May 2009

From the Pastor

Dear CCH Family,

There’s something special about God’s Word! It’s like nothing else in all creation. It’s affect on the heart and soul of a person is supremely powerful. That’s exactly what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says…

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

When we read and study God’s Word, He is able to guide us with wisdom, strengthen us with power, and increase our knowledge of His kingdom. If we study God’s word it is guaranteed to have a positive influence and impact. That’s what God promised through the words of Isaiah the prophet…

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah55:10-11

Beginning this Sunday morning we will start a new sermon series through the book of Philippians. The title of the sermon series is “JOYFUL LIVING” in which we’ll discover how to find true joy in life even when things get tough. Join us on Sunday mornings and I know you’ll be blessed as we read and study God’s word – he gives you His promise!

In God’s Love,

Pastor Dave

CCH Family BBQ Lunch

This Sunday, May 3rd, we are planning a potluck BBQ lunch to be held immediately after the service.

• This is the first in what we hope to become a quarterly event at CCH. It is sure to be a great time for fellowship and getting to know one another better.
• There will be a love offering basket out and we suggest a $2 per person donation for the cost of the barbequed food, beverages and other things CCH will be providing.
• Just for fun—we’ll hold a raffle for gift cards—the donation for this will be $1. You will have the choice of iTunes, Starbucks or In & Out gift cards. You must be present to claim your prize.
  
• If you haven’t signed up, email your RSVP to lorigeorge@cchagoura.com.

The National Day of Prayer

Thursday, May 7th

• Hosted by the Southeast Ventura County YMCA and held at Cal. Lutheran, Gilber Sport Center—6:30-7:00 Full breakfast; 7-8:30 Program. $15 per person. Pastor Dave is one of the pastors who will be praying. Keynote speaker: Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries. May be sold out.
• Free event at the Civic Arts Plaza at noon on the front lawn. Wonderful time of singing praises and praying for the needs of the nation. Just show up.

Adult Bible Study

Last month Pastor Dave began a Wednesday night adult Bible study here at the church. It begins at 7:00 p.m. and goes until 8:30 p.m. Anyone interested in attending is welcome! The study is a more in-depth and personal look at the lesson taught in Pastor Dave’s sermon from the previous Sunday.

Hope to see you all here.

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Happy birthday to everyone that celebrates in the month of May. Here are the CCH attenders that we know have birthdays:

May

15—Darlene H.

19—John C. and Chris M.

27—Rob P.

29—Fran F.

And we know the Hanna’s will celebrate their Anniversary on May 22nd. Congratulations.

GO M.A.D. (Go Make a Difference)

Mission Team: Thank you to everyone for the great outpouring of love and generosity you showed with our recent

mission projects.

The new team has worked hard to kick things off with several projects:

The Afghan Give Away—went to Doug Schafer’s co-worker’s wife, Doris. She was thrilled to receive the beautiful afghan our Pins & Needles group made. This project brought in $325 which was given the Angeles Crest Christian Camps for scholarships for kids wanting to attend summer camps!

Women’s Resource Center — Mother’s Day Gift boxes for single moms. Thank you Kathy Patton for making this happen. There were at least a dozen volunteers who stayed after church last Sunday and filled 29 boxes with great donated items. Thank you to those volunteers and to you who brought in the items used to fill the boxes!

World Vision Adopt-a-child — “Jeanne” is our adopted little girl from Rwanda. There is a picture of her in the lobby. $1 per person per month will help fund Jeanne’s care. Letters to Jeanne are appreciated too! There is a box for the money and letters in the lobby.

Manna Food Collection—continues on the 4th Sunday of every month. You have been very generous both times we held this collection… thank you. The tub will be out in the lobby again on May 24th.

Congratulations

We are so pleased to announce the birth of Noah William D. to Duane and Ashley. Noah was born on Thursday, April

16th, weighed 7lb . 9 oz. and was 19 1/2” long. Both mom and baby are doing well—as is the proud daddy!

Prayer Requests

Dale R.— has been at church a couple of times recently. Pray for continued improvement and comfort.

Erline N. — pray for their continued ability to help with the care of Erline’s grandparents.

Thais K. — Prayer for health and some family issues.

Fran F.—Pray for continued good days and good health, and praise for recent relief from her health concerns.

Our Servicemen: Drew L., Andrew O. and Scott O. (congratulation to Scott and the family on the birth of his son, Hayden Michael).

CCH — Please pray for young families to come to CCH to build our children’s department.

Finances: These are tough times for many individuals and ministries. Please pray that God will help his people get through this recession.

Nancy O.is our

Prayer Chain coordinator. Please be sure to let her know of any updates and prayer needs.

Kids Korner

On Sunday, May 3rd CCH will be having a BBQ after church. Come and bring friends for burgers and hot dogs! And, don’t forget some extra dollar bills for the raffle! See you there!

Also, with Mother’s Day coming up soon the Pathfinders will be making a special project for their moms.

The Pathfinders are in the middle of their series on the book of Acts. And, each week the kids will be bringing home their “Growing Together” worksheets, which I encourage parents to go over with them.

Also, summer will be here before you know it. And, so will summer camp! The dates for ACCC junior summer camp are July 12th - 17th. Mark your calendars and let me know if your child is interested in attending. Deposits for camp will be due May 31st. The cost for camp is $275.

— Amber

Youth News

by Amber

CCH will be having a BBQ on Sunday, May 3rd right after church service. It will be a great day to invite friends. There will be a raffle for lots of cool prizes including a Starbucks gift card and an Itunes gift card.

Chris will be continuing Sunday school lessons every week. During May, he will teach on the benefits of belonging to the church family. Youth will be dismissed from worship service.

Amber will be sending out devotional ideas and books to check out for those who want to get in their Bible study time during the week, even when we are not meeting. Just e-mail Amber at amber@cchagoura.com to get on the Youth study list.

And, here are the dates for ACCC summer camp: August 2nd - 7th. Deposits for camp will be due May 31st. The cost for camp is $275. Let Amber know if you are planning on going.

Speaking of camp… if any of you need some community service, Project Nehemiah is coming up May 23rd and 24th to help fix up camp for summer. Let Amber or Chris know if you are interested.

You can help!

Project Nehemiah: Angeles Crest opens its camp to everyone on Memorial Day weekend each year (May

22-24th) for family fellowship and a time to help with projects around the camp that are needed to get the place ready for summer.

You can choose to make a 3-day weekend out of it, or just come Saturday to help with the work. This is a great way to enjoy the mountains and be a great help to the camp.

The cost for food is only $20 each, with a family maximum of $60. The list of accommodations and options is on their website www.angelescrest.com.

Sign up at CCH — PLEASE let us know whether you will need overnight accommodations.

Upcoming Retreat for Moms & Daughters

Angeles Crest Christian Camp offers Camps for:

Mothers & Daughters (Kindergarten & older) May 15-17th or May 29-31st. $99 for moms, $80 for JH & HS, $70 younger.

There are brochures are on the bulletin board with registration forms and deposit deadlines. Please talk to Pastor Dave or send your registration directly to Angeles Crest.

Pepperdine Lecture Series

More than 4000 people will assemble in Malibu to study “The Lord of Creation (The Preeminence of Christ in Colossians).” Monte Cox of Searcy, Arkansas, will present the keynote lecture on Tuesday evening, May 5, with a message “Christ, the Mystery of God.” come be renewed with others of a common faith as we share lessons from Colossians as well as over two hundred and seventy classes. For more information call 310.506.4270, go to www.pepperdine.edu/biblelectures OR pick up a booklet from the table in CCH’s hallway. Chris will be going, so talk to him if you’d like to carpool.

April 2009

Easter Celebration
Sunday, April 12
10:00 a.m.

Easter Lilies
If you’d like to bring in an Easter Lily to help decorate the church for Easter Sunday, we’d appreciate having those by Saturday, April 11th. You are welcome to take the plant home on Easter Sunday after the service.


From Pastor Dave
What a great church we have!! Thank you for being a very important part of the Christian Church of the Hills family. You are the reason this church continues to be a special place of hope and inspiration to so many people.

We are only a couple of weeks away from Easter! Sunday, April 12th is Easter Sunday and it will be an inspirational time to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Remember that Easter worship services are attended by more individuals across the country than any other worship service throughout the year. Many of your friends would agree to go to an Easter service who would not generally agree to attend with you any other week. So why not use this opportunity to invite a friend to visit church with you?

This past Sunday I shared with you an interesting fact from George Barna's book, “WHAT AMERICAN’S BELIEVE”. In it he states that barely one-third of Christians will ever invite an unchurched person to attend church with them. Barna writes…

“A national survey found that one out of four unchurched people would gladly attend church if a friend would only extend an invitation. This means on any given Sunday morning, 14 to 20 million adults are sitting home because nobody took the simple step of asking them to attend a church service.”

Let me ask you an important question. Will you take the time to think of one person you would like to bring to church on Easter Sunday and then invite them to attend church with you? I will be praying that God will give each of you a burden to invite someone you know to church. I will be praying that God will give you boldness to invite that person to church on Easter Sunday!

I’m looking forward to celebrating with you the greatest event in human history --the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave! “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Matthew 28:6

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Dave


Very Important
In order to conserve paper, stamps and time, we are not going to mail out our newsletters in the future. We will send a link by email when the newsletter is online. There will be copies available in the lobby if you’d like a printed one. For our friends far and wide, please email me your addresses and I will send you the link as well!! And only if you haven’t got email, send me a request and I will continue to mail your copy.


CCH Family—BBQ Lunch
On Sunday, May 3rd, we are planning a potluck BBQ lunch to be held immediately after the service. This is the first in what we hope to become a quarterly event at CCH. This is a great time for fellowship and getting to know one another better.

Please consider what you might be able to bring as part of the lunch and sign up in the weeks ahead. A $2 free-will offering will be taken for the cost of the BBQ’d food.

• Salad Fruit
• Bread Dessert
• Other?
  

People who would like to help BBQ are welcome as well — that will be on the sign up sheet.


Adult Bible Study
Beginning Wednesday, April 15th at 7:00 p.m., Pastor Dave will lead an adult Bible study here at the church. Anyone interested in attending the study is welcome! Hope to see you all there.


Birthdays & Anniversaries
April Birthdays
Janet S.— 2nd
Reign L.— 6th
Dave G.—8th
Summer S.—10th
Lori G.—11th
Adam G.—21st
Floyd B.—26th
MaryAnn C.—29th

Anniversaries
Bob & Marcia H.—April 20th


Kids Korner
Spring is finally in the air. It is starting to warm up and Easter will be here very shortly!

We will have our Easter Service Sunday, April 12th at 10 a.m. The Preschool and Pathfinders classes will have a joint Easter party during the worship service. There will be a Veggietales movie, treats, crafts, a special Easter lesson and an Easter Egg hunt! It will be a great Sunday to invite friends. It is sure to be a lot of fun and a great time to learn about the real meaning of Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus!

Also, the Pathfinders are starting a new series this month. After we finish our 3 week Easter Series, the Pathfinders will start a series on the book of Acts. These lessons will take us into the month of May. And, each week the kids will be bringing home their “Growing Together” worksheets, which I encourage parents to go over with them.

Also, summer will be here before you know it. And, so will summer camp! The dates for ACCC junior summer camp are July 12th - 17th. Mark your calendars and let me know if your child is interested in attending.

Happy Spring everyone!
Amber


Youth News
Youth are continuing their Sunday school with Chris Miuccio. But, on Easter Sunday the youth will stay in the worship service.

And, mid-week youth group is changing! We will no longer be meeting on Wednesday nights. We are moving our meetings to Sundays. Instead of meeting weekly, we will meet monthly. The meetings will be different every time and will be at different times. Our first get together will be April 26th in the afternoon.

Also, Amber will be sending out devotional ideas and books to check out for those who want to get in their Bible study time during the week, even when we are not meeting. Just e-mail Amber at amber@cchagoura.com to get on the Youth study list.

The calendar of events is in the works. And, I have heard lots of ideas from everyone already. Like a lock-in this summer and Disneyland in August. Keep your eyes open for more upcoming event details!

And, here are the dates for ACCC summer camp: August 2nd - 7th. Put it on your calendar! See Amber for more information.


Project Nehemiah
Angeles Crest opens its camp to everyone on Memorial Day weekend each year (May 22-24th) for family fellowship and a time to help with projects around the camp that are needed to get the place ready for summer.

You can choose to make a 3-day weekend out of it, or just come Saturday to help with the work. This is a great way to enjoy the mountains and be a great help to the camp.

The cost for food is only $20, with a family maximum of $60. The list of accommodations and options is on their website www.angelescrest.com. We’ll have a sign up board at CCH.


Upcoming Retreats for Men, and for Moms & Daughters

• Men’s Retreat at Angeles Crest Christian Camp — Friday evening—Sunday morning, April 24—26th. The cost is $99 per man. ACCC’s Men's Conference is uniquely designed to provide quality time for men to evaluate the path they are on and to renew and refresh their spirit. This retreat will give you the opportunity to get away for a few days and help equip you to not only grow closer to the Lord, but also to be stretched in ways that will help you find God's will for our life as a Christian, husband, father and friend. Let us know if you are interested, we’ll get you the registration forms. And there is more information at www.angelescrest.com.
• Mothers & Daughters (Kindergarten & older) Retreat at ACCC—May 15-17th or May 29-31st. $99 for moms, $80 for JH & HS, $70 younger. Brochures are on the bulletin board.

Prayer Requests

• Dale R.— battling with lung disease. Pray for healing and comfort.
• Eunice P. -- is recuperating nicely from her recent back surgery.
• Loretta H.— for knee and back pain.
• Amy F.’s: Mom and sister-in-law could use prayer for their health
• Pat H. — several family members have health issues, please pray for them.
• Thais K.— Prayer for health.
• Our Servicemen: Drew L., Andrew O. and Scott O.(who is back in the mid-east for his 3rd tour and his wife is expecting SOON).
• CCH — Please pray for young families to come to CCH to build our children’s department.
• Finances: These are tough times for many individuals and ministries. Please pray that God will help his people get through this recession.

Nancy O. is our Prayer Chain coordinator. Please be sure to let her know of any updates and pray needs.


GO M.A.D. (Go Make a Difference)
Mission Team: Our new team will work toward finding local, national and international mission ministries that the church can get involved with. New Mission team members are always welcome! Watch for meetings and simply attend. (March 29th is the next scheduled meeting after church.)

New:

1. Afghan Give Away—drawing to be held on April 19th and tickets are available at the church right now. Donations of $5 gives you one ticket in the drawing. All monies collected will go toward mission outreaches. Please try to get your friends and families involved in this drawing.
2. Manna Food Collection—the 4th Sunday of every month. Watch for lists of needed items in the Sunday bulletins. On March 29th the list includes: cooking oil, sugar, toilet paper, peanut butter and jelly.
3. World Vision Adopt-a-child — CCH will adopt at least one child as a church family. And $1 per person per month will help fund this outreach.
4. Women’s Resource Center — Mother’s Day Gift boxes for single moms. We are now collecting NEW toiletry items to be used to fill shoe boxes and gift wrapped for the moms. Please bring items in by April 26th (including gift wrap and shoe boxes). On that day, after church, anyone wishing to help fill the shoe boxes and wrap them will be welcome — and lunch will be provided by Kathy Patton.
5. Bake Sale—Sunday, April 5 (Palm Sunday). The Mission Team will provide baked goods (individual and family sized) to sell that morning. All proceeds will go directly toward our mission outreaches.