Join us Saturday, May 19^th as Crave heads to the Getty Center in Los Angeles!  Admission is FREE.  Parking is $15 per car.  (4 people in 1 car = $3.75 per person…what a bargain!)  Bring money for lunch in the cafeteria or a picnic lunch.

We’ll be meeting at Saddleback Church’s MC2 parking lot at 9:30am and carpool to the museum for a fun, relaxing day!

If you have never been to the Getty, it’s a beautiful place with world-class art and beautiful gardens.  There are many paintings depicting biblical scenes and Jesus…you’ll learn a lot as you reflect on artists’ depictions of the Bible.  Don’t miss this fun day!

Questions?  E-mail KylieW@saddleback.com.

What are you doing Friday? Come hang out with the Crave community at Flo Jo Park as we celebrate the end of finals week and the start of summer with our Summer Kick-Off BBQ!

Bring your friends and your appetite--we're providing FREE FOOD--burgers, dogs, and bratwursts with all the fixings! Play a variety of sports games--ultimate Frisbee, volleyball--or just chill in the shade and sip a soda.

And join us EVERY Friday for the rest of the summer for casual, relaxing hangouts that are perfect to invite your friends to and spend a summer afternoon in the park.

Friday's festivities begin at 3:30 and go to about 6:30--stop by at any time!

Flo Jo Park is 7.2 minutes from Saddleback Church (We made that up, but it's super close!) on the corner of Olympiad and Alicia.

Questions? E-mail KylieW@saddleback.com.

The weekend is upon us!  Please join us this Saturday, May 12, from 10:00-1:00 at our Good Neighbor San Clemente neighborhood, Vista Los Mares.  (CAMINO DE LOS MARES, San Clemente, CA 92673 ... Cross Streets: Calle Campana.  If you are coming from Saddleback, you will exit Estrella and turn left.  Los Mares is on the right past the hospital.  We will be meeting in the cul de sac.)

We are hosting a family fun potluck!  We are hoping to meet residents, have some fun with kids, and enjoy an afternoon of fellowship. 

This will be an easy and fun way to love and serve our friends in San Clemente!  Please RSVP with number of people by e-mailing DawnM@saddleback.com.  Thanks for your hearts to serve!

Mind-numbing memorizing, late-night runs to the store for Red Bull, no shower for three days...that's right, it's FINALS WEEK!!

We know it's a stressful time for everyone.  So, Monday May 14^th and Tuesday May 15^th we’ll be handing out FREE food to students at Saddleback College! Come on by and grab a fresh Krispy Kreme donut on Monday or a homemade cookie on Tuesday and feel just a bit better as you get ready for that Calculus, English, Chemistry combined final you forgot about!  Did we mention it's FREE?!

Also...

Whether you attend Saddleback College or not, we'd LOVE for you to help serve students!  Come join us at the campus to hang with students and hand out sweet treats, OR channel your inner Mrs. Fields or Otis Spunkmeyer and get baking! We'd love for you to bake cookies and bring them by the Crave office in Ministry Office 2 at Saddleback Church by Monday the 14^th by 5pm so we can have them for the next day to hand out to students.

Questions?  E-mail CodyD@saddleback.com!

If you've been to Saddleback Church before, you know it can seem like a BIG place!  There are over 300 ministries at Saddleback that serve our members and our community.  If you want to keep up on everything that's going on around here, the Community Blog and Slice are the best way to stay on top of all the happenings and hear stories of how church members are making a difference in our community.

The Community Blog is located at saddleback.com under the "What's Happening" tab.

Slice is Saddleback Church's weekly e-newsletter, delivered right to your inbox.  Get details about events and ministries taking place at Saddleback by signing up at saddleback.com/slice!

This Sunday, May 13, is Mother’s Day! Bring your mom (or any mom in your life that's special to you!) to Saddleback Church and enjoy a special weekend message. Our volunteer photography ministry, PICS, will be on hand to take free photos of your family!  This is a great way to create a memory, celebrate your mom, and get your family together for a portrait!!  Come and enjoy Mother's Day at Saddleback!!

For locations, directions, and service times, visit www.saddleback.com

I grew up with my older brother and sister. Both of my parents did not believe in religion or God. My parents divorced when I was one, so I grew up going back and forth between my parents’ houses every day.  My mom spent her life working, so she was never around.  I grew up not feeling loved and always felt out of place. I felt unwanted and neglected.  I never saw my mom happy when I was growing up. She was always stressed, short-tempered, screaming, drinking, and at least once a month locking herself in her room taking pills.  My dad started telling me in 4th grade that my mom was going to die before I graduated high school.  This caused a lot of the insecurities I have struggled with growing up.

When I reached middle school I didn’t really have friends and always struggled connecting with people.  I desperately wanted the popular crowd’s approval and acceptance, so I started to change to fit in. I changed my attitude, fought a lot with my family, and started dating.  My relationship with my boyfriend became verbally abusive and destructive just like my relationship with my mom.  I felt so out of control in my relationships, that I directed my attention to something I could control—my eating habits. This led to a 6-year battle with anorexia and bulimia. At the same time, I began drinking heavily and partying.

During my junior year my ex and I broke up.  I felt broken, lost, and confused.  I jumped from group to group, and constantly switched friends attempting to fill the emptiness in my heart. I started dating another guy 6 months after the break up and he introduced me to smoking weed.

After high school, I was excited for a fresh start at Cal State Fullerton.  But during finals, I was super stressed and was given an aderoll.  That one aderoll led to an addiction to aderoll, on top of smoking, drinking, and not eating.  Obviously, no one’s body is meant to handle these things, and in December 2009, I ended up being hospitalized for 3 days and then continued in a 5-week intensive therapy at the Hospital. But this experience helped me start thinking about eternity and God a lot. I couldn’t place my finger on it but I knew that God was real.  I felt like He was speaking to me so loudly even through all the pain and emptiness.

When I got out of the hospital, my mom took my car, phone, computer, everything in my apartment, and put it all in storage to teach me a lesson.  I ended up leaving to my dad’s, who I hadn’t seen in 5 years.  He encouraged me to go to Saddleback Church and hear Rick Warren speak. I was shocked that my dad was going to church since he made fun of religion all my life. He said God was changing him. I was filled with tears and chills the whole time I was there.  Rick spoke about God’s love, compassion, and his greatest offer—how Jesus didn’t come to Earth to judge it, but to SAVE it.  I realized that by accepting Jesus into my life I am adopted into God’s family, and I am given a brand new life where the old is wiped away.  I truly believed every word and I had no doubts about it anymore.  I was saved.  I ended up going to Saddleback every weekend, learning more about God and starting to finally feel healthier. I was doing well and went back to Cal State Fullerton in February 2010.

That summer, my best friend and mom decided to take a trip to Cabo.  My mom has a house there, and I always took frequent trips while growing up.  I felt like I deserved a break from life since I was doing so well after everything that had happened. I still wasn’t completely understanding Jesus though, and I still wasn’t walking a Christian life, even though I thought I was doing “good.”

A night of drinking led to me blacking out and being taken advantage of by a local guy.  When I came to conscience, I freaked out.  I was completely disgusted and ashamed and horrified at what had happened.  When I was back home, I just felt like my stomach was in my throat. I wished it was only a bad dream, but I knew it wasn’t. I just couldn’t believe that this could have happened to me. I got on my knees in my room and cried out to Jesus. I still clearly remember where I sat and just the level of sorrow I felt. I prayed this prayer: “Jesus, if you are really real and you do heal, then I pray that you help me not feel this pain. I am living my life my way and I keep driving myself further into a hole. Please Jesus heal me. I am so sorry for my sin. I don’t know how to get better, but I want to.”

All of a sudden I felt like I couldn’t cry anymore and God was telling me to go back to bed and get rest and not worry. After that I began going to Crave and going to Saddleback every weekend, and have seen God make a ton of changes in my life.  I transferred from Fullerton to West Coast University in February 2011. At this time, I overcame bulimia.  My mom and I have also reconciled our relationship.  My family has gotten so close, it boggles my mind.  I also started going to a small group in June 2011 which is where I began my full on commitment to the Lord. I have now completely fallen in love with God. I became a co-leader, and leading the girls really changed my view on true friendships.  I really learned how to put my trust in the Lord to work through me.  Kelly Sonnenburg also helped me a ton in growing and healing. She has helped me with forgiving myself through my struggles. She helped me with moving forward with my pain of the rape in Mexico. She has been an ear and a shoulder for me and also someone who I know is praying for me always. Being in Jim and Kelly’s small group has been a blessing.  Also, having Crave as my home really has made my heart feel filled with love and joy.

Life now as an authentic follower of Christ is incredible.  I still catch myself wanting to be worried or fearful, but I realize I don’t need to because God will work through all of my hardships with me.  I strive to fully follow God wholeheartedly and not the ways of this world by falling into temptation drinking or smoking.  The void in my heart is filled and I don’t need to try to fill it with empty, meaningless things anymore.  I am grateful for God’s strength and unending love for me.

I want to leave you guys with one last thing. If you feel a void in your heart, like something’s missing, you may have had thoughts like, “I feel like I need a drink to make me feel better,” or “I just need to get stoned to make this loneliness go away” or  “Maybe this girl or guy will make it better.”  Whether it be sex, drugs, or people, all this trying day after day to make it go away just leaves you feeling like something is still missing…the answer in my life has been God. God filled that void, I now wake up full, like I don’t have things of this world to make me feel complete. I just need Jesus and I need to FULLY believe in that.

The verse that keeps me strong and going, is the one I got tattooed on my wrist for my birthday:

Isaiah 40:31--“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.”

The Men's Ministry at Saddleback is more than a meeting...it's a culture of men of all ages aggressively living out God's purposes and encouraging each other in that process.  Through The Herd, men are encouraged to Get In, Get Healthy, Get Strong, and Get Going.

Get In: The first step is to get involved.  Men become men in the company of other good men, and that's why The Herd hosts events, weekly large-group studies on Thursday and Saturday mornings, and other opportunities.

Get Healthy: Once men get involved with The Herd, the next step is getting healthy in the core areas that affect their relationships with others.  The Herd offers resources for men in crisis, men on the edge, Celebrate Recovery, career counseling, career transition, reconcilliation, and more.

Get Strong: The next step is for men to get fit to fight spiritually in their walk with God.  This is done through on-campus and off campus small groups, the weekly Herd gatherings on Thursday and Saturday mornings, and retreats like the Uprising Men's Wilderness Experience coming up in June in the Sequoia National Forest.

Get Going: The final step is to serve.  Through ministries like Breakfast Outreach, Door of Faith orphanage construction in Mexico, and other opportunities, men give back to their communities with the strengths and gifts that God has given them.

If you'd like to learn more about The Herd, visit saddleback.com/herd, or find us on facebook at facebook.com/saddlebackherd.

If you have questions about The Herd, e-mail JimS@saddleback.com.

::March of the Sleepers—Awakening to Your Role in God’s Story:: 

So much in life pulls us toward the humdrum of apathy and indifference.  Sometimes we are lulled to sleep so subtly over time, that we don't even notice that our passions have run dry, our dreams have slowly vanished, and we no longer have a vision for a brighter and more hopeful tomorrow.  We hate feeling weak and incapable so we simply march on, hoping no one notices that we’ve lost heart and have no idea how to regain the life that’s been snatched away from our now hollow frame.  This Thursday night, we begin a brand new series that’s for anyone who’s ever stopped caring and simply wanted to give up.  Together we’ll search for answers and solutions to the “soul slumber” that plagues so many of us.  Together we’ll ask God to awaken us once again to his new life...to our role in the glorious story he’s telling.   

The stories, the danger...the man!  Get up close and personal with the star of TV’s Man vs. Wild this Saturday, May 5 from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. in the Lake Forest Worship Center.  This event is FREE!

Bear Grylls, the star of Man vs. Wild (one of the most watched TV shows on the planet) will take to the stage to share his epic stories of adventure and survival in some of the world’s toughest environments. Be inspired as Bear relieves some of the great escapes and sticky situations of his life as a soldier, mountaineer, and serial adventurer.
 

The Art Ministry has been at work filling every room of the PEACE Center with original works of art, and you're invited to the grand opening of the art exhibit!

Join us this Saturday, May 5th from 6-9pm.  View the artwork and meet PEACE Center staff and volunteers...come see how art enables us to put love into action!

Join us on the first Wednesday of every month when Saddleback Church comes together as a body of believers to express our praise and worship to God.

Join us in the worship center at the Lake Forest campus tonight from 6:30-8 for an extended time of worship through music, encouragement from the Scriptures, communion, and prayer.

Candlelight sets the reverent tone of the evening. Bring a heart ready to engage in worship.

This is a great opportunity to invite friends and to come with your small group.

All are welcome.

Are you a big kid? Do you enjoy hanging out with elementary aged kids? Then you should join Saddleback Kids!!!!

Make an impact in the life of a 3rd - 6th grader! 2 hours a week can change their lives and yours!

Contact Stacey and Gretchin to join the team!

staceyd@saddleback.com - 3rd & 4th grade

gretchind@saddleback.com - 5th & 6th grade

The Parking Lot Justice event, hosted by Saddleback Church's Justice & Trafficking Initiative, features California-licensed attorneys who have offered their time to provide free legal information to the community.  If you have any legal questions, come to this event!  Attorneys with expertise in the following areas will be available to meet with you one-on-one to answer your questions.  The event is FREE, the information is FREE, and ALL are WELCOME to attend!

• Adoption
• Bankruptcy
• Civil litigation
• Corporate law
• Criminal law
• Education, special needs
• Family law
• Foreclosure
• Immigration
• Landlord/tenant
• Medical/insured rights
• Mortgage modification
• Personal injury
• Real estate
• Record expungement
• SSI/Disability
• Tax
• Workers Compensation

Event details:

FREE

Saturday, April 28, 2012

8:30am-12:30pm

1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, 92630

Tent 3