sermon presented by Todd Proctor on July 18, 2010
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On Saturday, April 17th, a number of members of ROCKHARBOR South County participated in the city of Laguna Hills’ Volunteer Connection Day. The group joined a large group of volunteers to serve the city by picking up trash, painting walls and planting trees.
Those from ROCKHARBOR were sent down to the Aliso Creek Trail, which runs just below Laguna Hills High School, to pick up trash. Those who explore the creek and the trail often encounter litter and the trash impacts the natural habitat of wildlife living there. After a couple hours of work they were treated to a free lunch by the city of Laguna Hills. South County member, Wendy McMahan, said “It was great to get to know some people from South County better and serve Laguna Hills at the same time.”
At ROCKHarbor South County, we have been learning about and practicing sacrifice. This is a Biblical discipline that we all continue to learn and understand throughout our lives. At ROCKHarbor South County, many people have chosen to sacrifice their time, possessions, finances, and routines in order to save money. Then, they turned around and gave that money to people in need.
The theme for this time has been ‘rice and beans’. Not everyone chose to eat rice and beans to save money, but one family did.
“My husband and I decided that we and our two children would make the sacrifice of eating rice and beans for a month in order to save money to give to those who need it,” the wife said.
She explained that despite living on a very tight budget, they desire to give. Taking part in the ‘rice and beans’ experience with South County was a perfect solution to free up money to give away. So began their month.
At the grocery store, she learned that a large bag of beans and a large bag of rice cost less than $5.00 dollars.
“When I went to the grocery store I was amazed to see that I could actually by a large bag of beans and a large bag of rice for under $5. The bag was enough to last our family of 4 for a whole week.
“Amazing! This was enough to last our family of four for a whole week,” she said. “I saved about $40 in that one trip.”
Then came the first challenge of this family’s sacrifice. Preparing the rice and beans took at least three hours, but fortunately, she was able to prepare enough to last them a few nights at a time.
“We ate them happily for the first three nights, then it started to get old fast,” she said.
By the end of the first week they were feeling pretty bummed as they realized it would be a long month eating this meal every day. However, God decided to put their sacrifice to good use and invigorate their family.
“I was approached at Trader Joe’s by a young woman with a newborn baby. She asked me to buy her stuff for the baby. She only spoke Italian, but the manager at Trader Joe’s spoke enough Spanish that the young woman understood her. With the managers help I was able to get groceries for the woman,” she said.
“God used this experience to totally renew our enthusiasm. We happily ate rice and beans again and began talking as a family about the needs in our community and world and how we could use the money we were saving to honor God,” she said.
They came up with the idea of hosting an Easter party for their neighborhood. This was a way to involve other kids and families, reach out to their neighbors and do it with the message of Jesus as Savior on display.
“We planned games, food, decorations and everything else you need for a successful party,” she said. “I even asked my neighbor friend to help me out.”
“I was able to tell her that I love Easter because Jesus conquered death,” she said. “I previously told this neighbor about losing my mother and because of what Jesus did I am going to spend eternity in heaven with Him and my mom. This is why I was throwing the party to celebrate.”
For this family, the opportunity to take their faith so directly to a neighboring family was worth every bit of rice and beans sacrifice. It wasn’t financial, but it was absolutely spiritual as they shared the love of Jesus.
The Easter party went very well as a few families in their neighborhood showed up. It opened the door to form new relationships and created space to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and is so worthy of being celebrated.
Sacrificing with rice and beans was a great experience overall as the family reflects on the events over the last few weeks.
“We would not have been able to help a woman in need at the grocery store and throw a party to celebrate and proclaim Jesus without making this financial sacrifice,” the wife said.
God honored their sacrifice, blessed the family, and open the door for so many similar experiences to happen in the future. That’s what this time is all about in South County and we love to share these stories of obedience.
Living life on mission is a familiar idea if you’ve been around ROCKHARBOR for any amount of time. At ROCKHARBOR South County, we are especially excited about the opportunity we have to reach those in our community and form new relationships that may ultimately draw others to Jesus Christ. This has been happening in many ways in and around RH South County, such as one cool experience recently.
One of the people working our concierge table had a unique encounter with a lady who approached the table and began asking some general questions about South County, such as: who we are, why we’re here, and so on. The concierge at that table answered her questions and then asked if she had ever been there before. She said no, but mentioned that she heard about us in a pretty interesting way.
“I purchased a bookcase from the Goodwill store in Aliso Viejo,” she said. “After buying it I realized I had no way to get it home, even though it was only a couple of blocks away.”
“Then, I noticed a man with a truck outside the store and asked him if he would be willing to deliver the bookcase to my house for $10 dollars. He agreed to deliver the bookcase, but refused the payment,” she said.
“I was surprised and asked why, but the man simply said that he just wanted to help me for free,” she said. He went on to say he was part of a faith community that met in Laguna Hills High School on Sunday mornings. His faith community has been looking to serve in the area and share Jesus’ love with others.
She was so impressed with the man’s servant heart that she had to come see what this whole South County thing was about.
This is an awesome display of people at South County being the hands and feet of Jesus to those living in our community. Showing Jesus’ love in tangible ways, even simple and practical ways, can have a huge impact on people. Our willingness to serve others allows God to work through us and effectively draw people into our faith community in South County. So often it’s so simple.
Last Sunday, Chad announced the beginnings of Refuge for RockHarbor/South County and that Mercedes McBride-Walker will lead the ministry. Here’s a little about who Mercedes is and what has led her to bring Refuge to South County.
When will Refuge start for South County? What time and day will it meet and where?
We’re hoping we can start within 4 to 6 months. Right now the plan is that we will meet Tuesday nights from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Finding the venue is one of the top priorities. If anyone is interested in helping bring Refuge to South County, come to our informational meeting Tuesday, March 9th. Email me at mmcbridewalker@gmail.com to RSVP and get directions.
Talk about what Refuge is at RockHarbor, and what will it look like in South County? Who would be part of it? And Why? And, finally, what is your vision for Refuge as you lead it?
Refuge meets at 3080 Airway every Monday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. is a time for worship, teaching and celebrating as a community. From 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. is structured for breakout groups to address specific types of brokenness by gender. After 9 p.m. there is a time of fellowship to continue to break out of isolation. Read the rest of this entry »
How many of you know about the RockHarbor/South County water table ministry?
Well I didn’t either.
When someone mentioned it to me, I wondered what the saturation level of water in the ground had to do with RockHarbor/South County???
Here’s the scoop.
Every Sunday while we do church at Laguna Hills High School, Chris Diaz and someone from the leadership team set up a table near the tennis courts and pass out free water bottles. They offer water to all the folks playing and watching various sports — tennis, softball, soccer, basketball, whatever — no strings attached.
They set up the table and man it from 9 to 10 a.m., and then they leave it there until after church is done. Sometimes they wonder around the fields and pass out the bottles to anyone who wants one. They go through about a case every week.
It’s just another way to interact with and serve folks in our immediate community. .
And who knows, maybe a bottle of water could turn into an invitation to play tennis which could lead to a conversation, which could lead to a friendship which could lead to an invitation to church, which could be transformed into living water for someone. That’s just one little scenario.
Like the guy who through many transactions turned a paper clip into a free house, we can use little things like a water bottle to cause someone to consider Christ.
Pretty cool, huh?
