June 2014 Newsletter
Going Away
When June comes around, we go away from our year-round homes to new places making them our temporary homes. Going away to a new place often gives us a different perspective on the meaning of life. Sometimes we come home from these temporary homes pledging to change the way we live. Other times, we come home reaffirming that there is no place like home. Are you going away this summer with the hope that you may gain a new perspective about life?
Throughout the Gospels, it seems like Jesus was always going away. When he finished feeding the thousands, he went away. After he preached his sermon, he went away. He tried to go away perhaps for a moment of solitude only to see that the crowds followed him. Before he was arrested and crucified, Jesus went into a garden to pray.
If you are blessed to go away in the coming few months, what may you be discovering in a new place that may illuminate your regular place of home? Perhaps like Jesus, you would come home refreshed and re-energized to continue your ministry at church and in your neighborhood. After seeing how other parts of the world value the importance of family and interpersonal relationships, maybe you would come home to reinvest in your family life and to deepen those friendships dear to you. Getting away from our familiar normative ways of doing this often grant us a brand new vantage point of seeing what may have gotten you down to lifting you up finally from the doldrums of life.
I hope that when you come home from going away that you would share your newfound learning with us so that we may benefit from your discoveries. I hope that in the midst of your busy itinerary that you might add on Sunday a visit to a local Baptist church or another house of worship to keep that day a little more holy than the rest. Finally, I hope that you would come home to the place where you spend most of the year with a new commitment to serve Christ faithfully in making the Good News become alive again because there are still many people where you spend most of the year who still haven’t made Jesus their Lord and Savior.
When you are away, know that there will always be the rest of us still at home serving the Lord because there will undoubtedly be many people who would have left their place of year-round home to come to San Francisco to play, visit and discover new perspectives about the meaning of life. We who will be home will do what others will be doing for you when you are away so that in the end, the whole world will know Jesus Christ whether we are going away or when we are still at home.
May your travels be safe and go away with Godspeed!
Pastor Don
English Summer Series
Over 6 Sundays, all adults are invited to attend this year’s Sunday Summer Series events, 10:00-11:10 in the Multi-purpose room at the YMCA. Here’s an opportunity to explore what God is doing around the world through our efforts as well as our partnership with others. Make plans to attend all 6!
July 6—Highlights of Italy
Travelers who visited some of the greatest art treasures in Italy will share how viewing Da Vinci’s The Last Supper to Angelo’s Sistine Chapel biblical scenes deepened their faith.
July 13—Giving that Lasts
Rev. Rick Barlow of the American Baptist Foundation will share about the importance of gifts planning and how you can plan to leave a lasting legacy to your family and church.
July 20—A New Land, A New Hope
Refugees from Myanmar have been making the US and the American Baptist churches their new home as the result of political unrest in that country. See a new video on how over 60,000 are revitalizing our ABC churches.
July 27—Bacone College
Bacone in Muskogee, Oklahoma provides a college education for American Baptist students with a special emphasis for Native-Americans. See how we can participate in this life-changing program.
August 3—Thailand Mission Team
Our mission team of 9 members led by Ricky Wong, Ian and Alexa Heung will share their mission endeavors in a hill tribe village in Northern Thailand.
August 10—Mission in Macau
ABC Missionaries Ivy and Emerson Wu will share about their exciting first year in Macau working with youth. Our church is sponsoring them as our special missionaries for the next 3-years.
FCBC Golf Tournament
The 13th Annual Golf Tournament will once again be at the Metropolitan Golf Links, near the Oakland International Airport on Friday, June 6th, beginning at 11:30. While having fun playing a round of 18 holes, your participation and donation provide scholarships for kids in Chinatown to attend Day Camp and Youth Camp this summer. The cost to play is $125 (includes cart, $5 food coupon and dinner). After the last group finishes, we’ll have awards presentations followed by dinner at the New China Buffet in San Leandro. Join us for a great day and/or support FCBC’s summer ministries by making a donation to “FCBC.” To register, contact Joel Jang or Butch Chan.
Family News
Congratulations to Pastor Visal and Lindsey Sok as they welcome their first baby, daughter Talitha Mehsah Sok on April 30th and to Jason and Marcia Kuo for their new daughter, Hannah Elizabeth Kuo on April 23rd! May God bless these little ones!
Kudos to Dr. Tommy Lim for receiving the California Optometric Association’s “2014 Optometrist of the Year” award! His recognition was the result of not only dedicated service to his profession but his volunteer work through FCBC and CCDC in Chinatown.
Our deepest sympathy to the family of Betty Olsen who returned to the Lord on May 7th.
ABC President Update
On June 11-14, the Board of General Ministries, which consists of one board member from each of the 33 regional organizations in the ABC, will meet at the American Baptist Assembly at Green Lake, Wisconsin. With the addition of national staff, the entire group is about 45 people. As President, I would preside over these meetings with Vice-President Judy Fackenthal, senior pastor of Garfield Park Baptist Church in Indianapolis. Some of the major agenda items are the challenges to increase mission support, planning of the 2015 Biennial Mission Summit, and the ongoing attention given to the vitality of the church in today’s world. The BGM is the official governing board of the American Baptist Churches in the USA.
Thank you for your continuing prayers for me to serve as President for 2014-15 in the denomination as well as continuing serving as your pastor.
June
1 10—V
10—P
11—D
11:20 Deacons, 12:30
Teachers Appreciation Luncheon, 12:30
6 Golf Tournament, Oakland
8 Pentecost
10—V
10—P
11—D
Gift Planning, 12:30
Deacons, 1:30
9 Day Camp begins until July 18
14 Semanons
OYYAs, 10:30
15 10—V
10—P
11—D
18 Church Staff, 10:00
20 Lanna Coffee Team
22 10—V
10—P
11—D
CE, 1:30
Trustees, 1:30
28 Thailand Mission Team leaves for Thailand
Sojourners
CONFAB Dinner Cruise
29 10—D
10—P
11—D