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It was a Unanimous Decision of the San Diego County Planning Commission Friday morning granting our application to take the next step at Horizon Prep. Thank you for the letters of support, the phone calls, public statements and your show of support.

“Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.”
Psalm 30:4

This past weekend my son Mitch packed our bags and flew up to Santa Barbara for the Calvary Chapel Central Coast Pastors Conference. It was a really great time with some really cool pastors and great friends. Together we opened up the scriptures and chewed on a very timely topic, “Core Traditions / New Terrain”.

You may have guessed already, I was asked to speak on New Terrain. The title they gave me was “Creative to the Core” and as Mitch ran the slides and we showed some video clips of the innovative ways that we are implementing through the ministry at Horizon.

The feedback was super positive and it seemed to resonate in meeting a lot of needs in the room. One practical illustration that stood out actually came from our rental car. When we got to the Hertz counter in SB the manager said “I’m sorry Mr Botsford but the vehicle you reserved is not ready. Can we upgrade you to a corvette for no extra charge?

Mitch grinned and said “sick.” I looked at the manager and said, “I’m a pastor and I’m speaking at a pastors conference.” He looked at me and said, “I think you can pull it off.”

I took that as the voice of God and we went for it! And it turned into not only being a killer way to cruise Santa Barbara, but a practical reminder to the pastors that ministry is God’s invitation for us to ride in His vehicle. The Church is His, and we’re to stick to the rules He’s laid out in His word. But that doesn’t mean climbing into His ride isn’t meant to be a whole lot of fun. Like the “CORE”-vette … our churches are the means by which we get to take God’s word to the world in the most innovative of ways. Some of us have been called to climb in a hotrod and reach a segment otherwise unreached. Others have been given a bike in Beijing. Some of us have huge sanctuaries and some meet in living rooms. Let’s not get too overly concerned with the style and size of the vehicle but on the owner (God) and the passengers (world) we’re called to invite to climb aboard. At the end of the weekend, Mitch and I even had time to paddle out for a surf session, even giving those new stand up surf boards a go. That’s just the kind of cool dad I am.

As we headed back to airport for our flight home, I spent a lot of time thinking about this is a very critical hour for the Calvary Chapel Movement. Although still true to our Core values as a fellowship of churches, there is a growing concern whether or not we have lost the relevancy we once held dear in ministering the love of Jesus to the surrounding culture. Have we kept up? Are we staying in touch? Some want to criticize Calvary Chapel as growing old in its approach. Have we lost our edge? I for one certainly hope not. When Jesus says GO it means climb into His vehicle and take His word to a lost and dying world that has lost their direction and need the map we have to make it home. To listen to my message from the Conference in its entirety, click here to stream or click here to download the MP3.

Hey everyone, I couldn’t be more excited about our new Horizon iPhone App. It’s brand new, it’s here, it’s ready, it’s approved by Apple (with a glowing report card) and it’s available for you … and it’s all free!

That means, wherever you are, you’re a click away from being connected to many of the resources and ministry life our Church.

INFACT YOU CAN CLICK (HERE) TO DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE

Just off the top of my head I’ve made a quick list of all the neat resources that the new Horizon iPhone Application provides…

• Sermon Series Audio and Video Archives

• Daily Devotionals

• Twitter Updates

• Relevant sermon snippets from the Horizon YouTube Channel

• Support the ministry through giving

• Map and directions to church

• Pastor Bob’s Blog (coming on Version 2)

Our tech dept has done an amazing job of keeping our ministry on the cutting edge of technology in providing another resource that takes the core beliefs and ministry resources of our church and makes them available in the most innovative and relevant of ways. I thank God for these guys, their late nights, tireless efforts and all the triple cappuccinos it took to pull this off. They have put together a great tool for us, so please use it. Take advantage of this technology. Tell your friends about it. Use it as an icebreaker in sharing your faith and inviting folks to church. It’s a pretty cool way to start up a conversation … “Hey, I see you have an iPhone. Did you know Horizon has an App for it?”

The funny thing is I personally don’t even own an Apple iPhone! My kids do (and my wife). I’ve been a Blackberry “crackberry” kid for many years now, and I’ve gotten pretty good at the trackball and thumb typing, but this new Horizon App just might be what pulls me over and into the iPhone world. What I do know is this; there are millions out there who are fully devoted to the iPhone camp and we are excited at Horizon to reach out to them and hopefully win them over to the Jesus camp. So help spread the good news would ya? Grab hold of this incredible new tool and let’s use it for the glory of our God. My prayer, yea this would be a huge blessing both to the Lord and to His Church. So Be Blessed. As it says in Psalm 17:8 “Keep me as the Apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of your wings.”