Weekly Update 08-22-2026

August 22, 2026

Hi Grace Vineyard Family and Friends,

It’s Saturday evening, and time for a quick Weekly Update.

Our Zambia team is back in California!  We arrived Tuesday evening after almost 2 days of travel (seriously, I calculated 44 hours from the time we left Breath of Heaven till the time we reached our front door in Oceanside).  We’re getting over the jet-lag slowly, but it definitely takes a while to get back to normal!  We had a very successful missions trip and we are so grateful to all of you for your support and prayers that got us there and back! It will be so nice to see you tomorrow after being apart this last month.

Stories from Zambia This Sunday

It’s always nice to hear a little bit about the adventure when we send a team to do missions work, so tomorrow morning a few of us will be sharing some stories about our experiences in Zambia.

The last 2 Sundays Steve Rogers brought series of messages called “The Kingdom Has Come Near”.  The first week was subtitled “The Announcement”, and in that message Steve taught through Luke 4:14-30 where Jesus announces that the Kingdom of God has come near.   Last week the subtitle was “The Fulfillment” — Steve continued in Luke 14 at verses 31-44 to describe how Jesus began fulfilling the what had been prophetically promised about the coming Kingdom of God, with a challenge for us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus to follow in His footsteps.   You can listen to that sermon on our Gracetalks.org podcast or watch it on our YouTube channel right here:

Developing a Kingdom Worldview

The topic of the Kingdom of God is generally understood to be the central message of the New Testament.  It’s certainly the central message of Jesus’ public ministry.  As disciples of Jesus’ teaching and way of life, one of the things that happens to us as we grow in Christ, is that we began to see reality through the lens that Jesus does, the lens of God’s inbreaking Kingdom.  The more we grasp it, the more it changes everything about how we live and minister. So tomorrow morning, after we share some stories about our time in Zambia, I’ll use the remaining time to talk about developing a Kingdom Worldview.  Everybody has a worldview, but like the glasses we look through, most of us are unaware that we are seeing reality through a particluar lens. Our worldview is the set of assumptions and beliefs by which we perceive reality.  In America, our cultural upbringing has taught us to have a secular, scientific-rational worldview, that basically says the only things that are really knowable are things that can be measured by the 5 senses.  As we grow in Christ, we not only learn Gospel truths, we develop a Kingdom Worldview that informs how we view reality.  Remember, Jesus called the Gospel, “The Gospel of the Kingdom”.

We have a couple of announcement so mention:

Ladies One Day Conference Saturday, September 26th 9am-5pm

For the Ladies: You’re invited to join us at the Vineyard Yorba Linda’s Standing Firm one day conference.  Anita Ruis, David Ruis’s wife, will be the speaker.  We’ll meet at the church to carpool at 7:30am and leave at 7:45.  Cost is $40 and includes breakfast and lunch.  Here’s the link to register:https://vineyardyorbalinda.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/3598139  Kim told me she’s going, so you know it’s going to be good!   I’ve heard nothing but great things about Anita Ruis. She and her husband David are the national directors of the Vineyard Canada, and they have a very rich history in the body of Christ.  I hope you all will take advantage of this great opportunity.

Next Mom2Mom is September

Our next Mom2Mom group will be on September 25, at 6pm.  Are you a mom in need of support from other moms? Or are you a mom who has been there and wants to lend your support to others?  Then you are welcome to Mom 2 Mom, a peer to peer and mentoring group designed to uplift, enrich, share and connect moms.  We’ll gather Friday, September 25th at 6pm at Grace Vineyard on the terrace for a program that will include sharing a meal, connecting, and inspiration.  Childcare will be provided- please let Sheri know how many kids/what ages.  To find out more, call Sheri Winter at 760.208.8403.

Lastly, let me give you a quick reminder about Sanctuary, our Sunday Evening Gathering.

We start at 6p.m. Sunday night. Hope to see you

And that’s all for now.  See you in the morning!  hope you can join us tomorrow in person at 9:30 am, but if you can’t be there, here’s the info you need to join us online: 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.