A Glorious Day to Praise Our God!
September 20th – a day I will surely treasure and remember! What a wonderful way to finish off SAINT PAUL’s 50th anniversary year.
We gathered in worship for the Consecration of the Virginia Maniti Williams Ministry Center. Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr. preached on “The Meeting Place” from Matthew 28:16-20 and led our ceremony. Our new District Superintendent Rev. Staci Current joined in.
Things tried to stop us from celebrating… We were scheduled for an inspection Thursday morning and received a call that the inspectors were all in training. We were rescheduled for the following week. Special gifts to hand out did not arrive in time. They are being given out. We had hoped to gather in the new upstairs space to eat and begin to move items in. Unfortunately that was not the case and yet the Spirit could not be contained!
We just had to celebrate and give thanks for all that God has already done to get us to this point. We were led in worship by our praise team and our many worship leaders with special music from our Kingdom Kidz Choir and Agape Choir.
The family of Deaconess Virginia Maniti Williams received the special plaque we will hang at the new entrance to Precious Time Christian Preschool. It will be at a height for parents and children to see and be reminded. Deaconess Virginia lived a life inspired by God and made that God incarnate through her service as Director of Children’s Ministry and initiating the formation of Precious Time Christian Preschool. Her witness continues to intersect with so many children, families and volunteers impacted by these ongoing ministries. It is a privilege to honor and be reminded of one of God’s saints among us.
The delicious meal was catered by Ima’s Kusina in Milpitas (owned by the Maniti family) with donations of salmon from the Capistrano family, turon from the Maniti family and fruit from Naomi Porcuna and Paz Flores.
Truly a glorious day!
Special thanks go to so, so, so many! My apologies if anyone is left out accidentally.
· Capital Campaign committee and the United Methodist Foundation who led us in the Building a Future Through Faith campaign;
· Building Committee and Technical team who have persevered through all the changes;
· Manny Bautista who joined me every other week at the construction site meetings;
· Finance Committee who has made our church finances work;
· Proforma Construction staff who we have gotten to know well and love;
· District Board of Church Location and Building for guidance and support;
· North San Jose Church Extension Society for a loan to bridge the financial gap for converting our construction loan to a mortgage loan;
· Fremont Vice-mayor Suzanne Chan and Pastor Sherman Williams of CityServe who helped us work with the City Planning department;
· The wonderful prior and current Precious Time Christian Preschool staff for making Jesus known;
· Those who have given to the Building Fund and prayed for this Ministry Center over the years;
· Pastors, leaders and faithful followers who have dreamed and worked towards God’s dream and what is still to come;
· Most importantly to our God and the Holy Spirit for inspiring and leading us to do far more than we would have imagined we were able to on our own!
And there is still more to come! Our UMW provided funds to purchase the new kitchen appliances. Jay and Linda Canuto donated and installed a sound system for the upstairs classrooms. Our UMM will be providing a new TV in the new space. Others have donated funds for furnishings. We will need help assembling the new playground and furnishings. We are exploring improving our sanctuary sound system. Talk with Lloren Corpuz, Manny Bautista or Cheryl Konno about furnishing needs.
I have been saying for several weeks that I cannot help smiling and then sometimes I feel like crying because it is so amazing that we are reaching this point in ministry. God is so incredibly good to us! I just thank God for each and all of you. What a joy it is to be in ministry together. Our Dream Weaving will have happened and we hope to continue to explore next steps to follow where Jesus leads. What an exciting time this is! Thanks be to God!
St. Paul United Methodist Church 