Family Day

Took the family up to SLO today for a little family day. Avila Barn is one of my kids very first memories. It has been one of our favorite places for a long time. Most of that is because they sell the best turnovers in the world. In the summer it is Cherry and in the fall it is Apple. They also sell this Oallie berry thing but I have no clue what it is. They sell the dang thing all year so how good could it be if it never goes out of season?

Anyways our kids get to feed the barn animals and get themselves all sticky from the turnover so it is a really good time. The weather was nice but a little cold. Bummer because my kids are such twigs that we have to bundle them up.

We ran into a couple of Jen’s old students. She taught them in 7–10th grades at two different schools. It tripped us out seeing them because it made us realize how long we have been in ministry. They both just graduated from college, one Westmont, and the other from the Naval Academy. They are awesome guys and both love God. Good success stories.

I love our family days.

Defining a Process

I feel like we are in a stage of our church life where we are beginning to branch out beyond Sundays. This is a good thing but also requires that certain systems and processes be put in place. I have put a lot of thought and research into this to determine how we are going to do it. From this we have come up with a simple process of discipleship that will help us as a church to Live the WORD of God.

Our mission statement is real simple; We are going to be a church the
Lives the WORD of God through Worship, Outreach, Relationships, and
Discipleship. This has led us to develop a simple process to move people through. We have four expectations of people who call The Village Chapel their home church.

1. We expect our people to attend Sunday Services (Worship)
2. We expect our people to invite unsaved family and friends (Outreach)
3. We expect our people to be a part of a small group (Relationships)
4. We expect our people to serve on a ministry team (Discipleship)

Expectations may sound like a strong word to some but if you don’t expect something of people you will always get it. You got to know where you are going to get there. We have a clearly defined goal: To see people take the Word of God and apply it to their lives. If we don’t give them opportunities to do that then we will never realize that Goal.

3 Months Old

Toby turns 3 months old tomorrow and he has come alive! He is all smiles and talking like crazy. Needless to say our house is really loud with the other two children expressing themselves. Told Jen the other day that I am glad we had a third one. With this face who is gonna disagree?

So Much For A Lull

Went to church knowing that many of our leaders and people were gone for the holiday weekend. Got to church and discovered our worship leader Joe was at home with a swollen knee. In my mind I just prepared myself for an off day. I was wrong. The Holy Spirit showed up in a powerful way. The worship team stepped up and did a good job and both services were full of people.

We had this Santa Maria vibe going on today with several families visiting from the Mothership. It was good to have Chief Tim Dabney there to swear in Greg Nelson as a chaplain for the Lompoc PD. It was also nice to have the Thompson family visit from Utah. Fun to see old friends.

What made this morning so incredible was that God was moving from the start. All through the message I felt like it was hitting home in a real way and the people really responded. So much for the holiday lull that was supposed to be there. If you missed the message you can listen here.

Fellowship of the Brethren

Went down to Calvary Chapel Camarillo this morning for a quarterly pastor’s meeting. It is really great to fellowship with other Calvary Chapel’s in the area. Bruce Zachary, the Senior Pastor of CCC did an excellent job hosting the event and the food was really good. For time during the meeting they went around and shared what was going on and events to be aware of. I got there late which gave me a different perspective on the meeting. I saw a few people mouthing "Village Chapel?" Most didn’t know there is a new church plant in the area.

Several of my pastor friends were MIA but it was good to hook up with my pastor, Paul Berry and CC Guadalupe’s Reuben Cortez. CC Guad was planted out of CCSM as well so it was like a dad with his two boys. Really cool. There is something about the fellowship of the brethren that is anointed by God. Ir is so good to be apart of the Calvary Chapel Fellowship.

Funny Picture

Had this picture forwarded to me by Ryan Hester. We need a store like this because you should only have to go one place for a shotgun wedding.

Surgery Update

One of our own went in for surgery this morning. Richard Estes who along with his wife Ramona started attending our church on Easter went in for open heart surgery. What was supposed to be a quadruple bypass ended up being a quintuple bypass. I went and visited him this afternoon and he was doing well. He was able to grip my hand, open his eyes, and move his mouth. He knew who I was.

He looked really good after only an hour of recovery. Keep him and Ramona in your prayers. He is supposed to come home Sunday.

Vacation Part 2

The second day of the vacation started by me sleeping in and my wife bringing me Starbucks. What makes this so amazing is that this is the first time Jen has ventured out on the roads of OC by herself. No search party needed.

We lounged for a long time until we headed down to Irvine and Camping World to look at trailers. I got this bug to buy a trailer so the family can go camping. Well we saw more trailers than we care to remember but saw those we loved and couldn’t afford and those we could afford and could live with. Needless to say we didn’t get one. I was a little bummed because I saw one that I really liked. It could’ve been ours for 120 payments.

Went to lunch at Lawry’s Carvery in South Coast Plaza and had some sweet brisket with a side of mac and cheese. Really good.  I can say that about all the food we ate this week.  Has some killer Chicken Marsala Ravioli at the Macaroni Grill that was pretty impressive.

The time away was refreshing. I didn’t answer email, blog, or take business calls. Got more sleep in the last three days than in the last three years. Came back refreshed and loving my kids more. This trip was made possible by Jen’s parents who watched Caleb & Allie the whole time. Mucho Gracias!

Vacation Part 1

We left for Orange County around 4:30pm and immediately ran into southbound traffic. From Santa Barbara to San Fernando Valley we crawled along the 101. When you are going so slow it allows you to see so many more thing while you drive like the lady loosing her cookies on the side of the road. When we stopped for dinner at El Pollo Loco we got to see a husband give his wife the ol Hiemlich when she was chocking on a chicken bone. What made it so funny was that she didn’t miss a beat because she went right back to eating.

We finally rolled into Costa Mesa at 9pm to our favorite hotel. We’ve been staying there for 10 years! This is no special hotel but it is nice, comfortable, and the lady who serves breakfast still remembers us. We have stayed there at least once a year for 10 years. Most year it was more like 3-4 times. We got to rest and relax. What I noticed is that when you go somewhere comfortable it helps you relax much faster.

We did some shopping on the first day. Hit Nordstrom’s Rack. Excellent clothes for even better prices. Got a pair of shoes for half off. What made the day and trip memorable was the 2.5 hour nap that I took on Monday. Phenomenal! I haven’t taken a nap that long in forever! Jen took a 2 hour nap but Toby took the cake with a 3 hour one. Topped off the night with some great Mexican food. Had a Apple Chimichanga for dessert that was sizzling when it came out. Over the top!

Leadership Lunch

We had our second leadership BBQ on Sunday. We had over 100 people there to hear about what God has done and is continuing to do at The Village Chapel in Vandenberg Village. The food was excellent as usual as the Claborn’s served their world famous Tri-tip.

I got a chance to share how God has blessed us financially. That is always exciting. I also talked about the three expectations of those who call The Village Chapel home. We expect that

1. People attend Sunday Services. This seems obvious but we are passionate about Worshiping God and this is where we emphasize it the most
2. People join a small group. We don’t do many things at our church but the way we build Relationships is through small groups. On Sundays we face an audience of one, during the week we face each other to learn how to love others.
3. People serve. Whether in the church or through the church in the community we expect people grow in their faith by serving.

The meeting went well and I felt it resonated with our group.