REMINDER: ELEMENTARY CLASS WILL TAKE A BREAK every 5th sunday

This Sunday is the 5th Sunday in December, so we’ll only offer the Preschool Class. All kids 6 and up will remain with us after the singing portion of our service to hear the preached word outside of their usual classroom setting. We’ll have coloring sheets, our pastors will prepare the kids to listen well to the Sunday sermon, and children and their parents will hear the gospel side by side.

We believe this break provides an opportunity to bridge the gap between Children’s Ministry and the regular life of the church and get our kids ready for what comes next once they graduate from the Elementary Class. We also believe it provides a helpful pattern of rest for our Children’s Ministry volunteers who serve so joyfully and selflessly every Sunday morning.

DECEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 29

Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24: CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE

• 5:00pm - Ebell Club Courtyard

  • Find details here

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29: SUNDAY GATHERING AT THE EBELL CLUB

• 10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom

WE HOPE YOUR CHRISTMAS IS FULL OF THE RICHES OF CHRIST

As you celebrate this Christmas holiday, we hope you experience the blessing of being surrounded by family and the warmth of holiday tradition and celebration. More than anything, though, we hope you experience the comfort and peace of knowing that Jesus was born to save you from your sins, bring a peace like none other and reconcile you to your Heavenly Father. May your celebration of Christmas be a worshipful expression of praise to the One whom the Father sent to earth out of love for you.

SEE YOU TONIGHT AT 5PM

We’ll gather in the beautiful Ebell Courtyard to sing classic carols, read the nativity story, and hear good news of great joy. All are welcome to join us for these special moments.

DETAILS HERE

YOU’LL KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT

All throughout James, we’ve heard that wisdom is the way to wholeness. The path to living in God’s world, God’s way. But in 3:13-18, we come to a fork in the road on the path of wisdom. Not all that claims to be wisdom is wisdom. Not all who claim to be wise are wise. So how do we know who to look to? How can we tell who we should follow after and imitate? How can we discern the “wisdom from above” from “earthly un-wisdom?” James tells us we’ll know it when we see it.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

DECEMBER 24TH AT 5PM

We’re excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with a traditional candlelight service. We’ll gather in the beautiful Ebell Courtyard to sing classic carols, read the nativity story, and hear good news of great joy. All are welcome to join us for these special moments.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Invite whoever you’re spending Christmas with to come along as we share in the joy that Jesus was born to bring! You can find a copy of our digital flyer here that you can text, email, or share on social media to invite your family, friends and neighbors to our service.

JOIN OUR CHOIR

We’ll have a single guitarist and a choir. We encourage you to lend your voice. If you’d like to join in, please contact Pastor Kyle.

DECEMBER 16 - DECEMBER 22

Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19: FRENCH PARK RUN CLUB

• 6:30am - French Park Grass Area

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22: SUNDAY GATHERING AT THE EBELL CLUB

• 10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING

Several weeks ago, we asked you to pray for Emily Jones as she made her way to Santander, Spain to get to know the city and spend time with the leaders of a new church plant - Iglesia Gracia Soberana de Santander. A church led by Norman Pedd that is in the process of adoption into our family of churches. A church that Emily just might be called to go join in 2025.

This past Sunday, she had an opportunity to bring us in on how the Lord met her on this two week exploratory trip. Read her report below, enjoy some pictures she shared, and be encouraged that God is at work to spread the joy of Jesus all the way from Santa Ana to Santander.

Good morning, Church,

Wow, I really wrestled with what to say when writing this all out. It's really hard to properly summarize the conversations, the laughter, the views, the people, the city, the feelings, the works of God, & honestly just the whole trip.

To say that the last 2 weeks were amazing really does no justice, but I'm also pretty sure ya'll wouldn't appreciate a minute by minute dictation either.

An easy place to start is in gratitude. I do want to thank everyone for their support toward my trip whether that was through prayer, finances, and rides. To Pastor Jeff for all of the counseling leading up to my trip, and the meetings and godly advice I know is coming in the days ahead as we sort through everything.

While on my trip, I had 3 main objectives. Get to know the Pedds (The church-planting family) and the church, scope out possible job opportunities, and get a feel for the real life and community of Santander. When it came to getting to know the Pedds, God richly blessed our time together and they graciously opened their home to me and my friend Valentina. Every night, we had dinner together, laughed, shared testimonies, looked through old photo albums, shared the ways God  was at work in our cities, made jokes, and so much more. I was especially grateful to have Valentina during conversations as she always asks very thoughtful questions which prompted a lot of good conversation. We also got to host Barbara & Norman's second ever Thanksgiving at their own house with some of their old friends. That was a very fun time and we enjoyed the ingredient swap challenge as we figured out what the stores did offer. From our conversations, I'm especially grateful for their vulnerability in sharing God's work in and through their stories, and for the opportunities for Norman and I to really sit down and talk through his vision, what church is, and how I would fit into all of it. Their faithfulness to the church plant and God's leading is so beautiful and encouraging. They truly are a city set on a hill in Renedo - the actual location of the church, and faithful laborers to what God has put in front of them.

As for jobs, we were bounced around from recommendation to recommendation throughout the 2 weeks, but I can totally see God's hand in that as He narrowed me in on what looks to be a promising English Assistant job through the government.

For the last objective, the community feel, Valentina & I tromped the length and breadth of the 3 miles belovedly known as Santander and had so much fun! We learned a lot about the local history, met many wonderful people who said they hope to see me next year, ate some good food, joined a run club that has 70 members, splashed in the ocean, and overall got a very good feel of what it is to live in Santander. 

Now though that's just a taste of everything I could tell you, I hope this peaks your interest into this possible gospel expansion that I/we may get to be a part of. Personally, I'm feeling very good about this opportunity, but there are a lot more meetings & steps in my future as we discern God's leading. Prayers for this next stage of leaning into God's call on my life & for wisdom as the team pastors me in this would be so appreciated! And feel to always ask me questions about where I'm at in the whole process!!!

RESTING RIGHT BEHIND YOUR TEETH

Humanly speaking, what shapes the course of our lives more than anything else? James 3:1-12 tells us that the biggest impact on the direction of our lives comes from something quite small. The tongue. That “small member” of the body that possesses an outsize influence on what our lives in that body are like. As we walk down the path of wisdom, we are warned to seriously consider the words we use. Because God is a speaking God and our words are intended to reflect him. Because our words are part of our works, and living faith in Christ should result in redeemed words. Because our words matter. They aren't cheap, throwaway things. They aren't ours to do with what we please. They come with real consequences and can do all kinds of damage. But they can also do all kinds of good when we receive them as God's gift and use them for God's glory. Yet, this can only happen when we use our tongues to confess Christ as Lord, repent of our carless words, and welcome him aboard as the Captain of our ship. Setting our course. Controlling the rudder. Taming our tongues by his transforming grace.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

4 BIBLICAL HANDLES TO SPUR IT ON

On Sunday we held our bi-annual members’ meeting. This is a time to communicate what we wouldn’t communicate on a typical Sunday morning. An opportunity to look back on what God has graciously done in the last 6 months and look forward to where we believe he’s taking us.

Pastor Jeff provided us with 4 helpful handles for our envisioning our Santa Ana mission. A collection of biblical pictures, promises, and perspectives we should make our own. Read them. Believe them. Take them to the bank as we press into the next year of mission in our city.

4 Biblical Handles for our Santa Ana Mission:

1. We are neighbors

Acts 18:9-10 - "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”"

Like Paul in Corinth, Christ has a people in our city. We live among them. He’s using us to find them.

2. We are laborers

1 Cor 3:5-9 - "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building."

We are his instruments. The workers and tools in his hands. Some of us will plant gospel seeds. Some of us will water them. God will bring the increase & we’ll all enjoy the harvest.

3. We are determined

2 Cor 2:12-17 - "When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

Our task won’t be easy. Mission is hard. Disappointments will occur. Our plans might get altered. We won't "find Titus in Troas." Suffering will come. At times we might feel stuck. But Christ ALWAYS leads us in triumphal procession. He’s got us marching forward in his victory parade. Spreading the aroma of life in Santa Ana. Inviting our neighbors to join the march. Following after King Jesus as his happy captives - no matter what. Believing that he won’t fail to take us where he wants to go. Confident that wherever we’re headed is good. Declaring and demonstrating that there’s nothing better than belonging to him all along the way.

4. We are hopeful

Mark 4:30-32 - "And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Our band is starting small. Like a mustard seed, a relatively tiny, ordinary, and unimpressive little group in the midst of our densely populated city. “Yet when it is sown it grows up” into a tree that continues to grow larger and larger, bear fruit that’s sweeter and sweeter, and shelter more and more of our neighbors under the shade of its branches. We believe God will do just this.

It’s our prayer that God would continue to cultivate us into a kind of people brimming with joy and full of hope as we roll up our sleeves and put our hands to the plow of our Santa Ana mission. A church marked by fervent & expectant evangelism, a glad & gracious welcome to all our neighbors who are not yet among us, and deep & rich relationships enjoyed by those within us. A kind of people you want to invite others into. A kind of people our neighbors want to belong to. A kind of people who love being "us" because we are Christ's and he is ours.

MISSED THE MEETING?

Reach out to the pastoral team to get caught up on the important information and updates we covered last Sunday.

DECEMBER 9 - DECEMBER 15

Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12: FRENCH PARK RUN CLUB

• 6:30am - French Park Grass Area

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15: SUNDAY GATHERING AT THE EBELL CLUB

• 10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15: CAROLS IN THE PARK

• 6:00pm - French Park Grass Area

  • Find all the details here & sign-up to volunteer here