Jon was a resident of Simi Valley for 15 years before moving his family to Camarillo in 2020. Jon discovered ACTION VC around 2012 and began coordinating groups from his church to serve during the Love VC and Christmas Shoppe events.
After moving to Camarillo Jon learned that ACTION VC was looking for a new Executive Director. He has always been passionate about creating caring community and helping those in need so it has been a perfect fit.
Jon has a B.A. degree from LIFE Pacific University and a M.A. in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Jon has many adventurous hobbies but the greatest adventure has been 20 years of marriage to his wife Denise and parenting their three kids who are now 6, 7, and 8 years old. They adopted the kids out of the Ventura County foster care system are still very passionate about foster care.
ACTION VC Since its foundation in 2005, ACTION VC has consistently worked to serve the most vulnerable residents of Ventura County. Our mission is to partner with churches, agencies, and local organizations to meet tangible needs of community members, to empower volunteers to give back to their community, and to enable under-resourced individuals and families to live a full and complete life. By fostering an environment of community and service, ACTION VC is creating positive change for our neighbors.
Greetings from your senior pastor. I wanted to give you a brief update on a few things happening here at the church.
Discipleship Round Table – Last Tuesday (the 3rd Tuesday of the month) was our first Discipleship Round Table. On this particular Tuesday, we also invited small group leaders who are going to serve in our next small group series. The purpose of the meeting was to try and get everyone on the same page with what we are trying to do with our fall series, and to begin a longer conversation about how all of the ministries of the church can coordinate with one another in all programmatic efforts. A huge thank you to Janet Fredrickson and Vera Rhymes for their leadership in this area. As well, a thank you to Carolin Migliazzo as we begin to build out our vision for small groups throughout the church.
Masks – As is consistent with the direction the session has taken throughout the pandemic, we are following Ventura County’s lead and requiring that all people at the church, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, are required to wear a mask indoors while on campus. Our hope and prayer is that infections will go down and this will no longer be necessary. For the time being, I appreciate everyone’s concern for their neighbor as we all mask up.
My health – I’m not sure what I should say about this. If I say nothing, and stay somewhat private about my health, people like to begin to jump to their own conclusions. So here is the latest. A week ago, starting on Thursday, August 19, I did not feel well. I had a little bit of a weak tummy, but was sure that it was due to something I had eaten. Thursday night, I got shivers and threw up. When I woke up the next morning, I was sure I had COVID. My daughter and I went to Urgent Care, got tested, and we both got a negative result. Since then I have continued to have gastrointestinal issues. This has caused me to not sleep well, and be incredibly weak. I have no appetite and no energy. This morning, I saw a doctor. He has ordered tests and started me on a medication I am hopeful will get me to a place I feel alive again. At this time, I’m not really supposed to see anyone until the symptoms go away. I am behind in email. I am behind in a lot of things. At this point, I appreciate your prayers. And at this point we as a family don’t really need anything.
In the meantime, there are some big-time prayer requests in the bulletin. I hope you will take the time to read those each week and set aside time to pray for the named needs within our congregation. God willing, I will be back in the pulpit on Sunday. Thanks for reading all of this. I just felt like, as family, we need to be real with one another.
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
Grace and peace from our monthly Session meeting. The session is the name of the gathering of our current elder board. It’s the meeting once a month where the leadership of the church discerns the direction and vision for the church. Over the past 14 months, the elders have spent quite a bit of time and energy navigating the uncertainties connected with the pandemic. I am proud of the work we have done to try and figure out what is best for the congregation in unchartered waters.
Now, as the effects of the pandemic play a significantly smaller role in the day-to-day workings of the church, I am excited to move towards a time where we can spend a greater percentage of our time and energy talking about the ways in which God is calling MPC to be salt and light in the community of Moorpark. Never has there been a greater need for the hope and power of the resurrection of Jesus for a world filled with anxiety, stress and grief.
To that end, we have taken some time to move some of the roles of our elders around. Here are the ways our new class of elders will be serving.
I am excited to see where God leads us in the coming months. Many thanks to our elders who are rotating off the elder board – Kim Yancey (Children’s Discipleship) and Janet Fredrickson (Adult Discipleship). Their commitment and vigorous work ethic have been a blessing during this last season of the session. I am excited to see where God will lead them to serve next in the church. Pray for Jan Jue and Sara Judd as they transition onto the session and learn about the many ways their gifts will be used for the Kingdom.
And as the summer begins, and we are back in the sanctuary, I hope you’ll come join us for in-person worship at 9:00am. It is so good to be back together and be the church. If you find yourself travelling this summer, I hope you’ll keep up with all the happenings of the church by joining us on Sundays through our livestreamed service.
Finally, with the world getting back to a sense of “normal,” we also wanted to let you know that our church office will be opening back up on Monday, June 14 with new hours of operation. The office will be open Monday through Thursday with hours open from 9:00am – 1:00pm. Our staff will continue to work the same hours as they always have, but our time with the doors “open” has been slightly adjusted. If for some reason you are unable to conduct your church business during those hours, please feel free to reach out and schedule an appointment as we want to meet the needs of the congregation.
Blessings as you travel and adjust to all the new “normals.”
One of the things that happened during the pandemic was that everything slowed down. And in this slowed down state I became hyper-aware of the fact that the world moves really fast. And as more people get vaccinated and the world inches just a little bit closer to being back to normal, I am realizing that everything is starting to speed up. And I’m not sure I am ready for that.
Kids sports are back in full effect. More people are commuting to work and so the freeways are getting busier. In an attempt to get caught up – back to normal – we are having to do lots of things to make that happen. People haven’t been on vacation in a while, so they are quickly booking all of those adventures they’ve been missing for the last year.
About the only thing that is sold by convincing people that it is slow are slow cooked meats. When meat is cooked slowly it captures more flavor and holds in more flavor. When it’s cooked really quickly it doesn’t hold in the flavor in the same way and doesn’t have the same end user experience. Almost every other part of life emphasizes things going fast. Fast Food. Overnight shipping. Fast lane on the freeway. Fast line at the grocery store. Fast. Fast. Fast.
Some people look at the ministry of Jesus and think he could have done ministry more efficiently. The stories that are told are many times about him and one or two other people. And their experience of the savior of the world is so impactful that they typically walk away changed and transformed after they’ve had their interaction with Jesus. It doesn’t seem like Jesus has placed a high value on doing things fast or efficiently. Rather, he places value on impactful and intimate interactions with those he comes in touch with. Shouldn’t we mirror the same values?
How fast are you going right now? Is part of the rhythm of your life such that there are periods of time when you slow down intentionally? What happens when you slow down? What happens when you don’t slow down? Even in the rhythm of creation there is this 7th day where even God himself rested. That seems to be a pretty direct correlation to our lives in that we should be intentional about taking time to slow down and be unproductive so that the savior of the world can replenish us, rejuvenate us, recreate us, and resurrect the parts of us that need to be resurrected.
Slow down. That’s what the sign says. That’s what the savior says. What are you gonna do? Wait until you crash and realize that the sign was there for your benefit? Slow Down.
As I wrote about a month ago, I will try and keep you the congregation informed about where the elders of church are leading in.
COVID-19 updates
The elders have spent time praying and discerning the many ways the pandemic effects the life of the church. As the color of the county has moved from the alarming rates of infection in Winter to where we are now – there are changes in the way we shape our Sunday morning worship experience. We continue to meet in person. Up until now, we have had a maximum number of people in the sanctuary set as around 100 people (25% of the full capacity of 100). As of now, the color of our county has changed to Orange and as such, we are able to accommodate 200 worshippers (50% capacity). We are still in a place where we are discouraging singing when are meeting indoors, but are hopeful that will shift soon as well.
Programs Moving Forward
Many of the programs that we hosted pre-pandemic are slowly making their way back on to our campus. We are hopeful to bring our Sunday School program back on to campus beginning in June. VBS will look a little bit different this summer with MPC hosting 7 Tuesdays rather than the traditional week-long VBS experience. And keep an eye out for some fun all-church gatherings happening about once a month this summer.
Congregational Meeting: Sunday, May 16 in-person and livestream
We will making a few changes to our by-laws as well as voting on new elders and deacons. The Nominating Committee has done a great job to identify four elders and deacons to serve starting on July 1, 2021. I hope you can join us for our Meeting so that you can be the first to pray for our incoming church officers.
One Last Thing
Did I mention that we are meeting in person – in the sanctuary – on Sunday mornings?!? I am hopeful that we will begin to see many of you return to in-person worship real soon so that we can begin to reconnect with each other and connect with Jesus all in the same physical space together. Worried that there will be too many people? Thus far, the most number of people we have had present is about 75 which means there is plenty of room to come and have plenty of distance between you and the people around you. Time for the church to gather. Look forward to seeing you there soon.
In Numbers 13, the spies go and check out the promised land. They report back that the land is flowing with milk and honey. They even bring back delicious fruit they discovered.
But, there were also obstacles to overcome – namely – There were giants in the land.
Before we enter the promised land, we have to grapple with the giants that are in front of us. Anger. Fear. Worry. Insecurities. Addictions. Comfort.
Join us (starting this Sunday, April 18) as we explore what it means for followers of Christ to face our Giants – the giants that keep us from experiencing all that God wants us to experience.
Click HERE to pre-register for the 9:00am indoor worship service.
If worshiping from home, click HERE on Sunday for the livestream.
