You can also read the full text of each of Pastor Penno’s sermons on the church website here: http://hayward.adventistfaith.org/document_groups/4224

Here’s this week’s preview of the Pastor’s message, scheduled for Saturday, June 12, at our morning service, which starts at 11:00 am:

If you survive a war in which your buddies didn’t, you are forced to look at life very soberly unless you are completely hard-hearted. When these survivors sense that they are living on time “borrowed” from others who lost life, they realize that they don’t own their life. Every new day becomes an undeserved dividend. Nothing they have done has motivated them to adopt this new attitude toward life; they have simply seen something that others have never seen.

This was precisely the apostle Paul’s gut feeling he had about his own life after his Damascus road experience. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live,” he proclaims, “and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, NKJV). The reality that Paul discovered is that Christ died the death that “all” deserve, and which all would have died if He had not died their death instead. He saw himself as the survivor of the greatest Death that anyone ever died, the death of the Son of God in which death he also died corporately.

Josh is now responsible for the church’s Friday evening services and is focused on getting young people more involved in the service, through music, presentations, and drama.  “By identifying which gifts each person can bring to the service and deciding as a group how to plan the services, the young people will develop their faith and their leadership skills,” says Josh.

Josh’s approach to leading the youth program includes giving young people “opportunities to use their talents to serve God, within the structure and guidance provided by adults.”  Part of creating that structure includes the recent elections for youth group leaders, who now are responsible for a wide range of duties, from drama leader, to audio-visual manager, to communication coordinator.

In addition, Josh is working with his youth leaders to plan events throughout the week, including hikes, pizza parties, and game nights, as well as service to the community.  He is also organizing a “praise team” – a group of musically talented young people who will share their musical gifts with other churches.

Everyone is invited to come and see the youth in action, as they lead out in services each Friday evening at 7:00 pm at church.  According to Josh, these young people are the future of our church, and need our support and encouragement.  “You will be blessed by these dynamic young people,” says Josh.

If you’ve attended a Friday evening service and been blessed by our church’s young people, please leave a comment below, so that others can learn more about our Friday evening services.

Charles decided to start the class in response to observations that many people have stopped attending church.  The class seeks to address the reasons these individuals decide to stop attending, including their discouragement about their inability to live up to biblical ideals, a disinterest in spiritual things, a feeling that the church is no longer relevant to their lives, and their inability to articulate their beliefs to others. 

According to Charles, when people can understand and appreciate the depth of God’s love for them, from both an experiential and intellectual perspective, they are much less likely to stop attending church.  In his class, Charles hopes to provide his students with the depth of understanding they need to articulate their own beliefs about God’s love for them and the relevancy of biblical truths to their own lives.

The class is called Holy Jeet Kune Do, a Chinese term that means “way of the intercepting fist.”  It is a Bible-based “spiritual defense” class that provides students with the Bible knowledge they need to strengthen their faith, despite obstacles and negative pressure from those around them.

If you’ve been attending this new class, please leave a comment below, sharing what you are learning in the class, so that others can get a better sense of what the class is all about.

One member of our church decided to change her approach to birthday celebrations, and by doing so, found a wonderful way to reach out to those who hold a special place in her life.  Suzan Field decided to invite family members and co-workers to join her for a birthday celebration at church, where they were warmly welcomed by Suzan’s friends from church, enjoyed great food, and were blessed by spending time with caring individuals, who are a big part why Suzan decided to become a member of our church. 

When Suzan celebrated her birthday this year, she hoped that her friends and family would be blessed by the worship service and the fellowship at our church.  According to Suzan, the day far exceeded her expectations.  Her friends were “blown away by the love they felt at our church, and expressed an interest in coming back.”

The next time you have a birthday, rather than getting discouraged by turning another year older, Suzan encourages you to take the opportunity to reach out to others, remind them that God loves them, and invite them to join in a church-based birthday celebration.

According to Melanie Valdez, a 12-year-old from our church who attended her first bike-a-thon this year, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet kids from other Pathfinder clubs.  She rode 13 laps on her bike, despite the unseasonably hot day. 

Young people from our church not only spent their time riding their bikes and earning sponsor donations for every lap they completed, many of them also volunteered to work at the club’s food booth, where they raised additional money.  Nearly a dozen adult volunteers from our church helped prepare the gourmet vegetarian dishes available at the food booth, including wontons and fried rice.  The adults also made it possible for the young people to travel more than two hours (each way) in order to attend the bike-a-thon, an annual event for all Pathfinder clubs in Northern California.

Our church’s Pathfinder club serves young people ages ten through their late teens, providing opportunities to explore nature, reach out to others through community service, grow in their faith, and be prepared for leadership roles in the future. 

The 2009-2010 club year will be winding up in May with the annual “investiture” ceremony at church on May 22.  However, individuals who are interested in getting involved in Pathfinders for the 2010-2011 school year will have the opportunity to sign up over the summer.  According to club leader Marge Schwartz, “Pathfinders is all about having fun with other Christians while doing things that honor God.”

Past meetings focused on the importance of prayer and the benefit of receiving support from a prayer partner.  During the meetings, ladies share specific examples of how God has answered their prayers, reminding each other of the power of prayer and how Jesus set an example for us regarding daily prayer.

In addition to the monthly afternoon meetings, all ladies are invited to a special seminar that will take place on Sunday, May 16, from 2:30 – 6:00 pm.  The “God’s Gift of Confidence to Women” seminar will cover topics such as how to see yourself as God sees you, how to get a “faith lift” by trusting God, how to experience God’s transforming power in your daily life, and how to encourage and give hope to others.  For more information regarding the cost of the seminar or to make a reservation, contact RaeJean Riesenberger at (408) 745-6645.

During the Friday evening service, Nicole Nieto was part of a dramatic presentation about the real meaning behind the Lord’s Prayer.  On Saturday morning, Mateo Lopez shared beautiful music on his violin, and later that day Arielle Thio played a piano special.

A Sabbath School lesson back in 2008 first inspired the class to think about helping build a new church.  They held a brainstorming meeting and set a goal for raising the funds needed to finance a church building project in the Sanghan Village, which is in the poorest and most remote area on the island of Mindanao.  A group of Adventist individuals in this village were worshipping in the small home of a farmer, which can only hold 20 people.  They cannot afford to travel (or walk long distances) to the nearest church outside their village.  They had been praying for a church building for more than two years. 

A year ago, in May 2009, two members from our church, Ernesto and Lisa An, visited the village.  They talked with the pastor, who is responsible for 15 churches in the region, as well as the members, discussing their needs and the cost of building a church.  When they returned home, the Fil-Am Sabbath School class started a fundraising campaign, which included hosting a Valentine’s Day banquet at church, selling lumpia, and hosting a concert.  Their efforts were so successful that they raised twice as much as their original fundraising goal.

The funds they raised helped to build the church, plus provide Bibles, song books, and pews.  In addition, four members of the Fil-Am Sabbath School class traveled to the village in February 2010 to celebrate the completion of the church.  They included Ernesto and Lisa An, Esther Chong, and Lerhroy Querol.  During their week in the village, they were involved in presenting evangelistic meetings, which more than 100 people attended.  They also helped provide medical services, including dental work, vision care, and preventive care, such as blood pressure checks and blood sugar screenings. 

The new Adventist church is the only church in the village, and it serves as a community center, providing a place for residents to gather.  Funds raised also went towards purchasing medical supplies for the community, as well as a Bible worker who spent several months in the village, reaching out to residents prior to the evangelistic meetings.

What’s next for this ambitious group?  They already have their sights set on their next goal.  They plan to raise money to build a church in Fiji two years from now.

You’ve heard the pleas: “Do more, work harder, win souls! Look how the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons go door to door; why don’t we do more?”

When one reads the letters of the apostles in the New Testament, there seems to be little pressure put upon the early Christians.  Instead, it seems that they had their own built-in power pack. It motivated people even to the point of being thought extravagantly zealous: “If we are out of our mind . . . [or] in our right mind, . . . Christ’s love [agape] compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves” (2 Cor. 5:13-15, NIV).

In other words, the early Christians sensed a motivation fueled by something special they saw in the sacrifice of Christ. Once you grasped what had happened, you just couldn’t sit still. The tongue-tied had to talk, and the timid grew bold (Isa. 32:4; Zech. 12:8). That meant—if He had not died, you would be dead. You could no longer think that you belonged to yourself, or that anything you possessed was yours. The cross did it.

This understanding of what the cross meant first burst on people’s minds at Pentecost. “You denied the Holy One and the just,” cried Peter.” “You . . . killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. . . Repent therefore and be converted” (Acts 3:14, 15). And they did repent, and they were converted. “The truth in agape” compelled multitudes to respond—3,000 in one day.

This was “the former rain.” Today we await “the latter rain.” That self-propagating gospel at Pentecost accompanied Christ’s beginning work in heaven as High Priest. Now His closing work in the cosmic Day of Atonement will be accompanied by a fully developed “everlasting gospel” that will “lighten the earth with glory.” The same cross-exalting motivation will fuel that final burst of soul-winning.

According to Kevin and Alice Thio, our church is growing because Pastor Penno preaches the gospel message each Sabbath and more members are choosing to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit by being actively involved in various ministries.  

Steve Grappone shared the following:  First, I believe that the Holy Spirit is being poured out to the Hayward church body. I can personally feel the love for Jesus in everyone, especially the young people of our church. Second, we have an abundance of ministries that are driving participation by all members and keeping them involved.

According to Doug Abbott, the Hayward church is growing because the Holy Spirit is present and is blessing the church and its members.  The Spirit is unifying our members, who are bearing the fruit of the Spirit, which we studied in Sabbath School last quarter.  Hayward has always been a loving church, filled with dear saints who reflect love, patience, meekness, goodness, kindness and joy.

James LeBlanc feels there are several reasons for our church growth at this time.  What stands out is the dedication of Pastor Penno.  In addition to teaching his Sabbath School class, the pastor is also is leading out with the “Faith of Jesus” study right after the service. There is also a study during potluck, and also even Sunday afternoon.  Also, we have many active members who are sharing the Gospel with the masses, have stepped up, and are exercising their individual gifts. 

Please don’t forget to share your own thoughts on this topic by posting a comment to our blog.