August 19, 2023
Hi Grace Vineyard and Friends of Grace Vineyard.
This could be an interesting weekend in San Diego County. I’ve gotten an email from both SDG&E and our home owner’s association telling us to prepare for hurricane level winds starting some time this weekend. I’m not sure I can remember this happening here before, can you? I suspect it’s gonna feel like a big rain storm to us. It could start some time Sunday morning, so I would recommend we all plan on leaving for church a little early, and taking our umbrellas with us. I don’t know about you, but I actually quite enjoy it when we have some weather around here. I mean how much perfect climate can we handle?! 🙂
As far as upcoming events to share with you, I want to mention only a couple. The 1st is what we call “Jesus Walk”.
Jesus Walk August 26
Everybody will meet at the parking structure in downtown Oceanside at the corner of Seagaze and Cleveland next Saturday, August 26th, at 10am. From there we’ll walk North toward the pier along the strand, and play it completely by ear. We hope to have one or more of our guitar playing worship people walking with us so we will sing some worship songs along the way. We’ll encounter people and cross the “chicken line” and have some “holy hello’s”, some great conversations, some opportunities to share with people, some opportunities to pray with people…we’ll get to live out what we’ve been talking about on Sundays in our “Witness” series.
By the way, for those of us who are a bit scared when it comes to doing things like this, just know that when you are in a group of people who are doing it with you, it is about 1000 times easier. Seriously. I have been doing things like this on and off since I was 19 years old, and I still get a little bit nervous some times. Especially if I’m by myself. But when I’m’ in a group of fellow believers like the awesome people in this photo, my nervousness flies out the window and I feel strong and courageous. I hope a bunch of us will join Mark Newell on this adventure. If you have a question, reach out to Mark with a text or call at 760) 715-1611.
2 New Small Groups Beginning Soon
I also want to tell you to be on the look out for 2 new small groups starting soon. One will be led by Christian Twombly, on Friday nights, meeting in the Upper Room (our youth building, officially at 104 N. Freeman St, but actually the same building as our theater, enter at the glass door between the main theater and the children’s ministry area). This one is for everybody including families with children – the Upper Room has a main room and a game room, so there’s a natural place to watch the little ones should the need arise. We don’t have the exact launch date, but it’s coming soon, and you can get more info by contacting Christian at (760) 622-4945.
The second is a young adult group for people age 18-25 (if you’re 26, they’d let you join, so don’t sweat it). This one’s gonna be led by Bryce Ohst on Thursday nights at Treina and Mason Nash’s house in Vista. It will start in the next few weeks. For more info, contact Bryce at (760) 216-9038. If you know any young adults, would you please tell them about this group? Please be praying for both of these new groups: Bryce starts college life at Mira Costa next week, and he’s hoping to meet some new friends that he will invite to the group, and Christian is hoping to welcome some new families with children.
Witness – Telling The Full Message of this New Life
For the last 2 times I was with you, we modified our series title to be “Witness – Stories from the first Today’s Followers of Jesus”, first with a GREAT talk from our own Michael Aplikowsky, and then last week featuring some inspiring words from Rick Warren about Finishing the Task. Here are videos of both of those talks, in case you missed them or would just like to hear them again:
This Sunday we’re going back to fascinating stories of the first Jesus Followers recorded in the Bible book of Acts. I recommend you read chapter 5 of Acts in preparation (remember, in the Bible a “chapter” is usually about 1 page, so it’s not very much reading at all). In our story, the apostles are arrested and thrown in jail when the Jewish high priest and all of his associates are filled with jealousy at the huge crowds that are flocking to hear the apostles teach as tons of people are getting healed of their sicknesses, diseases, and even having demons cast out of some of them. In the middle of the night an angel of the Lord opens up the jail doors and tells them to go back to the temple courts, and tell the people “the full message of this new life”. I was captivated by that last phrase, so I’m using it for the title of this week’s talk – “Witness: Telling the Full Message of this New Life”. I hope to see you Sunday for another encounter with the Lord! Don’t forget that it is supposed to be raining Sunday morning, so you might want to plan on leaving it a little earlier than usual.
For those who have to stay home for various reasons, you can join us on line via Zoom with this info: Zoom Meeting ID 153 112 432, Passcode 684814. You may also join us on Facebook Live at facebook.com/gracevcf.
Just click on the link above to join us on your phone, computer, or other device.
And that’s it for this week’s update. Stay dry, and I’ll see you on Sunday morning.
With love and blessings to each of you,
Ron Ohst
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