Join us at Big Air Trampoline Park in your wackiest pajamas! (Did someone say “onesies”??) Dodge ball, jousting, slam dunking, foam pit flipping – don’t miss it, and don’t let your friends miss it! More info online and register.

Friday April 24, 7-9p, $20
Big Air Trampoline Park
23251 Avenida De La Carlota, Laguna Hills

Come as you are to study the the Book of Mark with women in our community. Click here.

Tuesdays, April 14-June 2
6:30-8p, no cost, MCMV Upper Room

This past Sunday, I was reminded of the simple beauty of a life transformed by Jesus. Our lives are undeniably busy, crazy, complicated, and important. We struggle with identity: wanting to know if the person we are is the person we “ought” to be. We wonder about the love we experience and we wonder about the love we long for. We have pain. We are familiar with sadness and sorrow. We see and know momentary happiness, while not-so-secretly wondering if there’s a little more of it somewhere else. But, amid all of it, there’s Jesus. He is forever calling us, inviting us back to Himself to the place where the most potent of life’s anxieties are addressed in gentle, but powerful love. It is Jesus’ love which is most transformational. It’s His love poured out on the cross, victorious in resurrection, that meets us in our troubled now. That love — undeniable, unpredictable, unexpected — changes us. The world, at least for the time being, will still be the world as it is: rife with confusion and bewilderment. But, it is Jesus who has the capacity to change our confusion into awestruck wonder.

Foremost among the forms and symbols of that wonder is baptism. Vast and mysterious, yet personal and understandable, being immersed in water then raised again, the eminence of God meets the very human us. Baptism communicates what is often lost in the shortcomings of language. It is the definitive picture of a life reset.

This quote from our Facebook page sums it up well:

“A little over a year ago a few friends of ours invited us to Mariners MV. I was feeling overwhelmed with life and knew something needed to change. I didn’t know it at the time but the answer I was looking for was Jesus. This year I have been loving life while learning how to follow Jesus. Today I was baptized! It was an amazing day!”

I’m honored to be a part of the work God is doing at Mariners MV. Join us this week as Doug Fields will be teaching from God’s Word and Kanji Mbugua, from our partner church in Nairobi Kenya, will be leading us in worship. It will be a great weekend to include friends and neighbors longing for a fresh understanding of God’s great love for us.

See you Sunday,
Jeff

My friend once posed an energetic question to a few of us standing in her kitchen. She asked, in the midst of all of the things she was struggling to maintain and all the expectations she felt: “Don’t you guys wish you just be in a coma for a few weeks!?… Like, you could rest and recharge and no one could expect anything of you.” I don’t think she realized what she was revealing in that moment. After a stunned silent pause, followed by a curious laughter, we started to consider the depth of what she was saying. She was actually asking, as if it made complete sense, if we would rather suffer a serious medical trauma than have to continue in the demands placed on us by our everyday lives.

In truth, I find there are more and more people than I could’ve ever imagined who feel similarly. You might know them. You might be one of them. But, the story is the same. It sounds like this:

“I have no excuses. I don’t want to dodge any of my responsibilities. But, I don’t know how much longer I can sustain the amount of pressure I feel. And (perhaps more insidious), I’m not sure I’m allowed to feel like this.”

These are people in need of a “reset.” This weekend we start a new series of the same name (Reset). It’s for people who are struggling to keep everything together. It’s for people who wish there was a way to start things over and to do it (whatever “it” is) differently. Consider inviting people who may be feeling this way. Moms, co-workers, family members, students, fathers, and friends all tend to fall into this category from time to time. In truth, we all need a reset in some way or another. The ongoing story of God in the Bible is about His determination to put things that are out-of-sorts back to the way He intended them.

There is no more powerful representation of this kind of work than in baptism. This weekend, people will be baptized during our service. It’s a beautiful picture of the life-reset God gives to people who choose to follow Jesus. Baptism isn’t for perfect people. But, it is for people who want to put on display the truth of what God has done and is still doing in their lives through Jesus. It’s the best demonstration of an “Easter’d Life” — a life radically and unmistakably impacted by the resurrection power of God we talked about at Easter.

If you’d like to be baptized, email Wendi Kato to let us know. We’ll make sure you know what it all means beforehand.

It will be a great Sunday. I can’t wait to kick off this new RESET series with baptisms.

See you Sunday,
Jeff

Rooted provokes questions and conversations and offers beyond-what-is-comfortable group experiences designed to give you a glimpse of your story in God’s story. For more info and to register, click here.

Rooted groups – all ages and life stages
(groups kick off April 12 & 15 in the Upper Room)
Sundays, April 12-June 14, 9-11a
Sundays, April 12-June 14, 11a-1p
Wednesdays, April 15-June 17, 6:30-8:30p

Join us as care for our community by beautifying this school with some gardening. If you’re willing to let us borrow some tools, we’d greatly appreciate it! For more info, contact Danielle Libring, Danielle.libring@railpros.com

Sat, Apr 18, 8a-1p, La Paz Intermediate School 
25151 Pradera Dr, Mission Viejo, CA 92691

Christine Caine uses her own dramatic life story to show how God rescued her from a life where she was unnamed, unwanted, and unqualified and rescued her into a God-filled and faith-fueled life. For more info and to register, click here.

Thursdays, Apr 16-May 21, 9:30-11:30a, MCMV Lobby, $25
Childcare available: $40 for the first child, $20/additional child

I’m looking forward to celebrating Easter with you! We’re celebrating the revolutionary life of Jesus and the miracle of His resurrection. Jesus brings dead things to life. We believe He has the power to resurrect lifeless marriages, break the chains of addiction, bring healing to broken people. In a sense, we celebrate Easter every Sunday. We would love to see you back for any of our regular Sunday services at 9 and 11a. Next weekend, we will begin our new series called: Reset. In it, we’ll ask: “What would it look like if we could get a whole-life do-over?”

Thanks so much to those of you who are volunteering in our kids’ ministry this weekend. Your response has been unbelievable. You make our church great! There is still opportunity to serve on Saturday night at 5p. If you’d like to do so, contact Rachel Runyon by email: rrunyon@marinerschurch.org

Jeff