So much to talk about

It has been a little while since I have spoken to you all and I deeply appreciate your faithfulness. I hope that you have enjoyed some of the suggested blogs that I promote on my site or have taken a few moments to explore other writings. However, I am back. Allow me to fill you in on a few things that I have been doing the past month.

1. Attended C3 Conference here in San Diego. Was great to hear from some of the leading voices in the Body of Christ about creativity and church growth. I have to say that a major highlight was speaking personally to Benny Perez and his staff about church growth. They were so gracious and humble. Being one of the leading Hispanic pastor’s in the USA, we spoke about being Latin and not speaking spanish, preaching style, multiple services, building space and mixed martial arts. He told me, “I could probably tap you out.” I said, “You probably could.” He smiled, I smirked. My staff chuckled because they knew I was just being nice. The Church of South Las Vegas has 3500 people on Sunday crammed into 28,000 square feet. We have 1200 adults in 48,000 sq. ft. Let’s just say, we have a lot of work to do still.

2. Spent a weekend at Victory Outreach Church of Phoenix. It is so nice to get out to preach a little this year. I have been invited by a number of friends to preach this year, but I had to get to Phoenix. Tony & Patsy Garcia has been pastoring in Arizona since 1985 and have recently been experience some awesome growth. In their history they have planted 7 churches, but this year they have been growing so much that they need to have multiple services on Sunday with plans to build on 5 acres of land. It was an honor to speak to capacity crowds on Friday, Saturday & all day Sunday. Their love and hospitality was off the hook and my wife introduced Patsy to Words with Friends on the iPhone. We made a great connection.

3. Kicked off our Leadership Experience on Sunday Nights @VOSD. This is such a big deal for us because we have been doing Sunday night services for so long. Even though they say that you shouldn’t count the Sunday night crowd as growth, we often considered counting it because of the people who were so faithful to it. We never counted them, but we we had to make the tough decision to make the shift. Our heartbeat is to focus on the leadership of our church. We want to recruit, transmit and minister to the people that are so active in helping us to reach our city. we felt it was time. Our goal was to recruit 250 leaders and volunteers to help reach our community. We were so blessed to surpass that number and to reach 300 leaders and new volunteers. Let’s just say that Sunday nights have been fun!

4. Launched out 2 new churches. That’s right 2 churches. It has been an amazing ride. Pablo & Rachel Gonzalez launched out to Spring Valley, CA as Alcance Victoria Spring Valley. On their first day they had over 150 people and are completely self-supportive. They are meeting in a very nice church building and are experiencing a wonderful moral. Patrick & Cindy Robbers were launched out Bridgeport, Connecticut to assume the role of pastor. Their first service had over 225 people and they have plans to grow the church and to add a spanish ministry.

5. Easter Weekend. What can I say? Easter is probably the most important weekend of the year! This time we kicked off Good Friday with special musical guests The Katinas. What I love about them is that they are so genuine, so humble and love God so dearly. The house was packed to capacity and together we glorified Jesus. Many people were saved and broken before God.And The Katinas gave us their best. It was amazing! After an awesome Good Friday, we capped it off with an even more powerful Easter presentation called “RISE” created and directed by our VOSD media/arts team. It was one of our best yet. Simple, clear, touching and the music was amazing! We have a saying at VOSD…when we do the possible, God will do the impossible. We worked hard, prepared, promoted and God honored it. Easter weekend we had 4 services, 2850 attendees & over 200 salvations, we also had almost 100 live online viewers. God is so good. People were broken and weeping at the altar. God was truly glorified.

Love you all.

Elevate.

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Tags: al valdez, benny perez, c3 conference, church growth, easter, ed young jr, Pastor, the katinas, Victory Outreach San Diego