Meetings in the Western Region
This week, I had the privilege to travel to Southern California and attend the conference meeting at Iglesia Gracia Divina (Divine Grace Church) in Pacoima, Calif. I first stopped in San Diego and visited with Pastor Brad Rigney and toured the North Park Advent Christian Church. It was a great time catching up with Brad and getting updated on the church and the conference.
On Saturday, we traveled north to Pacoima and attended the conference. Conference President Dave Crimi led the meetings and allowed Rev. Rick Qualls, Pastor Jack Mumford and me to share about the ministries that the Western Region and ACGC are aiming to accomplish, both in the region and throughout the world. Divine Grace Church hosted the conference and made us all feel welcome and well cared for during the day. Pastor Raul Parada and the worship team opened the morning with worship and the Lord’s Supper, and the whole day was a celebration of what God has been doing and the partnership we have to share the gospel around the world.
On Saturday night, Pastor Raul and one of his key leaders took me out to supper and I learned a lot about the ministry of the church and the heart of the leadership to share the gospel and win souls for Christ. Pastor Raul has both a heart for church planting and the gifts to make it happen. I’ve been around a few successful planters and the common strengths I see in them are evidence of God’s preparing them for this ministry.
I had the privilege of joining in worship and sharing the Word of God on Sunday. I confessed to the church that my high school Spanish limited my ability to sing with them, but the shared relationship in the Holy Spirit made it easy to join in the worship. The service began with almost an hour of prayer time. The leader of this was one of the small group cell leaders. He had five cell groups that he worked with, with about 15 in each group. This prayer time was powerful, and I felt the prayer support as I spoke later in the service.
This was a great trip and I encourage you to pray for these ministries in the Western Region and the work of the churches!
