January 10, 2025
Hello Grace Vineyard Family and Friends,
As I type, I have another window open on my computer with live updates on the LA Fires. I think we are all in a bit of shock as we hear the reports and watch the video of the vast areas of Los Angeles that have burned. Currently, it looks as though 11 people have been killed, and more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed. Fires are still burning, and new fires are starting. The vast majority of Pacific Palisades homes and businesses is just gone. Please join with me in praying for the people of Los Angeles – the firefighters who are working dangerously long hours in life-threatening conditions, the hundreds of thousands of people who have have been evacuated, the thousands of people of who have lost their homes, and the many organizations who are working to shelter and supply the needs for those affected by the fire. The trauma from this situation is palpable. We so need the Lord in times like these.
I know many of you want to know what you can do to help. I would recommend two organizations to check out for ways to serve and donate. The first is Convoy of Hope – their website is: https://h.ope.is/3PvComc.
The Vineyard has been partnering for years with Convoy of Hope to provide practical needs wherever there is a disaster of this magnitude. They are one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the world, and they always work with local churches to distribute crucial supplies to those affected by devastating events.
The 2nd organization I would recommend is the Los Angeles Dream Center – https://www.dreamcenter.org/. Here’s a screenshot from The Dream Center’s Facebook page, to give you a little bit of a feel of what they are up to:
The Dream Center is a well established ministry that has been helping provide solutions to the needs of people in Los Angeles for years. So if you want to donate money, click on either of those links, and if you want to donate your time or anything else, also click on those links and you’ll find some great opportunities to serve. Thank you for having such big hearts to always share with people in need.
Here’s what’s going on at Grace Vineyard over the next couple of weeks:
Enlarging Our Hearts, Week 2
Last week we launched a 4 week sermon series called “Enlarging Our Hearts”, and Sharon M’s message was phenomenal. So inspiring and challenging! I’ll link the YouTube video of her sermon in a few sentences down the page, but first I’ll tell you about this coming Sunday. This is a rich spiritual fare we are feasting on! This Sunday we’ve invited Sam Cerny to share with us. You’ve already met his wife Brooke last year, so you might remember a little bit about their story. Here’s a brief bio for Sam:
Sam met the Lord when he was young and grew up in the Anaheim Vineyard. After marrying Brooke, they moved to Central Asia and joined a church-planting team there. After those years of missions work, he returned to the States, taught at Harvest Bible University in downtown Los Angeles, and is currently pastoring Vineyard Yorba Linda. He earned an M.A. in Apologetics from Biola University and a Th.M. from Regent University. Sam and Brooke have four children, and along with a deep passion for the Lord and His church, he loves to backpack, climb peaks, and scuba dive.
Sam is going to open up Matthew 28:18-20 and draw our attention to “The Importance of All”. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20). Sam has a reputation as a consummate teacher, so I am very excited to learn from him. I hope you’ll make every attempt to be here with us on Sunday morning and join us on this adventure of enlarging our hearts. If you can’t be with us in person on Sunday, here’s the link for the Zoom channel: Zoom Meeting ID 153 112 432, Passcode 684814, and here’s where you would go for the Facebook Live channel: facebook.com/gracevcf.
As I promised, here’s Sharon M’s talk from last week. (If you’re curious, the reason I’m not giving you her last name is that this weekly update is publicly available on the internet, and the nature of her international work requires a little bit of care to avoid placing her contacts in a dangerous situation. I hope that makes sense to you. If not, ask me privately and I’ll try to explain more fully.)
Missions Month
Not only are we focusing our Sunday morning messages on global missions during the month of January, but we are also renewing our individual commitments to our Grace Vineyard Missions Ministry. We partner with the workers around the world to do the work of evangelism and disciple making. We support those workers spiritually and practically by helping finance their work, sending teams to visit and join them in their work, praying for them consistently, encouraging them in regular communications, and inviting them to come in person and share their journey with us. All of this is in fulfillment of the Great Commission of Jesus. My dream is that every person who calls Grace Vineyard their home will have some connection to missions including a financial commitment. Even if it has to be very small, giving a monthly donation to missions points our hearts toward missions. I know this is true because Jesus said that where our treasure is there our heart will also be. I also know it’s true from a lifetime of experience (as I often tell you, I began supporting missions with monthly contributions when I was 17 years old, and I’ve never stopped, and I’ve never regretted it for a microsecond!). So PLEASE, everyone of you who calls Grace Vineyard your home click on this link – 2025 Grace Missions Pledge Form – and let us know how you will be partnering with our missions ministry in 2025. Please note that even if you were part of our missions ministry in 2024, we need you to fill out this form if you plan on renewing your commitment for 2025. THANK YOU in advance for partnering in this vital ministry. Right now a Grace team is in Cambodia supporting Eddie and Bethany and ministering to the Cambodian people. They are reporting some amazing ministry. Here is a link to Brian’s journal with pictures. https://tinyurl.com/SliffesToCambodia.
International Potluck January 26
We will be completing our Missions Month with an International Potluck on January 26th right after church. I bet all of you have something you make that is not from the U.S. This Sunday please stop by the table in the lobby and sign up so we can know what you’ll be bringing. (And I’ve been asked to put a personal message here for a particular cookie….sorry, Christian, but Michelle will be out of town so you’re going to have to make your own Italian Ricotta Cookies! Here’s a recipe for you — https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/19215/ricotta-cookies-iii/ — so now we’re all going to be watching to see what you do!)
Before Sunday, we have Saturday, and this Saturday has a couple great events for the men and the women.
Monthly Men’s Breakfast
Our monthly men’s breakfast is this Saturday, January 11, at 8am at Ty’s Burgerhouse, 515 Mission Ave, just around the corner from the church. Guys – please join me and the other men of Grace. Great food, great fellowship, great worship, great teaching. We need each other!! Christian Twombly has been preparing a message from the Word to share with us and I know it’s going to be another spiritual feast!
Monthly Women’s Walk
While the men are consuming calories the Women of Grace will be burning calories. 🙂 Ladies – our monthly women’s walk/hike is this Saturday, January 11th, at Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad. You’ll meet at the Batiquitos Lagoon Nature Center (7380 Gabbiano Lane, Carlsbad) at 9am. This is such a pretty walk around the lagoon. Please let Kathy Green know if you plan to attend 760.583.1779.
2nd Sunday Prayer Moved to 3rd Sunday in January
We usually have an after church prayer meeting on the Terrace in the back of the sanctuary on the 2nd Sunday of every month. For January we are moving the prayer meeting to the 3rd Sunday on January 19th. I hope you’ll consider setting aside an hour to join us this month. Prayer is Powerful. Prayer is Necessary. Prayer is a blessing to the one doing the praying and to the ones for whom they are praying. LET’S PRAY!
Finally, let me remind the men about our upcoming Men’s Retreat in March.
The Men’s Retreat Is On the Calendar!
Also Men, I want to let you know that we are going to have a Men’s Retreat at Palomar Christian Conference Center on Palomar Mountain March 14-16.
Men, do me a favor and put this in your phone’s calendar right now – Men’s Retreat, March 14-16, 2025. We’ve booked the coolest retreat center in San Diego. The photo above is from Palomar Christian Conference Center’s webpage, and show’s somebody on the zip line. There’s also skeet shooting with shot guns, horseback riding, hiking trails, rifle range, archery, paintball, and more. And it’s in a beautiful mountain retreat. If you’ve never been, check out their webpage at palomar.camp. And that’s just the location. We’ll also have amazing times of worship, teaching, prayer….oh yeah, can’t forget that their food is the best. Our men’s retreats at PCCC have always been awesome, and I’m so glad we’ll be returning in the Spring. They having 2 styles of housing accommodations – dorm rooms and hotel style. The Dorm Rooms will cost $250, and the Hotel Style rooms will cost $300. This will include all the food for the weekend too. See Snake for more more information. You can contact him via text at (760) 622-4572, email him at rertel777@gmail.com , or better yet, find him on Sunday morning. And to make it easy to pay, our church office will let us pay monthly – if you pay $35/week starting this Sunday, you’ll be able to pay for the entire registration by the first week in March. (That’s 8 weeks, so you’d save $280 by the first week in March…you get the idea). When you put money in the offering or give online, just put “Men’s Retreat” on the memo line of your check, or on the offering envelope, or in the online giving where you can specify what the payment is for. This is going to be an AWESOME Spring!
Phew! That felt like a lot of info, but all of it was important. Thanks for reading the whole thing! I’ll see you Sunday morning.
With love and blessings to each of you,
Ron Ohst
Tithes and Offerings Online
THANKS for taking ownership in the life and ministry of Grace Vineyard! And thanks to all of you who are stepping into a lifestyle of generosity with your tithes and offerings. It really does take all of us doing our part with the income God has entrusted to us for His church. If you’d like to give your tithe or offering online, click the donate button below.