In this special report in The Messenger, our many ministry leaders share the past year’s highlights, challenges, and their hopes for the future.
8 am Rite 1 Service
Vera Hoalim, Eucharistic Minister and Lector Coordinator
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
The 8 am parishioners are a committed group of members who are faithful in weekly worship and who enjoy the serenity of sacred silence and prayer. We also boast of a dedicated group of six Eucharistic Ministers and readers who are willing to take on double duty and to step up at any point to help the team. We are small but mighty, and we are blessed each week that we serve at the altar. We also continue to enjoy Alice Rucker’s organ playing and the occasional anthem sung by our soloist.
What challenges did your ministry face?
We continue to face the challenge of recruiting younger EMs, as the 8 am service is generally attended by our golden agers. Some of our current EMs are also facing physical challenges, such as with prolonged standing and step climbing. The challenge is also to recruit parishioners who are willing to serve once a month as a reader or Eucharistic Minister.
What are your hopes for the future?
We hope to recruit 1-2 qualified Eucharistic Ministers and Lay Readers. We also need a refresher course on being a Lay Eucharistic Minister at Church of Our Saviour, to ensure that we know our place and responsibilities at the altar.
10 am Rite 2 Service
Joanna Cory, Verger
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
Our youth lectors have been able, willing, and more to read at the 10 am services. They continue to improve their reading skills and demonstrate their maturity in processing and in moving to the lectern at the appropriate time. I was delighted to find so many lectors willing to read at the Advent Lessons and Carols service this year and was even more delighted to hear such clear and moving readings.
The Eucharistic Ministers continue to faithfully serve not only as they are scheduled but also to pitch in and help at additional services as they are needed. Three new Eucharistic Ministers have been trained and added to the schedule. I remain grateful to our Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors for their dedication to the ministry.
What challenges did your ministry face?
As our congregation continues to grow, we will need to train more lectors and Eucharistic Ministers to serve at our services. I continue to look to our youth, especially those who feel the need to move on from acolyting, to fill in as lectors and Eucharistic Ministers. We will do well to have younger people serve their parish family by further participating in the liturgy.
What are your hopes for the future?
I have scheduled training dates for the lectors/intercessors and for the Eucharistic Ministers for this spring and plan on meeting with each group several times a year. I have been working on a customary for Lay Visitors that should be finished shortly. Tim+ and I plan on training a team of Lay Visitors who will be able to take Communion to those who are not able to attend services. We have standardized the home kits and are looking forward to having a team of Lay Visitors who can visit members of our parish family in hospital and at home.
4 pm Sunday Holy Eucharist in Grace Chapel
Virginia Barger, Lector Coordinator
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
A highlight this year was having Robin Nixon commit to playing live music twice a month! What a treat! We were so grateful to hear music from Robin Nixon, Juli Kennedy, and Maxine Stewart. Grace Chapel, with music, is just the perfect setting for worship.
Providing music at our service offers a nice opportunity for artists to showcase their craft to a small and supportive audience, so please reach out if you are interested in playing for us, and we will welcome you.
We continued to have a variety of celebrants. When Reese Riley+ leads our service, he offers us not only his sermon but also handouts — with supplemental resources, a music video or two, and even a special healing blessing. We enjoy getting to know our priests better, especially Jeff+, Tim+, Reese+, and Marilyn+.
What challenges did your ministry face?
We have a small but consistent number of loyal worshipers. In fact, if we have not seen someone for a week or so, we ask about them. We have become a very caring group.
We would like more people to enjoy our special service, so for anyone who has yet to attend at 4 pm, we welcome you to give it a try.
What are your hopes for the future?
We hope that our live music will continue and that more people will come to hear it with us. We are grateful that our priests are so open and willing to share their talents with us at our small service. Because we do have a variety of celebrants, we hope to deepen our spiritual relationships with them this year.
A Child’s Garden School
Lucero San Lucas, ACGS Director
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
This year has been an incredible journey for our preschool community! One of the greatest highlights has been the enthusiastic participation and unwavering support of our preschool families. Their involvement in classroom activities and special events significantly contributes to the success of our program. Another key highlight of this school year has been the addition of our new staff, with six new teachers joining us! Their fresh perspectives, dedication, and passion for early childhood education have already made a tremendous impact on our children and families.
What challenges did your ministry face?
This year, we’ve experienced a decline in enrollment due to the availability of free Transitional Kindergarten (TK) programs in our area. While these programs are a valuable resource for families, they have created new dynamics for private preschool programs like ours.
What are your hopes for the future?
Despite declining enrollment, we remain committed to offering a nurturing environment that prioritizes individualized attention, a strong foundation in early education, and a focus on values and community. Our dedicated staff and tailored curriculum ensure that each child receives the personal care and support they need to thrive. We are also exploring ways to highlight the unique benefits of our program and to reach families who value the small class sizes, faith-based education, and the play-based learning opportunities we provide. Our goal is to increase enrollment for the upcoming school year. We are also excited to have our Saint Mark’s Preschool brothers and sisters join our campus in 2025. We look forward to fantastic 2025 with this community!
Acolytes
Hannah Riley, Acolyte Co-Wrangler
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
Our COS Acolyte Squad continues to be a joyful, lively, and unexpectedly holy group of dedicated kids and teens. We are 26 strong and still growing. This year, we welcomed a new wave of young Gospel Book carriers, full of enthusiasm and reverence (most of the time). As we prepare to say goodbye to some of our graduating senior acolytes, we have been focused on training our second crucifers to step into their shoes.
Our acolytes celebrate wins together and look forward to learning new things, and they take great pride in serving at the altar.
What challenges did your ministry face?
Our biggest challenge right now is continuing to train and brush up on our skills. Being on the COS Acolyte Squad is like playing on a sports team – the more we practice, the better we will get.
What are your hopes for the future?
Our hopes are to grow our squad, both outwardly and inwardly. We will continue to hone our skills and look for wonderful ways to serve during worship. Charity Xia continues to be a valuable Co-Wrangler, and St. Dawn Arnold has agreed to be laundress for the squad. She has already started to brighten and whiten ancient cottas. By Easter, I hope to have an assigned cassock and cotta for each acolyte.
Adult Formation
Kit Shenk, Adult Formation Facilitator
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
The Forum Committee continued to organize its programs around the “four-legged stool” of Faith Formation, Fellowship, Education, and COS ministries. A partial list of highlights includes a celebration of Epiphany with three parishioners reading Henry Van Dyke’s The Other Wise Man. Throughout the year, we were blessed with Fr. Reese Riley’s presentations on uplifting spiritual topics such as living into our baptismal covenant, the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, his experience in healing ministries and sacrifice, and learning to live with enough. Fr. Jeff refreshed our memories about what it means to be an Episcopalian in his Lenten series Episcopal 101.
Jeff Ross shared his experiences in the Philippines as the child of missionary parents, and Ed Andersen continued his series Famous Christian Authors with a presentation on Dorothy Sayers. During the summer, nine of COS’s ministries served us breakfast! Bill Doulos blessed us with an interactive forum discussion on gratitude, basing some of the discussion on Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi and the twenty-third Psalm.
After Fr. Jeff and Tim provided background on Proverbs, Rosemary Choate, along with the forum planning team, facilitated a discussion. Rosemary also led a forum based on an O. Henry Thanksgiving short story. Sue Smock gave a presentation on our sister parish, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in the Holy Land. Ed Andersen created a video presentation titled “A Christmas to Remember,” featuring memories of current and former parishioners. We are so grateful to Paul and Gloria Kilian and the Kilian team who inspired us during another classic Christmas carol forum, “Who Is Advent in Bethlehem in Advent?”
We have had four small group offerings this year: Men’s Bible Study led by Fr. Jeff, Journey in Joy, a women’s Bible study, led by Rosemary Choate and Kit Shenk, Cultivating an Inner Life Through Prayer led by Nancy Smith, and a Lenten study on Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World,” facilitated by the Reverend Marilyn Omernick.
What challenges did your ministry face?
We would like to see one or two more small groups, either on Sundays or weekdays.
What are your hopes for the future?
We look forward to more small group offerings because of their power to build community. We are pleased that Fr. Brian O’Rourke and Fr. Jeff will be leading a 2025 lenten small group study on Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved.
Altar Guild
Patti Beith, Altar Guild Directress
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
The Altar Guild supports the rector in his duties of serving the sacraments to the parish. In 2024 the Altar Guild supported 203 Regular Church Services, 12 Special Church Services, 7 Funerals, 4 Weddings, and 4 Baptisms.
The Altar Guild spends approximately $1000 per month to purchase wine, wafers, flowers, candles, and other items for COS services. We continue to purchase flowers weekly as well as use flowers from the Sacred Garden to place on the altar and decorate the church for special festive occasions. We support the Sacred Garden with our money and time.
In February 2024 the Altar Guild supported the Li Tim OI Celebration held at COS. We also lifted up the ministry of Reverend Ellen Welkel by supporting the celebration of her life.
A new member joined our guild.
What challenges did your ministry face?
The Altar Guild is an aging workforce. We continue to recruit new members in the guild but have had difficulty attracting new members, especially younger women. We continue to write articles for the Messenger to highlight the activities of the Altar Guild with the hope that women in the congregation will join us in our work.
What are your hopes for the future?
Recruitment of new members continues to be the hope of the guild members.
Children & Youth Ministry
Hannah Riley, Associate for Congregational Life
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
Children and Youth Ministry continues to be a ministry full of joy and healthy chaos. See below for the highlights of each category (Chapel, SPARK, and Youth Group).
Children’s Chapel: This service occurs during the 10 am Holy Eucharist on Sundays and averages close to 20 kids every week (up from an average of 5 kids three years ago)! Some highlights include “ascending” Jesus into the trees using a pulley, announcing the coming of the baby Jesus by putting fliers on parishioner cars, our All Saints’ Sunday procession, and (with Thomas Coleman’s help) finally having a paper mâché tomb for Palm Sunday and Easter.
We are also incredibly grateful to have gained a wonderful volunteer, Nikki Ortega! Her enthusiasm, creativity, and dedication have been such a blessing to our Children’s Chapel. With her help, we’ve been able to bring even more energy and joy to this ministry, making each Sunday an engaging and meaningful experience for our kids.
SPARK: SPARK (Speech and Reading Kids) is our version of Sunday school, occurring after the 10 am service. In 2024, we had a year of modules starting in January and ending in December (with a break in August). Each module explored a different theme, from oral reading to gardening. Just a few of the many highlights include making bird feeders for the Sacred Garden, our Halloween Scavenger Hunt, the Family Campout, the Shrove Tuesday talent show, and our amazing Christmas Pageant.
Youth: While we only have a small handful of high school students, these students have been creatively engaging their talents at COS. Our live stream is exclusively run by high schoolers. We have a high school usher and high school audio team members. The older COS youth volunteer at church events (from setup/clean-up to cotton candy making), assist with wrangling the younger kids at SPARK and during worship at Children’s Chapel, and read lessons at the 10 am service. Highlights include David Han, Jr., representing our deanery at the diocesan convention and the high schoolers’ enthusiasm for helping manage the compost pile in the Sacred Garden.
What challenges did your ministry face?
The biggest challenge is the age range of kids. We have kindergarteners and high schoolers all in the same group at times. For the first time in years, we are ready (and have enough kids!) to figure out a way to split our young people into age-appropriate groups, staff those groups, and keep up the momentum of the wonderful ministry.
What are your hopes for the future?
My hope is to continue to build a vibrant youth ministry that works for today’s middle school and high school students. I plan to resume Chaplain Annie’s Commission on Youth Ministry to reimagine what youth ministry looks like for our older students. I am also excited to foster more events that engage our community’s families, from the families of our neighboring churches to our neighborhood families to our preschool families. I look forward to helping create a fun and safe community for our kids that helps them grow spiritually and creates lasting friendships and positive church memories.
Chinese Ministry
The Rev. Dr. Thomas Ni, Associate for Chinese Ministry
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
2024 was a year of celebration, and of starting and resuming a few ministries. During this year we had a successful diocese-wide celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Rev. Li Tim-Oi’s ordination.
We also joined the Beer and Dumpling Festival of the City of San Gabriel again after a few years’ break since the Covid-19 pandemic.
We continued English language lessons for Mandarin speakers members on Sundays after worship, thanks to Roger Cairns-Berteau, Rosemary Choate, Gary Kinsley, and Jane Schlegel.
We started new programs for seniors ministry and monthly birthday celebrations.
We held several large gatherings to celebrate July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, as we do every year.
What challenges did your ministry face?
2024 saw a significant increase in non-documented immigrants arriving from China. How to feed their hungry hearts and help them to settle in was a tough challenge for the Chinese ministry, particularly with the intensified trade war and technology war between the U.S. and China.
What are your hopes for the future?
We are hoping to resume our lunch program and adult Sunday School program following our worship service and also start a new ministry for the middle-aged members. We also hope that the connection between our English-speaking and Chinese-speaking members will be continuously strengthened.
Greeters
Charlotte Van Fleet, Greeter Coordinator
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
We have a Greeter two south doors of the church for every service for every service. Our current team of greeters welcomes the opportunity to "greet," and assists visitors as desired.
What challenges did your ministry face?
Ideally, there are two Greeters at each door, which makes it more enjoyable. For larger services, and as we continue to grow, we'll need two greeters at each entrance to our historic sanctuary.
What are your hopes for the future?
As we continue to grow, our Greeters will continue to be a welcoming and connecting group.
Handbells
Alice Rucker, Handbells Director & Organist
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
The ministry of handbell directing is challenging and exciting, working with a wonderful group of interested, dependable, and responsible players who enjoy playing handbells for church. Seeing the players growing in their abilities is always a highlight. Our members are Debbie Anderson, Sara Dooley, Phyllis Scorcia, Kim Sirean, and Patti Teele. Robin Nixon enjoys playing the bell tree.
What challenges did your ministry face?
In 2024 we were able to replace our old, extremely weak-legged individual trapezoid- shaped tables and pads with four newly purchased lightweight folding tables.
What are your hopes for the future?
We have space at our tables for anyone who wants to learn to play bells. No previous experience is needed. It would be wonderful to have a children’s group.
Healing Service
The Rev. Tim Hartley, Associate for Recovery Ministries and Pastoral Care
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
The Wednesday Healing Service operated mostly online in 2024. Every Wednesday a committed group of parishioners meets at 11:30 am, with new people joining throughout the year. The format was officially changed to include a discussion of the Gospel lesson from the previous Sunday. The service ends with group healing prayers.
What challenges did your ministry face?
The Wednesday Healing service is a wonderful midweek offering for our community. Making sure people who might benefit from the service know about it is something we think about regularly.
What are your hopes for the future?
Whether it becomes a regular weekly practice or is a place you stop by for some needed prayers from time to time, the Healing Service will be there. We hope it will continue to grow and look forward to introducing a fellowship time after the service at some point in the future.
Jubilee Homes
The Rev. Tim Hartley, Associate for Recovery Ministries and Pastoral Care
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
2024 was another big year for Jubilee Homes. Our second annual fundraiser dinner was held in June. The event raised much-needed funds to support the homes and introduced new people to the amazing work we do. The adorable daughter of one of our residents was baptized in our historic sanctuary, with COS members and residents as witnesses.
What challenges did your ministry face?
With our Fair Oaks house destroyed by the Eaton fire, we are faced with the challenge of navigating the next steps. Our hope is to build something bigger and better to continue to do the good work of this important ministry. Our challenge will be raising the needed funds to bring our vision to fruition, but we are confident it will all work out.
What are your hopes for the future?
Jubilee Homes has provided safe, secure, and sober housing for thousands of people recovering from addiction over the past 20+ years, and we look forward to continuing that service over the next 20 years.
Li Tim Oi Center
The Rev. Dr. Thomas Ni, Associate for Chinese Ministry and Director of the Li Tim-Oi Center
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
We completed a lay leadership training course on Christian Theology and Art in 2024. For the first time, we offered this training in person as well as online. We had lay and ordained leaders attend the class from different dioceses. Fr. Thomas was one of the keynote speakers in a series of videos on the current situation of Chinese immigrants.
What challenges did your ministry face?
We always lack qualified Chinese-speaking lecturers to teach the lay leadership training courses. Another challenge is finding a time suitable for people in different time zones.
What are your hopes for the future?
Our biggest hope is that we can soon begin the partnership between the dioceses of Los Angeles and Taiwan in the area of theological education and in the exchange of seminarians, postulants, and curates. We also hope to offer two lay leadership training courses this year.
Music Ministry & Choirs
Bob Crocker, Director of Music
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
Choir Opening of Year Dinner and Our Saviour Sunday
All Saints Sunday
Advent Lessons and Carols service, raising funds for music ministry
Three splendid Christmas Eve services
Choral services Ash Wednesday and for the Holy Week Triduum
Easter with brass and timpani
Afternoon Tea music fundraiser
Regular collaboration with cellist Dustin Seo
Summer family choir
Solid growth in achievement and commitment in our 10:00 am choir
Integrating vocal music at 8:00 service
Steady growth in financial support for music
Cooperative, integrated, realistic budget revision process reflecting current priorities
Extraordinary cooperation from our clergy, congregational life, worship, vestry, finance, and maintenance professionals and volunteers
Productive, insightful leadership and work from our music committee: Debbie Anderson, Sara Dooley, Charlie Youngblood, Stephen Bock, Patti Teele, and Juli Kennedy
Handbells equipment upgrades and splendid music: Director Alice Rucker, Sara Dooley, Debbie Anderson, Phyllis Scorica, Kim Sirean, Patti Teele
The intrepid Our Saviour Choir: Michele Baker, Jenine Baines, Mackenzie Brown, Laurel Bullock, Janey Cutting, Juli Kennedy, John Musselman, Santo Ragno, Phyllis Scorica, Kim Sirean, Cheryl Townsend, Sherry Xiao, and Charlie Youngblood, and wonderful guests.
What challenges did your ministry face?
Building fundraising capacity
Rethinking music program policies, practices, and routines
Organ repair costs have been higher than were budgeted for
What are your hopes for the future?
Music committee will develop monthly designated giving for music
Music committee will grow the fundraising impact of the music tea, Advent Lessons and Carols, and other appeals for support
Music committee will grow stable financial support for four professional section leaders
Music committee will create written policies and reports on music events, fundraising, employment, the organ, pianos, and harpsichord
Choir will continue to grow, particularly in the number of volunteer men, through musical excellence, and by being a great place to know people, to learn, to laugh, and to serve
Our Saviour Center
Eimie Tsumura, Development Coordinator
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
This past year has seen an increase in participation in Our Saviour Center’s programs, from those needing aid to those wanting to give back to the community.
In 2024:
The Food Pantry distributed over 750 tons of food to 37,376 households, including 91,430 individuals. This was thanks in part to our volunteers who contributed over 8,942 hours of their time.time.
Our Emergency Temporary Housing program provided 81 families with housing for 567 nights, including 194 children and 114 adults.
Dorris Dann Kids Campus’ After School and Summer Expanded Learning Programs enrolled 477 students from TK to 8th grade in 2024.
2024 saw Leadership Academy’s second year at Dorris Dann Kid Campus. In collaboration with the El Monte City School District, 32 high school students have been given the opportunity to work as Instructional Aides, with the guidance and mentorship of our staff. Our Leadership Academy students get the chance to experience a career in education and begin considering their post-graduation goals.
In partnership with the El Monte City School District, our Soccer for Success program was offered to all 14 schools in the district. Spring saw 1,165 participants in 45 teams and fall with 917 participants in 42 teams made up of students from 1st through 8th grades. Operating 10 months out of the year, a regular, active, and healthy pastime has remained accessible to the youth of El Monte.
This past year we remodeled an entire classroom at Dorris Dann Kids Campus after being awarded a Best Buy Teen Tech Center by the Best Buy Foundation. We are currently working on staffing the program and furnishing the space.
What challenges did your ministry face?
This past year we have seen an unfortunate increase in the number of families seeking emergency shelter, but the increase in demand has been difficult to keep up with due to our limited resources. Dorris Dann Kids Campus has been blessed with the expansion of multiple youth programs, but as a result has been challenged by a lack of space and staff support. Soccer for Success aims to make healthy and active lifestyles accessible to all youth, but the program has seen an unfortunate decline in women coaches and participants. We hope by hiring more female coaches, prospective female participants will feel more comfortable joining.
What are your hopes for the future?
This 2025, Our Saviour Center is entering its 40th year of sharing love, hope, and resources with our neighbors in need. We are grateful for the dedicated support COS parishioners have given us and acknowledge this milestone would not have been achieved without it. We hope through organizational stability, strengthened community collaborations, and increased financial support, Our Saviour Center will remain steadfast in providing essential resources to our community and inspiring its next generation of youth for another 40 years.
Property Committee
John Vandercook, Senior Warden and Property Chair
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
The highlight for the Property Committee Ministry was the completion of ten of the 12 Capital Campaign Projects from 2023. The remaining Historic Sanctuary Sound System Upgrade and the Baptistry Plaques are under way. We continue to fine-tune our vendor list and relationships so that we are getting the best value for our money. We recently made a big change with a new landscape service company, Go Green Landscape, which is on our campus Tuesdays and Thursdays, instead of the previous vendor who came only on Thursdays.
What challenges did your ministry face?
There are many financial challenges in caring for our beautiful six-acre campus. Maintenance is always a process of budgeting funds that are available and taking care of emergencies, like replacing a 40-year-old HVAC system, repairing broken sewer and water lines, the fumigation of termites in all of our twelve buildings, or roof and dry rot problems, which are very serious issues. All of these projects need immediate attention.
What are your hopes for the future?
To focus on wanting projects as well as preventative maintenance to be more successful in our property oversight, in addition to looking at a new capital campaign project this late spring.
The Sacred Garden
Carrie Voris, Sacred Gardener
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
2024 had quite a few bright and colorful spots as the Sacred Garden ministry continues to GROW!
We were gifted three beautiful tables from Bev + Jerry Harris and our friend Neil Long, who had dug out some tables from the arboretum compost pile and rebuilt them.
The property committee has been evaluating plans and vendors for pathways, electricity, and water to the SG so that we can rent the space out.
The SPARK kids spent a bunch more time in the Garden as they helped release ladybugs on Earth Day, helped turn compost piles, planted seeds, and even made their own garden bed from scratch!
All of the flowers for the flowering of the cross on Easter Sunday were entirely from the Sacred Garden.
Many Sunday altar arrangements throughout the spring and summer were composed solely from our SG flower beds, saving the Altar Guild $ throughout the summer months.
In May we hosted a Mother's Day bouquet-making event for the SPARK kids to pick flowers and design their own bouquets for their parents.
A lot of the beds have several year-old perennial plantings that are completely self-sustaining and need minimal maintenance from our SG crew.
We have a faithful crew who helps out at least one Saturday, (if not more often!) each month in weeding, feeding, planting, and maintenance in the Garden.
What challenges did your ministry face?
The challenge is always finding time, volunteers, and money to grow the space into what we hope could be a revenue-generating space for COS. We had a minor setback when all of our drip lines and hose bibs in the garden were vandalized (still unclear if it was human- or animal-caused).
What are your hopes for the future?
STILL on our list for the Garden are a pathway that would make the garden more accessible for all, a privacy fence around the compost area in the southwest corner to hide the (thriving!) compost pile operations, new weatherproof tables and chairs which we can rent to guests who are using the garden as an event space, and of course … more flowers! ;)
Stewardship and Annual Giving
Rose Gonzalez, Chief Development Officer
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
Thanks to each and every pledge, the annual giving campaign reached a 15-year high for pledges promised in the 2025 program year. Pledging members are the pillars of Church of Our Saviour and are important to securing COS’s financial foundation and future. This is not only a sign of healthy ministries coming together to build and strengthen community here at COS but is also a testament to the importance of God in our lives. Even the most modest of annual gifts make a tremendous impact. Every gift truly does matter! Thank you.
Another important highlight of stewardship in 2024 is the unwavering dedication that the Stewardship Committee places on participation and contributing. Whether it’s writing postcards, making phone calls, faithfully attending meetings, or serving as living examples of doing what Jesus would have done, it is an honor and a privilege to serve COS under a dedicated Stewardship Committee that includes Virginia Barger, Patti Beith, Cece Horne, and Linda Moore.
What challenges did your ministry face?
Inflation and the ever-rising cost of living impacts everyone’s ability to give of their own time, talent, and treasure, and 2024 was certainly no exception. Our beautiful, beloved campus remains a place of spiritual sanctuary and hope, but our six acres are unfortunately not excluded from the ever-increasing costs of utilities, materials and maintenance, or of the upkeep of our aging facilities and rental properties.
What are your hopes for the future?
I hope the upcoming year will bring more curiosity, involvement, and suggestions from the COS family on ideas about our annual giving campaigns and how we can continue to grow together. I am very much aware of how the topics of fundraising and finances makes many, many people uncomfortable. This is extremely common and 100% okay. It may surprise some parishioners that not one member of the Stewardship Committee does anything that makes them uncomfortable in the slightest. Tasks are divided among those who enjoy participating in said task. I hope you will come to a meeting to see the great work that goes on behind the scenes and consider joining this amazing group. I would really love to see our Stewardship Committee expand! Join us: roseg@cosepiscopal.org
Weddings
Nancy Duling, Wedding Coordinator
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
I’ve never seen our church look so amazing for weddings! Our brides are really getting creative with how they want the church and hall to look. We had four weddings this year (with one cancellation). They were all so fabulous. And it’s always special when a member of our congregation gets hitched … congrats to Dora and Vincent Chang!
What challenges did your ministry face?
Brides and grooms are bringing many special requests, which equates to more time and effort by the COS staff. Especially when their wedding AND reception is on campus, it creates a heavy lift for all involved.
What are your hopes for the future?
A more streamlined approach … more specific guidelines of do’s and don’ts … might be in order.
Youth Readers
Marcia Kreditor, Youth Lector Coordinator and Reading Coach
What were the highlights of the year for your ministry?
Getting to know the youth.
What challenges did your ministry face?
Keeping scheduling fair.
What are your hopes for the future?
My hope for the future is identifying new readers.
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