Posts filed under 'Church'
On december 9th, my good friend Reese invited Steven and I to her CD release. It was fabulous, she is a very talented saxophone player and singer. The opening numbers before her, were very good, great gospel music. It was a night full of fun and worship. Our other friend Britt was there and we all had a great time.
Ready to Go Out
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Britt and Sudste
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Sudi and Reese
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Last week my honey took some beautiful pictures of the sunset and I have included one of them. This past Saturday, on December 16th I was invited to a Tea Party. I had never been to one. It was wonderful, I had Candy Cane Lane Tea and Cranberry-Orange Scones.
San Diego Sunset
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Tea Party
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Fun Times Ahead
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Yesterday, I was able to sing with the choir at church, we sang from Handel’s Messiah, the Hallelujah Chorus, it was so much fun. I loooooove singing! After the service we took some nice pictures in front of a Christmas tree. It was a cold morning.
Hallelujah Chorus
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Merry Christmas
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Smile
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The Thanksgiving message from Pastor Jeremiah was superb. A timely reminder of what Thanksgiving is. A time for family and close relationships, a time to remember the blessings God has given us, a time to reflect on what this past year has brought, and a time to respond by giving to those who are less fortunate. My favorite part of the message however was an excersice he gave us to do.
Make a list of all the blessings God has given you, include at least 15-20 items.
Once the list is done, erase or delete each item and picture what your life would be like if you didn’t have that particular blessing.
After you have deleted all items, write them ALL again and thank the Lord with a grateful heart.
The greatest blessings in our lives are those that we are so tempted to take for granted.
As pastor said, it has been found that the degree to which a person is blessed is proportionate to the degree to which that person is ungrateful. Give a homeless person a piece of bread and he will be far more grateful than a rich man at a lavished banquet.
But souldn’t it be the other way? Shouldn’t those of us who have been given so much be the most grateful?
Psalm 30:12 ”O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever”.
On October 31st our church hosted its annual Royal Night, an alternative to Halloween. Families from the community were invited to bring their kids for free candy, rides and fun activities in a safe environment. Nine teenagers accepted Christ as their savior! 6,000 people attended - so many that hours had to be extended.
Our church has a Director of Servant Ministries whose name is Joyce. What she does is “connect” church members with opportunities to serve. First, she had us take the Spiritual Gifts Inventory. Sudi and I both came out exactly the same as #1 Mercy and #2 Giving. Joyce met with us both to listen to our life stories, our hobbies and abilities, etc. and then suggested some opportunities. For me, she said she had been praying for a photographer to take photos of servants in action, and doing something with photography is exactly what I was hoping for!
I decided that Royal Night would be my first event. With Sudi at my side, as the Name Collector and Target Finder, we managed to get about 12 great shots of servants in action (candid shots are the idea). Joyce plans to use the servant shots on the Shadow Mountain web site in Servant Profiles, on her Servant Photo Wall and in materials used to inspire more servants. She hopes to assemble a bigger team of photographers later so that we can shoot everything that goes on in our church.
Here are some shots from the night. “Servant Action Shots” withheld (with exception of Joyce’s below) since they’re for the Shadow Mountain site. I’ll post a link later when that section of the site is ready.
Kiddie Coaster
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Fun Factor
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The Octopus
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6,000 Attended!
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Giant Jugglers
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Joyce in a “Servant Action Shot”
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Posted by
Sudi in
Church on October 20th, 2006 at 11:17am
Steven and I went forward in church about a month ago. God had put it in our hearts to become members of our church for a while now. It has been a very fun process. First, on that day we met with a counselor who asked us a lot of questions and had us fill out a membership application. The requirements are, baptism, membership class, interview with the Servant Ministries Director and the actual “Right Hand of Fellowship Ceremony”.
Since Steven and I have both been baptized by immersion, me in 1988 and Steven in 2003 that is one step we don’t need to worry about. The membership class was Sunday, it was two hours long and so much fun, we learned a lot, had a great discussion and at the end the head deacon met with us and asked us questions about our faith in Christ. His name is Dan and he was very nice!
On Tuesday we were interviewd by the Director of Servant Ministries, her name is Joyce. Steven met with her privately at first for about an hour and 15 minutes and then I joined them. My time with her was great, but I will say no more since Steven wants to blog about our time with her.
At this point all of our information is being processed as we are being ushered into a new phase in our lives. When we started this process I knew it would be good for us, but I had no idea we would be so blessed. However I am not one bit surprised because whenever we give more of ourselves to the Lord, He always pours out blessings. He always, always, ALWAYS out-gives us.
In the next couple weeks we will get an invitation from Dr. Jeremiah to join him at the “Right Hand of Fellowship Ceremony” which will be on a Sunday evening. We will be introduced to the whole congregation and then we will be official. Following the ceremony we will celebrate with other new members at a New Members Reception. We are very excited! We are so happy and feel so privileged to know Jesus and to serve Him.
God is Good- All the time!
I finished reading The Ezekiel Option by Joel Rosenberg. It’s a very, very gripping book - hard to put down! Before chapter one starts, the author says, “The journey that follows is fiction. The prophecy upon which it is based is true.” Here is part of the prophecy from the Bible.
Son of man, prophesy against Gog. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am your enemy, O Gog, ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you and drive you toward the mountains of Israel, bringing you from the distant north. I will knock your weapons from your hands and leave you helpless. You and all your vast hordes will die on the mountains. I will give you as food to the vultures and wild animals. You will fall in the open fields, for I have spoken, says the Sovereign LORD. And I will rain down fire on Magog and on all your allies who live safely on the coasts. Then they will know that I am the LORD.” - Ezekiel 39:1-6
What Joel does in this books is paint a picture of what the “Gog and Magog” invasion prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39 might be like. The story is fast-paced. The chapters are very short (I love that) so you’re always jumping back and forth between different groups of people in different places. The main characters are well-developed and interesting (especially the old Mossad agent, Mordechai). Here is a cut-and-paste synopsis of the story.
When the richest oil baron in Moscow is killed, Moscow suddenly teeters on the verge of political chaos. Tehran races to complete its nuclear arsenal. Washington finds herself dangerously divided from her European allies. And in the dead of night, in the hills overlooking Jerusalem, a senior White House advisor uncovers a chilling ancient conspiracy as real as the morning headlines. Woven through the writings of the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel, more than 2,500 years old, are eerily prescient descriptions of modern countries then unborn, modern alliances then unformed, and an imminent day of unspeakable terror. Now, with the clock ticking down to war, two Americans are caught in the crossfire, wondering, Is the last judgment at hand?
I would classify the story as a mystery/suspense with some moments of action and drama (two of the main characters are in love with each other). If you combined the prophetic theme of the Left Behind Series with the action/suspense elements of the Jack Ryan Series, you would get something like The Ezekiel Option. If this is appealing to you, read chapter one. If you like chapter one, buy the book!
You can read an article about the Ezekiel prophecy here: Magog Revisited by Chuck Missler. It’s interesting to note that this prophecy couldn’t have been fulfilled until Israel became a nation again in 1948, meaning that now it can happen. Also interesting is the fact that the nations Ezekiel prophesied 2,500 years ago as being the enemies involved are presently full of Islamic fascists that make no secret of wanting to “push Israel into the sea” (president of Iran (Persia) also says the holocaust is a “myth”). And Russia (Magog), well, they’re not exactly know for their love of the Jewish people.
Posted by
Sudi in
Church,
General on August 10th, 2006 at 09:28pm
God’s mercy and protection were evident today as the attacks planned against the UK and the USA were bravely and strategically thwarted.
Today’s events were unfortunate, but they serve as a wake up call to all those who have critized Israel’s actions against Ismalic fascists. It seems like we have forgotten 9/11 and what it felt like to be invaded and terrorized but today we were reminded that 1) we are vulnerable and 2) the goal of Islam is to destroy not only Jews and Israel but also the USA.
Today in the Jerusalem Post an article read ” Israel is fighting for its own future, but it is hard to think of another time in history when so small a nation has done such a favor for the rest of the world. If free nations cannot bring themselves to show gratitude or even openly acknowledge what is at stake here, as they know they should, the least they can do is to avoid making Israel’s job more difficult.”
If there ever was a time to support Israel and their fight for freedom, which is our fight for freedom against the same enemy, it is now. And for whatever it’s worth we and millions of Christians are grateful to Israel.
We put together a list of resources regarding Israel. Mainly because the media (CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, BBC, PBS) is very slanted and conveniently leaves out important facts. We thought you would appreciate a Biblical perspective on the current situation. Feel free to send our link to friends, family and pastors. We hope these resources will be a blessing to you as they have been to us.
May the Lord Bless You as you study His Word and pray for Israel.
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12 :3
“See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth.” Jeremiah 31:8
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Psalm 122:6
RELIEF
Messianic Jewish Alliance of America
Relief for Israel
http://www.mjaa.org
EVANGELISM
Jews for Jesus
http://www.jewsforjesus.com
ONLINE RADIO
OnePlace.com - Christian Radio Online
http://www.oneplace.com
Jan Markell – LISTEN
http://www.olivetreeviews.org - Great Newsletter
American Center for Law and Justice
Jay Sekulow- Messianic Jew - LISTEN
Sign Proclaimation to Support Israel
http://www.aclj.org
Sharon Hughes - LISTEN
http://www.changingworldviews.com/
WEB SITES
David Reagan- Prophecy Scholar
Bible Studies
http://www.lamblion.com
Leo Giovinetti - Pastor
http://www.israelblessgod.com
Dr. Caner Christian Theologian- Former Muslim
http://www.erguncaner.com/new
Walid Shoebat - Christian - Former Muslim Terrorist
http://www.shoebat.com
Minnesotans for Israel
Ilan Sharon - Jewish
http://www.minnesotansagainstterrorism.org
Jerusalem Prayer Team
http://jerusalemprayerteam.org
Christians United For Israel
http://www.cufi.com
NEWS
Joseph Farah
Arab American Christian Journalist
http://g2.wnd.com
Bill Koenig
Christian White House Correspondent
http://www.watch.org
WEB BANNERS
http://reborn-by-design.com/if-project-logos.html
BOOKS
Standing with Israel
David Brog is Jewish
http://www.davidbrog.com
Judgment Day
Dave Hunt
Ezekiel Option - FICTION
Joel Rosenberg
Today was the day! Our church met for breakfast and then sent 1,700 volunteers out to deliver 35,000 Bibles and Easter service invitations to every household in El Cajon. We were assigned 36 homes on Primrose Drive.
It was a really awesome experience for us. About 80% received the Bible and Easter invitation with enthusiasm. We ran into a few “sometimes” church attenders (one that attends SMCC occasionally) that I think may just need a little extra nudge toward Jesus, and I think that our visit followed by Pastor Jeremiah’s message on Easter may be “it” for them! It seemed like everybody had a dog of some type, but it was no problem. 
We ran into three or four Christians attending other churches. One of them attends Journey Church and was very kind to offer us water as we were leaving and wish us luck. It was nice to know we had fellow Christians on the “battlefield” rooting us on.
We saw a couple other fellow teams out delivering Bibles while we made our exit. We also saw Bibles hanging on many doors all over the neighborhood. It’s awesome to realize that every home in a city of 100,000 now has a Bible and invitation to our church! When I multiply our experience by the other 1700 volunteers I know without a doubt that this event will have a HUGE impact and many will come to know Jesus (sooner or later) because of it!
We thank God for this opportunity to serve. Pastor John Gillette was an awesome leader and his team did an amazing job coordinating everything. It was quite a task to organize the teams and their destinations along with all the Bible bagging work and meal preparation.
All photos courtesy of Sudi. Check out the Bible Delivery Gallery and our favorite shots below.
Egg McShadowMountains
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35,000 Homes
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Sudi Loading Up
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On Saturday our church will be deploying 1,500 volunteers to deliver 35,000 Bibles to every home in El Cajon, CA.
Today 500 volunteers showed up to bag the “Good News.”
We have our assigment for Saturday: Primrose Drive, 36 homes.
Check out our Bible Bagging Photos.
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Show & Tell
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God’s Answers For Your Life
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Suzie & 3,500 Bags
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