Reflections from Melissa Salomon, Community Life Coordinator:

I’m still a little tired but grateful to not wake up with the alarm today.  I’m still in a haze about what really happened this weekend but through the jumbled thoughts….I have a deep sense of contentment and gratitude.

Grateful for the celebration that included Good Friday and the Easter miracle.  So grateful for the power of the cross that I return to each day but this weekend…..well, it is a special remembrance.  So grateful that I have a Guarantor that pays my debt and sets me free.

Grateful to have hosted the big community EGGstravaganza on Saturday…..so amazed to see hundreds of people WALKING to the church field.  Even though more than 2500 came, our parking lot never filled.  The parking team turned into cross walking guards to help the car traffic mesh easily with the foot traffic.  What a vision.

Grateful to see the event team totally present and invested and working oh so hard that day….and amazed by their talent and commitment. We would catch glances of each other and our eyes would communicate the message of “I can’t believe this many people showed up!”  Grateful that even though there were long lines in most everything, people were chill and enjoying just being there. In this “hurry up and get it done” world, people DID spend an unrushed morning just enjoying being together.  We prayed to be a blessing to our community and I knew this was part of it.

Grateful the weather was just about perfect.  The weekend before there was blazing heat and there had been rain and a cloudy weekend predicted for this weekend. It turned out to be a sunny day but with a cool wafting breeze on our big open field.

Grateful for business and community partners.  They turned out with cheer and excitement.  Amazed by the restaurants who were there to get to know their neighbors.  Early on when we were talking to our restaurant sponsors about this free event to bring neighbors together (including our community and business neighbors) I spurted out we expected 1,000 people.  I thought that sounded like an ambitious “stretch” number.  They went above and beyond.  Panera’s new manager hit the restaurant at 4:30 in the morning to prepare things just for us!  CPK just kept calling their store in amazement and ordering more food and there was a continuous flow of deliveries. If you go into CPK, Panera, OGGis, Eastlake Tavern and Grill, Chili’s, Krispey Kreme….tell them, “I was impressed that you cared to be present at the Concordia community EGGstravaganza. Thank you!”

Grateful that everyone donated their time …. said yes to contribute to this worthy gathering.  They caught the vision that when neighbors get to know each other….that is what makes a community strong.  We were happy to be a part of it!

Grateful to see on Sunday faces from the day before.  People from the neighborhood who had driven by for months, but on Saturday they took one step in friendship with Concordia and took another step on Sunday.

Grateful to get these waves of energy and stamina!  So grateful because after the marathon at church I went home to fix a turkey dinner for my family which include three family overnight guests.  So grateful that my daughter home from college just wanted to climb into bed and have a chat with her mom during  a short break after Saturdays event and before going back to church for the newly added Saturday Easter service.

Grateful that we had 291 people in all three Easter services…..our goal was to reach 300 for Easter.  Grateful that even though we blew the projector 15 minutes before the biggest service at 10:30 started, our fantastic video/tech volunteer did a quick switch of projectors and we started on time.

Grateful for the MANY volunteers who helped this whole weekend happen.  For both Saturday and Sunday, it probably took close to 100 volunteers offering their time and talent (and their heart always comes along) to welcome others to Concordia and make them feel like here, they’re HOME!

Grateful….. just grateful!

Thank you for praying for this Concordia mission launch throughout much of 2010……yes, it hardly seems possible that we are 10 months into the launch.

Thank you for praying for our Living nativity program as we took the opportunity to tell the story of Jesus in the “public square”.

Our Christmas weekend was beautiful … and still a blur.  We weren’t quite sure how we would be decorating the new worship center which didn’t get any attention until after the Living Nativity program was over.  We were delighted with the donation of  poinsettias which were placed behind and around the new altar and an absolutely gorgeous fresh tree on one of the stages was the final touch.  We used only the Crismons that had been made by Concordia ladies decades ago (maybe 3 decades?).  I was worried we would not be able to find them or that they would be damaged by the move/storage.  They were remarkably in good shape and were absolutely beautiful on the tree.  The mini stories that the Crismons tell about the Savior are truly significant.

We had four services over the Christmas weekend.  We added a 5pm Christmas Eve service and it was our most popular time with nearly 100 people attending that service.  It was our candlelight service and many new people got to participate in this beautiful Christmas tradition.  At the 7pm hour we celebrated the baptism of a child of one of our new preschool families.  That was wonderful.  Christmas morning service and of course Sunday morning service rounded out the weekend.

Last Sunday we celebrated another one of our “Church Outside of Church” Sundays where we do not come to the building to be church but we are the Church in our community serving one another.  Many people in groups or with their own families found diverse ways to serve others and worship God with acts of love and mercy.  We have collected feedback and photos on our www.hereforgood.net site.

Please pray as we launch our HOME groups and a new message series this Sunday:  “Hit Your Target on the Things that Really Matter.”

We have focused on promoting this message series throughout Christmas and in our local MyHometown magazine where the editors chose us for a full page highlight of our ministry.

You can see that HERE.

Thank you for praying…..one minute every day.  Thank you for asking God to make us useful for Him here in this new place where He has planted us.  Thank you for asking God to give us His vision to serve others and to make Him known.  Thank you for asking Him to give us more love….to help us show love….because that is how others will know we belong to Him.  Thank you for asking for our protection from the enemy and what he might like to do to confuse us, to take us off the mark and mission, to pierce our unity.  Thank you for asking God to work in the hearts of those near to respond to the call and opportunity to know God better and love Him more at Concordia Church and School….especially those who have never considered a relationship with God before.  Thank you for lifting up our leaders and ask that they first continually humble themselves before God, that they clearly see God’s vision for Concordia and live it zealously and that energy and health is granted to do the sweet work of ministry with enthusiasm and joy. Thank you for asking God to raise up more and more servant leaders and that those who are just beginning to know Him may also see the blessings early of serving as we foster a culture of service.  Thank you ….. thank you … thank you…..for the many more things that you ask God on our behalf.  We … are … grateful … more … than … you … can …. know.

–Melissa Salomon, Community Life Coordinator

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,000 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 35 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 106 posts. There were 4 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 4mb.

The busiest day of the year was June 25th with 79 views. The most popular post that day was Thank you Lord!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were mail.yahoo.com, concordiatogether.com, mail.live.com, facebook.com, and webmail.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for concordia church chula vista lease, concordia together, “i will leave everything behind” “my one desire, director of concordia preschool chula vista

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Thank you Lord! June 2010
2 comments

1000 Prayer Partners October 2007
1 comment

The Vision…. November 2007
1 comment

Mission Partners September 2007
1 comment

Last Preview! First Classic Worship! 1st Baptism! February 2010
2 comments

www.melissasalomon.com

We had a great time talking with the editor about what Concordia brings to this new community of Windingwalk/Otay Ranch and had great fun with local Chula Vista photographer Julia Shafer (www.schaferphotography.com)  She made us feel like we were taking the best photos of our lives!

The MyHometown magazine was also kind enough to publicize our Community Living Nativity which is this Sunday……AND our upcoming January series:  ”Focusing on the Things That Matter Most.”  We are most grateful to the editor Michael Minjares….who shared the vision of Concordia with our community.

Read the article here:  http://issuu.com/fountainmedia/docs/mhtcv_1210_web/22

We are so grateful for your partnership in prayer.  Your investment of  time, energy and prayers…..your walking alongside of us during this mission launch is so important to us…..and God is using you to make an impact on the Kingdom…..no doubt about this!

We just finished a message series on “Gratitude” which has really changed each one of us who took in the deep truths!  Today’s message was on being grateful for the purpose that God gave you!  It has some BIG truths that come from around the corner and surprised us and  made us think of the BIG purposes of GOD and how He taps on the shoulder in surprising but always exciting ways. Interestingly enough, they are often not in the way we expected (or wanted) Him to use us!

What a deep message too about the privilege we have in launching this new mission……….and why we often get tired or discouraged in doing this amazingly fantastic and wonderful work of God!  As you might guess, it has everything to do with our expectations.  Once again, we are reminded what an amazing opportunity we have to reach people who are far from God in a totally new way!

If you were not in church this morning (and even if you were….this is the kind of message that needs a return look after the first dousing), I recommend you check out the video of the Classic Worship Message found here:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11143567

Go to about minute 22 for the message which goes about 20 minutes.  Share your thoughts by leaving a comment. Here are some excerpts for a glimpse that struck me.  Which statements, truths, thoughts spoke to you the loudest?  Highlight any of the statements below and copy it into a comment field along with your own thoughts……

- Thankful for our God given purpose

- God intends for us to make a difference for Him in the world and that purpose is the one we ought to pursue and live … even if it is not the one we wanted it to be.

- If your dream (or what we think we are here for) and God’s purposes for you aren’t exactly the same….are we ok with that?

-It depends on who you serve.

- There are people who lived and gave and sacrificed to get us here and they are no longer here.

-2 Chronicles 28

- We are here to build the Kingdom of God, a people who would follow God, have a heart after God….people who are not just learned of Scripture but followers of God.

- What God has given us to build is not buildings but people.

-What set us on this journey was to build a generation of followers of Jesus like the world has not seen in a long time and the church hasn’t seen in a long time. People who actually make a difference for good, people ready to take the world for God.

-If you are going to find and follow Jesus, where are you going to find him?  Among people who serve.

- God has given us the task of reaching people that nobody’s reached before in a way that nobody’s done before, in a way that will build a generation of people that will reach the world in a way that hasn’t been done before.

- The founders, the foundation people are the legacy people…..and they are remembered.

- The people sitting here today will be remembered.  You are the legacy people. You are the ones who served and sacrificed.

-You followed the path of God.

- You built the generation of people that will change the world because their hearts like none others have been captured by God.  They don’t just know things about God but fully follow Jesus.

- The result of serving wholeheartedly is joy and success in building the Kingdom.

- How much of our job is getting here….how much of our job is continuing to build the sort of culture that creates the environments that reach people.

- God could have put us on any spot on the eternity timeline but He chose to put us here right now for this time and this place.

- Will you continue to say, “God, I am here and I’m all in!”

- Will you be strong and stay on task not only in the building but in the mission and the vision and the people we are trying to reach?

- Will you take up the challenge of doing the work God has given you to do?

Well, that was more than a few snippets…..but these statements really reminded me of our focus……building the Kingdom, reaching the people who have yet to cross the line of faith….and serving in the work God has for me to do.  Stay strong and do the work.  What we see here on earth or from heaven, no one knows. But a singular privilege we have …. that’s for sure.

PRAYER PARTNERS…. YOU TOO are those legacy partners in this mission…..praying for a year now!  You know the work is just starting. Please continue to pray for 1 minute a day for this mission launch.  We need it probably more now than ever!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Pray for our upcoming Living Nativity.  What a wonderful opportunity to invite our community and tell the timeless story of Christ through this singing production where more than 150 children sing with joy about Jesus!

Here is the photo of the father and son who responded to the Gospel just a couple of weeks ago and they were baptized on the spot.

Please pray for the Salute to the Spouses event on Saturday morning.  We are so excited about creating space for military families to connect and support each other and see where we can be a blessing to them too!  We have several deployed or deploying daddies and even 3 deploying mommies in the preschool.  We want to send the parents cards, art work from their children in the preschool, notes, maybe some goodies etc  We think this will mean alot to them…..especially to the mommies that are deployed.  One mommie who in addition to having a preschooler just had a baby and she is on an indefinite deployment and doesn’t know if she will be away 6 months or two years!  Another family of a deployed mommie is coming regularly to church….it’s been more than a month that they have come every Sunday.  Pray for these servicemen and women!    Pray for the two organizers of this event, new to Concordia, who are passionate about serving military families and have some wonderful skills.  It is wonderful when great love meets great skill!

MyHometown magazine, a widely read community news magazine is featuring Concordia Church and School in a feature article for December.  We spent a couple of hours with the editor, Mike Minjares today and with a local professional photographer yesterday as photos of our ministry team were taken.  It was such fun.  We are so grateful to have this opportunity to tell our community what Concordia is all about. We are praying that God is preparing hearts to know Him and that as they read the MyHometown article they will consider Concordia as a place where they can connect with God together with their whole family.  When the article comes out, I will share it with you!  For now, pray for powerful opportunities in our community.

Coming up also this month is the local shopping center’s Christmas parade where we will dress in Nativity costumes and invite our community to the Living Nativity Event.  We will be riding a decorated VW convertible bug (so California, huh?) and playing Christmas music.

The children are in the thick of learning and rehearsing their songs for the Living Nativity which will be held on Sunday, December 5th.  Remember last year?  We were just two and a half months into our building and had launched the preschool and had this crazy idea about doing a Living Nativity featuring the preschoolers in all the principle parts telling the story of Jesus through song and dance!  We had no way of knowing that 650 people would show up in our parking lot!  Well, that event is now around the corner and there is so much to do!  This year, we will have live music to accompany our pint sized preschoolers who will sing the story of the birth of Christ.  Please pray for the preparations for this event ….. and that people from our community can consider the impact that the “Christ – story”  has on their lives!

We have had wonderful messages in the Watercolor series: The Art of Creating a Beautiful Life.  (you can view them on our streaming site which records the two services every Sunday)  The HOME groups have taken the BIG TRUTH OF GOD and considered it in the context of their lives and some incredible faith building has happened in the context of those relationships.  We are so thankful.  Please pray for Pastor Schmidt as he begins the Gratitude series and moves into the Christmas season.  Also, pray for the January series which will be entitled:  “HOMEWORK:  Working on the things that matter most!”  Pray that Pastor Schmidt continues to enjoy an intimate communion with God and that God continues to give him health, stamina, patience, and all the things a church planter needs in the first year of a mission plant.

Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel.

The day started out drizzling and cold (weird for San Diego) and thought that was going to be a challenge for people to get to church.  We prayed that morning with the welcome team for God to remove the obstacles…….you were joining us in prayer too!
 
We had great attendance with 21 first time guests, people connected with preschool families and 39 guests that have been “sticking” and returning regularly over the last few months.  We finished with the first two baptisms and after sharing the Gospel message and the message of Phillip and the Ethiopian of Acts 8 (As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?”) Pastor left room for anyone who had never been baptized sensed the call of God on their hearts to be baptized, what is to prevent them from being baptized right then and there!
 
A young man and his son came forward for baptism. This family has been attending weekly for about two months and have connected with a HOME group.  What a powerful moment…..witnessing a miracle!  That’s truly awesome in the literal sense of the word!
 
Sunday is always a good day to meet God in the place He has promised to be…..and seeing HIM glorified in four baptisms this day……perfection on earth!  It was a very, very good day.
 
Thank you for praying.
 
Melissa Salomon
Community Life Coordinator

We are thankful for an ABLAZE grant which helped us purchase the signage for our building!  Wooohooooo!

In the last post we shared with you how the altar and baptismal font we had at the Oxford site was blessing the little mission church of Iglesia Luterana San Pablo in Tijuana but I am not sure we share with you our new altar and baptismal font which was custom built by a local friend of Concordia.

With the new message series we launched our HOME groups again.  We have first time guests from among the people we met and talked to at the Art Show!  One family has connected with Concordia through a home group.  Please pray for more connections among families and especially with God and His truth!

Remember us donating the pews from the Oxford Concordia site to ministries in Tijuana?  One little church that received a good number of pews, the altar, other furnishings and most recently the baptismal font, celebrated 10 confirmations this last Sunday which included 3 baptisms!  We were able to be a blessing and be a part of what God is doing south of the border!  See below!

I just got this photo of the celebration on Sunday at Iglesia Luterana San Pablo. I love witnessing a miracle!  The little church of San Pablo received some of the Concordia pews which served the people of Concordia Lutheran Church, Chula Vista for some 40 plus years.  To see the pews (you can see how they were delivered here) and baptismal font that was delivered just last week…… witness this act of God south of the border, it moves me deeply.  How wonderful that the altar furnishings that were so well loved at Concordia are now being loved by a whole new generation where the Gospel is active! It makes me think that when you are generous with your blessings God creates blessing of a whole other magnitude……!

3 of these young people were baptized and 10 confirmed through instruction in the Catechism.  Many of these young people came to the church connected through the sports program of PROYECTO JOEL and the ongoing work over a two year period of Legna Lanza, Director of Proyecto JOEL CPTLN.  Pastor Abdiel and his wife Alicia and even their children Abner and Keren are tireless workers for the cause of Christ in this neighborhood.  It is a wonderful thing that God allows us to witness the fruit of a powerful working of His Holy Spirit.