Tammi Samuelson had a good life. She had a church community she called her home for 15 years. She had a teaching job she loved for 14 years. She had friends, family, and people she cared for close by. And then God called her to take a step of faith…

RHCM is a church committed to loving others in Orange County and beyond. We are invested in Costa Mesa and our surrounding neighborhoods in unique ways. Beyond that, we are invested in global partnerships in four different countries across the globe. In Uganda, South Africa, India, and Mexico we are equally committed to see God’s Kingdom come there as it is in heaven. During our September 2015 Storytelling Weekend, we shared this video that tells the broader story of RH on mission this last year.

In 2015, a team of volunteers dreamed of turning our normal back-to-school drive for local foster and group home kids into something much bigger. They spoke with a local hair stylist who agreed to bring his team and donate their time to give students a haircut. Another volunteer set up a craft table and helped students create a “goal sheet” to decorate and put in their binder as a reminder for their aspirations for the year. Clothing companies donated jackets, shirts, shorts, and jeans. What happened next was a beautiful collision of love, sacrifice, and new relationships.

When Steve reached his 30s, more than a decade of secret addictions turned his life upside down. As Steve entered recovery, God began to erase some of the labels he feared true of himself. In their place, God gave Steve a new belief window that he now sees life through.

RHCM has done some form of the Giving Tree program for close to ten years. People from RHCM pick up the tags, with local and global options, and then return them with a purchased gift card. Those cards are then used to stock local Christmas Stores, which low-income families visit to purchase gifts for their families at deeply discounted prices. Each year God uses this initiative to craft stories of neighbors being blessed and our own hearts being changed as we step into radical generosity.

In our November Storytelling Weekend, we took time to look back at how God moved in and through us in 2015. We celebrated all that God did in our lives, through our communities and, together, we gave thanks to the Lord for He was and is good.

On Christmas Eve 2015, we used the creative arts to tell the story of Jesus’ birth in a different kind of way. Together we took a journey through the world’s most popular Christmas carol. It’s a familiar song with lyrics that everyone has sung before. But it’s also a song with a compelling backstory that even the original writers couldn’t have foreseen…a story that points to the bigger story in beautiful and profound ways.

“We saw that we didn’t have to have the perfect marriage,” says Tamara, after she and her husband Fred received the training to be marriage mentors to a young couple. “Couples might think,” she says, “that you have to be counselors, or give advice, or tell them what to do, and you can feel a lot of pressure in that — but it’s really not about that.”

On March 27, 2016, RHCM celebrated Easter Sunday - the greatest day in history. Combined with the other 5 RH campuses, we declared the risen Savior across 12 services in 6 cities and 2 states. 6227 adults worshipped Jesus. 560 kids shouted “He is Risen, indeed!” 913 volunteers helped to create space for the Holy Spirit to do what only He could do. And all of us realized that this is the song we were created to sing.

Through these prayer walks, Jacob spoke of a renewed excitement within him to join with God in what he’s doing in his daily life. “When I’m in an airport, an airplane, taking an uber, or sitting in church,” Jacob said, “it is exciting to me that I can partner with God in ways he’s moving and pray into those things. Now I try to look for opportunities to be more proactive and to pray over places.”

“Prayer ministry is a continuous adventure. There are days where I don’t feel worthy, called, or eligible to even pray for people, but something I have learned over the years is that none of that matters! We aren’t responsible for the results, God is a good God, and He loves us, and He loves to talk to us. It’s humbling to be a part of this ministry, but so exciting to be able to have a front row seat to the Holy Spirit breaking through.”

“Lydia discovered that when she mindfully relinquished control of her life to the God who created that life in the first place, her path tended to lead her to unexpected but exciting new places.”

“My journey so far has not been easy or conventional in any way, but I am so thankful to know that it has all been, and will continue to be, in God’s hands. I got baptized on Easter and I see it as both a culmination of the work He has done in me so far and a starting point to the rest of my future spent following and serving Him. My decision to give my life to Jesus changed my life and I am so thankful for His relentless and unfailing love and grace, and the ways He is continuing to make me new.”

Two people with opposite pasts, experience the transformative power of Christ, and say “Yes” to getting baptized. Their stories helped compel 40 more people to get baptized during our June 2016 Storytelling Weekend.

“You have a story to tell. And every time you tell that story, you give a telescope to the people around you, and help them see the wonder of the Creator who loves them too.”

“That was the very first time I experienced God’s love. And I got to see for myself — that’s how God loves. He was saying to me, ‘You are my child, and I will protect you with everything I have inside me.’”

“God has freed me from the sins of my past,” she said. “It was a hard road, but that was what it took for me to see that I am a new creation, I’m not who I was before the assault and the depression—I’m clean and the enemy can’t touch me.”

On June 5, we celebrated our third Storytelling Weekend of this ministry year. We told stories of transformation. We used a spoken word to declare new life. We learned that our stories are the telescopes that allow the world to grasp the majesty and wonder of our God. Then we watched as 40 new stories unfolded through baptism.

A Life Group in Corona del Mar had been praying about how to be a blessing to more than just themselves. After taking a test to help reveal everyone's spiritual gifts, the one that they had most in common was the gift of helping. The question then became, who and how are we supposed to help? That's when they met Audrey.