September 19, 2026
Dear Grace Vineyard Family and Friends,
Happy Saturday eveyone. I hope you are doing well. You probably noticed that I wasn’t in church last Sunday. (Well, I was in on-line church with a number of friends, but not physically there). I think I’m on day #10 of fighting a Cold or some similary respiratory viral infection. This one is lasting a very long time! I think I’m mostly better at this point, and feel like my immune system is just about to finish the job and wipe this infection out! I’m getting back into ministry this weekend after 8 days of rest.: I’ll be officiating at the wedding of Josh Johnston and his fiance Amildre this afternoon, and I’ll be preaching at Life Mission Church in Escondido tomorrow morning – Jobey McGinty’s church, for those of you who know Jobey.
A huge Thank You and “Well done!” to Steve Rogers for jumping in at the last minute to bring a great message on “The With-God Life” last Sunday. The summary of his message was, “What does it really mean to become like Jesus? We’ll explore how life with God can transform us from the inside out as we learn to live as apprentices of Jesus.” Unfortunately, there was an internet problem near the end of his message and the recording of it got cut off for those of us online and for the digital recordings. You can get most of it here on our YouTube channel:
This Sunday: “Faith Takes a Step”, with Snake Ertel
While I’m preaching at Life Mission Church tomorrow, Grace Vineyard will be blessed with another one of our favorite speakers, Snake (Richard) Ertel. The title of his message will be “Faith Takes a Step”. Faith is more than professing Jesus. Faith is stepping toward Jesus, acting on what we believe and becoming participants in what God is doing. Come prepared to worship Jesus, give and receive Spirit-empowered ministry to each other, and to be transformed and empowered by the Word of God. I think it’s going to be another Great Sunday at Grace Vineyard Christian Fellowship. If for some reason you are not able to join in person, you can still join us on line. Here’s the info you need for that: 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.
Don’t Forget C4C Golf Tournament and Banquet
We are happy to support the Fourth Annual C4C Charity Golf Tournament. If you’re unfamiliar with “Convicted For Christ Ministries”, check out their webpage for more info right here: https://www.convicted4christ.org/. C4C was birthed out of our church family, and we love this partnership. If you golf, join in the fun and help raise support for the ministry by registering for the tournament right here: https://www.convicted4christ.org/4th-annual-golf-for-hope-fundraiser. If you don’t golf, No Problem — just come for the banquet portion. I just registered for it myself…just go to https://www.convicted4christ.org/4th-annual-golf-for-hope-fundraiser and click on “Dinner for One”.
Solitude Practice Monday Nights in October
A number of us went through the “Practicing The Way” materials this year, and now we are doing 4-week “Practice” groups that cover what have come to be known as “spiritual disciplines”. If you want to become good at hitting a baseball, you will spend time at batting practice. If you want to become a good piano player, you’ll practice arpeggios and scales. Similarly if we want to grow as apprentices of Jesus, we can engage in various practices that help our spiritual muscle memory become more like Jesus. Our next “Practice” in the Practicing the Way Course will be the practice of Solitude. We’ll meet Monday nights beginning Monday, October 5th for 4 weeks, at Jeanie Isbell’s (3305 Belle Lane, Carlsbad) 6-8:30pm. We’ll gather at 6pm for a meal and the study will begin at 6:30. Workbooks are $15. Please text Kim Ohst for more information 760-519-4558. There will be a sign up table in the lobby. I’d love it if you checked out the Practicing the Way material at https://www.practicingtheway.org/.
Next Mom2Mom is Friday, September 25
Also coming up this coming this week on Friday, 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.
Ladies One Day Conference NEXT Saturday, September 26th 9am-5pm
We’ve been talking about this one for many weeks, now, but it’s finally here! Ladies, you’re invited to join us at the Vineyard Yorba Linda’s “Standing Firm” one day conference. Anita Ruis will be the speaker. Many of you will recognize the name David Ruis, the well known Vineyard worship leader; he’s married to Anita. 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://
Missions Trip to Malaysia
We’re excited to send out another missions team! This one will be to Malaysia October 11-November 3rd. So far we have a 3-person team with Steve & Lisa Rogers and Mark Newell. There’s still room to join the team — if you’re interested, reach out to Steve Rogers for more info at 760-500-4324. The budget for this trip is $4,000 per person; if you’d like to partner financially, you can make an online donation at gracevcf.org/donate-malaysia. Good news on that front – Steve and Lisa have already raised $1,000 each toward their airfare, so they are 25% toward reaching their budget goals!
Take Advantage of One of Our Small Groups
A big part of spiritual growth takes place in small groups. I just want to take a moment to remind that you we have a number of opportunities to gather in smaller groups thoughout the week. They’re all listed on this webpage: https://gracevcf.org/ministries/home-groups/ There something for you on Sunday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday night.
That’s all for this week’s Weekly Update. Thanks for reading. Thanks for loving each other so well! And thanks for living out the reality of “Real God | Real People | Restoring Lives” week in and week out. You guys are awesome! (just in case you’re unfamiliar with RG|RP|RL, you can get a more complete description here: https://gracevcf.org/about/.)
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. 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.