Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Oak Hills Covenant Church
Hell is a choice.
Pastor Marilyn Williams’s family and friends saw the minister in her before she did.
Contact: 1920 Shadowridge Drive, Vista. 760-598-3852; http://oakhillschur…">oakhillschurch.tumb…
Denomination: Evangelical Covenant Church
Membership: 100
Pastor: Marilyn Williams
Age: 48
Born: Chula Vista
Formation: Vanguard University of Southern California, Costa Mesa; Bethel West Seminary, San Diego
Years ordained: In process
San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?
Pastor Marilyn Williams: I would say that my favorite subject is God’s love for us and how God’s love changes us forever. I think of John 3:16-17, which surmises the foundational truth from which every sermon builds — “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son. Whoever should believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save it.”
SDR: What is your main concern as a member of the clergy?
PM: My aim is that we would all live our lives by faith in God who loves us and that we wouldn’t just believe that God is who He says He is, but that we would live our lives in the confident belief that God is with us and He has a plan for our lives. I like to say that we would live out an active faith.
SDR: Why did you become a minster?
PM: I honestly never saw this one coming. I was an itinerate international Christian speaker and Bible teacher for about 15 years, predominantly to women. I only went to Bethel Seminary to become a more skilled bible teacher. It wasn’t until half way through seminary — my professors, friends, and even my husband started telling me, “You are a pastor.” It wasn’t until everyone else seeing it in me that I began to consider becoming a minister. When I thought about it, I made the choice to go in that direction because I felt the closest to God when I was doing the work of minsters — such as serving communion, baptizing or preaching, loving people through the different seasons of life.
SDR: What is the mission of your church?
PM: I Corinthians 13:13 probably surmises it best. “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” The mission of our church is to be a safe and friendly place where anyone or everyone can find faith and hope and live a life in Jesus. Our mission is to enjoy God together, to love one another, and to serve our neighbors.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PM: I believe that when I die I will go to be with God in an even fuller way than I already am. Because I’ve placed my faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins, I believe I reconciled with God now and forever…. So, God meets us now and knows us, and we begin the journey now but death only brings us closer to Him.
SDR: Is there a place for hell in your theology?
PM: Absolutely. I don’t believe that God condemns people to hell, but that people who don’t receive the gift that God has given them, the forgiveness of their sins, end up there of their own choice. But I believe that God does everything and anything — all the way to a brutal and horrible death on a cross — to reach out to save everyone. I believe he wants all to be saved.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Oak Hills Covenant Church
Hell is a choice.
Oak Hills Covenant Church
Hell is a choice.
Pastor Marilyn Williams’s family and friends saw the minister in her before she did.
Contact: 1920 Shadowridge Drive, Vista. 760-598-3852; http://oakhillschur…">oakhillschurch.tumb…
Denomination: Evangelical Covenant Church
Membership: 100
Pastor: Marilyn Williams
Age: 48
Born: Chula Vista
Formation: Vanguard University of Southern California, Costa Mesa; Bethel West Seminary, San Diego
Years ordained: In process
San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?
Pastor Marilyn Williams: I would say that my favorite subject is God’s love for us and how God’s love changes us forever. I think of John 3:16-17, which surmises the foundational truth from which every sermon builds — “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son. Whoever should believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save it.”
SDR: What is your main concern as a member of the clergy?
PM: My aim is that we would all live our lives by faith in God who loves us and that we wouldn’t just believe that God is who He says He is, but that we would live our lives in the confident belief that God is with us and He has a plan for our lives. I like to say that we would live out an active faith.
SDR: Why did you become a minster?
PM: I honestly never saw this one coming. I was an itinerate international Christian speaker and Bible teacher for about 15 years, predominantly to women. I only went to Bethel Seminary to become a more skilled bible teacher. It wasn’t until half way through seminary — my professors, friends, and even my husband started telling me, “You are a pastor.” It wasn’t until everyone else seeing it in me that I began to consider becoming a minister. When I thought about it, I made the choice to go in that direction because I felt the closest to God when I was doing the work of minsters — such as serving communion, baptizing or preaching, loving people through the different seasons of life.
SDR: What is the mission of your church?
PM: I Corinthians 13:13 probably surmises it best. “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” The mission of our church is to be a safe and friendly place where anyone or everyone can find faith and hope and live a life in Jesus. Our mission is to enjoy God together, to love one another, and to serve our neighbors.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PM: I believe that when I die I will go to be with God in an even fuller way than I already am. Because I’ve placed my faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins, I believe I reconciled with God now and forever…. So, God meets us now and knows us, and we begin the journey now but death only brings us closer to Him.
SDR: Is there a place for hell in your theology?
PM: Absolutely. I don’t believe that God condemns people to hell, but that people who don’t receive the gift that God has given them, the forgiveness of their sins, end up there of their own choice. But I believe that God does everything and anything — all the way to a brutal and horrible death on a cross — to reach out to save everyone. I believe he wants all to be saved.
Comments