Lip Sync'n

Hey ya'll...let me just share that ALL of you are amazing people...your warmth, zeal, brotherhood or sisterhood, and friendships are so encouraging to my faith...and have allowed me to be reminded of God's care for us all....like Ktan and Justine shared..the weekend was AMAZING>..I believe we have all learned a lot..left that mountain inspired and faithful to our Lord. Im so proud of our ministry and truly feel honored to be here in it!!!...BABAYYY!!!!...

Besides that...here are our oh so famous Lip Sync performances....OH MAN!!!>>You guys are supa fly!!...Doin yo thang!!..and showin us all how its done!!..Come on Drew...oh i mean Mr. Jackson...haha....watch out Maria leadin the show...oh and who can forget the gansta of all gangstas....PAOLA....(spelling?)...!!!!...Homegirl knows what's up...haha....Fun times..unforgettable/ : D 

This weeks teen retreat.....

was AWESOME! i really loved it and i agree with Kevin and would liked to thank Karina, Marcel, all the teen leaders and anybody else that helped make this happen. but most of all i thank God for allowing us to make it up there, stay up there, open up, and i was very encouraged to see people make an effort to get to know people they did not know. this was my first retreat and i was so excited to go and get to know people more coz i really don't know almost everybody in the ministry. i had a lot of fun and it was B-E-A-UTIFUL up there. The stars brought me back to teen camp and i am so glad God gave me another opportunity to gaze at His creations. i am also happy that He humbled me to his scriptures and that i do need to really really really go after setting up bible studies and following through with those who are willing to study. I loved the Central teen retreat, i learned many things, and i'm already looking forward to next year!!

~justine =)

Time to Take Action!

hey guys i dont know about you but that was an AWESSOMEEE retreat n i just wana thank marcel karina and everyone so much for just organizing it! :)
and like recently i was having a hard time just really wanting to put God first before everything else but this retreat just allowed me to reconnect and really want to prioritize God and do everything i can for Him and although archery was probably one of the funnest things that we did that night hike was just the most amazing thing ever!
it was just so crazy to walk alone and just be praying to God and looking up at the stars and it was then i think that i realized how i could even imagine trying to put something as silly as homework before God who created everything and how even the things that we see are only a fraction of wat God can do. so now hopefully ill be able to get into more of the guys' studies and just really help them out more! thanks to everyone again and especially to God for just opening my eyes (no azn jokes!!~ >< hahaha) and just really giving me a desire to start taking action instead of waiting around for things to happen. so lets do work! -Proverbs 14:23

Bible study!!!!

HeY Everybody!
i hope you guyz r doing great! I am very excited about this coming up weekend. whoop whoop!
:> so i just wanted 2 let u guyz know that today i studied the bible with Valarie today! it went really well and she wants to study 2morro! i am super encouraged by God. Please continue 2 pray for her. luv u guyz. c u guyz soon <3

Teen Retreat

I don't know about you but I am excited about the retreat this weekend.

Run Your Race

Hi guys...

Thought I would post two encouraging videos that John Markowski shared with the teen leaders on Tuesday night.

His message was on persevering to the end...



The scripture to read after watching is Hebrews 12:1.

Take note that it says "the race marked out for us." Young's literal translation reads: "through endurance may we run the contest that is set before us"... You can take that to mean we all must run the race together to the end, and there is a good point there, but the point that John made was that we each must run a race that is set before each of us...

Others may seem to have and easier race than us, an "inside track," and that is the portion God has given them (Psalm 16:5). Others may seem to have a harder race than us... some run cross country through woods, some run marathons on asphalt, others run in the ironman through sand or gravel, others still run on a treadmill... the point is that your race may be different from others, but God's will is the same: that you finish the race (Acts 20:24; 2 Timothy 4:7)

I held my tears for that first video... but I couldn't hold them any longer during this one:



Maybe it was Morgan Freeman's always stirring voice... Maybe it was the crescendo of the orchestra as Derek Redmond's agony flashed across the screen... Either way, John's point was well taken: The agony of the race may be intense, but when we persevere we have an opportunity to inspire others, and bring Glory to God...



Grace and Peace,
Abram

=D

Buenas noches

Midweek today was very fun. it was cool getting to know and hang out more with the teens. I have more good news and that is that my mom had her first bible study this week! She sat down at a starbucks with Crystal Epps and a sister named Brenda and when she came home she said she had a very good time. they challenged her to read the Book of John and i know she is scheduled to meet again on Sunday. I ask that all of you guyscould please pray for her and that nothing gets in the way from her studying on Sunday. Also, for her to continue reading John and that God can really soften her heart and humble it to the scriptures. i would greatly appreciate it.
THANK YOU ALL!
lates
~Justine
=)

God's Hand is Def Moving

Last weekend was an amazing retreat with all the teen leaders from the LA Church. Man, i was having so much fun driving up there with E-jay and Mike ( john Q) ha ha. E-jay is straight out a fool! in a good way guys lol. It was so much fun laughing and actually bonding with the rest of the guys. Driving up there went really fast because of Ejay is a fool lol.

We actually heard amazing lessons from Pedro Garcia and it was amazing to hear him share and preach the word. What was truly faith building was to see so many new and young teen leaders from other regions. I felt so inexperience compare to everyone here in the central but to see many young teen leaders made me feel a little more comfortable. I was able to build relationships and bond with other servants of Christ!

Please guys pray for me that i can take what i learn to help the ministry!

Thank God - Life Lesson

I wanted to inform everyone and ask for your prayers for our new brother in Christ, Kevin. As we all know K-tan was baptized on Sunday, thankfully, because he was hit by a car on Monday. I talked to him and his dad and he appears to be okay. He didn't have to go to the ER but had bumps, bruises and slight bleeding if I can recall correctly. He did go to the clinic to get checked out but I have not heard the latest. As stated earlier, thank God, K-tan was baptized the day before and that he was not seriously injured. Imagine if he would have been hit the day before he got baptized and it was a serious or fatal accident. The lesson we should take from all of this is that life is short and we can't take it for granted. For those who are not disciples, you need to get right w/the Lord today (Matthew 24:36-44). For those of us who are disciples, we need to clean out any garbage in our hearts and lives and repent today and follow Jesus (Hebrews 3:7-15). With all of that said, I'm grateful that Kevin is alive physically and, even more importantly, alive spiritually (Romans 8:10-11).

ReFRESHed!!!

Hola my peeps!!!..
Aight....let me just share some awesome news and joys with ya'll///This past weekend was AMAZING......God has def. refueled my soul....

The teen leaders had an all LA teen leader retreat as we all know...and man it was so awesome, relaxing, and needed. It was great being able to go and hang with one another, meet other teen leaders in our church, and chill.

First, it was a great bonding time for me to spend time traveling with Marco and John. I love these guys. From the drive up to Oxnard to eating out for dinner...and laughing at my craziness and randomness....it was a great time with my bros.
Meeting other teen leaders from different regions was so faith building and encouraging. A lot of them were new to the teen ministry..making me feel like and 0 G..haha...but man..the conversations I had and seeing them live a life that parallels mine...like schedule and lifestyle was truly faith building. It spurred me on!
The lessons were amazing, convicting, and just straight INSPIRING!!!....loved it.
We had lots of free time, which was nice...I had the chance to relax, take a nap, hang with others, and enjoy the great days in Oxnard.
Having morning quiet times outside, going for 6 am jogs, and just gazing at God's beauty in prayer was all apart of the refreshment I experienced.
Then...on the way home Marco, John, and I were able to go to Erick's soccer game...that is always fun to check out and spur Erick and his team on.....the three of us teen leaders hung out some more.....and then of course K.TAN's baptism!!!..WOOP WOOP!!...man...just seeing God work all over the place is comfort to my soul : )

So this Monday morning...I family, am encouraged by God and the kingdom. We are in this together and to be reminded of that....is refreshing!!!

Super Encouraged

Hello everyone,

      So check it today as I was looking at the top hip-hop/rap albums on itunes just too see what new albums are out and what the reviews were. As i scroll down the list I saw T.I's new album paper trails at number one "the deluxe version" and at number 2 the regular version. As i proceeded to go down the list I saw the album REBEl by Lecrea. I was like oh my goodness!!!! For those who do not know who he is, he is a Christian rapper. I discovered him about  a couple months go when EJ gave me his  album for my birthday. So back to why i was super encouraged...i was super encouraged because his album was number 3 on top of Lil wayne and The game who were at #4 and #8. so i clicked to here samples of this album REBEl. As i was listening to it i was reading the reviews and was impacted when i read this:

        "I love rap and I am an atheist. I noticed that Lecrea's music was in the top 10 on ITunesand after sampling all of the tracks, I have purchased the album.Even though I dont believe in God,I enjoy listening to someone who believes so strongly about something and is able to convey it with such passion through music. Great job, looking foward to more albums."

                        -ccf008 

I was very encouraged because just like we as disciples are every day out number and put down by the world we can still make an impact on people by our passion for the lord and our examplary life.  Lecrea is one of the few christian rappers just as we are one of the few christians out of many people in the world. Jut like ccf008 we can have people looking foward to more of the holy spirit working through us.

Please pray for our Retreat

Hey guys please pray for us the teen leaders who are leaving this weekend to be strenghted and inspired to do great things for God. I hope all of you guys have fun and stay out of trouble ha ha! Please make sure you guys encourage the twins this sunday service, they need alot of encouragment from God's familia. Love you guys! Later!

Quiz Results for memory scriptures

Hey guys, finally the results from the quiz we took a couple of weeks ago are in. So if you guys got a bad result please STUDY! and for all who did great, congrats.

The maximum points you could of earned is a 33 points. So here are the results:

Teens
Ashley: 33
Erick R: 33
Justine: 33
Luis S:32
Cynthia: 30
Ray S: 26
April: 24
Wendy: 4
Drew: 2
Daniel: 0
Frankie: 0
JP: 0
Kevin Tan: 0
Rodney: 0

Teen Leaders
John Q: 33
Marco M:33
Maria:33
Karina H:31
Ejay:15

DUNKAGEE

okay guys just so you know and have the heads up
my baptism will be on Sun. at 7pm at Temescal Canyon Beach!
hopefully you guys can make it but if not ill see you Sunday anyway :P
have a happy friday tmw too :D