David Stone…
This past Sunday, we were privileged to have David Stone preach for us on the topic, Jesus has the Power to Heal the Sick. David is the Sr. Pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. All of our services were blessed by this sermon, and I want to thank David, his wife, Beth, and their son, Sam, for taking a weekend to share with us here at Shepherd. An amazing thing happened after church, which I will explain in church this weekend.
Please keep David in your prayers, as he pastors one of the leading churches in our nation. They had 29,700 people at their Easter Service just a few weeks ago.
David, thank you for being a Man of God and allowing God to use you in all the areas of your life.
As a reminder to Shepherd of the Hills Church….. prepare to be mightily blessed this coming weekend, as I will be preaching on the subject, Jesus has the Power to Multiply Your Resources. I am anxious to preach…
EASTER 2008
I am still on cloud 9 after our Resurrection services. We had close to 16,000 people in all of our venues. We had so many people come to celebrate the fact that Jesus conquered the grave 2000 years ago. The sermon was on “Proof Beyond Dispute” and the highlight was the response at the invitation hymn. I wish EVERY SUNDAY that people came to church with the same expectation as they did on Easter. Our NEW campus in Lancaster had 200 people present and David Macer is going to do an incredible job leading this work. Our next campus will be in South Central and we need to be gearing up with prayer and support. I wanted to post some pictures from Easter 08. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooo exciting and thank you to ALL THE volunteers and the many who served behind the scenes. This is the GREATEST church in America… You are an amazing group of people……
Richard and Manny!!! Shepherd of the Hills Fremont
You may or may not know that we have a Shepherd of the Hills Campus in Fremont, California led by the two gentlemen in the above picture…. Richard on the left and Manny on the right.Recently I had breakfast with these two men of God in Hayward, California.
They have been conducting services watching the sermon on DVD for 5 years and recently sent me the following report. I thought you would enjoy reading about what God is doing in Northern California… Read and Enjoy….
Dear Loved ones,
Greetings in the beautiful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Have you met a man with 6 personalities and each of these personalities are saved? This may sound a bit strange, but Johnnie, one of the homeless persons who attends worship at SOTH-Fremont is said to have 6 personalities and each one of them has been saved.
Johnnie had been coming since the third Sunday (we’re on our 8th week) and had been regularly sitting in front with his hands together, and always, eyes closed looking upward to heaven when we pray and offer communion. I do not know which personality attends church on a given Sunday but hey .. that person is saved!
Last Sunday was thanksgiving Sunday and we served dinner to over 30people who attended the worship service. We marvel and are blessed at the way God is working in this ministry. We had, for the first time, two teenagers come and worship with us and stood by Richard to serve food to everyone who came. We also had two elderly ladies who attended.
We had turkey and bread, and mashed potatoes. and the biggest surprise was that a homeless person brought a dozen blueberry muffins to church so that the others can share it with him.
What a joy of giving! God continues to amaze us because people are hearing about SOTH and they are bringing food and clothing as they join us in worship each week.
Pastor James Washington in his sermon on loving the lost was really applicable as I saw Richard and Yvonne minister to the homeless over dinner.
Everyone took part in the communion including Nate and Austin, the youngest members of our congregation. God has blessed this ministry with people who just want to serve our Lord Jesus.
Kevin and Sharlene Kelly, head of our homeless ministries, buys 1 pair of winter shoes each week as their offering to the homeless people. Kevin is a minimum wage earner but he has committed to offer half a days salary to buy a pair of shoes to give to a homeless person. I see Jesus in both Kevin and Sharlene.
Having been homeless themselves once before, Kevin gave a two minute testimony of how God saved them from the depths of drugs and homelessness and how they were delivered by the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
After pastor James’ sermon completed and right before communion, a new face passed a piece of paper to me… in that was a note: “I have two turkeys and complete with stuffing for you to use next Sunday… but needs cooking.” what a wonderful gift that God is using this church to serve.
They come for the dinner… We know that they come for the food but then they worship and listen to the message. They recently heard pastor Dudley’s message “Greatest tool for evangelism” and pastor Francis Chan’s “brevity of life” message and last Sunday’s loving the lost.
By faith, we pray that souls will be saved and that their lives will be taken from the grip of homelessness. We continue to be excited every Sunday. God has continued to provide for the place and the food and the people to come. Thank God for Kari Macer who always sends me the sermon outline without fail every Thursday! And to Steve Tarlton who stays up really late on Saturday evenings just to post the video image file on the server so that i can pull it up.
We feel God continuing to work in this ministry. Someone told me this evening that SOTH in Fremont is a place where the homeless people feel welcome to worship. they cannot attend any other church because their clothes are filthy but they, sure enough, at 5:00 p.m. every Sunday, are at our doorstep and come and worship with us.
Please pray for each and every unsaved person attending our Sunday service that God will have mercy and compassion on them.- we are praying for a worship leader and band to be selected by God and lead us in worship.- pray that more people will be touched by the Lord to come and worship and serve with us.
Until my next report, Maranatha!!!!In Christ’s merciful hands.
Manny
Two New Satellite Plants
Woodland Hills Campus
I’m am soooooooooooooooooo jazzed about our two latest satellite plants. We launched one in Old Town Pasadena and another one at the Woodland Hills Middle School Academy.
Pasadena had 131 people and Woodland Hills at 564 people in attendance this past weekend.
Both campuses have dynamic worship teams and are very well organized. We have so many reasons to be thankful to the Lord for all that He is doing in our midst. Please check our church website, http://www.theshepherd.org/, for more information, and if you know of anyone in these two areas looking for a good church, do NOT hesitate to lead them to one of the two campuses.
The Woodland Hills campus is located at 20800 Burbank Blvd. in Woodland Hills. The Pasadena campus meets at the Laemmle One Colorado Cinema located at 42 Miller Alley in Old Town Pasadena. You may park at the One Colorado Parking Garage on Union St. and Fair Oaks Ave. Parking is free for three hours with validation at this lot.
Please keep Pastor William and Pastor Caleb in your prayers, as they continue to lead these two new satellite campuses. It is going to be exciting to see what God has planned for all these churches in the future.
Isn’t it a blessing to see God move in and through our lives????
Oasis, The Super Bowl and Dr. Scott Bauer
My dad was preaching this morning, and I attended a church in Hollywood called Oasis. The minister, Philip Wagner, has built a dynamic church that is truly impacting L.A. and our world. God is using this church to be a light in an area that is in desperate need of salvation. Philip, may God continue to bless you, your life, and your ministry.
Before church, I went to the cemetery to visit the grave of my dear friend, Dr. Scott Bauer. Scott was the Sr. Pastor of Church on the Way until the Lord called him heavenward a few years ago.
I spent about an hour there, cleaned his marker, and sat down and wrote him a letter. Today is Super Bowl Sunday, but in my heart, as I sat there and cried, missing my co-laborer in Jesus Christ, the game was irrelevant to me. You see, there is NO GAME as important as things of the eternal nature. I don’t think the Lord minds if we attend a few games here and there, as long as they do not become an idol to us.
This morning, as I was praying and looking across the vast cemetery, it was such a vivid reminder that all of us will one day pass from this life into the next. We need to live every day seeking to please God in every way, and the things that truly matter are the things that are eternal.
I’m so thankful that Scott led his life in such a way that the eternal was a priority to him. He sought to instill those values into everyone he came in contact with.
Scott, thank you, my friend, for reminding me in life and in death to serve Jesus with all of my heart.
I love you, my brother…