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 9^th.  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?

Erika Abdelatif reports on some of the things our elementary kids are learning

Speaking the truth: We’ve had really cool responses from the kids, as we’ve been able to get on a more one-on-one basis. During the large group teaching time, it’s way easier to stop and ask the kids questions when you have 20 kids, as opposed to 100. Here are some examples of awesome things we’ve heard from the kids:

When asked, “Why would God choose a shepherd like David to lead His people?” a kid responded, “Well, God shepherds us. He wanted someone who would reflect His character to the Israelites  — not somebody who was mean or controlling, but loving and watching over them.”

When asked, “What other covenants have we learned about?” (because we teach chronologically through the Old Testament) one student responded, “I can choose ANY of the covenants? Like… anyone between Abraham and David?” When I said yes, he paused to think about his favorite of the covenants. I don’t even think half of our congregation could name all the covenants between Abraham and David!

Giving God their whole hearts: Response time has been really incredible. Recently we did a lesson about Solomon’s later life, and how he didn’t give God his entire heart. We gave the students heart shaped papers during response and asked them to think about where they need to give God there whole heart. Many of the responses were things like “I need to give my jealousy over to God.” or “I need to give God more worship time.”

Is this little girl’s prayer your prayer? Last week we asked students to come forward if they wanted to receive prayer. One leader told me a girl came to her and asked her to “pray for me to know God more, and to love Him my whole life.” For many of the students, it was their very first time being prayed over individually.

So, while you are worshipping God in the gym, what do you suppose the kids are up to in the theater on Sunday mornings?

They do pretty much the same things (But if you read below, it sounds as if they are going a little deeper theologically and having a little more fun in the theater.)

Erika Abdelatif has been watching over the elementary kids’ ministry which meets Sunday morning in the high school theater, since RockHarbor South County started early last month.  Erika, who “just jumped in where I was needed” four years ago to help with the children’s ministry at main campus, jumped in to lead the children’s ministry for the South County campus from the beginning. Erika and other volunteers teach and minister to about 20 elementary school-age children each Sunday.

Here are a few early stories from Erika of how God is working in the lives of the parents of our South County kids:

Following the star from Starbucks: As I was signing out children after church, a woman came to pick up her son and told me that her family lives locally and had been searching for a new church. They just had not found a place that “fits.” That morning they had planned to check out a different church, but as they were getting Starbucks across the street, they noticed our sign and figured ”Heck, why not?” They decided to stop by for the morning. After one service (and a video service at that!) they decided South County was the place for them. She even asked me to send her an application to serve because she wanted to get involved!

Thanks and wow! Another day, a father signing out his son looked at me and just said ”Thank you,” with deep sincerity. He told me that his family has been part of “the Church” for a long time, and his son had just gotten to a place where he hated going to church. He would literally beg his father to not check him in to children’s ministry. He confessed to me that things had been particularly difficult, as he and his wife were going through some rough times, which caused his son to feel disconnected and anger toward God. However, since they’ve been joining us at South County, he said there has been a complete 180 in his son. He, apparently, talks all week about what he learned, his teachers, the worship, and he is especially enthusiastic about learning his memory verse. As the dad left, slightly choked up, he repeated, “Thank you. I know he’s getting filled up here and loved on just the way he needs right now.”

Check back for more stories about the exciting ways the kids are learning to worship through ROCKHARBOR South County.