Welcome to a very special edition of the Transformed podcast. Solomon tells us that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish!” In our episode today, Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor in El Segundo, California, shares from his heart the vision he believes God is calling the people of Pacific Baptist Church to embrace. In [...]

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Photo Credit: baptisttwentyone.com   So many times we fail to tell others about the amazing lovingkindness of the Lord for fear! This week, as we have been reading through the Bible, we came across Gideon in Judges 6. He was commissioned by the Lord to remove the oppression tyranny of the Midianites from Israel. But [...]

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As I downloaded yet another app this week, I thought of the fun and convenience technology has brought to our lives. You know what I mean – apps for finding a great place to eat, mapping your route to your destination, saving at local businesses, reading books and magazines, watching TV shows … not to [...]

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by Pastor Mark Haines We welcome Pastor Mark Haines to Eagles In Leadership this week. He is a happy husband, father, grandfather and pastor living in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. You can learn more about him at his website. Our church has been struggling financially.  Many of our members lost their jobs as [...]

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Welcome back to the Transformed podcast. Thank you for joining us! Have you ever wondered what God thinks of your next-door neighbors? In our new series, “Walking with the Wounded,” Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, will explore that very thought. In this series we will focus our attention [...]

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By Dr. Matthew Lee Smith My phone rang yesterday afternoon. It was one of our city council members in El Segundo, California, where I recently accepted a lead pastor position. His kind words of welcome and thanks for my recent note touched my heart. He also offered to go to lunch or coffee soon and [...]

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As we walked the streets of our community this weekend giving away small bags of Valentine’s candy, my heart almost broke as I thought about all the people near our worship facility. Who are they? What’s their story? Do they know Christ? What aches and pains do they carry? “Hi, we’re your neighbor and wanted [...]

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By Dr. Matthew Lee Smith Over the course of the past 2 years I have been thinking about the alarming statistics concerning the American Church. My friend, Len Sweet, says that 75% of the churches in America are dying, 23% of them are plateaued (often taking those from dying churches) and the remaining 2% are [...]

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By Dr. Matthew Lee Smith   As the Christmas season came to a close, I can remember how the focus for many was on themselves. They were interested in what THEY were going to get, what parties THEY were going to and what things THEY were going to be doing. In contrast to this was [...]

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In a recent article in the California Southern Baptist, Mark Kelly reported that Focus 21 Task Force Chairman E. Glen Paden, a retired pastor and president emeritus of California Baptist Foundation, said committee members agree dramatic changes are needed to take the gospel to more than 37 million Californians-at least 60 percent of whom will [...]

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