10 minute read
Southeastern California Conference
The covered parking lot of Loma Linda Academy gives welcome shade to the county health workers that perform COVID-19 testing.
Good Neighbors: Church and Academy Host COVID-19 Drive-through Testing
By Becky St. Clair
In early May, San Bernardino County officials were looking for sites large enough to host COVID-19 testing events for the general public. Those tested had to be first responders, essential workers, over the age of 65, or exhibiting at least one symptom, which was a large enough number of people that drive-through testing sites required large, open, easily accessible spaces. One of the first locations that came to their minds was Azure Hills church.
“We have a great relationship with the city,” said Trevan Osborn, executive pastor at Azure Hills. Every year, the city holds its Christmas tree lighting in the church’s parking lot with nearly 1,000 people in attendance, and many community groups meet regularly in the facility. “We’ve really been intentional about offering our facility to the city when they need it, and as a result, we were at the top of their list when they started looking for testing sites,” he said.
So, on Thursday, May 7, a team of nurses, sanitation engineers, and volunteers organized by the city gathered in the parking lot at Azure Hills to begin their day of drivethrough testing for COVID-19. Because it was appointment-only, and because the city’s team was a well-oiled machine, the event went smoothly. The team conducted about 250 tests.
“It was really inspiring to watch,” Osborn said. “To see the different levels of protocol and PPE (personal protective equipment) really struck me, because all these people were willing to put themselves at risk for the sake of helping others.”
Ten minutes down the road the following week, on Monday, May 11, Loma Linda Academy (LLA) hosted a similar event, seeing another 250 drive-through test appointments.
“We had already been contacted
Cars line up in the parking lot of the Azure Hills church during the COVID-19 testing on May 7.
about using our space to triage patients if the pandemic got out of hand,” explained Mark Brettnacher, plant services director at LLA. “We have a covered parking area and two gymnasiums within easy walking distance from the parking lot. It’s the perfect location for something like this, and we were happy to be a good neighbor in the community.”
Back in early April, as COVID-19 cases in the United States were rising, LLA Elementary School’s 3-D printers were hard at work, creating face shields for emergency oral surgery clinics, hospitals, nurses, and respiratory therapists both locally and across the country. Caleb VinCross, former computer teacher, and his team continued to build essential supplies for first responders as the weeks went by, and by mid-April, they had built and delivered 130 shields to healthcare workers.
A county health worker engages with a driver during the drive-through testing that took place at Loma Linda Academy on May 11.
PHOTO: TREVAN OSBORN
Volunteers and county health workers gather in the fellowship hall of Azure Hills church to receive instruction before opening the COVID-19 testing on May 7.
In a Facebook post shared by Loma Linda Academy on April 16, VinCross said, “As long as there are requests, we’ll keep printing.”
As of mid-June, 183 face shields in total were printed.
Being a good neighbor is important to Azure Hills, as well.
“As a gathering place for the city, our church has been able to share the love of God with our community,” Osborn said. “At these events, we’re not evangelizing directly—and we shouldn’t be—but the personal conversations that take place and the goodwill the events provide has a huge ministry impact."
Azure Hills members have been working on changing their local image since 2012, deciding as a church that they wanted to make a greater impact in the community. One of the pastors dedicated most of his time to pastoring the community in ways such as attending city council meetings and volunteering on city committees. The idea caught fire.
“Before long, every member of the pastoral staff was trying in their own way to be intentional about engaging, supporting, and getting involved in the community,” Osborn said.
A local nonprofit organization holds community classes in the church facilities twice a week, ranging from art to STEM, from music to exercise, for youth and adults. The Foundation of Grand Terrace, Toastmasters, and Girl Scouts all meet regularly at the Azure Hills cottage, a renovated building with three meeting spaces available free of charge to the community.
Because the property used to be a country club, there are large tennis courts that have been renovated into full basketball courts, on which several community groups regularly play pickleball and roller hockey. Pre-COVID-19, the church hosted an open court night every Saturday evening, when anyone could play.
In 2017, between church and community events, there were only seven days of the entire year when someone wasn’t utilizing the church’s space.
“Everyone around here knows that if you need something, reach out to our church; they’ll help,” said Osborn. “We’re proud of this and thrilled to have this kind of relationship with our community and the space with which to be useful. We hope other churches can follow this lead and do more in their own communities.”
Loma Linda Academy partners with the San Bernardino County Health Department to host a COVID-19 drive-through testing.
God is Not in Quarantine: Hispanic Church Brings Hope to Thousands
By Becky St. Clair
Alberto Ingleton, Hispanic Ministries director for the Pacific Union Conference, is accustomed to holding four or five outreach meetings within the union every year. For several nights at the end of April and beginning of May, he was scheduled for a presentation at the Perris Spanish church with Ricardo Escobar, the church pastor.
“COVID-19 changed everything,” Ingleton said. “Nothing was normal about our worship experience anymore, and that included the opportunity to gather for outreach events at our churches.”
Together, Ingleton and Escobar decided to attempt an online event, something neither of them had done before.
Noting the intense fear and anxiety growing around the world, Ingleton thought he would need to shift some of what he had prepared.
“After prayer and meditation, I adjusted my presentation and general theme to ‘Cristo Es Suficiente,’ or ‘Christ Is Enough,’” Ingleton explained. “I moved from an outreach focus to a revival meeting focus for our members, believers, and nonbelievers in order to present Jesus as the only hope for our present chaotic situation.”
Addressing the privilege and blessing that comes when Jesus reigns in a person’s heart, Ingleton focused on handling life’s challenges, using the apostle Paul’s thorn in his side as an example.
“God told Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you,’ and Paul realized then that when he was weak, he was strong,” Ingleton pointed out. “This gives us a message of courage and hope as we too realize that God is sufficient to help us deal with our struggles, pain, fear, and uncertainty.”
Ingleton also focused on the majesty, omnipotence, and omnipresence of God and on His willingness to give people comfort, healing, love, forgiveness, salvation, and peace.
Just before the series began, Escobar approached Ingleton with a request from several Southeastern California Conference pastors, as well as a contact in the Honduras Union, who wanted to transmit Ingleton’s presentations to their constituents. Ingleton happily agreed. As he began speaking on that first night, attendees were joining from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, and several SECC Hispanic churches.
“All of these churches across SECC and Central and South America simultaneously tuned in to this evangelism series that was originally expected to reach only a few hundred people,” Escobar said. “Instead, it was thousands.”
The number of viewers totaled between 35,000 and 40,000 each night.
“The entire world is dealing with COVID-19, and the messages of this event dealt with relevant fears and concerns for all of us,” Ingleton said.
Because the “Cristo Es Suficiente” idea spoke to many aspects of what people across the globe are experiencing, Ingleton was convinced it was a needed message of hope for the world.
“The world needs to know that our God isn’t in quarantine,” he said. “He has not been surprised, like us, with the uncertainty of COVID-19. We are loved by God, and there is no fear in love—perfect love drives out fear. The world needs to know we are secure in His loving hands.”
Alberto Ingleton is the director for Hispanic Ministries at the Pacific Union.
Adventurers Hold Digital Camporee Amid COVID-19 Quarantine
By Suzanne Ocsai
When the COVID-19 virus forced the world to go into lockdown in early spring, many events were canceled immediately, including the Southeastern California Conference’s Adventurer camporee. However, what everyone assumed would just be another canceled event in a long string of disappointments became an unexpected blessing to families across the country.
Meshach Soli, pastor of the South Bay church in San Diego, and his wife, Linda, the church’s Adventurer leader, decided to plan a virtual campout with their club for the same weekend that the original camporee had been scheduled, May 1-3.
Meshach Soli asked Aren Rennacker, conference youth director, and Patty Marruffo and Manny Vitug, both associate youth directors, if they would be willing to record short messages to be played during the weekend. They agreed before coming back with another idea. Would he be willing to open his club’s virtual campout to other clubs?
With the support and help of conference leaders, staff from Pine Springs Ranch summer camp, and Meshach and Mayllyn Mauia from Mississippi, the camporee grew to include clubs from across the country. On the first night, there were more than 85 homes on the Zoom broadcast.
Meshach Soli soon realized that the virtual camporee did not simply provide a substitute for a missed event but filled a need that was present, yet largely unknown, before COVID-19.
“What the pandemic taught us,” he said, “is that there are people who either prefer to do things online or they’re limited perhaps by a health condition that do not allow them to be present.”
For Adventurer Vincente “Vinny” Rubino, age 10, the camporee’s virtual broadcast allowed him and his family to participate. Vinny has congenital heart disease and is unable to be at altitudes above 4,500 feet. This has prevented him from participating in events even before the pandemic.
When his mom, Bethany Rubino, heard about the online camporee, she signed her family up. Not only was it a meaningful experience for Vinny and his siblings in the midst of quarantine, it was an event the whole family was able to participate in without complications.
“This is a huge equalizer,” she said. “It made me think about how virtual camporees could be offered once or twice a year for those families with kids who are medically fragile. I think that might be a need we’ve never thought about addressing. And this was such a great opportunity for us.”
