Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino

A Beautiful Day

2011-11-17T14:08:00.001-08:00

The youth at our church spent last Sunday afternoon (11/13/11) participating in beautiful day activities. If you are not familiar with a beautiful day, it's a day set aside for churches to bless their neighbors. And, on Sunday for three hours, the youth from our church did exactly that. After breaking up into groups, the Jr. Highers and High Schoolers walked around our neighborhood raking leaves and washing windows for free. It was an exhausting day, but many of the comments from our neighbors were that they were very appreciative of our efforts.

Mission accomplished.

Habitat for Humanity Walk Home

2011-10-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

Several from PBCC participated in Habitat for Humanity’s Walk Home fundraiser on October 16. The kickoff event took place in the parking lot of Saint Joseph’s in Cupertino. Folks registered at 12:30, picked up their green or white t-shirts, and had lunch. Entertainment was provided by the band Random People. Then after a 15-minute ceremony with short speeches by various officials and a prayer by Gregory Kimm (pastor of St. Joseph’s), the walkers headed out through the green and blue balloon arch for the 4.2 mile round trip walk to the building site on Cleo Avenue. The Walk Home event was one of many fundraising events by local faith communities to raise funds for the materials needed to build one of the four Habitat homes to be built at the Cleo Avenue site. Construction will begin some time in December or early 2012, and PBCC will be recruiting work teams to participate in the construction of these homes.

Habitat Walk Home

Cupcake Fundraiser

2011-08-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Cotton candy, chocolate chip coffee, root beer float, and Oreo-frosted cupcakes in ice cream cones were a few varieties of the 572 gourmet cupcakes offered for sale at PBCC last Sunday.

Not every cupcake would make your teeth ache. Some were sugar and gluten-free. A list of ingredients accompanied each batch. All the cupcakes were home-made.

Kathy Leong organized the event to benefit Pat and Ziggy Lew, Wycliff Bible translators who work in Thailand. She had a small army of bakers and assistants.

One fellowship group got together to make and wildly decorate an especially creative batch (“Go Sharks,” smiling faces). Aproned helpers set up and decorate the tables and sold the goods.

The cupcakes sold out by the second service, bringing in $1,386. Kathy’s comment: “We should do this again next year, yes?”

Click here to see photos.

Celebration Sunday 2011

2011-07-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

What an awesome time we all had this past Sunday with our Texas style BBQ and Celebration Sunday. Over 530 people showed up to enjoy the food, fun, and fellowship. The kids had a blast with bounce houses, obstacle course, and bungee run while adults and kids alike enjoyed dunking the likes of Joel Taylor, Brian Morgan, Ryan Hinn, and Shawn Reese in the dunk tank. Great times were had by all. Thank you to all who helped make this event possible! Some pictures from the event can be found "here."

VisionTrust Car Wash In Review

2011-06-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

The Jr. Highers and High Schoolers were planning to spend most of 3+ hours on Sunday, June 26th, washing cars. What they ended up doing was washing cars for the ENTIRE 3+ hours because the line never ended! At the end, the driveway had to be blocked off so everyone could go home...

They all did an awesome job, with the best part being that they raised over $1300 for the 7 Liberian VisionTrust students that they support.

Thanks to all who supported the car wash and, of course, to all the students who helped wash the cars!

Jim Ross in Liberia Day 7-8

2011-04-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I haven’t been able to send video for almost a week but things have been going GREAT!!!

Here are a few highlights of so many. The kids are getting fed everyday, medical care (done by a medical team of 7), teaching done by a group of fantastic teachers, and we are almost doubling the size of the school (with an extremely hard working construction team). Click here to watch Liberia “60 seconds or less” Day 7-8!

Jim Ross' Report 4/9/11

2011-04-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

The first part of the video is day 3. We went to the Liberian jungle far inland to meet the children of a tribe living in extreme poverty our country director has really been hoping to help. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen kids (and adults) more excited to see a "white man" in my life. It was a little overwhelming. The kids are singing in the video and as you notice the singing gets increasingly intense! (We were talking to the chief about helping them start a new school with hopefully food and medical care for the children as well.)
The second part of the video is actually day 2. Hot and sweaty... that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Have you ever read John 3:16 and 17 slowly? I think the "Good News" should actually be called the "most amazing, undeserved, incredible, fantastic news in the history of human kind!" Although my version might be a little too long?
Jim

Jim Ross in Liberia, Day #1

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
I arrived here in Liberia yesterday (without my bags :() but today was our first full day and it was FANTASTIC. I got to see the children I met last summer in a big burnt out cement building. The difference this time is that we have begun helping them in partnership with some fantastic locals... click the following link to see Liberia Day #1 in 60 seconds or less!
If you see me in the same clothes in every single video for the next week it's because I DON"T HAVE ANY!!!
I thank God for you ALL!
Jim

Jim Ross off to Liberia

2011-04-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hi team!
I am off to Liberia, West Africa right now and I’m really excited for all of us to be praying about this trip. According to UNICEF around 1 out of every 8 children in Liberia die before the age of 5. Many were orphaned during their civil war and many are struggling now just to survive. The exciting thing is that we have some fantastic local Liberian Christians who are passionate about helping and loving these children. I would love your prayers for God’s wisdom and direction as I work with our country director to see where else we can help MORE of these precious children (we are helping almost 1000 currently). I would also love your prayers for the people/children that we are seeking to serve that live in and around a large abandoned cement building (see video attached for a 10 second snap shot). I will be with a great team of people that includes Pastors, Doctors, Construction workers, teachers and others with great talents and great hearts who are making significant sacrifices to come serve the 300+ children we are trying to help in this area. Finally, please pray for safety for all of us. There is major fighting/killing next door in Côte d'Ivoire and many people are fleeing to Liberia. Maybe God will lead us to help some of them? Will you stop and pray right now for one of these things?!?!?
I thank God for you all the privilege of serving these children in partnership with YOU!!!
Jim

JH Hume Lake Highlights

2011-03-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your prayers for Hume Lake. We felt them as we watched God move throughout the weekend. It was a transformative and live-changing weekend for many of us. Decisions were made for Christ, and friendships were made in Christ as we played together, ate together, worshipped together and built the Box Sled together (we got 3rd place again this year!! Yay!). Everyone returned home safely and except for some bumps and bruises, returned in good condition. :) Our God is good!

Habitat for Humanity Build Day

2011-03-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 26, six of us from PBCC went down to Gilroy to work at the Corey Drive build site. Six homes are in varying stages of completion. It rained off and on during the morning and then let up in the afternoon. But most of the work to be done was indoors, so the rain didn’t keep us from working. There was a lot of cleaning up to do in three houses that had recently been insulated via a “blown in” insulation process, in preparation for drywalling. Others painted and installed fiberglass insulation in spaces not covered by the other process. We are looking forward to getting involved with the Cupertino Habitat project that will start building toward the end of this summer. More information to come!

(More photos)

L to r: Ellen Walberg, Andrea Patton, Greg Schultz, Heidi Walberg, Roxanne Melinat, David Jones

Jim Ross back from Haiti

2011-02-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

I’m back from Haiti and I wanted to thank all of you so much who stopped to pray for me. Here is how God answered your prayers:

1. Safety: I got home safe! Many of the places I’m looking to help children are in the “worst” areas where the kids are often suffering the most. These are often the most dangerous areas, but I am so thankful to God that I was never threatened and I was safe the whole time.

2. Partners: I was able to meet a few fantastic Haitians who have a sincere heart to love and help the suffering children around them. I truly feel like God is answering our prayers and is giving us the people and wisdom to begin a strong foundation for helping suffering/abandoned/orphaned children in Haiti.
Thank you for partnering with me in this, and I would love it if you stopped to praise our Lord with me!

Jim

Jim Ross in Haiti Day #4

2011-01-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

Hi again family and friends!

I stayed at a differnt place yesterday so I wasn't able to send any video. Here is a "60 seconds or less" video for today with 3 parts. The 1st part is the view and sounds from where I am staying. The second is a "tent city" we went in today. We got to talk to children and learned a lot (there are THOUSANDS of children living in tents, many of whom have lost their parents and are just trying to survive). I felt like it would have been distasteful and harmful to take video and probably not safe either so unfortunatly the only video I have is when are leaving in the car. The 3rd clip is some sweet girls I met (see if you can tell what song they are singing) living with a very old but wonderful Christian lady who was taking care of at least 11 people in her little house! I bonded with the little girl with the rose in her hand. I'm pretty sure her monther recently died so the Christian woman was caring for her. Jim

Jim Ross in Haiti #2

2011-01-27T13:40:00.000-08:00

Hi all, Here is a 60 seconds or less video of day 2. It's hard to choose what to put in a video when you only have 60 seconds! In contrast to the inner city life of a street child in Port-au-Prince, we went out to see about helping children in a rural village in the eastern part of the country. The children were very sweet but lack of food (when it is not harvest season) and lack of medical care (the closest clinic was a 2.5 hr walk away!) seemed to be major problems. Jim

Jim Ross in Haiti #1

2011-01-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hi friends and family!

Here is my first "60 seconds or less" video in many months. I was not able to send videos on my last trip to Liberia. :(

I didn't have access to my camera most of the day so I had limited video, but it was a great day so click on the following link for Haiti day #1 in 60 seconds or less! - Jim

Merry Christmas From The Jr. High ToHu Staff

2010-12-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

May you experience true joy and true peace this Christmas season through the God who made Himself known as a babe in a manger.
Merry Christmas!

Elementary Soup Feast

2010-11-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

Our 1st ever Elementary Soup Feast on 11/14 2010 was a wonderful event! Our students brought TONS of veggies for the soup and prepared them to go into the soup pot during class time. We had a blast peeling, chopping, dicing and dividing the piles of vegetables into 4 big stock pots. The kids also took the lead on decorations for the event with handmade placemats and table decorations. Such a fun way to learn how GREAT it feels to serve others!

In the end, approximately 120 people sat down to a lovely lunch of vegetable soup, dinner rolls and wonderful fellowship together. Even kids (and some grown-ups too!) who don't usually eat their vegetables, enjoyed this soup feast.

We wish you an equally loving and joyful Thanksgiving holiday,

Ingrid & Crysta

Beautiful Day 2010

2010-11-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, the youth from our church spread some love to our church neighbors. Called a Beautiful Day, it is where churches reach out to their local communities by serving in a variety of ways. For our Beautiful Day, our youth offered to rake leaves and wash windows. As it turned out, it happened to be a beautiful day, and as we walked around the neighborhood, we were encouraged by appreciative residents, some who didn't even ask for our help. We didn't get many pictures, but you can watch the video for the few pictures we did get. GREAT JOB TOHU-IANS and HOLY BROKEN!!!

October 2010 Golf Tournament

2010-11-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

The rain stayed away and the sun shone bright as 33 golfers of all ages and skill levels enjoyed a wonderful day together. It was a very close tournament and the winning team, with a score of 9-under-par, was Rick Iwamoto, Chris Young, Randy Wong, and Wayne Hoyt. We’ll add your names to the “PBCC Tournament Champions Cup”.

The trophy for our “Putting Champion” goes to Marty Brill.

The trophy winner for “Closest to the Hole” was Scott Smithwick.

The winner for “Longest Drive” was Randy Wong.

The Family Low Score goes to the powerful mother-son duo of Donna and Scott Smithwick. Congratulations to all of you!!

Not only did we benefit from a great time together, but the donations for “Birdie” and “Eagle” packages went toward our ongoing support of our Mexicali Orphanage. A very big “Thank You” to all of you who contributed!

Our next tournament will be in May of 2011. I look forward to see you there! (Andy “three-putt” Drake)

Click on Golf Tournament see more photos.

Sunday Night Life 9/12

2010-09-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday Night Life was a huge success! What a blessing for all involved. We had a terrific turn-out with lots of folks, young and old, newcomers and old-timers, married and single. The food was delicious, the fellowship was fantastic, and the classes were friendly and informative. A huge thanks to all of you who helped out!

Please feel free to join us for our remaining 5 weeks (every Sunday night until 10/17). We would love to see you enjoy this great time of community. Space for our dinner together is limited and our seats fill-up quickly, so in order to eat with us you must make sure to save your spot by going to http://mysignup.com/pbcc or contact Linda Marten (lindamarten@gmail.com). We have lots of room for our classes, so even if you don’t make the dinner at 5:30pm please come to the classes that start at 6:15pm.

If you need child-care you must make a reservation with Lisa Harmon at lisaharmon2220@sbcglobal.net

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at andy@pbcc.org.

See you Sunday!

Andy Drake

And take at look some SNL photos!

Peru Medical Mission Report and Pictures

2010-09-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

The Peru Medical Team is back home safely, and reports that the Lord gave them many opportunities to share God's love and to see about 250 come to faith in Christ! Please go to the MPPC website for day-by-day reports as well as dozens of photos.

Peru Medical Mission Update Tuesday 9/7

2010-09-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

Our ministry was super slow this morning due to a Catholic church fiesta being held today, so we prayed and sang and walked around town talking with different groups about the clinics and the church we were working with. By 11 am we had quite a crowd of interested and hurting people. One man in particular comes to mind. His daughter had heard of our presence, so came to the clinic to ask about her father who was bedridden at home due to a paralyzing injury twenty years earlier. We sent a few people with her to the home and checked him out, prayed with him and presented the gospel to him via the Evangicube. In the end, with tears in his eyes, he accepted Christ. In the afternoon we sent the pastor with another delegation to him, this time with medicines for a few medical problems but also with a device called the Proclaimer that has the New Testament on cassette. It is solar powered and requires no batteries or other power for operation. He cannot read due to the accident´s effect on his vision, so this aural Bible will be a real blessing. The pastor will continue visiting him to help him grow in his faith.

By the end of the day we had seen many patients with the usual variety of physical complaints, all of whom also received the touch of the Gospel message in the counseling and prayer. The day has been an emotional roller coaster with the spiritual warfare of the morning.

We are all functioning well together as a team. The relations with the non-Bay Area people has been a tremendous blessing as we have been mutually encouraging to one another. (Steve Belton)

Peru Medical Mission Update Monday 9/6

2010-09-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Lord is evident in the events of our trip to date. We made it through customs without problems - the meds were not a problem at all and the paperwork delay turned out to not create any difficulty at all. There were two public health officials there to meet us and check our drugs for expiration dates - and we then passed through.

Madeleine and team were present at the airport to greet us and we made our way to the hotel in Lima without problem, arriving there at about 2am. Sunday we travelled to Cocachacra, a small pueblo deep in the valleys northeast of Lima. (Beautiful setting, by the way, with great weather and very comfortable accommodations.) The people from the church host are wonderful and we spent some holy moments with them in worship on Sunday night after having set up the clinic supplies and pharmacy that afternoon. One man shared that he had fasted for the past few days in anticipation of the clinic outreach and that he would fast for the clinic days. Others shared that they have been in prayer for one year for their neighbors to come to Christ through the work of the clinic.

Today´s clinic was slow enough to allow us to work the "bugs" out of our systems and processes but was busy enough that it was a fulfilling day for all. The dental work is strong, the medical team is well balanced and working well, the pharmacy is busy and efficient, the public health teaching has started, and the evangelism team is doing a superb job of praying and speaking with each and every patient seen. Today 41 persons prayed to receive Christ and 11 of those people specifically asked that the pastor would visit them in their home in the next week or so. What a blessing to see the Lord´s hand in all of this!

Please continue to pray that God would have His hand in and on all that transpires here, both with each of us individually and with each of the nationals. What a glorious time of fellowship and service this is. ¡It just does not get any better than this!

Blessings to all!
Your Brother in Christ, Steve Belton

Habitat for Humanity Work Day

2010-09-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

"It was the perfect weather for working outdoors - warm and sunny with a cooling breeze - an unusual but welcomed gift in the typical summer heat of Morgan Hill. Eleven volunteers from PBCC joined the Habitat for Humanity work crew Saturday, Aug. 28, for a day of framing, roof joint work and preparation for insulating on the 6 home project at various stages of construction. As we donned our hard hats, customized with name tags, we set to work alongside other volunteers from the community and future home owners, Lupita and Jesus, excited to be there and putting in their "sweat equity" hours. Over lunch, Lupita shared a bit about her family and we got to see a small window into her very full life with their young adult, Downs son, high school boys, and grandkids. Brent, the project leader took the time to patiently explain construction terminology and the reason behind the method for the tasks that day. Though most of us had swung a hammer before, our experience was wildly varied, and yet each person felt like an important contributor. We all came away with technical skills, a new awareness of muscles we never knew existed, and a deeper sense of our bigger community. "Let's do that again!", was the refrain as we made our way home." Julie VanLoan

Click on PBCC volunteers for some photos of our crew.

Click on Habitat for Humanity's Cory Project for photos of the project

VisionTrust Silent Auction

2010-08-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

Current High Bid is $200!
Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions with frame: 19"x23"

Each of our youth classes at PBCC support a student in Liberia. This student is in the same class as them, and they raise money each month to pay for food, discipleship, medical care and education for their student. Our JHers have done a great job giving money and praying for their students! One of them, George Mathen, has created this fantastic painting with the intent of selling it somehow and giving the money to our sponsored students. We have decided the best way to do this is by silent auction. Here is how it will work:
- The silent auction is for the entire church, not just youth ministry families.
- It will run until September 19.
- Bidding can be done in a variety of ways: email (to Ryan or Shawn), phone, text, face-to-face, etc. Basically, any way that you can get your bid to Ryan or Shawn will work.
- Each week I will notify you of where the highest bid is through some of our church communication: JH web-page ( http://pbccjh.org/thelatest), JH e-newsletter, HS email, the this blog and our church newsletter.
If you have any questions, please contact Shawn. Thanks!

Jr. High Beach BBQ Baptism Bonzai Day

2010-08-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

The JH ToHu-ians swam the summer away at Manresa Beach on August 14. It was the last event of a summer full of fun and significant spiritual decisions. On this day, Mike Mulkey, former JH parent, gave surfing lessons to those ToHu-ians interested in surfing. The conditions weren't the best, but the ToHu-ians made the best of it, as you can see in the video. Lots of great wipe-outs! :) There was also lots of boogie boarding, skim boarding and digging, building and burying in sand. As is a ToHu tradition, the day finished with Smores and Smeats (take out the marshmallow & insert a burger). And, this year a new one - Smogs - replace the burger with a hot dog. It's pure yumminess. :) The highlight of the day were the baptisms in the cold Pacific Ocean. Four boys made public their decision to follow Christ. What a great day!!

Jr. High River Camp

2010-07-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, the Jr. Highers spent three incredible days swimming, doing ropes, rafting, jumping off rocks, hiking, worshiping, doing campfires and eating smeats all in the wilderness around the Klamath River, near Yreka. It was an absolutely AWESOME weekend of fun and experiencing God in new ways. The highlight of the weekend was the baptism of 10 students and one staffer at Clear Creek, a high mountain paradise. Thanks to all for praying for us and to our God for some unforgettable memories!! Click below for some great pictures from the weekend.

River Camp 2010

Jr. Coaches at Sports Camp Were Awesome!

2010-06-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Jr. Highers (ie. ToHu-ians) serve our church each year by being Jr. Coaches during Sports Camp. They are the ones in green shirts in the pictures. This year, I was blown away by the amazing job they did at loving on the children! They really showed their servant hearts. In Philippians 2, Paul urges the Philippian church to 'in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others'. He then goes on to say that if they do these kinds of things without grumbling and arguing, they will 'shine like the stars'. The Jr. Highers sure shined during Sports Camp this year! Good Job ToHu-ians!

From Jim Ross in Liberia:

2010-06-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, family and supporters!
After a week here in Liberia I’m finally sending you the first “60 seconds or less” Liberian children update! I am really excited to begin helping the hurting children in the area you will see on the video… Liberia is considered one of the poorest countries in the world and one moving statistic is that about 1 out of 7 children here die before the age of 5. I have brought a phenomenal team of people with me (including my youngest brother Sean!) and we have seen hundreds/maybe thousands of children in need in the past week and it has been a little overwhelming. I would love your prayers for wisdom about what children to begin helping first, how to best help them, and for the means to do so.
Thanks!
Jim

Click here to view Jim's video.

8th Graders Are Moving On

2010-06-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

This time of year is always one of great celebration, but it is also a time of great sadness. That's the way it has been over the past week for me as I have been saying good-bye to our 8th graders. We had our 8th Grade Grad Banquet at the church on Friday night, and it was simply awesome - but also very sad. After spending three years with this awesome class, my staff and I must send them onto Ryan and the high school group. They have blessed our ministry for three years, brought life to our group for three years, but most of all, they have been awesome friends for three years. We love them, we will miss them and we wish them well as they enter into this new season of life.

All-Church Picnic May 30

2010-06-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Our All Church Picnic was a smashing success, with over 450 attending. God blessed us with a beautiful day, great food, and wonderful fellowship. We're already looking forward to 2011! A special THANK YOU! to all who volunteered this year. A great team effort, and it's a good thing to see the body work together to love and serve one another. To view photos from the picnic, click on Picnic 2010.