The Gallery has been updated with pictures from the 2018 Entertainment Night. Be sure to check it out!
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Announcements
Importance of Small Groups
The following was presented by Mike Falarski at the Chapel Sunday worship service on Sunday 4/22/18 as the Invocation. We are repeating this on the web site because of the importance of Small Groups to the future of the Chapel. We encourage you to seek out Pastor Bill, any member of the Chapel Board, or any member of the small group that Mike belongs to:
Mike and Judi Falarski
Sherry Benz and Dennis Cullen
Brooks and Cindy Fuller
Katharine and Brian Dombrowski
Don and Joyce Kludt
Pentecost, the day the Spirit descended onto the Apostles, is on May 20 this year. Pentecost is generally recognized as the birthday of the Church. People tend to think of church as a place. In actual fact, ‘Church’ is the name given to people who follow Jesus, who meet together to worship God and learn to do what God asks of them. The very first churches were formed by communities of people who met in each other’s homes. These early Churches had four primary characteristics: They devoted themselves to the Apostles teachings, to fellowship, to the “breaking of bread and to prayer.
So why mention this today? Because, I feel like I am in the midst of a new church. It is called a ‘small group’ which we helped form a couple of months ago. It consists of 5 couples that have joined together to grow closer to the Lord and each other. We pray together, we study the bible together, we support each other in troubled times. Does that sound familiar? I just think it must not be much different than the early churches. It certainly is transforming my sense of being a Christian and bring me closer to the Lord. I am beginning to understand the feeling of the Spirit being with me. I can’t help but want to share this with everyone.
I have been advocating small groups for years but never pulled the trigger to form one myself. I guess I always worried about being rejected, was just too busy, or was not Christian enough. Pastor Bill asked me at dinner one evening when I was going to form a small group. I could not come up with any good excuse why not so our group was born. It turned out to be the easiest and best thing I have done in a long, long time. I love being able to share my thoughts and concerns with a group of friends and fellow Christians. We are a Church!! I anticipate sometime in the future our group will spin off into more groups just like the original Church.
I encourage you all seriously to get involved in a small group. You may be able to join an existing one but, if not, start one of your own. I am happy to offer my help. Don’t wait for Pastor Bill to ask you why you aren’t in a small group.
Welcome to the Villlages Community Chapel
The Villages Community Chapel is a multi denominational Christian Church serving those who live the Villages Golf and Country Club and the nearby Assisted Living Facilities in San Jose, CA. Our weekly worship service is held at 10AM Sundays in the Cribari Auditorium in the Villages.
A Word From The Pastor
Life's Serendipity
Author:
Senior Pastor Bill Hayden
Date Published:
Friday, September 21, 2018
Are there some things that have happened in your life that you never dreamed you would be doing? Many things happened in my life from my youth to my adulthood that I never imagined. I never thought that the family would come back together under one roof. Eventually, we all came together, though brief.
I never dreamed of my life drastically changing within a year out of high school. My girlfriend’s (whom I’m married to this day) pastor reached out to me and encouraged me to apply to a Methodist College that I had never heard of, the University of Wilberforce in Xenia, Ohio. I attended a semester, returning home to the Gary Steele Mills to earn money because I had no financial support. I participated in evening classes at the Indiana University Northwest while working full time.
The following year I became a Christian, got married, had a calling to the ministry and joined the U.S. Navy. A year later my wife and I moved to California, driving from Indiana in a 67 Volkswagen in mid-November. That's a story all in itself!
After leaving the Military, I landed a job at Hewlett Packard, went back to college to study Human Resource, purchased my first home and retired from HP after 29 years. All the while, I continued to pursue ministry and was ordained in 1976 by the Church of God Anderson, Indiana. I received my degree in Theology from the Southern California School of Ministry in Los Angeles, CA (an affiliate of The Church of God).
Unimaginable! I’ve been in ministry for 46 years with all events leading me here, to this day in my life. Psalms 37:23-24 NIV “The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand.”
Come and join us as we reflect all the good things in our lives at the Villages Community Chapel in the Cribari Auditorium each Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. A chapel is a place for Needs to be Met, Faith to be Affirmed and People to Love. We would love to meet you. To learn more about the Villages Community Chapel visit our website at http://villagescommunitychapel.org/ You can hear previous and current Sunday Sermons.