January 24, 2026
Greetings Grace Vineyard Family and Friends of Grace,
It’s Saturday and time for another Weekly Update.
Special Guest Caitlin Guess This Sunday
Caitlin Guess is the Missions Director and Administrative Pastor at City Gate Church in Santa Ana. She has been involved in missions for about 15 years, and has lived and served in Latin America, Micronesia, Mozambique, and Uganda. As a side project, Caitlin manages a nonprofit, Thrive Global, that empowers vulnerable communities in Africa. She is passionate about serving both overseas and in her local community here in Southern California. She loves writing, the art of storytelling, learning about new cultures, being in nature, and spending time with her family. Caitlin and her husband, Brian, are huge ocean lovers and enjoy going on beach/outdoor adventures with their son as often as they can.
On Sunday, Caitlin will be our special guest speaker, bringing the final message in our “Compelled By His Love” series. Her message is titled “Love Has a Name”. When we are compelled by God’s love, He calls us to put that love in action. As we step out of our comfort zones to live a life of mission and outreach, love always looks like something.
Last Sunday I had the privilege of bringing the 3rd message in our series, and I called it “The Transformative Power of Christ’s Love”. I definitely had a great time as I got to share video clips of some missionary friends who serve in hard places sharing what “Compelled by Christ’s Love” means to them. For your convenience, here are the Gracetalks.org podcast and Youtube video of that talk:
We hope you can all be with us in person on Sunday, but if that’s not possible, you can join us online on Zoom with this link Zoom Meeting ID 153 112 432, Passcode 684814 and you can also find our livestream on Facebook Live at facebook.com/gracevcf.
We Need Those Missions Responses Now
This “Compelled By His Love” series is part of our annual Missions Month. We are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Grace Vineyard Missions! How amazing to be part of this ministry for 2 decades. Every year our church makes a financial commitment to all the missionaries we support, and we figure out how much money we can commit to our missions partners by first asking everyone in our congregation how much they would like to commit to give every month. Please understand – these commitments reset every year. So even if you have been giving consistently to Grace Vineyard Missions for years, we cannot assume that you will continue that commitment into the next year, so we need you to let us know by filling out this form: Missions Pledge Form.
We’ll have a paper form like the one you see in this graphic available Sunday morning, so you can use that form as well, but it’s probably simpler and quicker to just fill out the online form right now at Missions Pledge Form. My goal is for 100% participation in our missions program. I started supporting a missionary when I got my first job at 17 years old, and I’ve never stopped. My experience is that no matter how small or how large my donation is, just doing it puts missions on my heart and motivates me to pray for the missionaries I’m supporting. I think the same will happen for all of you. So please, make a commitment to support the Great Commission through Grace Vineyard Missions today, and fill out that form so we can make our commitments to our missions partners around the world!
International Potluck This Sunday After Church
It’s an annual tradition! Every year at the end of January’s focus on Global Missions, we have an international Potluck. This is your opportunity to pull out that favorite recipe that features a dish from another part of the world. Please help us plan by letting us know what you’re going to be bringing if you haven’t done so already. You can send a text to 760-754-2974 with what you’re bringing, or you can send an email to info@gracevcf.org. Do it right now before you forget!
Highlighting Oceanside La Viña
I wanted to take a moment to highlight our Spanish Speaking ministry. This is kinda like a local missions outreach to the people in our area who’s mother tongue is Spanish. Paola and Cristopher Marquez lead this ministry every Monday night at 7pm in the Upper Room. If you or anyone you know speaks Spanish, please invite them to join us this Monday.
Men’s Retreat in 2 Months
Can you believe our Men’s Retreat is only 2 months away? That’s right, we men our going up to Palomar Mountain on Friday, March 27-Sunday March 29th for another one of our EPIC men’s retreats. Palomar Christian Conference Center is really pretty awesome with lots of activities for our free time like zip line, skeet shooting with shot guns, horseback riding, hiking trails, rifle range, archery, paintball, and more. And it’s in a beautiful mountain retreat center. 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, and prayer. Our men’s retreats at PCCC have always been incredible, 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 $230, and the Hotel Style rooms will cost $285. This will include all the food for the weekend too. See Steve Rogers for more more information. You can contact him via text at (760) 500-4324, email him at or srogers@gracevcf.org. To make it easy for everyone, you can pay the entire registration fee any time now, or you can make smaller payments every week/month and we’ll save it up for you. If you’re ready, here’s where you can pay online:
And that’s it for this week’s update. Have a great rest of your Saturday, and I’ll see you in the morning.
with blessings and love,
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. If you’re giving to a specific fund (like benevolence or missions), just be sure to say that when you are given an option to add a note with your donation.