† †CAPITAL BAPTIST NEWS

Vol. 67 No. 7 July 2016

From Your DOM .........................Page 2

LEAD Conference.........................Page 2

Pastors and Staff Lunch..............Page 2

Church VBS Schedules..............Page 2

News and Events........................Page 3

“Seven Reasons the Church Secretary

Position Is Disappearing”........Page 3

“10 of the Most Shameful Expressions

Ever Uttered in Church”.........Page 4

Church Giving.............................Page 4

“Small = Broken: 5 Steps to Greatness

in a Small Church”.................Page 6

Golden Gate Seminary Closes

Mill Valley Campus................Page 8

Calendar.....................................Page 8

COMING SEPTEMBER 22, 2016!

Equip Bible InstituteNew semester begins September 6, 2016

6:00 P.M.First Baptist Church Elverta

112 West Delano StreetElverta, CA 9562

We will be studying the Old TestamentProphets and their methods of training leadership.For more information contact Dr. Steve Gleghorn.

916.698.6717sglegh@netzero.com

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Page 2

From Your DOM

FBC Orangevale June 12-17 6-9 pmNew Home Missionary June 13-16 6-8 pmFBC Fair Oaks June 20-24 9-12 noonCountry Oaks June 20-24 6-8:30pmEl Camino Baptist June 27-July 1 5:30-8:30pmSierra Baptist Church July 11-15 9-12 noonCapital City Baptist July 12-16 eveningSt. James HMBC July 13-17 6-8 pmPlacer Heights Baptist July 18-22 9-12noonTemple Baptist Church July 18-22 6-9 pmParadise MBC July 18-22 6-8:30pmBerkley Baptist Church July 18-22 6-8:30pm

Church VBS Calendar

COMING SEPTEMBER 22, 2016!

STAY

Our world is rapidly changing. Things certainly are not the same as my child-hood days. Every day, as a church, we face new issues and challenges.Whether it is community and state events, our national election or ISIS, etc.,as a church we must respond to these challenges. Paul reminds us of thechurch's responsibility to the chaotic world we live in when he writes, "There-fore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. Weimplore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20 (ESV)

Paul says we are "ambassadors" and not just for anyone, but for Christ. Anambassador is a representative, a diplomatic agent of the sender, an autho-rized messenger able to speak on behalf of the sender. Paul was an am-bassador himself and he knew the importance of his mission so hechallenged the church at Ephesus to pray for him. "Praying at all times inthe Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with allperseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, thatwords may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mys-tery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may de-clare it boldly, as I ought to speak." Ephesians 6:18-20 (ESV)

Becoming distraught, frustrated and anxious about the things going on inour world would be foolish and a waste of our energy. Instead the churchmust remember we are "ambassadors" boldly proclaiming the gospel to aworld in need of reconciliation to God.

The church must recognize our call and position in life. There is no higheror important business than serving as Christ's ambassador imploring peo-ple to be reconciled to God. It is not a clergy position, it's a position forthose who follow Christ. How long has it been since you shared the gospelwith a friend, fellow worker, or family member? There are more than 1.8million people in the Sacramento region that are unchurched. In a worldfilled with turmoil and doubt we need to share our hope. "But in your heartshonor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense toanyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it withgentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

The church must recognize the importance and influence of prayer. Withour world falling apart we need to pray. I am sure you have heard the acro-nym P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Something Happens. Paul recognized the needfor prayer when he wrote, "Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayerand supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making sup-plication for all the saints, and also for me..." Ephesians 6:18 (ESV) Prayeris preparation. Prayer charges the ambassador and changes the circum-stances. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circum-stances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians5:16-18 (ESV) In the challenges we each face every day we do well to re-member that prayer is the key. Paul says we are to give thanks in all cir-cumstances and never stop praying. Powerful persistent prayer will changeour circumstances and enable us to be victorious ambassadors for Christ.

Much love,Dennis

BringyourLunch

12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m.Roseville Baptist Church

1301 Coloma WayRoseville, CA 95661-4603

Pastors and Staff Lunch

August 2, 2016

different location

Every1st Tuesdayof the Month

First Baptist Church of LincolnNeeded:  Part Time Worship Leader to plan and leadSunday morning worship and work with music and techvolunteers under the direction of the Senior Pastor.Compensation up to $1,000 per month.  Send resumeto Pastor Mike Sanchez c/o office@FirstBaptistLincoln.orgor call him at 916.645.2428 with any questions.

Roseville Baptist ChurchJob Opening: Part-time song leader/pastor’s assis-tant. Required experience: 1 year of song leading. Timecommitment: 10-15 hours weekly. Pay: $25-35 per hour(based upon experience). $1,000-1,500 per month. Theability to play acoustic guitar is a plus but not required.For more information contact Pastor Chris Armer at916.996.2110.

Colfax Baptist ChurchFree chairs to a church in need. Colfaxwould like to donate 100 chairs. See pic-ture to the right.For more information email Pastor GaryHoward atpastorgaryhoward@yahoo.com.

Fourteenth Avenue Baptist ChurchThe church is hosting Living ProofSimulcast with Beth Moore Sep-tember 17, 2106. For more infor-mation visit www.14thave.org orphone Tami at 916.903.6781.Book cost is $10.00.

Saint Matthew Christian Church5th Annual

Praise Dance Explosion“Dancing To The Beat of

God’s Drum”July 23, 2016 at 6:00pmFor more information callTemeka, 916.534.6741, orDenise, 916.470.2706.

FREE Commentaries/Study Resourcesto Pastors

Wil Nuckolls wouldlike to donatestudy resources toa pastor whowants to add to hisresource library.

For more details phone Wil at 916.967.8361.

Church News and Events

I just read the title of this post, and Iknow I’m asking for trouble. I might haveoffended some people already.

Hear me clearly. I am not diminishingthe worth of church secretaries. I amsimply noting a trend that few people arearticulating. The position of church sec-retary is disappearing. Here are sevenreasons why:

● Many of the responsibilities are being replaced with tech-nology. The Latin origin of the word “secretary” means, “some-one entrusted with a secret.” For the traditional church secretary,it means dealing with telephone calls, letters, dictation, and filingin an appropriate and confidential manner. But look at thoseitems I just listed. They have been, or they are being, replacedwith technology. There are not many letters these days, butthere are a lot of emails.

● Assistants are replacing the role of a secretary. The typicalnomenclature for such positions is ministry assistant, executiveassistant, or assistant.

● Church leaders desire assistants who can navigate theworld of blogs and social media strategically. These re-sponsibilities did not exist just a few years ago. Some churchsecretaries can make the transition; many cannot.

● Most of the responsibilities of a church secretary were re-active. Pastors and other church leaders seek strategichelp. The church secretary’s position has been historically fixedand clearly defined. Assistants must adapt to a world where theresponsibilities can change every week.

● Preparing the bulletin and/or the newsletter is no longer alltime consuming. I can remember the days when the churchsecretary used clip art and physically cut and pasted articles.Those time-consuming tasks are no longer necessary.

● Church leaders desire assistants with time flexibility. The30 to 40 hour workweek with the same schedule every day isending. This fast-paced world demands workers with flexibility.

● Virtual assistants are becoming more common in churchlife. There are so many reasons virtual assistants are increas-ingly in demand. Leaders can determine the number of hoursthey want each week from a VA. One pastor of a smallerchurch uses a VA 10 hours a week and loves the arrangement.They are also easy to change or let go without the drama of anassistant who is physically present.

Church secretaries have been important and needed employees ofchurches for decades. I am grateful for them. But the times arechanging, and so is the need for church secretaries.

If I opened a can of worms, please forgive me. But this trend is atrend that cannot be ignored.

Let me hear from you,

By Thom Rainer, www.thomrainer.com, June 9, 2016

Seven Reasons the ChurchSecretary Position Is Disappearing

Praise Dance Explosion

“Dancing To The Beat of God’s Drum”

Anna Street 0.00 246.00Canaan Ministries (Pole Line Road) 0.00 0.00Capital City 0.00 844.81Catalyst Woodland 100.00 500.00Christian Faith Missionary 0.00 0.00Church on Cypress (The) 233.00 1,462.00Clay City Church 0.00 0.00Colfax 0.00 1,778.00Cornerstone 0.00 0.00Country Oaks 420.34 920.35Crossway Community formerly International Family 50.00 250.00Crystal Faith Community 0.00 0.00Del Paso Union 0.00 0.00El Camino 1,124.28 3,603.51Emmanuel 76.84 479.08Emmanuel Korean 30.00 120.00Evangelical Baptist Ukrainian - Spring of Life 50.00 550.00Fairvale 0.00 1,180.42Family Bible Fellowship 80.00 200.00Fellowship Church at Granite Bay 0.00 100.00FBC, Del Paso Heights 45.00 217.00FBC, Elverta 531.21 3,107.11FBC, Fair Oaks 416.66 2,083.31FBC, Lincoln 236.78 1,091.54FBC, North Highlands 0.00 3,296.61FBC, Orangevale 0.00 1,600.00FBC, Rancho Cordova 0.00 600.00FBC, Winters 266.76 1,641.62First Slavic Evangelical 0.00 0.00For His Glory 0.00 0.00Fourteenth Ave. 0.00 0.00Grace Missionary 0.00 0.00Grace Romanian 0.00 0.00Gracepoint 0.00 1,000.00Great Harvest 0.00 0.00Greater Hill Zion 0.00 0.00Hillsdale 200.00 600.00Iglesia Bautista de Los Hechos 0.00 20.00Iglesia Bautista la Red 0.00 0.00Iglesia Bautista Northgate 0.00 0.00Iglesia Bautista Princeipe Paz 0.00 0.00Iglesia Bautista Rey de Reyes 0.00 236.20Jesus Family Worship 0.00 0.00Korean Community Fellowship (Pole Line Road) 0.00 0.00Laguna Chinese 300.00 1,500.00Lifepoint Christian Fellowship 0.00 150.00Light of Salvation 100.00 100.00Living Faith Church 20.55 53.03Macedonia Baptist Church 50.00 250.00Madison Avenue 137.00 605.00Mision Hispana (El Camino) 0.00 0.00Mt. Pilgrim 0.00 0.00Mt. Pleasant 0.00 500.00Natomas 50.41 301.52New Direction 0.00 0.00New Home Missionary 0.00 0.00New Hope Baptist, Sacramento 0.00 250.00New Hope Community 50.00 250.00New Love Ministries 100.00 500.00New Pleasant Grove 0.00 0.00New Seasons of West Sacramento 0.00 0.00New St. Bethel 0.00 0.00New Testament 0.00 0.00Oakside 200.00 1,000.00OneLife Church 220.52 1,239.93Paradise Missionary 0.00 0.00Placer Heights 0.00 399.24Pole Line Road, Davis 0.00 819.60Pollock Pines Community Church 0.00 200.00Redeemed Community - formerly FSBC Florin 50.00 200.00Resurrection Ukrainian 0.00 0.00Romanian Speranta 0.00 0.00Roseville Baptist 0.00 840.27Russian Baptist Church, West Sacramento 50.00 100.00Russian-Ukrainian Baptist Church 0.00 300.00Sacramento Korean 167.00 835.00Saransthan Sacramento Fellowship 0.00 0.00Seven Stars 0.00 0.00Shalom La Israel 0.00 0.00Signal Heights 75.42 446.44Slavic Baptist Church "Bethel" 0.00 0.00Solid Rock Missionary Baptist 0.00 0.00St. James 0.00 355.50St. John’s 0.00 0.00St. Mark Missionary 0.00 0.00St. Matthew 0.00 150.00St. Paul 0.00 450.00Temple 247.47 1,482.42True Light Missionary Baptist 0.00 0.00Twenty-Fourth Street 0.00 0.00Twin Oaks 0.00 150.00Upper Room 0.00 0.00Vietnamese Hope 0.00 0.00West Sacramento Baptist formerly FSBC West Sacramento 0.00 192.07Woodland United Fellowship 242.57 1,139.01Total 5,921.81 42,486.59

2016 YTDMAY MAY

SRBN CHURCHCONTRIBUTIONS

Church

Five Suggestionsto MakeFamily TimeMore

Page 4

Listening to the gripesof the Lord’s people isstandard fare for minis-ters. They ought toteach courses on it inseminary.

Someone, please tellthe newly ordained toget ready.

The primary nerve center for griping and complaining in the churchhouse has always been the carnal and the worldly. This includestwo groups of people: the unsaved (represented by the infamousmixed multitude of unbelievers and hangers-on who went up fromEgypt with Moses and Israel) and the unspiritual. The latter groupis saved but has taken a seat just inside the front gate and gone nodeeper into spiritual things.

Some chronic complainers are saved and some are lost. The prob-lem is they look and act alike, making it impossible to tell outwardlywhich group they belong to. So, God’s faithful must be carefulabout making generalizations, that “Christians wouldn’t act thisway.”

Related: 10 things you shouldn’t say to a pastor right after the ser-mon »

Not all Christians get these things right. Not every believer acts likea Christian.

The one thing both groups have in common is a lack of faith. Theysee as the world sees. They will pass judgment on pastors be-cause, after all, “He works for us, right?” They make decisionsabout the church based on numbers, income, feelings, polls, repu-tations and whether people are happy. They are known to uttersome of the notorious expressions we are listing below.

Since the church door is wide open and bolted so that “whosoeverwill may come,” every congregation will include a sizeable contin-gent of the carnal, both the unsaved and the unspiritual. What thechurch must never do is install them into places of leadership.

Put the spiritually stunted in leadership positions and you’re buyingtrouble for the ministers and erecting obstacles for the Lord to ac-complish anything in your church.

Scripture reminds us that “the natural man does not receive thethings of the Spirit of God; neither can he comprehend them forthey are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14); and, “The carnal mindis hostile to God, for it does not subject itself to the laws of God, forit is not even able to do so. So then, those who are in the fleshcannot please God” (Rom. 8:7-8).

Pray for the pastor. It would appear that ministers have to put upwith more complaining and griping than any group on the planet.

Recently, when a lady criticized me on Facebook for urging caution

10 of the Most ShamefulExpressions Ever UtteredIn Church

Page 5

in ousting ministers, I found myself saying to her, in my mind:“Thank you for that. It’s been 12 years since I pastored a churchand I had almost forgotten how it feels to be attacked unfairly.”

We all have our list of pet peeves in life. We pastors have our listof expressions people use to manipulate others so they can gettheir way. Here is my personal list of the worst things I’ve heardsaid in church.

1. “The pastor is not meeting my needs.”

He’s not there to meet your needs. Jesus does that. The pastoris there as a shepherd to watch over the entire flock and to seethat healthy food is available and safe procedures are in place.He’s there to make you holy, not happy.

2. “I’m not being spiritually fed.”

Babies have to be spoon-fed. Adults canfeed themselves. Since I’ve been able toread the Bible for myself and study God’sWord independently, I’ve not depended onthe pastor to burp me.

3. “I have a right …”

The Christian faith is about the grace andmercy of God. We thank God that he doesnot give us what we deserve. Faithful be-lievers show the same kind of dedicationand love to one another. But at no point isa child of God to insist on his or her rights.

If we got what we deserve, we would allbe in hell.

4. “I’m not one to gossip, but …”

That’s always the prelude to gossip.

When I was a young pastor, one lady in the church would con-fide, “Now, I know you would want to know … ” It was her way ofpassing along gossip.

Stifling the urge to pass along the latest trash on someone in thechurch is one of the hardest skills to acquire. Only the maturecan pull it off.

5. “Now, I’m not saying who, but some people are unhappyabout …”

Anonymous criticism is one of the most cowardly things everconcocted in hell. When the pastor asks, “Who exactly is this yousay is unhappy?” the critic answers, “Well, I’m not at liberty tosay.” (At that point, the preacher should then get up and showthe visitor the door. “This conversation is over, friend.” And if theydon’t leave, the pastor should.)

Lay leaders should teach the membership to never bring anony-mous criticism to them or to their ministers.

6. “I gave the money for that, so I’ll make the decision as tohow it’s to be used.”

Once our gifts are in the offering plate, they belong to the Lordand his church. The donor relinquishes all control and is entitledto nothing as a result. (Even the IRS agrees with that. Money giv-en to a mission program or to benevolence cannot be dictated bythe donor. Church procedure decides how it will be used.)

7. “Sorry. I don’t have a gift for that.”

Every believer can serve in a hundred ways, whether we are “gift-ed” in a particular area or not. No one requires a specific anoint-ing of God to share their faith or make a gift or pray a prayer orteach a class.

8. “Why don’t ‘they’ do something?”

A friend says three groups of people can be found in every con-gregation. There are consumers: “Just browsing.” There are cus-tomers: “We come to this church because of the music (orchildren’s, missions, etc.) program.” If you cancel that program,they leave. And there are the shareholders: Announce a work dayand these are the ones who show up. You build a church with the

shareholders, not with the other twogroups, although most of the latter wereone of the former previously.

9. “The preacher is a dictator.”

Now, some preachers have been known totyrannize congregations, so let us admitthat up front. There is no place for that inthe household of God. However, Acts20:28 says the Holy Spirit makes the pas-tors the overseers of the church, and He-brews 13:17 calls on us to submit to thosewho are over us in the Lord.

Personally, I’d be careful in accusing thepastor of being a dictator. I keep thinkingof a time when the charge was madeabout me. The church’s building commit-tee had decided we needed to renovate

our aging sanctuary and I supported the decision and, as pastor,became the spokesman for the effort. In short order, some beganto accuse me of engineering this project (for what reasons I couldnever discern) and ramrodding it through. Go figure.

10. “I don’t know what the Bible says, but I know what I be-lieve.”

Each believer should bring our convictions and beliefs under thelordship of Jesus and the authority of God’s Word. If we are hold-ing onto a doctrine or belief about which Scripture says other-wise, the spiritually mature will jettison the faulty conviction andstand on the Word. The immature and carnal will insist that beingtrue to his own beliefs—flawed as they are—is the highest form offaithfulness.

I suspect that one of the greatest tests of maturity and faithful-ness in the Kingdom is the ability to receive correction from theWord of God, even to the point of giving up cherished beliefs anddoctrines we have held dear but now see as mistaken.

Let us bring every area of our lives under the lordship of JesusChrist.

By Joe McKeever who spent 42 years pastoring six SouthernBaptist churches and has been writing and cartooning for reli-gious publications for more than 40 years. This article was origi-nally published on McKeever’s blog.

Page 6

You don’t need one more person, onemore dollar or one more square foot ofbuilding to start being a great church.

Where are all the great small churches?

Would you know one if you saw one?

They exist. There’s no doubt about that.There are great small churches in everycountry, serving every ethnic group andin virtually every language. They wor-ship in every imaginable liturgical styleand they meet in every type of building– including no building at all.

But still, many peopledon’t realize that a churchcan be both small andgreat. That has tochange. But there’s onlyone way to change it. Weneed a lot more greatsmall churches.

We Can Do This

Good isn’t good enoughany more. And it will beless acceptable with ev-ery passing year.

No more excuses. It’s time for smallchurches to be great churches.

No more excuses. It’s time for smallchurches to be great churches.

If that sounds intimidating, it doesn’tneed to. Every church has everything itrequires in order to achieve greatnessright now. You don’t need to wait forpermission, or even inspiration. We al-ready have the Great Commandmentand the Great Commission.

Here are five principles any smallchurch can use to achieve greatness.Even if they never achieve bigness.

1. Know that Small Churches Can BeGreat

Perhaps the biggest impediment to anexplosion of great small churchesaround the world is small churches andpastors who don’t know they can be

before being led into a thoroughly post-modern worship space with form-fittingseats.

The worship team won’t be playing origi-nal songs from their best-selling album totightly choreographed lights and video.The pastor’s message won’t be backedby perfectly-timed, custom-made graph-ics and video clips.

There are a lot of great megachurchesthat have all that cool stuff. But that’s notwhat makes them great. And if small

church pastors try to duplicatethat on a small church budget,you will fail.

Yes, I said it. Fail. I know thatsounds like lack of faith tosome people, but it’s not. Be-cause failing at those thingsisn’t even the worst of it. Thesaddest part is that the timeand expense you’ll waste tryingto be something you’re notgreat at will be taken from thethings you can be great at.

Yes, keep the place clean and unclut-tered. If you own a building, strip off the1990’s wallpaper and slap a fresh coat ofpaint on the walls. Make sure everythingand everyone are well prepared. But putyour main efforts into people, not pro-grams. Friendliness, not facilities. Wor-ship, not entertainment.

Give people the space and time to meetwith Jesus.

Then do something small church pastorscan do that megachurch pastors can’t do– hang out in the lobby after the service.Build relationships. Pray with and forpeople. Tell dumb jokes. Hug, laugh andcry together. Be a church family.

That won’t lead you to greatness. That isgreatness.

3. Discover What Your Church Can BeGreat At

Every church is good at something. Most

both small and great.

Greatness is not about achieving epicnumerical growth. As I describe in TheGrasshopper Myth, it’s not about numer-ical growth at all. Some of the most re-warding and kingdom-growing worshipand ministry experiences I’ve ever hadhave been in very

small groups, including very smallchurches.

That can be your church. You don’tneed one more person, one more dollar

or one more square foot of building tostart being a great church.

Your small church can be great. Youneed to know it, believe it and act likeit’s true. Because it is.

2. Don’t Try to Act Like a Big Church

People don’t come to a small churchexpecting a scaled-down version of amegachurch experience. They expect agreat small church experience.

Yes, there are principles that all greatchurches hold in common. But a greatsmall church is not a miniaturized ver-sion of a great megachurch.

A great small church won’t have parkinglot attendants and professional signageleading families to hi-tech, agesegm-ented children’s ministries.

Mom and Dad aren’t going to be handeda cup of finely roasted cappuccino froma smiling barista in the church lobby,

Small = Broken:5 Steps to Greatness in a Small Church

/

“What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall weuse to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of allseeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest ofall garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its

shade.” Mark 4: 30-32 (NIV)

I don’t mean that we should never do anything at a less-than-perfect level. There are times in every church when you haveto do things you’re not good at or comfortable with, becausethey have to get done.

The key word here is “settle”. Do what you need to do. Includ-ing doing some things at a less-than-great level when needed.But never, Never, NEVER settle for “I guess that’s as good aswe’ll ever get.”

Any church that feels like they’ve arrived at their peak thenstays there, is settling. Settling is dying.

Any church that feels like they’ve arrived at their peak thenstays there, is settling. Settling is dying.

Never settle. No matter how big or small the church is. Alwaysbe content with how God made you, but always strive for moreof that. That may be the very definition of greatness.

5. Keep Doing What Your Church Is Great At

Great things take time.

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell famously talks about the 10,000hour rule. He cites very convincing evidence that no one everbecomes great at anything without putting 10,000 hours into it.

At 40 hours a week, that’s five years worth of full-time work.And in my experience, five years working well at what a churchis good at is a bare minimum requirement for true greatness.

The hours alone won’t do it. Talent, gifting, circumstance andGod’s will factor into that equation, too. But there’s no substi-tute for keeping at it. Day by day, week by week, year by year.

This is another reason for not allowing yourself to be divertedfrom what you and your church are called to be great at. Everyhour you spend not doing what you’re supposed to do is anhour you’re not doing what you can be great at.

You and your church are great at something – or you can be.Stop trying to be like the megachurch you visited or readabout. Don’t try to cut-and-paste anyone else’s template, in-cluding mine, onto your church.

Be who God called you to be. And be great at it.

by Karl Vaters, www.christianitytoday/leadershipjournal.com

are good at several things. And any church can be great atsomething. Starting with the things they’re already good at.

Any church can be great at something. Starting with thethings they’re already good at.

Years ago, our church discovered we were good at a couplethings: 1) Training and sending people into ministry, and 2)Re-churching the de-churched. So we decided to work hardat becoming great at them.

1. To train people better, we offer very thorough, note-filled,bible-based sermons, an internship program, music classes,hands-on ministry experiences, and a lot of mentoring &counseling.

2. Knowing that we have a gift for reaching people who havefallen away from faith, we foster an atmosphere where peo-ple can ask the tough, doubt-filled questions they’ve carriedfor years.

I acknowledge when the Bible says weird things. We letthem explore faith, doubt and the Bible at their own pace.That takes longer than picking what some would call “low-hanging fruit”, but that’s okay. They’re worth the wait.

What we’re great at won’t be what your church is great at.You may not even know what you’re good at yet. So do whatwe did. Start doing the basic Bible stuff. Then experiment.See what works and what doesn’t.

We have ten failures to every success. So we toss the fail-ures and keep the successes.

4. Refuse to Settle for Anything Less than Great

This may sound like the same kind of pressure we feel atsome church growth seminars, so before you grab pitchforksand torches, let me tell you what I don’t mean.

Mustard TreeA Salvadora persica, or mustard "tree," starts out as a tinylittle seed that averages 1-5mm in size. Teeny tiny. Thistiny little seed is a quick grower though and in the right con-ditions will sprout within 24 hours. If it needs to grow intough conditions- 72 hours. That is a teeny tiny seed thatgrows super fast.To grow, a mustard tree prefers a natural water source.Sure you can water it, but in the wild it really thrives in plac-es it can "get that agua." This is equally interesting becausethey are known for growing in some of the most difficultsoils types. Hard to sandy soil, hot temps, droughts... theycan handle them; especially with a natural water source.It is probably worth mentioning that this isnot the tree that we get our delicious mus-tard from. However, these trees do pro-duce fruit. Fruit that holds seeds whichcan be replanted!As time goes on and the tree grows, it willreach an average of about 20 to 22 feet inheight. Even a tiny tree gets to about 9 to 13 feet.And take a guess how long it takes to be considereda “mature” mustard tree...Yup, two to three years.When these trees grow they survive best when thefruit is harvested, there is a natural water source, andthe dead branches are pruned.Cool right?!? Page 7

CALENDAR

Sacramento Region Baptist Network

5056 Sunrise BoulevardSuite B-3, Fair OaksCA 95628-4943Office Hours:Monday-Thursday7:30am-4:00pmTele: 916.863.5426Fax: 916.863.5428sasbc@sacbaptist.orgwww.sacbaptist.org

www.facebook.com/sacbaptist.org

Dennis Fredricks,Executive Director of Missions

Deborah Everhart,Office Manager

Bethany Bohrer,Collegiate MissionaryMSC, NAMBBethanyBohrer@sacbaptist.org

Adoption: Sierra Forever Families916.368.5114; www.Sierraff.org

Grace Network:Fighting Human Trafficking916.850.0846; info@thegracenenetwork.orgPO Box 15131, Sacramento

Church-Based PartnershipEvangelism Projects:International Commission916.784.2372, www.ic-world.orgShort-Term Mission Trips:September 22-October 3, 2016; Congo (Ibutango)

Music & Conference Ministry:The Rawleigh Ministry916.368.5114 www.rawleighministries.com

SRBNSRBN PARTNERS serving with churches loving the world

Page 8

July 2016 5 Pastors’ and Staff Lunch, 12:00-2:00PM,

Hillsdale Baptist Church -Brown Bag.(1st Tues. monthly).

11 Retired Pastors & Wives Luncheon,1:00PM, Hometown Buffet, 7028 Sunrise Blvd,Citrus Heights . (1st Mon. Monthly)

10-13 Kids Camp (Grades 4-6). campalta.org14-16 Kids Camp (Grades 1-3). campalta.org19 Executive Board Meeting, 7PM, SRBN

Office. Next meetings: 9/20, 9/27 andAnnual Celebration 10/20

August 2016 1 Retired Pastors & Wives Luncheon,

1:00PM, Hometown Buffet, 7028 Sunrise Blvd,Citrus Heights . (1st Mon. Monthly)

2 Pastors’ and Staff Lunch, 12:00-2:00PM,Roseville Baptist Church -Brown Bag.(1st Tues. monthly).

September 2016 5 Retired Pastors & Wives Luncheon,

1:00PM, Hometown Buffet, 7028 Sunrise Blvd,Citrus Heights . (1st Mon. Monthly)

6 Pastors’ and Staff Lunch, 12:00-2:00PM,Hillsdale Baptist Church -Brown Bag.(1st Tues. monthly).

20 Executive Board Meeting, 7PM, SRBNOffice. Next meetings: 9/27 andAnnual Celebration 10/20

22 LEAD Conference, Country Oaks BaptistChurch.

27 Executive Board Meeting, 7PM, SRBNOffice. Next meeting: Annual Celebration 10/20

October 20162-4 Senior Adult Conference, First Baptist

Church of Orangevale.20 SRBN Annual Celebration25-26 California Southern Baptist Convention, Russian Baptist Church, West Sacramento.

COMING SEPTEMBER 22, 2016!

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP)-- Golden Gate BaptistTheological Seminaryclosed its main campus inthe San Francisco Bay Ar-ea on June 3 to prepare forits 400-mile move toSouthern California.

After a ceremonial locking of the doors at 4 p.m., President Jeff Iorg sent out acampus-wide email that read, “The Mill Valley campus of Golden Gate Seminaryis now closed. We press on!”

The Southern Baptist seminary had been located in the Bay Area since its found-ing in 1944.

Employees at the new 150,000-square-foot facility in Ontario, Calif., will reportfor work June 20 to prepare for its official opening on July 5. The first group ofstudents is expected to move into new student housing in late June.

The seminary also anticipates that messengers to the 2016 Southern BaptistConvention in St. Louis will vote for a final time on a name change to GatewaySeminary of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Based on the overwhelmingly positive first vote on this issue in 2015, we havebeen preparing for immediate implementation of an affirmative decision if it ismade by the messengers in 2016,” Iorg said. “This may make the 2016 conven-tion unique as a new seminary identity likely enters the history of the SouthernBaptist Convention.”

Dedication events for the new campus in Ontario will be Oct. 5-8.

The seminary began its relocation after the sale of its main campus in 2014 andthe subsequent purchase of new sites in Ontario in Southern California and, forthe Bay Area, in Fremont. The seminary also operates campuses in Denver,Phoenix and the Pacific Northwest.

By Kathie Chute, director of communications for Golden Gate Baptist TheologicalSeminary.

Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Baptist Theolog-ical Seminary, turns the key during a ceremonialcampus closing June 3.Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary Photo

Golden GateSeminaryClosesMill ValleyCampus