Venture at the Civic Center, March 19

Venture Church will meet at the Beaumont Civic Center on Sunday, March 19 at 10:00 am.

We will join Impact Church, a like-minded church plant in our community. What should you expect? Pretty much a Venture worship service with new friends! The worship music will be led by a join worship team and Mark Brown will preach the conclusion of our series on King Hezekiah. Children’s ministry will be led by our KidVenture staff and follow the usual Orange curriculum. So it will feel like church as we know it, but with new friends from Impact Church. And to make it a little “sweeter”….

It’s FREE DONUT SUNDAY!!

Map to Beaumont Civic Center

Missions Sunday, February 26

Missions Sunday is an annual highlight of Venture Church!

This year, we welcome Brendan and Sarah Mayer of Siloe Ministries in La Mision near Rosarito in Mexico. Siloe is a medical mission agency and is one of Venture’s strategic partnership ministries. You can learn more about Siloe Ministries at siloeclinic.org

The team from Venture that recently served in Thailand will share in the worship service.

The morning will include displays from many of our missions partnerships, complete with snacks and activities for the kids.

King Hezekiah Sermon Series

Who can I trust?

This issue of trust resonates through the biblical story of King Hezekiah. Of all the kings of Judah, there was none like Hezekiah. He stood as one of the greatest kings of Judah because he trusted God in the midst of difficult circumstances. As we spend a few weeks learning from the narrative of Hezekiah, we will see that he was a great reformer in Judah. He removed the idols of false worship and restored the worship of God in his temple. All of this flows from his deep trust in God.

We also like to be reformers. We want to make a difference in the lives of others. In our journey with King Hezekiah we will see that influence with others emerges from trusting in God.

Scripture Alone

The Bible is God’s Word. As open the pages of Scripture, we hear the very words of the God of the universe! As such, one of our highest priorities is to know, understand, believe, trust, and obey the Bible. Over the next four weeks, we examine:

  • The Authority of God’s Word
  • The Clarity of God’s Word
  • The Necessity of God’s Word
  • The Sufficiency of God’s Word

This teaching series, Scripture Alone, is part of our study of foundational doctrines of the Reformation in honor of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s protest with the 95 Theses.

Bible Reading for 2017

Of all the New Year’s Resolutions made each year, none is more important that a renewed commitment to spend time in God’s Word. We are encouraging everyone to consider at least one reading plan for 2017.

The first plan, “The Supremacy of God’s Word,” takes us through Psalm 119 through the month of January. Each day, we will read about 8 verses — and almost all of them help us love God’s Word. You can access the plan here:

THE SUPREMACY OF GOD’S WORD 

Another plan takes you through the entire Bible in less than a year. The plan leads you to read 6 days each week, going through a book of the Bible at a time along with a Psalm or chapter in Proverbs. A paper copy of the plan can be found here:

THE SUPREMACY OF GOD’S WORD 

Electronic plans are available online at Bible.com or can be found on the popular You Version app (search for Discipleship Journal Book at a Time plan).

Spending more time in God’s Word is a good goal for 2017, and reading it together in community makes it even more meaningful.

2016 Year in Review

2016 has been a year of God working to create movement in outreach and clarity of purpose at Venture.

When we talk of movement one of the things we mean is seeing people love Jesus more and to grow deeper in him as well as mobilizing people to help others do the same. It has been amazing to watch God working in and through the lives of people who are a part of Venture.

Outreach…

On a global scale we have continued our support for Corey and DJ Hovivian in their ministry of church planting in Ireland and now the inclusion of Corey taking on the coordination of local relief programs in the city of Cork, Ireland. We’ve solidified several strategic partnerships in missions with Hands of Mercy and Siloe Ministries in Baja, Liberia Mercy Partners, E3 Partners in Africa, Ohana Ministries and others. Together we’ve sent Venture people to Mexico to build houses and provide medical and dental support, to Thailand and Colorado to serve and support international missionaries and their families and we’ll be sending a team of six back to Thailand in January of 2017.

Missions: Reflecting on 2016 and Looking Ahead to 2017

Locally we provided a Block Party for our neighbors in the Sundance community where we were able to connect with people and provide food and activities for families. Our KidVenture Summer Experience (Summer XP) reached over 140 local kids with the gospel and provided a connection to numerous families in the community. We were also able to provide games and crafts for kids under the big top at the Beaumont July 4th fireworks show. Our Gospel Shaped Outreach Life Groups and All In sermon series challenged us to reach out to those around us to help them love Jesus.

Clarifying the Big Picture…

2016 was also a year of clarifying who we are and what we do as a church. The elders and ministry leaders were able to prayerfully determine what we believe is a big picture, biblical plan for creating a culture of purposeful ministry here at Venture. We established parameters of mission and values to help us remain focused on what we believe God has called us to as a church and we have developed a ministry plan that focuses on the following values:

  • Worship: Having a view of God that is worthy of God.
  • Biblical: Believe it, trust it, obey it.
  • Community: WE is better than ME.
  • Serving: Everyone using their gifts.
  • Missional: Helping people love Jesus.

We have also been encouraged by the generosity of those who have supported the ministry financially. The Lord continues to provide and our finances are on a good trajectory as we approach the halfway point of our budget year. Any special year-end gifts you feel led to give are also greatly appreciated and will help us move into the rest of the fiscal year with good momentum. Prayerfully consider what the Lord might have you do.

There certainly has been movement over the past year—meaningful movement that helps us discover God’s purpose for us. Moving into 2017 we are committed as a family of Jesus-followers to continue to grow in church health to become the church that God has called Venture to be—together. We’re glad you’re part of the family!

 

Reflecting on 2016 and Looking Ahead to 2017

What a great year for sharing the love of the folks of Venture Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.  We might be small in numbers but we have shown that we can be strong in our service to the world.

The Urbana Conference was a great way to end our mission’s focus for 2015 and start off 2016.  A team from Venture traveled to one of the largest mission’s conferences held in the world!  They heard great speakers and made new friends while visiting the displays of mission organizations from around the world.

The next focus was lending a helping hand to “Hands of Mercy”.  In January we had a presence at California Baptist University, and helped by pre-cutting and assembling with the students, five loft house that were taken to Baja Mexico in the middle of February.  The loft houses were taken to Baja with help from our Venture members.  Five families received a home from a local Baja Mexico churches.

In February a team ministered to the children of missionary families attending a conference in Thailand.  Their servant’s hearts allowed the parents time to attend the conference knowing that their children were being taught, cared for, and loved on.  Over the summer, a team from Venture served the same ministry through leading children’s ministry in Colorado. By the way, there is another trip to Thailand coming up in early 2017, want to get involved?

On March 20th Venture members extended an invitation to the community to come to church by throwing a Block Party.  We have new members in our church today as a result of this fun party in the park.

April 22 found a team from Venture traveling south again to Baja to construct another Loft House in San Vicente, Mexico.  This Loft House is being used by a church to house students in their Bible college.

June found one of our members serving in La Mision, Baja California, with Siloe Ministries, assisting two dentists.  Over 30 children were given dental exams and many of these kids had teeth filled or pulled to relieve their pain.

In September Ken DeWitt made a trip to Liberia to share and minister through Liberia Mercy Partners.  As a result of Ken’s dedication to this country churches are planted, schools are built and business are started that will employ many in need of income to support their families.

November and December were packed, with shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, sponsored by Samaritans Purse. Over 100 boxes were packed and delivered to Irvine CA for processing.  Two teams from Venture traveled to Orange County to the Operation Christmas Child warehouse to help in the processing of shoeboxes being shipped all over the world.  The Orange County processing center will handle around 1.7 million boxes this year.  Our teams were very pleased to help in our small way.

What is in store for 2017?

A second team for the second year is going back to Thailand with OHANA Global to care for the children of missionaries. If you cannot go yourself, this is a great opportunity to support the team.

In the spring of 2017, a team will take a visionary trip to Baja Mexico to visit three ministries that Venture Church partners with. We will be traveling south of Ensenada to visit neighborhoods where dozens of loft houses have been built over the years, spending the night at the Hands of Mercy ranch and getting to know the staff with great food and fun. The second day we will travel north with a stop in La Mision to tour Door of Faith Orphanage (DOFO) and Siloe Ministries. DOFO cares for over 100 children in a family-style community. You will want to see this amazing place! Siloe is a medical/dental ministry serving the poor and needy of La Mision. They are currently building a new facility that will allow them to expand their services to the community. This trip is designed for families and people of any age — all are welcome to come and experience what God is doing south of the border.

We will continue to partner with church planting in Ireland through our support of the Hovivians, and Ken De Witt will return to Liberia in early spring.

Local outreach will continue to be a priority for us, as we look for new and exciting ways to engage our local community with the gospel and acts of love. God is at work within us as we join the mission to bring the gospel to our community and around the world!

 

 

Christmas Eve Service

This Christmas Eve, we will experience “A Very Different Christmas” as we worship through the singing of carols and talk about the gifts of Christmas — especially God’s gift to us. Each family will receive a special gift of the book “A Very Different Christmas” which gives a fun and through-provoking story of gift-giving.

The service will be from 4:00-5:00 pm on Saturday, December 24 in the Chatigny Community Center in Beaumont. Celebrate Christmas with Venture Church!

Note: to honor the many who serve at Venture Church, as well as city employees who staff the Chatigny Center, we will have a combined Christmas Eve Service, but not an additional service on Sunday morning.