Grace Church of the Valley

Today, Sereena and I drove three hours north of Los Angeles, to Kingsburg, home to Scott and Patty Ardavanis, and Grace Church of the Valley.  I was privileged this morning to preach for Scott.  We so enjoyed the church and making some new friends at GCV.

Dissertation Progress - Interview

On Wednesday, I visited North Coast Church in Vista, California to interview Pastor Larry Osborne.  The interview was a part of my dissertation research.  Larry Osborne is author of Sticky Church, a book that describes North Coast Church’s commitment to sermon-based study groups. At least 80 percent of the multi-site church attendees (numbering over 9,000 people) attend mid-week study groups in order to discuss the previous weekend’s sermon.  Larry and I were able to discuss this focus which solidly connects body-life with the sermon experience—the subject of my dissertation.

Here is a picture of North Coast Church’s main campus. The room with the largest capacity here seats approximately 500 people.

Other venues host attendees who hear the same sermon as those in the main auditorium. Pastors in each location shepherd the flocks and provide local leadership. The ministry activity that links the multi-venue, multi-site church is the sermon-based study groups.

In order to learn more, you’ll need to read my dissertation.  Thanks for praying for me.  My writing progress slowed quite a bit while we were travelling and preaching.  I'm back into it now.

Pastor Chris Mueller

Having return to Los Angeles, Sereena and I drove south to Murrieta, California to meet with our friend, Chris Mueller.

Chris is Pastor of Faith Bible Church where he has served since 2006.  At Starbucks, we were able to discuss our plans for Chris to minister at The Master’s Academy International Asia-Pacific Summit which is being held in Singapore this December. He and his ministerial associate, John Pleasnick, are coming to Singapore to serve TMAI having been supported by Faith Bible Church to do so. We are so thankful for FBC’s backing and prayers.

 I was privileged to attend a session of FBC’s Training Center that evening.

Six years ago, Chris Mueller preached at Impact Bible Conference, and we are excited to announce that he has accepted our invitation to preach again at Impact 2014.

Grace Covenant Church

Sereena and I are back in Los Angeles, having spent the weekend in Midland, Texas with Pastor Morris Brooks of Grace Covenant Church.  I preached and Sereena sang on Sunday.  GCC is a church plant which meets in a local Christian school.  I met Morris at the Shepherds’ Conference in Los Angeles in March and discussed with him the ministry of The Shepherd’s Bible College.  His interest in ministry training in New Zealand resulted in this visit.  We are excited about the partnership that is being established between Grace Covenant Church and The Shepherd’s Bible College through The Master’s Academy International.

Grace Community Fellowship

This past Sunday, I preached at Grace Community Fellowship in Georgetown, Texas.  GCF is pastored by an old friend from my seminary days, Larry Loden.  Here is a photo of us with the Lodens in front of the church.  I was also privileged to minister to the highschool group on Wednesday night.

Lakeside Bible Church

Sereena and I had a wonderful visit to Lakeside Bible Church, in Montgomery, Texas last weekend.  Our friends Ken and Kelli Ramey, Adam and Lisa Tyson, and new friends Bob and Barbara Ramey were tremendous hosts who spoiled us with great fellowship and wonderful hospitality.

At Lakeside, I preached at two duplicate morning services and also ministered in the high school group at a third morning service. Enfield, the Resolved worship band who arrange great Christian hymns for contemporary worship, were leading worship on this day. They also led a worship concert in the evening. We were extremely impressed with their hearts of devotion and wonderful example of selfless worship. We were able to hang out with the band members (John and Lisa Martin, David, Wil, and Ryan) in the afternoon and even discussed a potential visit to New Zealand.

The Lakeside congregation of around 400 were so attentive during the worship service and sermon.  That comes as a result of the faithful teaching and preaching from Pastor Ken Ramey, author of Expository Listening.  Ken, his wife Kelli, and Adam Tyson (Lakeside’s associate pastor) are all travelling to New Zealand in June next year to minister at Impact Bible Conference 2013.  We are really looking forward to it!

PS. We also enjoyed an hour on the water on Monday.  Here's a cute photo of Ken and Kelli with whom we enjoyed sweet fellowship.