Archive for category: Outreach

You are here: Home » Blog » Outreach

THE STORY OF MINH AND HA

Sunday December 6th, 2020
06 Dec 2020

by Betty Young

Our ESL ministry has been serving the Rockspring community for many years. I speak on behalf of every ESL teacher when I say that our most pressing desire is to share the Gospel with our students. As we teach our classes, our foremost thought is the salvation of each and every student. Yes, we can teach English, help them become US citizens, help tutor their children and even befriend them, but our best gift is and will always be salvation. Salvation is the most precious and costliest gift we can give our students. It meets the greatest need, brings the greatest blessing and has the most lasting results.

Pre-COVID19 we often saw our students every Tuesday and Thursday evening nine months out of the year. Some of the teachers saw them more often than their own family members. No wonder that we care so much for them. And now, during these COVID19 times, teachers have continued to keep in touch. We have provided our students free food boxes provided by our church and we hope and pray that we will one day be able to serve again as ESL teachers. Read more →

in Outreach /by

My Journey to Gainesville, Georgia

Friday September 25th, 2020
25 Sep 2020

By Allison Tran

What’s up friends?! My name is Allison; I’m a youth here at SJCAC and wanted to share about my journey to Gainesville, Georgia this summer.

I started this journey with Adventures in Missions (AIM) thinking that I would be going to Peru this past summer. Because of COVID I was given the alternative option to take a domestic trip to Gainesville, Georgia. Originally, I applied for this secondary trip because I had already fundraised. As the time got closer for me to leave, I was extremely excited to be surrounded by new people who would push me in my walk with the Lord. I was excited to experience missions in this country, be in a new state, and draw closer to God’s heart. When I got there, I sat alone one morning and struggled. I realized that I had signed up for this trip without fully asking if God wanted me there. Read more →

in Faith Journey, Missions, Outreach /by

Convoy of Hope

Tuesday December 31st, 2019
31 Dec 2019

By Derrick Duong

I felt so blessed to be able to participate in the Convoy of Hope event. The coordination of the humble team, the willingness to serve of our church, the spirit of joy and the energy of excitement were so high and strong since the first day of flyers distribution. Not only serving on the actual day (11/23) was an act of kindness; also distributing flyers from door to door to the neighborhood was an act of blessing. I was so moved to see more than a thousand volunteers walking from the parking area to the stadium in the early morning with great joy, getting ready to serve. All the prep works that were put together by the 50 churches was more than amazing! It’s indeed the work of the Holy Spirit! Some people who came for prayer looked helpless and lost; others admitted their brokenness, facing difficult situation. After prayer, tears of hope and joy appeared in their eyes. A lady even reminded us to call her for the follow up! It is a humbling experience to reach out to the community and see the work of the Holy Spirit.

in Outreach /by

Kids on Mission 2019 Team

Wednesday July 17th, 2019
17 Jul 2019

And we’re back! On our last day at the YWAM base, we prepared a restaurant-style lunch for those on the streets. Our preparation included baking cookies, cooking spaghetti and meatballs, prepping a salad bar, passing out flyers, and making blessing cards. We opened the doors for people to come in at 12:30PM. Each of us was assigned different roles which included welcoming and ushering our guests, sitting down to talk with them, being waiters/waitresses, and taking food orders & serving individualized plates for each guest. The YWAM workers explained that it is important for those experiencing homelessness to choose their meals because they are usually never given a choice of what they want to eat at other shelters. By giving them the option to choose (i.e. meatballs on their spaghetti or bell peppers on their salad) allows them to make decisions that they usually do not have the opportunity to make. Read more →

in Outreach /by

Never too young to serve

Wednesday December 26th, 2018
26 Dec 2018

By Dean C.

Last fall, my wife asked me if we should sign up our 5 year old for the SJCAC missions trip with YWAM in San Francisco. My immediate reaction was, “Are you sure the minimum age is 5 years? That must be a mistake. Isn’t YWAM located in the Tenderloin? The infamous neighborhood with prevalent drug use and crime? Maybe they meant a 15 year minimum age. I don’t know how little kids would be able to serve on this missions trip.”

Well, we confirmed that it was not a mistake. They really were allowing 5 year olds to register! I was still hesitant to sign our child up, but we saw this as an opportunity to take a step of faith and allow God to work wonders. Read more →

in Outreach /by

A New Start

Thursday December 13th, 2018
13 Dec 2018

By Allison Tran

The world is a wild place and we never know what could or will happen in the future. About twenty other church members and I had the opportunity to visit victims of the Camp Fire in Chico two weeks after the fire broke out in the neighboring city of Paradise. We served at Neighborhood Church, a local C&MA church, that was serving as a fire relief evacuation center. Most of the time, when natural disasters strike, or when so much is lost, many people question God or turn away from His goodness. They continuously ask why He would do such a thing to them. Some other Youth and I were working to sort out donations and give people resources that they needed. Many people would come in and ask for socks or shampoo, and be appreciative of what we could offer them, but you could tell that a part of them was still missing and that they were hopeless. Read more →

in Outreach /by

Lord, Be Glorified

Friday November 30th, 2018
30 Nov 2018

by Betty Young

Last month we celebrated an ESL student’s 80th birthday. This student, like many others, returned year after year and in time, became like a friend to our teachers. There was much love as we gathered with other students to celebrate a significant birthday of a cherished member of our Rockspring community. Teachers, as well as students, shared delicious food while serving and honoring one another above themselves. Read more →

in Outreach /by

Never Stop Sowing

Wednesday October 17th, 2018
17 Oct 2018

by Hou Lei

Our Mandarin Congregation has been reaching out to San Jose State University (SJSU) students for almost a year now. We mainly provide them with free lunch and by that we are able to get to know them and share the Gospel with them. We learned this way from our Cantonese Congregation who pioneered their Soup Club ministry with fruitful results. This semester, a few other brothers & sisters who had a burden for this ministry also joined us, giving us additional helpful resources.

In the beginning of this semester, other than the students we met in the past, many new students were also drawn to our lunch activity. On of the Wednesday (9/12), our brother Jason Ho shared with the students the Four Spiritual Laws and 3 students decided to follow Jesus. This is indeed the work of God, and all glory be unto Him! Of course, we must have a sense of urgency to disciple them. On the other hand, we had an opportunity to meet with a group of 30 students who came from Taiwan for only a 3-month stay. We hope that we are able to get to know them more and share the Gospel with them. Please continue to pray for this SJSU outreach ministry for both the Cantonese and Mandarin Congregations. Thank you for your support!

in Outreach /by

10 years of ESL ministry at Rockspring

Thursday April 12th, 2018
12 Apr 2018


by Betty Young

In September 2018, we will celebrate our tenth year of the ESL ministry in the Rockspring neighborhood.  In that time, we have expanded the ministry from simply ESL classes for adults to citizenship classes and a tutoring program for elementary school age children in the neighborhood.  Our presence is now well known. We are thankful for the support of our church and all who faithfully pray for our teachers and students. We are thankful for all who serve meals and enable us to focus the entire evening on the needs of our students.  Lastly, we are thankful for our teachers who love our students so well. Read more →

in Outreach /by

Does it matter?

Thursday February 22nd, 2018
22 Feb 2018

By Kevin Tran

When I was in college, I went on a week long missions trip to Mexico. I was an idealistic college student, eager to improve the lives of the people we met there. I was part of a team that worked on a small schoolhouse. Our group spent our week helping a local worker with his tasks: fixing a roof, painting some walls, erecting a fence, and building an outhouse. In the afternoons, we taught the local children Bible lessons.

As the week came to an end, I thought about our time in Mexico. What had we really accomplished? We made small repairs to a ramshackle building that might make it a little more inviting. We played with some kids for a bit. How long would any of what we did there last? Read more →

in Outreach /by

Categories