V ol um e 28 N umb er 10 NOVEMBER 2014

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2 O n the fourth Thursday of November of every year we here in this nation celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It is a great practice that shows our original Judeo-Christian background in which we acknowledged the existence of God and our dependence in His providence and daily sustenance. I am not sure that such a day would ever have been established in today s politically charged and anti- Christian environment. Certainly such an attempt would be challenged in court by the atheists, some Native American groups, non- Christian groups and the ACLU. The most that might be agreed on today would be a generic by The Rev. Jose Poch god such as the higher power of Alcoholic Anonymous or a whatever god you feel like thanking. Thanksgiving Day became an official Federal holiday in 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. Also, there are reports that the original Thanksgiving proclamation was signed by George Washington, who under the Constitution of 1787, made this proclamation on October 3, 1789, in New York City. The idea of a day especially set aside to stop from our daily toils and acknowledge Him from whom all good things come, our wonderful God and Father, is a good and necessary practice. As William Shakespeare ( ) wrote Oh, Lord, who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness. However, I am sure we will all agree that Thanksgiving should not ever be represented by just one day a year in which we acknowledge the presence of our God in our lives. Thanksgiving is a moment by moment event, day by day; it is the product of a heart that lives in submission to God daily. Thankfulness should fill our hearts from the moment we awake to the moment we lay down in the evening. I don t think I need to remind any of you, readers of our newsletter, that Thanksgiving Day is not a celebration of the turkey in the oven, over which so many families will slave to make sure it comes out tasty. I can almost see mothers and sometimes fathers bowing down before the oven constantly watching the bird being cooked inside. Thanksgiving is and must always be about and only about God, our Heavenly Father and the Father of Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanksgiving is a daily practice of all God-loving and serving Christians. I pray that as we celebrate Thanksgiving Day this year on November 27 at 10:00 a.m., at St. David s, that we will all join together around God s altar to bow down before our God and to sing joyfully His praises. Come and celebrate a true Thanksgiving Day. Join us! 2

3 L aurie and I would like to thank all of you that participated in our first St. David s stay picnic on Sunday, October 19. What a great time to be with each other in fellowship and fun!!! We especially want to thank those that volunteered to help out including Spencer Johnson for organizing the Bingo, Brian and Becky Ronald for the Piñata, Maly Poch for coordinating the face painting, and Evelio Martinez for allowing us to borrow his BBQ. We also want to congratulate all the Chili cooks that put their culinary skills up for judgment with a big shout out to our winner Primi Esparza who took home the first place trophy. He has set the bar very high for everyone for next year. Better start practicing now so you can take away the crown. from Tom and Laurie Leney Thank you Again!! D uring the month of October we were saddened to hear the news of the passing of these two men: Raymond Coty the son of Marge Coty (a former member of St. David s). Raymond had been battling cancer for several years. Henry Lipscomb the br0ther of Ken Simmonds. Henry had also been battling cancer. Please keep the family and friends of Raymond and Henry in your prayers during their time of grief. 3

4 T his month, our SAGES will meet on Sunday, November 9 in the Community Room. We are a growing ministry at St. David s and we meet on the second Sunday of the month right after the 10:30am service for one hour only! Stop and get yourself a lunch and bring it to the room or ask us to bring you a plate! In October, we enjoyed SAGES Bingo at the St. David s Stay-Picnic. This month, we have a very important subject for all seniors regarding Medicare Advantage Programs featuring Laurie Leney, our resident expert who also is a manager for one of the largest Medicare Advantage programs, Health Net. We are in the middle of the open enrollment period and it is very important that everyone enrolled or enrolling in Medicare Advantage attend this special discussion. Every year you should review your options and compare plans even if you are happy with your current coverage. Learn what changes have occurred in so you avoid being surprised after it is too late to by Spencer Johnson change. Laurie brings expert advice on choosing or changing providers and resources to use. Anyone interested can attend; bring your friends to church and the SAGES program! What are SAGES about? SAGES are all about: Spiritual Enrichment What is God telling us or asking of us as SAGES? Learning Opportunities Special websites for new Knowledge; Field Trips Socialization Get to know your fellow SAGES! Service Opportunities Where can we bring Christ to others. Providing SAGES Needed Services from prayer to helping each other when they need us. Are you a SAGE yet? If not, don t worry, your time will come! What do SAGES get each month besides the above list? A special SAGES newsletter delivered by or snail mail right to your door! How can you turn that down! SAGES Mystery Dinner Theater January 2015 In early January, right after the Christmas/New Year s Rush, we are planning on going to a SAGES Mystery Dinner Theater. We are collecting $5/month from all those who want to attend and we already have 20 SAGES and guests signed up. For more information on how to join the SAGES for all of the above, see Spencer Johnson or at spenjohn@yahoo.com Happy Thanksgiving Month from the SAGES! A s we continue our teachings on the Person and Works of the Holy Spirit each first and third Sunday of the month after services (1:00 2:30 p.m.), we are excited by what we have all been learning. We seek to equip all our members in the knowledge and works of the Spirit of the Living God. During the month of November we will actually be meeting three times to catch up on some sessions that had to be cancelled last month. In addition, there will be no class on the first Sunday of the month due to Bishop Lyons visit to St. David s. Our focus in November will be as follows: November 9 Inner Healing November 16 The Gifts of Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues November 23 Healing of the Demonized 4 All are welcome to attend. This series of teachings will be concluded in November.

5 Financial Update From Alex Falo J esus said - Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21 As of September 30, St. David s has improved its overall pledge deficit from ($32,791.00) to ($4,289.00). We truly appreciate everyone s efforts to bring their pledges current; however, let s remember that we still have two months to go until the end of the year. We must remain current if the church is to meet its responsibilities in the areas of ministry and administrative obligations. As Christians we have a duty to support the preaching of the gospel, to give financial support to our spiritual leaders and the church needs our support! Father Jose has preached that we should examine the blessings that we ve received from God and tithe pursuant to those blessings. Increased blessings should translate into increased tithing. Think of how much Jesus gave for us! Remember, the Lord has promised to provide for us abundantly as we sow generously. Please give to the best of your ability, remembering our commitment to God in order to continue to finance our ministries and for His glory. O n November 2 we will have a great celebration of All Saints Day. All Saints Day is actually on November 1 but we will transfer that feast to the following Sunday. On All Saints Day we celebrate the lives and testimony of all of God s saints, who have lived and died in the service of God and who yet live in all our memories. This year we want to lift special prayers for those saints of God who have preceded us into His presence. Please send us the names of those you want remembered on this day by sending an to admin@stdavidsanglican.org or by calling the office On this day we will also have the blessing of welcoming to St. David s our Vicar General (Interim Bishop), the Right Reverend Frank Lyons who has been serving our Diocese of Western Anglicans since Bishop Bill s retirement and will continue doing so until our new Bishop is consecrated (see elsewhere in this newsletter). On this day we will also celebrate baptisms. Come and be prepared for a grand celebration. All Saints Day Celebration Bishop Frank Lyons & Baptisms 5

6 Daily In The Word r. Jose is writing a daily F meditation on a passage of the Scriptures. Would you like to be part of his daily study/meditation? You may sign up for it at our website Each day at the same time you will receive a meditation for that day written by our Pastor, where Fr. Jose will share with you his thoughts on a particular passage of the Scripture. Sign up today and learn with our Pastor. 6 New Internet Bible Study About To Begin e are about to conclude our Internet Bible Study of the W Book of Revelation, we have only four chapters to go and are expecting to be finished with this study by the end of this year. We will soon begin to sign up new students for a new study, perhaps on the prophetic Book of Daniel. Everyone who has participated in this study has been greatly blessed, with many of our members having grown tremendously. We began this new program for those that for one reason or another are unable to attend one of our Bible studies (distance, children, work, general busyness, etc.) Beginning in January 2015, Fr. Jose will begin a new Internet Bible Study. All he will need from you is to know that you are interested and have an active address. Each Monday he will send you at least five questions for you to study at home at your pace. By Friday you need to return to him the questions answered and with any questions or comments on the study that you might have. If you don t have internet capability but would like to be part of this study, he will send the questions to you via mail and you need to return them to him the same way also by Friday. We encourage you to perhaps do this study at home with others in your household or with friends. ou may communicate your interest to Fr. Jose at Y We begin in January so let him know as soon as possible. Join us, you too can grow in your knowledge of God s Word. Tuesday Night Bible Study ach Tuesday evening E from 7:00 9:00 a group of our members meet at the church offices at Morrison St, Suite 202, Sherman Oaks, to study the Bible with Fr. Jose. We are about to conclude the Letter of Jude and will soon begin to study St. Paul s 1 and 2 Letters to the Thessalonians. Fr. Jose takes us verse by verse through the entire book we are studying, explaining and helping us apply each verse. One night a week and a life time of blessings. Sign up for the next study by writing Fr. Jose at Join us, you will be blessed. Journey Through Galatians & Jude r. Jose has just concluded his entire study through F St. Paul s Letter to the Galatians. It is now available by signing up at (look for the slide on the homepage). This is in a daily meditation format, whereby once you sign up, each day you will receive a study on a portion of the Letter to the Galatians. This study program, which we are sure will bless you, uses the Journey Maker program. Very soon you will also be able sign up to receive Fr. Jose s study of the Letter of Jude, which should be published by December 1. This study will follow the same format as the Galatians Study above. Those of you that would like to take either Journey with Fr. Jose can sign up to receive his daily meditations by going through our website or by going directly to Through this link you will be able to subscribe to Fr. Jose s meditations and receive one each day of the week. We pray that each day you will be inspired as you read with him through Paul s Letter to the Galatians and the Letter of Jude. Let us journey together through God s inspired and holy Word. Sign up today!

7 T his month in my Sharing Your Faith article I would like to highlight a couple of very interesting books that I have come across in the last few days. These books will be a blessing for all of you who take evangelism seriously and want to be well equipped in sharing the faith that is in you with others. I myself will be purchasing these three books and reading them. Please purchase one of them and read it in preparation for Christmas. The first one is titled Be the Message by Kerry and Chris Shook. Here is what Pastor Rick Warren had to say about the book: Kerry and Chris Shook know that instead of hiding and denying our weaknesses, we need to recognize them and learn from them. We need to learn to share them. We need to learn to glory in our weaknesses. If God is ever going to use us greatly, we ll walk with a limp the rest of our lives. We can hear about people s successes all day, and it will have absolutely no benefit to us. But when they start talking to us about their pain, all of a sudden they have our attention. Sharing our handicaps causes others to stop making excuses, to see the possibilities, and to rely on God. If we re going to have a Christlike ministry that means sometimes other people are going to find healing in the wounds in our lives. In Be the Message Kerry and Chris have written a powerful guide on how to stop hiding behind our images so we can truly discover and live our authentic life message. This book is not for those who seek to be impressed; it s for those who want to have an impact on the lives of others. We can impress people by talking about our successes, but we ll impact people when we admit our failures and weaknesses and point them to the God who can work a miracle out of our mess. The second book is Lifestyle Evangelism by Joe Aldrich Finding common ground and earning the right to be heard is the secret to lifestyle evangelism. In this classic bestseller, now released as a mass-market paperback, Dr. Joe Aldrich shows us how we can build genuine, caring relationships with nonbelievers that will open their hearts to the gospel message. The author's approach is biblical, practical, and natural. Lifestyle Evangelism is the definitive work in introducing people to the Savior in a way that displays God's authentic love for the lost. by The Rev. Jose Poch The Third book is Evangelism without Additives by Jim Henderson What if evangelism meant just being yourself? If the gospel really is good news, why do most Christians avoid evangelism? Why is witnessing often a negative experience, for both the sender and receiver? Wouldn t it be great if you could communicate the good news without having to become a spiritual salesperson? What if you didn t have to make a speech in order to witness? you could use everyday experiences to nudge others closer to Jesus? the things you re already doing counted as evangelism? Evangelism can be as normal as asking great questions and paying attention to the people Jesus misses most. It involves doing things you already do, but with a little more intentionality. Just by being yourself and becoming unusually interested in others, you can discover that people will ask you about Jesus. This isn t another program or pitch. It s a handbook on how to make real connections with the people formerly known as lost. Think of it as evangelism for the rest of us. 7

8 O n Sunday, November 30, St. Andrew s Day, a new Liturgical Calendar and a new Liturgical Year begins. November 30 is the First Sunday of Advent and it begins the Season of Advent which will last for four Sundays, ending on December 21 and followed by Christmas Day and the Season of Christmas. As a special treat for all of us on November 30 we will have Fr. Charles Myers as our preacher and celebrant. Come and welcome Fr. Charles home. The word Advent is Latin for Coming or Arrival, and it is a Season of preparation for the Birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. It also helps us look backwards to the actual birth of Jesus and forward to His Second Coming. Each of the four Sundays of Advent is themed as follows: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love and is celebrated with the reading of special lessons directing our hearts to these themes and the lighting of candles in the Advent Wreath. Normally we invite families in our Church, including children and youth, to lead us in the Advent liturgies. This new Season of Advent 2014 also begins for us our reading and study of the Gospel of Mark which we will use throughout the rest the year We invite you to come and worship with us each of the Sundays of Advent (November 30 December 21) and to prepare yourselves and your families for a joyous and meaningful Christmas Day. Welcome the Coming of our Lord in your hearts and homes this Advent Season. New Bishop for The Diocese of Western Anglicans F inally a new Bishop for the Diocese of Western Anglicans has been selected by the ACNA College of Bishops. See below the announcement we received: The College of Bishops has selected the Rev. Dr. M. Keith Andrews as the next Bishop of the Diocese of Western Anglicans. Fr. Keith has been serving as the Arizona/Nevada regional Dean for the Diocese, and since 2005 as the Rector of Living Faith Anglican Church in Tempe, AZ. The Consecration of our second Bishop will occur Sunday, January 25 th, at 5:00 p.m. at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, CA. We extend hearty congratulations to Bishop-Elect Andrews and look forward to working with him in the future! 8

9 S ome bristle at the first verses of this epistle especially when it has been used in a harsh, insensitive way. Paul spoke from the heart aware that the battle of the sexes was a real issue in his time and certainly today! Thanking God for the fact that He is LOVE and marriage is His ultimate plan for covenant LOVE and unity between man and woman. Change of plan! Instead of a seminar for our couples on Saturday, December 6 We are planning a Couples Potluck & Movie Night 6:00-9:30pm At the Poch family home 7643 Bluebell Ave. North Hollywood, CA by Luisa S. Johnson Ephesians 5 Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. vs Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. vs Please check your calendar and mark in this golden opportunity to relax and enjoy good food and laughter. Details to follow Movie is Marriage Retreat Drama and humor with a point about our Bible passage above! Check it out at November 2014 Saturday, Nov. 1 Lay Leaders Class; Baptism Class Sunday, Nov. 2 Bishop Frank Lyons Visit; Holy Baptism Sunday, Nov. 9 SAGES Meeting; Come With Your Fire Saturday, Nov. 15 Women of Light Sunday, Nov. 16 Come With Your Fire Sunday, Nov. 23 Come With Your Fire Thursday, Nov. 27 Thanksgiving Service at 10am December 2014 Saturday, Dec. 6 Lay Leaders Class; Marriage Ministry Event Sunday, Dec. 14 SAGES Meeting; St. David s Cursillo Ultreya Saturday, Dec. 20 Men s Breakfast; Women of Light Wednesday, Dec. 24 Christmas Eve Service at 7pm A Visit From Fr. Lee Mullins F r. Lee Mullins, who was ordained at St. David s in 2012 and served with Fr. Jose for about six months before being called as missionary to Thailand, will be vising Los Angeles from December 3 through the 22. He will be with us at St. David s on Sunday, December 14. Mark your calendars and let others know. Let s find out what the Lord is up to in Thailand, Diocese of Singapore and through our brother. 9

10 I hope that you enjoyed the picnic in October. I think that it was a fantastic time and those who wore their St. David s T-Shirt looked great in it. It was awesome to take a picture together but we would have loved to be a bigger group. by Deborah Chase There is another opportunity to place an order and I hope that this time most of you will do so. For the next month, there will be a sign up sheet available at the church or you can see me to place your orders. Orders can be placed for black or white and sizes range from small to extra-large. The cost is $15 per t-shirt which includes all taxes, etc., and the final day to place your order will be November 30, Please note that we do not have the resources to keep an inventory. We ask that you consider this if you would possibly like to have additional ones for the future when you place your order. I will be looking forward to taking your orders on Sunday or you may me at outreach@stdavidsanglican.org. S eptember 11th changed the world. Since then, Islam has made headlines every week. Muslim immigration is on the rise. Classmates, co-workers and our neighbors are from Muslim backgrounds. OASIS 2014 is designed to equip you as a follower of Christ and provide resources to help you respond to Muslims in America. Gather with us to hear what God is doing among Muslims. Join the movement to respond biblically to Islam in America at OASIS 2014 at Clairemont Covenant Church in San Diego. Go to crescentproject.org/oasis for more information! 10

11 St. David s Anglican Church PO Box 5599 Sherman Oaks, CA