One Year in India (by Mike Gundersen)

This year has been an enlightening one. When I first arrived in India, I was overwhelmed with the amount of work to do. I found myself suddenly in charge of six Indian people whose languages I did not speak and cultures I did not understand. As the months went by, God was gracious in allowing me to learn how they thought, the cultural and language differences. Friendships began to form as we worked through the hot summer and cold winter, serving daily alongside each other. God was at work in our lives.

As the year progressed, God continually exhibited his graciousness. He allowed me to be comfortable here, find my place here in Delhi, and work alongside my friends instead of just being an administrator among strangers. We got the operation running more smoothly and I had learned to live in a new world.

The work here encompassed many different things. Here are some highlights: English classes were taught, medicine was distributed, food was shared, blankets given, slum kids were tutored. Also, our ultimate goal of reaching university students through the work of PMI was realized in a number of lives. Their names are Sonu, Chanda, Mehnaz, Sandeep, Roman and Pooja.

I’ve learned much over this year about my own weaknesses. It was interesting to see how they exhibit themselves in a different culture. But our God is gracious and has taught me, and is still teaching me, to rely upon Him for the strength to get the work done, to go before Him in prayer for all my needs and to give Him the praise for the work He’s done, is doing and will continue to do.

Continue to pray for the work going on here. India is a very dark country, and is in desperate need of the Lord. Pray for the workers called here, to be faithful to their calling. I hope this encourages you to be faithful to your own calling, relying upon the Lord’s strength and to have your will aligned perfectly with that of our heavenly Father’s.

The Copperhill Jr. High Ministry, a Serious Faith in an Exciting, Youthful Way (by Jennifer Jackson)

The Junior High Ministry almost dismantled last December 2008. But a group of men in our church, Joe Powell, Coleman Falco, and James Daniels, stepped up and saw the importance of continuing the ministry. As a result of their faithfulness to the Lord and His provision, a group of leaders were formed who were extremely passionate about seeing Jr. High students reached for Christ. Since then, many awesome things have happened. Our ministry has had over 30 students come through and runs a steady group of core students who desire to learn more about Christ and their purpose in Him.

We started with Sunday morning gatherings. We slowly saw an increase in our attendance and saw glimpses of the desire of our students to truly know more about God’s word and how it applies to their lives. Our Sunday morning’s have provided an opportunity to teach our youth about Christ’s walk to the cross and His sacrifice for sin; our sins and theirs. Most importantly it is a time to reflect upon our walk with the Lord and provoke preparation for the upcoming week which will without a doubt be full of life’s challenges and spiritual warfare.

Our desire to encourage adult like faith and responsibility in a group of Jr. High students is completely driven from our belief that age cannot and will not be an excuse or an obstacle to whole heartedly pursue Christ and be used by Him. This is why we decided we would need more than just Sunday mornings to influence the wonderful students the Lord had put in our ministry.

We launched our Wednesday night gatherings in April and have seen quite the success with our nights full of competition and the preaching of the Word. Our students love to play crab soccer and dodge ball and if you ever visited you would most certainly find a leader getting in on the action. They also get involved in the discussions and leave with a challenge to live their lives for Christ in a personal stimulating way. Our leaders are very grateful for Wednesday nights because they have enabled us and the students to get to know each other quicker and form bonds that will not easily be broken.

We held Jr. High summer camp in July. It was an opportunity for our leaders to grow in leadership and organization, but most importantly in edifying relationships with one another in the Lord. There were many areas to plan and prepare as each leader played a significant role in the overwhelming success of our camp. We took our students to a cabin a little over an hour north of Santa Clarita and away from the many distractions of technology, busy schedules, sports and the many other anxieties of life.

Before we even left for camp there were many obstacles and stumbling blocks. But the Lord knew exactly what would prepare our hearts to focus on Him and what it means to worship Him in spirit and in truth. How providential that our theme for the weekends’ messages was focused on Worship through prayer and the Word, music, and obedience. In spite of the late take off, flat tire, lost sleeping bag, and lack of street lights to guide our way, we arrived. How amazing that in this day in age we were able to take a group of about 20 students to a place where cell phone reception was absent and the opportunity to fully worship the Lord was overwhelmingly available. All we had to do, all they had to do, was embrace it and run full force toward the cross.

Our students did run toward the only One who is worthy of our praise both with music and in life style. There were many opportunities to speak openly about the lessons and the challenges when we broke off into small groups. Students were encouraged to specifically share ways that the truths of the Word could be applied to their lives. We had a blessed time together that weekend and we look forward to other trips and getaways we may have together as a ministry.

The Lord is blessing the Copperhill Jr. High Ministry tremendously. In fact we have been so blessed; one could say that the only thing we need or should ask for would be that both leaders and students would have a continued blessing and deeper desire to know Him more. Our prayer is that each student that comes through our ministry is presented with the truths of the Gospel and the reality of the Christian walk in light of their age and purpose in life. David was a man after God’s own heart and was joyfully growing in the Lord at a very young age. We want our Jr. High students to know that their age is not something that should hold them back in their faith, but it is something that the Lord can and will use to enhance their faith.

We thank you for your prayers and support. Please continue to join with us in prayer for the hearts and lives of each and every one of our Jr. High students, both present and future. With the Lord’s blessing there will be a future for this significant ministry, which is such a vital part of any local church, especially ours.

“Souled Out” for Christ (by Luis Espino)

It’s amazing that summer has come and gone already. If feels like yesterday that the high school ministry was just leaving for Hume Lake. Our summer has been filled with beach trips, BBQ’s and sun.

The summer began with the ministry going up to Hume Lake for our annual summer camp getaway. This year, four of our students, Luke Wesselhoff, Max Greaber, Ashleigh Hill, and Shawn Taylor, accepted the Lord. This was amazing to witness for all of us and a great encouragement as a ministry.

We finished teaching through the Sermon on the Mount that we had been going through since last summer. As a ministry, we wanted to take the students through a section of scripture that dealt directly with the heart of following Jesus and that they would learn what it means to be a follower of Christ. Not only was it challenging for the students, but even more challenging for myself. I am overwhelmed at how much the Lord desires all of our life and not just a part of it. He is after a heart of joyful obedience and an understanding that it’s not a process of “doing” things, where instead He cares greatly for the motives in which we do them.

We are now changing gears to dig fully into who God is. We’ll be studying the different attributes of God so that we can have a better understanding of who God is. A.W. Pink wrote “The foundation of all true knowledge of God must be a clear mental apprehension of His perfections as revealed in Holy Scripture. An unknown God can neither be trusted, served, or worshipped.” We want our high school students to have an accurate view and knowledge of God. We desire that this would lead them to a greater intimacy with Him.

Please remember to keep our staff and our students in your prayers. If you would like more information on the high school ministry, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Overview of Counseling Ministry at Copperhill Church (by Josh Sheridan)

The counseling program at Copperhill is committed to the sufficiency of the Word. This means, in essence, that this counseling ministry recognizes not only the validity of the Bible as a means of theological enlightenment, but also as essential to understanding, and handling the issues of life. This includes the wide variety of counseling issues that affect the Church.

In addition, a counseling ministry is not merely a separate entity that exists independently of other ministries. Instead, it is meant that biblical counseling is seamlessly integrated into the ministry, goals, and direction of the church as a whole. Biblical counseling, therefore, is really a form of focused discipleship based on ministering the Word of God.

The counseling ministry is dedicated to helping people in the process of conformity to the image of Christ through the loving, skillful, and practical application of biblical principles to the issues of life. This means that rather than "throw" scripture at a problem, counselors seek to partner with the counselee as in Galatians 6:1-3, coming alongside of them in order to work through the issues the counselee is struggling with. This involves a level of commitment, intimacy, and dedication seen nowhere else, but inherent in and particularly suited to the church.

It is also the believed that the ideal context for long-term growth as a believer and resolution of a given issue occurs in the context of community. Therefore ultimately the initial interactions and interventions of the counseling ministry at Copperhill Church serve functionally in a crisis management role, with long-term discipleship occurring through the shepherding done at the community group level. While no specific length of time is demanded with regards to how long a counselor spends with a counselee, it should be understood by both parties that the goal is to integrate the counselee into a community group for long-term growth and discipleship.

The principles of Matthew 18 also apply to the counseling ministry. This means that we take sin seriously, and do not seek to label it as anything other than what it is. On the other hand, it is essentially that counseling take place in a loving caring atmosphere where sin is confronted, but grace abounds. While genuine repentance is a vital aspect of true change, it is understood that some life dominating patterns that develop take time to change. With this in mind, the church discipline of Matthew 18 is applied with the spirit of grace it was meant to incorporate, while at the same time addressing an unrepentant heart in a biblical fashion.

The goal of the counseling ministry is to not merely help individuals out of difficult circumstances, or change behaviors, but to come alongside individuals so that they might grow in their maturity as a Christian and their likeness to the image of Christ. Ephesians 5:1,2 says, "Be imitators of God therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us, and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering, and sacrifice to God."

If you are interested, or know someone who might need counseling, please contact the Church office for further information.

A Vision for Children's Ministry (by Luis Espino)

Deut 6:5-7: 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deut 4:9: 9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children—

Acts 20:28: 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

As you can see, scripture is very clear in the role parents must have in raising up children in the Truth of the Lord. It is equally shown that the church must care for the flock the Lord has entrusted to it. Deuteronomy stresses the covenant responsibility of parents for their children and Acts 20:28 is asking the church to “Pay Careful Attention” to the flock and the church of God.

It is God’s desire for parents and the church to partner in raising a Holy and God-fearing generation.

As I was asked to come on staff here at Copperhill Community Church the above scripture filled my mind and my heart for the direction in which to pastor this ministry. It is clear while reading the above verses that it is God’s desire to see parents trained in how to parent, disciple, and lead their children in the Truth of scripture; that parents would use every moment as an opportunity to teach their children in the ways of the Lord.

God has also made it clear that the Church is to partner with parents in accomplishing this very task. Therefore, where there are parents, we are to teach, assist, encourage, and partner in order to equip you to do the work of the ministry. Where a parent may not be present, we are to minister accordingly.

Over the next couple of months, my main focus is to completely restructure our family ministries. Alongside of me, you will see the elders at Copperhill taking a more central role in Family Ministry. We are anticipating that these changes will lead to more effective ministry here at Copperhill.

That being clear, WE the core of Copperhill Community Church both parent and non-parent have a job to do. We need to be devoted to teaching and leading the children/youth of this church in all the ways of the Lord.

It is my prayer that as you read the word of God above that our minds would be renewed (Rom 12:2). It is also my prayer that it would pierce our souls to understand that the way we shepherd the flock the Lord has entrusted us with will have eternal consequences. What a great gift the Lord has given us to serve and Love Him in our obedience to His word as we raise a Holy and God-Fearing generation!

One of the ways we can partner together is for you to participate in our Children’s Ministry on Sunday Mornings. We are currently in need of 60+ additional volunteers in order to have an appropriate adult to child ratio for each class. If would like to volunteer in our Children’s Ministry, please click here and select “Children’s Ministry.” Please call me at 661.775.9598 or email me at lespino@copperhillchurch.org if you have any questions.

Thank you for partnering with us!