Greetings from the world of diapers and insomnia! This is Graeme Cowgill, the Student Ministries Pastor, hoping your week is going well! Our twins are growing and beautiful, and despite the fact that American Airlines would probably charge us for the bags under our eyes, we are doing great.
This Sunday, we will vote on our favorite of the three films for our STEP IN FILM FESTIVAL, so come opinionated! I am so excited to be continuing our series in Romans this weekend at 8:30, 10, 11:30a and 6p.
Last week, Caleb talked about God working all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). This week we will look at what role WE play in that. Just preparing for this week’s message has opened my eyes to some fundamental things I do every day to deflect fulfillment in my life. The message will be life changing…you won’t want to miss it! We will also honor veterans this weekend, so invite someone who served our country!
See you Sunday,
Graeme
Listen to recent messages here.
Give to Mariners HB here.
What a great weekend we had last week. I love how we are such a generous church, willing to give and jump in to make a difference in the lives of others. We will continue to have opportunities to Celebrate Differently in the next couple weeks.
This Sunday will be a great conclusion to the Transformed series. We will celebrate in a powerful way what transformation is all about. All of this will tie into a great picture of baptism. Come and celebrate as a church what a transformational life looks like.
If you have been part of our Community Nights series, we hoped you have enjoyed the experience. It has been a great addition to the life of our church. We have one week left and I invite you to join us if you can. I know it’s tough to beat last week’s taco bar, but I think this week’s Italian dinner may give it a run for its money.
What a great season we are in as a church, filled with community and service. Way to go!
Blessings,
Jeff
“…and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26 NIV
While living in Canada, my dad would go fishing every day in order for us to have food on the table. One Saturday, we spent the whole day at the lake and could not catch a thing; we realized we wouldn’t have anything to eat that night. While we were packing up to leave, we saw some ducks coming closer. Even though it was illegal to capture ducks, my dad threw enough bread to attract them and eventually pulled one in by using a piece of bread that was connected to a hook and line. At that moment, I realized what my father was willing to do for our family.
This past Sunday we gathered to hear God’s heart for our community and the world around us as we launched our Celebrate Differently outreach campaign. We highlighted how God sees the poor, marginalized and forgotten as loved children of their Heavenly Father and encourages us to do the same.
As I walked out on the patio after service, I was overwhelmed by the incredibly generous response I saw. There were tons of families out there with their kids picking out gift tags and a huge line of people at the Syrian refugee station where people were picking up lists to fill a “Comfort & Joy Box” for refugee kids. But what struck me the most was how many families in our church signed up to join our “Good Neighbor Team” to welcome and be a good neighbor to Syrian refugees coming to Orange County.
Seeing this made me emotional because I saw my family in those who are on their way to Orange County. How beautiful the church is when we are seeing people the way our heavenly Father does.
To follow the campaign and sign up to serve, please visit CelebrateDifferently.
Serve the Mariners Church community by joining our Safety and Medical team. Contact Charlotte for more info, cchambers@marinerschurch.org.
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Guest speaker Dennis Prager discusses, “Those Who Bless Israel Are Blessed.” For more info, click here.
Sun, Nov 15, 9-10:15a, Community Center
What a moving experience we shared last weekend as we collectively experienced the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. I love the humility and courage people expressed as they walked forward demonstrating their total surrender and dependence on Jesus, believing that God loves them and wants to heal them. I love the care and faith shown by the elders and leaders of our church as they prayed over one another in community. I’ve already heard some amazing stories of how God used last weekend to bring freedom into the most desperate places in our lives. What a beautiful season we are walking in together as a church!
This weekend is a beautiful opportunity to see the gospel on display as we launch our Celebrate Differently season together – the heart of Jesus expressed through His Church to the people around us. We’re going to continue in Romans 8, remembering and reflecting on how deeply God loves us and how when we embrace that truth, we are compelled to love those around us in tangible ways. This is a perfect weekend to invite your friends and family, even those skeptical of Jesus and His Church, to come and experience the power of Jesus to transform lives.
I’m praying for you this week as you walk in your healing and freedom in Christ…
Peace,
Kyle
Welcome to November! The months march on. And so does the Step In Film Festival.
Step In: What an incredible few weeks it’s been—short films from creatives in our community, patio shenanigans, visual design images of our future theater…
I’ve begun visiting some life groups during the week to answer questions and clarify our next steps as we move toward the Regency movie theater (expected move-in date: late summer). I’ll continue visiting groups through early next year. What a joy it is to see so many of you connected in meaningful community, doing life together, studying the Bible together, eating food together… Life is better this way.
<<If you need help plugging into a group, email Neil or Ericka>>
Sunday: Please take a moment to pray. Ask God if there is anyone you should invite to church this Sunday. I’m going to be talking about how suffering is an inevitable part of life, but God uses it for good. This will be an important message. All of us go through difficult seasons, and need to cling to hope. Many of us are going through difficult seasons RIGHT NOW. And so are some of your friends. Bring them with you–8:30, 10, 11:30a & 6p.
Social media: Follow Mariners HB on Instagram and Facebook for daily prayer prompts and updates on all kinds of thing going on. Follow me, too, for daily encouragement based on last week’s message—being intentional about our thoughts…letting God renew our minds.
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Philippians 4:8-9 (MSG)
See you Sunday,
caleb
Listen to recent messages here.
Give to Mariners HB here.
I hope you are all enjoying our series called Transformed. Like you, I love to be reminded that I have been transformed, and I continue to be transformed. As a matter of fact, this week I stopped myself when I thought about, or began to go down the wrong road, and reminded myself, “that is not who I am; I am a child of God.” My prayer is that God continues to work in your life and heart throughout the week, and that you can see and respond to God’s prompting. On Sunday, Nov 15, we will be finishing up our series and there is no better way to celebrate a series called Transformed than by having baptisms! So, if you would like to be baptized, email Cole, cbeshore@marinerschurch.org. This is a great opportunity if you’ve never been baptized, but also, perhaps God has taken you through a recent transformation, there is no better way to drive it home into your heart than declaring it through baptism.
This Tuesday, we are continuing with Community Nights. I can’t tell you how many people have told me what an incredible blessing these nights have been. If you have ever wondered whether making the right decisions in life really matters, we will find out this Tuesday. (Hint: “Yes, it does.”) And while this sounds obvious, we will be diving into the “why” behind it all. Our speaker is Dr. Scott Rae. He is a Talbot Seminary Professor with incredible insight. You won’t want to miss this Tuesday.
So, we’ve got a lot going on. As always, it’s great doing life and walking with God together. Don’t forget, we are going into a great season where people are looking for God to make a difference in their life. You know people who need God and the community that church brings. All it usually takes is an invite. Lets be a church of inviters.
Blessings,
Jeff
“…the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
ROMANS 8:6
In the last year or so, my family reached a milestone: every member of the Maguire household can tie their own shoes. My youngest, not wanting to expend any unnecessary energy (as if there’s a shortage in his life) or waste any time, will often ask for help in this effort. However, he can do it. And, the more he does do it, the better he’ll get at it.
What is peculiar about this shoe-tying phenomenon, however, is that every member of my family does it differently. The result is roughly the same. But, the way each one of us gets to that end is different. That being said, if shoe-tying is evaluated on the ability of the laces to remain tied over time, each of us get different grades. The boys seem to suffer with the least success in knot-longevity.
In recognizing this reality, and feeling insecure about something that should have been mastered a long time ago, I attempted to learn a new way to tie my shoes. At 6 years old, learning a new way to tie shoes is simply just learning. At 39, however, this is a monumental effort to overcome countlessly repeated “rabbit around the tree and through the hole” moments over the past decades. This repetition has been cemented to become the way I do it. After about 5 attempts at a new method, I gave up. My way is my way. I’d rather re-tie my shoes than learn a new way. Too hard. I’m not interested.
This, I think, is how many of us have come to understand our own lives and the challenge that comes in any transformation journey. We can recognize that there may be a better way, a new way, a way that may make more sense, but there is a comfort in our way. No matter the cost, we have a natural gravity toward our present way of being. That gravity is hewn into a pathway within our minds, grooved into our subconscious until it becomes part of us. To even consider an alternative means, at least marginally, a re-wiring of who we are. So, we equally long for and fear transformation… even if we know we need it.
This Sunday as we continue in our TRANSFORmeD series, we’ll talk about transformation and where the early evidence of God’s supernatural work to change us is found — in our minds. Bring anyone who’s ever been stuck in “a way” and can’t seem to find a way out.
See you soon,
Jeff
P.S. For those of you longing for a solution to your poorly tied shoes, here’s a three-minute TED talk from a few years back.
