Learning About Love.

For the past few weeks, VOSD has felt the heartbeat of God to pour out His love over the city of San Diego. So far in the past 5 weeks, we have fed, prayed & ministered to over 1000 people. You would be amazed by the response of those people that we have touched with God’s love. As you can imagine, we have learned a few things about love.

1. Love is never self-serving. Loving others takes the focus off of us, and onto them. It is amazing how love expressed to others, is so fulfilling to ourselves.

2. Love is never too busy. I have learned that love is intentional and never by accident.

3. Love cost us something. Love is never expressed if it fits our convenience, comfort or is non-sacrificial. Love requires sacrifice. As I have mentioned before, “Love will call you out!”

4. Love doesn’t receive anything in return. It is completely unconditional. This is the challenging part. To love in the “Jesus Style”, we must be willing to move through God’s love and not our own. Our love will naturally expect love in return, call it the natural side of our love, but to love through Christ, we recognize that in the same way Jesus died for us, we are called to love others. It is completely self-less. Amazing.

5. Love will point us to love the most challenging personalities. Nobody ever said love would be easy. Maybe that is why so many distance themselves from others, but love will point us to the most difficult personalities we encounter every day. Even Peter said (paraphrased), “You don’t get credit for loving the easy ones, but the difficult ones.”

Coming to a close, think about the “new you”. You have learned that God loves you, You have learned to love yourself, & you are learning to love others. Forgive the opponents of your heart. Anyone who can forgive will always rise above their enemies. 2010 is going to be a year where love covers everything you do. Keep rising!

Compassionate People Know What It’s Like.

I (Heart) San Diego. Over the last few weeks @VOSD we have set out to put God’s love on display to our community. In order for that to happen, we have taken an examination of our hearts. The question is, Does compassion flow from your heart to others?

Compassion: in it’s Latin origin is “Compati” meaning to “suffer with”. This gives us a true look at what it means to be compassionate to a hurting & confused world. Compassionate people know what it’s like because they know what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoe. (To suffer with) When looking upon others we should say to ourselves:

• Just like me, people are seeking to walk in peace in their lives.

• Just like me, people are trying to avoid hardship & struggle.

• Just like me, this person knows what it feels like to be hurt & disappointed by life & lonely.

• Just like me, this person is trying to reach their full potential. They are striving just like me.

• Just like me, this person is learning in life. Just like me this person makes mistakes.

Our challenge during this holiday season is to walk in someone else’s shoes. Do you know someone who has had a tough year? Take a little time to think about what it is like to be in that person’s circumstance. It’s funny how small our problems seem when we learn to walk in others shoes. You will be amazed. Let’s compassion flow.

I (Heart) San Diego.

Love Calls Us Out

VOSD has stepped out together to display massive amounts of love on the City of San Diego. And even though San Diego stands as “America’s Finest City” it may not be our finest hour. People have had a tough year, foreclosures are at an all time high, people have lost jobs & families are confused. It’s our time to show the people of San Diego what love is all about. We are putting love into action. But remember love is not always easy. Love will call you out.

1. Love calls us out of our convenience. Love never moves on our time table. If we are going to display love effectively we must be willing to go beyond our schedule and beyond our normal daily agenda. I like to say, “Love lives in the extra mile.”

2. Love calls us out of our comfort zone. Love will challenge you. Love always requests for us to be stretched beyond what we are normally comfortable with. Here is what I mean. You may struggle talking to strangers, you may struggle with public speaking, you may struggle with giving, you may struggle with doing something that you do not normally do, but love will require it!

3. Love calls us out of casual Christianity. When it comes to displaying God’s love to others, we must recognize it as a radical endeavor. It cannot be done half-heartedly or reluctantly. Love is radical. Love is powerful. Love is committed. Love can never be casual. Casual never inspired anyone. War’s have never been won with a casual approach, hearts are never won with reluctancy, Jesus did not die a casual death.

Do your best this week to love someone for Jesus. I (Heart) San Diego

I (Heart) San Diego

What a great year we have experienced here @VOSD. It has been one of our best, but reality is that there are many people who have struggled this year. Families have lost their homes, marriages have been stressed & children have really just sit back and watched it all with worry. That is why VOSD is stepping out to make a difference through our I (Heart) San Diego Campaign. God has given us a 5 point plan to touch the families of our community with God’s love:

• Provide a safe and healthy alternative to families during Halloween. A Christian alternative to the families of our community. We handed out candy to hundreds of children in our community. It was great to so many smiles.

• Provide a place of restoration to men & women with life controlling problems. We want to help young men & women to rebuild their lives. We want to house, clothe & feed men and women who are rebuilding their lives!

• Provide free health examinations to uninsured families in the community. We will be partnering with health professionals from the San Diego area along with the many Doctors, RN, Nurses assistants and health field workers in our church.

• Provide 500 turkeys to struggling families in our community. We want to make sure that families will have a great Thanksgiving. Through our canned food drive & turkey drive we aim to feed 500 families.

• Provide Christmas toys to children whose families have been affected by the economy. We will be partnering with Toys for Tots. Of all of the Toys for Tots sponsors, we are the only church that has stepped out represent our community! This is our opportunity to help people in a tough time of their lives.

If you would like to get involved in this great campaign or you can donate turkeys to help VOSD to love our community please contact Liz Portillo @ (619)262-0172. We would love to partner with you during this holiday season. You can make a difference!

I (Heart) San Diego!

4 Ways To Turn The Tide in Your Church.

Momentum is never an accident. It is always intentional, and it is always a product of our action. I believe this: Our decisions in this dimension of ministry will always determine our access to the next dimension of ministry. Sometimes those decisions are tough, but they almost always pay-off. Let’s just say, things have become flat, church has become routine, and the leaders look uninspired…What can we do? Here are a few things.

1. Pray. An organization can never rise higher than its commitment to prayer. Prayer lifts us. It causes us to see things through God’s eyes and not ours. Insert prayer into your staff meeting. Ministry meeting or cell group. Schedule a time for corporate prayer. Activate prayer anyway that you can. Your gonna need it for the next steps.

2. Prepare your team. What we are is often determined by who is around us. Have you ever felt so ignited personally for ministry to look around the room just to see people who were totally out of it? Look for body language. Do they pray? Do they seem happy? Do they laugh with you? Do they carry a positive spirit? Do they ever have ideas for someone else or for the team? Is everything about them? Are they just company guys/girls? How is their personal life going?  If you find that one of your team members falls into this category, it may be time for  a change.

3. Pick some new players. As tough as it may be to make changes at the top. Most of the time there is always someone who is ready to step into the roll. If someone doesn’t step up. Go and find that person who will produce for you. Look for people that reflect the next dimension, not the old dimension. Remember, you have been there. In some cases, you have been there too long. Other than the obvious character traits of leaders, look for people who will produce and not just talk.

4. Point to the New Dimension. So you have your team. Now what? Well, the vision is important. We all know the vision internationally, but what about locally? What is it going to take to accomplish our goals? How can people get involved in the vision locally? How will new staff/leaders practice their gifts & ideas? Here is a tip: Keep it simple! One great pastor said, the vision should able to be written on a table napkin.

Here is an example: “Victory Outreach Church of San Diego is called to Reach our community & to Raise up leaders for the vision. That’s it. Simple. Get on board.

New Dimension: Thinking it through.

As seasons change, people change. I’d like to believe that people get better, because things become different in our lives. Whether you have been serving the Lord with a desire to strive or you are re-engaging yourself because you have slipped away. It is your time for a new dimension.

Today I want to reveal some things that are in my mind about this new dimension that I believe that we are in.

1. People criticize what they do not understand. Here is the point. Our lives are going to challenge others when we grow. People who do not grow do not like people who are growing, because growth causes the average to take an evaluation. Disappointment sets in and then they start to attack. They say things like: I do not like their style. They do not have the vision. Wow, things have really changed. Is it that they really don’t like you? Well maybe in some cases, but in most cases it is because they are not happy with themselves.

2. Prepare for greater expectation. Sometimes life can be like a merry-go-round. The greatest expectation falls to those who are doing well. If you are having a great season, you can be sure that some responsibility is going to fall your way. Embrace it. People have a tendency to attach themselves to success, Nobody wants to connect with a person in a losing season. People want to be with winners. So what are we supposed to do? Here are a few things to consider:

• People can’t hurt your progress unless you allow them to. It’s your choice.
• Position yourself to help others in need. Be ready when they ask. Because they are going to ask.
• Prepare your mind for disappointment. Do not expect people to meet all of your expectations.

3. Partner with other winners. Relationships are so crucial to our life. A partner is someone who has a few important characteristics:

• People who get you. These are people who don’t give you the blank, “I don’t get it stare.” when you talk to them about your ideas. Sign that a person is not a partner: They are too busy texting or tweeting to give you their total attention. 
• People who give back to you. I’m all for helping people, but hey sometimes people should give back. Seriously.
• People who pray for you. You can feel it. You will know when people are with you on something. I have found that sometimes God will allow people to walk out of your life, so that new people can walk in.

Elevate.