September 17, 2019

Family,

Thanks to lead organizer Roehl Cinco and to all who joined in the Church Work Day on Saturday September 14. Almost 40 people from  LABC and the San Francisco Kachin Baptist Church did some good work readying the church for a busy autumn.

Thanks to Paige Bence and the Ladies Night Out Group who organized Sunday’s delightful Homecoming luncheon. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did. The food was wonderful. The congregational meeting was positive and upbeat and it would be difficult not to take great pleasure in distributing the scholarship checks to our college students.

Pastor Tanner will be the preacher this Sunday as we lift up our commitment to Christian Formation. I will be traveling to Washington DC on Sunday for the Monday and Tuesday meetings of the Baptist Joint Committee of Religious Liberty. One of the major commitments of the BJC this year has been to take a leading role in the Christians Against Christian Nationalism effort. I invite you to visit bjconline.org to learn more.

On Monday (September 16) I was part of a Faith In Action East Bay clergy contingent that met with Mayor Schaff about the ongoing work of Ceasefire in Oakland. Ceasefire has received many accolades for its role in decreasing the homicide rate in Oakland. My role in the meeting was to note that there is still much work to be done. Seventy deaths per year is a significant decrease from one hundred and twenty deaths per year. Yet, seventy deaths is far to many. These deaths represent families torn apart and great trauma in the community. We can do better.

Prayers of the Congregation

The Kachin Baptists in Myanmar, the USA and living in diaspora; The people of the Bahamas; Gloria and Phil Meads; Alean Saunders-Coffey for her family; Thanksgiving with Peggy Rogers-Tamayo that Nakia is doing well; Katrina Lau; James and Jewelle Gibbs as Jewelle recuperates from surgery; The returning citizens of our community and those that minister to them; Mary Karne for Maryla; Zondra and Marty Martin; Carolyn Matthews for her family; Jesus Portillo for his friend Doug; The children, parents and staff of Lakeshore Children’s Center; All who are fatigued as the week begins; Carol Leichter; Aaron Voorhees; Paige Bence for John and Cordia; For families and relationships under duress; Al Johnson and Roy Browner for themselves, a stressed out world and friend Peggy; LeAnn Flesher for her dad; Larry Sims and family; All our students (and families), teachers and school employees; Sydney Webster for her family (Gigi recuperating from surgery) and her congregation; All involved in labor negotiations at Bay Area hospitals and medical facilities; Our Hunger Task Force as it begins to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas; All who mourn the death of the renowned journalist Cokie Roberts