9.01.07 We have begun work on the building. Basic construction, clean up, and landscaping. We have much work to do, but are blessed with the opportunity.
8.28.07 Praise the Lord!!! We have closed escrow and now officially own our church facility.
8.14.07 We have entered into escrow for the purchase of the daycare facility.
7.25.07 Our Youth ministry had it's first youth event. We headed north to see the Frisco Rough Riders play some minor league baseball.
6.10.07 We have officially started our Youth Ministry with Pastor Pablo Magdaleno leading it.
6.01.07 We have now updated our recent Bible Studies. See our Multimedia link for the updates (Book of Ruth & 1 Samuel).
3.02.07 We have made an offer to purchase the Rolling Hills Day Care Facility.
2.11.07 We are now meeting in Rolling Hills Day Care Facility (located at 1038 East Wintergreen Rd. Cedar Hill, TX) for our Sunday Morning Service. The owners have graciously opened the doors for our fellowship to meet on Sundays. We are blessed to be renting the Day Care facility. It has been an amazing season as the Lord has brought folks that are committed to the vision of CCRH. We have actually grown incredibly during this time of transition. What a blessing in disguise! We pray that the new season of renting the Day Care Facility would be an even greater time of growth for us.
12.31.06 New Year's Eve was filled with fun, food, and games as we brought in the New Year together. This year we were blessed to see a slide show of our time together in 2006.
12.16.06 Our ladies enjoyed their Christmas luncheon at Jessica's Tea Room in downtown Cedar Hill. We simply enjoyed one another's company.
12.12.06 We were able to join up with our community here in Cedar Hill in "Elf & Friends." This outreach is designed to provide a more blessed Christmas to the younger and older folks here in Cedar Hill. Of course, we supplied Christian tracks and literature in our gift boxes.
10.31.06 Calvary Chapel Rock Harvest held its first Alternative Night to the neighborhood that we have been reaching out to. Everyone was truly blessed! Almost every parent thanked us for our little four booth carnival. We had hot chocolate, candy, free gold fish to win, Christian tracks and literature, an incredible jumper and our four booths with Biblical themes.
11.24.06 Thanksgiving this year was felt as we presented Thanksgiving food baskets to several families here in Cedar Hill. We are so thankful for the blessings that the Lord has given us. How could we not also give as an expression of the love that the Lord has given to us? Thank you Jesus!
9.15-17.06 Our ladies joined up with CC Dallas for their annual women's retreat. Every lady from our fellowship came back from the retreat encouraged and excited about the Lord. They also came back with new prayers for what kind of bed they someday want to sleep on (courtesy of Marriot Solona in Westlake, TX). The afterglow was the highlight for our ladies as they sought out the Lord in worship and prayer together.
9.06 We ended our lease where we were meeting for the last two years. It has been a great blessing to be able to meet in the Gym for the last two years. We now have moved to the Magdaleno and Jarmon homes for our church services. It is a season of walking by faith and earnestly seeking out the Lord.
8.13.06 We had our first baptism service! We baptized 6 people and celebrated with communion together. It was a wonderful time of fellowship as well as a covered dish (potluck) together.
8.10.06 We all enjoyed our community "Sno-Cone" outreach. Our desire was to just let the neighborhood know that we are there for them. We did get to share the Gospel with several people and passed out Christian tracks and Christian toys for the kids. It was nice for the neighborhood to come home from 100+ temperatures to enjoy a sno-cone. We were in the middle of 37 straight days of 100+ temperatures.
7.21.06 We began our second home fellowship. This home fellowship, led by Pablo Magdaleno, is devoted to training up the saints in the truth of Creation. It is incredible to learn just how realistic God's Word is and how much science supports it.
7.15.06 In the midst of our hot summer we had a great time as a church as well as a reaching out to our community in our "Crawford Park" Outreach. We rented out the local pool at Crawford Park on Saturday night and invited as many families for a BBQ (California style...aka "grillin' ") as well as time of swimming in the pool.
7.08.06 As a church, we took a trip to Glenrose, TX. We visited the Creation Life Museum there and stopped by Dinosaur Park for lunch. There at Dinosaur Park, a state park of Texas, we were blown away at the Dinosaur tracks that we could see. What an amazing trip not just for the kids, but also for the adults. It is amazing to see how the Bible is perfect and accurate. What a great way to kick off our second home fellowship beginning on July 21.
5.06 At our covered dish/potluck we sent out our good friends and missionaries Erich & Luella to Asia. Of course our theme was "Asian food." What a great opportunity to see how the Lord does harvests the rocks (living stones) and places them in His spiritual house as He desires.
5.19-20.06 "Reel Men" was theme for our first men's retreat. We were blessed with the fellowship, fishing, food, and Bible studies. We saw that our God values "Reel Men" !!!
5.06 We had our second Easter/Resurrection Day Celebration in Texas. We all met at Vikki Watts' home for some tasty food and a waterslide-jumper for the kids. The kids didn't stop from the beginning to the end. It was truly a blessed Easter. A good day to remember the incredible work of our Lord's resurrection.
5.06 We welcome the Azevedo family to our fellowship. It has been nine months that we have not had a worship leader. However, we have prayed for the Lord to provide a worship leader for our church family. We have seen the Lord answer so many prayers before and we have now seen the Lord answer another one for us. It is truly incredible to see how the Lord brings a special fit to us. Not only is Aaron a uniquely gifted worship leader with a humble heart, but the Lord has also brought to us a family that is also uniquely gifted and fits us so well. To think that we were just praying for a worship leader and the Lord has done exceedingly, abundantly above all that we asked or thought. Praise the Lord for His incredible wisdom and generosity !!!
4.06 We are now officially a Calvary Chapel !!! On April 10, 2006 we received our welcome letter from Calvary Chapel Outreach Fellowship. Praise the Lord!
3.06 We attended our first Texas/Oklahoma Calvary Chapel Pastors Conference. We were truly blessed to see so many who share same the same burden and calling for this part of the world. It was a special blessing to see how many lovingly offered the right hand of fellowship to us. Some highlights included hearing Pastor Chuck via live streaming video, the Friday night afterglow, and hearing Paul Smith share his heart and experience in ministry with the Sr. Pastors at the break out session. Two days prior to the Conference, we turned in the last portion of our affiliation application. Praise the Lord! Thanks to Pastor Rick for his patience with my daily e-mails. Thank you also to Pastor Bryan Parish (CC La Mirada, CA), Pastor Bill Quinn (CC Ft. Worth, TX), and Pastor Ed Taylor (CC Aurora, CO.) for your assistance with the Letters of Recommendation. On Friday Night before the Afterglow, we were prayed over and wait for the Lord's timing to officially become a "Calvary Chapel." It is interesting to see more than a decade of dreaming come to pass.
2.12.06 Olive Garden in Arlington, TX was the place for our Valentines Dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship, great food together, and dinner with our special date with Jesus!
10.05 We have been officially given our 501C-3 Tax exempt status as a religious organization (church) with the Federal Government. We are continuing to move forward in the plans that the Lord has for us. Since we are to walk by faith and not sight, we will press on to fulfill those plans that He has given to us.
5.05 We had our first official outreach to our community. This is a special blessing since we are still in our "baby" period as a church. We are just eight months old as a church. Can you believe that? We believe that our Lord is capable and desires to do great things through His church. So believing that, we stepped out in faith and met at Crawford Park from 3-8pm on Sunday, May 15. Not only was this a time of fellowship for our church, but also a time to serve the community. There was food, fun, fellowship, and this was all saturated in Christ's love. All those who came were ministered to.
We had special times of fun for the kids with the water balloons, special crafts, and a jumper. The best time of the whole outreach was probably listening to the kids laughing and running around. This is what outreach is all about. Simply letting all those around come to Jesus. We set the atmosphere up so that everyone would have a great time. When the numbers seemed to drop, we went out into the highways and byways to encourage all to come feast with Him.
Some of the fruit we will see in our lifetime and some we won't until we reach our destination on heaven. Everyone did a great job!
4.05 This month is a month of growth for us as a fellowship.
We began our first home fellowship on April 1st at the home of Foster and Crystal Lanham. Foster is taking the group through a study in Abiding in Christ. What a great starting point! We plan on seeing the Lord develop and increase more home fellowships as our church grows.
It is amazing when we look back at the vision that the Lord has given for our church. Almost a year and a half ago, the Lord gave vision that He would be organizing and establishing the home fellowships at RHC. Our desire is that these home fellowships (small groups) would become great tools for the Lord to disciple His flock through. We look forward to what He will begin and where He will go.
We are planning our first outreach for the month of May. This will be a Park Outreach at Crawford Park. We will be working together as a body to accomplish His plans for our fellowship. It is amazing to consider how great a work the Lord can do with a group of believers that are committed to unity and His purposes and plans for their lives.
Pablo, Sarah, Vicky and their family arrived safely to Cedar Hill. It is exciting to see how the Lord is blessing and growing them already. The whole process of making it out here and getting situated is an incredible testimony to what the Lord is doing in their lives.
3.05 Easter was a blessing as we all gathered, or rather crammed, into our home. We had adults as well as kids show up and enjoy the food catered by Longhorn BBQ and the 4-N-One jumper. I think that the adults enjoyed the jumper as much as the kids.
We heard from the Lord at the Sunday Morning Easter Service that we should celebrate His sacrifice and more importantly His resurrection. Who else could claim this prior to death and then make it happen? Our God is Great and Greatly to be praised!
We enjoyed celebrating what Jesus Christ has done for us by partaking in communion together. It was a very special time as well as the first time as a church that we have done this. We sense the Lord unifying his body here at Rock Harvest. How incredible His Blood is!
We heard some great news that Pablo & Sarah Magdaleno, as well as Vicky, are coming out sooner than expected. God is so good. As our church is growing, the Lord knew that we would be needing this precious family.
2.05 Now that we are six months old, we are feeling the increase towards the vision that the Lord had given. Several new members have been an answer to prayer as well as great fits into the plans of RHC.
Once again the Lord has encouraged our hearts with a series of visits from close friends. Pastor Richard and Toni Schork came out for a weekend and spent some time with us. If was great to see them and talk again. Pastor Richard was Rock Harvest Church's first guest speaker. He spoke appropriately on the Tender Mercies of our Lord (Lam 3). All that were here for the service agreed that he is ready for the new work that the Lord is calling him to in Arcadia, CA.
Also, John and Alice Loevenguth spent nearly a week with us. Good friends are truly hard to come by. One of our highlights was eating dinner at the infamous "Longhorn BBQ." If you know John and Alice they just fit right in to the whole Texas scene.
1.05 We have entered a new year and are excited about the new things that the Lord has in store for us! We have started some new ministries and fully expect our Lord's blessings according to His Goodness and Grace. Our Men's and Women's Ministries began and we sensed our Lord's encouragement over our lives. The Lord also led us to begin a Midweek Prayer meeting in the place of a Mid-Week service. We believe that this will pave the way for any future ministry as well as train RHC in prayer. It is such a blessing to see how the Lord has brought together a group of believers that have such a heart for prayer. I believe that many church planters have not been so blessed as I am with a flock that loves to pray.
In addition to all the great things taking place here at RHC, we have had the blessing of some of our friends visiting. Our good family friends from Wisconsin made a special trip down to see us. The Ybarra's, Steve, Julia, and MacKenzie spent almost a week with us. Steve was the best man in Pastor Robert and Monica's wedding.
We also had an additional to our TEAM. Late in January, Amber Cano sensing the Lord's guiding came to serve at RHC. We are blessing to have Amber out here serving as well as continuing her education at Calvary Chapel Bible College at Garland. We expect the Lord to use Amber's tender and sensitive spirit to minister in special ways.
12.04 We were once again blessed by having the opportunity to fellowship with our friends from California. Amber Cano, Erika Lynch, Jenni Schork, Chelsea Fernandez, and Melissa Carroll came out to celebrate and worship along with us. Who will be coming next? We had the pleasure of meeting our worship leader's parents from Oregon. We are constantly being shown the favor of the good hand of the Lord in who we are able to meet as well as fellowship with.
Our Christmas and New Years was truly blessed by God. Coming from So. California, we never had snow. But to have a "White Christmas" was awesome. It snowed two days prior to Christmas and there was still some snow in the shady areas of the yard...I think that constitutes for a "White Christmas." Nevertheless it is a blessing to be here in Texas for our first Christmas. May God treat all His church plants as favorably as He has with us through our RHC Family.
11.04 We have been so blessed to have several visits from our California family. Dean Burchill, Michael Duke, Gary & Antoinette Entner, Kierston Clayton, Pablo & Sarah Magdaleno, and Nicole Aguinaga have come out and visit! It has been very nice to hang out with all of you again.
10.9.04 We went out into the City of Cedar Hill for the annual Country Day on the Hill. We met residents and let them know that we are here to minister to them. We were blessed, even in the rain, to meet with those who have a similar burden from the Lord!
9.26.04 Well, 4 weeks have gone by and the Lord is adding to the church. We are enjoying the hand of the Lord bless the work here in Cedar Hill. Not only are we seeing the Lord increase in the church, but also those dedicated to serve at Rock Harvest Church.
9.19.04 What an exciting time to see the hand of the Lord at work. As we grow, we are finding out more people have been praying for the Lord to do a new work in Cedar Hill. It is tremendous to consider how the Lord has been preparing to connect these hearts together for the Rock Harvest work.
9.5.04 Rock Harvest officially began. Our first church service was blessed with the good hand of the Lord upon us. We look forward to what great things God has planned for our fellowship as well as the Cedar Hill area.
8.5.04 We are officially incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in the State of Texas!
7.22.04 We arrived!
On our first night we met some neighbors. They are the first to say they
will be coming to our church. God hasn't wasted any time. The fruit is
already being produced. What an awesome welcome!
7.20.04 We are off!
Destination: Cedar Hill, Texas!
7.10.04 We celebrated the Cedar Hill Church Plant TEAM's departure at Calvary Chapel La Mirada. We enjoyed a special time to say farewell. Everyone enjoyed the tacos by the "Taco Man."
6.04 God began revealing more of His plan for Rock Harvest. We met as a church plant team and had the Lord confirm His call upon our lives to Cedar Hill, Texas. We have covered this work in prayer and fellowshipped in all the Lord has revealed for us.
If you would like to be added to our church update e-mail list, please contact us at info@rockharvest.org.