Community Wide Youth Gathering

Tomorrow night, Wed April 1st, all the youth groups from the Santa Maria Valley are going to be getting together at First Christian Church from 6:30-8:00pm. The meeting will include student-led worship from area youth ministries, as well as a message from Rocky Kim, youth pastor at First Christian Church.

Some of you may be asking yourselves, why are we getting together with other youth groups?

Let me give you a couple of many reasons:

For starters, the Church (i use the term "Church" here to refer to the universal church which is made up of all true believers for all time) makes a tremendous statement to the surrounding community when local churches are able to meet, serve, and worship together. Often times the tension and division found between churches is no different than what we see in the surrounding culture.

Secondly, we believe that by getting all of the Christian youth in the Santa Maria area together, God will bring accountability and change in behavior to our Jr. High and High School campuses. When we know who the other believers are at school, it allows us to keep one another accountable, as well as to encourage one another in our walks with Jesus.

Also, when God's people get together and pray, big things happen! Prayer is the most important activity any Christian can be involved in.

Finally, it is going to be a lot of FUN!

So we hope you realize the value that comes with an event like this, and we will see you tomorrow.

Beard a Reno Week 6

Kenna is still kissing me, Cormac cries everytime I kiss him, and we are still 6 weeks from judging. . .

Support Our Mission Trip

God has opened a door for a team from the OPC youth group to go to San Francisco and show God's compassion to the people living their. There are a number of ways all of you can get involved in sharing Jesus' compassion:

1. Pray for the students who will be going. Pray that God would prepare us for the visit and bless our efforts as they minister to the people of San Fran. We also need prayers that our financial needs will be met. Each student needs to raise $161 to attend this trip.

2. Another way you can be involved is to provide financial support. Even a small donation helps. Please makes checks payable to Orcutt Presbyterian Church and mail to:

Orcutt Presbyterian Church
C/o Shawn O'Brien
993 Patterson Road
Orcutt, Ca
93455

Whether you feel led to contribute financially, through prayer, or both, all of your support is appreciated.

An Old Indian Story about Two Wolves

An old Cherokee man told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves that live inside us all. One wolf is Evil - it is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, love of money, and ego. The other wolf is Good - it is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, serenity, humility, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith". The man's grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins the battle?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

As we begin the walk of Lent, I invite you to find your wolves, and to feed the one who is God's goodness within you, so that you might have peace.

Beard-a-Reno Week 4

Here is the latest progress on my beard cultivation. What do you think, do I have a chance in the "red beard" division?

Sean Mcdowell at Pacific Christian Center

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Several of us (maybe 1o) managed to get up early on Saturday morning to hear Sean speak from 8:30 to 12:00. I know that sound like a crazy long lecture, but it was so amazing. It was broken into 3 mini seminars (evolution, the Bible, and the resurrection) all under the umbrella of "defending your faith". God calls us to go into the world equipped with His message of salvation. It was sweet! Angie and I have books written by Sean that may interest you in this area. Just ask us! We also had the amazing privilege to go to lunch with him too...Olive Garden!!! It was a awesome visit. He spent quality time sharing with our students over a great meal. His web site is www.seanmcdowell.org. Check it out if you want.
Peace
Diane

Hey Youth Crowd...

Check out Josh Riebock's web site. Josh spoke at Hume Lake for the High School group. He was pretty cool and very thought provoking. Thanks to Alan for pointing me to his site...

Also, if you like, you can download some of his talks from iTunes. Make sure you have iTunes installed and up and running on your computer and click on the link on his web site (ya, the one I mentioned above). If you need help let me know.

If you read this, and your mommy did not show it to you, I will take you to lunch. First one. Only one.

The Sparrow