Let Our Hands Be Strong Now—Preparing for Retrofit
It’s time for you and me to roll up our sleeves and get ready to do some hard work! After a very successful stewardship fund campaign when our church members and friends pledged sacrificially to continue the legacy of dynamic mission in Chinatown and to plant a new church in Sunset, it’s time to prepare the Chinatown facility for retrofit and renovation. We need your help!!!
We are anticipating construction work to begin in August. This means that in June and July, we will need to rid our building of as much furniture, equipment, and materials as possible in order to give our contractors as much access as possible to work unhindered. This will expedite the work in order to keep us on schedule and save some money. The pastoral staff has been working with the CE Board and teachers to clean out storage cabinets. The Trustees are busily exploring ways to dispose of unneeded and obsolete furniture and equipment. A special task force chaired by will take primary responsibility to see this project through.
Given the extent of the work required at Waverly, we need volunteers for the following:
1. Move items to a debris box on June 11-12 and July 30-31
2. Sort and clean out storage cabinets and closets
3. Tag items such as furniture & equipment to be saved
4. Store items in your home garages during construction period (about 5-6 months)
5. Come in to do general chores such as cleaning out old kitchen pots, pans, and utensils, sorting out drama supplies, and organizing old files for archival.
We would like fellowship groups to volunteer and take responsibility for a part of this preparation work of the building for retrofit. If you have time to contribute, contact
, a member of the pastoral staff or Anna Lee in the church office.
When we mobilize as many strong hands as possible to work on this important project, we will be able to achieve the job and have fun doing it! In Zechariah 8:9, we see that God wants our “hands to be strong…so that the temple may be built.” Let’s begin to rebuild our church home on Waverly Place!
Financing the Project
With enthusiastic giving and those who were able to pay off their pledges earlier, we have received $369,495 far toward our pledged goal of $1,233,280. Before our Finance Committee submits an application for a Building Loan to pay for the construction project, we invite you only if it is possible and convenient to pay up or pay in advance of your pledge so that we would not have to borrow as much. The more up front money we have going into paying for construction costs, the less money we will need to borrow and therefore the less loan interests we will need to pay. The Finance Committee is working to discover the best loan that we can get for our project. This is a very exciting and promising time in the history of our church and thank you for your important part in making it all happen.
Worship at Gordon J. Lau School
Once construction begins, we will not be able to worship in our sanctuary until the retrofit is completed. During this transitional period, we will be holding our worship services at the Gordon J. Lau Elementary School (formerly Commodore Stockton) on
950 Clay Street a half block up from Stockton St. Worship services will be in the school auditorium which seats 200 people at a time. Children classes will meet in the cafeteria and adult classes in some of the classrooms. Junior High and Senior High classes will continue meeting at the Chinese Education Center (CEC) on Kearny St. We will still have use of the rooms at the Chinatown YMCA on Sacramento.
Change makes us uncomfortable and disoriented. I know that once we have become familiar with the Lau School, it will begin to feel okay. Jesus said, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt.18:20) When we are at the Lau School, Jesus will be present among us there too like he has been with us at Waverly Place!
For us to become familiar with the Lau School, we will hold an “open house” at the school on Sunday, July 4, 11:30-1:00 PM. Our first worship service at the Lau School will be on Sunday, July 18. We will first begin at 10:00 AM for a prayer in our sanctuary. After receiving the blessing and promise of God’s plan for our church, we will then have a procession as a congregation to the Lau School for a Joint Bilingual Worship Service. The Children’s classes will take this time to become oriented with their new spaces.
Family News
In the June, July, August edition of the daily devotional The Secret Place, you will find a contribution from one of our own members, Albert Lee. If you currently do not use a daily devotional guide, consider The Secret Place or one of the other helpful guides available in the church vestibule. Congratulations to Albert for getting “published.”
Pastor Don Ng presented a paper on the future of the Asian American church, entitled “Asian American Pentecost: One Spirit, Many Voices” at the Centennial Celebration of the Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle on May 22.
Recognition of Graduates and Achievements
We are proud of so many of our church friends receiving degrees and special recognition. Congratulations to: Kyle Lessler who is the valedictorian at the High School graduation and will be attending this fall. Joyce Wong is graduating from UC Davis with a art degree. Chris Jensen received his Ph.D. on from UC Berkeley.
Mission Way Beyond SF
In response to the human suffering that we see nightly of Kosovar Albanian refugees fleeing their homeland in search of safety, the May Communion Offering received $515 to purchase blankets through Church World Service. Each blanket is $5. That means that we are sending 103 blankets to Kosovo!
Supporting mission way beyond SF can be achieved by giving to this year’s One Great Hour of Sharing—“Go into All the World.” Since World War II, this offering has provided resources for:
*Emergency relief after hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, earthquakes, floods, wars, and other disasters;
*Refugee resettlement assistance to help ease the plight of 20 million plus refugees worldwide;
*Development aid to empower the poorest of the poor to make long-term changes and improvements for themselves and their children.
Our church’s 1999 goal is $3900. During June, you will have the opportunity to support mission way beyond SF where people need our help.
All-Church Retreat
The 1999 All-Church Retreat on July 9-11 at the Mt. Gilead Bible Conference Center in Sebastopol (near Santa Rosa) will feature two tracks: Chinese Program and English Program. Joint activities are worship, group games, campfires, and meals together. There is plenty of free time to relax and enjoy the out of doors. This is a great opportunity to deepen your walk with God and to build Christian fellowship.
The English Program—“Caravan Stories”
Come and join in a community of spiritual travelers! Our “Caravan Church” is on the move making progress to become God’s chosen people. The English Program led by Pastor Don Ng will be an opportunity to share “caravan stories” of your faith and to weave our stories with God’s stories in the Bible. Since we will literally be “on the move” worshipping and attending Sunday school classes at the Lau School during our church’s retrofit, sharing our “caravan stories” will sustain our faith during this time.
The Chinese Program—
The retreat begins after dinner on Friday, July 9 and concludes on Sunday after lunch. Che Chiu Yee and Franklin Hom are co-chairs and Joel Jang is registrar. Brochures are available in the vestibule or calling the church office.
For those who will be attending worship at Waverly, there will be a joint bilingual service at 10:30 AM with Rev. Katie Choy-Wong preaching. Katie is the East Bay Area Minister for ABCW and long-time friend and former member of FCBC.
Family Camp
Creating and sustaining a strong family is a real challenge today! This year’s Family Camp over the Labor Day weekend, September 4-6, will help you to learn proven principles to strengthen your family life. Using Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, Pastor Don Ng and others will explore the theme of “Parenting Skills.” Come with all of your “Most Difficult Questions that Kids Ask” and share them with a panel of seasoned parents! Alan Fong again directs this well-attended annual event at Happy Valley Conference Center in Santa Cruz. There are special programs designed for children and youth, always-popular campfires, interactive group games, and great home-cooked meals. Remember the delicious breads! Great times to hang out and spend with your church family in Santa Cruz. Registration materials available soon.
June 6th Membership Meeting
To recognize the importance of Father’s Day on June 20, the Deacons have rescheduled the Membership Meeting to be on Sunday, June 6 at 1:30 in the sanctuary. Items that will come to the membership include:
1. Approval of Susan Crisione who has applied to fulfill her field education requirement at First Chinese beginning in September and concluding in May 2000. Susan is a middler at the American Baptist seminary of the West and originally from North Carolina. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and prior to entering seminary, she worked in church-based community ministries in Seattle. Susan and Frank have been regular worshippers at both the 9:00 and 10:05 services.
2. Update on the Retrofit/Renovation Project and orientation to plans to worship and meet at the Gordon J. Lau Elementary School.
3. Highlights of upcoming Summer Ministries.
Please make plans to attend. The Social Committee will provide light refreshments.