2008 Annual Report to the Congregation

2008 Annual Report to the Congregation
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
Reverend Jeffrey T. Howard

"Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46-47)

Evening Worship Service – Our 5:30 Service of Worship has experienced tremendous growth. A year ago around 15 people gathered each week for worship and a fellowship dinner. Now that number is between 40 and 50 in worship with approximately 20 more attending dinner. This growth has been fuel both by our evangelism effort and the increasing number of homeless people living in their cars. As the economy worsens we can expect to see further growth in these numbers as the poor in our community seek the good news of Jesus Christ and a hot meal. Trader Joe’s in Glendale has generously been provided food for our meal, and Ed Munter continues to lead the music. Please keep this congregation of our church in your prayers.

Christian Education – Providing education for all ages is vital for a growing church. I want to thank Rosie Zacow and Vern Koehn for their work in our English as a Second Language program. Also I thank June Wilson for her work with the Wednesday Bible Study. We have three seminarians helping us. Sterrett Collins is our Seminary Intern from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Herman Ng has just come on board as an Intern from Fuller Seminary. And Erwin Marojahan, a member of ERPC, is a student at San Francisco Theological Seminary. I am very grateful for the work of our seminarians with college, youth and children ministries.

John Class – I have been continuing my Sunday Morning class on the Gospel of John. I am grateful for the faithful attendance of so many people each week.

Early Morning Prayers – I am very thankful for Grace who has been leading our Service of Morning Prayers each day, Tuesday – Saturday, at 6am. She has led meditations on the Books of Acts, Isaiah, and Romans. We now have 3 regular participants. Please come if you are able. It is a great way to start the day.

Memorial Services – We gathered this year to celebrate the lives of Lois Shilts, Vi Vandruff and Mark Miller.

Community Involvement – I have been involved in the Eagle Rock Community in several ways. I now serve as the Faith Based Director of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council. I serve on the Police Clergy Council for NE Los Angeles. I am on the steering team of CAN, Churches Assisting Neighbors, a network of churches dealing with the homeless living in our community. And I attend monthly gatherings of the Church of the City, a ministerial group of pastors in NELA. ERPC participated in a community march in August called “Peace in the North East.”

Special Services – In addition to our regular programs we had several special worship opportunities. We held a Service of Imposition of Ashes on Ash Wednesday. During Lent we gathered for soup suppers follow by Communion Vesper Services where I led meditations on “Perspectives of the Cross”. On Maundy Thursday we gathered for a dramatic reading of Matthew 26-28. On Good Friday we participated in a Service of the Seven Last Words of Christ with San Francisco Theological Seminary. We joined with the Filipino church on World Communion Sunday and Reformation Sunday. On Thanksgiving Day we held a special Service of Thanksgiving followed by a traditional Thanksgiving meal. In Advent we gathered for Pot Luck Suppers followed by Communion Vesper Services where I led meditations on “You Shall Call Him Immanuel.” And on Christmas Eve we joined with Occidental Presbyterian Church in a dramatic reading called “People and Places of the Nativity.”

Self Development of People – We received a grant from the Presbyterian Church’s SDOP program. It will be used by Dirk Lowther to start a micro business employing the homeless in our community to manufacture and sell Lighted Safety Vests. Many homeless people in our community are now being trained by Dirk to sew LED lights on reflective safety vests. Nearly $8000 for startup costs has been provided by the PCUSA.

New Members – I have taught 3 New Members Classes this year for 6 new members: Vern Koehn, Ellery Atienza, Ben de la Rosa Jr., Erwin Marojahan, Dirk Lowther, and Jin Ung Chung. Dirk was baptized at our evening service.

New Worship for 2009 – Based on the success of the evening service we will be starting a new worship service on Sunday afternoons at 3pm. Rev. Nancy Moore, who is well known by many in the congregation, will be leading worship with Grace’s assistance. Our hope is that this service will attract seekers who are searching for Jesus Christ.



Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard, Pastor

2007 Annual Report to the Congregation

2007 Annual Report to the Congregation

Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church

Reverend Jeffrey T. Howard

Grace and Peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior

This past year has been one of exciting transitions for me personally and for the church. After graduating last June from Fuller Seminary I spent two weeks in South Korea and then began my ministry in Eagle Rock as your pastor. I was ordained to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament by the National Capital Presbytery in November and was installed as your Designated Pastor by San Gabriel Presbytery in December.

My first action as your pastor was to start Early Morning Prayers every day Monday through Saturday in the sanctuary. Early Morning Prayers, at 6AM, allow us to start each day in the presence of God, to offer our petitions to God and to discern the direction God wants us to head that day. I bring the prayer list that I write during worship on Sundays and say prayers of intercession and thanksgiving on behalf of the congregation. Members of the church join in the prayers to bring their own joys and concerns to God. This is an essential time for the church as we discern God’s direction for our ministry.

I also started a Christian Education class for adults immediately after our worship services each Sunday. We are studying the Gospel of John. As we read about Jesus’ works and hear his words many come to belief and our faith is strengthened.

Elder Rosie Zachow and I started new programs for adults for whom English is a second language. These programs include an ESL Bible Study every Sunday morning after worship and ESL classes on Tuesday evenings. These programs are essential services for the community and help us to build a multicultural church.

Our new intern, David Kim, my wife Grace, and I launched a new worship service on Sunday afternoons. David is a gifted singer and guitarist and leads us in singing contemporary praise songs. I have been teaching the group the principles of our Reformed heritage from the Heidelberg Catechism. This is followed by dinner and small groups. The purpose of this service is to provide people in the community with a worship experience outside of the usual Sunday morning hour. This is an important evangelistic outreach given the diversity of work schedules in our community today.

All of our programs are now listed on our church web site, www.eaglerockpres.org. I am also posting on the site the text of all the sermons that I preach on Sunday mornings and many other interesting links.

Last Fall I was privileged to meet for six weeks with our New Members Class. During this time we explored what it means to be Christian, Reformed, Presbyterian, and a member of Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church. I was thrilled when two people from the class declared Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior and were received by Session into membership of the church. We will have a new class this Spring.

In December we prepared ourselves for the coming of our savior with Advent Communion Vespers. We had candlelight worship services preceded by pot luck dinners that prepared us for Christmas and the Coming of the King. In February and March of 2008 we will have Lenten Communion Vespers to prepare us as we walk with Jesus approaching the Cross. The Lenten Vespers, Ash Wednesday Service and Maundy Thursday Communion Service will prepare us for the death of our savior on Good Friday and his glorious resurrection Easter morning.

The future of our church depends on our ability to attract young families into our fellowship. For young families to come to our church we must have quality programs in place for children and youth. The Session and I have been exploring ways to meet this need and have decided to hire two part time Directors for Children and Youth Ministry. These people will work with me to develop programs for children and youth including Christian education on Sunday mornings and evenings and developing, with Cora, youth and children’s choirs. The people we choose for these positions must have the gift of evangelism and the desire to go into the community to recruit children and youth for the programs. Our goal is to meet the spiritual needs of young families in the community and encourage young families to be a part of our church.

Our church is blessed with faithful people ministering to needs of our congregation. Ruth’s ministry is to bring us closer to God through the bulletin and Vision. Cora’s ministry is to bring us together in fellowship around music. Toni adds to the beauty of worship by designing our Power Point presentation. David, Jon and Cecile bless us with their musical ability. Francis, Caroline, Carlos, Steven, Rosie, and Ruth bring us into God’s presence by reading the Word of God. The Deacons provide pastoral care and help with communion. The Retreads take care of our facilities. The Westminster Child Center cares for nearly 100 children in our community. And the Wednesday Morning Bible Study is a blessing to many people in our fellowship. These ministries, and many others, all work together to magnify the glory of God here in Eagle Rock. We are truly blessed.

Grace be with all of you,

Pastor Jeff Howard