Category: Pastor’s Blog

A Word from Pastor Sun Hee
Family Matters…

If you have been around SAINT PAUL for some time, you will know that one of the deepest-rooted values of our community is family. When we gather together for worship, we feel like a family: we know each other, we are comfortable with each other, we actually like each other! And of course, many in SAINT PAUL are literally family with each other (you know who you are).

As such, it’s clear that in our church, family matters. We believe in the value of having a culture of a healthy church family, and we believe that individual families, regardless of its particular make-up, need to be supported and encouraged by such a culture. But we also believe that it’s not easy building healthy and fruitful family lives in the 21^st Century. Families are often times overwhelmed by distractions, busy schedules, and life’s pressures and challenges. In other words, everyone needs help when it comes to building the healthy family life that God desires for us.

I am so excited that in the New Year, SAINT PAUL will be launching the brand new Family Ministries to offer such help, support and encouragement. This launch comes from the work of many meetings, a great amount of prayer, and the visioning of our Family Ministry Team. This will be one of key areas where we do “Faith-Sharing”—theme and our focus in 2015, and as a way of kicking this off, Pastor Anne and I will be preaching a sermon series early on in the year entitled, “Ancient Families, Modern Lessons”. It’s going to be an amazing series in which we will look at some ancient stories in the Bible about different types of family relationships and different types of family challenges, and extracting modern, every day application to our family life. What we will see in this series is that the Bible actually has a lot to say about family matters and that what the Bible says is still quite applicable to our living in the 21^st Century.

Regardless of whether your family is big, small, just beginning, or broken, you will find this series very helpful to making your family life better and stronger and more based in the values and standards of God. And hopefully, you will find SAINT PAUL standing with you and your family throughout 2015 as you experience both the joy and struggle of being a family together! Let’s make 2015 the best year yet!

Praying in eager expectation,

Pastor Sun Hee

A Word from Pastor Anne
Faith Sharing – 2015 Theme

As we come to the end of 2014, we excitedly anticipate the completion of our Ministry Center in 2015! It is an amazing time together as we listen to God’s Spirit and dream of new possibilities for making disciples of Jesus Christ in our not too future space.

We have completed our 3 year Capital Campaign, Building a Future through Faith! Our success depends on the God we follow working through us, the people in our congregation!  We are blessed by the generosity of our congregation who give so freely with their offerings of their time, talent and treasures for God’s work at SAINT PAUL. I give thanks for everyone that makes this possible together!

Our theme for this new year of 2015 is Faith Sharing. Our Readiness 360 team has been meeting since the summer of 2013. The team includes pastors, Mel Bactad, Pam Blankenbeckler, Monika Bautista, Nina Bautista, Rennie Bautista and Rommel Perez. We studied characteristics of vitality and multiplication : spiritual intensity, cultural openness, dynamic relationships and missional alignment. The team attended trainings, reflecting on how the material applied to SAINT PAUL, listening and discerning together about what God is already doing at our church and where God’s Spirit is leading us next for greater vitality.

We looked at demographics that give us an idea of who lives near the church by age and interests according to the last census. This helped us think about the potential people that we can connect with and serve in the community. How can the gifts and people in our church match with those around us to share the gospel, serve God and build God’s kingdom? Remember that our goal is not just to add one by one to our congregation but to multiply like rabbits!

We were asked to identify one strength of our congregation to begin focusing on. The team selected Faith Sharing. We agreed that SAINT PAUL is a place where people freely talk about their life with God with others. Pastor Sun Hee and I agree that it is more freely than many other churches. In 2014 we began to have at least one testimony a month in worship and/or in the newsletter. We also tried videos for our Facebook page and website.

This year we will be focusing on Faith Sharing. Take time to think about and share with one another:

What is good about Faith Sharing in our church?

What is good about Faith Sharing for you personally?

How does Faith Sharing make disciples?

Here are a few ways the Readiness 360 team answered these questions.

Faith Sharing in our church

• Brings the community closer.
• Is a way to get to know Jesus through other people and their stories.
• Shows that this is real to someone I know now.

Faith Sharing for me is

• A practical way to see how God is working now instead of thinking things are luck or coincidence.
• Makes you reflect on your own life and makes your faith life more solid.

Faith Sharing makes disciples

As part of the never ending circle of accepting Jesus and going deeper in sharing, service and participation. It is part of discipleship.

How can each of us and all of us use our strength of Faith Sharing to make disciples of Jesus Christ, build the SAINT PAUL community and reach out to others? What are the opportunities God is already providing? I look forward to what God will do!

O LORD, prepare us to receive your coming and to join you in what You are already blessing!

A Word from Pastor Sun Hee
Following Jesus

We live in a Twitter world. Whether it be a celebrity or your average Joe Schmoe teenager, everyone seems to be garnering followers. Even on Facebook, there is now a different category of connection other than simply “friending”. You now have the option of “following” your friends, random people, and/or interests. If you ask me, it seems a bit stalker-ish and creepy. I’m always surprised by how much popularity certain people have in this world. Katy Perry is currently at the top in the Land of Twitter with 59,832,796 followers with Justin Bieber at a close second with 56,692,250 followers (that, I don’t really get…but don’t get me started). And surprisingly, the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama, is ranking third with 49,579,601 followers. Me…? Well, I’m not on Twitter, so I really only have one follower… my loveable maltese, Goorumi. She follows me wherever I go! But I’m getting off the topic now.

If you are wondering why I’m talking about all this following stuff, it’s because our focus at SAINT PAUL during the Advent Season will be about following. Pastor Anne and I will be preaching through a series called, “Following the Star”. We remember how the wise men from the east followed a star to find their way to Jesus. And we remember that following that star actually led to following Jesus. This seems to be what we need to really remember during this very hectic season coming up when everything seems to distract us from our effort to truly follow the One who is worthy of following. This Advent season, and this Christmastide that is soon coming upon us, I invite you to turn your focus to Jesus. I’m sure the parties will inevitably take place, and the shopping will undoubtedly be endless, but will you make sure to put Jesus first and at the center of everything that you do? It will make all the difference in celebrating Christmas in the right and holy way this year. And don’t forget… while Katy Perry may have some 59 million followers, and Justin Bieber may have some 56 million, and I may have one furry little one, Jesus still ranks first above and beyond any list with over 2 billion followers worldwide. I hope that you and I will be on that list this year.

Wishing you a blessed Advent as we seek to follow….

Pastor Sun Hee