March Clarion

The Clarion

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Associate Director of Missions Claudio Medina

Bruce Hitchcock Church Growth Strategist

Director of Missions Deryl Lackey

I want to start this month‟s article by expressing my gratitude to over 500 of you who attended and participated in the solemn as-

sembly last month. I want to thank pastors Walter Price, Montia Setzler, Eric Bonilla, and Brian Kennedy for leading us in prayer,

and also The Vine Church for leading us in worship. I truly appreciate our national leaders for calling us to a day of solemn assem-

bly and I deeply appreciate those who participated in our part of that. It was truly encouraging to see a number of God‟s people

come out on a rainy Sunday evening for the sole purpose of seeking God through confession and intersession. Many have inquired

if we plan on organizing another time of prayer, the answer is yes, but as of yet, no details are available. As I have stated before, I

am convinced God is demanding that we engage Him through „effectual” prayer. We are seeing this in our churches individually

and in the body of Christ collectively. I also want to ask you to pray for our new president of the North American Mission Board Kevin Ezell. I met

Kevin this last week as he spoke to a group of us at a conference. I was truly impressed by his spirit of humility, transparency, straightforwardness and

genuine burden he shared to lead the North American Mission Board to greater effectiveness for God‟s kingdom work. He has been charged by God with

an overwhelming and critical task. It was clear as he shared that the pressures are great and the stakes are very high. Please pray for him, and our new

leader of the International Mission Board, Tom Eliff. These are wonderful men who have a great deal of responsibility. The decision they have to lead in

will have serious “ripple effects”! They have plenty of critics and one of their greatest challenge is correcting the misinformation that is flowing so

freely. The least we can do as the body of Christ is pray for them on a regular basis! I appeal to you to make both of these men a part of your intercession

as you come before God in prayer.

This past month we had a wonderful prayer service at Magnolia Ave. Bapt. Church. The church was packed as we prayed and read scriptures together. Our Lord and His Word are sufficient. It is amazing what can happen when our priority is to honor the Lord.

Psalm 135:1, “Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD; Praise Him, O servants of

the LORD,”

I look forward to our next meeting. Our Sunday School leadership class has started in Spanish for the first time. March 8th will be our next class and we have over 20 enrolled. When requested, we would love to visit and evaluate your Sunday School program. Our Seminary extension classes are up and running with a total enrollment of 28. Our next session will begin in May. Please call for more information. We just received our second Evangelism Trailer! In the next couple of months we will be equipping it for the min-istry. We appreciate your prayers and support of this evangelistic tool. Don’t forget about our ESL (English as a Second Language) training on March 4th and 5th.

REMINDER – TIME IS RUNNING OUT

Inland Empire Baptist Association Pastors’ Leadership Retreat, “Leading During Anxious Times”

THESE THREE DAYS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER

MARCH 14-16, 2011(Monday- Wednesday) Calicinto Ranch, 22850 Soboba Rd., San Jacinto Special Guest Special, Dr. James Wilson

Purpose and Program: Leadership Training, Discussion and interaction, Competition, Fellowship, Friendship, Relaxation

This three day retreat (from noon Monday March 14 to 11:00am Wednesday March 16) includes meals, overnight Monday and Tuesday, with special speaker and Tuesday afternoon open recreational time. All this and more for only $95.00. The event is limited to the first 100 reservations.

E-mail me (Bruce Hitchcock – [email protected]) or call the Inland Empire Baptist Association office now at (951) 784-2655 to confirm your reservation and to receive the complete registration packet if you have not received it by mail.

Every attendee will receive complimentary copies of Dr. Wilson’s Book “Soul Shaping” and “Every Church Needs a Little Conflict” written by George Bullard.

mailto:[email protected]

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Martin Leach Church Growth Consultant

EQUIPPED FOR EXCELLENCE

Have you begun to enlist people to attend Equipped for Excellence yet? If you haven‟t, now is the time to start. There is a $5.00

discount if you register online or postmark your registration by Monday, March 28, 2011. Our keynote speaker this year is Brian

Kennedy, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Ontario. Brian has a real pastor‟s heart and has grown his church from about 35

twelve years ago to over 800 now. We have lots of new conferences this year. Take a look at the complete list of descriptions in your

yellow publicity packet, or on our website at www.equippedforexcellence.org. You can‟t find a better group of conference leaders

anywhere. If you have an outstanding teacher, please nominate them for the teacher of the year award. Nomination forms are in the

publicity packet and on our website. Nominations need to be received by March 17, 2011. If you haven‟t been to Equipped for

Excellence in a while, come and join in the fun and training this year. You will be glad you did.

SUNDAY SCHOOL DIRECTOR’S MEETING

There will be a Sunday School Director‟s Meeting on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at the Association Office from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p .m. While preparing for

the meeting I have decided to have only one topic this time. It will be: How To Start A Sunday School. It is just too much material to cover in an hour.

Last month Claudio offered the same conference at the same time in Spanish. It was well attended and very much appreciated. We are going to do that

again this month. Refreshments will be served.

DESERT AREA BIBLE STUDY WORKSHOP

Our third annual Desert Area Bible Study Workshop will be held on Sunday, May 1, 2011. We will meet at Palms Baptist Church, 5285 Adobe Road in

Twenty-nine Palms, California 92277. Dr. Jeff Iorg, President of Golden Gate Baptist Seminary, will again be the speaker. Dr. Iorg is a wonderful com-

municator. His messages are very well researched, clear and practical. The topic this year will be, Experiencing God’s Power in Your Life. A free dinner

will be served at 4:00 p.m. and the workshop will begin at 5:30 p.m. and conclude at 7:00 p.m. Free childcare will be provided for children up to the

third grade. The workshop is free and you do not need to register to attend. Even if you aren‟t in the desert area, it would be worth your drive to be at this

event.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

• Pastors and Sunday School Director’s Planning Workshop, Saturday, July 9th at Palm Baptist Church, 6807 Palm Avenue, Riverside 92506. We will begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude at 12:00 noon.

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We would like to add a “church update” section to the Clarion.

If you have any updates that you would like to be included in

the Clarion, such as salvations, new staff, or

anything of such importance please email or call Angie at the

Association office. Email: [email protected] or

office: 951-784-2655

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Church in the Spotlight

ZerOed in on Missions

Lake Shore City Church

Corona

Manna Ministries, Riverside

You can talk and read about God’s love, but people truly understand it when you show it. Manna Ministries, a new church start at Fair-mount Park in Riverside, has been sharing God’s love as a way to reach the homeless who are hungry and cold and forgotten by many. This ministry really began about nine years ago as a youth project of The Vision Plus Church, the sponsoring church of Manna Ministries. In the beginning, the youth went out one Saturday a

month to distribute sandwiches and water to the homeless there at the park. Then, a little over four years ago, “Big Jim” Ward felt God’s call on his life to become a part of the ministry to reach out to the homeless and share his love and passion for Jesus with them. Big Jim, who does not use the term “pastor” as his title, coordinated a weekly feeding as he shared Scripture and testimony of the Lord’s saving power. As a man who has recov-ered from drug and alcohol abuse, Big Jim understands where the homeless are in personal ways. He also struggled with a bad tem-per and anger issues, but he found Christ at the Riverside Community Church some years ago. He then attended and was used in the ministry at Set Free Riverside for five years. Then, eight years ago, he joined The Vision Plus Church with Pastor Galen Greenwalt. As Big Jim began to consider his involvement in the homeless ministry, he spent two weeks in prayer to seek God’s guidance. He felt he and his daughter needed to take pizza to the park so the homeless would listen to them for just 10 minutes. This was the very be-ginning stages of what would later become Manna Ministries. Big Jim told the homeless that he would continue to come every Thurs-day afternoon at 4 p.m. with a hot meal if they would listen to him share about Christ. Each week the group continued to grow. Today, the ministry feeds an average of 75 individuals on a regular basis. In conversation with the core of homeless attenders, they agree that they have indeed become a “church” as they gather together for worship, testimony, fellowship and food. Many salvations and baptisms have occurred through this ministry. There are about 20 volunteers who come from The Vision Plus Church, California Bap-tist University and UC Riverside. In these past years, Big Jim has faced opposition by city officials at various times, but he stayed faith-ful because he knew that the feeding ministry is what God wanted him to do. Even with the threat of arrest on several occasions, Big Jim has worked with police and others to continue to serve. Confident of God’s call, he presses on. “If you are going to do anything, do it 100 percent,” Big Jim says boldly. Manna Ministries is self-funded, raising money by holding yard sales and other events. Set

Free also supplies them with extra food that they do not use, and there are other food banks that assist with supplies as well. Big Jim testifies that “God always provides.” You can keep Manna Ministries in prayer as Big Jim and pastor friend Joe Lick continues to share the right words of encouragement from God. One of the major battles in helping the home-less is alcohol addiction. Many of the homeless believe there is a God and want to change, but they still have a hard time trusting in Him and getting away from their problems and lifestyles. God is using Pastor “Big Jim” Ward to change lives, as he is showing the love of Christ by pro-claiming hope and showing what God has helped him to overcome.

Lake Shore City Church started on Easter 2009. When they first started meeting they were a Bible study, and did not have funding. Charlie Moulton is the founding Pastor. Prior to holding this position, he was and con-tinues to be a business owner. His business is called Synergee to which they help people reduce their freight costs. One of the strengths of Lake Shore is the

simplicity of their ministry. They are a Christ centered Church and believe in teaching God’s thoughts, not their own. The worship is passionate and contemporary. God’s Word is taught line by line and they are working dili-

gently to create an atmosphere where people go through life together. One of the ministries that is thriv-ing is their woman's ministry. They meet every Friday morning at Holiday Inn in Corona. You can keep Lake Shore in prayer as they would like to add a Sunday Morning Service this Easter. To do this, they need a new location. Pray that God continues to use them to reach the city of Corona.

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Visit our website @ www.iesba.org

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

FOR THESE DATES!!

Clarion (UPS 044-370) Inland Empire Southern Baptist Association of

California

6857 Indiana Avenue, Riverside, CA 92506

Telephone: (951) 784-2655

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February 26 Church Music Workshop

March 8 S.S. Directors Meeting

March 28 Equipped for Excellence Registration Deadline

April 9 Equipped for Excellence

May 1 Desert Area Bible Study Workshop

May 14 VBS Clinic

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Inland Empire Association Staff

Deryl Lackey Director of Missions

[email protected]

Claudio Medina Associate Director of Missions

[email protected]

Bruce Hitchcock Church Growth Strategist

[email protected]

Martin Leach Church Growth Consultant

[email protected]

Bobbie Brooks Ministry Assistant

[email protected]

Brenda Lackey Office Manager

[email protected]

Angela Mantzey Graphics Specialist

[email protected]

(951) 784-2655 • Fax (951) 784-2656

March Clarion

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