Is California Strategic?

Over the last several years we have frequently used the word “strategic” when explaining why we love ministering in Southern California. The apostle Paul seems to have prioritized strategic places – places of significant influence. I would be foolish to argue that California is the neediest place for church planting or missions. The world’s vast Muslim and Hindu populations, combined with the Chinese world, are surely the neediest mission fields. But California is certainly strategic.

Last week I walked through a mall in northern Ohio. I was impressed with how “Southern California” it felt. In store after store, the window displays made you feel like you were on a beach in Southern California. While northern Ohio is very different from Southern California, the retailers know how to make money: what young person wouldn’t want to dress, talk, and live like a Southern Californian?

Today I received a mailing from Focus on the Family. The envelope blares the words “Judicial Tyranny and California Lunacy.” It was the California Supreme Court that handed down the recent marriage decision. It was the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles that handed down February’s homeschooling shocker.

Maybe all of the Christians should leave California! Or maybe this is exactly the kind of place that we should prioritize for the sake of the gospel.

Rescue Adventure Children’s Event

It was 107 degrees in Menifee on Saturday afternoon. We had an outreach activity planned for 3:30 in the afternoon (it’s not usually this hot – and we actually planned the event for 2 weeks earlier, but were forced to move it). Yet God chose to bring 25 church children, 25 visiting children, and another 65 adults for an outreach event and picnic! Praise the Lord! We are also very thankful for the help of a Bob Jones University mission team who worked hard canvassing in the brutal heat.

National Church Planting Conference

I just returned from the National Church Planting Conference at Grace Church of Mentor, Ohio. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement. I was able to fellowship with church planting pastors from places such as Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, New York, Colorado, and Northern California, as well as missionaries to Romania, Kenya, and the Netherlands. Most of all, I came home with a fresh passion to be faithful to the Lord. Isn’t that what a pastor’s conference should do? You can hear the conference audio online here (look for the links on the left of the page).

Why $4.69 Is Poison for Menifee

Check out this blog post:

http://www.menifee247.com/2008/06/bringing-jobs-to-menifee.htm

Trues Arrive; Menifee Incorporates

The True family arrived safely last Thursday afternoon. Their truck also arrived without any problems. We got everything unloaded on Saturday, so now they are in the middle of the big job of unpacking and setting up the lab. It was really thrilling to have them in church Sunday morning!

Last Tuesday Menifee voters approved the ballot measure that will incorporate Menifee as a city on October 1 of this year. About 10,000 people voted, with 61% approving cityhood. The new city, which will be called Menifee, will cover 48 square miles and have a population of about 60,000. There is no way to foresee what impact this will actually have on those of us who live here. It will be interesting to see if the new city can be financially healthy – things have changed a lot since they did the feasability study. What impact will this have on the ability of churches to gain approval to build (or even lease commercial space) in Menifee? I suppose it largely depends on the city council and how desperate they are to utilize every possible inch of land to generate tax revenue.

In What Shadow Does Your Kingdom Outpost Stand?

Early this morning my family returned from a wedding trip to Indianapolis. The wedding was a good reminder that Christ chose to give Himself in self-sacrificing love for me when I deserved the opposite.
My mind is a haze as I try to get work done today, but this line caught my attention as I browsed through my backlog of mail: “This Kingdom outpost stands in the shadow of Islam.” The particular kingdom outpost in focus was a small group of believers in a remote corner of Albania. But what about your kingdom outpost? In what shadow does it stand? May God ignite us with an understanding of His love for us and make us courageous followers who long to establish kingdom outposts in strategic places like the shadow of Islam – and Southern California.