Corona Main Spanish Church Captures Thanksgiving Spirit
By Nicole Dominguez
Imagine looking over a crowd of 140 people, each with unique needs and faith walks, brought together by the desire for home-cooked food and fellowship. This past November, the Corona Main Spanish church hosted such an event with their Thanksgiving gathering, created to thank their neighbors. Food Pantry Director Paula Mendoza said, “The event was geared toward connecting with our community.”
This was not the first Thanksgiving community dinner or the first community activity held by the church. Corona Main Spanish church has been an active member of the community through a community resource fair. This made their mark on the community, yet the church saw that it wasn’t meeting a core need: unity. From that revelation, the church team embarked on hosting small groups and dinners to create meaningful connections with the community.
Of the 90 members present, 60 took an active role by helping to cook, serve, clean, set up, run the sound system, or register guests. Some members opposed an event not focused on the congregation, believing the community would be disinterested in the event. The weather report was another potential obstacle, forecasting rain and winds. However, God blessed the event by providing excellent weather and doubling the numbers from last year.
As community members left that evening, they departed with a greater sense of community and a frozen turkey donated by the pantry. Many commented on the sense of belonging they found and how loved they felt to receive such focused attention. Last year's Thanksgiving paved the way for 10 baptisms, further supporting the church’s outreach efforts.
Mendoza reflected on the importance of thinking outside the box and anchoring each effort in God: “God will bring it all together and provide resources to make it work because it is not our event but His. God was the one who hand-picked all the volunteers and all those who joined and participated. We have humbly created momentum with this event, and now comes the responsibility of asking God to lead the next steps in moving forward.”
On September 16, 1978, Loma Linda Filipino Church (LLFC) became an organized church with 151 members. Forty-five years later, on September 16, 2023, LLFC celebrated having over 1,000 members and welcomed back the founding pastor and his wife, Claudio and Flor La Vila. The church also celebrated three new leaders from the past year: Mark Sigue, youth pastor, Sandra Fermin, young adult and community pastor, and Gisella Montana, children’s ministries pastor. As the church moves forward, it is excited to see how God will work through them.
LLFC was blessed to have the Asidor family sing praises Friday evening with their harmonious voices. Sabbath morning echoed that opening with the LLFC String Ensemble continuing the musical praise. Robert Quintana, a pastor from Oklahoma, was the speaker for the weekend, touching on the church’s theme “Fortified@45.” He spoke on “The Great Adventure” that God has led this church through. While LLFC has seen many changes over the years, its commitment to serving God and its community has remained constant.
On Sunday, the church gathered once more to celebrate its history and heritage with “Pista sa Nayon.” The celebration was packed full of games, folk dances and songs, and laughter for all. There were booths set up for delicious Filipino food, massages, and even Mario Kart. Member Michelle Santos said she loves “embracing Filipino culture and celebrating how far our church has come. It feels great to call it home.”
Finally, we praise God for the faithful members who ministered over the years and helped build the foundation of this church— from the Pathfinder and Adventurer leaders and Sabbath School teachers who patiently hold the hands of our youngest members as they learn to walk with Christ to our wise elders who show the love of God through their kind words and gentle hugs. Lastly, the church is forever indebted to the late Dr. Lloyd A. Dayes, whose generosity allowed the church to be on the campus where it is now.
Truly, Loma Linda Filipino has been fortified over the last 45 years. And it will continue to grow stronger as it remains faithful to its mission to “Love God, Love Others, and Make Disciples.”
In October, thousands celebrated the 20th anniversary of Crosswalk church in Redlands, CA. The weekend-long festivities included Friday worship, Saturday services, and a block party. Since 2014, Tim Gillespie, lead teaching pastor, and the team have hosted anniversary celebrations.
The weekend began with 600 worshippers at the Friday night service. Gillespie led a conversation with church founder Michael Knecht. The two spoke about the church's three core values: belonging, momentum, and experience.
On Saturday, almost 2,000 people attended the three daytime church services. Thousands more joined online. And that evening, Crosswalk shut down the parking lot for the annual block party. The block party boasted dozens of food truck options and music from a live DJ. Over 2,300 community and church members attended.
“God has blessed us beyond measure since I joined in October 2014," said Gillespie. “We’ve grown the church ministry from 85 to over 1,500 in-person attendees. We now have thousands more online worshippers and seven campuses worldwide."
Gillespie credits the church's growth to the grace of Jesus and the church's three core values.
“Our ministry transformed over the last decade,” said Gillespie. “The Holy Spirit and our values guide us. We foster belonging by loving and welcoming people without exception. We generate momentum by expressing love through actions. And we also create a full-body sensory experience at church.”
Crosswalk aims to center Jesus while learning to love well together.
“It’s been a privilege and an honor to serve the Redlands community,” said Gillespie. “We will continue to seek ways to lift people toward equity and show them what belonging is.”
For Gillespie, the 20th anniversary is significant. “We had the chance to either do bigger buildings or a bigger mission,” said Gillespie. “God called us to a bigger mission. For the next 20 years, we'll keep sharing God's love and Jesus Christ's grace. We can serve people in any union, conference, or division.”
By Becky St. Clair
Klenth Sasil moved to Moreno Hills Church last fall and became the youngest Filipino pastor in the conference.
“I wasn’t sure where to start,” the youth pastor admits. “When you get done at the seminary, there’s a lot to process, and I just felt lost.”
He started by asking his senior pastor for a work space that could double as a youth hangout. His request was granted, and he set up CAFE Life: Community, Authenticity, Friendship, and Experience.
“I wanted to create a space where we could all just be real with each other and do life together,” he explains.
As their first contribution to 2022’s year of evangelism, Moreno Hills youth created an evangelistic series for young people called “The Pursuit: Finding meaning and purpose in Christ,” which took place over five Sabbaths in January and February. As a result of their partnership with the Holy Spirit, 12 people were baptized.
“Our focus was really the heart of God,” Sasil says. “We wanted to provide a chance for people to encounter God’s presence in an intimate way.”
And, according to Sasil, the series was a success.
“It’s not about having a fancy program or the number of baptisms,” he says; “It’s about seeing people transformed by finding a new pursuit in their lives. That’s God at work.”
Sasil is enjoying seeing the youth become more at home in their church. CAFE Life provides a comfortable space where they can ask tough questions and have real conversations, and they’ve started inviting friends to come too.
“They are very curious,” Sasil says. “They want to know what it means to be a Christian and they’re looking for someone to share their struggles.”
The church has been very supportive of CAFE Life. They offer financial support, furnish spaces, provide branded shirts for the youth, and even cook for them. The group gets together outside church at the lake, at restaurants, and for vespers at members’ homes.
Sasil says there are conversations taking place between several area churches to make CAFE Life regularly available to all their youth and young adults, and to coordinate regular joint vespers programs. Their goal is to create a strong program that also includes youth who aren’t yet part of the church.
“We’re just doing what we’re doing,” Sasil explains, “going where the young people are and focusing on relationship-building. Evangelism isn’t always sermons and Revelation–sometimes it’s just creating a safe space where we can show authenticity and experience Jesus.”
By Dolly Moen
Living back east with college degrees, Ash and Satiya never dreamed that they would ever be homeless in Desert Hot Springs. After an 8 mile walk from Morongo Valley, they were exhausted and dehydrated. With no place to go, they sat in front of a business complex.
With his wife in the hospital, Russ Crumpacker decided to grab a bite to eat. When he got out of the car, he saw the two homeless people, and invited Ash and Satiya to eat with him. They could not believe that Crumpacker would want to be seen with them, especially after the way they looked. Expecting rain that night, he also took them to the store and bought them more blankets and a tarp to keep them dry. When he dropped them off in the Morongo Springs Nature Preserve, he gave Ash and Satiya his phone number.
The next day, they made the decision to reach out to Crumpacker. He brought them home while praying all the way. With cracked ribs and a wife with a recent hip replacement, both caused by recent falls, he needed work done around his place. He invited them to stay and help, paying them for the projects that he would have paid other people.
He brought them to church in Desert Hot Springs the next Sabbath. Ash and Satiya felt like they had found home. In the first study with Cecelia St. Clair, the church’s bible worker, Ash and Satiya accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Sabbath morning, April 16, was a very meaningful Communion and Easter Service. The morning was brought full circle when Crumpacker and Glenn Munson, Desert Hot Springs pastor, baptized Ash and Satiya together, with strong support from their new church family.
What they did not know was that the Desert Hot Springs “Church on Fire” prayer group was meeting every Friday evening in the sanctuary to pray for their church family, community and their leadership. Hands had been laid on the very pew where they sat, and prayed for while they were meeting Russ. Led by Dee Lee, prayer ministry leader, “Church on Fire” is a group that comes together every Friday evening to pray. They close the evening by physically placing their hands on the pews and praying for the person who will be sitting in that seat. As a result, God continues to send new people from the community to fill those seats. It is clear the Holy Spirit is at work in Desert Hot Springs church.
