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DSTRITSUPERINTENDEREPORTREV. ERRY . FERGUSONDistr ict uper intendent

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He alsosaid,'T,:hii1. s hat he kingdom f God s ike.A mon cottersseed n thegiiitind.:'Nightnddag.whether esleeps r getsup, heseed prouts ndgrows,hough edoes ot knowhow.Al lbg tsel f hesoilproduces roin-f irst hesto/k, hen heheod, hen he ultkerneln the head. s soon s he groinsripe,heputs the sickle o it, becousehehorvesthoscome."MARK:26-29

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LOS ANGEI,ESDISTRICT ASSEMBLYDISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT' REPORT

June10,2010

INTRODUCTION: Thankyou,Dr. Warrick, or your introduction. amprivilegedo givemyeleventheport o this 60'hDistrictAssembly f theLos Angeles istrict. As I remind s eachyear:althought is my report, t is in realityour reporl.

APPRECIATIONI am thankful to all the people servingon the team with me: District Advisory Board, DistrictNazareneMissions InternationalPresident,District NazareneYouth InternationalPresident,District SundaySchooland DiscipleshipMinistries Chair Person,EmmanuelHeightsCampBoard andDirectors, our district administrator, district office administrator,and my patient,loving wife. I am truly blessed!Let me say a word about he District Advisory Board. It is the egalentity responsible or thedirection,business nd actionsof the district. I amresponsibleo them. Five yearsago,Mr.Mendell Thompson,presidentof America'sChristianCredit Union, havingbeena memberof theDistrict Advisory Board for 17 consecutive ears,steppedaside o allow for new leadership.Three yearsago, Mr. Howard Wooton, presidentof Mutual InsuranceCompany,havingbeen amemberof the District Advisory Board for 2I consecutive earsalso steppedaside o allow fornew leadership.This year,Mr. Gary Morris, seniorpartner n Hart, Mieras, Morris LawOffices,havrngserved or 2l consecutive earson the District Advisory Board, s also steppingaside o allow for new leadership.These hree servantsof God havegivena total of 70 yearsofministry to the district! When they were ogetheron the District Advisory Board, referred othem as he Three Musketeers!I truly appreciate he time, wisdom and spiritual maturity theyhaveprovided to our district! We are blessed hat both Gary and Howard remainmembersof thedistrict finance committee and Gary will alsoremainchairpersonof EmmanuelHeightsCampand Retreat Center Board.

WHEREWE'VE BEEN

Eachyearwe continue o build on previousaccomplishments. ur theme or this past yearhasbeen Hands ReachingUp and Out in Love." Our missionhasnot changed: ur mission s to

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createa climatefor the multiplication of Christ-like ministries. Our vision in fulfilling ourmission s to equip, empowerand encourage.In equipping, we sent 13 district licensedministers andordinationcandidates hrougha ministryassessmentweekend o better preparethem for their call to ministry. We have many studentsenrolled and taking classes hrough our District Training Centeras well as EmmanuelBibleCollege,CentroNazarenodeEstudiosMinisteriales,andLos AngelesGraceschools.In empowering,we haveseenseveralnew ministries startedduring this past year:NorthridgeArmenian, CamarilloSpanish,LancasterNew Life Spanish,and Rowland HeightsSpanish.In encouraging, everalgroupsof pastorsregularly meet n fellowship and prayer. OccasionallyI'm able to meet with them which is an encouragemento me. I pray that kind of fellowshipcontinuesand ncreases!This ideaof "Hands ReachingOut and Up in Love" hasworked itself out in other creativeways.ILLUSTRATION: PastorDavid Robert s in his 22ndyear as he leadpastorof our Montrosechurch. When he began here, he attendancewas around30 in morningworship. Today he isseeing ver 1,000per weekend n five differentworship services. 'd like for him to sharewhattheir congregations doing.BecauseYou Matter - feedinghe homelessn Pasadenahttp:l/media.mantrosechurch.org/medial10/Missions/BecauseYouMatter.movSummer Night Lights - partneringwith the city of LA to reduce angactivity -http://media.montrosechurch.orlmedia/10iissions/SummerNightlights.movILLUSTRATION: Pastor SamChung- Hillside Community: When he beganhis ministry here nSeptember 005,he sensedGod leading im to set agoalof 5-5-5: ive congregationsn five yearswith a total of 500 in worship attendance. Today he has four different language ongregations:Chinese,English, Koreanand Spanishwith nearly 200 in attendance.ILLUSTRATION: PastorJoseAlfaro - Los AngelesHighlandPark:When the English-speakingAnglo pastormoved o another ocation,PastorAlfaro, who hadbeenpastorof the Spanish-speakingcongregation,was elected o become he multi-lingual pastor of the entire church.Recently I was in a worship servicewith them and therewere four languagespoken: English,German,Spanish, nd Tagalog.PastorAlfaro's mission ield is his neighborhoodegardlessf

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ethnic or language istinction. I'd like for him to sharesomeof the things his congregationsdoing.

WHEREWEAREWe currently have 84 fully organized hurcheswith 103congregations.Of these,56 areEnglishspeaking; 1 s Arabic speaking;6 are Armenian speaking;5 areChinesespeaking in Cantonese,Mandarin,and Taiwanese); is Frenchspeaking;10areKoreanspeaking; nd24 areSpanishspeaking. We aredefinitely a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-congregational istrict!The district is planning o ordain or recognize peopleas Eldersand Deacons. We're issuingorrenewing 29 district minister's licenses.We have hador are n the midst of 8 pastoral transitions.Our currentdistrict memberships 12,641,a4.4o/oncrease ver astyear. Our primary worshipattendances 12,290 up 2Yoover ast year. Our SundaySchooVDiscipleship ttendances8,170 down 8.8% rom astyear. Our total money aised or al l purposess $18,165,779,down IIo/o from last year. The total numberof new Nazarenes s 1,033.

WHEREWE'RE GOING

To illustratewhy we need o keepon goingandgrowing,watch this videoclip: "Tell Me Why."The questions his young man asks are what compelus to keep the faith and commit to a lifelongjourney of living and teachingt effectively. The world is brokenand we havebeengiventheGreat Commission!We're called n Scripture o "Go and makedisciples,"not go andplant churches.You canplantchurcheswithout makingdisciples; however,you can't makediscipleswithout churchesbeingthe result. To fulfill the greatcommissionwe must shift our primary focus from a church-planting strategy to a disciple-makingstrategy. Our missionalfocus s to GO und make disciplesthut can make disciples, rather than makingdisciples that say, "Come meetmy pastor; he canhelpyou."This meanswe must think like missionariesaswe go out into the harvest ield. In fact, we mustbecomemissionariesand enter the cultures that surroundus and reach hosecultures rather thaninviting people to leave heir culture and enter our churchculture in order to meetJesus.

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Leonard Sweet n his recent book, SoBeautiful,makes his statement: "You are likely the astgenerationto befamiliar with the Christian story andfor whom churcheshave culturalsignificance.

We can organizemore ministries- worship experiences, ible classes, mall-group ellowships,supportgroups,outreachopportunities,missionencounters andyet, for all this,we stillstrugglewith the most basicgoal: ostering spiritual growth.The Willow CreekAssociation'srecentReveal study makes t evident that churchprogramsandactivities do not necessarily ead to spiritual maturity. In fact, churchactivities sometimesget inthe way of spiritual growth.Does his rock you as t doesme? I don't want the North AmericanNazareneso becomeextinctl! I want us to becomea vital, relevant, econciling,healing orce for Christ? Jesuscameto fulfill His missionby connecting with the world in which He trived. And He invites us to dothe same hing.Mark 4226-29He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like.A man scattersseedon theground. 27 Night and day, whetherhe sleepsor getsup, the seedsprouts and grows, though hedoes not lntow how. 28 All by itself the soil producesgrain -first the stalk, then the head, henthe ull kernel in thehead. 29As soonas thegrain is ripe, heputs the sickle to it, because heharvesthas come. NIV1 Corinthians 3:7-9,23 So neitherhe whoplants nor he who waters s anything,but only God,who makes hingsgrow. 8 The man whoplants and the man who waters have onepurpose, andeachwill be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's ellow workers; you areGod's ield, God'sbuilding....23 andyou are of Christ, and Christ s of God.NIYThus, the theme or the comingyear. "Plant - Water- HawesL"This process s broughtout by Jesusn theparableof the sower n Matthew 13:3-9 "Afarmerwent out to sow his seed.4As he was scattering heseed,somefell alongthe path, and the birdscame and ate t up. 5 Somefell on rockvpluces.where t did not ltave muchsoil. It sprang upquickly, because he soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun cameup, theplants were scorched,andtheywithered because hey had no root. 7 Otherseedfell amongtltgln& which grew up andchoked heplants. I Still other seedfell on sood soil, where it produced a crop - a hundred,sixtyor thirty timeswhat wassown. 9 He who has ears, et him hear."NlYILLUSTRATION: Artificial flowers - they are a form of godliness,but have no power.

Ceea(,,

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Where do we plant? Eachperson s different; eachcongregations different. Il'e ure where weqre at this time by God's design.Acts 17:26 says,From one man (God) made evety nation of men, hat theyshould inhabit thewhole earth; and He determined he times setfor themand theexactplaceswheretheyshould live.27 God did this so that menwould seekHim andperhaps reach outfor Him andfind Him,though He is notfarfrom each one o/as. NIVWhat would happen f eachof our 103congregations rew a 1-milecirclearoundyour primarymeetingplaceand began ocusingon the needswithin that mile? Are thereschools n yourneighborhood? Are thereestablished eedingcenters?Whereare he nursinghomes? Are theredifferentpeoplegroups?What types of residential ousingunits? Are therebeforeschooVafterschoolopportunities to minister? Are theregovemmentoffices are n your neighborhood; iredepartmentsand police? Whereare he restaurants?Whereare he homelesspeoplecongregating?What would happen f we said we aregoing o "own" our neighborhood?John Wesleysaid, "Tlte world is myparish." Do you think it is ust by coincidencehat youand your congregation rewherethey are? Or canyou agreewith me that you havebeenstrategically lacedby the very power and Spirit of God? Something appenswhen we takeownershipandwe say, "Lord, this is whereyou haveplantedus. This is wherewe are. This iswherewe will live the ove of Jesus."

This is what the OrganicChurch movement s all about. Its DNA is patternedafter the CoreValuesof the Churchof the Nazarene:Christian,Holiness.and Missional. Here s the DNA ofthe OrganicChurchmovement:

D - Divine Truth and the makingof Christ-like disciples(Christian)N - Nurturing Relationshipsand the living out of our faith in community (Holiness)A - Apostolic Mission or actingon the missionof Christ (Missional)

PastorJohn Huddle,our pastorat Westchester,s our district OrganicChurchdirectorand n lessthan threeyearshas seen heir ministry grow from less han 30 to over 100peopleweekly.Rev. Lamar Davis, pastor of our Los AngelesGracecongregation,s also modelingwhat it meansto plant seed n their mission field by goingout into the community.

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When it comes o watering, thereare different ways to do it. Rainfall and nighttime dew arenatlxal watering systems. Irrigation and sprinkler systems areother ways of gettingwater to theplants.

Natural spiritual wateringtakesplacewhen we regularly meet together o learn, o fellowship andto sharpenone another.Proverbs2l:17 says, 7s iron sharpens ron, so one mansharpensanother. Hebrews 10:24-25 et us think abouteachotherand helpeachother o show ove anddo good deeds. Youshould not stay away rom the church meetings,as someare doing, butyoushould meet ogetherand encourageeachother. NCVSpecial imes of meetingsare another way of watering, .e. revival servicesand summercamps.Conferences re another opportunity for natural watering. This year is PALCON (PastorsandLeadersConference) t Point Loma NazareneUniversity, July 19-22,2010. TheNationalBlackNazareneConference ill be held n St.Louis July 22-25,2010. The Mission20ll (M- I l)Conference ill be held n Louisville,Ky February2l-23,2011.But there are also times when we need o take the water to the plants- irrigation systems orpiping in the water, f you please.We have wo specificsituationson our district where,due othe uniquenatureof their ministries, they will never be able o become ully self-sustaining.Theythemselvescannotprovide all the water they need. Theseare our Skid Row and Hollywoodministries.

Dr. Jeff Thomas,pastor of Los Angeles CentralCity Community Churchof the Nazarene,andGrady Martine, director of the CentralCity Community OutreachCenter,minister to nearly 400peopleevery week amida heavily homeless ndneedypopulation;however, heir socio-economic onditionsmake t impossible o raise henearly$4,500monthly rent for thei r facility.As a vehiclefor generatingncome,aswellas showing their desire o minister to the largerBodyof Christ, he CentralCity Community ChurchPraiseTeamhasprofessionallyproduceda CDavailable or a suggested onationof $20 each. My hope is that you will purchasemultiplecopiesandgive hem asgifts or resell hem o your friends. All proceedswill go directly togving practicalhelp to Skid Row residents hrough outreachprogramsprovided by the church.Pastor Michael&BarbaraVasquezpastor he Hollywood Childrenof the Shepherd ongregation.They weekly minister o nearly onehundredpeoplewith food andclothingdistributionas wellas worship opportunities. Their monthly rent is also$4,500. Both PastorMichael andBarbarawork full-time in other obs andheavily invest their personal inances n this ministry.

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Judi and personallysupport theseministriesandbelieve t would please he Lord if Nazarenes,individually and aschurches,would specifically target heseministries for financial support. Iwould like to challenge nehundredpeople o makea $100monthly commitment o theseministries for the next twelve months. This would cover the rent for these wo ministry centerswhich would allow theseministries to strengthen heir focuson peoplerather than bricks andmortar.Another innovativeway the district is preparingto literally take the water to the people isthroughour inauguralMissionsWorkshop this August22-26,20L0 at EmmanuelHeightsCamp.We're calling t "Missions Boot Camp Preparingor GoodWorks." Leaming opicswillinclude: "UnderstandingOpportunities o Assist," "PotentialPlacesof Service," "Means ofMitigating Siclcness, iseaseand Death/EvangelismStrategies," "Water Sterilization,Decontaminationand SewageTreatment," "Solar Power, Solar Skills and Windmills," "MicroBusinessDevelopmentand Micro Financing." "Partnerships/ParacleteOperations,""Dehydration, VacuumingSealing, Canning," "Business,Health or Resourcedevelopment,""Cltat-rooms, Games, nternet, Web-pages nd Facebook," and "Ministry Funding, SuppliesFunding and Trip Funding. " Hands-on activities include: "Designing a constructiongamethatteaches/evangelizes,"Building a solar still or solar oven," and "Building an inexpensive olardehydratoror vacuum systemorfood sterilizer."The purposeof this training is to equip thosewho may go on short-termmissiontrip into areaswhere this technology s needed.The enrollment s limited to only 24. Pleasebe praying for thepeoplethe Lord wants to attend his dynamic ime.This summer June15 Aug 15),we willalso havea "Representative f a Third WorldChristian" from India as a residentat EmmanuelHeightsas a resourceand witness to all campers.A11of this leads o a harvestbecause f the Lord's fai thfulness.Somesow, somewater,but Godbrings the increase.John 4235Do you not say, 'Four montlts more and then he tarvest'? I tellyou, openyour eyesand look at thefields! Theyare ripefor harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, evennow he harvests he crop or eternal ife, so that the sower and the reaper may beglad together.37 Thus he saying'Onesowsand another eaps' s true.38 I sentyou to reapwhatyou have notworkedfor. Othershave donethe hard work, andyou have reaped he benefitsof their labor."NIV

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It's because f this emphasis n .,plant- Water- Harvest" that I've invited our guestpresenter,Dr. MichaelHendersorr,o b. with us in this assembly.He is the authorof John Weslqv'sClassMakins DisciPk;is the executivedirectorof Heart of Africa, amissionresourceagency hat providesbreakthroughprojects for African ministries. He hasbeena college/seminary rofessorand a teachingpastorfor 40 years. His special nterest s personaldiscipleshipandministry training. He will be anexcellent watering" resource or us!Two immutableprinciplescome rom the scriptureswhich I've used n my report: "You OnlyGet What You plant" and "You Reapwhat You sow." our only hope for survival is to beoutwardly focused.Listen to the ryrics Lanny worfe wrote entitled"My House s Full (But My Field s Empty)'"Verse: There speaceand contentmentn theFather'sHouse today

Lotsoffood on His tableand no one s turned awayThere s singing and laughteras the hourspass byButahushcalmsthesingingasthefathersadlycries

Chorus:Myhouseisful l ,butmyfieldisempty,whowil lgoandworkformetoday?It seemsmy children all want to stayaround my tableBut no onewantsto work in my ield; no onewantsto work in my ield

Verce:Push away rom the table,then ook out through the windowpaneJust beyond he houseofplenty lies a ield of goldengrainAnd it,swhiteuntoharvest,oh, but thereaperswhereare they?There n the house,oh, can't thechildren hear theFather sadlysay

Chorus:Myhouseisful l ,butmyfietdisempty,whowil lgoandworkformetoday?It seemsmy children all want to stayaround my tableBut no onewants o work in my ield; no onewants o work in my ieldWillYougo and work in mYfield?

My prayer for the comingyear s that through a variety of means,seedwill be sown and wateredso that when we return next year,we will celebratehe harvest he Lord bringsforth!Respectfully Submitted:Jerry L. FergusonDistrict SuPerintendent

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