Pleasant & Wonderful?

Psalm 16: 6 The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!

God planted VOConn in 1992 with a purpose, and throughout the years He has given us many promises, personally and collectively as a church.

2 Cor. 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

His promises are “Yes” and God doesn’t lie or change his mind when He promised something. He will fulfill what He has promised. Our “Amen” is not only our audible response, but we believe it, we are confident in it, and in obedience we align ourselves with the word given to us.

The land He has given us is the Eastside of Bridgeport. When was the last time you heard anyone mention our community and the words pleasant and wonderful in one sentence? The city is not the same today as it was in 1992, but we are still dealing with the same footholds, and strongholds in our city.

The land has been given to us, it is our inheritance, and for some reason the enemy is not giving up easily the territory which belongs to us. Is it perhaps the way we see the community God has called us to reach? Do we see problems instead of the potential, do we see the impossible instead of possibilities, do we see the potential of the people, or have we given up on them?

In 1 Kings 21 is the story of Naboth who owned a vineyard next to king Ahab’s palace. The king wanted it for himself, and was willing to promise Naboth a better vineyard, or even money. But Naboth declined and told the king, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”

Naboth was not willing to sell his vineyard, not even for a better one, or a lump sum of money. How many would be willing? And for some reason the communities, and the city we live in are coveted by the enemy. It is our responsibility to look with different eyes, and see our location as a pleasant land, a wonderful inheritance. Our address is not a coincident, and if we are not willing to stand our ground, and fight for it, who will?

Called to the City

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

Jonah was called to go to the great city of Nineveh with a message from God. The city was important to God, because it had over 120,000 residents who in God’s eyes were like little children, unable to discern between their right hand and their left. Jonah however ran the opposite way, and it took a great wind, a crew willing to throw him overboard,  and 72 hours in the belly of a big fish to get him back on track, and deliver an important message.

Our church was sent to the city of Bridgeport in 1992 with a message from God: The message of hope and plan of Jesus Christ. Like Nineveh, Bridgeport is also a great city and important in the eyes of God. I personally believe Bridgeport is a strategic city; the bridge to the Tri-state area and the port to New England. According to recent statistics the city has a population of approximately 146,000 people, and God has a message they need to hear. Just to make it clear all those people are too many for just one church, so we understand that we are not the only church called to Bridgeport.

Like Jonah, we might get to a point that we start running the opposite way. The reason can be caused by fatigue due to the work of the ministry, a resentment we’ve developed over time towards the people we are called to reach, we are getting preoccupied with our good intended but self-centered plans, or because of entitlement; we expect a certain result just because we are where God called us to be.

Maybe it doesn’t take for us to be inside a big fish for a couple of days, or have a few scared guys ready throw us overboard. For me it took some frustration, a podcast, a couple of pastor friends in the city, and the loving rebuke of one of our elders to get back on track.

This has been my prayer for the last few months, and I encourage you to pray it too:

“God, I thank you for sending us to the great city of Bridgeport, to deliver your message to its people. I pray that I will have a genuine CONCERN for the city of Bridgeport, to CARE more about the community you placed us in, and to have more COMPASSION for the people we are called to reach. In Jesus Name I pray this. Amen.”

The End of an Era

It was in 1998 when a young couple made their way from California to Connecticut, accompanied by a group of young ‘on fire’ people. They had left their comfort zone, and everything they were familiar with to start a ministry that –until that moment– was only mentioned in Victory Outreach International’s ‘Mission Statement.’

Pastor Al and Georgina had no model to learn from, or to built after, the only thing they had was a vision, a promise, and the call of God upon their lives. In their own words they said; “We got there, and to be honest we had no clue what we were doing.” It was however the start of the first Urban Training Center in Bridgeport CT, and eventually this couple would also oversee Training Centers in Los Angeles, Tijuana, Cape Town, and Manilla. Since 1998 hundreds of young people separated themselves in the East Coast UTC, completing 6-12 months of ministry training. Many of them find themselves today serving the Lord in their local church, in the mission field, running a Christian Recovery Home, or pastoring a church.

The East Coast UTC not only shaped leaders for the future, but also served many churches in the regions they traveled to. The neighborhoods in those cities did not know what hit them, when the faithful UTC van(s) would pull up, and dozens of radical young people would jump out with bullhorns and flyers, to let everybody know that “Jesus Loves You!” and to invite them for a ‘Live Action Drama on Stage.’ Looking back we not only see the fruit of the UTC among the many students, but also in the couples that had the opportunity to direct the East Coast UTC and how God used the UTC to shape these couples into leaders of the future:

• Pastor Al & Georgina Valdez, Victory Outreach, San Diego, CA
• Pastor Beto & Irene Meija, Victory Outreach, Richmond, CA
• Pastor Patrick & Cindy Robbers, Victory Outreach, Bridgeport, CT
• Pastor Tony & Veronica Velasco, Victory Outreach, Honolulu, HI
• Pastor Cesar & Monique Portillo, Victory Outreach, Pretoria, South Africa
• Pastor Danny & Ilene Carerra, Victory Outreach, Pretoria, South Africa
• Pastor David & Melissa Todd, Victory Outreach, San Diego, CA

Victory Outreach in Bridgeport, was privileged having the East Coast UTC being part of the church in these amazing 14 years. We know that Chicago and the surrounding cities will be blessed having the UTC in their region. The UTC moved, but the vision continues, and we at VOConn ‘the Church of Champions’ believe that every prayer ever prayed on 381 Jane Street will be passed unto us.

(this blog was originally written December 20, 2012)

Do You Suffer from SMP?

A couple of days ago I read in the LA Times that according to Dr. Larry D. Rosen too much Facebook time may be unhealthy for kids, and teens & young adults who log onto Facebook constantly are more narcissistic. For years we have shared our positive opinions about social media sites like; Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and many others. But now we have to admit that there are also some negative consequences in the use of these sites.

Recently I noticed a disturbing behavior among frequent users of some of these social networks, a behavior I call Social Media Paranoia. The possibility is that you have noticed it too among some of your friends, or maybe you display some the symptoms of SMP yourself.

1. You are preoccupied with unsupported doubts about friends, followers or subscribers of your page
2. You have unfounded suspicions toward fellow users, and you believe that they are plotting against you
3. You perceive comments made as attacks on your reputation that are not clear to others, and you quickly counterattack with comments yourself
4. You read negative meanings into innocuous comments posted on the pages of other people
5. You are reluctant to confide in others due to a fear that information may be posted within the next 24-hours on the world wide web

If you recognize any of these 5 points in your behavior or in others… It might be Social Media Paranoia. But what to do?

First you need to ask yourself if you spend to many hours on these sites, and if you do it would be wise to apply some self-discipline in this area. Start spending more time before His face, reading His Book, and spend quality time with real people.

Secondly if there is the possibility that any of your assumptions might be true, make quickly use of the delete option for your page, or the friend(s).

The Bible talks about a man, who did not use the social media, but King Saul definitely suffered of paranoia. His disobedience toward God caused him to be rejected as king, and Saul became delusional. Maybe the symptoms started with stomach aches, which kept him awake with all the worries that were bothering him. In the beginning David would play the harp for Saul, and it would give him a temporary peace, but even that did not do the job after a while. Having David around –a man after Gods heart– did not make it any easier for him, actually he felt threatened by his loyal servant. Saul saw a conspiracy in every situation and he started to display an antisocial personality disorder, causing even his own family to fear for their lives. Needless to say it did not end well with Saul.

Don’t let a tool that can be a useful, become a curse to the relationships God has blessed us with.