Don’t forget. Beginning last Sunday, we are on a single service worship schedule. If you are serving on the Welcome Center team, that means you should arrive at 8:30 or 8:45 depending upon your task.
We will also be doing the video interviews after church. Drop in the fellowship hall and take a peek at the history and photo albums of Concordia’s history since 1961. Goodies are prepared by some of our ladies so that you will have a cup of coffee and a goodie and sit and chat a while.
Even if you didn’t sign up, please contribute to the video interviews. We are beginning with those of our people who are 50 years old and older. The 3 short questions are on the welcome table for your review.
Have you been following our Prayer Partner’s blog? If not, you will find prayer needs here: www.concordiatogether.com Please continue to invite others to pray. When they say “yes” send their email to mgsalomon@gmail.com and Melissa Salomon will add them to our special Prayer Partner elist. We are reaching 275 prayer partners on the road to 350 prayer partners. If you haven’t shared Pastor Schmidt’s video clip requesting others to pray on behalf of this new mission launch, here is the link to send it to your entire contact list! VIDEO HERE: http://www.twoak.com/dbif
Here are some easy tips to create relational bridges which are opportunities to serve others. Opportunities to share our lives with others, gives us opportunities to share the source of our joy and peace…..Jesus Christ!
8 Ways to Easily Be Missional
Jonathan K. Dodson
- Eat with Non-Christians. We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? Go to lunch with a co-worker, not by yourself. Invite the neighbors over for family dinner. If it’s too much work to cook a big dinner, just order pizza and put the focus on conversation. When you go out for a meal invite others. Or take your family to family-style restaurants where you can sit at the table with strangers and strike up conversation. Cookout and invite Christians and non-Christians. Flee the Christian subculture.
- Walk, Don’t Drive. If you live in a walkable area, make a practice of getting out and walking around your neighborhood, apartment complex, or campus. Instead of driving to the mailbox, convenience store, or apartment office, walk to get mail, groceries, and stuff. Be deliberate in your walk. Say hello to people you don’t know. Strike up conversations. Attract attention by walking the dog, taking a 6-pack (and share), bringing the kids. Make friends. Get out of your house! Take interest in your neighbors. Ask questions. Pray as you go. Save some gas, the planet, and some people.
- Be a Regular. Instead of hopping all over the city for gas, groceries, haircuts, eating out, and coffee, go to the same places. Get to know the staff. Go to the same places at the same times. Smile. Ask questions. Be a regular. I have friends at coffee shops all over the city. My friends at Starbucks donate a ton of left over pastries to our church 2-3 times a week. We use them for church gatherings and occasionally give to the homeless. Build relationships. Be a Regular.
- Hobby with Non-Christians. Pick a hobby that you can share. Get out and do something you enjoy with others. Try City League sports. Local rowing and cycling teams. Share your hobby by teaching lessons. Teach sewing lessons, piano lessons, violin, guitar, knitting, tennis lessons. Be prayerful. Be intentional. Be winsome. Have fun. Be yourself.
- Talk to Your Co-workers. How hard is that? Take your breaks with intentionality. Go out with your team or task force after work. Show interest in your co-workers. Pick four and pray for them. Form mom groups in your neighborhood and don’t make them exclusively Christian. Schedule play dates with the neighbors’ kids. Work on mission.
- Volunteer with Non-Profits. Find a non-profit in your part of the city and take Saturday a month to serve your city. Bring your neighbors, your friends, or your small group. Spend time with your church serving your city. Once a month. You can do it!
- Participate in City Events. Instead of playing X-Box, watching TV, or surfing the net, participate in city events. Go to fundraisers, festivals, clean-ups, summer shows, and concerts. Participate missionally. Strike up conversation. Study the culture. Reflect on what you see and hear. Pray for the city. Love the city. Participate with the city.
- Serve your Neighbors. Help a neighbor by weeding, mowing, building a cabinet, fixing a car. Stop by the neighborhood association or apartment office and ask if there is anything you can do to help improve things. Ask your local Police and Fire Stations if there is anything you can do to help them. Get creative. Just serve!
Sunday Wrapup:
- Bible Class on Prayerwalking. Did you know that 75% of Jesus’ ministry was done outside of the temple and among the people (and he walked everywhere!). Prayerwalking is praying ONSITE with INSIGHT. Did you know there has never been a mighty movement of God where he did not first call His people to pray? We have an opportunity to mobilize the resources of heaven with the only tool we have which is prayer. We walk through the neighborhood of our new site praying silently asking, “What does God want to happen here?”
- Last week we talked about what we can do to bring about the Kingdom of God (the hope and healing presence of God). We wait upon the Lord and we work while we wait, no matter how small my part is.
- This week we are encouraged to TRUST in the Lord even when you don’t see Him and things in your life don’t make sense. Based on March ch. 4
- TRUST THAT GOD HAS THE POWER TO CONTROL THE CHAOS.
- We trust when we know Jesus better and spend time with Him.
- Action steps: Spend time doing the things that increase your TRUST in Jesus.
—--Snippets from Pastor Schmidt’s message. Hear the whole message by clicking on the PODCAST link to the right.
Just posted a few minutes ago. Pastor’s video clip calling for more people to join us as prayer partners and pray during these next 100 days! Go to our special prayer partners blog here:
VIDEO HERE: http://www.twoak.com/dbif
REMEMBER! We go to a single service next Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 9:30am.
WELCOME CENTER TEAM: Please show up at 8:45 and we will pray together as a team at 9am.
PRAYER OPPORTUNITIES! If you missed the sign up for the Prayer Vigil today at church, there is still time! Send your preferred time (anytime between 9:30am on Saturday, June 27 and 9:30am on Sunday, June 28 to pray (1/2 hour or more) to Pat Frost at patfps103@yahoo.com
Invite people you know to pray too. They can become prayer partners with us by sending your email address to Melissa Salomon at mgsalomon@gmail.com You can see more on this on our Prayer Partner site: www.concordiatogether.com Check it out!
VIDEO INTERVIEW SIGN UPs - Reserve a 15 minute spot to tape your answers to three little questions. Your story is Concordia’s story and it is our common legacy. You honor God when you tell the story of what HE has done through you…..and HE gets all the glory! This will be taking place on Sunday, July 5 at 10:30 for an hour or so and again on Tuesday, July 7 beginning at 3:30pm at church. We are beginning with all those 50 and over. We want 100% participation!
PRAYER WALKING coming up July 6-10. There will be too sessions. One morning walk at 9am and one after work walk at 6:30pm. Sign up at the Welcome Center next Sunday.
Sunday Preview:
How do I participate in bringing about the Kingdom of God?
Strategy:
WORK and wait on God
WORK where I am, no matter how small I feel
WORK to bring healing and hope in my everyday world
One word summary: WORK
This week: Mark 4:35-41
What happens when things don’t go according to plan?
TRUST that God has power to control the chaos.
Memory Verse: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
This is what we will be talking about on Sunday.
- Pastor Schmidt
Important Prayer Needs for this week here: www.concordiatogether.com (see a new photo there too!)
Mission Launch/Family Meeting Today:
We have 50 days to the launch of the new preschool! We have 98 days to the launch of monthly services at the site. These need to look like the weekly worship services that will begin February 21, 2010.
We need the mission team to commit to 2 – 3 months of service in one of 6 mission teams:
1. Guest Services (how guests are greeted, treated, seated and degreeted)
2. Preschool Launch Team (marketing, facilities, site readiness)
3. Community Events. Events scheduled to December (July-Family Fun Day, August-SportsDay, September-Music Festival, October-Harvest Fair, December-Living Nativity)
4. Prayer (Prayer Vigils, Prayer Walks at the Site, fasting/prayer)
5. Organizational Site. (Getting the Oxford site ready for the move, pack up teams, preschool setup, history of this site — picture and story of EACH person here, YOU ARE the pioneers)
6. The Sunday Experience (worship/SS/Bible Class)
Email Melissa Salomon at mgsalomon@gmail.com to sign up for team according to your SHAPE. If you haven’t taken your SHAPE profile, she will give you one to complete.
We need FOCUS and TOGETHERNESS as we accomplish the MISSION TASKS over the summer:
This will take:
1. Going to one service beginning June 28. This service will be at 9:30am. It is a time of CELEBRATION (worship together), PRAYER, and working as MISSION TEAMS.
2. With space restrictions in the new site and alignment with our DNA as being a place where people feel at HOME, we will discover how to bring Sunday School into church and grow in our faith in an environment where families worship together. There will be no separate Sunday School per se. We will have an opportunity in this way to worship, pray, fellowship and work in mission/task teams each Sunday.
A. In the Heritage Service this will mean gaining Bible skills in church and a teaching sermon.
B. In the Praise Service this will look more like our Family Church experiment of two summers ago.
3. For children under 5 there will be no Nursery (babysitting) but an experiential curriculum where young children are taught the foundation of the faith. They will begin with these three concepts: God made me, God loves me, Jesus is my forever friend.
THANK YOU to Concordia volunteers for serving at the Windingwalk Art Festival on Saturday. Thank you to Jessica Robinson, the community event organizer for organizing this event. Thirty people made this event a success! Thank you for your service.
When you hear a word like “Trinity,” does that equate with booooooring? Often, in our minds, thinking about a discussion of this doctrine is equivalent to taking a sleep aid. But the truth is, Trinity isn’t dry doctrinal stuff at all. It affects our lives. It changes our worship. And, it calls for a response. What will yours be? Come Sunday, and find out.
And don’t forget to attend the FAMILY MEETING @ 9:45am in Room 5, where some specific “response possibilities” will be revealed.
–Pastor Schmidt
“I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live.” Ezekiel 37:14
Listen to the complete message by clicking on the podcast link to the right.
The Holy Spirit gives us:
VISION - of what God will do…”and you will know I am the Lord.” God can do the impossible.
LIFE – Life without God is limited.
PURPOSE - People with purpose in the Kingdom of God.
REST – Heaven is the ultimate rest but even now we can rest in the promises of God
Spirit=Breath. Not a one time event. Between the first breath and the last breath there better be a lot of breathing. Keep breathing in and out continually of the Spirit of God.
Seek the Spirit, feel the breath of the Spirit of life. Then, listen to the Spirit’s voice.
—snippets from Pastor Schmidt’s message for today.
Exciting prayer news and urgent prayer needs at www.concordiahome.info . Go to our prayer partner’s site, if you haven’t already been alerted to the prayer list for this week.
Mission Launch Family Meeting next Sunday at 9:45. Don’t miss the important family meeting on the mission launch.
Next Saturday is the Windingwalk Community Art Festival for children ages 2-5 and their families. Pray for this event. Volunteer and call the office this week at (619) 422-6606.
Our dear friend and brother Rollie Radichel went to heaven this week. We will miss him. Thank you for your prayers of comfort for Dorie and the Radichel family. We will remember him and celebrate his life on Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 1pm at Concordia.
Concordia Art Festival at Windingwalk on Saturday, June 6, 2009 from 10 to noon. If you are donating any baby wipes or other supplies for the art projects, please drop them off at the welcome center on Sunday. This is the last Sunday to deliver supplied!
Construction Project This Week:
News from the Mission Field in China: Our missionary Stephen Oliver gives us an update.
Maggie was leaking a little amniotic fluid, so the doctor put her on complete bed rest in the hospital. The doctor is concerned about two things: 1) infection and 2) premature birth. Maggie has completed the 34th week of pregnancy and the doctor hopes Isaac’s little brother can wait until the 36th or 37th week to appear.
Pray for Maggie’s heart to be calm and for her to get good rest and care so that Isaac’s little brother can develop well in her. Pray for all of us at this time.
Photos: VISITING MAGGIE
Stephen and Isaac visit Maggie and eat dinner with her in the hospital and Stephen washes Maggie’s hair using the method he learned from Kevin Ko (fellow student who’s wife was on complete bed rest for the last two months of pregnancy).
One of our goals is to create new connections with people and expand our circle of influence in the world. I came across this blog post on how to make conversation with strangers and found some encouragement and some nuggets. My favorite tip is the one I have marked in orange. It reminds me of my other favorite: “How is life treating you these days?” Which one do you like?
Seven Tips for Making Good Conversation with a Stranger.
Every Wednesday is Tip Day.
This Wednesday: 7 tips for making good conversation with a stranger.
I posted before about tips for knowing if you’re boring someone and tips to avoid being a bore. But while it might be fairly easy to avoid topics that are likely to bore someone, it’s much harder to figure out what to say if you want to be interesting. Making polite conversation can be tough.
“So where do you live?”
“Chelsea.”
“Really. I live on the upper east side.”
“Great…”
Painful silence.
Here are some strategies to try when your mind is a blank:
1. Comment on a topic common to both of you at the moment: the food, the room, the occasion, the weather. “How do you know our host?” “What brings you to this event?” But keep it on the positive side! Unless you can be hilariously funny, the first time you come in contact with a person isn’t a good time to complain.
2. Comment on a topic of general interest. A friend scans Google News right before he goes anywhere where he needs to make small talk, so he can say, “Did you hear that Justice Souter is stepping down from the bench?” or whatever might be happening.
3. Ask open questions that can’t be answered with a single word. “What’s keeping you busy these days?” This is a good question if you’re talking to a person who doesn’t have an office job. It’s also helpful because it allows people to choose their focus (work, volunteer, family, hobby) — preferable to the inevitable question (well, inevitable at least in New York City): “What do you do?”
A variant: “What are you working on these days?” This is a useful dodge if you ought to know what the person does for a living, but can’t remember.
4. If you do ask a question that can be answered in a single word, instead of just supplying your own information in response, ask a follow-up question. For example, if you ask, “Where are you from?” an interesting follow-up question might be, “What would your life be like if you still lived there?” If you ask, “Do you have children?” you might ask, “How are you a different kind of parent from your own parents?” or “Have you decided to do anything very differently from the way you were raised?”
5. Ask getting-to-know-you questions. “What newspapers and magazines do you subscribe to? What internet sites do you visit regularly?” These questions often reveal a hidden passion, which can make for great conversation.
6. React to what a person says in the spirit in which that that comment was offered. If he makes a joke, even if it’s not very funny, try to laugh. If she offers some surprising information (“Did you know that one out of every seven books sold last year was written by Stephanie Meyer?”), react with surprise.
Service Opportunities for May, June and July!
This just in! Our count is now 95 pre enrolled!
Two Months and One Week Before We Launch Our New Preschool! (Please pray everyday for this launch and also commit to participate in the events below.)
Packing Teams - We need to start packing boxes beginning now. Can you give 2 hours of time to pack and label? If you are available during the week or on Saturdays, please contact Tony Pacheco to sign up. This task will not require lifting if you are concerned about that.
June Art Festival at Windingwalk - Are you a kid-friendly person and children seem to gravitate to you? Then you are SHAPEd to serve as part of a two person team manning a craft table. Maybe you enjoy serving behind the scenes. You can serve on the set up team. You can help serve snacks. You can make one of the several batches of playdoh needed for that day. Recipe provided. Maybe you would rather donate baby wipes, pipecleaners, ribbons, lace, shiny material (for craft project). Drop it off at the Welcome Center. Contact Jessica Robinson or Melissa Salomon
July Family Fun Day at Windingwalk – Geared toward families with young children. We will need teams of volunteers to man games tables, supervise the bounce house, serve at the snack table, set up and break down, etc. Please contact Aaron and Melissa Partch if you would love to serve in this event.
Welcome Center – Where are you SHAPEd to serve in the Welcome Center on Sunday morning? Areas yet to fill for July: Welcome Table (both 1st and 2nd service), Host Handoffs (1st and 2nd service), Greeter (2nd service only), Ushers (2nd service only). Are you SHAPEd for friendliness? Then these three areas of service are for you. Speak to Melissa Salomon about what is involved and to sign up for service in July.
Prayer Answered Update on Family News:
To all our faithful friends and family who prayed for little Nate “The Champ” Chase, son of Mark and Amanda; he came home from the hospital today and is doing very well.
Nancy Chase
Sunday Message Notes: John 15:9-17
This is what it means to be a follower of Christ:
1. CELEBRATE. Worship this big GOD who is mindful of me. Make the celebration something that matters. How am I going to practice celebrating during the week?
2. CONNECT. Stay connected to the source of nourishment. How am I staying connected to Jesus, to others and disconnecting from the good for the sake of the best?
3. CONTRIBUTE. Time, treasure and talent BUT if you are doing this only in the church your vision is too small. God invites us to join him in healing the brokenness of the world, of relationships and the brokenness between God and those who do not yet know Him.
Love not just here (church) but where we are among our connections out there. Contribute who I am where I am.
We are not called to produce activities or ministries (although these are good things) but to produce LOVE. Love in a way that looks like Jesus (1 Cor. 8, 1 Cor. 13:4-7, 1 John 3:16, Eph 4:32-5:2)
Mostly what God does for you is loves you. Show others that kind of love.
PRODUCE LOVE.
(Listen to the whole message by clicking on the Sermon Podcast found on the right bar)
Installation of Mary Mason and Fellowship Meal: We had a wonderful fellowship and celebration of Mary Mason joining our Concordia family. Continue to pray for Mary and her work getting the preschool ready for licensing and staffing.
Art Festival June 6, 2009 at the new Preschool Windingwalk. We are hosting this Art Festival to serve and engage our new community especially children between the ages of 2-5 and their families. Would you like to donate: baby wipes, make cookies, make a batch of playdoh? Speak to Jessica Robinson or Melissa Salomon.
Preschool Update: 90 children enrolled! Here are this week’s photos of the construction progress. Pray for speed………..pray we meet our deadline…..pray we meet all the requirements and that licensing is also speedy,,,,pray we can open to capacity on July 27!
Prayer Items:
Pray for the health of little Nathan, Mark and Amanda Chase’s baby, who is still in the hopsital with complications. Pray also for Mark and Amanda during this difficult time.
Pray for the final talks and negotiations with a new Chula Vista Charter School to rent our Oxford site for their new school. Pray especially Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Family News:
Pray a special blessing for the newly married Mark and Trish (Partch) Dombrosky who were married at Concordia on Friday.
Andres Salomon and Hector Michel who serve as part of the Praise Band played at the Epicenter with their band Fusse on Saturday. They are trying out new music they will begin to record soon for their second CD. Some of our youth were able to attend the show.
Sometimes teachers use “connect the dots” art work to reinforce the learning of numbers or letters. Remember how that works? There a picture partially drawn, with dots placed at strategic points. You complete the picture by connecting the dots in order, one by one. This Sunday we’re going to “connect the dots,” as it were, to get a more clearly defined picture of what it means to be a growing, developing, “fruit-producing” follower of Jesus.
See you there.
—— Pastor Schmidt
8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other
Celebrate
Connect
C_________________
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Social Media Advancing the Mission. Have you become a fan yet of the Concordia Preschool and Childcare Center? On your FACEBOOK page search on “Concordia Preschool and Childcare Center” Click on the top where it says: “Become a Fan” Let your network of friends know about this new Preschool!
Art Festival in Windingwalk for Young Children and Their Families! Saturday, June 6, 2009 from 10am to noon we will host a special Art Festival and Art Show. Want to be a part of this event? Come to the Bible Class this Sunday at 9:45am to find out where you can serve!
Donate to the Art Festival: We need Baby Wipes, Pipecleaners, 5 makers of home made Playdoh, and 5 Cookie makers! Sign up at the Welcome Table.
Notice the Ticker on the Right Bar? This is the COUNTDOWN to the opening of our Concordia Preschool. Now you will understand the request below…….we need prayer partners!
Prayer Partners Update. Did you miss the prayer partner’s update? Sign up as a prayer partner here. You will also see the latest photos of the construction of the preschool. Exterior walls are going up! Important list of prayer items found there also. Don’t miss it! We have less than 2 1.2 months to preschool launch. Do you know anyone who will pray with us? Ask them to visit this site (www.concordiatogether.com) and sign up to be a prayer partner. We want to reach 300 people praying!
Welcome, Installation and Picnic on Sunday! Our new preschool director Mary Mason will be installed in both services this Sunday. After the second service, we will gather for a Fellowship Meal. Bring your favorite dish to share!
Concordia’s TJ Mission Project Update. The Tijuana Preschool/Community Center/Learning Center had windows installed on Saturday! You can check out the update here.
This week we held the first of the “Meet the Director” days at the Otay Ranch Farmer’s Market. This newsletter went out to all parents who have enrolled their children in the Concordia Preschool.
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