Recently Joseph met with Pastor Tommy and Daniel (an intern) from Epiphany Church of LA to plan 4 trainings for the core leaders of Epiphany Church.  They are planning to do one training a month. The first training is to assess the leaders to make sure they are utilizing their spiritual gifts, passions and experience.  This was done with the S.H.A.P.E Assessment tool.  It is an assessment tool to help leaders serve in the ways the Lord has created them and called them to.  They look at 5 ways that God has shaped them to be so they are able to best serve God and his kingdom within their passions. These areas are:

S – Spiritual Gifts – What has God supernaturally gifted me to do?        

H – Heart – What do I have passion for and love to do?                          

A – Abilities – What natural talents and skills do I have?                       

P – Personality – Where does my personality best suit me to serve?        

E – Experiences – What spiritual experiences have I had? What painful experiences have I had? What educational experiences have I had? What ministry experiences have I had?

Please continue to pray for Joseph, as he goes through this 5 month training time with Epiphany Church as they develop their leaders in order to reach their community with the love of Jesus.

Institute for Biblical Studies

Working for Cru we are able to take seminary classes designed to equip us for a lifetime of ministry. Joseph just completed his 11 core classes and received his IBS certificate! He has been blessed to take and grow in these classes:

· Intro to Christian Theology

· Biblical Interpretation

· Biblical Communication

· Apologetics

· Bible Study Methods

· New Testament Survey

· Humanity/Christ/Salvation

· Christian Worldview & Ethics

· Global Church History

· Old Testament Survey

· God/Bible/Holy Spirit

We recently were blessed with Dodger tickets from a ministry—CarePortal. Joseph is connected with the CarePortal coordinator of LA through the Foster Care Coalition he serves with—training churches within LA to begin foster care ministry. https://www.fostercarecoalition.com

They had a night where they invited people involved in fostercare to enjoy some Dodgers together!  It was a fun evening with our girls watching baseball.

CarePortal is a technology connecting platform that brings the needs of hurting children and families in your community to your attention. Caseworkers uncover the needs. CarePortal makes local churches and community members aware, giving them a real-time opportunity to respond. https://www.careportal.org/about-us

Thank you for your prayers, support & encouragement to us! We appreciate you so very much.  Please pray for our family as we all transition back to school!  Luke began his senior year at Cal Poly Pomona last week.  Daniel will begin his second year at CBU in a couple weeks, Jessica begins her Junior Year of High School in a few days as well as Aleeya with homeschooling of 4th grade!