A wide diversity of churches today starting in Barstow, CA with Richard Parent. We had a fascinating discussion about God's leading and providing as he shared some stories from when he was in West Africa as mission president in Burkina Faso. We realized that God was just as close to our ministries here as He is outside the U.S. The Barstow Church has some uniqueness in being close to two large military bases which provide them with several transient members. They have weekly fellowship meals to incorporate those who are new to the area and may not be connected to other families. One great outreach opportunity that Richard has is teaching four religion classes at the local community college. This gives him a venue to share his faith. While he cannot preach SDA theology he can present questions that lead many to come to him outside of class for further discussion. There are many challenges in this community as the local hospital that had SDA administration for some time does not have that now. They had to close their school 12 years ago, but they are working to build relationships with the community that will result in new growth. Put them on your prayer list.
Next I went on down to Loma Linda and met the pastor from the Loma Linda Filipino Church where I will be speaking tonight. We had lunch at a wonderful Asian vegetarian restaurant. Great food and even better fellowship. Daniel Belonio, the pastor, is an avid biker as well and the friendship was immediate.
I am staying tonight with Darold and Carol Retzer, former Northern CA Conference President. I talked with him for some time this afternoon about the Loma Linda University Church where he is the Administrative Pastor. This is a church of roughly 6,000 members with 12 full time pastors. One of their chief areas of emphasis is in their TV ministry which reaches out all over the world. We talked also about small groups. While they do not have an official small group program they do have what amounts to the same thing through service and ministry areas, Sabbath School groups, and other outreach ministries. One interesting program is called Winter Wednesdays. For five weeks they have soup, salad, and dessert and then a wide variety of seminars, some spiritual and others practical. This is a great way to incorporate and attract members from the community.
Scenery was interesting today, but not so amazing as the past few days. It actually got cold coming down into San Bernardino and I had to stop to put on my leather jacket. Tomorrow I'll attend church at Crosswalk in Azure Hills and then on to Kingman, AZ. See you there!
By the way, the top picture is of Darold Retzer and the bottom one is Richard Parent in front of the Barstow Church.
I read the comments about posting a map and updating where I've been. How would I do that? Any tech advice?
1 comment:
Greetings from St. Helena.
Enjoying the pics along with your daily blog! Some of your findings are making me excited to read the "rest of the story" in your book. Be safe and have a happy day tomorrow.
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