Speaker: I want to say thank you, Steve Staten, wherever you
are for all the hard work you've put to get this process rolling.
I also want to say thank you to the LA church.
We have a number of elders from the Los Angeles, please stand up so we
can reckon and deacons and deacons.
I see deacons.
Thank you very much.
Multiple regions here to support and to share in this
historic moment with you today.
Two men, Ron Richman and Kenny Barber are being appointed
shepherds in God's kingdom.
But wait, there will be more, but not yet.
Two for today, shepherds in God's flock.
This is a role that has been incredibly significant.
Among God's people for thousands of years, for thousands of years, God has
worked through shepherds, through elders to protect his people, to heal his
people, to train and teach and prepare his people for the challenges they would
face in this life so that they could be with the father in the next life.
And God used shepherds.
They provided wisdom and spiritual direction for the community of God.
They were charged with protecting the community of God.
They were charged with caring for the needs of the people
in the community of God.
Because they have such a significant role in His plan for humankind.
That he was very cautious about who would be a shepherd in God's people.
Who would be, who can be, an elder in the community of God.
Paul told Timothy, when it was time to appoint elders in the church,
which was something entirely new.
Because previously, they had all been, the community was Jews, and they knew God.
But now all of a sudden the church had started spread and it was full of
Gentiles and full of people with different cultures from different languages.
And there were many more needs.
And so there was a great need for shepherds of that new community.
And it was incredibly important that they would be men who could
deal with a diversity of issues and challenges for all people from
all backgrounds in all languages.
from all nations.
And so Paul told Timothy that they are to be above reproach, faithful to his wife,
temperate, self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to
drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him.
And he must do so in a manner worthy.
of full respect.
Anyone does not, anyone who does not know how to manage his own family,
how can he take care of God's church?
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall
into the same judgment as the devil.
He must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall
into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
And he told Titus, an elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife
and a man whose children believe and who are not open to the charge
of being wild and disobedient.
Since an overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless, not overbearing, not
quick tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
Rather, he must be hospitable.
One who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright,
wholly, and disciplined.
He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught so
that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
God was preparing a community that would have to deal with all the
challenges of the Greco-Roman world.
Yes, a world in major transition, a world is shifting culturally and socially,
but not just that world for the next 20 centuries and who knows how many more
centuries to deal with all the world would dish out in the shifts and the
pools and the tides and the ups and the downs and the challenges and the
influences that the world would try to exert on God's community to protect them.
To guide them through the many, many challenges they would face.
And therefore, he sent Timothy and Titus to finish the work.
Meaning he had already sent out evangelists to preach the gospel
and to advance the kingdom.
But now you have a church and it has to be taken care of.
And it has to grow and be healthy and thrive and shine so that
it can be a light to the world.
And that's not an easy thing.
Because we are constantly in this spiritual battle.
We are constantly under attack by Satan.
And we are, we are hurt by those outside.
We are hurt by ourselves.
We hurt ourselves sometimes.
And there is a great need for godly shepherds to take care of this church.
And so, these instructions that we were given are the instructions
we used to choose these men.
These are the men that you have called on, that you have recognized and
approved to be appointed as shepherds.
Now a shepherd and elder is a man, but we know that there's no righteous man
or ever going to be righteous without a righteous woman helping him along.
And part of the wisdom of elders is they know that they're not getting
anywhere without their wives saying, honey, don't you think we should pray?
Don't you think we should ask directions on how to get there?
Don't you think we should get some advice
in their loving, humble, but powerful ways?
Guiding their husbands, as somebody once said, he may be
the head, but she's the neck.
So I would like to ask We're going to recognize the wives of these men first.
I would like to ask Becky and Karina and Lisa and Julie to come on up on the stage.
Speaker 2: She's learning.
What a great day.
Thank you everyone for coming.
Um, all the elders and their wives that drove so far, I'm so grateful.
We feel so supported.
We feel so encouraged by your prayers.
And you, you were in the battle with us as we searched.
For God to reveal who would these, who this couple would be.
So I'm here to share about Lisa Richmond.
And
Thank you.
Yeah.
I don't know if many of you know our story, but it didn't start off great.
But it has ended great, right?
Yes.
Lisa is a noble woman.
And I'm so proud of her.
If you have an opportunity to be her friend, she will love you forever.
She calls you when you least expect.
She cries with you.
She prays with you.
She encourages her husband.
She encourages her children, her grandchildren.
She served her father until his last day.
She's a great example of what a noble woman is.
I'm so proud of you.
I am grateful to have you by my side.
With their arms up in prayer for our congregation.
I know you and Ron will do amazing things.
I know Ron can't do this without you.
And I love you a lot.
Speaker 6: In 1 Timothy 3, 11, it's talking about the elders and the
deacons and it says, In the same way the women are to be worthy of respect,
not malicious talkers, but temperate, and trustworthy in everything.
Oh, I'm getting emotional.
Sorry.
Um,
worthy of respect.
I feel like that's Julie.
From the moment we've been here, I have seen young children, preteens, teens,
older women, men, men of all ages.
Respect Julie.
She is wise.
She is hardworking.
She is kind and gentle.
Temperate or self controlled.
I've never talked to Julie.
She has this gentle, soothing voice.
She asks all the right questions in all the right ways.
She tilts her head a little bit, makes it a little softer.
She is a woman of deep convictions.
It's not just how she communicates, but it's her life.
Her life communicates a life of self control.
You live righteously, you're devoted to God, and following all of His ways.
Trustworthy in everything, and I mean everything.
Julie does everything.
She helps with the children's ministry.
She just volunteered to serve as a children's ministry coordinator.
Um, she serves in just about every rotation of children's ministry already.
She helps with the shepherding classes.
She helps with mental health classes.
She helps with grief recovery.
Um, Julie, you have been So helpful to me personally and to the church.
It's a little gift for you, but you are definitely worthy of this.
And I know that together with Kenny, I know he, I know you
will be of great support to him.
Speaker: Elders are a sacred role in the church.
In God's community.
There's three different words that we run into in scripture that
describe them in Greek Presbyteros, which is the presbyter, the elder,
simply put, they're the old guys.
This isn't their first rodeo.
They've been around the block a few times.
It's not just the years, it's the miles.
And they're the ones that can just nod their head and go,
yeah, I know why you're mad.
I get it.
You know, they're the ones who are able to rise above the angst and
the fear and the frustration and the anger and the emotionalism that
we all wrestle with as a community.
They are the Episcopal, the overseers.
They oversee things, they just make sure everything's going well.
It's funny how in, in my family this weekend with everybody there,
grandkids, kids and Michelle's parents, automatically, we all look to her dad,
what did, when we have to decide what movie to watch, . And he just makes sure
he is taking us all out for lunch and.
And we know him, he's not going to let anybody pay, he's just
going to pull out the card.
He's just oversees the family.
And it's wonderful, and the minute he steps out of the room, everybody looks
at me, and it falls on my shoulders.
And it's just the way it is, there's just the Presbyters, the elders, the
Episcopoi, they're the dads in the church.
To make sure everybody's taken care of.
To make sure we don't forget somebody.
We don't forget a ministry.
We don't, we don't forget to think about this group and to keep us ministry
evangelists thinking of everybody and remembering that the church is
not just the army of God, but it's the family of God and complete with
grandparents, children, and grandchildren.
And we want to get everybody to be with God forever.
That's the mission.
Amen.
Church.
They are the Poyman, the shepherds, the ones who watch over the flock and deal
with false doctrines and divisive people and errant leaders and errant members.
And they're the ones that have, that love to take care of the ministry staff, but
also the courage to challenge ministry staff, to take care of the whole flock.
They're the caretakers.
They're the shepherds.
They watch over the flock and everybody's in it.
They embody so much of Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd.
I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
You ever wonder why it says he makes me lie down?
He leads me by quiet waters.
He refreshes my soul and shows me the paths of righteousness for his namesake.
And even though I walk through the valley of shadow and uncertainty, and I don't
know where we're meeting next week or what's going on, I fear no evil for you
are with me and your rod and your staff.
They protect me.
You even appoint a table in the presence of my enemies and
you anoint my head with oils
and my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I
even I Will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever and ever.
That's the mission.
Amen.
That's what shepherds, that's what elders make sure we do.
Make sure the church does.
Make sure that we stay on point.
It was a very, very important role in the early church.
Working with the evangelists, working with the teachers, working with the
prophets, working with all the different roles that were advancing and spreading
the gospel and building up the church and baptizing people to make sure we
stayed on point and stayed on the path.
In Ephesians 4 he says, So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the
evangelists, the pastors, and teachers to equip his people for works of service so
that the body of Christ may be built up.
So we can be strong in every one of those roles.
The apostles, which today are like evangelists who plant churches.
They're the ones that started new things that spread the gospel out there.
And there's a whole lot more people in Orange County that
need to hear the gospel.
They desperately need it.
And the prophets Who was willing to preach God's word.
They're not out trying to figure out what is the world want or what do people
want or even what is the church want?
They're in charge with what does God want.
Because they know better than anybody that the best way to do anything is God's way.
Always seek the Lord first.
And everything else will fall in place.
And the evangelist who spread the good news, not the bad news, the good news.
Amen.
Of Jesus Christ, the good news that we can all be forgiven of our sins.
That doesn't matter how much you blew it.
You can be forgiven
and you too can make it.
And spread that good news and the teachers who helped to train and equip
and help us understand how do we grow?
How do we grow in being formed in Christ?
How do we place the scriptures in our hearts?
How do we live that out?
The rest of that Matthew 28, go and make disciples, baptize them in the name of the
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and teach them to practice everything he taught us to do.
And he would be with us forever and ever and ever.
And lastly, the pastors, that's the elders, the shepherds that would watch
over us, take care of us and make sure.
And we know, we know from experience, the church will not
be healthy without this whole team in play, without the evangelists
and the elders working together.
And even some teachers is good for us.
Keeping us on point and the deacons all doing their part and
he tells us why we need all this.
We, so that we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Boy, that's a mouthful.
What does that mean?
Attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
It's that promise Jesus made.
Life to the full.
Even though he knew this world would be all messed up.
But you could still have life to the full.
Not just in the life to come, but in this life.
And no matter what Satan deals out to us.
No matter what happens to us in this world.
And horrible things happen in this world.
We could still have life to the full.
And that's why he gave us this team to help us and to train us so that why,
and that's not even the end of the goal so that we can do works of service for
the Lord so that we can be the light of the world that sits in darkness so
that we Can be the pioneer spreading the gospel so that we can help our Children
and our families and our neighbors and our co workers and our co students so
that we even with all our faults and weaknesses could bring God's good news
to everybody and to help everybody.
And the results, he says, then we will no longer be infants tossed back
and forth by the waves blown here and there by every wind of teaching
and by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming.
We live in a time where there's a lot of tossing back and forth.
There's a lot of forces out there trying to influence our minds
and our hearts to divide us, to separate us, to fill us with fear.
To protect us, he said.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect
the mature body of him who is the head.
That is Christ.
From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting
ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.
That's us, guys.
That's us.
And shepherds, that's you.
That's you.
To help us.
That's you.
To help us get there.
And we need your help.
We need help as a people.
What a fantastic vision for the church.
And yet, today, is a significant step in that direction.
And the truth is, we need more men and we will have more men who rise up and
take that charge to lead and to serve.
And that's coming, but not just men.
We need more women to rise up and take the charge to serve and to help this church
be healthy and be a light to the world.
We need that.
And God is moving forward and praise God.
For doing so because he loves us.
And I know we've, we've struggled with a vision for who and what is Orange County.
God hasn't struggled.
He knows exactly who you are and he loves you and cherishes you and can't wait
for your light to shine brighter still.
And today's a big step in that process.
I would like Ron and Kenny to come on up and Marcel.
Let's appoint these men.
Come up here, Ron.
First Ron, then we'll do Kenny.
Let me tell you about Ron.
Here's his bio.
Born in New York City.
1961.
He's a Presbyterian.
He's old.
One of three children.
Children.
His older sister, Betsy Edmonds, is probably here somewhere this morning.
There she is over there.
Went to Duke University, where he graduated with a
BA in biochemistry in 1983.
I almost said 63, but that would have made him two.
He then graduated from the University of North Carolina Medical School in 1988.
He decided to specialize in family practice.
and went to Akron, Ohio for residency, finishing his training in 1991.
God was serving and opened a door for him to work as a traveling physician
for two years, working in six to eight week stints across the country.
It was during this time that the Lord moved.
It was during this time that he was invited to church
in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
For He studied the Bible there, but God had further plans.
And so his next assignment was here in Los Angeles, where he
was baptized by Mike Stefan.
I think Mike's around here somewhere right over there.
And Henry Kramer in November 1st, 1992.
The following summer, Ron was asked to move to orange County to help form
a medical professionals ministry.
Here in O.
C.
Coincidentally, Lisa, then Gardner, moved to Orange County
as well from the East region.
Lisa was baptized in 1982 in the Plantation Church in Florida by none
other than Bruce and Robin Williams.
One year after her mother, Joyce Dilley, was baptized in the same church.
Ron and Lisa were soon married in 1994.
And raised up Evelyn and Andrew here in this church.
Evelyn married a wonderful disciple, Christian Bolaños, who
grew up in the San Diego church.
And they just had their second child.
First Finn and Mavis, Mavis, Mavis
Speaker 7: Roe.
She's back there.
She is a
Speaker: man.
I know Ron actually met Ron when I was leading hope worldwide and
I was so impressed by Ron's heart.
Because as much as God blessed him, he was so concerned about the poor and he
was so concerned about helping people.
And he was concerned that hope worldwide be run righteously
and be done the right way.
And I was very, very impressed by Ron and I felt so blessed later to be able to come
and work with you here in Orange County.
And us to be coworkers in God's kingdom here.
And I'm super proud.
I know.
And I hear from so many disciples, how you've impacted them, how you have
been a rock in the midst of many storms here, and you have been rock solid.
You are a shepherd of God's people.
And today we have the privilege to recognize that and appoint you an elder.
So I have some gifts here.
First of all, a shepherd's rod.
So we don't show up.
A shepherd's rod is to protect and defend God's people.
As a good shepherd does.
You are to fight the lion, the wolf, and the bear.
And they do show up.
You are to keep the church protected from false doctrines.
From sin and Satan's attacks from without and from within.
You are given that charge.
I also have
oil from Jerusalem scented with frankincense and myrrh and oil.
Is representative of the Holy spirit and representative of healing.
As we just heard in Psalm 23, the Lord anoints us with perfumed oils,
and I give you this oil to heal and to anoint the Orange County Church.
And I have another gift.
This is the shofar.
This is a shofar.
We'll have to get Malcolm to come up here and play it.
The shofar has two major symbolic gestures.
One, it was used to call God's people into battle.
And you are to call us to fight the good fight.
Help us in this battle.
Number two, it was also used to call God's people to prayer.
To the times of prayer.
To get on their knees, to humble themselves before the
Lord, and to pray to him.
And you are to call us to prayer, that the church be a house of prayer for the Lord.
I give you, I give you this charge.
It's the charge of Peter.
He wrote, Be a shepherd of God's flock that is under your care.
And watch over them, not because you must, but because you are willing as God wants
you to be not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it over
those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock so that when the chief
shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
I give you these gifts, and I give you this charge.
Do you accept?
I do.
Speaker 4: I want to introduce to you Kenny Barber.
Kenny has been married 29 years to Julie.
They have two daughters, Courtney and Kelsey.
Kenny was born and raised in the Washington D.
C.
metropolitan area, also DMV.
He did want me to mention that he is younger than Ron.
Kenny received, Kenny received his bachelor's degree from Townsend
State University, has been working at, and has a career in the
informational technology management.
Kenny has been a Christian for 30 years this month and has spent the last 28
years here in Southern California.
Kenny was converted as a Christian in the Baltimore church.
He has been part of the Baltimore.
The Metro L.
A.
Region and Orange County Ministries in our fellowship.
Kenny is a staple here in the O.
C.
Church.
And has been a part of our North OC core group leadership group for over, uh,
for over a decade and currently leads a small group here in North Orange County.
He has led the chemical recovery and disciples in motion classes and recently
our shepherding classes as well.
He enjoys spending time with his family and watching his Washington
Commanders football team.
That shows you what kind of man he is.
To stay loyal to the Washington Commanders.
That's hard living right there.
That's a man of faith and perseverance right there.
Kenny admits that his weakness in kryptonite is his affinity
for white chocolate raspberry truffle Haagen Dazs ice cream.
Kenny, you are a man of God.
That is the very first thing that comes to mind when I think of you.
That you are a man of God.
You had, you have a deep faith in God.
You have a deep faith in the power of Jesus and his ability to change lives
and the power of Jesus and his word.
You care for God's people with the sincere love that is seen,
heard, felt, and experienced by those who come in contact with you.
You work hard, and you have been faithful to God's people, and
you are worthy of imitation.
We are grateful to have you here in Orange County and I am personally
grateful for our friendship and service together over the last several years.
Corinne and I respect you and your wife and we have learned so much from
you and we love and adore your family.
I am confident that you will serve God, and you will serve his
church with integrity as an elder.
I too will give you these three gifts.
I give you the Shepherd's Rod to protect and defend God's
people as a good Shepherd does.
You are to fight the lion, the wolf, and the bear.
As a shepherd of the family of God, you must protect the church
from false doctrine and Satan's attacks from within and without.
I give to you also a vial of olive oil from Jerusalem to anoint
and to heal the Lord's people.
The oil also represents the presence of the Holy Spirit, which
you are to listen to closely.
I also give to you the shofar of Israel.
The shofar, as was mentioned earlier,
was blown to call God's people to battle.
You are to call God's people to fight the good fight and to wage
the war in the spiritual battle.
A shofar was also used to call God's people to prayer.
You are to make sure that the OC Church is a house of prayer for the Lord.
I give you now this charge in 1 Peter 5, verse 2.
Amen.
Be a shepherd of God's flock that is under your care and watch
over them, not because you must.
But because you are willing as God wants you to be not pursuing dishonest
game, but eager to serve not lording, not lording it over those entrusted to
you, but being examples to the flock.
So that when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the clown of Crown
of glory that will never fade away.
Do you accept these gifts and thereby doing so accept this charge?
Yeah, I do accept
Speaker 5: this charge.
Speaker: We have presented these two men, men that you've chosen, men
that you have approved of men that you have selected to be shepherds
over this flock, to watch over the Orange County region to be shepherds.
In the body of elders for the Los Angeles Church of Christ.
Now, I have a charge for you.
In Hebrews 12, 17, He tells us, Obey them that have oversight
over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch over your souls.
As they that must give account,
they watch over you.
that they may do it with joy and not with grief.
For that would be no advantage for you.
Do you Orange County region accept this charge to follow these men
as your overseers and elders?
And if it is yes, then let the church say
With God as your witness,
you have recognized these men as your elders.
I would like all the evangelists and elders in the room to come up here, come
up here to lay hands on these men so that we may pray and the wives too, please.
As we know, it's a team.
I'm going to do a blessing and then James Willis is going to come up and pray
over them as we all lay hands on them.
We didn't get this from Avatar.
They got it from us.
Go ahead and put your hands on these fellows here.
May the God, may God,
how many elders does it take to organize a group?
Let us bless these men, bless them with your hearts.
And with agreement in these words, may God, the father prepare your journey.
Jesus, the son guide your footsteps, the spirit of life, strengthen your body.
The three in one watch over you on every road that you may follow.
May the love of Christ be active in your heart, be heard in your words, be
seen in your actions and inform your choices today and all the days to come.
Amen.
May the Lord protect and bless all that you set your hands to accomplish.
Watch over your families and guard your heart, mind, soul,
and body in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Go ahead, James.
Speaker 8: Amen.
Speaker: Hands on.
Speaker 8: I will pray.
But before I do that, I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support.
For this region, I don't want to thank the men and women up
on the stage and support the L.
A.
Church and the M.
L.
C.
And the service team have provided for us.
Steve Staten.
Thank Robert and Michelle for their willingness to serve and to
minister and shepherd us as well.
So, I just want to encourage all of you to continue to pray, continue
to call on each other to encourage one another because we are family
and one part of the body suffer.
We all suffer and I'm grateful for all of you and your faith
and your commitment to God.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we are in awe of you and your many blessings
that you constantly bestow upon us.
We're grateful for this day.
God, we're grateful for all that you have done to help us to see
what an amazing God you are.
And Father, we lift you up right now.
God, as we lift up Ron and Lisa Kenny and Julie to you, Father, we
thank you so much for the Holy Spirit that called upon them to serve in
this role as elders, as overseer of your flock here in Orange County.
God, we pray that you will be with them, strengthen them in their faith,
strengthen them in their weaknesses, help them, God, to turn to you.
Like your word says, Jesus, to come to you, all who are weary and
burdened, for you will give them rest.
Take your yoke upon them because you are gentle and humble in heart.
God, I pray that they will be a safe place for the flock to come to.
God, to shepherd, to encourage, to inspire, to cry, to lift them up to you.
Because they are yours, God.
And we are only overseers.
And we thank you so much.
For your faithfulness to us, we ask you to please be with us, protect all
of our hearts, protect their hearts because we know who the real enemy is,
God, and we cannot lose sight of that.
God, we have to continue to rely on you and your Holy spirit and
put on the full armor every day.
God encouraging one lifting each other up.
Father, we love you, God.
And we thank you, Jesus, for this calling that you have given
these men, not because they must.
Because they are willing and I pray that you will be with them.
Be with their wives.
Please watch over and protect their families, their
children and grandchildren.
God, we love you so much.
We lift all these things up to you, Jesus.
Please be with us in a powerful way.
God, we love you.
It's your name.
We pray.
Amen.
Speaker 7: Amen.
Speaker: Orange County, I give you your two new elders, Ron Richman, Kenny Barber,
Speaker 3: Ron Kenny, you see this?
Have you seen the crowd?
Look at your people.
Speaker: And we're going to close out with a few words.
from their hearts, beginning with Kenny.
Speaker 5: Amen.
God is good, right?
Um, I'm full of emotion.
I'm here.
Um, first of all, um, My wife being by my side, I'm seeing the
wonderful things said about her.
Seeing my father here, who traveled from Maryland, Washington DC area, the DMV.
And my uncle, Jimmy as well, my two girls, and it's quite a journey.
My wife, Just to know that God chose her for me.
Uh, I knew that from the beginning, uh, in bringing this journey together.
Uh, she shaped me.
Um, every argument we've had, every Um, joyful moment.
Uh, I think God shaped me for this.
Um, I, I see that, uh, with my, my kids, uh, seeing them growing
up from child to an adult.
Um, every argument we may have had or every conflict we've had.
Just seeing how they've always given me the space to come
back and change and repent.
They've always given me that space, uh, so I appreciate them for that.
Um, you know, uh, just seeing their journeys move me, uh, shape me.
My daughter here singing, um, moves me as well.
Um, my father.
Uh, he's always been my role model.
Um, his gentleness, uh, his humility, his strength, he's well respected.
Um, I've always wanted to imitate him and still do.
Uh, I appreciate him coming here to support me.
Uh, he, even being humble enough to ask for my Um, scripturally, um,
um, spiritually as well recently.
Um, my, my, my uncle has always challenged me in character ever since I was young.
You know, I grew up pretty, pretty fast.
Uh, I mean, physically I was, I think in the seventh grade
I was maybe six foot two.
And he would challenge me.
He says, you're, you're, you're tall.
And I'd slump over.
He said, you need to act like it and be tall and know you're
tall and stop slumping over.
He'd always challenge me on my character.
I respect them so much, them both, in their walk with God as well.
Uh, Also, um, seven years ago, uh, Kevin Maynes, he used to lead the church here.
Um, he, he passed away deceased.
Uh, he'd always, um, toss it around eldership to me, uh, a lot.
And it's something I was, didn't want to grasp, you know, I was, I
was never willing, you know, to that, it was such a high esteem and, uh,
we had a men's retreat and, uh, he was rushing out the door for lunch.
And he sees me and he says, Kenny, Eldership, it's yours.
Literally an hour later, he had a heart attack.
Uh, and I never saw Kevin again.
He died.
His last words to me.
It's been seven years.
It was 2017 in January.
Uh, seven years.
Scripturally, it talks about, it's a, it's a magical number for some reason.
Like it says, how many times do you forgive?
It says seven, 77.
So seven years, it's been a journey from that point to a noun, really, um,
becoming closer to God.
Uh, I've had kind of, not because of those words, but things that happen in a way,
just really seeing God and, um, Wanting to, um, have a relationship with him.
Um, Curiosity set in.
I wanted to find out more about Jesus.
More about how he thinks.
More about what he wants from me.
What is he telling me.
Uh, really moved me.
And it caused me to want to love him more.
Uh, it talks about, you know, like loving God.
And, you know, with all your heart and soul and strength.
And loving your neighbors.
I really caught on to that.
Um, and then with curiosity.
People, I started falling in love with God's people more.
Uh, and um, and just in love, just getting time with people and finding out,
um, interesting things about someone.
I realized it was hard for me to love someone unless I really knew them.
You know, talk to them and do something about them and love.
So that's my quest, just to get to know and connect.
Uh, and I started thriving for that.
Um, really understanding and I love hearing brokenness.
You know, too, because there's always opportunity.
So many men here has shaped my life, and women have shaped my life.
Just hearing their stories, and so many have so many great stories.
And that's so important to me.
Uh, Through the time, grace, seven years and understanding God's grace and just
how broken I am and how many challenges I've had the whole time spiritually, uh,
and just how God has Really understand how he healed me, uh, through this.
Uh, and it does say you have to, you know, we have this, um, I realized that you have
these, we all have these unlovable parts of us, you know, we can push it away.
Don't want to, I don't want to address it, but it's like loving
those unlovable parts of you.
And when you can do that, as you understand God's grace, and then
you can love other people fully.
And you can love the evils you see in them, too, you know, so like it's
magic to that and this christian this christian walk is fairly simple
It's not we can make it so complex.
It's just love god, you know, um, which you love god You start loving yourself
and love other people and I started really Grasping that it's like i'm gonna love
god's people You know regard and this and and just my my time together with god.
I had this quiet time And then, uh, it really hit me with God and
I'm like, you know what, I like, I feel like I really touching God.
I love you.
And it's like, I think this was maybe four years ago.
I was like, I think you've got me for the rest of my life.
I mean, really, I think you've got me.
I think you've got me here.
I mean, that's, and I, you got me no matter what, because I really,
and I, and so I think this, this statement here, and I do.
Um, I do think this appointment is by the Holy Spirit.
I accept it, um, to protect his people, um, to continue my curiosity with God.
Uh, it's going to always be in prayer as well, so, you know, I look forward
to doing this and pray for me.
I look forward to what God's going to do for us in the church, so thank you.
Speaker 7: Um, good morning family, uh, you know, Lisa and I are very honored.
Uh, to be taking on this role of elder and elder's wife, uh, alongside.
with some great people, Kenny and Julie and James and Vicky.
So there are some spiritual people on this team, and that's a good thing.
Um, I was convicted the other day I was talking with James and Vicky.
I mean, with James and Kenny about something, and we were You know, it was
a planning thing and whatever, and both of them were like, Well, I was up this
morning and I was praying about this.
And I was like, Oh, wow, there's an idea.
That's a good idea.
Because I was just thinking about it.
I was,
so I was like, I'm in, I'm in good company here.
This is good for me.
But family, we've been through a lot.
And, you know, I was thinking coming here of, of 30 plus years of, of
meeting Anaheim Hilton, Red Lion, Hyatt, Teller Building, uh, the Freeman
Forum, uh, we've been everywhere.
We've been in parks, you know, we've been everywhere.
And God is not done with us.
I mean, that's the temptation sometimes is to feel like, oh, well, it was a good run.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
They found us out.
We're not really that, that good, you know, but you know, I'm always
encouraged by the scripture of outwardly though we are wasting away inside,
we are being renewed day by day.
And I feel that.
How about you?
I mean, I feel like I'm wasting away and yet sometimes we get renewed.
We get refreshed.
We get filled up.
And I feel like this is that time that God has set aside for us.
This year was brutal.
Right?
I mean, we all feel beaten up, tired, like, Oh my gosh, I can't
handle another controversy.
Right?
And yet God's like, no, no, no, no, no.
See, I am doing something new.
Do you not perceive it?
And it's, you know, it's hard to hope.
It's hard.
Right?
It's hard to give your heart to, uh, well, maybe, and, and to have a hope.
And yeah, I feel like that's what God's been saying.
You know, it's like, forget the past, forget the former things.
We're moving in a new direction.
We're not abandoning everything.
We haven't done everything wrong.
We did a few things right.
We have a great family of believers here, brothers and sisters.
That didn't, that didn't happen by accident.
We were, we were loving each other all along, you know, sometimes good, sometimes
bad, but there's some relationships.
Just walking around the room.
I mean, seeing John Varghese and like, I remember when he and I were like
the two most arrogant guys on the basketball team here in Orange County,
like talking trash to each other.
I didn't like him.
He didn't like me, you know, but you know, he could shoot better than me,
but anyway, I'll give him that much, but he didn't know how to play defense.
But, uh, and, and, and,
and Ramon and Maureen moving back and just countless people.
I mean, one of the things that I don't know about you, but.
I look forward to heaven, because I feel like finally there will be enough
time to hang out with everybody.
Right?
I mean, at times Lisa and I sit down and we're trying to plan out the week,
and it's like, there's like 15 people that we want to, or should, or need
to, or just would love to hang out with and it's like, well, we've only got
three evenings free and you know, and you're constantly feeling that pressure.
And I'm sure all of you feel that as well.
And so heaven's going to be great in that way.
But along the way, we still have this.
And I appreciate what was said before life to the full, right?
I mean, I remember a day when there was nobody I could think
of to talk to about my life.
Now, I can't, I feel stressed out because there's too many
people to talk to about my life.
And also there's a lot of people that want to talk to me about their lives, you
know, so that gets overwhelming at times.
But we need to revel in that, in the fullness that we share as God's people.
And I was thinking about the scripture that said you are a
royal priesthood, a holy nation.
And, uh, so, you know, Kenny and James and I, we may be elders,
but you are royal priests.
You're the people of God.
And, uh, you know, so I think as we move forward, it's important
for all of us to be thinking where, what's God calling me to?
What's my ministry?
Who am I ministering to?
And not just what am I getting?
So anyway, Lisa and I are excited to serve.
We're willing to serve, you know, this job does not come with, uh,
without, you know, some forbearance.
You know, I know that it's a hard job.
But we're willing because we love you.
I mean, we've been doing and many, many of you have been doing the job.
You've been shepherding.
We've all been shepherding in our own ways.
And so we are happy to take part with the team.
And I just pray that we can all throw our hearts back in the circle
and, and just see where God's going to take us in the coming days.
I like to think of life as chapters.
Um, you know, Kenny was talking about growing up and everything and, you know,
as many of you know, I grew up in New York City with a dad who was abusive
and alcoholic and a mom who was awesome and loving and, and made us all feel
special, and Betsy and I didn't have a great family start, you know, and yet,
you know, we hung in there together, my sister Evelyn and Betsy and I, close.
We love each other.
We've been there for each other and even brought our parents back where
we were able to, you know, they were, Oh, my dad opened up about everything.
We all had forgiveness and we wrote a great last chapter of their lives where
they were able to be in the family and wrote great chapters with Joyce and, uh,
with Lisa's dad, Jerry, uh, moving out.
And even though he was sick in our house for five years, In a hospital
bed got baptized, you know, that, uh, you know, family, it takes work, you
know, there's time we don't all get along all the time, but we work at it.
And so, you know, there's just different chapters as we move along.
And, um, you know, so I pray that this next chapter for Orange County is just a
chapter that we are all super proud of.
Excited by that we can look back and go, Oh, that's where God poured
out his Holy Spirit among us.
And we felt refreshed because that's what being close with God is all about.
It's about having life to the full, feeling the freshness of
the Holy Spirit in and around us.
So I pray to be walking that walk with all of us as we write the next chapter
in Orange County's long history.
So