Rev. Donald Ng
One of our annual tasks is to write an annual report. I know how difficult this is to force myself to sit down, pull out last year’s Day-Timer calendar and flip through 52 weeks to trigger my memory of what took place in the past year. While it may be a tedious exercise, it has also become a humbling experience to review and remember how God has blessed us with so many ministries, events, and milestones.
The 2007 annual church theme was “Know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3a) that reads, “Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.” Continuing with Hosea, he says, “his (The Lord’s) appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like showers, like spring rains that water the earth.” When I was flipping through my 2007 calendar, I was struck by the regularity of events that took place. These events reminded me of God’s favor upon us that is as sure as the dawn that we see every morning and the blessings that come upon us like spring rains that water the earth. We know the Lord when we dedicate every day of life in Christ’s name.
In my 2007 calendar, I saw Sunday worship every Sunday. Every second and fourth Wednesdays, I had the Senior Center listed. Every month, the church newsletter was sent out. On Tuesday nights in my calendar, I had Lenten and Advent Bible studies at 7:30. In the summer, I had Day Camp, Summer Series, Youth Camp, retreats, family camps and church sports. I had biweekly church staff meetings. There were once again a Spring and a Fall Clean-up Day. Church fellowship groups usually filled my Saturdays. Weddings, baby dedications and parties, baptisms and funerals took place on the weekends. We may be tempted to say that we are in a rut when events happen the same time year after year. However, we may also say that in 2007, we have known the Lord because we saw him appearing in our church and in our lives as sure as the dawn!
While we have consistently provided ministries to make the Lord known in the world, there were some special developments that are worth noting in 2007:
1. Generosity in Missions
In support of the larger American Baptist missions, we once again received the four annual offerings of which we exceeded our stated goals for the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering and the Retired Ministers & Missionaries Offering. We received special offerings for the renovation of MacArthur Cabin at Redwood Glen and to repair the library roof at the Assam Theological Seminary in India. We completed our three-year pledge of $10K to the Chinatown YMCA and we are presently receiving contributions for ABSW’s Dr. James Chuck Seminarian Scholarship Fund. All of these examples of generosity reflect the sacrificial giving to doing God’s mission in the world both at home as well as abroad. When we know the Lord, we can’t help but to proclaim his love!
2. Faithfulness in Ministry
Carrying out the myriad of ministries of our church requires numerous people sharing their variety of gifts and talents. 2007 was again a year that we witnessed such discipleship and service. Enhancing our worship services with rejoicing music are those who serve on praise teams, sing in the choirs, direct the choirs, play the hand bells, accompany on the pianos and organ. Without such musical talents, we would have no singing. For the first time, we sent 8 conferees to the Conference for Church Musicians at Green Lake, Wisconsin in July where they learned new skills and rededicated themselves to the music ministry in the church. The outreach ministry of Friday Night School and the Christian nurture we have in our Sunday school are all depended on the faithful service of dedicated teachers and advisors. And our church home lovingly cared for by Trustees who are committed to making it clean and in order, provides a welcoming place for church members and visitors alike. When we know the Lord, we are faithful in God’s ministry.
3. Commitment to Effectiveness
By far the most significant development at the end of 2007 is the resignation of Rev. Joseph Tsang as our Pastor of Chinese-speaking Ministries. With a commitment to effective ministry both for Pastor Tsang’s ministry as well as the priority of the Chinese-speaking congregation, we were able to mutually understand that bringing a close to Pastor Tsang’s ministry with us at the end of November would be best for him and the church. We pray that God will once again call Pastor Tsang to a place where his gifts and abilities can be utilized to advance God’s kingdom. In the meantime, we are thankful for those who are providing interim preaching on Sundays. And we pray for the Search Committee that has started its work to call a new pastor to serve at FCBC in 2008. When we know the Lord, we trust in his promises that there will be a new day.
My brief summary of 2007 does not do any justice to the countless number of ministries and programs that occurred. Being blessed with a pastoral staff team and many dedicated church leaders, we are able to offer many programs to our church members and friends as well as to our Chinatown community. I hope you will take some time to read the many reports that follow for they truly represent how we have been surely blessed for knowing the Lord in 2007!
My appreciation to all the people who make up our church and for their dedication and faithfulness in ministry for which I thank the Lord. Special recognition to Wendy Lin who prepared these reports, publish the new 2008 Directory and maintaining the operation of the church office all year round. I also thank my ministerial colleagues of Pastors Chris Otani, Lauren Ng, Joseph Tsang, and Community Outreach Staff Jane Lam who labor with me and with you in doing God’s work. Special recognition also for our Bookkeeper Marian Hom and Finance Chair John Tom for preparing the year-end financial reports that you have at the end of these pages. We are delighted to have Nancy Guan as our new Night School Coordinator who officially started her work supporting the city college classes from Monday-Thursday evenings at the beginning of January 2008.
As we stepped over the threshold of a new year in 2008, we trust God will continue to appear to us “as sure as the dawn” and we will continue to see a host of blessings “like the spring rains that water the earth.”