Archive for 'lifegroups'
LifeChurch Weekend Rewind
Posted on August 10, 2008, by alex mclean, under church, lifegroups.
This was a great weekend at LifeChurch! We had near capacity crowds in our worship services and there was just a great vibe. Some highlights included:
- Launch of our “Supernatural” teaching series
- Aloha Friday’s Hula Worship
- Some great worship led by Karl Verkade & Christi McIntosh
- Debut of our Youth Worship band!
- A huge BBQ after our 11am worship service
- Baptisms!
Here’s a funny story for you. Our “baptismal” is a spa bolted down to a trailer. Well the trailer is stored across the parking lot at the Thrift store’s storage area. This weekend we went to wheel our spa out and lo and behold, it was blocked in by a broken down U-Haul truck. To make a long story short, we ended up pushing the truck out of the way so that we could push the spa out of storage. Let’s just say we aren’t going to let ANYTHING come between people and God! It all worked out well - you can check out the picture in the slide show below.
And here’s a little video of the Hula Worship from this weekend:
We hope you had a great weekend and that you left LifeChurch encouraged to grow closer to God and to live a rich and satisfying life!
-Pastor Alex
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Answers: Spiritual Growth, LifeGroups, & AWANA
Posted on August 5, 2008, by alex mclean, under church, lifegroups.
As we’ve been growing over the past few months we’ve been fielding quite a few questions regarding what certain ministries and programs are and how they are constantly being formulated to meet the needs of the Church. This is our best attempt to give some solid answers to some of these questions. If you have additional questions about the vision mission or direction of LifeChurch please talk to any of our Pastors or Staff.
Spiritual Growth
Q. I want to grow spiritually, what are my next steps?
A. There are some good “way points” for you to measure your growth at LifeChurch:
- Have you begun a relationship with God?
- Have you become a LifeChurch Partner?
- Have you joined, led, or hosted a LifeGroup?
- Have you been baptized?
- Have you gotten involved in a ministry?
- Have you found your SHAPE? (your gifts & calling)
- Have you joined a serving team?
- Have you led a serving team?
- Have you used your gifts to go and reach out?
If you’d like more info on any of these areas, please fill out a NextSteps Card (located in seats), or talk with Pastor Danny, or any of our pastors.
LifeGroups
Q: Where is the #1 place for spiritual growth at LifeChurch?
A: LifeGroups
Q: What is a LifeGroup?
A: LifeGroups are small groups that meet outside the church throughout the week. We encourage families to go together, but they can also be small men’s, women’s, singles, etc. groups. As long as they have these three characteristics:
1. Relationships (growing closer to others / Great Commandment)
2. Discipleship (growing closer to God / Great Commandment)
3. Multiplication (leader & future leader / Great Commission)
Q: What is our participation goal for LifeGroups?
A: 100%
Q: When are we launching LifeGroups?
A: August 23/24
Q: How long will they last?
A: 12 weeks (& future relaunch)
Q: What do LifeGroups study?
A: We’ve found that digging deeper into the weekly message is the best method for study. Occasionally we will all do the same material, which is what we will be doing with our next series, “Be the Church”. We ask that all teaching material be approved by Pastor Danny.
Q: Who is overseeing LifeGroups?
A: Pastor Danny Beteta (dannyb@getlife.tv)
If you’d like to join, lead, or host a LifeGroup please talk with Pastor Danny, or any of our pastors, or you can ask one of our ConnectingLife Staff.
AWANA/Midweek Youth Ministry
Q: What is AWANA?
A: An international discipleship program for children (visit awana.org)
Q: Who is leading AWANA?
A: Rob & Kristin Coblentz
Q: Who is giving AWANA pastoral oversight?
A: Pastor Steven Kelly
Q: When does AWANA Start & when will it meet?
A: October 1 & will meet on Wednesday Nights at LifeChurch
Q: How are we programming our Children/Youth MidWeek to be easy for families to attend?
A: Junior High will take place on Wednesday Nights at LifeChurch as well, along with AWANA. So our children K-5th grade will have programming on Wednesday Nights. High School will continue on Tuesday Nights.
As a staff, we are so excited about the the future, about more and more people coming to Christ at LifeChurch and growing closer to God and closer as a family. We want to do our very best to promote health and build capacity for more and more people to experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ!
-Pastor Alex
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relationships…
Posted on July 7, 2008, by danny beteta, under church, lifegroups.
As I was sitting at a recent staff meeting, I heard Pastor John’s vision for LifeChurch. He said, “our vision is to Know, Grow, and Go.” He added that this vision includes extravagant grace, relentless inclusion, and extreme compassion.
To me, these elements scream, relationships!!! We want to focus on having good relationships with people in the Temecula valley, welcoming everyone and being open to everyone. I recently read an excerpt from the book called, “Practicing Right Relationship: Skills for Deepening Purpose, Finding Fulfillment, and Increasing Effectiveness in Your Congregation” by Mary Sellon and Dan Smith. This excerpt talks about relationships and I found it to be an inspiration as we all strive to share grace, open our doors wide, and be compassionate with one another.
Sellon and Smith say that “each relationship we are part of has its own unique quality. Some people we click with, some we grate against and some we barely notice. Relationships often unfold haphazardly, without much thought or guidance. Whether we know it or not, however, we make choices that determine how we experience and interact with each other.” This is so true at all churches. Many of us have experienced a great deal of relationships and encounters with newcomers or other visitors at our church. The loving way of relating in “right relationship” brings life and fulfillment to each person involved.
When it comes to relationships, the Bible reminds us to have love in all of our relationships. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Our charge is to love. Our Lord Jesus describes the neighbor as the next person we see. Any person is our neighbor. “Love your neighbor” directs us to love whomever we are with, whether we like them or not.
Sellon and Smith go on to say, “The question from the Gospel of Luke in the Christian scriptures, “Who is my neighbor?” expresses a natural desire. Let me find someone I can naturally love and I will claim that person as my neighbor. The truth is that God gives us each person we encounter as a neighbor. Our neighbor is the person begging money outside the grocery store, the telemarketer who calls at dinner, and the person at the meeting who drives us crazy. We struggle to find words to define how we love other people. Love is the subject of countless books and songs. It is clear that love is central to the faith we practice. We know love is more than a feeling, but when it comes down to exactly how to love someone, the water gets murky. Though commanded to love, the specific directions on how to do it are less than clear.”
At LifeChurch, we believe that relationships can occur at all places, in worship, in children’s ministry, in fellowship (spending time with one another), but most importantly in small groups. We place a high value of developing relationships in LifeGroups!! This coming August we are launching our 2008-2009 LifeGroups and it would be a great way to initiate relationships, to deepen relationships and/or to work on relationships… Stay tuned for more information on our upcoming LifeGroups!
-Pastor Danny
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