Community

I’ve been at Indonesian Evangelical Church in San Jose since 2019.

Leading worship

I lead worship one Sunday a month, or two when nobody else is available, plus up to one Friday at Young Adults Fellowship.

I’m briefed on Sunday’s topic a week ahead. I read the passage the sermon is based on, and sometimes I listen to an online commentary on it. I choose four songs based on the topic, after praying and on evening strolls with Spotify playing worship set recommendations.

The list goes out around Tuesday to three groups: the musicians, the person who prepares the chords, and the AV team. My team and I do a short devotional and run the set on Friday night after fellowship, or on Saturday morning. On Sunday we arrive at church at nine, an hour before the service, to rehearse.

I don’t play any instruments, so I just sing as I lead the congregation through the structure of the service. Our music coordinator chooses my team based on who’s available. On the best weeks there are five of us: me, a guitarist who also sings, a pianist who also sings, a drummer, and a bassist. On low-availability weeks there are two of us: me and either a pianist or a guitarist.

The care team

I coordinate the care team. We have a WhatsApp group chat, and I organize the monthly ushering schedule in a spreadsheet based on my ushers’ availability. They are usually available the same week each month, so we do a rotation, and I switch schedules around when someone is suddenly unavailable.

The care team greets new people and introduces them to the more extroverted members of the church. I myself am an introvert who pushes myself to greet new people with love.

Young adults

I was on the core leadership team for four years, from 2021 to 2024. We discussed what the group needed in its current and upcoming seasons of life, and from that we chose the topics to cover and the events to hold.

The main challenge was the lack of people after COVID. For a year there were only about ten to fifteen of us, and cutting back ministries for lack of leaders was a tough decision. I defended the food ministry because of my passion for it.

More people started coming each year, and most of them stayed, mostly because our young pastor reaches out and keeps in touch with people.

Pickleball Tuesdays

We play pickleball on Tuesdays around seven in the evening, in the parking lot behind the church. The lot is empty on Tuesdays, and the church drew a court on it. The church has a net and paddles for people who don’t have one.

We need at least four people, and every week we’ve had at least four. When people feel like hanging out, there can be ten or twelve. We finish around ten, and some of us drive five minutes for birria tacos.

LifeMoves

Volunteers from our church cook and serve dinner at the LifeMoves shelter in San Jose every quarter, and I coordinate two of those a year.

On a Saturday, six or seven of us buy ingredients at Costco around one, cook a few dishes in the shelter kitchen on Julian Street, and serve about sixty clients around seven. Some of us eat and chat with them. Afterward, some of us wash the pots and pans.

Our classic menu is rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stir-fried broccoli, and fresh garlic bread.