(2011 Annual Newsletter)
Katy Lee
Presence had a very productive year in 2010. Previous years have laid the foundation for the opportunities that opened up for our ministry recently. We are very thankful for the meaningful partnership with different churches and individuals that has allowed us to serve Christians and families in various areas.
Our Thanksgiving & Fundraising dinner was held on March 14, 2010, featuring an update of Proposition 8 by Dr. Robert Tyler of Advocates for Faith & Freedom. Our founder and president Agnes Ip also shared with us the urgency and the hidden issues of youth ministry and the way Presence can work hand in hand with churches to tackle these issues. We truly appreciate the support from pastors and friends of Presence as a total of 120 people attended this event with $6860 raised to support our ministry.
Family conferences are always the major events for Presence. We aim at serving the whole family in a one-day conference through keynote messages, panel and testimonies, parenting and youth workshops, EQ training for children, theater presentation and family dynamic discussion. This year is our first attempt to have two family conferences in one year. We partnered with Great Commission Church International in Hacienda Heights to hold “Wise parenting in the 21st Century” on May 22nd. This conference was conducted in both English and Mandarin with a high turnout of 327 people. We were invited to conduct the second family conference in English and Cantonese at Chinese Bible Missions Church in Alhambra, titled “Dynamic Family in 21st Century,” held on October 23rd. There were 195 people in attendance. Our goal is that these family conferences will give the church and community a comprehensive overview of our ministry in order that we can continue to serve them more in the future.
In response to the serious issue of internet addiction among youth and adults, Presence partnered with Chinese Evangelical Free Church in Monterey Park to present a series of topics related to Internet addiction on June 11th & 12th. We were honored to have Dr. Melvin Wong, licensed clinical psychologist, to be our main speaker. We had a total of 152 in attendance. With his professional knowledge and clinical experience, Dr. Wong spoke on how painful or broken family relationships contribute to addictive behaviors and gave very practical suggestions on overcoming the problem.
With invitation and requests from different churches, Presence has provided seminars and Sunday School series at many locations this year. Topics include family and parenting education, emotional health, social value and personal bias, spiritual formation, etc. Speakers included Agnes Ip, Annette Jewik, Janet Fang, Katy Lee, Phillip Lowe, Dr. David Phan and Alfreda Ip. We are thankful for these partnerships that allow Presence to build solid and long term relationship with churches.