OCTOBER 2004 Editor: Robin Wagganer, San Jose First
East
Bay (Hana) Korean Celebrates Renewed Building
Living
Hope Church’s New “Focus”
by Rev. Bob Kilpatrick
San Jose Cambrian Park
recently celebrated a joyous baptismal service. There were 107 people that
shared in the sacrament of which 17 people declared with the outward symbol and
testimony of what the Lord is doing in their hearts and lives. The service was
held outside in the front of the church, using a horse trough for the baptismal
tank.
the setting…
(the baptism line-up…)
East Bay (Hana) Korean Celebrates Renewed Building
East Bay (Hana) Korean
Church celebrated the refurbishing of facilities on September 19. Pastor
Rev.Samuel Chun led in thanking many from the District Church for their
volunteer service in this work. Larry Fitch, from Pittsburg Church was
supported well by his own family and also his pastor, Rev. Jerry Miranda and
many others from Pittsburg in leading this project over the summer. All who
contributed to this important event are deeply appreciated.
<return to Contents>
by Rev. John Wilcox,
Santa Cruz
Books for
Pastors...Will you help?
Nazarene Missions
International is celebrating its 90th anniversary. The project chosen to
celebrate this milestone is "Books for Pastors" Tools for
Ministry". The monetary goal is 3.5 million dollars given during this
assembly year. This offering will equip 7,000 pastors around the world for
ministry by giving them a small library of their own. These pastors need
holiness materials in their languages for sermon preparation, discipleship
helps and ordination studies. The challenge is this: each church is to give an
equivalent of $7.00 for every person represented in your Sunday morning worship
attendance for the 2002-03 assembly year.
October has been
designated as a time to show appreciation to your Pastor. What better way is
there to honor your Pastor than by giving a fellow Pastor the opportunity to
have a small library just like your Pastor is privileged to own. There are
Pastors in third world countries that only have a Bible. Mind you this Bible is
in pieces, because they have shared their most treasured resource with their
group of believers, a page or chapter at a time. Celebrate this wonderful
opportunity by sharing with your Pastor.
Crisis Care Kits
Are you thankful that you
have not had to endure the multiple natural disasters that our Floridian and Caribbean
Nazarenes have had this past month? Due to the huge need for crisis care kits
over the past three months the warehouse is now empty. I challenge every church
large and small to send a minimum of one banana box, filled with 6 crisis kits
to Maryland. The cost is approximately $20.00 per kit plus sending $12.00 per
box to the General Treasurer to cover the cost of shipping the kits where they
are needed, and then around $35.00 per box for postage. The average cost per
kit is $27.00, a small price to pay if you are the one that has just lost
everything. You would welcome a comb, Kleenex, soap, a couple of towels,
Band-Aids, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, nail clippers and even a small
stuffed toy to love or perhaps be able to give away. One of these days it may
be you having just experienced an earthquake, living in a shelter and wishing
for the basic necessities of life. For complete instructions go to www.nazarenemissions.org/crisiscarekits.
Nazarene Missionaries
Visit Northern California
Our district is
privileged to several missionaries visiting on our district for a deputation
tour over the next five months. A deputation service is an opportunity for
inspiration, information, connection, and enlarging your global vision. If
there is a missionary coming to your church, take an evening and be blessed
with what the Lord is doing in our world with the help of His people.
November is Coming...
Time is rapidly flying by
and before we are ready, Thanksgiving will be here and in the church that means
Thanksgiving Offering. An opportunity to say to the Lord, thank you for the
blessings you have given to me this year. Start praying now, about the amount
the Lord would have your share in the spreading the gospel around the world.
<return to Contents>
by Carol Van Buskirk,
Cupertino New Life
The vision for Point Loma
Nazarene University's Center for Pastoral Leadership is taking shape...the creation
of a meaningful resource partnership between professional ministers, church and
district leaders and ministerial students on the southwest educational region
of the Church of the Nazarene. Think of the Center for Pastoral Leadership as
the bridge-link that brings together pastors, lay leaders, faculty and
students, with opportunities for personal and professional enrichment, service,
modeling and mentoring. Under the leadership of Dr. Norm Shoemaker, the initial
focus of the new Center will be built around these five priorities:
1. Professional Education
- Master of Ministry Degree
Program
2. Continuing Education
and Enrichment
3. Mentoring
- Embracing and nurturing
students with a call to vocational ministry
- Fitness testing (gifts discernment,
practical experience)
- Internships
- Impact encounters with
effective pastors
4. Church Resource &
Relations
- Church resource initiatives
- Research data base analysis
- Web Site connections
5. Pastoral support and
care
Living Hope Church’s New “Focus”
by Dorothy Bentley,
Monterey
A typical Sunday's
bulletin featured a listing of the fall line-up of adult Sunday School classes.
George Smith's 25 week study in Leviticus! May Jones' 14 week "Meander
Through the New Testament"! The Young Married's class was beginning a
video study on Boundaries and the Primetimers were starting a
"Dialog" class. Sam Green's class would continue with the adult
Nazarene curriculum. Six choices! What could be better? How about having even
more classes for the winter quarter!
For decades churches have
offered an increasingly varied curriculum on all things spiritual with the
theory that more is definitely better. Particularly in the areas of adult
ministries, success is often measured by the number of adult Sunday School
classes available. Classes are developed to address specific needs rather than
to accomplish a distinct purpose. That is exactly what we were doing at Living Hope
Church in Monterey. Truthfully, classes were more often about a particular
teacher's interests or simply their willingness to teach! Although often
successful, classes were never framed in the context of an overall purpose.
Our mission statement at LHC
is "to help people develop a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ and
His Church", but were we being intentional in accomplishing that mission?
What does a meaningful relationship look like? What do people need to know to
get there? Why not shift our focus and develop classes with a specific
destination in mind? Realizing that there's nothing more exciting than a church
full of people who are indeed growing in their faith - a church where life
transformation is a reality, we have launched a two-fold "Focus
Project."
We began with our Core
Values. If having a heart for faith, God's Word, prayer and giving are some of
those values, then everything we do including Sunday morning worship services,
adult classes, small groups, etc. needs to emanate from these. This fall we
have launched "Focus Classes" on Sunday mornings. We've begun with
two series of classes - "A Place to Begin" for those needing the
basics of faith and "A Place to Mature" designed with more in depth
teaching and life application. Four classes, four weeks in duration have been
developed in each series. What are they? Either "A New Heart for..."
or "A Maturing Heart for..."Faith, God's Word, Prayer, or Giving.
Adopting the philosophy to teach "less for more" has helped us narrow
our "focus," thus developing and using curriculum that clarifies the
true essentials of our Christian faith - to know Jesus loves us, speaks to us
through His Word, desires to hear from us and wants to see our lives
transformed!
<return to Contents>
by Rev. Brent Kall,
San Jose First
NYI All-Night Party
Takes A Road Trip
The Annual Fall all night
party is always a blast, but this year NorCal NYI hit the road to join students
from around the SouthWest region at Magic Mountain. More than 150 NorCal Youth
made the trek to this PLNU sponsored private party. From 7:00 pm to 1:00 am we
rode roller coasters, ate nachos, reconnected with old friends on the region,
and had a blast! Afterwards NorCal NYI headed over to Olive Knolls Church of
the Nazarene where some hung out all night playing games and talking and others
succumbed to Mr. Sandman and caught 40 winks (well, maybe 25). The next morning
we all made the journey back to NorCal after a continental breakfast on the
lawn of the Church. It was a great diversion from the start of school and
homework. Teens won't want to miss this event next year as it returns to a
NorCal venue with more twists.
Get to the Point
Point Loma preview days
are fast approaching. On November 4-5, Point Loma opens it's campus up to the
SW Region Juniors and Seniors. Students will be able to experience classes,
chapel, campus dorm life, ask questions of admission staff, and see the campus.
For more information on how to attend, check out their website www.ptloma.edu and go to the School visit
section.
New NYI Leadership
Shawn Sampson has been
the NYI president for the past two years and has done a great job. Shawn
recently stepped down from his position as he begins work on his Masters degree
at Fuller Seminary. We at NYI would like to say thank you to Shawn and Amy for
their committment to our youth and offer our prayers as they begin this next
phase in their lives.
Stepping into the NYI
President position in Shawn's place is the Vice President Brent Kall. Brent
Kall has served on the NYI council for six years: NYI President for three years
and VP for three years. Brent is the Student Ministries Pastor at the Point
(San Jose 1st Church) and can be reached for any questions at Brent@thepoint.cc or (408) 258-7842.
The NYI council has
elected Gary Ball as the new VP. Gary is the Youth Pastor at the Watsonville
Church and has been involved in High School & Jr. High Camps as well as
serving on the NYI Council.
Please keep NYI and it's
leadership in your prayers as we prepare for future ministry opportunities.
<return to Contents>