February 24, 2017 Volume 51, Issue 3 Garden Grove Church of the Nazarene 13411 Euclid Street Garden Grove CA 92843 (714) 534-5770 church-office@ggnaz.org www.ggnaz.org T A T S S! This is a sad snowman one of our teens from the recent Youth Winter Retreat sent me. It s not the artistry or design; he s sad for a host of other reasons. I know these things, I m from Minnesota! (I plan on being from Minnesota for the rest of my life sorry Mom.) 1. His creators are going to tire of him and just abandon him. 2. His barely visible arms are useless. 3. With no mouth, he s unable to eat. 4. He will never hear. 5. He has only days to live and will never exist again. 6. He has no one to talk with. 7. He will never dance. (He would make a great, uptight, old school Nazarene). 8. There s not a thing he can do about his circumstances. 9. His disposition is cold too. 10. He will never work, play, live, converse and laugh with other snowmen. You however are not nearly in as terrible condition. In fact, you are entirely different than this helpless snowman. An article like this could be written on each one of the characteristics I ve listed but you re smart enough to fill in the blanks and apply it to your own life. I ll get you started with these reminders 1. Your Creator has no interest in abandoning you. He has a personal interest in you and has no plans on giving up on you. 2. Your arms (and all the rest of you) are capable of doing marvelous things. Do even the ordinary with joy. The scripture says that whatever you find to do, do it with all your heart. Serve others like you mean it. 3. You are able to eat physical food but never forget to dine on the Word of Life found in the Scripture (Bible). If you haven t done it in a while; start in the book of Luke or John. 4. Don t just listen to the news, poisonous gossip and noise of this world. Ask God to open your spiritual ears and hear what the Spirit is saying to you. Outrageous as it seems, God still speaks. 5. No matter your condition now, you have the promise of existing forever with our Lord in eternity. Live like you have that confident promise. Assure yourself of that promise by having no unforgiven sin, no unforgiving spirit and asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your life. 6. You have a host of friends, enemies and God to talk to. 7. You have the ability to live with joy and dance figuratively and literally with others and before God. 8. God did not build you helpless. God helps those who help themselves, is not in the Scriptures. But take purposeful action with God s help. 9. Don t be a believer who appears to be baptized in pickle juice. You give God a bad name and make yourself and others miserable. 10. You have the strength of the people you associate with and they have your strength too. Don t be a loner show up to church! Don t be a sad snowman. Pastor Dan Keeton
C HILDREN S MINISTRIES Come to Sunday School Join us for Sunday School Sunday mornings at 9:00. Donna Alves teaches the younger set, K-Grade 2; she also teaches the preschoolers during church time. Pastor Pat teaches Grades 3-6 in her office on the lower level, until the construction upstairs is completed. Mark Your Calendar and Join Us for These Special Events March 24: Dinner and a movie at Pastor Pat s house. 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. April 30: Woodworking, painting and sanding Pinewood Derby cars at Pastor Pat s house. May 20: Pinewood Derby Races at Ontario Nazarene Church. More details later. July 17-21: District Kids Kamp at Oak Glen. See Pastor Pat or Rob McHargue for details. Think About It... Life can be frustrating. Sometimes even non-emergency situations can make life seem more challenging than it needs to be. How do I handle these situations or people? I have long taught my kids (church kids and my personal kids) about 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. Love is patient and kind, love is not envious. Love does not boast, it is not proud. Love is not rude or selfish, it cannot be easily angered. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Now put your name in where the word love is Pat is patient and kind, Pat is not envious. Pat does not boast, is not proud etc. Do I always live up to these qualities? Sadly, no. But these verses do give me goals to strive for; and I am grateful for God s grace. We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father will comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. God loved us and gave us through his grace a wonderful hope and comfort that has no end. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 As the recipients of God s grace, Christians are to be gracious to others. Grace is given to us to serve others and to exercise our spiritual gifts for the building up of the church (Romans 12:6; Ephesians 3:2, 7; 4:7; 1 Peter 4:10). Grace is God giving the greatest treasure to the least deserving which is every one of us. Blessings! Pastor Pat McHargue, Children s Pastor Church Board Meeting The regular monthly meeting of the Church Board will be on Tuesday, March 14 at 7:00 p.m. in the church fellowship hall. Call the office before 3:00 p.m. that day if you cannot attend. B OARD & COUNCIL MEETINGS Izabella Higi... 01 Michelle Ruth... 02 Dianne Galloway... 04 Tatiana Torres... 04 Linda Schubert... 05 Kayla Osorio... 07 Kelly Osorio... 07 Judy Julius... 11 Paul Ramage... 11 Samuel Nickles... 15 Jennifer Dorsey... 18 Carolyn Wagner... 18 Jr. Higi... 21 Cris Bilbao... 25 Sergey & Dawn Molkov... 26 We try to recognize all birthdays and anniversaries of current GGNaz attendees. If we did not include your March birthday or anniversary, please contact me at the church office so I can update our database. - Debbie Kindell, GGNaz Office Manager NMI Council Meeting A date has not been selected for our March council meeting. You will be notified of the date once it is determined.
W OMEN S MINISTRIES I am the Light of the World. My followers will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of Life. Even though there is much darkness in this world, you always have access to Me. So you are never in total darkness. The trail before you may look obscure, especially as it disappears into the future. You would like it to be floodlit so you could anticipate what s up ahead. But I tell you: I am enough! I am with you, and I also go before you illuminating the way. Your assignment is to trust Me and follow the Light I provide. No matter how dim it may seem, it is sufficient for your journey through today. Someday you will be with Me in heaven, and there you will see My Light in all its Glory. Darkness will be a thing of the past, and you will see everything clearly. There will be no more night. You will not need the light of a lamp or of the sun, for I will give you Light beyond anything you can imagine! Live close to Me and you will have the Light of Life. Then Jesus spoke to them, again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. - John 8:12 NKJV - Jesus Today, Sarah Young Ladies Luncheon May 20, 2017 I am anchored in Jesus, anchored in His love. We are going on a Cruise to Hawaii and hope that you will join us. Mark your calendar, tickets go on sale on April 9, 2017. We are accepting donations for door prizes. 2017 Craft Fair / Bake Sale September 23, 2017 is the date. Applications will be sent out to past vendors by March 10, 2017. Join Our Women s Book Club There is still time to sign up and join us for our next lunch and meeting, March 18, 2017. We are currently reading: The Gate Dann A Stouten. Contact me for more information on any of the above events. Thanks, Michelle Ruth Women s Ministries President GGNAZ YOUTH MINISTRIES With the coming of March we enter the time of Spring Break, and preparing for summer. I know, it s really exciting. We are all making plans for vacations, graduations, and family gatherings. That doesn t even begin to start the busy church calendar that is happening in the coming months. We are busy people. Busy isn t a bad thing, as long as being busy doesn t distract us from our relationship with God. When we take our focus off God and put it on the things we have to accomplish, we are doing ourselves a great disservice. Don t get so busy you lose focus of the important things in your life, your relationship with God foremost among them. In February the youth survived a trip up a snowy mountain in a car with no chains. I realized I miss driving in snow so I thoroughly enjoyed it, they were a little worried. We went up that mountain and we drew near to our God. It s easy to draw near to God when you take a break from life and surround yourself with nature. Sadly, going up the mountain means coming back down. Naturally, nobody wants these (or any) of our teenagers going backwards in their faith, so this month we are going to start a small group Bible study to keep us drawing near to God. I keep hearing our teens say they enjoy bowling. I am a competitive person, and I know my weaknesses. I m going to exploit my weakness and have a bowling night this month March 25th. Look for information to come out in the next few weeks. Lastly, for the parents of youth, I d really like to get to know your teenager on a personal level. In the coming months I d like to take them out to get ice cream, a meal, or coffee/ tea/ hot chocolate. I look forward to talking with you on when works for the both of our schedules. Great things are coming to GGNaz, and I m excited to see how God is going to use these teenagers to fulfill His purposes! ~ Pastor Krystal Youth (Teens) Pastor
N AZARENE MISSIONS INTERNATIONAL (NMI) February was Alabaster month. This occurs twice a year, the other month is September. Alabaster funds help purchase land on the mission field to build schools, hospitals and clinics, churches, housing for missionaries, etc. GGNaz gave $501. To all who participated in this Alabaster offering, thank you and God bless you for your generosity! Read Our Missions Books We are coming to the end of the 2016-2017 church year but you still have time to read our missions books. These are stories told by missionaries who have been on the mission field, past or present. Each year we ask that everyone read as many of these books as they can. Read about what our missionaries face and experience as they spread the Word of God. - Deborah Johnson, GGNaz NMI President Sunday School classes begin with toddlers and at GGNaz we have a class for all ages beyond. We hope you will join us at 9:00 Sunday mornings. See a greeter, usher or staff person for the location of a class for you! O UR REGULAR SCHEDULE STAFF AND MINISTRY LEADERS Rev. Dan Keeton... Lead Pastor (pastordan@ggnaz.org) Pastor Tony Falealili... The Huddle Pastor Samir Ibrahim... Interim Arabic Pastor Rev. Noé Guevara... Hispanic Pastor Rev. Krystal Wigginton... Youth Ministries (kawigginton@yahoo.com) Pat McHargue... Children's Ministries (pat4kids@ggnaz.org) Debbie Kindell... Office Manager (church-office@ggnaz.org) Michelle Ruth... Women s Ministries... and Worship Ministries (women@ggnaz.org) Deborah Johnson... NMI (Missions) Chrishanne Sternin... Sunday School Ministries (chrishanne.sternin@ca.rr.com) Heart to Heart Ministries Blanca Craig... blancarosamft@gmail.com Delores Kelley... GRANNYDEE1@cox.net Sunday Sunday School... 9:00 a.m. Hispanic study... 9:00 a.m. Morning Worship... 10:00 a.m. Hispanic Worship... 10:00 a.m. Arabic Worship... 12:00 noon The Huddle study... 4:30 p.m. Huddle Worship... 5:00 p.m. Monday Academia Bíblica... 6:00 p.m. Tuesday Hispanic prayer... 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Adult Bible study... 7:00 p.m. Huddle Bible study... 7:00 p.m. Teen Bible study... 7:00 p.m. Worship music... 7:00 p.m. Thursday Academia Bíblica... 6:00 p.m. Friday Hispanic study... 7:00 p.m. Saturday Huddle rehearsal... 10:30 a.m. (If not specified, these times apply to our original English language congregation.)
MARCH 2017 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1. 2. 3. 4. Lunches for Homeless 9:30 AM 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Arabic Feast (After their Worship) Hispanic Watch Night 8:00 PM 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Collide (check with Pastor Krystal for time) Church Board Meeting 7:00 PM ST. PATRICK S DAY The Huddle Youth Night 7:00 PM Women s Book Club 11:00 AM 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Hispanic Lunch (After their Worship) This calendar reflects special events for the month as well as new studies, group meetings, or services. The Huddle Prayer 7:00 AM Youth Bowling (Time to be announced) Our ministry at GGNaz exists to lead others to Jesus, to embrace them with his love, to help develop their potential, to challenge them to serve others, to honor God every day.