Vision and Vocation

Pressing on Through the Summer

2011-07-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings, everyone!

It has been awhile since we have posted on this blog. Nevertheless, much good is happening!

We are pleased to have three new members; they are all Christians from other congregations who now live in our area, and we are thankful for their joint participation with us in our efforts. We remain encouraged by the number of visitors we receive!

Perhaps you have seen today's edition of the Los Angeles Times and the op-ed declaring that humans made gods, and not the other way around. We hope that you'll consider Christianity vs. Scientism, a review and discussion of this op-ed. We hope and pray that people will not be led astray by the distortions and bluster of these authors.

We continue to find opportunities to get out into our community and encourage interest in spiritual things. We have twice set up a table in front of the Rancho Park DPSS office and engaged in many good conversations. We are preparing for events on local college campuses and in other venues throughout the fall.

We continue to solicit your prayers for our work here on the Westside of Los Angeles and hope to see you soon!

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.

Ethan

Moving Forward in Early April

2011-04-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

Greetings, everyone!

It is early April, and things are going well on the Westside!

The final report for our March Evangelism Event has been written and is available on our website in PDF form.

On Sunday morning, April 3, there were 50 in attendance during our assembly! The number of members and visitors was quite encouraging, and the singing was wonderful. We were also pleased to have among the visitors one with whom we talked during our evangelism event.

We are seeing that there is interest in serving the Lord on Los Angeles' Westside and that the fields remain white for harvest. We look forward to going out and spending more time in the community, back on Venice Beach Boardwalk along with the local colleges and in other venues.

We continue to appreciate your interest and prayers. If you live on the Westside of Los Angeles, or will be visiting us in the near future, please come and meet with us! More information about us is on the website, along with our current location and contact information.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.

Ethan

March Evangelism Event

2011-03-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings, everyone!

We have just wrapped up our March evangelism event. We had a good time getting out into our community and learning what people around us think about God, religion, and spirituality!

Over a period of five days we manned tables in three locations-- Westfield Culver City, Westside Pavilion, and the Venice Beach Boardwalk. During that period, ten of our members and four Christians from other congregations spent time talking with people and asked them about their views on God, religion, and spirituality.

We received over 125 responses. Many of them had views consistent with Christianity, but we also had a few people who were Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and who had alternative forms of belief.

We did have Bibles and brochures available for those who were interested in learning more about Christianity and the Venice church of Christ, and we were able to hand out a few of each. We had some people indicate that they might assemble with us, and we certainly hope to see them soon!

The week went very well. We were pleased to have over 50% member participation, and the members did very well in conversing with people in their communities. We will be analyzing the information we gained in greater depth and will use it to understand our community better and how we can better serve the community with the Gospel of Christ.

We would like to again thank everyone who participated in the event and for those who were praying for the success of the event. We look forward to gaining a better understanding of our community from the compiled information and also to find other opportunities we hope to have to get out into our community in order to have spiritual conversations and to serve others. We hope to establish a presence on many local college campuses and to have smaller, fully member-based evangelism events on the Venice Beach Boardwalk and on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Please continue to pray for us as we seek to do God's work on Los Angeles' Westside!

Ethan

Early March Update

2011-03-07T22:13:00.001-08:00

Greetings, everyone!

It's been a whirlwind of activity here-- we have not had a lot of time to sit back and reflect on what we have been doing!

We had to push off the evangelism initiative until later this month on account of illnesses and weather conditions. This has been beneficial in that we are going to be better prepared to get out into the community. We have already secured one venue and know of others where we will be able to try to get some conversations started.

We've moved forward with The Voice, our weekly publication, which is now online. You can sign up to receive The Voice by e-mail through the website.

The Bible studies on evangelism on Sunday mornings and the Gospel of Matthew on Thursday evenings continue. Attendance and participation remain robust.

We hope to have great news to post as the month continues. We continue to appreciate any and all prayers for our work so that we might advance God's purposes here!

Ethan

Developing the Work

2011-02-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

The past couple of months have been a whirlwind of activity. It is encouraging to see the work here in Venice coming together.

The congregation is still deliberating upon the best way forward when it comes to the building. In the meantime we have been meeting on Sunday mornings for Bible study and assembly at the Culver City Senior Center. The facility is quite nice and new, and attendance at our assemblies has been very encouraging. The room we are renting is more often full than not, and we appreciate all of the visitors that we have received!

We have also enjoyed the opportunities to continue our study in the Gospel of Matthew on Thursday evenings in the homes of various members. We are using N.T. Wright's Matthew for Everyone-- the commentaries and the study guide. The study is designed to focus on the Gospel of Matthew in context-- what would the story have meant to the people who first heard it in the first century, and how can our understanding and appreciation for Matthew be deepened as a result? These studies have been well-attended and have featured many excellent discussions.

My family and I made it to southern California early in January and we have been working on the transition-- getting moved into the new place, changing address information, licenses, car registrations, new bank accounts, and acclimating ourselves to our new environment.

Meanwhile the work begins. Different committees have been established to facilitate collaboration on different projects and aspects of the work. The Technology Committee has been especially active with the development of our website and our presence in various forms of social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter. This blog is an outgrowth of those efforts, along with our message board, The Forum. We hope that these venues will lead to discussion, growth, and encouragement for Christians and those interested in Christianity.

Our present focus involves our first "evangelism campaign" of sorts on the Westside of Los Angeles, slated to begin soon. We look forward to having Royce Bell from San Bernardino assisting in this effort all week, along with Bruce Evans (Winnetka), Darryl Smelser (Long Beach), and possibly Ken Dart (Huntington Beach) on various days of the week.

We are putting our emphasis this time on getting the lay of the land. What do people on the Westside of Los Angeles believe? What are their views on God, Jesus, the Bible, Christianity, and churches? How can we best serve the members of our community? Where are we to begin when it comes to promoting the Gospel here?

To this end we are hoping to get out to various public venues and asking these types of questions of people willing to talk with us. We hope to have good conversations-- listening more than speaking-- to get a better idea of what is going on in our community (really, our communities, since the Westside is full of diverse communities). Lord willing, we will have Bibles available for those with whom we have enjoyed good conversations and who are in need of them. We have also developed material to hand out if people express an interest in learning more-- New Testament Christianity Today and The Bible's Big Story.

We hope and pray that our efforts will be blessed and will help us obtain that better understanding of our communities so that we can go forward in promoting the Gospel here. Your prayers are certainly appreciated!

Good things are beginning to happen here on the Westside of Los Angeles, and we are excited about the opportunities here. Thanks again for your interest, and have a great day!

Ethan

Welcome!

2011-02-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

Greetings, and welcome to Vision and Vocation!

We hope to make this weblog a place where you can learn more about the Venice church of Christ in a more informal way. We hope to provide here stories of our efforts as we seek to promote the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ here on the Westside of Los Angeles: evangelism efforts, events within the life of the congregation, and various thoughts about the challenges and the benefits of following Jesus in the early 21st century.

Whether you are a member of our community and interested in learning more about the Venice church of Christ, or if you are a Christian in another part of the country who wants to learn more about our efforts here, please feel free to follow us and comment on our posts!

Thanks again, and have a good day!

Ethan