English

NO MORE EMPTY SEATS

San Bernardino Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, where I am the pastor, is full not only of unrealized potential but also of too many empty pews. Its beautiful sanctuary for 400, regularly receives barely 30. The attendees are resourceful, well resourced, and willing to serve. Yet the surrounding community and four nearby schools are less known for church-attending potential than for poverty, crime and low education. A plan was needed to bridge the chasm between the church and the community with ministry actions and choices that are showcased through the Trinity of Ministry model where people are led, evangelized and discipled across barriers of alienation and social and spiritual distances. Previously, I had been a pastor in three different churches in as many cities. Finally, I had returned to a city that I loved and that had been my initial staging point into a career in ministry. It was an honor to be asked to become Senior Pastor. Everything was going well at the prominent church that I had been serving at in Riverside. My family loved it there, and the decision to leave was a major one. People often ask why I chose to leave a prominent church in Riverside for a smaller,

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