01 Jun Foursquare Connection, Day 3
Full day! After a great morning session with Ed Stetzer, the Advancing Leaders Collaborative Learning Tracks went for several hours with a break for lunch. I had the opportunity to share lunch with a new friend today. Pastor Alex Prokopchik serves as Pastor of the North Hollywood Foursquare Church, both the English AND Russian speaking congregations!
Back in March, I was honored to be asked to be part of our District’s Advisory Council. It was also found that we had three divisions of churches within our District that were without a Divisional Superintendent. I was asked to consider serving as one until our new District Supervisor is appointed. So, I am getting to know the Pastors of the Mid-San Fernando Valley Division, and Alex is one of them.
Fantastic story this guy has! Moved from Russia to the US when he was 19. He’s now 38 and planted this Russian congregation in North Hollywood several years ago. Since then, they’ve also planted another Russian congregation in West Hollywood and another in Alaska! Wow! He is bi-vocational, working as an engineer, and owns a company that services machines that operate in machine shops. I had a great time getting to know Alex.
After the Learning Tracks were over, I got to connect for a while with Larry Jameson, who is the Pastor of the Foursquare Church down in Paramount. That’s the church where Jennifer Thigpenn’s (our Worship Director) mom and dad, Ron & Judy Thigpenn, also serve as Associate Pastors. It was really good catching up with Larry.
I also ran into Janet Hattem, whose husband, Robb, used to be my District Supervisor. He is now the Supervisor of the New England District. Good to catch up with their lives a bit.
Then, I met up for coffee with a friend I’ve gotten to know over email and Facebook, Louie Locke. Louie pastors the Hillside Foursquare Church in Reno, Nevada. It was great to be face to face with him for once!
After all that, the evening session commenced. The worship was awesome, and I got to sit with old friends, Mike & Suzanne Northway, who had their kids with them too. We’re hoping to spend some time together tomorrow.
The speaker tonight was Rick Bezet, who spoke a powerful word encouraging pastors to dream big and “make your move” toward the Lord and what He has for us.
The highlight of the day really had nothing at all to do with Convention. My son, Josh, passed his driving test today and now is an official driver in the state of California! I’m so proud of how hard he worked to get to this point and couldn’t be happier for him.
Well, it’s late here, and I have my first chance to hit the sack at a decent time. Tomorrow’s morning sessions close out the Convention, so I’ll sign off and dive into a good night’s rest! More tomorrow!
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