Growth, Change, and Care

October 23, 2009

I don’t know how your week has been, but mine has been a roller-coaster, you might say; highs and lows. Every week is like that, I suppose, but perhaps this week has been a bit more extreme. So I spent a good part of this week trying to catch up on some rest. But there have been some really great developments I want to tell you about, too.

This morning I hosted a group of six Presbyterian church leaders at our church. Four pastors, one lay leader in charge of children’s ministry and a denominational leader akin to our Conference President. All of them are from the same Presbytery in South Carolina. They have been doing some traveling on a Lily Endowment grant learning about missional church. My friend and mentor, Alan Roxburgh brought them to Hollywood and we spent the whole morning talking about our missional change process. I showed two of the three Stained Glass episodes, created by Melody George, talked to them about our last four years and walked them around our neighborhood. I think they were tremendously blessed and encouraged to see the work we’ve been doing and I know I was blessed to share our story again to a group of people that I don’t normally get to talk to. I mean, how cool is it that a group of Presbyterians came to our little Hollywood Adventist Church to learn about missional change?

As usual it’s been a week of inspiring and hope-inducing conversations. We have some members in real seriously need. But God has placed us in each others lives to care for each other. The amazing thing is that every time I turn around, that’s exactly what you all are doing.

There are also big plans afoot in a several different areas that you’ll be hearing more about shortly. Imagine LA has officially assigned us our family and we should be meeting them for the first time very soon. The church board has authorized us to move ahead with developing a non-profit organization to support our work in the community. Nathan French and Kori Galvan will be attending a training by the Ohio Conference in Ohio in about a week to learn what steps we should take next. And, most recently, there are plans falling into place to significantly expand the work of our media ministry, affectionately known as Cinema Divina. Please pray for all these ministries, that God would provide resources to match the dreams God has planted in our hearts.

As always, there are many ways for you to be involved in the live of the Hollywood Adventist Church. If you’re looking for a church home or just want to get more involved, please let me or one of the leaders know and we’d be honored to help connect you in the right way.

Grace and Peace,

Ryan

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