Following the three-day Fellowship Council meetings, a number of us stayed in the Los Angeles area this weekend to sightsee a little on Saturday and to speak and minister in a variety of Grace Brethren churches Sunday morning.
Saturday some of the pastors went to Venice Beach, some toured the Queen Mary, and one group of about six attended the 6:30 p.m. service at Saddleback Community Church, pastored by Rick Warren.
Then this Sunday morning, the men fanned out for ministry. Some of the venues included Bellflower (Dan O’Deens), Long Beach Community (Jim Brown), Los Altos (Tom Avey) and San Diego (Larry Humberd), among others.
Keith Shearer and I had the delight of being in the Seal Beach church, where Pastor Don Shoemaker and his congregation gave us a very warm welcome and an excellent worship experience. Keith preached three times from Romans 15, and I taught a Sunday School class, gave a BMH “ministry hilite” three times, and manned a booktable out on the sidewalk which displayed BMH Books and literature.
Some of the pastors will now return home, while others will go on to San Juan Capistrano where the Southwest Focus Retreat begins Monday at about 3:30 p.m. FGBC Moderator Tim Boal will lead the retreat, which is on the theme of the church, and will anchor the sessions in his recently-published BMH book Building Authentic Community.
