On Wednesday night, September 28, pastors in our area who pray together every month met in response to the tragic events in El Cajon. Feeling like we really needed to express the unity that we have in Christ, we decided to write something up for all of us to use in our services this past weekend. We asked Rolland Slade, Pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon to actually write up our statement. Several of you asked for a copy so here it is.
We (the East County Pastors Prayer Network) come together and urge our Congregations, Citizens and City Leaders to do what is right.
Together we are part of the fabric of this city and region. We have worked hard to build relationships and trust among us. We have come from various places, backgrounds, and ethnicities to live out in this time. Jeremiah 29:4-7 (NASB).
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.”
Together we have labored for the “Shalom” in the city. That “Shalom” has now been torn to pieces and literally stolen away. Our collective hope and disciplines for it’s’ restoration are found in Micah 6:8 (NASB);
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?”
The events of Tuesday, September 27, 2016 were tragic and must be acknowledged. We (the region, community, neighborhood and the Olango Family) have been dramatically changed. We have been called for such a time as this. Our nation has seen division and separation long enough. Let us unify as the church, the children of God and use this moment in time to drive us forward to do and be better.
We must seek truth, transparency and transformation not only in the City of El Cajon, but in the region as a whole.
Truth must come out, though painful as it may be, we must seek it and have it so that we may begin to heal and to set things right. (Ephesians 4:15)
Transparency must not only be our communication style, it must be how we deal with each other. There can be no hidden agendas. (Mark 4:22)
Transformation must come from these events. We must go beyond methodological and systemic change into the realms of societal, communal, spiritual and individual transformation. We need to be new men and the new man’s transformation begins within the heart. (Romans 12:21; Galatians 6:15)
There are tremendous hurts in this region and we must acknowledge that fact. We have been given the opportunity to cry out as the prophet did in Habakkuk 3:2 (NASB)
“Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.”
May we collectively rely on the promise of Jesus, as we move forward to reclaim the “Shalom” or “Eirene” of and in the City of El Cajon and the greater East County region of San Diego that we find in John 14:27 (NASB)
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
Now is the time for us to stand together and to walk arm and arm in faith.
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”
Ephesians 3:20 (NASB)
