On Sunday, February 13, we celebrated God's faithfulness over the last 15 years of our church, especially what he is doing through Life Groups and ministries in West Long Beach. The service included testimonies, beautiful decorations, and a collaborative art project designed by Samantha Carroll. (Watch the testimonies here.)The FOL Officers and staff are grateful to so many people who contributed ...  Read More

 BELLFLOWER – Within moments of the opening whistle, the paint-splattered men marched back to the starting line, arms raised in surrender. After a stunned silence, they began to ask, “Who got you?” One name emerged from their lips: “James.”James Carroll, FOL youth director, charged behind enemy lines, dodging countless yellow spheres fired in his direction. He led his youth team to victory with a ...  Read More

Take a moment to read this familiar verse:  "Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul." (Acts 13:1 ESV)Now read this statement by Thomas Oden:"Ponder this as if with African eyes: Mark, Lucius of Cyrene and [Simeon] were all together in Antioch, praying and fastin...  Read More

As a marriage and family therapist, I often think about what God—our Creator, Healer, Counselor, and Liberator—means for our mental health during life on Earth. In the communities I work in, traumatic events happen frequently, e.g., violence, tragic deaths, poverty, and homelessness. Traumatic experiences like these can create physical changes in the hum...  Read More

"There is something countercultural about the posture of joy."Mark Sayers, author of The Disappearing Church (and its more hopeful sequel, The Reappearing Church)If you're like most of us, it's not easy "count it all joy" in the midst of trials (James 1:2). To be sure, 2020, 2021, and now, 2022, have had their share of trials!Mark Sayers, recently discussed leadership postures for a new season. "P...  Read More

 psalm 25:5here’s a thing that I know:it hasn’t always been like thisand it will not always belike this. and I know‘there’s a season for everything’and i know‘it came to pass' but why does itcome to passso slowly?and why did it come at all?and i want to skip the season of sicknessand self-doubt and sin and struggle(i am from long beachand why shouldn’t sunshinelast forever?) i know youwillneverlea...  Read More

by Sarah Jenson and Clarissa Brunt"Advent remains with its paradoxical combination of waiting and hastening (2 Peter 3:12), suffering and joy, judgment and deliverance, apocalyptic woe and eschatological hope. It is the combination that counts. This is the way Christians live now, for "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it. (John 1:5 REB)" — Fleming Rutledge, Adv...  Read More

As I drove south on Santa Fe Avenue, the news droned on in the background and my mind settled on some nameless anxiety. Suddenly, a single jacaranda flower twirled down from a tree and hit the windshield with a tiny but audible "pock!" Two words entered my mind: "Look up!" I knew that I shouldn't take the words literally—since I was driving—but I turned off the radio, and gave my anxiety to the Lo...  Read More

And calling a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:2-3I have to apologize to Bubba. This inconvenient truth rattles around my head as I try to ignore it, focusing instead on driving down the street, avoiding potholes, and finding parking. “Why, God? Wasn’t he in the w...  Read More

A Reflection on National Adoption Monthby Sylvia Palomino“Are you a believer?” The question came out of nowhere.I turned around and found a petite Asian woman sitting on the lab table next to me, her head at my level. It was the fall of 1990, my first year of medical school, and as we waited for the prof to arrive, she saw me looking at my mail. I had received a welcome card from a recent church v...  Read More

by Heather Larson5/26/19Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)Rejection. Failure. How is it possible to stay joyful when our work does not succeed, and we feel rejected by those we try ...  Read More

By Pastor Dan Palomino3/19/19Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand o...  Read More