Recently the entire main parking lot off of Granada Court was resurfaced. This was not a simply slurry seal coat, but a complete re-asphalting of the lot. The old asphalt was removed down to the bare ground. The soil was treated and re-compacted. Finally, a new 3″ asphalt surface was laid down. This new lot will give us decades of service.
Ontario member, Gordon Leedy, recently had a fall while working around his home. The result was a broken leg! Please remember Gordon in your prayers, that he will be back in church soon.
We are in the early planning stages for the installation of our new sound system. We anticipate that it will be the turn of the new year before the installation is complete.
Here are a few recent actions by the Church Board which may be of general interest to the membership. It was recently decided to appoint a Board of Directors for our Community Services Center. The board members are: Nona Korcek, Pastor Michael Leno, Pastor Ben Martin, Hildean Downs, Joe Ramirez, Craig Cole, Helen Vrolijk, and Wanda Olsen-Golles.
Also, the Board voted to allocate start-up funding for our Children’s Ministry Department from church reserves; and to promote fundraising during the first quarter of 2010.
The remodeling of our Fellowship Hall continues as the room is prepared for the installation of new flooring. Sean McDermott, who is doing the work, recently stripped and sealed the base foundation to assure a waterproof barrier for the new flooring. Laminate flooring has been selected for the Fellowship Hall. This material is extremely durable and cost effective, when compared to conventional wood flooring. It will give us many years of maintenance-free service.
Recently we ordered 150 new chairs for the Fellowship Hall from the Bertolini Incorporated, a well respected manufacturer of church furniture located in Chino. These comfortably padded chairs will be a blessing to future programs and events.
With regard to the storage annex planned for the hall, we are seeking approval and permits from the City of Ontario. This is proving to be a somewhat lengthy process, and includes acquiring permission from our neighbors for this addition. The city, while courteous, has been somewhat slow in cooperating with this aspect of the project. We solicit your prayers that we may complete the project as it has been envisioned.
One night only, Monday, February 1st, at 6:30 p.m., celebrity chef Mark Anthony presents a live vegetarian cooking presentation, and will prepare a free dinner for all in attendance. During the evening Chef Anthony will discuss:
Plant Based Health and Nutrition
Vegetarian Vegan Cooking
Don’t miss this exciting performing culinary arts program and bring all your friends!
Chef Mark has been a chef in Las Vegas for over 20 years. No longer working the casinos, he is a private caterer and also operates a spice company. He also does cooking and health seminars along with live cooking shows and VIP cooking classes. Chef Mark Anthony can be seen on the nationally televised Today program on 3ABN. Visit www.chefmarkanthony.com for recipes, videos and other tour dates.
This event will be held at the Ontario SDA Church at 856 N. Sultana Avenue at Granada Court in Ontario. You will enjoy this evening of great food, fellowship, and learning. See you there!
The Seventh-day Adventist church has a long history of education. In fact it dates back so far that before the denomination even had official paid pastors they had a school with paid teachers. It is the second largest Christian school system in the world. It has schools in over 100 countries with over 1.3 billion students. And I believe with out a question that it is the best education you can get. I do not believe this because of how large it is. I do not believe this because of how long Adventist education has been around.
Although these are amazing facts, they are not what makes Adventist education the best. Adventist education provides a foundation of Christianity like no other. In the early years of elementary school the Bible stories are told to the children over and over again. Handwriting class practices neatly writing out Bible verses. In reading class the students pour over stories of Adventist heritage and also stories of the Bible; and science class reiterates the creation story. It is not only Bible class where these values and reliance in the Bible are taught, but it is woven through out all subjects. As a parent I am sure you also have done all that you can to teach your child these stories at home. But let us be honest for a moment. Once a child starts school how much time do you as a parent have with your child? Now I am not counting time when they are asleep, when they are doing homework, practicing an instrument, playing video games, or running around outside. I am talking about the time when you are sitting down and actually talking with them. Have you ever sat down to calculate how much time that actually is?
Now you compare that amount of time to the amount of time your child spends learning from his or her teacher. Wow, do you see the difference. I am not saying you are not an influence; the parents are the single greatest influences in a child’s life. If a parent attempts to take all of this responsibility on his or her shoulders, well that is a lot to do in the amount of time you have. So let us work with our churches and our schools to present the gospel and the message of who God is to our children at every possible moment.
Now I know that many of you have looked at this article and said well that is a nice article for parents of school aged children. If we believe in Adventist education, which I do, then we must do all in our power to support it. We as a church not only need to send our children to our schools, but we need to help support the families so that they can afford our schools; they are not cheap. We also need to volunteer our time and energy to support the school.
There are some that believe that our school is not the best school in the area. If that is the case it is our responsibility to change that. We must not expect the teachers and the principals to do all the work. After all it is called Adventist education because all of us work together to make it the greatest educational system.
Ontario Members now have the capability of making local church donations on line. If you have Internet access, the process is simple, quick, and secure. Simply go to the Ontario Church home page at http://ontariochurch.org. Under “general info” scroll down to the links and click “Online Giving” and follow the instructions for setting up an account and making donations. If you need any help please call the church office or one of the pastors.
Dear Church Family,
A little over a year ago, the Ontario Church set out to remodel the fellowship hall. Raising the funds did not happen overnight. But thanks to your dedication and generosity, we have nearly reached our goal of $80,000. Sean McDermott has coordinated the remodeling work and with the help of many others has put on new roofing, installed new heating and air-conditioning, re-placed the windows, refinished the ceiling, painted the entire room and installed new lighting. When we receive a variance from the City of Ontario, we will be able to proceed on the new storage room and install new flooring. So, we are almost there! We need just $1500.00 to reach our goal; and then just an-other $4000 (approximately) to buy new comfortable chairs (yes, finally!).
That’s the good news. And as you were probably expecting; there is some bad news. The bad news comes during one of the worst eco-nomic downturns our country has seen in a long time. I am sure that many of you have felt the results of this in your day-to-day finances as well as your plans for the future. I also know that some of you have lost jobs and that no one has extra money lying around. So, the bad news is, we have fallen about $10 thousand dollars behind in our giv-ing for church budget so far this year. Now that doesn’t mean that we are $10 thousand in debt or that we are on the brink of catastrophe. We are fortunate to have built up some reserves. But we hate to dip into those funds because they will only last a short time. Fortunately, our treasurer, finance committee and board have taken steps to make sure we do not get into trouble. We will respond to this problem by spending less. And we will take further steps if needed.
But there is something you can do. Please make your church family the priority it deserves to be. Don’t just assume that someone else will step up and that you are not needed. The truly great news is that if we pull together, we can solve this problem fairly quickly. The tithe turned in so far this year shows that the news is not all bad. In fact, so far, our tithe receipts are outpacing those of last year. So the resources are there. As you know, except for minister’s salaries, tithe does not stay at the local church. So need to exercise our faith and confidence in God and give a little more to our church budget offer-ings. As in a game of tug-of-war, it’s not the team with the strongest people that wins; it’s the team that has a lot of people who pull together.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Mike