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:
French Park Run Club
6:30am - French Park Grass Area
All Small Groups Good Friday Gathering
7:00pm - Houlton Home
More details here
Easter Sunday Gathering at the Ebell Club
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
Easter Sunday is this Sunday! Join us at the Ebell Club at 10:00am to hear the good news of new life in Christ. We’ll have a photo booth before and after service, enjoy coffee & treats, and have a special activity for the kids. Share the digital flyer located here with your friends, family, neighbors and on social media.
Does it really matter what you believe as long as you're a good person? According to the Bible, apart from believing what is true it's impossible to be a good person. While our culture today strives to separate beliefs and morality, the Bible won’t allow us to make this move. This is because religious beliefs don’t stay in our heads or hearts. They always make their way out through our hands, our mouths, and the way we live our lives. 1 Timothy 1:3-11 demonstrates the inevitable connection between what we worship, trust in, and believe to be true and the moral fruit that is borne in our lives. For this reason, Paul charges Timothy to put a stop to "certain persons" in the Ephesian Church who are teaching a "different doctrine.” Their roots are planted in error, they’re devoted to “myths,” all caught up in theological “speculations,” and their lives are marked by rotten fruit. On the other hand, those who have roots sunk deeply into "the gospel of the glory of the blessed God" will yield the fruit of "love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
All guys, 15 years and older, are invited to participate in a conversation where "men talk like men" about God. Join in at Hopper & Burr (202 W 4th St, Santa Ana, CA 92701) at 7:00 pm. Tonight the men are discussing how the truth of the gospel shapes our lives.
Join us as we strike up spiritual conversations with our neighbors in DTSA & French Park. We’ll take the initiative to get to know them, ask how we can pray for them, share the gospel of Jesus Christ, and invite them to our Easter Service.
We’re expecting the Lord will use this time : 1) to equip us for mission, 2) build up our faith, and 3) use us to draw Santa Anans closer to himself as he takes our very ordinary efforts and blesses them in extraordinary ways.
We’ll meet at the Ebell parking lot at 9:45am to pray before we go out. We’ll wrap up around noon at Hidden House for a quick debrief.
Reach out to Robert Lopez with any questions about getting involved.
Next week, our Thursday & Friday evening small groups are joining forces to observe Good Friday together. We’ll meet in the Houlton backyard for a time of singing, reading Scripture, prayer, and reflection upon our Savior’s sacrifice. Mark your calendars for Friday, April 18th at 7pm, for this special Good Friday gathering.
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:
French Park Run Club
6:30am - French Park Grass Area
Men’s Meeting
7:00pm - Hopper & Burr in DTSA
Neighborhood Outreach
9:45am - Ebell Club Parking Lot
More details here
RSVP with Robert Lopez
Sunday Gathering at the Ebell Club
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
From Dave Taylor, Director of Global Missions in Sovereign Grace Churches:
Matthew 28.18-20, ‘And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
The great commission that we’ve been given is far bigger than we could have ever asked or imagined... But how wonderful, comforting and inspiring it is to know that the One who has called us, is always with us, even to the end of the age. What a mission changing reality that is!!
With that in mind, here are a few ways that you can be praying for our wider mission in the month ahead…
Please pray for Mario Figueroa as he prepares to plant and launch Vine Church in Tampa, FL, USA, with their first service planned for Easter Sunday. Please pray that they would treasure and cherish Christ in this labor of love, and that many in Tampa would hear about Christ and Him crucified as a result.
Please pray for Walt Alexander, Taylor Hollingsworth, and Steve Teter as they lead the one day US Small Towns Summit on Thursday April 3rd, looking at what faithful pastoral ministry could look like for Sovereign Grace Churches, in small places. Please pray that the Lord would encourage weary and under-resourced pastors in their high calling as under shepherds. Instil a vision for faithfulness in pastoral ministry and bring pastors into healthy friendships where they can find help and camaraderie in gospel ministry.
Please pray for the pastors and wives of European SG partner and candidate churches as they meet in England from 22nd – 25th April for a time of refreshing and building relationships. Pastors from Ireland, UK, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Belarus will be attending with their wives. This will be the first time that many of the wives will have the opportunity to get to know each other in this way. Please pray for Ed O’Mara, SGC Area Leader for Europe, as he leads this retreat, and for everyone involved. That they’d be refreshed in the gospel, refreshed in their marriages, and that this would bear fruit for each pastoral couple as well as in our SG-Europe churches.
Please pray for our SG Asia-Pacific Pastors & Wives Conference, 8th-10th April, in Manila, Philippines. Folk will be traveling from Australia, India, South Korea, Pakistan, and the US to attend this time. Please pray for Dave Taylor, Jeffrey Jo & Riley Spring as they lead this conference, and for every pastor and wife in attendance. With over 200 registrations, from all over Asia-Pacific, we’re eager to see all that the Lord will do during this time.
Please continue to pray for Brian Kiama (Church Planter in Nairobi, Kenya) and Jonathan Leslie (Co-Planter in Kenya), as they continue the soft-launch of Sovereign Grace Church, Nairobi. Please pray that God would continue to bring the people that He wants to be a part of this new endeavour and that His Word would speed ahead and be glorified in Nairobi and beyond.
… May the One who has commissioned us, also give us favour and faith for the road ahead. Soli Deo gloria.
Looking for work? Have any friends or neighbors who are in need of a job? We’ve got the resource for you!
Check out the Orange County Job. Open to Santa Ana College students, Santa Ana Unified high school students, and all job seekers in Santa Ana.
When: Thursday, April 24, 2025 from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Where: Santa Ana College Campus - 1530 W. 17th St. Santa Ana, CA 92706
This is a free event, but registration is required for all attendees. Register and find all the details at the link below.
We began a series in 1 Timothy, an ancient letter from one pastor to another, penned for the good of the entire church. While privately addressed to Paul's protege, Timothy, it is publicly intended to shape the life of the Church in Ephesus - as well as the Church down through the ages. As we seek to live well in God's world (like we learned in the book of James) and avail ourselves of all the grace God has to give (as our study of the ordinary means has taught us) we don't do these things alone. This is because God has saved us into a community, the body of Christ, the Church. So how then should we live out our lives in the church? Or, to put it another way, what should shape our lives together as a church? More than anything else, the truth we'll encounter again and again in the pages of 1 Timothy is that nothing shapes how the church lives more than what the church believes.
