We received this note this week and wanted to pass it on to you guys – the ones who really deserve it.
I want to thank all the Real Life Church life groups for another amazing season of serving meals to the less fortunate in the Santa Clarita valley. This year, the need to help the homeless was even greater! The shelter recently reached capacity and the women had to be placed in motels in order to make room for the growing numbers coming to the shelter for assistance.
As has been the case in past seasons, the community of Santa Clarita came through with donations of clothes, meals, money- and most importantly time- to assist with a servant’s heart and not turn anyone away. Real Life Church has been one of the many faith based organizations to be there season after season and for that, we should be thankful to be a part of a wonderful church.
Here’s Brandon talking about being and becoming a church that follows the Holy Spirit. This is day two of the homework for Back to the Future week one.
What an amazing response we got from the Fan or Follower teaching DVD and response cards! We mailed out hundreds of letters thanking YOU for making a commitment to the next step in your journey with Jesus. As a part of that commitment, we recommended a few steps or resources that we know will help you grow in your faith, more actively serve, or learn some new truths that you can apply in your life.
I had a great conversation last Sunday with my good friend, Dennis – one of our Canyon Country Life Group facilitators. He was so excited because he took up that challenge and has been reading one of the recommended resources – The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg. I can’t remember his exact quote, but it was something to the effect of, “This book is so helpful and exactly what I needed right now!” You could see the enthusiasm of a fresh and growing faith in his eyes and hear it in his voice.
If you haven’t started yet, what is keeping you? You can visit www.reallifechurch.org/fanorfollower to see the list of resources we recommended. What a great way to kick off the new year – following through on that commitment you made!
But I know Dennis isn’t the only one who is following through! If you have taken advantage of some of those resources, leave a comment and let us know what is working (and even what isn’t). We want to hear what you are doing to move from being a fan on the sidelines to a fully committed follower of Jesus!
Just the other day my wife and I were looking back at 2009 remembering its sorrows and celebrating its successes. Of course each year always includes both, but one of the overwhelming positives we both brought up was Renovate.
Renovate started as an idea about two years ago, an idea to provide a setting for people hungry for more, a setting where groups of men and women can get away from the hectic-ness of everyday life and do serious business with God. That idea first begat a small overnight men’s retreat in 2008, and then grew to full size in 2009. Four times – twice both for the men and the women – we took 60-75 people to camps in the mountains and began truly dealing with our sin.
We joked early about calling Renovate “The Sin Retreat,” because that’s basically what we wanted to do – become aware of our own sin and then confess our sins to one another and pray for and encourage each other. Doesn’t sound like much fun, I know! But it turned out to be much more than fun. It turned out to be one of the most life-changing experiences many of us have ever had.
In the Spring, our men and women explored how the seven traditional deadly sins take root in all of us (pride, envy, greed, lust, sloth, anger, and gluttony). And this past Fall our men exposed the idols in our lives, while our women dove deeply into the crucial topic of forgiveness. Surrounding the now two-night retreat were two pre-meetings and four post-meetings, so the experience became a transformational journey that has left a listing impression. From these retreats have come numerous accountability groups, in-home Bible studies, spiritual disciplines, etc, etc.
God has truly used the Renovate journey to change us all, and we look forward to how God will continue to use it into the future!
In the summer our Life Groups rallied to make Fun Life prom an experience to remember. You can read about that here.
This Christmas, our Life Groups were at it again. Many of YOU pitched in to gather supplies, decorate, provide food, greet people… in general just make sure these kids and families had a Christmas party they would never forget. Listen to the gratitude expressed by John and Nancy Pantellas – directors of Fun Life in the Santa Clarita Valley:
Thank you all for making this night so special & an amazing BLESSING for our very special friends & their families.
The decorations were fabulous and I know it is always soooooo exciting for them when they enter the club house and it looks so festive just for them. It makes them feel important, welcomed, and so loved. Many of our special friends have told us that Fun Life is their only place that they can call their own, where they are understood, and feel free to be themselves. Their parents are so thankful and overwhelmed by the unconditional loved showered on their children. Nancy & I were pulled aside by so many parents last night to share how touched they were for someone spending time with their children. Also, that others would go above & beyond to make their children feel special. This is huge for these parents. We truly do not know what they have been through or go through as parents of special needs kids. They have painfully watched their children be rejected, overlooked, or not have friends.
One of the parents grabbed me to show me that her daughter, for the very first time, actually went up to someone new & took the initiative to greet the new girl & introduce herself by name and then go on to have a real conversation with that girl. Her Mom was overwhelmed with emotion because she said that has never ever happened before in her life, and because of Fun Life over these past several years, she has been making incredible strides in her development. WOW!
Thank you all because you helped make this possible and are truly touching lives and our community for the Kingdom of God. The parents are always so impressed by RLC coming out to serve their kids.
You have BLESSED many lives!
If you have ever helped with a Fun Life event, leave a comment below and tell us about your experience!
It was January of 2009 when we first launched the Life Journal church wide. That means many of you have now been reading the Bible on a regular basis for a full year! What a great reason to celebrate! Listen to these quotes from the RLC Facebook group discussion board:
“The Life Journal has really helped me out since the day I started to do it. It’s working out amazingly well for me. It’s really self explanatory… Helps me understand the Bible.”
“I’ve been using the Life Journal since it was introduced at RLC. I shoot for 7 days a week, but it ends up being more like 5. I used to think that I wasn’t quite measuring up as a result, but now I realize it is not a numbers game or a race…it is simply a tool to help me be and stay in God’s word. I love this tool!”
I know many of you have been impacted by using the Life Journal to guide your time in the Bible this year. If you have been using the Life Journal, leave a comment below and we’ll celebrate together.
(And by the way, if you need a Life Journal for 2010, you can pick them up at church or come by the office during the week.)
As we kick off a new year, we’ll be posting great stories from 2009 all week long. Check back every day for a new story of celebration for all that God did through Life Groups in 2009!
Up first, our Castaic groups serving Thanksgiving dinner to some folks in Val Verde.
I’ll let them describe it in their own words:
“I have had the blessing of serving the Val Verde Community for Thanksgiving for 10 years. This was the 2nd year with Real Life Church. Last year when there was a need to “help” I brought it to my life group and the overwhelming response of “this is something we have been wanting to do” was all it took. The “help” ended up being to provide the majority of the meal. It blew my mind when the Life Groups stepped up with such short notice and boy did they deliver! This year, with some planning and organizing, we were able to provide enough food for 500+ people. All of the Castaic Life Groups contributed what they could and together it was a feast like no other. I love how God uses ordinary people to give what little they have and how he multiplies it. … We were the ones who were blessed and what a great way to get our hearts prepared for Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for and I can honestly say I am blessed to be a part of a church that not only says they will be a light to the SCV but actually does something about it.” — Alma Fowble
“I think that our group all agrees that there’s nothing we enjoy doing more than serving the folks of Val Verde a Thanksgiving meal. This was the 2nd year that the Castaic life groups came together along with a few other ministries & friends to serve over 500 people a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. I’m still blown away by the 100% participation by every life group in Castaic…talk about living & serving as a community, I love it! And a couple great Valencia groups help us out as well, they’re awesome. (Thank you!!) The best part is seeing the hearts of our kids who have a blast doing it and look forward to it as much as we do. What a fool I was 5 years ago when I was dragging my feet to start attending a life group…so glad I took that leap of faith!” — Kyla Jamali
“It was amazing. Volunteers bring in cooked turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing and veggies and other volunteers serve dinners. My daughters see lots of friends from school and they enjoy helping to make a difference. It’s amazing to see the generosity and goodwill – I hope it is a tradition we continue every year. To serve those right here in our community with others who care about their neighbors put my heart in the right place for the season coming up.” — Stacy Dietz
Last month we asked your group to get out in the community and serve the elderly. We have already been hearing great stories (see the comments on the previous post) but know there are more out there. Please keep them coming!
I hope you’ll forgive me for taking a second to brag on my group. One of our members has for some time been assisting a woman in a local senior center – visiting her weekly, helping her run errands, and just being a great friend. When the Life Group material challenged us to serve the elderly, she stepped up huge and put together a plan. On Sunday, November 1st, we let the kids put their Halloween costumes back on and gathered at the senior center to “trick or treat in reverse”. The kids carried around a basket of treats and handed them out to the residents. We also spent a few minutes in the activity room where the kids sang songs, told stories, and read a Halloween book.
It was something that took minimal effort, time and money from our group, but had huge impact on the residents of the center, the families in our group, and made a lasting memory of kindness and service for our kids! We are already talking about when we can go back and do it again.
We know this is just the tip of the iceberg. From the Castaic groups serving in Val Verde to some Valencia groups serving in Newhall to each and every group serving in places all across the valley – we want to hear your story! Leave a comment below. If you have pictures send them to us here. Let’s join together to celebrate the great things God is doing through all of us!
