One of the greatest ways God has blessed the Ventura Region in the past month is by strengthening the leadership group’s unity through the Winter Workshops; a Blazing charge from the Feumba’s to the Ventura Bible Talk Leaders to rely on God’s grace for our salvation but earn the right to lead in God’s Kingdom; and a reliance on His strength as we prayed together through all the 2015 Prayer Goals! Around Christmas our dear brother Miguel (Bear), reached out to a friend from elementary school named Ruth on FaceBook. Shortly after, Ruth bumped into another bold sister, Alysha, at Starbucks who shared with her, and she began to study the Bible and see the love of the disciples! Ruth admitted that during her first Counting the Cost study, Kerri-Sue made her feel “quite uncomfortable” with her probing questions, so she walked away briefly. However, not long after, on January 9th, she came to her senses and thanked everyone at her baptism for believing in her and sticking with her, even when she was doubting God! Finally, today’s Bring Your Neighbor Day Service, was the most powerful service to date, since Kerri-Sue and I arrived in June 2014 with the “OC-4.” Our two engaged campus interns, Dennis & Corinna, shared vulnerably for communion and then Corinna danced with conviction that the cross means God’s protection! The highlight of the service for me had to be Anthony and Patrick performing an amazing, blues rendition of “I Need Your Love” that they arranged together–truly God was glorified today by the disciples using all their talents for His eternal purposes!
Ruth superlatively happy with her new sisters in Christ!
Ruth and her fired-up Ventura sisters echo that famous IE challenge: YOU’RE NEXT!