Weekly Update 08-09-2024

August 9, 2024

Hello Grace Vineyard Family and Friends,

Welcome to the August 9th edition of our weekly update.

We’re Back!  Stories from Zambia this Sunday

I suspect pretty much all of you reading this newsletter know that Matt and Sharon Evans, and I left for Zambia, Africa on July 15th.  I returned to California last Saturday, and Matt and Sharon returned last Monday.  When Grace Vineyard sends teams on short term missions trips, we like to hear about the trip when the team gets back, so we’re going to take a bit of time to tell stories from our trip to Zambia this coming Sunday. I love the passage in Bible book of James that teaches us, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)  After Matt, Sharon, and I share some stories about our trip with on Sunday morning, I plan on teaching from this theme.  In Biblical terms, looking after orphans and widows is the work of “justice” and “righteousness”.  Isaiah’s prophecy makes this concept clear in his opening words with the use of Hebrew Parallelism (a very common Hebrew literary tool where a concept is repeated in back to back sentences that say essentially the same thing using different words): “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of  the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17) So, after sharing some stories, I plan to open up the Bible to encourage us in our calling to care for the fatherless and widows.

After church there’ll be an opportunity for us to put the Word into practice: I’ve invited Tom and Teresa La Manna from Breath of Heaven to have a Child Sponsorship table set up for us in the lobby.  I believe they’ll have the photos of 13 orphaned children who are awaiting sponsors at Breath of Heaven Children’s Village.  It was on a table like this where Kim and I picked up a photo of a little boy about 13-14 years ago, and began our wonderful journey with our Zambian son Mika you’ve heard me talk about so much.

I couldn’t resist sharing a few pictures that show him growing up over these last 14 years.  I want to encourage you to go to the Sponsorship table in that will be in the lobby this Sunday and pick a girl or boy from Breath of Heaven to sponsor.  It will be a life changer for both of you.

Potluck After Church This Sunday

Our Potluck day has finally arrived! You’ve been signing up for the past several week, so everything should be ready for Sunday. Now you just need to remember to come and bring whatever you signed up to Bring!  It will be great to share another fellowship meal together.

Make & Bake Fundraiser for Women’s Retreat Scholarships

Sunday, August 25th, is the time to bring items you’d like to donate for us to sell at the Make and Bake Sale.  The proceeds from this sale will pay for retreat costs including retreat scholarships for the upcoming Women’s Retreat.  Those requesting a scholarship will need to help with set up, pricing, selling or tear down.  Drop by our sign up table in the lobby.  Please text Kim Ohst for details 760.519.4558.

Women’s One Day Retreat September 7th

Ladies – We will be joining with the ladies of Vineyard Yorba Linda and other Southern California Vineyards for a one day retreat (NOTE: this is NOT the retreat we are raising scholarship money for–that retreat is our Grace Vineyard Women’s Retreat, November 1-3) .  On September 7th, Danielle Pathak, Associate National Director for Vineyard USA will be the speaker.  It will be a time of worship, fellowship, teaching and ministry.  It begins at 9am and ends at 3:30pm.  Cost is $35 and includes breakfast and lunch.  You can find details and register at this link: https://vineyardyorbalinda.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2383486  If you’d like to carpool, we’ll meet at the church at 7:15am and leave at 7:30.  Call/text Kim if you have questions 760.519.4558.

True Valor Men’s Conference

Men, there’s a conference/retreat for us too! On August 23-24 we are joining with Men from all over North County for a Men’s Conference at Oceanside Calvary Chapel.  If you don’t know, we live in a county that has unusual levels of unity and relationship amongst churches.  In fact I was just with a pastor from New York who is working with a multi-church outreach we are planning for July, and he mentioned how unique it is here in San Diego.  So men, we’re going to get together with men from churches all over our county for a conference designed to help us confront the deadliest manslayers of our times.  Here’s the details from the webpage for the conference: