Lawndale Tribune AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - September 3, 2015 ECHS Junior Attends Girls’ Leadership Worldwide Program Vanesa Iñiguez, Environmental Charter High School junior (pictured on left side, second row, in the black-and-white T-shirt), was the only Southern California representative at the 2015 Girls’ Leadership Worldwide Program, held in New York at the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. Vanesa is an active participant in ECHS’s Green Ambassadors, an environmental education and service-learning program that empowers youth to be agents of change and take action locally to make a measurable difference in their communities. She plans to major in environmental studies when she graduates from ECHS in 2017. Photo courtesy of ECHS. A Day in the Life of a MLB Chaplain and Pastor By Nancy Peters Baseball’s nickname is “America’s Pastime,” and from early April until late October each year, the professional leagues that comprise Major League Baseball in America field their teams to play against each other, some in historical and others in new stadiums around the country. Diehard fans of the game of baseball live by the rituals that surround the game that can never end in a tie and that, although rarely, can actually finish with no player ever getting on base or making a hit. Fans pray for this kind of scientifically correct and spectacular baseball. With nine players from one team on the field, defending their part of each inning, the other team will send one player to bat at a time, who will either hit the ball pitched, or not. The players and their fans take their game very seriously and Brandon Cash takes his role with the Los Angeles Dodgers pretty seriously, too. “As a kid, I never in a million years would have given myself the ‘dream job’ of being the Chaplain for the Los Angeles Dodgers!” stated Brandon, with a huge smile on his face. “I grew up in a household where we were Dodgers’ fans, for sure. My Mom, who was a math teacher, did her Master’s Thesis and used the math of baseball as her topic with the Los Angeles Dodgers as her model team. I never thought about that coincidence until just now.” Brandon Cash was born and raised in the Bellflower and Los Alamitos areas and was part of a family that attended church regularly, especially since his maternal grandfather was a pastor. As a young boy Brandon loved baseball, but in high school his passion turned to golf. On Sundays, as he explains it, he would sit in church and think about golf. He was awarded a Golf scholarship to attend California State University at Long Beach and the first three years of college golf was important to him. “Somewhere in between my Junior and Senior years of college, my faith grew to such an extent that on Sundays I was now playing golf, but thinking about church,” Cash said. “It was as though God was tapping me on the shoulder, very subtly at first, and pushing me in a direction I didn’t expect. “I applied to Biola University and their seminary, Talbot School of Theology, and in the fall of 1995 I began my training to be pastor. One of my professors was Dr. Joe Hellerman and at that time (1995) he was the co-pastor of the Oceanside Christian Fellowship (OCF) in El Segundo. Dr. Hellerman was one of my mentors and when I was graduating he suggested I apply for a job in family ministry at the church he led. And, I have not looked back.” This full-time pastor shepherds his church on a daily basis and leads his family at home. He married his wife, Courtney, in 1997, and they are raising four children, three girls and a boy, ranging in age from 16 to seven years old. His upbringing in a Baptist denomination was more legalistic than the Evangelical Free tradition of OCF, but the orthodox Christian values are the same. In the fall of 2000 his role at OCF changed when Duke Winser, the founding pastor of OCF, resigned. “My days are busy with meetings at the church. Our regular attendance is about 750 on any given Sunday, when you include children and high school and middle school students. Our staff includes a few administrative assistants, three directors, two full-time pastors, and three part-time pastors. There is always something being planned for the future. We are working on our ‘regular’ Sunday weekly service, and some kind of special service like baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Leading a church, teaching Bible studies, overseeing programs and services is a full-time job. But when the opportunity came along to be the chaplain for the Los Angeles Dodgers, my fellow pastors and I saw it as an exciting opportunity for our church, as well. “My Chaplain duties didn’t start out with the Dodgers. Actually, a few years before, a church member, who had been with the Edmonton Oilers, joined the Los Angeles Kings organization. He asked me if I’d be interested in helping out with a Bible study with some of the hockey guys. So, for a few years, Peter Miller and I led a Bible study for some hockey players. And then Baseball Chapel, a ministry that appoints chapel leaders throughout Major (and Minor) League Baseball, contacted me about leading chapel services for the Dodgers. I began working with the team in 2011.” Sunday chapel services for both the Dodgers and the visiting team and a weekly Bible study with the players while they are “at home” in Los Angeles is a regular routine. On occasion, Brandon travels with the team to an “away series” so he can be an encouragement on the road while the players are away from their families. “My ‘roster’ of players/prayers (read: “prayers”) usually includes Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Gonzalez, A.J. Ellis, and Scott Van Slyke. Not only are they brothers-in-Christ, but I’d count them as good friends, too. Courtney and I try to build relationships with the whole family, be there to help and encourage them in any way we can. I don’t only serve the team’s Christians, though. I am available to any and all of the players, the coaches, the trainers, or whomever is in need of a listening ear. “I believe God’s plan for me included working with sports figures. I am a fanatic for God, but also a fan of baseball. So, combining the two has been a wonderful joy,” concluded Brandon Cash. Making it on base, hitting homeruns or pitching No-Hitters are not out of the question on a baseball field. Every season each team strives for a winning season, to win the pennant, or even the World Series. But with Chaplain Brandon Cash on the spiritual mound for them, the Los Angeles Dodgers win on a totally different playing field. • Brandon Cash, center, is surrounded by four of the Los Angeles Dodgers who participated in Major League Baseball’s Faith Day held in stadiums around the country. Standing on Brandon’s right are Clayton Kershaw and Adrian Gonzalez and on his left, Scott VanSlyke and A.J. Ellis. Photo courtesy of Brandon Cash. Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................7 Classifieds............................2 Community Briefs...............3 Film Review..........................2 Finance..................................3 Food.......................................8 Legals................................ 6-7 Looking Up...........................6 Pets........................................5 Police Reports.....................2 Seniors..................................4 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 75˚/64˚ Saturday Sunny 79˚/64˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 77˚/64˚
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