Day 2 Forest Lake & Long Beach

The first album is about Saddleback Church. The author of the the New York best seller "Purpose Driven Life" is the pastor here, Rick Warren. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. It is an amazing campus with different facilities for different things. They have a HUGE venue, with the worship center, a prayer garden, a huge children's ministry, coffee stands, retail outlet, a restaurant, a center for the youth worship band, and the biggie....THE BIGGEST COOLEST YOUTH GROUP CENTER I EVER SEEN! I went in there and I couldn't believe my eyes! I had such a lump in my throat I COULD NOT SPEAK......my eyes just welled up and when I could finally speak I prayed out loud...."God.....could we do this?...could SCC Crossover ever look like this or even something like it?....our youth would love it and it would give them so much room to grow..." it had a skateboard ramp, a mini faux beach, beach volley ball, a mini youth college upstairs, their own sanitary, basketball court, a games room, a snack bar, an area to sit and chill, and a little study area...they call it the "Refinery" I have a button from there that says "We put the fine in re"fine"ry." I was so encouraged when I seen this! I can hardly wait to tell our Pastor and Youth Pastor all about what we seen and experienced also how God was so freely moving around that campus and how you felt Him threw the people who were greeting and serving at all the different areas. It was so busy they have 2 services in the morning and 2 in the evening. They have a shuttle to take you from the parking lot to the ministry center! The grounds were beautiful with gardens and beautiful trees.

The service was amazing! Pastor Rick did the first teach on a 6 week series called "40 Days of Love." It was so awesome. I bought the book, DVD study and study guide so I could finish the series. We will be going back next Sunday so I'll at least get 2 of the 6 weeks in ON CAMPUS!!!!Iris, this could be a study to do in a house group!
Check out Slide Show HERE.

After church we came back from Lake Forest to Long Beach and had lunch then went down to the beach and went for a walk then sat and soaked up some of the 28 degree September sun. It was beautiful. There were people swimming, para sailing, fishing, tubing, sailing and so on. there was a blimp flying around and the yaught club was jam packed with more boats than I have ever seen in my life. Oh! I must not forget I got to stick my foot in the Pacific Ocean so I could rightly say I had one foot on one side of the continent and one on the other side all in one day! (well 24 hours anyway!) and just to make note...I seen my very first cockroach today too....ewwwwww! The scenery is beautiful. There are flowers and trees that I've never seen before. All in all we had a wonderful 2nd day. Shane got a bit of a sunburn so we came back to the Hotel so he could have a nap. Then we went to the store to pick up a few things and now we are chillin in our room.