Welcome Erick!

We rejoice with Victoria CC in Rancho Cucamonga on the installation of their new pastor, Erick Sorensen. We pray God's blessings on him and his family as they begin their ministry. Erick will be joining the four other LB pastors in California as they meet every month to pray and encourage each other in their work.

Annual Convention 2007

The Church of the Lutheran Brethren annual convention this year was held at Marysville Word of Life Church on June 17th-June 20th.

The theme for the convention was "Thy Kingdom Come."

The first evening, our church president Joel Egge spoke from Mark 1:14-15. He talked about how perplexing, yet amazing God's kingdom is. He emphasized the facts that when God's kingdom comes to us it 1) calls us to repentance from sin, and 2) it comes at just the right moment.

As we closed the opening service, the worship leader, Micah Nordtvedt, together with the worship band, led us in singing "The Lord's Prayer." Joining our hands and praising the Lord in this manner moved many in the congregation to tears, and seemed to set the tone of a unified spirit that continued to reign throughout the coming days of prayer, worship and communion, business deliberation, and decision-making.

On Monday morning, the Church of the Lutheran Brethren voted to accept a new church into membership- the Grace Community Church in Wesley Chapel, Florida. Pastor Jeff Olsen and his family have been serving there for the past couple years and have witnessed the hand of God as they have seen their numbers grow and people commit themselves to serving the risen Lord.

As a district, we also rejoice in the news that one of our own churches, RockChurch in Chandler, Arizona, has become self-supporting and will be going off financial subsidy this year. Unfortunately, their pastor, Forrest Erickson , was unable to attend the convention due to illness. We pray for God's healing and for a speedy recovery.

On Monday evening, before Pastor Thor Foss (Succasunna, NJ) spoke, a commissioning service was held for our missionaries leaving this fall. Steve and Janice Flude, (the couple on the left)together with their family of nine children, will be leaving in September for nine months of language study in France before they begin their ministry in Chad.



Linda Low (on right) will be leaving in August to begin her two-year ministry of teaching the Venberg children in Doh, Chad. We continue to praise God for His call to these servants of His, and pray for their protection, wisdom for their studies, and grace as they adapt to new cultures and situations. The Flude family

We rejoice in the task that God has given to us as a church body and pray for His guidance as we seek to do this work. Our desire, as a church synod, and as a district, is that people everywhere be brought into God's kingdom of saving, sustaining and strengthening grace.

For more information on the convention go to http://www.clba.org/

Convention 2007--Marysville, WA

On Saturday, June 16th women from many different LB congregations gathered together in the beautiful Marysville Word of Life Church for their annual women's convention.

Our theme for the convention this year was "Come, Now is the Time... to Worship, to Witness, to Serve.

We enjoyed a wonderful time of worshipful singing, held our business meeting, heard updates from several missionaries--both at home and abroad, enjoyed a time of prayer, and were blessed by the wit and Godly wisdom of our special speaker Rhea Briscoe.

After a lovely noon luncheon, the ladies were offered several options for seminars: on leadership, personal spiritual growth, broadening our vision, teaming up and edifying one another, and bridging the generation gap.

All in all, in was a wonderful and beneficial day. Besides, it was a great time of re-newing friendships, and making many new friends! For more info please go to www.wmclb.com

A time of praise and worship of the Lord.

Living Word Youth Group Outing

Calvary CC has the unique privilege of being located close to many fun attractions for kids. So this past weekend, several adults from Living Word (our church in Phoenix) brought eleven of their young people from the junior high group to Fullerton, California. After a long road trip on Saturday, the group settled into their new "quarters," the upstairs Sunday school rooms at Calvary. (Or, as one young lady called it "the church/motel")


Sleeping conditions at the "church/motel" were rather simple. The kids were tough and just rolled out their sleeping bags and slept on the floor...


...the adults, on the other hand, really wanted a good night of sleep, so they came with sleeping bags AND air mattresses!


On Sunday, the youth group joined the Calvary worshippers for the morning service, and also sang a special number for the congregation.
The afternoon was a time for them to kick back and relax, so the group travelled to a local beach to soak up the California sun and waves.
On Monday, with perfect weather, the whole group spent the entire day at Knott's Berry Farm. (Hopefully, more pictures of that fun time will be posted.) A very tired group of kids and adults crawled into their sleeping bags that night-- completely exhausted--but very happy!

In the cool mist of Tuesday morning, everyone packed up their belongings and loaded the cars for the long trip back to Phoenix.
This is the second time that some of the adults in the group have participated in this type of outing. They are encouraged as they see the young people draw closer to each other during the weekend, and also have the opportunity to experience God's blessing in their lives.
Calvary CC also benefitted from the presence of these friends from Arizona. It gives the people from our different churches a chance once again to experience the bond that we have in Christ, and to profit from the encouragement that we can give to each other in the Lord's work. Hopefully there can be further opportunities to foster community within our district.

The Truth Project Seminar

A few weeks ago three couples from Calvary CC attended the introductory seminar on the Truth Project. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this conference, please check out their site at http://thetruthproject.org
The Biblically-based lessons are well presented and so relevant for the culture that we are living in. Now we are prayfully considering our next step--small group study.

The two-day regional Truth Project event was worth every minute of our time, and the teacher Dr. Del Tackett, was awesome!

A Summer Invitation

Now that we no longer have a district camp in California, we all have the option of traveling to "cooler" Prescott, Arizona!
Living Word Community Church is hosting a family camp from the evening of June 22 thru noon on June 24th.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!
The camp will be held at Camp Pine Rock.
Check it out at http://www.camppinerock.org
If you have questions, please contact Living Word CC

PSW Women's Retreat 2007

This past weekend, a group of women from five different churches in our district, met together in Yuma, Arizona at the beautiful Western Inn Suites. The theme for our retreat this year was "Listen and Follow: go for the Goal!" We were blessed with warm, sunny weather (after the first evening of wind and rain) and nice accomodations.
Most of the activities took place in the "Palm Conference" room (notice the french doors). We were spoiled with good food, wonderful treats, and the privacy we needed for our meetings. Because the motel was a series of buildings designed around the pool-restaurant area, it took some of us awhile (and a few wrong turns onto dead-end balconies) before we managed to find our way around the place! The motel was in a good location, right across from a shopping mall and close to the freeways.

Our speaker for this retreat was the very talented Shirley Peters (on the left). She is the former Dean of Women at San Diego Christian College and presently does public speaking and writes for Quiet Time Ministries in Palm Springs. Karen, (right) one of our visitors, recently moved to the Yuma area where her husband serves as a military chaplain.
All of the women present at the retreat were fed spiritually as Shirley spoke from her heart about many of the things that God has taught her- through His Word as she listens, and through life experiences as she follows Him. What a blessing for all of us to be taught some of her secrets of studying God's Word!
In the first session, we learned that God's Word is the basis for all truth, and the best way to "follow and listen" our Lord is through the study of His Word. Shirley told us that we should never think of our Bible study as "preparing a lesson, but as a meeting with Jesus!"
In the following session, we learned, from the biblical example of Daniel, the importance of establishing our identity in Christ, so that we will remain faithful to Him in all situations, and to finish "strong" in the race of life.
Finally, Shirley shared from Psalm 23. We were exhorted to never let our ears grow dull to the Shepherd's voice. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, wants us to listen to Him and follow closely.

We were privileged to have these ladies from the Yuma church lead us in worshipping our Lord through music.

We were excited to have several women, both young and old, from the churches represented. From the Pasadena church, these are the ladies, together with our speaker, who attended.
Driving all the way from Phoenix, this is the group from Living Word. Many thanks also, to Delvina (on the far right) for her leadership as district president.
The largest group of women at the retreat came from California. This is the group of ladies from Calvary CC in Fullerton. (My apologies to the Rancho and Yuma churches for not getting a group picture of you before you left!)

Many women brought craft projects and other items for the silent auction.
It was fun to watch the competion as the prices for the items climbed. The auction closed on Saturday afternoon. Thanks to God, we were able to raise a good sum of money to be used for missions and ministry.( Some people even had to finish up their projects before placing them on the table!)

Free time in the afternoon and evenings was spent
...in getting some rays

in visiting...
even studying...

playing games....
learning how to play NEW games...
fellowship and building relationships...
and even planning sessions.

On Saturday evening, a couple of the churches presented skits. The women from Living Word Church in Phoenix, performed a humorous re-enactment of their trip to the retreat, concluding with the question, "and we might have to travel 300 hundred miles next year?!!"
The Pasadena ladies presented a humorous but thought-provoking skit about life lessons we can learn from snails: keep on moving, and watch what you ingest!

California pastors fellowship

Every month, the LB pastors in SoCal try to meet together at a local restaurant for a time of sharing, prayer, and encouragement. Over breakfast, they discuss their work, sermons, and other issues dear to their hearts, and seek to encourage and build each other up.
Unfortunately, Jean Mberebe was unable to join the men today, but (L to R) Blaise Beboua, Steve Lazicki, Jim Erickson, and Ron Sunwall met together this morning.

Calvary Community Church (Fullerton, CA)

We, at Calvary CC, were excited to present the Easter message of our risen Lord last Sunday. It was exciting as a new pastor here, to see many more pews filled and to dream of the potential that only God, Himself can provide. Pastor Jim's message "The Living One" was a challenge to all of us--why do we (like the women who went to the empty tomb) continue to look for life itself among the dead and decaying? We were asked once again to REMEMBER the words of Jesus!
Continue to pray with us that the Word of God would bear much fruit- both in the hearts of those who are followers of Jesus, and those who still do not know Him as Savior. Pastor Jim speaks on Easter Sunday.

We rent our facilities to three other local church groups: Cornerstone Christian Fellowship (a Filipino church), Monte Horeb (a Hispanic church, whose pastor and family also live on our campus), and Yae Chan (a Korean church). Sometimes trying to juggle the activities of four different church groups becomes difficult for our secretary Dolores, but she does a great job of coordinating everything. The pastors from all four churches meet together every other month to pray and share concerns with each other. We are so thankful for the body of Christ and the beauty of different cultures worshipping and sharing together. Pray that these bonds would be strengthened.

Another important ministry of our church is the "Feed the Hungry" outreach that we provide each month. Many of our people are involved in preparing food, visiting with the homeless people that come to eat, and also donating and distributing clothing and food to the needy that come. God has certainly opened our eyes to the hurting world right here at our door. Pray that God would always keep our hearts tender toward "the least of these."

The women gather in the PSW

On February 23-24, the women who attended the district meeting in Yuma, AZ gathered together to hear an update from our district president Delvina Simonson. (front row, second from left) All the women were asked to encourage their church groups to attend the upcoming events: leadership conference and also the district retreat. We were also blessed by encouraging words from Mabel Helland (back row, center) who was visiting from Minnesota.
On March 17th, about 30 women attended the WMCLB Leadership Conference held at Calvary in Fullerton. The speakers included: (L to R) Marilyn Erickson, Janet Spencer, and Ruth Vallevik. Chloe Koslowski was the conference leader.
The women all enjoyed a good time of food, fellowship, and teaching.