by Pastor Patrick Cho

Dear LBC Family and Friends,

I hope you are doing well and walking in the Lord. I wanted to pick up on our review of The Trellis and the Vine, by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. Last time, we looked at chapter 2, entitled “Ministry Mind Shifts.” Chapter 3 is entitled “What in the World Is God Doing?” The focus of this chapter is to survey the Bible to examine God’s plan to redeem sinners through “Spirit-backed gospel preaching leading to the salvation of souls.” It also takes a look at the means by which God accomplishes growth in His people. This growth is not tied to churches’ financial security or numbers in attendance. It all comes down to the spiritual outworking of the life change that takes place when people are saved. In order for lives to come into conformity with God’s will and to grow, God’s truth must be proclaimed. This is the only way gospel growth is going to take place. This is the kind of growth we particularly see in the book of Acts and is the particular fulfillment of Christ’s promise when He said He would build His church (Matt. 16:18).

There are three particular implications that result when you think about gospel growth in this way.

1. First, if we understand what God is accomplishing in the world and how He intends to bring about gospel growth in His people, we need to “say goodbye to our small and self-oriented ambitions, and to abandon ourselves to the cause of Christ and His gospel.” There is nothing else in the world that is a greater thing to be a part of!
2. Second, we need to adjust our thinking to remember that the growth God accomplishes is in His people. It is people growth, not program growth, not church numbers, not stable budgets. The success of a church is not measured by the number of paid staff it has, the existence of a radio ministry, or how many books the pastor has written. It certainly is not measured by the number of members it has or how much the annual budget is.
3. Third, we need to remember that God accomplishes this growth when His truth comes to bear on people’s hearts through the working of the Holy Spirit. This is the way people are brought to faith in Christ, and this is the way people will continue to grow in respect to their salvation. You speak God’s truth to someone and pray that God would bring about life change, spiritual fruit, and gospel growth.

This is what is meant by tending to the vine. Everything else is trellis work.

In His grace,

Pastor Patrick

Here are the announcements for this week:

1. Friday Night Bible Studies. Don’t forget that the youth, college, and singles Bible studies meet tonight at 7:00pm. The youth and singles meet at the church, and the collegians meet on-campus at UCSD. Visit the church website for more information regarding our affinity groups or for more information about Bible studies.
2. End Times Bible Study. The final End Times Bible study will be this Sunday evening, from 6:00-8:00pm, at the church. Come out and learn more about what the Bible says concerning future things.
3. Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Next Friday, April 22, we will be having a special Good Friday communion service at the church at 6:30pm. Please come out and invite your family and friends to observe Good Friday and remember the cross of Christ. On Sunday, April 24, we will be having a breakfast fellowship at 7:30am at the church to celebrate Resurrection Sunday. This is a terrific weekend to invite anyone who does not know Christ as Lord and Savior to hear the gospel message.
4. Women’s Seminar. The next Women’s Ministry Seminar will be on Saturday, April 30, from 9:00am-12:30pm. The cost is free to attend, but you still need to register with Christine Cho in order to come. Breakfast will be served. For more information, please talk to Christine Cho.
5. TMS Graduation. For those who want to attend The Master’s Seminary commencement service on Sunday, May 15 to support Pastor J. R. Cuevas as he graduates, please RSVP with Pastor Patrick or Ryan Short. The ceremony begins at 6:00pm at Grace Community Church. A small refreshments reception will take place afterwards.
6. LBC Banquet. Signups for this year’s banquet will be taken after service on Sunday in the foyer by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz. The banquet will be on Sunday, May 22, at 4:45pm, at the church. The cost is only $35/adult (children 0-12 are free!). Don’t miss this opportunity to reflect corporately on the faithfulness of God to LBC.
7. Vacation Bible School. VBS will be from June 20-24 this year, from 9:00am-5:00pm each day. The theme for this year is “God Always Wins!” Registration forms are available from Josh Liu.
8. VBS Staff. If you are applying for VBS staff, please remember that applications are due this Sunday, April 17.
9. Summer Missions. If you are applying to either the Czech or Argentina summer missions trip, please remember that applications (with references) are due by this Sunday. Argentina applications should be submitted to Pastor Patrick. Czech applications should be emailed to Pastor John Kim at LBC San Jose. If you have any questions, please contact Pastor Patrick.