There are 5 community gardens spread throughout the City of Santa Ana. They need volunteers.
Each garden has its own volunteer schedule but becoming involved is simple. Volunteering at one of these gardens is a great way to meet some of our DTSA neighbors while tangibly serving our community. Questions can be directed to Angie Cunningham at angiesc11@gmail.com.
Baptisms are the biggest celebrations in our local church. They're a public demonstration of what God has done in a new Christian's life by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
If you've never been baptized or even if you were baptized as a child and you consider yourself a Christian and you'd like to be baptized, email kyle@sovgraceoc.org to begin the conversation.
This Sunday, we introduced a new sermon series in the Gospel of John. John introduced us to the Word. This "Word" is the answer to all of life's biggest questions and unlike anyone you've ever known or met or heard of. He's God, yet He's has always been with God. He's eternal and omnipotent, yet He dwelt among us. He Himself is the fullness of God and also the fullness of grace. His name is Jesus and we'll meet him and become increasingly amazed by Him every week as we dive deeper and deeper into this book.
The preached word is at the heart of our Sunday meetings. It's the moment when we worship God together as a church family by learning and being changed by His Truth. Through this means of grace, God implants His Word in our hearts and conforms us into the image of Christ. While the Holy Spirit is the agent of this work, we want to provide you with whatever resources possible to make the best of your time listening to the preached Word.
This past Sunday, we gave everyone a copy of the ESV Scripture Journal for the book of John. This resource has the text on the left hand side of every page and space for journaling or note-taking on the right hand side. Use it to take notes during sermons or to journal through the book as you follow along in your devotions. If you haven't received yours yet, ask an usher this next Sunday.
The Erkelens family will be heading out of town for over a month. We'll miss them dearly.
While we feel the absence of friends, we also want to pray that the Lord would use times like these to do His work in and through our friends. Pray that the Lord would build this family of 5 and build Christopher and Rebecca's marriage further into Christ. Pray for rejuvenation; that they'd return to us more equipped and more energized for Gospel ministry in DTSA.
We believe God has called us and positioned us to build a church in Santa Ana and to partner to plant more churches in Orange County. As churches grow and multiply, so does the need for godly leaders and teachers. We hope that many, if not all of these people will come from within our church, and thus, we want to give ample opportunities for men and women to serve and grow in their gifts.
For this very reason, we give opportunities to men wondering about a call to pastoral ministry. One of these opportunities is the opportunity to preach. We had the privilege of hearing God's Word from Jeff Schlieder this past Sunday, reminding us from 2 Samuel 7:1-17 of God's tremendous record of promise making and promise-keeping.
"If you're interested in volunteering with the Santa Ana Community Garden Program, simply show up to one of the gardens and fill out an application onsite. You can begin volunteering immediately and you accumulate hours and receive prizes for the more hours you volunteer. You also can take home any produce that is ready to be harvested! Woohoo! An additional garden, The Roosevelt Walker Garden located at 816 E Chestnut, just opened last Monday, June 25." - Angie Cunningham
This is a great and easy opportunity to serve our community and to meet some of our Santa Ana friends and neighbors. For more information, contact Angie Cunningham at angiesc11@gmail.com.
This last Sunday was significant for our small church. We finished our first Old Testament sermon series AND officially switched to morning services. God has been merciful toward us while He's positioned us to be merciful toward our neighbors. He's also called us to spread the message of God's mercy through Christ, which has been the theme of the book of Ruth from start to finish.
This year, we'll be spending the first Friday of every month. Church members who fast for all 12 Fridays (all 11 since we missed January) will be invited to a year-end party to celebrate the answers to our prayers. If fasting is new to you, here are some instructions.
This month, we'll be praying for peace in our city. Look below for a few ideas of topics to pray for along the theme of peace:
We planted a church to spread the joy of Jesus in Downtown Santa Ana. When that happens, people believe in Jesus and, the joy of joys, people get saved. In the New Testament, when people get saved, they get baptized.
Baptism is an outward evidence of an inward work; it's the evidence of the Gospel at work in saving sinners in DTSA. It's also the privilege and joy of both the one being baptized and the church witnessing the baptism. On the 29th, we'll follow the service with baptisms and then a potluck to celebrate.
