by Dan Christian

From the beginning, God has ordained rest as a necessary and significant part of His creation. God’s rest on the seventh day of creation was not because He was worn out, but in order to establish a pattern of work and rest for His created beings (Genesis 2:1-3). Part of God’s good design for human beings—before the fall into sin—is that we require daily sleep. To be a creature rather than the Creator, a finite being rather than the infinite God, means that we are bound by certain limits. We cannot live without air or food or water…or rest.

Because of sin, our human need for rest is not merely a physical limit of our finite bodies; rather, it has also become a deep need of our souls. Thus, Jesus gives us a compelling invitation: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29) Our souls need rest, a rest that only God can provide. 

God calls us to enter His rest through faith and obedience (see Hebrews 4:9-11). That can happen in part here and now, but will only happen fully when we are taken out of this sin-sick world and brought into our eternal rest in the very presence of our God. And so even as we strive to learn godly rhythms of work and rest in the midst of our labors here on earth, we long for that fullness of rest in Christ that will be ours someday. 

One helpful rhythm of work and rest that we have been granted as full-time pastors at Evergreen SGV is the opportunity to take a 3-month sabbatical every fifth year of our employment. The stated purpose for these sabbaticals (according to our staff policy manual) is: 1) Rest and relaxation from the rigors of ministry, 2) Spiritual renewal and replenishment, 3) Growth in specific areas of life and ministry, and 4) Time to visit and learn from other churches and ministries. 

We recognize that we as pastors are better equipped and able to serve and shepherd this church family when we are experiencing rest for our souls in Christ. Granted, much of that rest can—and does—come through daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms of rest and retreat, individually and in community. Yet there is a different level of rest that can only come through pulling away entirely from our regular responsibilities for an extended time—that is what a sabbatical provides.

I was due for a sabbatical last year, but initially decided to postpone it because of all the transition happening in our church, and then the pandemic shutdowns further complicated those plans. So I have finally been able to schedule my sabbatical for this summer—it will be starting on May 9th and continuing through August 7th. I am so grateful for the generosity of our church to grant this kind of restful space for me!

As I enter in to this sabbatical time, would you please pray for me?

• Please pray that I could truly rest and be refreshed, and that God would invigorate my soul for this next season of ministry ahead.

• Please pray for my family—it is not just me that is exhausted, but my whole family is very weary also. The constant demand of caring for our daughter with special needs takes its toll, and with this past year+ of pandemic quarantines, that toll has climbed exponentially. There is no sabbatical from family pressures—pray for strength and grace day by day.

• Please pray that our daughter could return to the various places where she receives care and services (which have been unavailable during the pandemic), and that she would not continue to regress.

• Please pray that God would give me vision and direction for the new areas of ministry that I will be overseeing: biblical counseling, young adults, retreats and conferences, and baptism/Communion.

In order to facilitate this time of rest, you will most likely not be seeing me on Sunday mornings or hearing from me in various communications for the next three months. But please know that I will be praying for you during this time, and I will look forward to entering back in to this joyous work of shepherding souls, to which God has called me. Until then, it is time to rest.

by Hugo Torres

Please share some of your background and also how you came across Evergreen SGV.

I was born and raised in Mexico in a Catholic family by tradition. My parents were never devout Catholics. However, as a child they started me in the knowledge of Christ, but without the gospel, which is God's power for salvation to anyone who believes, the Jew first and then the Greek (Romans 1:16), since officially, the Catholic Church does not teach the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

At the age of 23, I came to the United States and here the Lord saved me by grace (Eph. 2:8-9). I was 27 years old when someone invited me to an evangelical church of the Baptist denomination where after attending for three months, God convicted me of my sin and broke my heart to the point of repenting and believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:37-38). 

Since then, I firmly believe that I was born again and as a result, my life changed radically in my worldview and behavior, and from very early in my Christian life, the Lord put in my heart the desire to pursue pastoral ministry (1 Timothy 3:1). But it was not until three years later after my conversion that God opened the door to enter a Bible Institute to prepare for ministry. Two years after I graduated in 2004, I began my first pastoral ministry in a small Hispanic Baptist congregation that lasted for eight years. In that same year I married my wife Jacqueline with whom I have three sons. 

In 2011, desiring to be better prepared for ministry, God opened a second door to enter the Master's Seminary. During this time in 2013, the Lord led me to plant a Hispanic congregation in the city of La Habra, which I pastor to the present time.

In 2019, a day before the Shepherd’s conference started (a yearly conference for pastors led by Dr. John MacArthur and his church), there was a fellowship of pastors held on the campus of Grace Community Church to which Pastor Rocky Seto was personally invited by Dr. MacArthur and it turned out that I was assigned to sit at the same table next to where Pastor Rocky was seated. Both of us enjoyed fellowshipping together during that day and also, during the entire week of the Shepherd’s conference. Since then, Pastor Rocky and I became good friends with a common cause and purpose to serve in love the Lord's church as pastors (Acts 20:28). I believe in God’s providence that He allowed me to meet Pastor Rocky and through him, be acquainted with Evergreen SGV, and the rest we can say is history. 

Please share how you became a part-time Spanish-Speaking pastor at Evergreen SGV.

I would like to answer this question by first recognizing again the providence of God (Romans 8:28) in this ministerial position at Evergreen SGV. It was on a Sunday in the summer of 2019 that my family and I visited the church. A few days earlier, Pastor Rocky called me to let me know his desire to reach the Hispanic community surrounding the church campus. During my visit that day, I saw the potential provided by the congregation and its facilities and the Lord put in my heart that same desire to reach the Hispanic community here. 

It was also during this visit that I was introduced to a key person, Pastor Victor Chen, who oversaw Local Outreach and International Missions and so we began to cultivate a friendship and camaraderie. I soon expressed to him my desire to help the church reach the Hispanics. Pastor Victor responded by inviting me to volunteer in the food pantry ministry, which I did together with my wife Jacky every other week until it had to be canceled because of the pandemic. Around this time, Pastor Victor offered me the position and after talking to my wife and praying about it, convinced that it was from God, I accepted it.

What are your responsibilities as the Spanish-Speaking Pastor in Local Outreach?

My primary responsibility as the book of Acts 1:8 clearly expresses, is to coordinate the Local Outreach (our Jerusalem) of our church to the Hispanic community through the proclamation of the gospel and the making of disciples of Jesus (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20) in consultation and coordination with other activities and ministries of local scope of the church. 

Equally important, is my responsibility to help the church begin a Spanish ministry, oversee a Bible study in Spanish, develop friendly relationships with the Hispanic community and Evergreen SGV, respond to any calls the church receives in Spanish from the community and be available to meet any needs primarily for counseling and prayer. Another part of my responsibility is also to explore and develop strategies and ways to effectively reach out to the community and serve as a mediator to establish a strong relationship between our church and Don Julian Elementary School.

How has your time on staff been so far?

Incredibly positive. From the first day I started, I have felt very welcomed by all the staff, especially by the pastoral body because of the close relationships that I have developed by participating every Tuesday in the Pastors’ Round Table. They have really shown me and made me feel like I am one like them and that fills me with humility. 

Every Tuesday, I go with great enthusiasm because of the opportunities to cultivate my relationships with one other. And now that recently the staff is returning to work in person, I also take it as an opportunity to develop relationships with them.    

What are you most excited for in Local Outreach at Evergreen SGV?

The vision of seeing a congregation of believers as part of the Evergreen SGV family serving and worshipping in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24) in the Lord's Day simultaneously in Spanish. For now, this vision is what excites me to do what I do in the Local Outreach of our church.    

Is there anything you would like to share with the church family?

Yes. I recently received a nice card from a person from the 3rd and 4th grade department and I wanted to quote what she wrote: "Thank you for being the Local Outreach pastor to the Spanish people. God is with you wherever you go. I will be praying for you and that more people will join your Spanish-speaking bible study. I hope I can meet you in person someday."

If I could respond to the words of this person, this is what I would say and equally, to the rest of Evergreen SGV family: I am the one who is grateful to God and you for allowing me to be part of this family and ministry. Thank you for supporting me with your prayers for local outreach, and I do also look forward to meeting you personally with my family.  

By Sabrina Yee and Adam Pietrantonio

Hello Evergreen SGV church family!

This is Sabrina Yee and Adam Pietrantonio. It is such a joy to announce to you—through this blog—that we are getting married on June 26th this year! We also wanted to use this space to introduce Adam to the Evergreen SGV family and provide some insight into our wedding planning, which has been a unique season to say the least.

Adam’s Story

Adam is originally from Toronto, Canada and was born into an Italian-Canadian family. He decided to follow Christ as a university student, through the student ministry Cru. He is currently the only Christian in his family, and as a result, quickly saw the need for evangelism and discipleship among those who do not know Jesus. Through various conversations and events, God ignited a desire in Adam to love and serve the Japanese people in Japan for the sake of the Gospel. He is currently a career missionary with a Canadian mission agency: Fellowship International. He and Sabrina are committed to serving long-term in Japan together, as God permits. If you would like to know more about Adam’s story and his journey to Japan, feel free to approach him when he is at the Sunday services at Evergreen SGV.

Wedding Planning

Wedding planning for us has been unique for two main reasons: we are planning during a pandemic, and we are planning with families living in two different countries. While the pandemic has forced us into realities that we would not choose for ourselves under normal circumstances, we have sought to be intentionally grateful for the blessings we have experienced during this season. One of these blessings has been the relative (key word: relative) ease in planning the wedding. COVID-19 has forced us to scale back our initial plans, which has presented us with fewer decisions to make. We are grateful that Christ has given us spaces of rest during this time. 

Another unique reality has been navigating our times with each of our families. Traveling back-and-forth from the U.S. and Canada over the last several months has had its challenges, as we have had to quarantine each time arriving in either country. We are both approaching four months of quarantine cumulatively, so it has been extra sweet to meet with friends and soon-to-be family during this season of movement. 

Also, with the travel restrictions varying significantly between the United States and Canada, there is a chance that very few—if any—of Adam’s relatives will be able to travel to California in June for the wedding. Navigating these changes and the possible scenarios that may occur has been difficult for us. We are praying that the small contingent of Adam’s family will be able to attend in-person.

Thank you

With all this, we have received such great love and support from those at Evergreen SGV that we have connected with. (From Adam): It has been a joy to see from afar the care that Sabrina has received from so many of you at Evergreen SGV. I am excited to meet many of you in the coming months and say a socially distanced thank you!

Pastor Kenny has played a key role in coordinating our outdoor services for the past year. Here, he shares some of the challenges this past year and our preparations for moving services back indoors .

Please Share what happened one year ago when the church had to livestream.

Our country decided to follow a nationwide lockdown in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The initial idea was the slow the spread and then it seemed like it turned into an attempt to completely stop the spread.

By God’s providence, we had purchased video streaming equipment a few months earlier for a memorial service we hosted at our church in May 2019. And so, when we were deciding to livestream our worship service, we already had the equipment necessary to do it.

We started live-streaming on Sunday, March 15th, and have been doing it ever since.

What were some of the challenges when the church was able to reopen at limited capacity indoors?

The main challenges were understanding which COVID-19 protocols were necessary. Then the challenge was to make sure we agreed on how the protocols would be followed on Evergreen SGV‘s campus. The other challenge was and continues to be reliable knowledge about COVID-19 in general. However, as more time passes and different states in our country apply various approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears that we are getting a clearer picture of what protocols are necessary for us to follow in order to protect the most vulnerable in our society and which ones we can stop practicing. 

Describe what outdoor service first looked liken when it began summer 2020.

We first started outdoor service as an alternative service for those who wanted to worship in-person and were weary of online church. We held the service outside at 9 am without a PA system. Pastor Victor led two worship songs at the beginning, Rocky preached and then we closed in worship. It was simple but sweet. After the outdoor service, we would go inside and do the livestream service at 10:30.

We eventually combined the two services and started to livestream the outdoor worship service as it is today.

Please share how outdoor service has grown since then.

Outdoor service began with about 15 to 25 people but once we created one outdoor service, it quickly grew to approximately 150 each Sunday. Recently, with more and more people being vaccinated, we now average about 225 to 245 people each week. The PA system is clear and the worship team is no longer just Pastor Victor on the guitar but it’s grown to 4 to 5 people worship teams and now even drums! I have already heard many times how people enjoy worshipping outside. However, with increasing temperatures, we are looking forward to going back inside.

Please share some of the discussion going on as we prepare to reopen service indoors again.

As we prepare to go indoors again, we want to focus on two things: One, we want to make sure that we were following the Los Angeles county health department guidelines. Two, we want to address the health concerns our church family might have regarding worshipping indoors.

As for the LA County guidelines, we are currently in the Orange Tier and so we are allowed to meet indoors at 50% capacity. As for the health concerns, we will be following the social distancing protocols laid out by the county and plan to continue to health screen everyone coming into our worship service. We are also assessing the rare possibility of COVID-19 being spread via aerosols since we believe that is the primary concern of most people as we plan to move back into the sanctuary. We will also have an outdoor option available for those who are not ready to return indoors.

Looking back, what are some of the lessons our church can glean from this year?

There are so many lessons we have learned over this past year. 

We have learned that we need to communicate better at all levels leadership and with you, our church family. 

We learned that ALL news sources have an agenda and bias, and so it’s necessary to balance our intake with both Left-leaning news sources with Right-leaning ones. We are better informed when we do our research well. 

We’ve learned that we must focus on growing each believer deeper in their relationship with Christ and with one another (i.e. focus on discipleship) and not on large programs. When all the programs cease, what is left? What is left are relationships and so we want to major in relationship in the upcoming years. 

And last of all, for me, I have learned again that death is our greatest fear and that our message, the gospel message, the message of the whole Bible, addresses this most foundational fear of humanity.

Please join us for “Moving Forward", a presentation assessing the risk of infection from moving services indoors by church member, Dr. James Chow, this Sunday, 4/18 at 1pm. You can sign up at www.evergreensgv.org. 

by Dan Christian

When you hear that meeting together in-person as believers in Christ is what Scripture calls us to do, don’t miss the beauty of all that frames that biblical command in Hebrews 10:25. And then think carefully about what virtual gathering can—and cannot—provide. 

The command to not neglect meeting together is actually just one phrase in a very long sentence that stretches from verse 19 through verse 25 of Hebrews 10. It is a densely packed summary statement that bookends the central idea of the whole book of Hebrews. So when verse 19 starts with “Therefore, brothers and sisters,” it is referring back to all that has preceded it about the superiority of Jesus as our great and perfect high priest.

Because of all that Jesus has accomplished for us as our great high priest, the author of Hebrews is saying, we then respond in three distinct but connected ways, delineated by three statements of “Let us”: Let us draw near, let us hold fast, and let us consider. We are to draw near to God in faith, hold fast our confession of hope, and consider how to stir one another up to love. Faith, hope, and love are all wrapped up in this call to respond to Jesus’ priestly ministry. 

Stirring one another up—or spurring one another on—to love, by definition requires connectedness with one another; it is not a solitary action. Therefore, the author says, we must not neglect meeting together, but instead encourage one another continually. The word for “neglect” is much stronger than simply being lax about getting together—it means to “abandon” or “forsake” a covenant. The author says that attitude of giving up on meeting together is something that could become habitual, thus there is need to intentionally fight that tendency. 

The flipside of not abandoning our gathering is instead to encourage one another. So in one sense, the author is making gathering together synonymous with encouraging each other. This is the same word “encouragement” that is used in Hebrews 3:12, where we are commanded to “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” The kind of encouragement that comes through meeting together is not mere positivity, but is a deep soul care that keeps us walking faithfully with Christ.

In the flow of this long, beautifully crafted sentence, the encouragement of meeting together connects directly with the third exhortation to stir one another up to love. There is a mutual, good provocation that comes with gathering together, which deepens our capacity to love. However, it’s not a stretch to see that meeting together and encouraging one another also boosts our faith as we draw near to God, and strengthens our hearts to hold fast to hope. Thus, just as the priestly work of Christ provides the basis for our response of faith, hope, and love, so the act of gathering together provides the context in which all of that can happen. 

So does a virtual gathering, like a Zoom meeting or a livestream worship service, accomplish this same mutual encouragement toward faith, hope, and love? Yes…and no. I believe significant aspects of this mutual encouragement are only possible in a physical gathering together. Virtual meetings are helpful and can facilitate some aspects of this kind of mutual soul care, but let’s not settle for the virtual and miss the fullness that comes with actual gathering. And as we come back together in-person, let’s not bypass the benefits that we gain with physical proximity.

Think about a few of the differences between virtual and in-person gathering. Virtual gatherings miss out on most of the significant pre- and post-meeting conversations that happen spontaneously while simply hanging out. Often those conversations are where we process and apply what we have just heard in the sermon or meeting, and where relationships are deepened as we listen and share with one another. Those conversations can—and sometimes do—happen virtually, but in a much more limited fashion than when we are present in-person with one another. Thus, as we come back together, let’s make sure we make the most of these times to connect deeply before and after, rather than showing up late and leaving early. 

Virtual meetings miss much of our nonverbal communication and are devoid of physical touch. There is much encouragement that comes through our nonverbal engagement with one another—whether sighs or smiles, tears or a gentle touch—which gets lost (or is downright impossible) in a virtual gathering. Thus, as we come back together, let’s make the most of the opportunity to engage our whole being with one another as we were created to do. 

There are many other distinctions between gathering virtually and in-person, but I’ll mention only one other here: Virtual meetings generally cushion us from spontaneous, sanctifying interactions with people we find uncomfortable to be around. I recognize this may not be a reason that excites you to come back together, and yet this is an important aspect of Christian community. We are called to love the unlovable, to care for the least of these, to extend kindness and grace to those different than us. In the gathered community of the church, we have ample opportunity to grow in these ways, as uncomfortable as they often are. Again, these opportunities could happen in virtual gatherings too, but it is easier to avoid them when they are not physically “in your face.” So, as we come back together, let’s open our hearts to the opportunities God gives us to love difficult people.

In this pandemic time, there is much good that has come from our virtual gatherings, and I am certainly thankful for the opportunity to connect virtually in an otherwise extremely isolating time. However, as the situation continues to improve and there are increased opportunities to gather in-person, I hope that (to the extent that we can) we will not settle for the virtual substitute but will come together in-person to encourage each other to draw near to God, to hold fast to hope, and to spur each other on to love.