Church
August.2014 Read more about the Convergence trip to El Salvador within the pages of this newsletter.
Inside this issue: Connecting to a Global Community
Thailand, India & El Salvador
Upcoming Events
A SCENE FROM INDIA Convergence community member Mark Tyler traveled this May to India. Read more about his journey and other global missions on the following pages.
Welcome
to the new Convergence newsletter. In this edition you will find news of mission trips, upcoming events, future sermon series etc. This new platform is intended to keep our Convergence community connected. The theme this month is about our global connection to the world. Stories within this edition are personal, they are reflective of our core DNA as a church; our passion to touch the world with the love of Jesus. Please feel free to give us your feedback on this new platform. Read on and enjoy...
August.2014
-Norb
COVER STORY Caiti Rhoades, Convergence Community Member
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his past March I had the privilege of traveling to El Salvador with our Convergence team. Let me start by saying - I am sheltered. That’s quite an understatement. I’ve lived in Orange County my whole life, was raised in private school and never left the US until this trip. I have also loved Jesus my whole life but nothing could have prepared me for what we experienced that week. We worked in a village called Mateo and the first night we attended a church service there. Jesus showed up that night and I knew we were going to have a powerful week serving these people for Him. Our main way of serving was building stoves with an organization called Enlace. These stoves provide clean cooking areas for people without harmful smoke inhalation. Our two teams installed stoves right in the homes while the families watched, which gave us a great opportunity to visit and simply share Jesus through friendship. I now believe that friendship is underrated and just loving somebody and doing life with them can be a beautiful testament to God’s love. The moment that hit me the hardest was when we visited the home of a single mom and her two teenage boys, Irvin and Nelson. I have a little brother Irvin’s age. My brother loves Jesus madly and we are very close. He knows that he will never be left or forgotten and he has a strong place to go when he feels lost. This is everything these boys need and don’t know how to get. I saw the pain in Irvin’s eyes. He is the oldest and has to stand up for his family. I know what it can feel like to be lost. I have been there. Not to that extent, but lost nonetheless. I wanted to tell him that Jesus loves him, and he isn’t alone. But in that moment I knew Jesus wanted me to show His love through my
actions not my words. This is something I think we so easily forget. These people fight every single day for the small blessings they have. They live and breathe Jesus. They don’t have another option. When you depend on Jesus for every single thing you start seeing how real and alive He is. I have no doubt that Jesus will show up for Irvin and Nelson as he is showing up for so many other people we met in El Salvador.
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he biggest lesson for me was that God is there. It is easy to ask “where are you” when you are standing in a home with bats that cohabitate there, or when you are looking at a sweet little girl as her mom is crying because
she is so ill and they d o n ’ t know why. We had so many “where are you God” experiences, but in the end I always felt that he was there. I know he is protecting these people just like he is protecting us. He loves them and he holds them just the same. Their struggles may be different but God is still walking them through every day. This trip made me see Jesus in the most real way possible. It showed me that being a Christian is about others - not about ourselves. It’s about serving and loving them as Christ would.
LAUREN GRAMS GOES TO THAILAND!
Connecting to a global community...
Friends of Convergence… you may already know Lauren Grams, if not, the letter below will give you a snap-shot of her passion for Jesus. I’m including this letter Lauren has written for support in our newsletter because we believe in Lauren and her call to love those caught in the sex trafficking industry. Please read the letter below and support Lauren. Think of the “bang for the buck” (doesn’t sound spiritual until you attach the idea of stewardship to it… $10,000 to support someone for a year? Now that’s cheap livin’!)
Dear Friends and Family, Last summer, around this time, you may have received a letter very similar indeed to the one you are now reading. I have been accepted again to go to Thailand for a year under The Well, a ministry serving around 36 women coming out of the sex industry through a trifold approach of business, education and recovery. Specifically, I will be working in the recovery branch of the program, where women unable to thrive in the former branches are given a chance to heal and grow through alternative programming such as the arts. map image credits: worldatlas.com
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I am not going to Thailand to stop the sex industry, to plant my feet firmly in the ground with a picket sign denouncing the evil that roams blatantly throughout hazy brothels and foreigner-infested strip bars, to be a rescuing savior to the innocent victims of human trafficking. I am going to Thailand because that’s where Jesus is going, and I’m holding onto his coattails. I am going rooted in him to love radically because he has loved me radically. I am going to proclaim daily the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus through glasses of water given to the least of these. I am going to see the gold Jesus has planted in the hearts of his favorites, to call it out, and to revel in the beauty that gold Jesus has planted Jesus makes out of brokenness.
am going to see the in the hearts of his favorites, to call it out, and to revel in the beauty that Jesus makes out of brokenness.”
I need $10,000 to spend a year doing life with Jesus and with his kids, and I am inviting you to be a part of what God’s heart is doing, to partner with me. I am asking you to give a one time donation of $50, $100, $500, or $1,000, or a continuing stipend, as the Holy Spirit leads you. Come, let’s go wash feet together!!
You can find out more about the ministry I’m partnering with at: servantworks.com/the-well/ You can also keep up with my journey at: facebook.com/pages/Following-the Manta/556695257772880?ref=hl or..inthelapofthemanta.tumblr.com/ You can send donations directly to me at 27450 Jasmine Ave, Mission Viejo CA 92692. If you wish to receive a tax refund, you may make the check out to Convergence, my church. You can also donate online at: convergence.cloverdonations.com/ convergence-church-donations/. Upon donating, select to donate to Sweet Rescue. Praise Jesus, Lauren Grams
AN AIM FOR GLOBAL CONNECTION IN INDIA Mark Tyler, Convergence Community Member
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’ve just returned from a two-week trip to the country of India. With all its beautiful people and unrelenting chaos. My first stop was to the bustling city of New Delhi, visiting Pastor Solomon King. He has a daily slum ministry, feeding, clothing and sharing the gospel with those living on the fringes of society. He also runs a men’s drug and alcohol rehab facility, modeled after the very successful ministry of Teen Challenge. Pastor Solomon also started a sewing “business.” taking prostitutes off the streets, then teaching them how to sew, providing them a hand up, and a means to a better life. This month he and his church were given permission by the Indian government to assist in combating the atrocity of human trafficking and slave labor of children. With each ministry, the emphasis of Jesus Christ is foremost. To understand the difficulty of what Pastor King is doing and the dangers he and his congregation go through, just a few months ago they were attacked; pelted with rocks, beaten with sticks and steel rods and thrown in jail. Yet they tirelessly continue.... Second stop on my trip was to Uttar Pradesh, a very large state consisting of 270 million people. The purpose of this visit was to plan for a future medical and educational trip with colleagues and professionals from North America to this region. I was able to see the needs, develop relationships with the people and to get all the logistics for the upcoming trip. The villages and towns are absolutely filthy and disease-ridden. Our desire is to bring a team, educating, loving and caring for them, being God’s hand extended to a people steeped in the Hindu religion.
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fter a few days traveling in UP, I left on the third part of my trip to visit a group of pastors in Fort Chandigarh. What wonderful men and women of God these people are. Pastor Rohit Masih and his wife Miniati are constantly serving their congregants, traveling hundreds of miles weekly to support other pastors and currently in the process of developing a teen center to get children off the streets. Masih makes 2 to 3 trips a week on his motorcycle, 60 kilometers each way, visiting, praying with and providing spiritual guidance to about 140 people. He showed us the church they are trying to build using mud, straw and manure. It is true that the mission field has come to America and there is much we can do here, but there are many needs, least of all financial, in India. Feel free to contact me about my involvement in India through Global AIM USA at mark@globalaimusa. com. Mark Tyler www.globalaimusa.com
Get Mobile Alerts Text “convergence” to 62953 to get keep updated!
EVENTS SPY KIDS SUMMER CAMP AUGUST 6-8
Join us for our first Summer Camp for kids ages 6-11. Sessions will go from 8:30 am until 12:30 pm. Various activities include: Spy Kids themed craft and lesson, a movie at AMC 14 and lunch at Mobtown pizza. There will be NO cost to this summer camp, but donations are welcomed. Parents can drop off and pickup kids at Mobtown Pizza.
For more information and questions, contact us at info@convergenceoc.com
GIRL 2GIRL G2G Small Group starting at the end of August. G2G 3rd Annual Clothing Swap, for info head to our Facebook page here : www.facebook.com/groups/606255322758959/
SPECIAL NOTE HELPING OUR FRIENDS AT SOCIAL SERVICES! ! Recently a mom, here in Orange County, lost her little 5-year-old in a tragic accident. OC Social Services has helped the mom and her children find an apartment. We have the opportunity to help her with a month’s rent. The amount is $600. If you can help, contact us at info@convergenceoc.com
Upcoming Series: #road2happiness #overcomedepression #thedistrict #convergenceoc #AMCTustin14 #newseries #theaterchurch #everyonewelcome #thepathtohappiness #keepyourhearthappy #dailyhabitsforhappiness #keepingstressout
SUNDAY SERVICE: 10 AM @ The District in Tustin
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