Baptism and 1 year anniversary

A few weeks ago Norte celebrated it's first year of regular services. We had a cookout and Baptism at Bluff Park Beach in Long Beach. There was a fun game of soccer and some outreach as well. It was neat to hear some testimonies of a few people that have become a part of our church.

We do full immersion, so that means when we baptize, we get all the way in. It was special to have my wife Nicole assist me. The water was numbingly cold, but our hearts were warm.

We had our little cermony on the beach and had a few onlookers who must have thought we were crazy. Not crazy, just in love with Jesus.

What a blast we had!

Party!!!

So we had a party last weeked for Norte. it was really special for my family and I to be able to host a party for our new church family. it has been really neat to begin to call these people family, but we have made some great friends.
We are a wild bunch. We had dogs, burgers, and my new favorite,Bool kogi
(thats Korean BBQ). We also had a jumper (bounce House for you on the east coast), and a pinata (do i have to explain that one?) Nicole had so much fun that she had to sit down and ice her head. I guess she got into a game of dodgeball and did a header into a garbage bin. She's o.k.
it was also neat to be able to get some fringe church people to feel like part of the family. I have to say that this party served as a pick me up for me. I must admit, ministry is hard. it can be stressful waiting, hoping, and praying that the "baby" that you are nursing continues to grow and mature.
God has been so faithful in this whole thing. i do not understand why i get to do this. Why i have been entrusted with the care of these people, but i thank God for His power, His faithfulness and His patience with me.

My first wedding

Actually my first Bilingual wedding. As the pastor of a bilingual church i will be called on to marry some people. I will also have to officiate funerals and a quincenera ( the equivalent to a sweet sixteen) some day. I have never done a funeral, but like everything else i am sure I will have to some day.
Anyway...the wedding was nice. I did pretty well and it was actually kind of fun. I didn't charge the couple and i made them attend my church at least twice before i agreed to marry them. They did come to the church and said they really liked it. They are a neat couple that i hope continue to make our little church part of their sunday routine.

We have been here a whole year!

So....here are a few of the things that have happened.
- started a weekly service to reach spanish speakers.
- adjusted the service to a bilingual service.
- changed the hour of the service to 11:00am instead of 9:00am.
- added a guitar player to the worship team. Nicole and i were the only members.
- added a female back up singer to the team
- added a percussion player to the team. Nicole who played percussion stepped aside to play drums. Yes she has many talents.
- Began to use someone to do announcements
- church grows to 20. That is the current growth barrier we are trying to break. (Church planter lingo)
- had an outreach to the community that flopped. I did learn some valuable lessons through it though.
- had our grand opening at Easter. Our biggest sunday 25.
- had a joint outdoor service with "North". Norte gave away gifts to the community. We gained one family from that.
- I officiated the first of many bilingual weddings.
- was able to go away on vacation for two weeks and the church thrived through it.
- developed a norte support team.
- selected a point person for outreach and promotion.
- had someone accept Christ
- seen people grow in their faith
- seen people touched by God.

I am excited to see what else God will do through the faithful of Norte.

I hate this thought

I have read it and i have said it. I probably shouldn't say it out loud though.
It is inevitable, but some of the people that are helping me with this church plant will not be an active part of the church in a few years. I'm not talking visitors. I am talking about people invested in the mission. I hate to think of it.
I have been blessed to meet some really cool people that God has just brought to help out as we get started. Only God knows how long they will stay. These people may just stick around as the church grows and others may stay for a long time. I guess it helps to have experienced this in the past, but now that this is "my church." it brings a whole new meaning to it. I have actually been told by my wife to stop saying it because it involve someone that she has grown very fond of.
In the end God brings people into your path for an undetermined amount of time. How will you interact with them? How will you influence them? Our job is to love on them as long as we can.

Lesson # 40 When Life gives you lemons make burritos

Last month I worked really hard on a big event. I called it Dia de Familia. The idea was to invite the community to a one day event where they could do a craft, have some food, take a family picture, and of course i could meet them and try to convince them to check out the service the following day. Well on the day of the event it had rained an was threatening to rain again. I got a sick feeling in my stomach of the thought of all this work going to waste because no one showed. 

Guess what... no one showed.

So here i was trying to have a good attitude in spite of the fact that no one came to the "Big Event" that i put together. I was hiding it well, cause i was pretty upset. I was angry at God for the weather and the lack of response form the community. Not to mention i had spent over 400 dollars on food that was left over. What am i going to do with all this food?

After a few days and lots of prayer and conversation with God I felt a little better. I still felt like i had failed though. Then it hit me as i drove past the day-laborers on Paramount. I counted them 20, 30, 40...

At that moment God said feed them. I want you to feed them. So I started to talk about it and people were excited about it too. The next day we made 40 burritos and distributed them to these guys. 

The funny thing is I felt like i had just been through a test and somehow passed it. 

My pastor met with me a few days after the failed event and mentioned how positive i was. I then came clean and told him that i was just trying to be positive though i was very po'd. Can i say that? Anyway it was a few days later that God spoke to me about the day-laborers.

As i was giving the food away i felt that God had taught me a lesson. You see when i came out here God had said I want you to minister to hispanic people. That was why i came out here. He never said i want you to start and grow a large church. I guess i forgot that over the last few month.

So i am refocused again on the primary mission. Ministering to Hispanic people. If God wants to grow the church cool, but that will not happen at the expense of real ministry. 

Of course you can have both, but i just had to learn the lesson.

Lesson # 40 in church planting. Seek first the kingdom! Anything else is secondary.

Casa Hogar Belen

This week I was introduced to Casa Hogar Belen. Sadly in Tijuana mexico there are 100 or so orphanages that house the many orphaned children of Tijuana. As a church we will be taking a few trips a year to this orphanage. It was neat to be able to take a day trip and hang out with these kids. These kids range from 9 months to 19 years of age. Most of the kids were between 5 and 10. These children are also not adoptable. Since someone is alive in their family the government will not allow them to be adopted. So there they wait; till someone wants them or till they turn 18 and can leave. So sad.
We did a craft, played some soccer and had lunch together. I took this pic with my iphone at the lunch table. We got into a good discussion about what soccer team was the best. By far it was Chivas. Not MLS chivas for you american soccer fans, but the Chivas of Guadalajara Mexico.
Then we headed home. I don't like the trip back. Why? In order to re-enter the United States one has to cross the infamous border. It only took us a half hour but it is one of the saddest trips you will ever take. As you sit in your car you will pass all manner of people asking for money or selling trinkets. You might see a young girl juggling or an even younger boy singing his heart out in hopes that you will give him some change. Meanwhile u sit in your a.c. car and try to smile as your heart breaks.