In an era when the latest fad is old in about a month and the staying power of various marketing gimmicks is less than that; to speak of the ministry of the local church must seem to some as a quaint notion bringing to mind a Norman Rockwell and an era long gone.
Today Christianity is big business, national organizations, world-wide conferences, denominational structures. Even Christian leaders today are treating the local church as a worn out and often counter-productive. One such recently stated that whether Christians are, “minimally involved in, or completely disassociated from a local church is irrelevant to me.”
Lake Hill Community Church in Castaic thinks differently and is sponsoring a Conference from Wednesday, September 24 to Sunday September 28 on the Local Church. “Celebrating the Local Church” is our theme, states, Consulting Pastor Dennis M. Swanson. “The Bible makes it clear that the local church is ‘the pillar and ground of the truth’ and that it is primarily through the local church that Christianity finds its’ most excellent expression to the world. Lake Hills believes that it is of paramount importance to understand what the Bible states about the local church and its ministry and be conformed to the Bible rather than be transformed into the world’s model,” he stated.
The Conference will run at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and will feature, Scott Ardavantis, Senior Pastor of Placerita Baptist Church in Newhall; followed by Dennis Swanson, the current interim pastor at Lake Hills and professor at The Master’s Seminary on Thursday night. Friday will feature Paul Felix, Assistant Professor of New Testament at The Master’s Seminary and the President of the Los Angeles Bible Training School in South Central Los Angeles. On Saturday there will be two sessions with an informal pot-luck style dinner served in between. At 4 p.m., Dr. John Coe, Professor of Theology and Philosophy and Director of the Institute of Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology, will be speaking on Spiritual Growth in the local church. After the dinner at 7 p.m., Dr. Andy Snider, Associate Professor of Theology at The Master’s Seminary will be speaking on the subject of Worship in the Local Church. The Conference will conclude Sunday morning in the regular service with a message by Dr. Richard L. Mayhue, Senior Vice-President and Dean of The Master’s Seminary.
Lake Hills Community Church is located at 33100 Lake Hughes Rd in Castaic. You can phone the church office at 661-257-5777 for more information or visit www.lakehillschurch.org . Childcare will be provided for each event and all are welcome to the dinner on Saturday.