1. THE BIRTH: Even though CITC first started to be formed in year 2005, it really wasn't until January of 2006 that CITC actually got "birthed" into a living existence. Year 2005 was like a 9-months pregnancy and I would say the real birthday of CITC was January 2006 - which means it's now 1 year old. Happy Birthday, CITC!
2. PERMANENT HOME: As we were being birthed, we started to look for a permanent home to meet in Long Beach. We knew it would be a hard task to find a place of our own with the small budget we had, but we prayed and confidently sought after God's provision. We felt that God had a good surprise gift for us and in February we found a moved into our current location - 2601 Clark Ave, unit B. Thank you God and thanks to David K.
3. NEW PEOPLE: Once we started to meet at the new location, people started to come from within Long Beach. Young people, mainly from Cal State - Long Beach. They are all genuinely devoted to God - sincere about their faith, and also very cool in their own unique ways. I learn from you guys everyday and my love for you all grows each moment. God loves!
4. TRANSITION: We have had some transition within the year as well. It's Elliot and Pomin. They were with CITC from the beginning but year 2006 became the time they had to say goodbyes to CITC. Elliot moved to Atlanta after graduation, and Pomin became a youth pastor at another church. I was happy for them both but it was a time when I felt like I was losing my partners in crime. Elliot was the instigator of our crime together, and Pomin was the administrator and back-up support for our endeavor. I thank God for their commitment and sacrifices. I just hope that they got out of this experience as much as CITC got out of their service. Thank you, brothers.
As we lost Elliot and Pomin this year, we also got blessed with new leaders. Regina has been the constant presence of support for Kathy and me, Jared and Dan stepped up big time in Elliot's absence, and recently Josh joins us to give that extra jolt in our energy that we felt missing. With their partnership, we now have ministry teams and things are starting to get organized and implemented. A healthy church is a church where the pastor doesn't have to do everything. And I believe we are on our way to get there. Thank you again for everyone who have stepped up for CITC this year!
5. MITC: Lastly, I have to mention about our year-long effort to make our Sunday worship as meaningful and real as possible. We are constantly thinking about how to make it more real, and I would say one major decision we were able to make us to do MITC (mission in the city) once a month on our regular Sunday time. We originally did it on Saturday but by moving it to Sunday we really forced ourselves to take mission seriously as an important part of our church. We understand this format might not work forever, but for now because we are small and can be mobile, we have been able to do such things as homeless ministry and inner city children's ministry. We are still learning about Long Beach and about ourselves. And our monthly MITC has been a great blessing from God. We pray that our missional heart and efforts will continue to grow and be even more effective in reaching out to those whom God so loves.
So, what's ahead for CITC in 2007? If year 2006 was a year of creation and many provisions, I believe year 2007 will be a year of hard work. God gave us a great gift of new church in 2006, and now we have the important task of giving our best effort in building it. Of course, God will be in charge and He will provide just as he did in 2006. But, I think the weight shifts just a tad toward what we can do as a church together with the strength and wisdom God would provide for us. If we were an infant in 2006, we are now a 3 year old - starting to do things on our own and learning how to be responsible. I can't wait to see how things will end up a year from now, but I know it will require a hard, committed, and diligent work. I feel ready as ever, are you?
No comments:
Post a Comment