Huntington Beach

A Note From Caleb Anderson

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MessageFrom-HB

The ongoing infestation of sharks on our shores not withstanding, these are exciting times, people!

– College football starts TODAY
– Kids ages 4 to 17 are faking smiles for first-day-of-school photos
– The temperature has dropped below melt-your-face-off
– It’s Labor Day Weekend!

In honor of Labor Day, I’m doing a message called “Why We Work.” If you’re in town, you’ll want to hear this message—it will shift your thinking about how you spend 1/3 of your life. Plus, it’s ALWAYS good to be together and be encouraged.

Our official “Fall Kick-off” is the following Sunday, and in that service we will pray for all our teachers and coaches. So please invite the teachers/coaches in your life to church on 9/13. (Thank you for shifting away from the 10a service as much as possible—we want to create some space for new people.)

See you soon!

caleb

*If you missed Jairus and Monica joining me for the message last week, listen here. It was awesome!

*Give to Mariners HB here.

Ocean Hills

A Note From Jeff Pries

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MessageFrom-OH
Well, the end of summer is fast approaching and I have to say that I feel like it just got here. But football is starting, the kids are going back to school and hopefully the weather will be cooling down too with fall right around the corner. What an amazing summer we’ve had at our church – from Framily Nights, to VBS and pancake breakfasts, to building a house in Mexico and summer camps for our youth – just to name some of the things we’ve done, God has been good.  And capping it off with Youth Sunday last weekend was extra special.

As we move into fall, there are so many things starting back up here at Mariners Ocean Hills. The theme I’m seeing throughout is community and relationship. Rooted kicks off in September and offers the opportunity to grow in your relationship with God and find your purpose. We are also having six Community Nights. The evenings will start out with dinner followed by a great speaker and time together where we’ll learn ways to invest in our relationships. We are also hosting a marriage conference on October 9-10. Headline speakers include Dr. Emerson Eggerichs (Love and Respect) and Bob Goff. It is a great opportunity to fine tune your marriage. Lastly, Men’s and Women’s Ministries are starting up their Bible studies again, so there is a lot going on!

Finally, I have some wonderful news that is mixed with sadness. As you know Jon Ramsay has been a part of our church for the past two years. He was our Worship Pastor until he was stricken with a brain tumor. Over the next year Jon worked to regain his strength and started a part time position with Outreach. Like many of you, we have been praying for Jon’s healing over the past year and a half. God has done incredible things with Jon and he is doing incredibly well. In fact, he is doing so well that he feels like he can move out and tackle more in life. I am so excited that Jon has gotten to this place, where God has used him and healed him in such an amazing way. And with that healing, I always knew we may risk the fact that Jon would move on. We are at that point. Jon will be going to work for an organization called “I Like Giving.” I Like Giving inspires people, organizations and churches to live generously. We will miss Jon and Deanna and their amazing family. Join us this Sunday as we say goodbye to them. We celebrate them, and all that God has done and will continue to do through them.

Blessings,
Jeff

Irvine, Mission Viejo, Ocean Hills

Oh! The Places We’ll Go

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OTPWG-compass-starry

Summertime takes us to places unknown where adventure and possibility await. But with so many new areas to explore – how will we find our way forward? Travel with us this summer through our new series, Oh! The Places We’ll Go where we’ll discover God’s pathway for life.

during the weekend services

Irvine
Saturday: 5p; Sunday: 9 & 11a

Ocean Hills
Sunday: 9 & 11a

Mission Viejo
Sunday: 9 & 11a

Irvine

IMPACT: Spirit Powered Leaders

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womensGenericCompass

IMPACT is a leadership development movement that equips women to lead and serve in the world more courageously. This eight-week training develops and raises up Spirit-fueled leaders and moves them forward in service to impact the world. A rich, foundational program, IMPACT is for any woman interested in learning more about Biblical leadership and how it applies to daily life. Learn more and register.

IMPACT: Spirit Powered Leaders
Wednesdays, Sep 16- Nov 11, 9:15-11:30a
Life Development Building Room 200 B/C, $35

Ocean Hills

A Note From Jeff Pries

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MessageFrom-OH

I love all that is going on at our church. It seems like every week I get an opportunity to let you know about more amazing things that are happening. This week we will be focusing on two important values for our church: relationship and youth. First of all, this Friday is our Date Night. It’s a fun time to have some appetizers, listen to a great speaker give a brief twenty minute talk (to get you thinking), and then go out for two hours on your own. It’s a night where we watch your kids for $10. You can’t beat that. Don’t forget it’s also a great night to invite a friend. And, if money is tight, let us know and we will have your $10 taken care of. Relationships matter at Ocean Hills, and we want to provide an environment where you can grow in your marriage or dating relationship. Come even if you don’t have kids. You will love the speaker and the food.

Another important value we have at Mariners Ocean Hills is our youth. We have a heart to reach the next generation. Join us this Sunday and hear all of the great stories that God is writing on the hearts of our junior high and high school students. This is a time to celebrate the youth in our church family and let them know we are behind them. God did amazing things in their lives this summer and you will not want to miss hearing their stories. And because it will be warm, we will be serving root beer floats on the patio.

From all of us here at OH, we hope and pray you are having a great summer.

Blessings,

Jeff

Huntington Beach

A Note From Caleb Anderson

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MessageFrom-HB

I’m seeing so many pictures of kids going back to school and I’m thinking:

a) at least there aren’t more pictures of dogs

b) you all have cute kids

c) time flies, as they say

When you have younger kids people also say that days are long but years are short.

Days feel a little longer in the summer. It’s light out until 8p. People break away from the office to catch a twilight surf. And this summer, it’s 90 degrees with 80% humidity and feels like the face of the sun in my no-AC-house.

However, time still flies.

These days are the “good old days,” friends. Don’t miss them. Don’t rush through in a blur. Stop, notice, pay attention.

You won’t want to miss two things this weekend:

1. Beach Party, Saturday (Aug 29), 4-7p (details below).

2. Sunday services (8:30, 10, 11:30a & 6p). This service will feel different than most. It will be an important day before the chaos of fall hits in full. Be there. (Preferably at 11:30a or 6p, if you have flexibility.)

See you soon,

caleb

Catch up on past messages here.

Give to Mariners HB here.

Mission Viejo

A Note From Jeff Maguire

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MessageFrom-MV2

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. -PSALM 18:19

New shoes. Fresh haircuts. Unblemished backpacks. Nervous anticipation. New hopes. Fresh starts. School is back. The world once again starts talking about “normal” life. Run down pool toys, broken goggles, and busted beach chairs are being thrown away. Our “normal” rhythm is on the horizon. I’m sure we’re only a few weeks away from Christmas ads and Black Friday promos — as if that were normal. But, even amid all the familiarity of returning to “the way things usually are” there is, beneath it all, a sense of low-grade dread.

Somehow we sense that the last vestiges of space and relaxation are gone. We wonder, looking back now on the summer: Did I really get enough rest to recharge myself for what’s ahead? Soon, we’ll be looking to that semi-mythical idea of a “spacious place” to which God can bring us. In the eighteenth psalm, the psalmist writes about being “rescued” into such a place. It’s as if the idea of space can only become real through the divine intervention of God’s own hands.

One writer once said that “Space is freedom.” When we talk about space, we’re talking about being unencumbered and unconfined. It’s what we all long for, but only rarely seem to find. In one sense, the season of “space” is winding down. But, that doesn’t undermine the necessity of it — particularly at the soul-level. I’m often surprised by how hungry, tired, lonely, and trapped we all are. In truth, yet, God does intend to give to us a freedom into space, that “spacious place.”

This Sunday, we’ll give people the opportunity to step into the great expanse of God’s love and freedom in a very specific way. We’ll give people the chance to say “I believe,” discovering and declaring that “God [in Jesus] is indeed a ‘spacious place.’” The wall, now down (The scaffolding will still remain for a few more weeks while the work is finalized), epitomizes the work God intends for us: to break down the things that divide and confine, the things that isolate and dehumanize. This Sunday will be one of great courage and great hope. Pray about who you’ll Invite: people who are longing for the wide, sweeping freedom only Jesus can give.

See you Sunday,

Jeff

Irvine

A Note From Kyle Zimmerman

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MessageFrom-IR

Have you been walking in the fullness of faith this week…experiencing peace with God and the peace of God? I love the series we are in and how we are learning to ground ourselves in the essential qualities of faith that we might be the people God has designed us to be in order to go wherever He calls us to go.

Last week, we considered the fullness of Faith and what it looks like to trust and fall wholeheartedly into His hands. This week, we’ll be diving deep into the next essential quality…Hope. For many of us, this is something we are desperately seeking and there are people all around us – friends, family, neighbors, co-workers – who are in desperate need of hope. Invite them to join us this weekend as we consider all that God has for us.

Also, a few months ago, I invited you to take a survey telling us how you view our church and so many of you jumped in! You shared your thoughts about our church community and how God is at work here. I’m excited to tell you the report is done and the results are in! Whether or not you took the survey, feel free to click on this link and get a picture of who we are, what God is doing, and how we are listening to Him as we move forward as a church.

Looking forward to being with you all this weekend.

Peace,

Kyle