EFCSB - 2010 主題：「凡事謝恩 各處傳揚」

Dear All:

This week has been extremely busy for me. Everyday, I got back to home tired and exhausted. I have been thinking of sending this email for few days but just didn’t have time to do that. On Wednesday, I realized I have completely forgotten a progress report that I am supposed to submit my draft. I asked for a one-day extension and rushed to have it out. Yesterday, another phone call asking me to provide some inputs for a proposal that is due on coming Monday. (People always like to wait till last minute). As a result, I did that after I returned from the Friday night fellowship meeting. There were some messages in the answering machine and it was too late for me to return calls. Your life probably also is full of unexpected emergency, obligations to be fulfilled, … etc.

Quite often, we are doing things that are urgent but not necessarily important.

On coming Sunday, we will have sister Christina Gu (顧莉華姊妹). I have never met her before.  Then, you may wonder why we invite her to be our guest speaker on Sunday. Recently, our congregation has more  people coming from China to join us in the service. I have been thinking of having more speakers of similar background to come to preach in our service. I called 海外校園 and talk to 鄭旗英師母（wife of  蘇文峰牧師）She gave me some recommendations. sister Gu is one of them. She is currently studying at 國際神學院 and serving as intern at a Chinese church in Los Angeles. She has also been invited to preach in many meetings. Two weeks ago, there was a joint retreat at UCSD co-sponsored by several Chinese churches. she was one of the speakers in that retreat.

During our busy schedule, we particularly need to set aside time to come to the Lord. Please come to worship with us.

Peter

Dear All:

On coming Sunday, we will have 張文彬 to preach among us. He will preach at both Taiwanese and Mandarin congregations, let’s pray for him and May God use him.

I have some special projects going on these weeks, They keep me quite busy. I was planning to make some phone calls but didn’t make too many of them. I wish I were a student and had long summer vacation. I miss the good old days.

This week, I saw some workers digging out the cement because the tree roots damages the cements and made big cracks that lead to uneven surface. I anticipated to see some roots. However, to my surprise the roots were much longer and bigger than what I anticipated. I saw the trees before they were cut down. Each of them was not bigger than an adult’s leg. However, the roots were bigger. I believe they started with a small soft root and grew to become strong enough to break solid cement. This is a demonstration of the power of life. I also noticed that the roots expanded a long distance to search for water. They are hidden underneath the ground. Yet, they determine how firm the tree could stand and how much nutrition and water a tree could get. We all have our own “roots” that no other can see all of them. You won’t know how much quiet time I have and I won’t know yours either. Yet, it determines how we live out our lives. We have seen qualitative growth in recent weeks. After reviewing and revising the attendee record, our last four Sundays, we had 50+ people.

6/23     87 (Outdoor service)

7/1      56

7/8      57

7/15    58

Yet the numerical growth is not our ultimate goal. That is something easy for others to see (just like to trunk and leaves of a tree). If we don’t have big enough and wide enough roots, the leaves would have difficulty to keep green. I have been in many churches. All face the same challenges. It is hard to ask people to come out to serve. It is even harder to encourage people to live a close life with the Lord in our personal private corner. I have the same challenge too. Yet, those moments unseen by others (and will be praised by others) would determine our long term quality of Christian life. Quite often in the Bible, we see Jesus retreated from the crowd to have His quiet moment with the Heavenly Father. If even Jesus needs to do this, we definitely need to do this even more.

The attendee record is certainly encouraging. It is a great achievement contributed by so many. I have seen the effort put up by the coworkers and (certainly by many more unnoticed to me.). Let’s also encourage each other to live an inside life that has deeper relationship with God just like those trees having deep and long roots. This week, I also saw a Korean painter singing “In the Garden” while busy painting the walls. I envy him. That’s the kind of lesson I need to learn that having a peaceful heart while living in a noisy environment.

Peter

Dear All:

It has been a very busy week for me. I have been away from my desk most of the time and having a visitor at home. During such a busy schedue, it is quite challenging maintain peace in mind. This is a lesson for me. Recently, I accidentally ran into an old friend, a Christian professor at UCLA.. During the short conversation, he suggested me to read “Experiencing the Depth of Christ” by Madame Guyon(蓋恩夫人) (The Chinese translation of this book is called『簡易祈禱法』and the title is misleading ). Though, I had this book for years. However, I actually didn’t read it carefully before. I decided to pick it up again. It is a very short book but demands lots of thingking. It is a lesson for me to maditate the contents while having a busy life.

On coming Sunday (7/15), we will have Rev. Lin (林貽健牧師) to be the speaker. This is the second time for him to be among us. I missed his last sermon on 4/15. Several people told me they were blessed by his last sermon. Let’s pray and prepare ourselves. Thus, we may be blessed even more on coming Sunday. last week, brother Andrew Wang (王行仁弟兄) delievered a powerful message on 『在父神和主耶穌基督裏的教會』. This week, Rev. Lin chooses 『我們是 神的百姓』as his topic. Both topics were set independently by the speakers and the speakers don’t know each other. However, their sermons seem to link together so naturally. In addition, the topics are exactely what I feel God wants us to think more about. Our congregation is not just a gathering. I feel God is calling us to follow him and glorify His name in this area.

last Sudnay, we had 54 people. (The actual number is higher because 2 came to the Sunday school but left early). For three consecutitive weeks, we had more than 50 people. Growth in quantity is just a small part of the church growth. It is also encrouraging to see that we have more people coming to the Sunday school classes. Last week, we had 30 people. This is the beginning of the two classes (『個性與恩賜』by sister Siji and『基要真理』by brother Yunn-Tay). If you haven’t joined any of it, get up earlier on Sunday and be part of it. Besides, I also hope to see more to join the prayer meeting. We are fighting a spiritual battle. We need more spiritual warriors. The prayer meeting will be at the Seaside classroom (1st floor right under the English congregation). Let’s learn to submit ourselves to allow God to transform our congregation to be His mighty army.

Peter

Dear brothers and sisters:

I was scheduled to preach on coming Sunday. However, last Sunday, I learned Brother Andrew Wang (王行仁弟兄) is coming to LA to attend a wedding this weekend and decided to seek the possibility for him to preach among us.  Andrew Wang (王行仁弟兄)  is the brother-in-law of 劉富理牧師 and younger brother of 王守仁教授. He is a lay person having full-time job and shepherding a church at Columbus Ohio. I met him 1980 when I went to Ohio State University for graduate study.We attended the same Chinese church. He invited me to teach a Sunday school class on Old Testament together with him. To me and to many others, he is the “father” and “big-brother” figure. He is one of the role models for me to learn and has influenced me more than he realizes.

This year, the Mandarin congregation set a Sunday attendee target of “50″. In March, we had reached that level twice (50 and 51 respectively). On 5/20, we had 57. Recently, we had 87 (6/24) and 55 (7/1). However, I won’t declare that we have reached our goal.So far, those 50+ Sundays are results of fluctuations.The monthly average will be a better indicator

Jan     39.8

Feb     43.8

Mar     45.8

Apr     41.6

May    47.0

Jun     56.0 (45.7)

The figure in June is above 50. However, it is mainly due to the outdoor service on 6/24 (87 adults and 25 kids), The other three Sundays we have an average of 45.7. It appears that we hit a barrier when we reach to the range of 45-50. We are close to our target but not quite there yet.

Our recent increase of attendee is a result of team effort. I have seen many of you (regardless having job tiles of not) putting up various effort to care and other ministry areas. God also has brought many new comers to us.

Number increase is just a small part of our congregation. We are working to bring more depth in our spiritual life. We had two Sunday school classes. On coming Sunday, Sister Siji will begin a new lesson on “個性與恩賜” Brother Yunn-Tay will invite our sermon speaker to talk in his class on the topic of “God of Trinity” . Yunn-Tay attended the church shepherded by Andrew Wang before he moved to LA and joined us earlier this year. From now on, we will try to provide more than one Sunday school classes to meet the different needs of our members. We are also working to lay down a long term plan to establish a Sunday school curriculum that has a clearer roadmap aiming to help us to know Him and equip ourselves to be a better servant for the Kingdom. Last Sunday, we had 26 people came to the classes. Get up a little bit earlier and join us for the feast.

Peter

From: Jack Hsieh
To: Randy Chu ; Jason Huang ; Theresa Huang ; Jack & Yvonne Hsieh ; Yvonne
Hsieh ; Thomas Huang ; Maria Huang ; Jim L. Lin ; Parker Lin ; Sandy Lin ;
Joe Wang ; May Hu ; Bill Xue ; Jack Wu ; Peggy Wang ; kevin shen
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 9:10 AM
Subject: July Program

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Please review the July Program listed below. If you
have any question, please do not hesitate to contact
me.

I also like to encourage all of you to participate in
leading bible study since we already have the material
ready. Please contact Kevin and/or Yvonne for
material. Kevin, Yvonne, thank you very much for all
you have done. May God bless you richly!

Also like to thank Maria for picking up Hollywood Bowl
tickets in a scorching heat yesterday!

JULY PROGRAM

7/6 B/S (BIBLE STUDY) YVONNE

7/8 SOAK CITY

7/10 HOLLYWOOD BOWL

7/13 BEACH OUTTING

7/15 TIDE POOL EXCURSION

7/20 B/S KEVIN SHEN

7/27 B/S YVONNE