DECEMBER 2021 UPDATE
Dear First Prez ‘ohana,
I can’t believe that we’re finishing up our two-year Raise the Sails generosity journey! Since December 2019, we have been studying what it means to be generous by following God’s examples. When we know how generous He is, we can risk and do great things for Him.
God is so generous that He wants to always give us the best. His love is bottomless. His forgiveness is immense. His faithfulness to us has no bounds. This is the God who owns the cattle of a thousand hills and who created the universe. This is the God who lived among us for 30 years and gave His life for us.
While some thought of Raise the Sails as just about raising funds, they later discovered that Raise the Sails is really about discipleship and how to be a sail-raiser disciple empowered and guided by the winds of the Spirit. I hope that even after Raise the Sails we will continue having a generous lifestyle not just through our giving, but also through how we show love, kindness, and compassion toward others.
We have much to be grateful for––the biggest one being Jesus, who came to be our Savior. From my family to yours, Merry Christmas!
Blessed by you,
Pastor Dan Chun
SEPTEMBER 2021 UPDATE
Dear First Prez ‘ohana,
Your generosity toward God’s work here at First Prez has been a tremendous source of encouragement! Thank you so much! Your financial gifts continue to impact our church ministries and operations.
In spite of the pandemic, our ministries are still flourishing.
Just a few highlights:
We continue to see more and more new people coming to our worship services.
We make our campus available for events that support the community.
In July we hosted a Professional Development Day for teachers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Teachers came for the day to
learn about Ko‘olau and use the site to brainstorm place-based science programming. We allowed them the use of Honey’s dining area and
gave them a tour of our campus.New ministries are being born. We are launching a new Gen X group.
We hope to create this new singles ministries that will influence our state, our country, and even the world.
Enjoy reading about what your giving has made possible, and you’ll see how in the following pages.
Take care! Keep safe! And keep raising the sails of your heart!
Pastor Dan Chun
JUNE 2021
Dear First Prez ‘ohana,
We’re halfway through the year already, and so much has happened since our last Raise the Sails (RTS) newsletter in March. I want to thank you for your generosity and report to you how your gifts have impacted our church ministries
and operations.
For one, we’ve resumed gathering once again in our Sanctuary for Sunday worship, and broadcasting them live so our online congregation can continue to worship the Lord with us. Since we started our online services, we’ve had 300+ new commitments and recommitments to follow Jesus!
Your giving has allowed us to be financially stable as a church. It has allowed us to retain our staff. It has allowed us to pivot many times with our ministries: from in person to online, and now from online to both in-person and online. Thanks so much for making these transitions possible.
Your generosity has enabled us to invest in our safety team, our technical team, and our hospitality team. We needed to upgrade our video and audio equipment to make livestreamed services and online ministries possible. We’ve also invested in other types of equipment, like the electrostatic disinfecting backpack, so we could provide a safer environment on campus for you.
There’s a lot more to do ahead of us. Other campus improvements are planned, as well as upkeep and maintenance work on our former golf course. As part of being good stewards, we have prayerfully made plans for our next steps, but we’re also aware that things could change which could mess up those plans. Whatever happens we entrust the future of our church to the Lord. He knows what lies ahead, and we are confident that He will carry us through.
Blessed by you,
Dan Chun | Senior Pastor
MARCH 2021 UPDATE
Dear First Prez ‘ohana,
It’s the first quarter of our 15th year on our Ko‘olau campus! The years seem to have whizzed past us, and yet the last 15 years of being in community and doing ministry with you have been rich and full. Praise God!
This year is also the latter half of our Raise the Sails (RTS) generosity journey. As you read through this quarterly update, I hope you’ll be encouraged knowing that your financial support continues to make an impact on our Ko‘olau property, our ministries, and on people around the world. You’re making a difference for God’s Kingdom!
We have a new section on the back page of this newsletter called “THE MINISTRY OF HAKUHIA.” Hakuhia is the name the Elders and staff of the church have chosen to refer to our new ministry of stewarding the 246 acres we have on our Ko‘olau property, now that we have full access to it. It was chosen after prayerful consideration, much research, consultation, and interviews with community leaders of Hawaiian ancestry. Hakuhia is not the name of the land, but rather the ministry of stewarding and nurturing the land that our generous God has entrusted to us.
Hakuhia is a combination of two Hawaiian words: HAKU, which has several meanings, but when the “H” is capitalized, it refers to The Lord; and HIA, which means desire or delight. So putting the two words together, we have Hakuhia, which means God’s delight. I am grateful to Kiha Pimental, a pastor with the Foursquare denomination, for his guidance and wisdom as we considered the name for our new ministry. He said, “It is God’s delight that you all heard His voice to develop His land. You all heard His call. It was Hakuhia, God’s desire and delight, when you bought the land in 2006, and now it is coming more into fruition.”
Our Raise the Sails generosity journey goes hand in hand with Hakuhia, and I’m so grateful that you’re a part of it. To God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, be the glory!
Blessed by you,
Dan Chun | Senior Pastor
DECEMBER 2020 UPDATE
Dear First Prez ‘Ohana,
We’ve reached the midpoint of our Raise the Sails (RTS) Generosity Journey, and so far I have nothing but gratitude and awe for the way you have stepped out in faith to please God. Mahalo for your decision to be part of Raise the Sails and leave a legacy of being all-in for Jesus.
As you read through this quarterly update on RTS, know that your support is making a difference not only through physical improvements in our campus but also in other people’s lives. It is spurring others to trust God more and, as a result, have more meaningful encounters with Him.
When we launched RTS in October 2019, we studied the book of Joshua and focused on the verse “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you.” (Joshua 1:9) We even had orange-and-black wrist bands made with the verse etched on them (remember that?). Little did we know that the Lord was going to use that verse and the whole study of the book of Joshua to prepare us for the unheard-of challenges of 2020! Maybe we should still wear those wrist bands to encourage ourselves during this difficult pandemic season.
Joshua believed in God’s promises and obeyed Him in spite of difficult circumstances. I believe we are called to do the same. Stepping out in faith with our finances is not an easy thing, especially at this time. It requires trusting the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, to supply our needs.
And what’s making it even more special is the fact that we are doing this generosity journey TOGETHER. We are trusting God TOGETHER. We are living out generosity TOGETHER. We are being transformed to be more like Jesus TOGETHER.
Blessed by you,
Dan Chun | Senior Pastor
NOVEMBER 1, 2020 UPDATE
Dear First Prez ‘Ohana,
There is a Fresh Wind of the Holy Spirit filling the sails of the good ship First Prez! The elders, staff, and I are asking all of our church family to join us in November for a new four-week sermon series and small group Bible study entitled FRESH WIND. This series marks the midpoint of our two-year Raise the Sails journey together, and God is giving us fresh wind to guide and strengthen us.
As many of you may know, in November of 2019 we launched a two-year generosity journey called RAISE THE SAILS. Our primary goal was to have everyone at First Prez be part of the journey with their hearts and minds. In small groups, more than a thousand of us spent six weeks studying God’s faithfulness and generosity through the Book of Joshua in the Bible. The theme verse of the study was Joshua 1:9 – “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.” And boy, did we need that vision!
We now realize that God, in HIS PROPHETIC PROVIDENTIAL WISDOM, knew that specific God-ordained study would embolden and encourage us for the storms that were coming – the high waves and the strong cross-currents of coronavirus, the racial injustice tempest, a ravaged economy, the closing of Ko‘olau Golf Club and Honey’s Restaurant, and the staff departures.
We believe God is now giving us a Fresh Wind to encourage us to finish our campus repair projects, increase our ministry, and be prepared to take care of the entire 246 acres of our property that previously was not available to us due to the golf course.
By this midpoint of Raise the Sails, many have made courageous financial commitments that we believe honor God, advance the mission of our church, and enlarge our hearts and faith in our generous God. And we have done so much with those commitments in the first year of the journey. This booklet will inform you of what we have accomplished and what is coming.
Please use the enclosed card and envelope to pray about your next step on the Raise the Sails journey:
• Join us on the journey with a first-time commitment or
• Confirm to stay strong in your current commitment or
• Expand your current commitment to a new level
God has blessed and sustained us with your generosity. As a reminder, the Raise the Sails commitment includes both your general giving and your expanded giving for the vision projects, so it is your TOTAL giving to First Prez in this season.
Thank you for your generosity. We need you so we can continue to sail strong together on this journey.
Mahalo for your faithfulness and generosity!
Pastor Dan Chun
P.S. I hope you and your small group will do the study with us. If you’re not in a small group yet, we still have room for you in the new small groups we’re forming specifically for the Fresh Wind study. God had such an important word for us last time. You won’t want to miss it. CLICK HERE TO FIND A GROUP >>
OCTOBER 15, 2020 UPDATE
Dear First Prez ‘Ohana,
In the fall of 2019, God told us to raise our sails in faith as we pulled up our anchor and launched out on a generosity journey. At that time, incredibly and prophetically, God gave our church this word – His sailing orders from Joshua 1:9 —
"This is My command – be strong and courageous!
Do not be afraid or discouraged.
For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
He knew that we desperately needed that hope and encouragement! Who would have guessed how much we would cling to that word from the Lord?
In 2020, we were buffeted by strong opposing winds – coronavirus, economic shutdown, stay-at-home policies, national racial tension, wildfires, a hurricane scare, all in addition to our own personal struggles.
But now our Lord sends us Fresh Wind and a new encouraging word for the good ship First Prez.
As we come upon the midpoint of this two-year generosity journey, God, as before, promises to be with us in our struggles and offers us so much more – a Fresh Wind of courage and strength and vision for the voyage ahead.
In addition, He surprised and blessed us with the expansion of our land in that we today have full use of all of the 246 acres of our property now that the golf course and restaurant have left. We never wanted to run a golf course. Now we have the freedom to dream and pray about this next chapter of this land.
As we try to imagineer the new use of this expansion (with the State of Hawaii’s approval), we see even more clearly why God asked us to raise our sails and launch out last year for a greater vision He had in mind.
It was right on target that God led us in our Raise the Sails generosity journey last November. And we see that in several ways.
What God has done through us:
You all, in the Raise the Sails generosity journey, gave us a boost to have the funds to begin to do what we said we would do in terms of building repair:
The $1 million multi-ceptor project has been completed, giving us a better grease/sewer and plumbing system.
One air conditioner chiller will be replaced in a few months with the other chiller being delayed ($500,000).
The Vine campus remodel and finishing with all of the furniture and audiovisual / cafe equipment is completed ($750,000).
The repair of the roof should be finished next year ($1 million).
As for generosity of service, in one year, we have:
Distributed food and supplies to thousands of families in need.
Offered online all four of our worship services (attendance up 80%, receiving 200 commitments to Christ).
Created online programs for all of our ministries that reach thousands.
What God gave us:
We re-acquired all of our property's 246 acres now that the Ko‘olau Golf Club and Honey’s restaurant are closed. To dream and envision what God wants to do with our Garden of Eden means thousands more will have their souls restored in the new development of land use.
What we might do for God:
It’s becoming even more clear as to why God had us buy the property in 2006, that someday we would have all of the land to use for His glory. As God once said, in Jeremiah 29:11-12
"For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon Me and come and pray to Me, I will hear you."
First Prez, we have a great future with hope!
Hence, it will be a land where we will call upon Him and pray to Him, and He will hear our prayers as next year we will still be fighting the coronavirus. And God is giving us Fresh Wind of courage and His vision.
Working with the State of Hawaii to develop our plans, we can possibly use the land to:
Join the State in its sustainability goals to provide more food for Hawaii
Educate our people and the community in farming
Offer a food-to-table experience
Have our own Farmer’s Market on a Sunday
Help box food for delivery for those in need
See horses and sheep eating our grass as our "lawnmowers"
Have camping for family and friends
Inspire young people to receive vocational training and get a college degree, possibly from a university with whom we have been in conversation.
Offer to schools to use our place for excursions to learn about God’s nature.
Maybe our campus would not only be known for the gospel and justice but as a think tank and a gathering place for environmental concerns.
Maybe we have Richard Attenborough narrate a documentary on us called "Planet Earth Ko‘olau" (just kidding).
Maybe it’s a time to "Go Green for God" as the Lord is the primary reason for creation care.
Maybe it’s a new form of evangelism to work the land with people who don’t normally come to church.
In addition, we do have plans to open our new internship program and intensive leadership for emerging leaders ministry by next fall.
Long ago, this golf course was built for a unique set of people. Now we can broaden its use to the larger community. We really need to prepare our hearts to call upon the Lord to ask what He wants us to do with the land. We need to call upon the Lord to ask how we must prepare our hearts to serve the community in a new and greater way. We need to call upon the Lord, knowing that as He expands our circle of influence, there comes great responsibility and creativity in stewardship.
There is no other church in the entire world that I know that has so much land. The Vatican has 100 acres. We have more than double that. The potential for the impact of the Gospel is great. It’s an immense, heavy responsibility that God has chosen us to implement His vision and design.
It is imperative for us to study the Bible together, to seek His face, to immerse ourselves in prayer.
Hence, just like last year’s study, the elders, staff, and I are calling the entire church to join a small group beginning the first week of November as we will TOGETHER go through a study to unify us and see what our generous God has in store for us as He expands our territory and vision. May we all be on the same wavelength, the same tribal beat.
If you are not already in a small group, please join one just for the four weeks and make new friends. May we study together as one entire church on the same curriculum with 100% involvement.
You can go to this link to find a group or email steve@fpchawaii.org.
The Lord has special plans for our church.
He has given us a hope and a future.
He has given us a Fresh Wind to love Him, love people, and serve the world in Jesus’ name.
May we all finish strong in this last year of our Raise the Sails generosity journey for His glory.
For He now gives us Fresh Wind!
Warmly in Christ,
Pastor Dan Chun
JULY 2020 UPDATE
Dear First Prez ‘Ohana,
Kudos to you for your resilience to the times and your commitment to believe and trust in the Lord. It’s no small thing to stay the course when faced with unheard-of challenges brought about by the pandemic.
Based on the feedback we’ve gotten from many of you, the First Prez church family continues to reach out and stay connected in all sorts of ways. You have also kept up with your financial commitments, which has made it greatly possible for us to move our ministries online and be able to reach and serve more people than before. Nearly 200 people have made commitments to Christ during our online worship services.
Your gifts have also funded much-needed improvements for our church campus (details inside).
Thank you for your encouragement during this difficult time of transition. You have been very supportive not only financially but also through your messages of affirmation and appreciation to the church staff. Thank you so much!
Warmly in Christ,
Dan Chun | Senior Pastor
P.S. If you have a recent story of how God proved Himself to be faithful and generous in your life through RAISE THE SAILS, please let me know. Drop me a note or email me at aloha@fpchawaii.org. It would really encourage others.
COMING UP —> The Buildings and Grounds Team has prioritized two projects by their impact on campus operations and are working with the Finance Team: ROOF and AIR CONDITIONING. More to come on these projects in our next quarterly newsletter.
APRIL 2020 UPDATE
Dear First Prez friends & Family,
It’s an unprecedented time. We all have been hit so hard in so many ways due to COVID-19. But God is so good to us, and we continue to pray for you. We pray that the Lord will push back the disease. It’s a time to draw closer to Him.
In this Holy Week approaching Easter, when we can’t meet in person we are grateful for your support in so many ways – emails, phone calls, texts, financial giving. We are all trying to encourage, comfort, and strengthen one another in a myriad of ongoing digital church ministries.
God has been generous to us in His grace and mercy. Fortunately we studied His generosity last year, and we have completed the first quarter of our RAISE THE SAILS Generosity Journey, and so far it’s been great!
The enclosed are some of the stories and results of our journey since last December.
If you made a commitment to RAISE THE SAILS, a record of your giving since Dec 1st is enclosed in this newsletter. If you haven’t made a commitment, you’re getting only this newsletter.
It is my prayer that you’ve already experienced that RAISE THE SAILS is not just about money; it’s also about total faith and trust in our generous God, who stands with us. We are thankful for His love especially at this time when there is so much heartache in Hawaii and and the world.
Blessed to serve the Lord with you as we all fight the good fight!
Warmly in Christ,
Dan Chun | Senior Pastor
P.S. If you have a recent story of how God proved Himself to be faithful and generous in your life through RAISE THE SAILS, please let me know. Drop me a note or email me at aloha@fpchawaii.org. It would really encourage others.