Living on Mission at City Hall (by Brendie Heter)

God laid the groundwork for my mission field many many years ago. I was a strange child who watched CSPAN and volunteered on political campaigns. What can I say? I loved Jesus and politics!

I had no trouble deciding a major in college and signed up for Political Studies at the Master's College. While I loved my classes and professors, attending Master's really messed with my mind as a "career-minded" female. I became depressed because the other girls had lofty and clear "spiritual paths".

Most women were on serious missions to nab a pastor as a husband but I had actually made a vow never to marry a pastor when I was 11....I saw how hard it was on my sisters and wanted no part in professional ministry. Satan would constantly remind me how "lacking" I was and how often I had failed. I felt constantly under attack and "spiritually naked" surrounded by these women. Basically, I was confused about how I could serve the Lord while NOT married to a pastor. I couldn't sew, knit, and knew I wasn't called for full-time ministry ....so how could God use me?

I continued my passion for politics and worked on Capitol Hill in DC and then landed a great job with the City of Santa Clarita my senior year. Within the first week of my new job at City Hall, it just "clicked" and I knew I was in the right place. My co-workers encouraged me, pointed out gifts I didn't know I had, molded, and mentored me for advancement. HERE, I finally belonged!
I felt like an outsider in the Christian community but felt uplifted and loved at work.

Sadly, I focused more on this career then I did my relationship with the Lord. I will admit, I fell many times and damaged my testimony. I had an image of a proper "Christian Woman" and I just couldn't be her. And then...started believing I couldn't serve the Lord the "right way".

It was my roommate, Kellie Espino (then Kellie McDonald) who told me to make City Hall my mission field. We were sitting in our old apartment and I will never forget how stunned I was. It was a concept I never heard of and it was SO RELIEVING. I lost a HUGE burden off my shoulders. If she was right, God had actually placed me in this mission field and I wasn't somehow an outsider???

City Hall is challenging for many reasons. It's an amazing place to work but also easy to get distracted with career goals rather than living purposely. Sometimes I speak to the most difficult, rude people on the planet. Sometimes their self-inflated sense of entitlement makes me want to either laugh or scream. However, I have to be very careful in how I react to these people because I know I'm being watched.

Lately, opportunities have come from talking to co-workers about the biblical view on marriage. Going through the engagement process at work was interesting because the marriage "advice" started coming almost immediately. I was able to share the beauty of the gospel to friends by explaining God's "advice", His view on marriage.

My job has also opened the door, to the "social scene" of Santa Clarita. There are HUNDREDS of non-profit in towns but sadly believers are pitifully represented. These people are amazing, generous, kind and for the most part don't need recognition. They are serving the community passionately but are empty. This is a particularly hard mission field since they are amazing on their own strength and seemingly they don't need anything. Volunteering along side unbelievers has provided great opportunities to explain why I volunteer and who I ultimately serve.

The series on "Living on Mission" has been so powerful for my life. I've been challenged and encouraged. A few weeks back Brian read: "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ...God making his appeal through us!" I Cor 5:20

As a political nerd, this verse struck me because "ambassador" is a term for a high-ranking government official. Ambassadors are chosen very carefully. It takes a LOT of work to become one and he/she has been given a serious task. The Lord's Ambassadors are expected use their position to further the Lord's kingdom not their own.

I have been called to be an Ambassador for Christ in City Hall and through out Santa Clarita Valley. It's not glamorous and often frustrating. But it's exactly where the Lord has me and I'm grateful for the opportunity.

The Women's Gathering Recap (by Jennifer Jackson)

Women's Ministry at Copperhill Church exists to create an environment where women can build lasting friendships while pursuing deeper intimacy with Christ. Our first gathering was held August 14th, which we hope is the beginning of what should be a promising string of women's fellowship events at our church.

The night began with mingling and greeting. A kind welcome and opening prayer from Cathy Daniels prepared our hearts for the tremendous testimony to be shared by Kellie Davenport. Kellie vulnerably shared how the Lord had brought her and her husband to a better understanding of living life with purpose through Him as she testified to the sufferings of having a child with unexpected health problems. Her words of wisdom coupled with her brutal honesty were just what were needed to challenge the women to think outside of their comfort zones or possibly release any feelings they had been harboring due to difficult times in their own lives. Kellie challenged our whole group to ask for the Lord's strength in suffering knowing that it would come our way. Kellie summarized her testimony and goal in sharing by saying that she is nothing apart from Christ and suffers only for the glory of the Lord who is able to sustain us in hard times.

Kellie shared a verse from 1 Peter 3:14-15, which says "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." Through suffering, we grow in our understanding of this hope and God can use us to be a testimony to a hopeless world.

After Kellie finished sharing her testimony, we broke off into a time of reflection and sharing. It was an opportunity to hear about how other women in our church have suffered and how the Lord's faithfulness was their refuge and strength. Hearing of God's work in Kellie's family provided a reminder of our need for an eternal perspective. The many suffering stories that were shared that night posed as a challenge for the rest of the women to see suffering through Biblical lenses.

The Copperhill Women's event was a gathering blessed by God and one which will be remembered by all who were in attendance. This is just one of the many events which will be held so that the women of our church can grow in relationship, accountability, friendship, and Christ-like character with one another.

Note: Ladies, please mark your calendars for our next Women's Gathering. It will be Friday evening, December 4 at the Church Warehouse. More details to follow.

Men's Getaway Recap (by Scott Newman)

On Friday October 2nd, fifty-five of Copperhill's men loaded up their camping gear and piled into trucks for a weekend men's retreat at the Ocean Mesa campground at El Capitan State Beach. As all men know, there are three key ingredients for a successful men's retreat: food, fun and fellowship over God's Word. Our retreat fit the bill in just about every way to make for yet another successful men's retreat to finish out 2009.

It is seriously questionable whether there has ever been better camp food than what the men feasted on at the retreat. Master chef Brantley Dunaway basically imported a roving kitchen to craft the incredible meals to keep the guys going during all the activities. Special thanks are due Brantley for taking his weekend (and his retreat time) to serve our men in the food department.

The weekend was also a great time to both relax and compete together. The late night campfire on Friday night mixed with fresh baked cookies, good conversations, cigars and a starlit sky made for a memorable and calming evening. Saturday, following a morning devotion, the afternoon was spent on the beach. Most of the men enjoyed playing semi-tackle flag football organized by Luis Espino. Although many of us came back sore and bruised it's hard to spend a more worthwhile afternoon than playing football on the beach.

Most importantly, we were blessed and honored to have a wonderful retreat speaker this year. We were joined by Matt Troupe, an Acts 29 planter who helped start Free Grace Church in Fresno, CA. He challenged our men with the concept of living "Coram Deo", a fancy Latin phrase, which means that our entire lives are lived out in front of God. As Psalm 139 makes clear, God is intimately aware of every detail of our lives. This is comforting for us because we know that God is aware and cares about all of our concerns. However, it also reminds us that the infinitely holy God is aware of every single way that we fail to give him the honor He deserves. Understanding this helps make the Gospel come alive because it teaches us that God, who is fully aware of the ways that we sin against Him, nevertheless sent His Son to die a horrible death in our place. Then, because of Jesus' death, God is now able to shower grace into our lives so that we are enabled to give Him the honor He's due in our every-day life circumstance.