The Grapevine
The Monthly Newsletter of the
Clairemont Christian Fellowship
4570 Mt. Herbert, San Diego, CA 92117 – (858)278-2433
Web Site: www.ClairemontFellowship.com
September 2010
Pastor's Message
The Lord Has Helped Us
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1
An “Ebenezer” is a memorial to remind God’s people of God’s help. On September 12, we raise our Ebenezer. It was on November 13, 1960, that the new North Clairemont Methodist Church received its first members. This year makes fifty years that we have been here as one of God’s churches. Our first pastor, the Reverend Donald Milliken, did the hard work of recruiting the first members. Our next senior pastor was Al Jansen. During his time here, he himself experienced a spiritual awakening at a small group of mostly young people, and that was the beginning of the opening of this church to the Holy Spirit. He brought back to the church what he received, and things continued to grow. After Al’s time here, Dave Walker came. Dave started The Prayer and Conferences while he was here, and this church continued to grow in its experience of the Holy Spirit. After Dave Walker, our senior pastor was Don Guerrant. During Don’s time, our monthly Healing Service was begun, with a greater use of contemporary music. After Don, I came. We have continued the Healing Services, had many fine special conferences here, and we have now hosted the Clairemont Healing Rooms for several years.
In the course of our first fifty years, God has done many great things here. Some have been set free from alcohol, others from drugs, others from adultery, others from homosexuality, and still others from fear, from anger, from violence, from lifetime patterns of pain, from long-time sickness, including cancer, and from much more. The sick have often been healed and many who were demonized have been set free. Youth have come to the Lord and have grown up in the Lord. Adults have come to the Lord and have grown in the Lord. Marriages have been blessed. Lives have been saved. Many have made brand new commitments to trusting in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior: some first time; others, significant recommitments. Many have been called into ministry from this church, particularly during Dave Walker’s time here. Many have gone into short term missions from this church. Among the missions I can think of off hand, are ones to Russia, Brazil, Appalachia, Mexico (several to Mexico), Pakistan, China (several to China), Thailand, and Zimbabwe. And there have been others to many other places we have supported. We have had outreaches at nearby parks, at different beaches, on street corners, and on our own grounds. We have baptized new believers in the Sanctuary, in the Pacific Ocean (by Crystal Pier and at Children’s Pool), in Mission Bay, in the Gales’ pool, in my hot-tub, in Bob Howard’s pool, and in a few other places as well. Both directly as individuals and as a church, we have provided lodging, food, clothing, utilities, medical care, dental care, transportation, vehicles, and more to folks in need. We have hosted speakers like David Seamands, John and Paula Sanford, Merlin Carruthers, Tommy Tyson, Don Williams, Larry and Audrey Eddings, Gary Goodell, the Dews, and many, many more. We have experienced powerful Lay Witness Missions here, and we have supported them elsewhere. Over the years, particularly in times past, we have been powerful supporters of, and prime movers in, Walk to Emmaus and in the Prayer and Healing Conferences. We have taken Healing Services to La Jolla, Calexico, and Tecate. We have experienced tears, repentance, release, joy, and new life. Much has occurred in this place across our first fifty years.
Even so, that is but the tip of the iceberg. Yes, there has been more that has happened here than we have space to tell, but all of that is also but the tip of the iceberg. We are the heirs of many who have gone before us. Some four thousand years ago, God moved in historic times through Abraham. He spoke through prophets. In the fullness of time, God himself came to us in Jesus Christ. Two thousand years ago, God made new life possible for us by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ upon the cross. On Pentecost, He sent us the Holy Spirit. And since that time, all who will receive it, have been able to have a new life, one filled with love, joy, peace, faithfulness, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, and self-control.
Others have died that we might know the truth of God. Early Christians suffered death by burning and by being tossed to wild animals and by many other ways for the sake of their faith. Later, others died so that we might have the Bible, a written record of God’s dealings with his people. Others died to carry a word of hope, grace and release to people who killed them for their efforts. Still others have given well of time, of talent, and of treasure that the body of Christ might go on, that the church might be the church. And we are heirs of all this. It is a great heritage, not to be taken lightly.
With so great a gift entrusted to us, surely we too must hear God’s call. Surely we too must respond to the call that God has placed on each of us, has spoken into each of our hearts. We too have known God’s grace, not only in the history of God’s people across the ages, and not only in the lives of others around us, but in us ourselves, in our own lives. In response to what God has done, we give thanks. But also, in response to what God has done, we recommit ourselves to enjoy God and to glorify him forever. We commit ourselves again to bring the knowledge of God to others, by our lips and by our lives. We recommit to give and to love, to serve, to care, to draw near to God and to draw near to others so that we might help them draw near to God. We commit again to truth and to grace and to the One who is full of truth and grace, Jesus Christ. We commit to do all that we can to make the next fifty years more glorious still, for the glory of God and for the sake of our own joy. God bless you all.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim
Committee Meetings & Other Events
September…………
September 4 Men’s Breakfast 8:00 am WH
September 6 LABOR DAY Offices Closed September 11 Healing Teams YR 9 am Prep. For Pot Luck
September 12 50th Celebration/ Pot Luck Prayer & Healing Ser. 6 pm
September 19 Family Life Com. 12 pm WH September 20 COM 7 pm WH September 25 Rummage Sale FH 8-2 pm
September 27 SPRC PO 7 pm
Every Thursday Morning Coffee Break, 9:15 am in Wesley Hall Every fourth Thursday a guest speaker.
Special Events
Special Events in September:
September 4, at 8:00 a.m.: Men’s Bkfst Men, join us for our breakfast and a fine program at 8:00 the first Saturday of the month.
September 5, at 10:30 a.m.: Worship We will celebrate Holy Communion this first Sunday of the month. We will not have a pot- luck after this Sunday, due to the celebration on the 12th.
September 12, at 10:30 a.m.: Worship and Special 50th Anniversary Celebration Join our grand celebration with the Reverends Al Jansen, David Walker, Don Guerrant and Pastor Jim, among others, and District Superintendent the Reverend Myron Wingfield, with special music, and a great meal and fellowship to follow. - Members, please bring extra food to share with our many expected guests on this day.
September 12, at 6:00 p.m.: Healing Service with Norris Miller, and many original members of our Healing Service Praise Team.
September 25, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.: Rummage Sale {Those bringing items for the sale may drop things off at church during office hours from September 13.} Come to the sale on Saturday. Baked goods will be on sale; proceeds will help to feed needy children.
Church and Society
School is starting again. If it has been a few decades since you’ve visited an American public school, you’d probably be shocked to see how much some of these once-sacred temples of learning now have in common with the mall. The walls of many school sports stadiums are smothered in corporate logos. Most lunchrooms could double as fast-food courts And classroom TV monitors flash a regular stream of racy video- game, movie, and fast food ads along with the TV news shows that get piped to 40% of U.S. teens. Corporations have even made “huge in-roads” in the curriculum, thanks to the free materials they send to schools says Boston College sociologist Juliet B. Schor. Among the things grade-schoolers have been taught: that fossil fuels may pose few environmental problems and that alternative energy is costly and unattainable, in the words of Exxon’s Energy Cube curriculum. They’ve also learned that the “earth could benefit rather than be harmed from increased carbon dioxide” from materials provided by the American Coal Foundation.
These are just a few of the many reasons why Schor believes that Corporate America has succeeded in a frightening takeover of teen consciousness. In her artfully argued, important expose‘ “Born To Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture Schor draws on interviews with marketers, academic research, and her own survey of Massachusetts fifth-and sixth-graders. Her chief villains: “predatory” marketers who go as far as to pay parents and schools to get access to kids. Because kids have gotten so skeptical, companies have countered with more craftiness. They hire cool alpha boys to flack products to their pals. They find “It” girls to host slumber parties and then ply their friends with products.
Nowhere is the onslaught more apparent than on TV and the Internet, says Schor. Against the $15 billion lavished on commercials, “neuromarketing,” and covert peer-to-peer campaigns, Schor believes grade schoolers don’t stand a chance. Marketers have sidestepped gatekeeper moms and dads and gone directly to the kids. Much of their work in schools and on the Net is so stealthy that parents aren’t even aware of it. Thus, Schor argues, too many children have been transformed into miniature consumption machines who keep swallowing the corporate message that meaning comes from acquiring and a sense of self-worth from owning. You don’t have one? What a loser.
Schor also argues that marketed leisure has replaced unstructured socializing as the primary childhood pastime. Instead of Kick the Can, it’s buy at the Store. One national survey Schor points to found that more than a third of all kids age 9 to 14 would rather spend time buying things than doing almost anything else. Schor uses her own study to buttress the point. She found that the more exposed kids are to the consumer world, the more likely it is that they will suffer from depression, anxiety, and sagging self-esteem.
Kids are subject to many influences, making it extremely difficult to establish specific cause-and-effect relationships. Schor doesn’t blame moms who don’t stay at home. Even the most attentive of full-time parents can lose the battle against the onslaught of stuff-peddlers. Still, Schor believes parents should lobby government to regulate ads and turn schools back into commercial-free zones. But, Schor asks, should parents really have to fight against every message beamed at their offspring? Is the only option a kids-in-a-bubble childhood? What about a culture that supports youngsters rather than enticing them to spend money? The way it stands now, advertisers use every means to capitalize on the “nag factor”--inciting kids to pester their parents until they open their wallets. Marketers have even enlisted academics, Schor says, much as Big Pharma has done with doctors. For example, toy companies hire researchers to study a game and find it “instructive,” thus giving it a parental halo. The marketers Schor interviewed admitted to guilt over their tactics, with one even confiding that she was sure her career would cause her to “burn in hell.”
I think Schor is making a valid point here. You don’t find a lot of teens in church, but they have practically taken over the malls. In a capitalistic society such as ours, it’s hard to neglect, or compete with, Madison Avenue.
Don Bellows
Email Addresses
Our church's e-mail address and web-site!
church@clairemontfellowship.com
For Office!
pastorjim@clairemontfellowship.com
For Pastor!
healingrooms@clairemontfellowship.com
Healing Rooms!
www.clairemontfellowship.com
Birthdays
Birthdays in September
9/1 Norman Carvalho 9/2 Marilyn Brecheisen 9/2 Matthew Brown 9/2 Bill Thomas 9/4 Wayne Sanger 9/5 Dariea Rosenburg 9/7 Rachel Patterson 9/10 Lois Tate 9/11 Glenn Riggs 9/12 Susie Gale 9/13 Natalie Flores 9/17 Mona Rosario 9/21 Courtney Curtis 9/21 Margie Carvalho 9/21 Ryan Gooley 9/22 Matthew Ahlgren 9/23 Joseph Esquerra 9/26 Ariadne Mack 9/29 Demitri Hazelton
Financial Fund Summary
Fund Summary General Fund July 30, 2010
Beginning Balance $ 4,047.55
Income to date $ 170,919.50
Extended to date $ 181.996.09
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Balance ($ 7,029.04)
Prayer Corner
Continue to hold these people in prayer or send a personal note, as you feel appropriate.
Physical Healing: Andrea Espinosa, Rick Arcolas, Tootsie Esguerra, Gabe Slatton, Tootsie Esguerra, Rick Arcolas, Myron Insko, Peggy Page, Ruth Gross, Angela Russell, Evelyn Christian & Lance Haynes Home Bound: Gerrie Riggs, Ellen Beard, Joy Norcross, Betty Erwin & Ruth Greenwood, Prayer for our Missionaries: Dr. Perry Jansen & Will Rosenberg
Travel Mercies: Arlene Wilason & Family, Daria Rosenberg & The Franks Family Prayers for Pastor Jim: We pray for our Pastor that he would hear the Lord clearly and speak the Lord’s desires for our church and for us as his people. We pray for his continued health, strength and well-being. May his heart be filled with peace and with our love.
Prayer Ministry
Prayer…
Recently, I received an update from Kadi Love who is with the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) School in New Zealand . This is the Discipleship Training School where our son, Will, is the Director. When she wrote this she and her outreac h team were in Africa. I want to share this with you as it seemed quite thought provoking to me. Enjoy!
You don’t need to pray under a big tree. The power of prayer is absolutely amazing, and still blows my mind. While in Tazania ,we as a group went on a prayer walk. At every corner we would stop and pray. At one point we were passing a field, and a couple people in our team had a strong feeling that we needed to go to that field and pray over the city. At the end of this path we were walking down, stood this Massai man all decked out in his tribal clothes holding a staff watching and waiting for us to reach him. Once we got to him, he began walking with us and talking to us. We explained what we were doing and told him he was more than welcome to join us for our prayer walk. In the middle of the field one of our team members prayed out loud. After the prayer, our new friend exclaimed, “you prayed out in the open. We are only allowed to pray under a big tree, but you prayed out in this open field. Why?” We then proceeded to explain to him that God is everywhere, and that you can talk to Him any time and any place. The man went on to observe, “There are eight of you , and only one of me. So you must be right.” We went on to tell him more about Jesus, but he was having a hard time understanding it all. We promised to get him a Bible in Swahili.
Looking at this man, one would think, “Surely he does not have a cell phone.” But we asked if he had one, and to my surprise he pushed aside one of his wraps, and next to his machete was indeed a cell phone…go figure. One of our guys and he exchanged cell numbers and the next day, we got him a Swahili Bible. The next week, this man sent us a text us telling us about his excitement with the Bible and Jesus. Praise God for this Divine appointment.
So, beloved, what are we waiting for? We can pray any time and anywhere and our God who is the one true living God will hear and will answer. How he loves it when His children choose to communicate with Him! What a marvelous and wonderful personal God we serve and love. May you grow and be blessed in your relationship with our Lord and King. Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Dariea Rosenberg Prayer Ministry
Prayer and Healing Ministry Report
We will meet on the Second Sunday of the month. The next Healing Service will be on September 12, 2010. Our speaker will be Norris Miller. Plus we will have some our original praise team members to celebrate out 50th anniversary. Please join us for the three day Healing Please join us, our Lord always does.
HOW BIG IS YOUR GIANT? Excerpts from teaching by Pastor Gary Goodell~~
Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me…….For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. 1 Samuel 17:8, 16
How we view a hardship or a difficult circumstance is all related to our perspective. The size of what we face is determined by the angle of how we are viewing it. We will either see it in terms of how much bigger it is than us or how much smaller it is than our God!
When David as a young boy came to deliver food to his warrior brothers he was fresh to the battle scene. For forty days the Israelites had endured the continual taunting of the fearsome Philistine, Goliath. And in the mind of David’s brothers and the army they thought how much bigger is this giant than us? ‘What possible chance do we have against him?” David came with the perspective, “How much smaller is this guy than God?! Who is this that dares to defy the armies of the Living God?” And someone heard David speak faith filled words and that he had volunteered to face Goliath. They told King Saul and so David came to face the enemy with five smooth stones. This was not David’s first encounter with danger. He had killed a lion and a bear as he defended his father’s flock of sheep. David had practiced and practiced his skill with the slingshot. And when the stone found its mark on Goliath’s temple a hush fell over the camp. And then rejoicing. It was a new day for Israel.
Maybe the doctor has said you won’t make it. And then you seek a second opinion and get another discouraging prediction. A third opinion says you’re in real trouble and you believe it. How big is your giant? Maybe you have a terrible marriage, you have a three-legged dog, bad health, and your cat has fleas. Do you compare what you’re going through to others’ lives or do you compare the circumstances to Almighty God and His power. Remember that heaven is not in an economic recession. God still holds the galaxies in place. God still owns a thousand cattle on a thousand hills. God is a God of healing and restoration.
Continual bombardment with lies had worn down the army. In your own life be careful who you hang around. Even another Christian can bring you down with continual negative words and attitude. All the enemy has are his lies. He knows he’s defeated, heaven knows he’s defeated. Only Christians forget it or don’t know it. If you want to break a habit, practice it for 21 days. In the same way faithfully practice cultivating a new positive mindset.
How often do you put God in a box, limiting his power and his majesty? Let’s blow up those limiting boxes. Not how much bigger is the giant than you but how much bigger is God than your giant? Let the Holy Spirit change your perspective. Your God is here, loving you. He decided before the foundation of the world that He would die for you. When you take communion you remember his death and celebrate His resurrection. He’s alive! When Jesus returns He will come as a warrior with fire in His eyes and a sword in His hand. Your God is bigger than any giant.
Celebration Choir
Weekly rehearsals are at 6:00 – 7:30 PM. Please come to the next one: we want to sing with you.
Since our choir is open to all comers, the amount of your choir experience doesn’t matter to us. If you’ve never sung in a choir, are a bit rusty at it, or have had lots of experience, we want you! We can use altos, sopranos, basses, and tenors—so your voice is sure to fit right in! We have youth through young-at-heart seniors in our group, and we’re hoping to grow by adding your voice (and the voices of any friends you can encourage to join us!).
Our intrepid choir director Peggy Page has once again selected some marvelous new music for us to share with the congregation. Please contact Peggy at 858-278-2433 with any questions you may have.
We also have childcare if needed!
In Christ,
Trish Beaumont
