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Christmas Family Lunch
This Sunday, December 14
12:00 - 2:00 p.m. | Back Lunch Tables and Playground
Please RSVP and for any questions contact Diane Acosta at:
dacosta@sangabrielcommunity.org
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Christmas Eve Service
Wednesday, December 24
5:00 - 6:00 p.m. | The Sanctuary
Join us for our Christmas Eve Service in the Sanctuary. Hope to see you there!
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Bridal Shower for Sophie Bronkar
Sunday, January 11
12:00 - 2:30 p.m. | The Basement
Join us for a Bridal Shower celebrating Sophie Bronkar on Sunday, January 11 in the SGCC Basement. Lunch will be provided.
Contact Valeria, Nancy A. or Michele with questions.
Please consider participating in the group gift with Nancy Ang by Jan. 4th.
Zelle: acct202@hotmail.com or cash/check. Sophie is registered at Amazon for other gifts.
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Master Plan Update
Master Plan — Phase 3 Update
We are excited to announce the launch of Phase 3 of our Master Plan!
This next phase focuses on two key objectives:
• Reflecting the beauty and glory of God throughout our campus
• Creating accessible adult classroom space
As part of this project, we will be installing an elevator near the Administration building, providing second-story access to both the Administration and Palin buildings. A connecting bridge will also be constructed between the two structures to enhance accessibility.
The estimated budget for this phase is $750,000.00.
We invite you to prayerfully consider how you might partner with us and contribute to this project.
We are so thankful for all that the Lord is doing on our campus.
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Christmas Offering
From now until the end of 2025, we will be collecting a special Christmas Offering.
This year, our Christmas Offering will go to Worship Ministries. We have a number of pieces of music and sound equipment that need to be repaired or replaced to make our Sunday services in the Sanctuary and mid-week ministries in the Palin building more effective.
Please pray and prepare your offering as the Lord leads.
Special envelopes will be in your Bulletin this Sunday, 12.7 and next Sunday, 12.14, and are available in the Sanctuary lobby. You may also mail checks to the church with “Christmas Offering” noted on the memo line.
For giving online, you can select “Christmas Offering” from the drop-down menu.
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Rush Hour Snacks
We love offering snacks at our weekly Wednesday night program, Rush Hour, that meets from 7:00 - 8:45 p.m. Our Jr. High and High School students enjoy a time of games, worship, and teaching with our Student Ministries staff.
Would you consider helping us provide snacks for our students?
(for Wednesdays and/or Sunday mornings, for 20-25 people)
What snacks can I drop off?
Student favorites include individually wrapped chips, crackers, cookies, and fruit snacks! It's extra helpful if they are individually wrapped bags, which keeps the unused snacks fresh, so we can use them anytime! See photo below for examples!
If you'd like to bake something homemade, just give us a heads up so we know when it's coming!
When can I drop off?
You can drop them off during the week in the office, or even leave them in the café on Sundays (clearly marked 'Student Ministries')
Contact:
Please email Jonathan (jbalentine@sangabrielcommunity.org) for more info. Thanks!
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Holiday Basket Gift Cards
Through This Sunday, December 14
Please pick up a blank Christmas card from either the Sanctuary Lobby or your Sunday School class and then return it with a $10-25 gift card, by Sunday December 14th. Gift cards will be given to San Gabriel teenagers who come from financially struggling families, in conjunction with the city’s Holiday Basket program. This generous donation blesses our community and is a tangible way to share the love of Christ this season. Questions? dacosta@sangabrielcommunity.org
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Year-End Giving Information
The effective date of a contribution is when it is delivered to the Church. A check deposited in the offering in January of 2026 cannot be deducted in 2025, even if it is backdated to 2025. Checks that are mailed to the Church and postmarked by December 31, 2025 are deductible in 2025 even though not received by the Church until 2026. On-line gifts finalized by December 31, 2025 are deductible in 2025 even though not received by the Church until 2026.
If you have any questions regarding this, please contact Katelyn Parsons at kparsons@sangabrielcommunity.org.
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Evangelism Resources Available
In the Church Library there is a special display case with pastor approved evangelism materials.
Please help yourself and share the good news!
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Special Class in Horizons This Sunday
Victor Dorado will be leading a special class in Horizons this Sunday at 10:45 a.m. He will addressing the topic, "Biblical Wisdom for Resisting Scams. Protecting Ourselves and What God Has Entrusted Us with Godly Discernment."
"Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety." Proverbs 11:14
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Jingle Tots Begins this Week! | |
Thursday Mornings, December 4 - 18, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. | S-13
Mom's stay and play program for babies - preschool.
- Bible Stories
- Singing
- Crafts
- New Friends!
We hope you'll join us!
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SGCC Children's Ministries
Book of the Week
A Jesus Christmas: Explore God's Amazing Plan for Christmas
Barbara Reaoch
Ages 4-11
Explore God's amazing plan for Christmas with this family devotional for Advent. Right from the beginning, the serpent lied to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden – and he has been lying ever since. But right from the beginning, God told us his amazing plan to send Jesus.
Each of the 25 readings looks at one of the serpent's lies from Genesis 3, and then shows how the glorious truth of Christmas beats it every time! There is even space for each family member to make their own notes. Gather the family, and find ten minutes a day in December to look at God's word together & dwell on the good news of Christmas.
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Assistive Listening System Available in Sanctuary
We offer an Assistive Listening System in the Sanctuary for those that have mild to moderate hearing loss. These small devices will provide direct audio during the entire worship service and will allow you to adjust the volume to meet your individual needs. You must sit in the main center section of the sanctuary to use the system. The system is not available in the North or South chapels.
If you would like to take advantage of this new system, please stop by the sound booth.
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Steve & Eida Irwin
United States
Ethnos360, Spanish Language Resources
Praise God Julio Ramírez was discharged.
Please pray for a full recovery.
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Garrett & Lia Trainor
Serenissima Ministries
Praise
- We have a house! A member of La Quercia Church reached out to the owner of an empty apartment in her building and God moved in his heart to rent it to us. Our friends keep commenting on how incredible it is that we found a place after only a week of looking when most people look for month or more. It turns out that we are undesirable tenants because families with children are protected from eviction which causes many landlords to fear being taken advantage of. The apartment is located in the center of Azzano Decimo, only a few minute walk from the main piazza, a few preschools, the library, and many shops. The church is only a four minute drive away. We are excited that we will be able to host church gatherings in a location that is accessible to some of the church members who don't drive.
- It is a joy to be with the church family at La Quercia. There are many new faces to us at La Quercia, but we have been welcomed warmly and are enjoying jumping in with activities during the week. For being a church with no children, people have been very gracious as we bring quite a bit of noise with us to Sunday Services.
- Lia's parents are lending a hand. Lia's parents got here 2 weeks after we did to help with the kids and other needs as we get settled. It has been so helpful with our transition, and we have loved seeing them get involved in ministry. Lia's dad, Howard, will even be preaching on Sunday the 14th and Garrett is looking forward to translating him into Italian.Upcoming baptisms - Some members of La Quercia are scheduled to be baptized on December 21st. These will be the first baptisms done in the church building, and so it is an exciting milestone in the life of the church.
Prayer requests
- Lots of work to get the house ready. The landlord is renting the house out much sooner than he planned, so there is a bit of work to do to get it ready. Garrett has been lending a hand so we can be as ready as possible by the 19th when our Airbnb stay ends. Right now, there are some people who we have been able to enlist with painting and cleaning and moving furniture that we find. Please pray that we get things done in time so we don't have to find a different place to live before moving in to our apartment.
- Hard Family Adjustment - The boys are troopers, but Daniel has missed playing with kids and talking to everyone he meets. The added change of hearing us speak Italian when we are out has been hard too. Our church friends have been so sweet and try to help him feel included and welcomed with little gifts and attempts to speak English. Please pray that Daniel can make some friends soon and that he would embrace learning Italian.
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Paperwork Paperwork Paperwork - Garrett has filed all the paperwork that he is able to up to this point with the goal of getting the important Nulla Osta (entry clearance permit) that we need for the family visa. Until we are closer to moving in to the apartment, we are at a standstill with the bureaucracy. We feel the urgency to get settled in there so we can continue with the process. We are well into our 90 day timer for Lia and the boys to remain in Italy. Please pray we can get everything related to bureaucracy done quickly.
- Need a car - So far we've relied on rental cars to get around, but we are looking to buy a car. We're hoping to find something like a minivan (they do exist in Italy), but the difficulty is two-fold: 1.) European environmental laws are always getting stricter and can involve bans from driving in city centers on certain days if your vehicle is not rated high enough for it's emissions. Unfortunately, finding a minivan that has a good emissions rating is not the easiest or cheapest thing to do 2.) We can't buy a car or Italian car insurance without having residency in Italy, so this returns us to the need to move into the apartment sooner rather than later. Pleas pray for wisdom in buying a car and for the related bureaucratic issues.
Thank you for your prayers and encouraging messages! We will keep you updated as the moving saga continues.
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Pray for our church family...
Lily Espadas - Muscular Dystrophy
Sheila Hyatt - Ongoing multiple health issues
Marilyn Johnson (Maynard Johnson’s mother) - health complications due to Alzheimer’s
Maynard Johnson - Health issues
Delcia Phillips - In hospice care, please pray for Delcia and the family
Diana Sapetto - Health issues
Bill White - Multiple Sclerosis
Pray for those in the armed forces...
Jacob Haas (Mike & Rochelle Haas’ son) - National Guard
Justin Harvey (Linda Ghabril’s nephew) - National Guard
Michael Iosyfovych (Diane & Markus Acosta’s nephew) - Army Reserve
Robert McGlohin (Conor & Geoff’s step-brother) - Virginia, Navy
Ezekiel and Elias Rodriguez (Fidel & Trace Paniagua’s nephews) - Army
Ethan Sorrell (Todd and Celia Sorrell's son) - Army
Anthony Webb (Greg and Suzanne Golden’s son-in-law) - North Carolina, Army
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Online Giving
Text the word GIVE to 626-499-5600 or click here to give online. Contact our Financial Specialist for any questions (kparsons@sangabrielcommunity.org)
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Growing in Grace
Growing in Grace is the radio ministry of San Gabriel Community Church to the greater Los Angeles area, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Steve Balentine. You can find Growing in Grace on KKLA 99.5 at 5:00 p.m. on Sundays
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Find a Bible Study
Get plugged in to a small group at SGCC. Check out the list of current Bible studies and fellowship groups that meet throughout the week. For any questions, contact the church office (info@sangabrielcommunity.org)
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Worship Service Video Archive
Our Worship Services are recorded and available online via Vimeo.
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Angels From the Realms of Glory
James Montgomery, Henry Smart
Come and Stand Amazed, You People
Klaas Hart, Dustin Kensrue, Citizens & Saints
Come Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Public Domain
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
Edith M. Reed, W Zlobie Lezy
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Child of Glory
Brian Eichelberger, Dustin Kensrue
The Glory of the Cross
Bob Kauflin
That's Why We Praise Him
Tommy Walker
| | You can find the songs we'll sing on our "Sunday Morning playlist" on Spotify linked below | |
Church Family Birthdays
Check out who's celebrating a birthday this month!
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Bob Oberlander – 12/1
Peter Otoshi – 12/3
Rowan Halverson – 12/5
Javier Ordaz – 12/7
Connie Alvarez – 12/8
Kathryn Barkley – 12/8
Mia Rysdon – 12/8
Kathleen Parsons – 12/10
Macy Pulos – 12/10
Renee Smith – 12/10
Jon Bialon – 12/11
Fidel Paniagua – 12/12
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Carolyn Oberlander – 12/14
Gilbert Oberlander – 12/14
Eve Young – 12/16
Nancy DeBoer – 12/18
Lisa Rowe – 12/20
Deacon Hoover – 12/22
Anna Young – 12/23
Jack Alm – 12/24
Karla Perez – 12/25
Gerald Baney – 12/28
Tracy Garcia – 12/29
Vickie Tremper – 12/31
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Reply to this email, email info@sangabrielcommunity.org or
call the church offices at 626-656-1000 for any questions.
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