The Clarion

E4E 2012

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Associate Director of Missions Claudio Medina

Director of Missions Deryl Lackey

Martin Leach Church Growth Consultant

I’m right in the middle of preparing for Equipped for Excellence, which is tomorrow. That being the case, let me say:

Next month, I’ll be more specific and give you a report.

Thanks to all of those who worked so that Equipped for Excellence would work.

I appreciate all of you.

John 15:5-6 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. The Lord is the source of our strength, wisdom and effectiveness. We cannot lose sight of this main truth as we plan and work throughout this year. When we understand what our position and condition is then we are most productive. Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. This was another busy month with many personal trials:

CSBC assisted us with funds for a trailer to assist one of our food ministries We gave over 400 bibles and 1,000 bible tracks away this month We taught classes for our Sunday School directors on “how to evaluate your Sunday School program and your teachers” We had over 15 pastors at our Hispanic pastors breakfast Our EBI seminary is coming to a close this month Thanks to some of our generous churches, we now have a portable baptismal available for use.

I would like to thank all those who have been praying for me during the month of April. My brother passed away and is in the pres-ence of our Lord. I am reminded of the song by the group Casting Crowns, titled “I’ll praise you in this storm” that the Lord holds me in His hand. His peace does truly surpass all understanding. To Him be the glory.

I want to start by thanking all of you who helped in so many ways to make Equipped for Excellence a

success once again this year. While we are honored to be able to host such an event, if it were not for the

many ministry partners, volunteers, teachers, and individuals who give their time and giftedness to us, the

conference would not take place. Once again over 1,100 believers from churches all across Southern

California came for a day of equipping. As a result many of the Lord’s churches will be enriched and

encouraged as they seek to “make disciples” in their “Jerusalem’s”. Equipped for Excellence is truly an

example of how the cooperative spirit and program that we are involved in works! As an associational staff

we appreciate your support and help in this and the many other endeavors we engage in. We count ourselves truly blessed

to be able to serve the caliber of churches that we have here in the Inland Empire.

One of the things we have tried to do the last couple of years is make our annual meeting more of a missions fair. We are

beginning to make plans for that meeting once again this year. I would appreciate hearing from you in regards to the

missions fair concept, what we can add to or take away from the meeting, or any other ideas you might have. Please feel

free to email me at deryl@iesba.org or call the associational office 951.784.2655.

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Bruce Hitchcock Church Growth Strategist

Leaders are change managers: Part 4

Change Managers prepare others for change: make it make sense

Radical and immediate self directed change will always cause uncertainty, anxiety, and apprehension within any organi-

zation. Sudden, profound change usually paralyzes any movement toward growth because it engenders internal and

external disruption. Change must be sensible and realistic, planned, organized, discussed, scrutinized, and it certainly

must be sold to those who are going to have to change. In addition, the change must reflect the vision and mission of the

organization. Vision and mission drives the culture of the ministry. It would not make sense to make major change within

the church that does not move you closer and more rapidly toward the vision of the organization. At the same time the

change must fit into the mission of the organization for it to be effectual.

There are ten steps to prepare for change

Look for trends in the staff and congregation’s complaints (feedback)

Look for trends in the community (demographics)

Understand traditional practices as impediments to change and at the same time opportunities to change (barriers to change)

Monitor ongoing programs and systems to be sure that they will support change (program and system strength analysis measuring

potential adaptability to change)

Identify potential roadblocks and emergencies (anticipating obstacles to change)

Get others involved in planning change (internal support for change)

Set concrete goals for change (exactly identifying changes) and create the specific goals that will support change (listing the steps that

will cause change)

Choose the opportune time to initiate change and publish it (strategic change)

Prepare the congregation for change (discipleship training for change)

Move forward with confidence (proactively enact the changes)

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Inland Empire Church’s Easter Events:

We had a great Easter outreach as we held our 5th annual Easter Eggstravaganza with an attendance of over 1,000 people. The children rotated from craft stations to an Easter play where we were able to present the gospel and the real meaning of Easter. After the stations, all of the kids went out to hunt for the 15,000 eggs that our church members had worked hard to stuff with candy. We had four families from the event come back for Easter service later that night.

We had a great Easter at OCC! Several new guests showed up for the first time to our service, many people responded to personal invitations and many attended as result of mailings, door invitations and a newspaper ad. We did a Helicopter Easter Egg Drop after each service, where around 700 people attended. We did a survey to find out about the people who attended and many of those guests were unchurched and wanted information about our church. We had about 5,000 eggs scattered throughout a grassy meadow and a helicopter flew in and dumped 1,000 more eggs in front of a captive audience! In the services we had around 425 guests, 10 people indicated that they made a first time decision to follow Christ and 7 people wanted to learn

how to begin a relationship with Jesus for the first time. We began a new message series called "@ Work" where we'll be looking at what the Bible says about some of the most com-mon questions and challenges on the job. Our Easter mes-sage was titled "Jesus @ Work" where we looked at what Je-sus accomplished on the cross and through his resurrection.

Our church vision is to be a church that's necessary. To be necessary we believe we have to make a Kingdom Impact on our community. With that, we believe nothing makes an impact like prayer. So, about 40 of our members (youth and adults) stood on all four corners of Winchester and Ynez in the heart of Temecula with signs that read; "Can we Pray for You?" pointing them in the direction of our campus. Cars would drive on to our campus and be directed to a tent where there was a team of prayer intercessors. They would approach the car or invite the driver to come out and share how we might pray. The team would pray, provide them with some literature, tell them about Christ and invite them to our Sunday services. This was our first event so the response was kind of low, but we plan to do this once every quarter. When the teams did not have anyone to pray for they prayed for one another, the church and the expected harvest of souls. The participants all shared that they loved the time they spent together reading scripture and praying with the people of our community. It was a great event!

Imagine Church, San Bernardino

Orangecrest Community Church, Riverside

Mt View Community Church, Temecula

Amber Barrett, a member of our church was baptized and gave her testimony Easter Sunday!! Here is what Amber shared: “Since I can remember I’ve always kept God close to my heart. I grew up very fast, I was only 2 years older then my daughter is now being exposed to things that no child should be exposed to. As I got older I started believing that the only one I could count on was myself because everyone in my life always let me down. Then I met David, my husband. David changed

my heart. It wasn’t until Pastor Allen asked me to write something for today that I realized that “yes” I’ve always kept God close to my heart but there was a moment that I did change my ways and the way I live from then to now and that was the moment God saved me. Davina, my daughter was only 6 years old when we found out her birth mother’s health was failing due to substance abuse. That was the moment in my life when everything changed because it was that moment when I knew no matter what I wanted to be someone she could count on. Now I see it was through Davina that God saved me, it was through her that God pushed me to be a better person and since then I’ve been happier in my life then I’ve ever been. This is why being baptized today means so much to me, because doing this makes me feel closer to God, closer to the one who saved me.”

First Southern Baptist Church, Palm Springs

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This year on Easter Sunday we were blessed to have the Gospel Music Group “The Dartts” perform as our special music guests, here at Liberty Baptist Church. Pastor Beigle preached a message entitled “Overcoming Man’s Greatest Fear” from I Corinthians 15:12-22 with a clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus and why we should not fear death. The angels were rejoicing when we had 4 people accept Jesus as Lord of their life. Following Easter service was our annual candy egg hunt for all the children up to 6

th grade.

Liberty Baptist Church, Moreno Valley

On Saturday April 7th we held our Annual Easter Pancake Breakfast in the city of Fontana. We fed 589 people with pancakes and sausages, orange juice & coffee at no charge to them. This is our way of giving back to the community. We also handed out 600 Salvation tracts and 600 Gospels of John, both English & Spanish. While we were serving breakfast, out in the park there were many events going on along with booths & entertainment. Our church gave away Easter Baskets with Salvation Tracts, along with a full size game table, and a bicycle. The following day the Lord Blessed our efforts with 143 in attendance for our Easter Sunday Service.

Great Commission Baptist Church. Fontana

This Easter La Sierra Baptist Church presented “Christ in the Passover” by Tuvya Zaretsky of Jews for Jesus. It was a powerful demonstration of the traditional Jewish Passover meal and its fulfillment in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Passover presentation transitioned beautifully into the Lord’s Supper. We had one Jewish seeker who participated in the Lord’s Supper for the first time.

La Sierra Baptist Church, Riverside

Sandals church had over 350 people that were baptized during their Easter celebration! Pastor Matt Brown preached a sermon on moving towards Baptism and challenged Christians who had not been baptized to step up and be baptized after the service. Behind the church were 3 doughboy pools as well as clothes for people to change into and dressing rooms. People from Sandals went out and supported all of those who were taking the next step in their faith!

Sandals Church, Riverside

We held Easter service in our home and had about fifty people in attendance including several seekers. This is the location our church plant is currently meeting. We had an egg hunt and a potluck afterwards that was well attended. The Easter Egg hunt was for the children of the parents who attended and those kids in our neighborhood that our kids invited. We had twenty plus kids scrambling around the back yard looking for eggs. The service was our biggest this year in terms of attendance. We are rebuilding as a church plant and were happy to see the fruit of our labor this year .

Roots Family Church, Temecula

Cross Community Church, Indio

We had a very exciting Easter week this year! As this was the close of our first year as a church plant in Indio, we had an entire week of outreach and service in our community. Val-ley Baptist Church of Bakersfield sent out their High School youth group and some amazing leaders, headed up by Jeremy Doyle. These kids were tireless in their love and service to our Lord. They stuffed over 10,000 Easter eggs with goodies, and painted a Spanish Southern Baptist Church in Cathedral City and dug a trench for the sprinkler system. The week before

Easter was Spring vacation for most of the Coachella Valley so we held 3 Vacation Bible Schools in three different locations, with the help of Valley Baptist's teens. They prepared lessons, snacks and also went door to door to promote it. It was a great success with many children accepting Christ! On Saturday we had an Easter Egg Hunt and block party with 316 in atten-dance. This was an amazing time. with parents witnessing the bond these children made with the teens. On Sunday, we had several new comers who attended, some from the party and some from a mailing we did all over Indio. It was a sweet time of fellowship to celebrate with our family the closing of our first year in the white fields of Indio.

665 total; 316 Easter EggHunt/Block Party; 349 Participants in VBS; 33 decisions for Christ during the week of Easter

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ALIGN Labs ALIGN Labs is an experimental program out of Mosaic, a church in Downtown Pomona, in partnership with the North American Mission Board. They have setup and designed one-day missions experiences for your church to participate in. The goal is to train people on how to build intentional relationships, and realizing that they can be missionar-ies in their everyday life in the very area that God has placed them. While international missions are critical, our own backyards are becoming more and more diverse. ALIGN helps people realize that they can shift their mindset by engaging people who they would normally push aside. This is missional living. In our communities, even going to the grocery store can be used to connect to people and build relationships for Christ. Right now, these mission experiences are taking place in the city of Pomona, but ALIGN’s goal is to be able to hold them in different cities around the Inland Empire. Megan McDanel is the Executive Director, an intercultural expert and dy-namic speaker who has had the opportunity to train around the globe. Consider partnering with ALIGN in a one-day missions experience.

The Missions Experience:

· The day starts with a two hour training with ALIGN’s intercultural experts.

· After the training session, the group will divide into smaller groups, and will be given an assignment to be completed in the city.

Recently, one group decided to visit a store in Pomona that one participant had labeled as the “Satan Store.” They went in and talked to the business owners for 45 minutes, and left with new mindset of who worked there and how they could continue in a missional relationship. Another group of people were each given two lunches with the intention of sharing one with someone who they had previously not engaged. After deciding to share them with a group of homeless people, they found themselves in conversation for over an hour and left with a new perspective on the homeless.

· Lastly, the group will come back together for a final debrief to bring it all together. Groups will discuss what they learned, saw, and experienced. More importantly, participants will see how they can take what they learned, and apply it to their own cities.

REGISTER NOW!

You can book a one-day Kingdom Integration Lab experience catered specifically to your group or as an individual. For more informa-

tion contact the Executive Director, Megan McDanel, 585.519.1331 or email, megan@alignlabs.com. You can also visit

www.alignlabs.com where you can get more information and register online.

Update on the San Bernardino Resource Pregnancy Center

“i have been watching the posts on your website for a few months now, I learned about Sb pregnancy

center from my daughter over a year ago. You see she came to you for a pregnancy test. Turns out she was

pregnant and afraid to come to my husband and I. Your staff reached out to her with the love of Jesus. She

decided to keep her baby and talked with her dad and I at length about her decision and how much she

learned from the movies and info you folks provided. A few short weeks later she suffered a miscarriage. I

don't know why God allowed that to happen, but I do trust Him with all my heart. To this very day she

keeps the items that you gave her for her baby. As a mother I want to thank you for being the hands and

feet of Jesus to my daughter in a time where she was ashamed to come to me. What a huge help this

ministry is to these precious women who need support in such a great time of need. I am writing because I

believe that God is nudging me to become part of this ministry at ANY level. I can crochet baby hats, blankets, clean, anything that is

needed. I read a while ago that a new advocacy class will be starting. Could you please let me know when? Should I come and meet with

you first? Please let me know how to go about getting involved.”

This message was sent to us on our Facebook page (“LIKE” us at San Bernardino Resource Center). This is what our ministry is all about. Serving women and families who often must deal with an unplanned pregnancy. Our intensively trained advocates work one-on-one with the same client throughout her pregnancy and beyond. As of April 18, we have 1,067 active clients.

We are thankful to be in the position to provide FREE services and minister to a large number of women and families in our community. Our clients earn what they need from items donated through the points program.

We always need donations of diapers, wipes, baby furniture and monetary donations to purchase prenatal vitamins, pregnancy tests and to pay the bills.

You can donate to the pregnancy center by visiting amazon.com and searching for “San Bernardino Pregnancy Center” under the wish list option on the right side of the page. You can also bring any donations to the Inland Empire Association and we will make sure they receive them. For more information on the center or to volunteer you can contact Lisa at 909-382-4550, find them on facebook, or visit their website at http://www.sbpcc.net/

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4th Annual Bible Bee First Baptist Church Rialto

What if you could find a summer activity that would strengthen your children in their knowledge of God’s Word, bring your family together for Bible study and

prayer, and give you the opportunity to meet with other families for fellowship and encouragement, all while par-

ticipating in an exciting national competition?

Here it is! The 2012 National Bible Bee is coming to 1st Baptist Church of Rialto The Local Contest will be held on Saturday, August 25th. Contestant registration is open between April 1

st and May 31

st. Go to Bible-

Bee.org to learn more and register. Do something eter-nal this summer!

First Baptist Church Rialto’s Bible Bee Website:

http://www.biblebee.org/fbcrialto

Position Open:

Minister of Children, Magnolia Ave Baptist, Part-time (29 hours)

This position will provide the leadership to staff and volunteers with the

Children’s Ministry. Directly supervises the leaders and workers with

the Children’s Ministry programs and has responsibilities for interview-

ing, training workers, planning, assigning and directing work; appraising

performance; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Contact:

Pastor Ron Harvey, Minister of Education, 951-689-5700, go to

www.magonline.com for application.

Ministry Trailer 1

now has a portable

baptistry.

If you need to book

the trailer please

contact Brenda or

Angie at the

Association office.

951-784-2655

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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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Published Monthly

POSTMASTER; Send address changes to:

Inland Empire Southern Baptist Association of Califor-

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May 6 Desert Area Missions Workshop

May 8 S.S. Director’s Meeting

May 19 VBS Clinic

June 9 Children’s Day Camp

Sept.15 Health Clinic

October 6 APE

Clarion

Inland Empire Association Staff

Deryl Lackey Director of Missions

deryl@iesba.org

Claudio Medina Associate Director of Missions

claudio@iesba.org

Bruce Hitchcock Church Growth Strategist

bruce@iesba.org

Martin Leach Church Growth Consultant

marty@iesba.org

Bobbie Brooks Ministry Assistant

bobbie@iesba.org

Brenda Lackey Office Manager

brenda@iesba.org

Angela Mantzey Graphics Specialist

angie@iesba.org

(951) 784-2655 • Fax (951) 784-2656