was filled to the top. It was encouraging to see neighbors come together for the betterment of their neighborhood.


In Downtown Long Beach, Somatra (another AmeriCorps worker) has been convening a group of neighbors along 9th Street between Atlantic Avenue and Martin L. King Jr Street. Neighbors met, many for the first time, during barbecues at a local church parking lot. From there the neighbors starting a neighborhood meeting. Together they decided to work on neighborhood safety and wanted to become a registered neighborhood watch block. First they had their local beat police officer share about the neighborhood. Just recently, Lisa, coordinator of neighborhood watch for Long Beach, orientated the neighbors on neighborhood watch. The neighborhood is finally an official registered neighborhood watch block!

These are just a few stories from the two neighborhood Somatra and I are working in. There are so many more stories of individuals and relationships developing through our involvement with these neighborhoods. Community development is difficult work. There is no set structure, hours, or boundaries because you work where you live. It takes lots of time, commitment and love. But it is so rewarding! The relationships that I have built with my neighbors is irreplaceable. The growth within my neighbors is encouraging to witness. I get to share life with them and see them take responsibility and ownership of their neighborhood. They have great commitment and care for the community. Sadly my time with AmeriCorps is coming to an end, but my time within my community is just beginning.

Kingdom Causes Long Beach is looking for an individual who would like to work with a neighborhood in North Long Beach as an AmeriCorps worker. If you have a heart for community development, bringing neighbors together to work toward a better community, then please contact us! To learn more please see the job description at the Kingdom Causes Long Beach website.

"You've Got Mail!" - Thank You Notes for Hamilton Middle School Staff

We spent the afternoon today serving all 104 staff members at Hamilton Middle School with a piece of "fan mail". Once the staff member got over the initial shock of being interrupted in what they were doing at the time and the fact they they did not recognize the person doing the interrupting they were thrilled to be getting a letter of thanks. If you can imagine because of the difficult economic season that we are in, the principal had warned us that there might be some initial suspicion when getting a note handed to them from a complete stranger. Perfect scenario for us! Our goal was to sow into their lives in the opposite way by giving them a personalized and hand written note of thanks from a member of a local congregation that was grateful for the hard work that they are doing.

The "we" mentioned above represents individuals from a number of the local congregations that are on board with our Local Congregation/School adoption effort here at Hamilton Middle School. Big shout out to Fountain of Life, Light & Life West and Church One! While there were more local congregations present for the delivery, these are the three that took the time to write all of the "fan mail" in the weeks prior to delivery.

Because of a partnership with Staples, Kingdom Causes was also able to include a gift certificate in the "fan mail" for all of the teaching staff! We know many of them leverage their personal finances for classroom resources and we wanted to stand with them this way as well. "Thank You" and here are some dollars to help support your important work.

The love for Hamilton Middle School's staff and students continues!

Are you interested in partnering with your local neighborhood school!? Call us and we'd love to have the people we have working on this city wide effort help you get connected. To see more pictures from FanMail please visit our Facebook Page.

Homeless Hospitality Teams Forming

Our desire to see the local cause of Homelessness have a united 'Church of the City' front took another huge step last night! It was great to see a couple handfuls of local congregations represented at our Homeless Hospitality Team information meeting. To all of you - thanks for your willingness to explore this incredible possibility of being a key part of a individuals transition off of the streets! Your passion to make a tangible difference in someones life was contagious and there was great shared energy in the room. We hope to help turn a bare apartment into a furnished home for the next identified person here in the next couple weeks through the LB Connections effort. And then again. And then again. And then again!

In a season where the Lord particularly stirs the heart of His Church for those who are under-resourced here in our city, we need to be working together as local congregations. Wouldn't you agree? Is it fair to say that duplication of efforts (at "best") and haphazard random efforts (at "worst") seem to not really be getting the job done. In fact, things like congregations continuing to serve meals in the parks (which is actually illegal and is definitely not winning us any friends or partners here in the city...even on Thanksgiving!) or having multiple congregations calling us and asking if we know who they can give their "currently being collected baskets of food for needy families" to are for us confirmation that this might just be a case of best intentions that are needing just a little more coordination and focus.

(Got that off my chest. Whew. Off my soap box now. Brad)

This is where Kingdom Causes and our congregational Homeless Hospitality Teams come in! Please don't misunderstand, we are actually excited that people want to make a difference but we just want to make sure that things are done with people's actual empowerment and long term solutions in mind! There are a lot of great organizations and efforts already in motion and there is much more that can be done! The reality is that our homeless (and the almost homeless!) neighbors are facing a year round challenge right here in our city. There are many parts to this puzzle and there might be a specific role for each of us to be playing. Kingdom Causes Long Beach is here to help connect and focus our individual and city wide organizational efforts so that Kingdom resources can be maximized in the areas of serving our homeless neighbors!

For those that are still interested and were not able to make this meeting be sure to contact us if you want to learn more about how you, your small group, your business or your local congregation might get involved too! You can check out the list of needed items at the Kingdom Causes Long Beach website on the Homelessness page. Stay tuned for the next specific update about this exciting LB Connections project!

Early morning public worship and prayer

I meet with a group of people to pray over our city. We were called together by a young man named Joshua who lives in Rialto. Thus, I call us the Joshua prayer group for the sake of simplicity. We have met on a semi-regular basis since August of this year. Anyone is welcome if you have a desire to see God's Kingdom established in Long Beach and would like to join with others to pray that further into being.

Following what we believe to be our direction from God to worship publicly in the city, we, the Joshua prayer group, met for a pre-event prayer time to prepare the ground on Friday, the 23rd. We began to pray and get direction to prepare the Park for the next morning's worship time. We felt like we were raising a tent of worship and prayer covering over the park and that we were to start out facing each direction and pray into that direction, starting with the north, the east, the south and the west. We prayed both what we knew and what we felt the Lord revealed concerning each direction into the City.

October 24, 7am at Bixby Park

Intercessors from at least 5 congregations in the Southland, 2 pastors and people from Love HOP met to publicly worship our King and Lord. We believe this is the way the Lord has instructed us to wage warfare. We spoke His praise and worship, we sang to Him, and our hearts were to glorify and please Him and to make His name famous in this city. We also prayed over the two pastors who were present, David and Paul, as representatives for the pastors in the city. Pastor Paul, who spearheads the WOW jam and connects with pastors from all over the city, prayed for the city and the pastors in it when we finished praying for him. Pastor David had had a picture of a white car all rusted representing a picture of the Church as we stand, and then a picture of a white car all clean and shining, representing the Church as He intends us to be.
It turns out that one of the people that came from Whittier leads a weekly Bible study and brought them down to Bixby Park to pray before the Gay Pride parade one year. I keep hearing of people who come from afar to pray over our city.
I know many people are praying now and have prayed in the past. I would love to have a means to connect with the past in order to more effectively pray into the present.

Thanks for the support at our 2009 Golf Marathon!

To all our 2009 KC Golf Marathon support team (including those who were not able to help out this year)...Thank you!!!

We did it! We survived playing 100 holes of golf in a single day on Monday. By the 10th hole we were thinking that we really should get out more and work on our 'game'. By the 90th hole our sore back, shoulders and hands were trying to convince our brains that playing this 100 holes would be sufficient until our 6th annual marathon next October!

It actually was not really about golf. For those that were able, know that we greatly appreciate the investment of your resources in us, the organization that we work for and the numerous lives of people who we serve on a daily basis here in Long Beach. We wake up every morning knowing that we get to be part of a team that makes a tangible difference in the lives of people - and we love it! In a challenging season for so many people, where we too have had to lay off some of our staff and each personally take a pay cut for the remainder of the year, we honestly can say that we couldn't continue to do all that we do without key support from people like you - as a part of our yearly golf marathon! Every little bit helps. Thanks!

Here is a picture of most of the 26 golfers who spent the day raising money for a great cause! These people represent Kingdom Causes varioud city staff, board members, key volunteers and other friends - 1/2 of which will not pick up a club for another 12 months :)

Church Leader Prayer - Nov 2009

Pastor Wayne Chaney
Antioch Church

white ELEPHANTS!

Leticia with her parent volunteers at Hamilton's new Parent Center

Leticia, Student Intervention Specialist for LBUSD and Youth Education Task Force Leader for KCLB, recently told me a great story that I can't wait to share. As one of her many projects for Hamilton, Leticia started a White Elephant gift exchange for the parents at Hamilton Middle School to encourage parents to continue to participate in their children's education. Jim Plante came along side Leticia and asked his neighbors to donate any items they are currently not using in their homes including kitchenware, toys, books, and laptops. One neighbor wanted to give Jim $50 dollars. Jim explained that he did not want to receive any monetary donations but household items. The neighbor insisted and Jim accepted the donation. As Jim delivered the White Elephant gifts, Leticia told him how she would like to wrap the gifts but did not have the funds to buy wrapping paper. Jim pulled out the fifty dollars his neighbor donated. A parent volunteered to purchase cellophane paper at LA in several colors! Isn't it great to hear how God provides even in the little things?!

After filter through the donated gifts, she had over forty White Elephant gifts and donated the leftovers to Goodwill. During the orientation for sixth graders, Leticia raffled off 27 gifts to families. Families met at the school's auditorium and Leticia told them that she will be raffling off gifts at the Parent Center. So a river of 200 families made their way to the new Parent Center. There were so many people Leticia had to raffle the gifts outside of the Parent Center. She made the families walk through the Parent Center first so that they would be familiar with the Parent Center. The rest of the White Elephant gifts are raffled at parent meetings in the Parent Center to encourage the parents to continue meeting. Currently the parents are transitioning from HUPA (Hamilton's United Parents in Action) to a PTSA. Please pray for this transition as the parents step into more ownership, leadership, and responsibility. Thank you, Jim Plante and his neighbors, for blessing Hamilton parents and encouraging them to care for their children's education.

CCDA 2009 Cincinnati

"You can't rescue, save, develop everyone, but you can LOVE everyone" is one of the encouragements I am taking away from the Christian Community Development Association conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Along several other Kingdom Causes Staff members, I attended my second CCDA conference. The mission of CCDA is to inspire, train, and connect Christians who seek to bear witness to the Kingdom of God by reclaiming and restoring under-resourced communities. I was so encouraged and inspired by my first conference in Miami, Florida, I returned again this year to gain more understanding and build greater relationships with those involved in community development. It is always encouraging to be in a room surrounded by like minded people who are pursuing God's kingdom. My favorite times were worshiping with Foster and morning bible study with John Perkins (pictured above). Perkins has the ability to rebuke and affirm with a Grandfather's love. He lives out Christ's love and I am encourage by his life as he continues to pursue God's transformation in communities. Workshops were a great time to connect with others in community development and to learn best practices. Kingdom Causes led several workshops within the week. One of my favorite speakers was Bart Campolo. He shared the real stories of community development that only the doers could connect with. Although he shared the harsh reality of communities, I saw the hope of Christ within it. We are sent to love our neighbors and it is God who changes them. I felt a release of responsibility and was humbled that God is truly the only one in control who can rescue, save, and develop people. I still have a lot to chew on and digest before I could figure out next steps within my own community. It was a refreshing time of building and spurring me on to continue within Long Beach. I will miss the beautiful fall colors of the leaves in Cincinnati.

A Shift in Leadership in Long Beach

We were so excited to be a part of the celebration of Wayne Chaney being put into leadership of the Ministerial Alliance on Sunday October 25th. Many pastors, civic leaders and congregations joined to celebrate this momentous occasion. Deputy Chief Luna, LBUSD representatives, and Fire Department presented awards to Pastor Wayne as a sign of their appreciation and support. Pray for Pastor Wayne as he begins to walk this new level of leadership in our city. If you are in church leadership please join us as we pray for Pastor Wayne Chaney November 4th.

Father Bill Thompson became ordained as the first Bishop Bill Thompson of the Diocese of Western Anglicans at a ceremony held at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach on October 31st. Many leaders from parishes around the country were in attendance to witness this historic event including leaders from Uganda and Canada. Bishop Thompson said his “greatest challenge as Bishop will be to expand the Kingdom of God through evangelism and church planting. This is vital for the diocese and for those in Southern California who do not know the Lord.” Bishop Thompson will continue as Rector of All Saints’ Anglican Church in Long Beach in addition to being Bishop of the Diocese of Western Anglicans.

To view pictures from the ceremony click below

Consecration of Bishop Bill Thompson

FORE Kingdom Causes Long Beach

I arrived at the Little Recreation Golf Course at 7 AM with my orange and blue plaid shorts on dressed as a golfer to compensate my lack of golfing skills. I find out I am teamed with two well-experienced golfers Jim Schorr and Frank Fry. I get even more nervous and embarrassed ,but soon those emotions were replaced with excitement. I had my own golf cart. It was my first time driving one. In a perfect world we would all drive around in golf carts. They are so smooth and quiet. I think I worked out more my legs because the parking break was hard to lock and unlock. We started at hole number five, it was a par 4 (one of the more difficult holes out of the nine holes). It was hard to distinguish the flag because it was so far away. All I knew was to hit it straight. I didn’t do as bad as I imagined. Frank Fry said that I actually had a good swing. The only bad thing for me was my contact with the ball. I would always hit the top of the ball. We hit five balls at one time and selected the best ball and lined up our ball next to it. I learned how to chip the ball onto the green with a wedge. Half way through the golf course I got tired and my arms started to get all noodlely. We were thirty holes in out of our 100 holes. But I pushed through. On our second time around the course I started to hit my stride. I was making lovely drives across the fairway that impressed me, my team, and Somatra (who joined me at the hole number one). I even out drove Jim at one hole. One of my balls hit the green and rolled off on the first shot! I made a few pars but mainly averaged around five shots per hole better than the ten shots I imagined I would do. It was finally time to take eat lunch and we were at 82 holes. Some of the golfers were already done! After lunch we push through to the last 18 holes, by that time I was already done with golf. We finished at golf hole number three where last year Jim Howell made a hole in one. He passed away this year so in honor of him we had a sign marking where someone hit the green closest to the hole on his or her first shot. No one had a hole in one but a few were a few inches from it.

Overall, I love my team. They were patient and encouraging. Golfing 100 holes is possible and I could do it! I wouldn’t mind doing it again. It was very encouraging for me personally to see so many people support Kingdom Causes Long Beach and me.

Many thanks,

Susana

Driving Rage... Range!

Last Wednesday I went to the driving range for the first time. I am practicing for the 5th Annual Kingdom Causes Golf Marathon on Monday, October 12. I didn't realize how difficult golf was. I came away with sore muscle I never knew I had (my elbow pits were sore) and a bruise on my shin. Yes my own golf ball ricochet off the side gate and into my shin. It is a lovely neon yellow and green. I am excited and nervous about the golf marathon. Excited to be raising money for Kingdom Causes Long Beach to fund our ongoing works and nervous about injuring myself and especially others. My suggestion is for everyone to stay out of my way! FORE!

If you would like to sponsor me or any other golfer please visit the Kingdom Causes homepage at www.kingdomcauses.org

IMPACTS at Hamilton

[from left to right: a local volunteer, Pastor John Teter and his daughter, Principal David Downing, and David Leonard] [Hamilton students delivering backpacks]

IMPACTS, [Individuals Motivating People And Communities Towards Schools] led by David Leonard, has set its focus on Hamilton Middle School. IMPACTS grew out of Church-School Partnerships where local churches committed to the success of Hamilton. Several churches including Fountain of Life and One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism Church have blessed the school and its students in very tangible ways. Just recently Pastor John Teter [and his daughter] help deliver 150 backpacks to students!

Results thus far for Hamilton: 150 filled backpacks of school supplies delivered (as part of a larger city wide effort that raised over 1300 for local schools!), a hosting of a teacher appreciation luncheon, revitalization of the parent center, gift cards donated by Staples and soon-to-be-given to the teachers (shhhh!) and a letter writing campaign that is under way that will send an "encouragement/thank you/we're praying for you" note to every single staff member at the school written by congregation members from various local congregations. And we've only just begun!

KCLB Board Member Profile Highlights: Tom Virtue

Tom Virtue has worked with college students with Campus Crusade for Christ for the past 37 years after coming to Christ in college his Sophomore year at Western Illinois University. Tom grew up on a farm in northwestern Illinois, and eventually he and Karen found themselves serving students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. While there they often discussed how they never wanted to move south of Ventura to avoid the Los Angeles area, but then when the opportunity came they chose to move to Long Beach.

That move to Long Beach was 30 years ago and they see it as one of the best decisions of their life. Through their kids going to schools throughout the city and working with several inner city college campuses a love grew for Long Beach in particular and cities in general! That has led to getting to spend time and work on campuses in some of the great cities of the US and around the world.

One of Tom & Karen’s favorite things in life is relating to their three grown kids and spouses who live in the area, all of whom they really like! On top of that they have the great joy of being grandparents to 2 of the most incredible kids in the world!

Galatians 2:20-21 has been a significant and powerful scripture from those early days as a college student until now… “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”

Long Beach Leadership Prayer Breakfast this morning

(Pastor Brian Apodaca praying at prayer breakfast)

What a great morning spent praying for and inspiring leaders of all types here in our great city! If you have not yet been to one of these you really should give it a try. If you have been in the past and haven't been in a while you should revisit it. It is one of the key times of the year that many Christian leaders from various spheres of influence (Church, Business, Political, Medical, etc...) are all in the same room together. It is quite a visible encouragement to see and be part of.

Dr Townsend, our guest speaker for the morning, talked to a mixed faith, but still predominately Christian audience, about the skills needed for any quality leader for challenging times such as these:

1. They need to have 2 teams around them - a technical/craft team and a do-life with team
2. They invest in themselves as an asset - personal and professional development
3. They resolve catastrophic thinking - help people with anxiety by remaining calm
4. They pick the 'low hanging fruit' - provide hope!
5. They remember/revisit their vision often
6. They be the leader that people need them to be.

What a great encouragement for all in attendance. What a great way to intersect how Biblical truths totally gel with with everyday leadership environments and situations. Imagine that! We are fortunate that in our city/county we have a great number of people who consider Godly wisdom and daily Holy Spirit direction something of great worth and value.

Good job to all who worked hard to put this together! Glad that we could help too. Well done.

Pastors Doug & Val Richardson of LB Christian Fellowship pass the baton

The picture you see above is from last Sunday's service at Long Beach Christian Fellowship. (sorry for the poor quality - all I had with me was my phone) It was a great privilege for me to take part in the service by sharing as one who knows firsthand the influence these leaders have had on the broader 'Church of the City' and in our city itself. As pastors Doug and Val have now completed their assignment of founding and serving this congregation faithfully for the past 26 years, it was quite a celebration - balloons and all!

In my brief sharing piece I talked about how when we look at impact from God's eternal perspective that each generation stands on the shoulders of those who have come before and how faithfully God's redemptive plans continue to unfold. What I forgot to mention (because I actually started to choke up) was that what Doug heard from the Lord about a united Body of Christ here locally, which he sowed into greatly here in the city, has been shared with other "faithful people who will pass it along to others as well" (Similar to Paul sharing with Timothy in 2 Tim 2:2). I know that this past 26 year window of time will be one that I pass on (Lord willing) to my gandkids one day as I share with them the passion I have for what I do!

If you want to learn more about what they will be doing now you can check out www.reinventministries.org. They have moved now to Northern CA.

Pastor Brandon Cook (and his lovely wife Rebecca) will be taking over as the new senior leader of LBCF after the past year or so of a smooth leadership transition. He is an amazing guy with a great heart or the Lord and I/we look forward to partnering with him and LBCF as they begin to write the next chapter of their congregational story.

(Brad)