February 2024 at First OPC
Dear congregation and friends,
At our congregational meeting a few weeks ago, we enjoyed a little slideshow of our congregation's history. We saw the Cupertino schoolhouse where a small group started meeting in 1956, and witnessed the progress of the church through the ministries of various pastors, the growth of families, and the deepening of relationships. God has been good!
New Ruling Elder
At that same meeting, the congregation unanimously called Jake Hernandez to the office of ruling elder. We have not set a date for his ordination yet, but we expect that to be during a morning service in the next few weeks.
Vacation Bible School 2024
In January, we began preparing for this year's Vacation Bible School. This year, I'm thankful that we have a leadership team who will be sharing the work of planning this ministry. This will be the fifth year of VBS, and each year the ministry has grown. This year, we are preparing to welcome 80 kids, and we expect to need 40-50 volunteers.
Soon, we will be spreading the word about registration and volunteer opportunities. In the meantime, would you join us in praying for God's blessing on this ministry? Here are some prayer points I shared with the team:
- For unbelieving children and their families to trust Christ as their savior. "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14)
- For believing children and their families to grow “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)
- For volunteers to be sustained physically and built up spiritually through their service: "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:58)
- For children to be prepared, starting now, for service in Christ’s kingdom: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38)
- For deeper relationships between adults and children, and among the children, to be a source of long-term spiritual blessing: "I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together." (2 Corinthians 7:3)
Upcoming missions conference
On Saturday, April 20, our church will host the presbytery's annual missions conference. You're invited! The guest speaker will be Pastor James Folkerts, a former OPC missionary in Uganda. This will be a great event for families and kids, and lunch will be served between sessions. If you would like to come, you can sign up here.