Convention Workbook

Report from Rev. Ron Rehrer,
Regional Mission Facilitator Regions 1
and 2 and Healthy Workers, Healthy
Leaders
I wish to begin my report by praising God for
all of His many blessings upon the
congregations, schools, workers, and missions
of our District and all of the lay leaders who
have worked so diligently to spread the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to so many throughout
our District. To God be the Glory!
Mission Report, Regions 1 and 2
Three years ago we had 7 missions in Region
1 and 12 missions in Region 2. Both regions
also co-funded the work of our Hispanic
Trainer, Rev. John Durkovic. In Region One
these were the following missions receiving
grant money from the Regional Mission
Council:
1. Centro Cristiano Hispano, (Hispanic),
Ventura, (Rev. Dennis Bradshaw)
2. Centro Cristiano Emanuel, (Hispanic),
Santa Paula, (Rev. Marcelino Velasco)
3. Oromo Mission (Ethiopian) in Beverly
Hills, (Rev. Gemachu Olana)
4. Los Angeles (Ethiopian), (Rev.
Getachew Kiros)
5. Los Angeles (Hispanic), at Trinity
Central, (Rev. Marcello Gomez)
6. UCLA (Campus Ministry), Los Angeles,
(Rev. Mark Jasa)
In Region Two these were the following
missions receiving grant money.
1. Pasadena (Ethiopian), (Rev. Getachew
Kiros)
2. St. John's Montebello, (Hispanic),
(layperson Angelina Gomez)
3. Peace, Pico Rivera (Hispanic), (Rev.
Zabdi Lopez)
4. Palabra De Dios, Maywood, (Hispanic),
(Rev. Ramon Contreas)
5. Long Beach, (Ethiopian), (Dr. Eshetu
Abate)
6. Immanuel, West Covina (Vietnamese),
Region Mission Facilitators
(Rev. An Thai)
7. Hacienda Heights, (Chinese), (Rev.
Jason Li)
8. La Puente, (Hispanic), (Rev. Ramon
Contreras)
9. La Puente (Indonesian), (Rev. Dino
Tumbuan)
10. Redeemer, Ontario (Indonesian), (Rev.
Dino Tumbuan)
11. Mammoth Lakes (Anglo), (Rev. John
Gross)
12. The Well, Lancaster, (Anglo), (Rev.
Todd Niebling)
By the end of 2012, three of these above
missions were closed:
Chinese mission in Hacienda Heights,
Hispanic mission at La Puente, and
Indonesian mission at La Puente.
Thanks to Rev. Paul Wenz and the good
people at Faith Lutheran, Riverside, the La
Puente Indonesian mission was to be
relocated in 2012 to Faith, Riverside.
A fourth mission, the campus ministry at
UCLA, while continuing, was no longer
funded by a Region 1 mission grant. Each of
these missions is very grateful for the efforts
by congregations and individuals for their
prayers and financial support. While we saw
the District's mission budget drop over the
past three years, the Board of Directors of the
District continued to make mission work a
top priority.
There were some changes in mission
personnel over the past three years. We lost
Dr. Abate (Ethiopian ministry) at the end of
2011. Earlier we also lost Rev. Rick Sarria
(Hispanic mission). Just prior to the last
convention we also lost Rev. Victor Rico
(Hispanic mission). We mourn with their
families at the death of these ethnic pastors.
Also, Rev. Roberto Simental and Rev. Marco
Lozano (both Hispanic mission) resigned their
positions. Rev. Zabdi Lopez and Rev. Ramon
Contreras (both Hispanic mission) took new
Calls out of the District.
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