LOCAL MISSIONARIES
CALLED UP
Called Up is a specific ministry to athletes on the campuses of San Jose State and Santa Clara University. Each week, more than 50 student-athletes gather for Family Dinners, a weekly time where athletes meet together for fun and spiritual growth. Called Up also has mentors who lead weekly men’s and women’s Bible studies, and engage in one-on-one counseling sessions, helping collegiate athletes through the ups and downs of life, and training and encouraging them in their journey with Jesus during these incredibly formative years.
Anchor Verse of 2023
Isaiah 52:12 “...for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”
CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION CHAPLAINCY (CIC)
Liz Milner
CIC’s primary mission is to respond to the individual spiritual needs of men, women,
boys and girls incarcerated in Santa Clara County’s jails and juvenile detention facilities and present the good news of God’s love and forgiveness. CIC offers individual and group counseling sessions, teaching and fellowship sessions, specific programs targeted to minister to women and youth, and also offers services for inmates who don’t speak English as their primary language. CIC operates in cooperation with the Santa Clara County Department of Correction, Probation Department, and other government agencies.
Anchor Verse of 2023
Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift my eyes to the mountains--where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
CITYTEAM
Hermie Smit
CityTeam works to alleviate poverty and provide hot meals, safe shelter, showers and clean clothing to San Jose’s homeless population. Ministries include a food pantry, a men’s shelter, a family service center, and a men’s recovery program. They currently run 26 Mobile Food Pantries around the South Bay Area. CityTeam also runs House of Grace, a unique program where women and children who are victims of domestic violence can rebuild their lives. Finally, there is Heritage Home, a facility that provides long-term, compassionate ministry for homeless, poor, and abandoned women who are pregnant and have nowhere else to turn.
Anchor Verse of 2023
Colossians 1:15-17 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
COMPASSION BRIDGES
Keivan Tehrani
For years, Compassion Bridges (CB) has mobilized and trained adult and student leaders from local churches and nonprofits to build relationships and mentor public school students. During COVID Compassion Bridges pivoted, teaming up with The City Peace Project to serve the working poor whose incomes and lives were deeply impacted by the pandemic. They were able to redirect their resources from school events to serving more than 2000 low income families in East San Jose with food, gift cards, prayer and spiritual encouragement. Starting in January 2022 Compassion also began working with leaders, churches and nonprofits to create a ministry and outreach to Afghan refugees arriving in the Bay Area. With thousands of Afghans being resettled here in the Bay Area and all the way up to Sacramento. Compassion bridges became one of the leading organizations helping connect Afghans to resources and also helping individuals and groups to serve these very traumatized and hurting groups of immigrants. They have helped with tens of thousands of dollars of food and gift cards, as well as helping Afghans build resumes, find jobs, purchase vehicles, help with legal documents, help getting to medical appointments, housing support and more. They have also directly funded over $25,000 to serve those suffering in Afghanistan with food, blankets and other resources. Most importantly Compassion Bridges builds Christ-like relationships with this predominantly Muslim group so that they can feel God's love and know that Christians care about them, are praying for them and are their friends.
Anchor Verse of 2023
James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES (FCA)
Rigo Lopez
FCA is a ministry of influence that’s mission is to lead coaches and athletes into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. Billy Graham once said that “A coach will impact more lives in one year than the average person does over a lifetime”. We want to use a coaches’ and athletes' influence for God’s glory instead of selfish gain. FCA goes to the largest mission fields in America to meet people on their turf + schools, ballfields, courts, and swimming pools, taking the gospel to our local communities and beyond.
Anchor Verse of 2023
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
HELP ONE CHILD
Valerie Crane
Help One Child strengthens families impacted by foster care and adoption. We do this by partnering with local churches to serve some of the most vulnerable in their community. Our support services are built on three pillars: education (for both the caregiver and the church body), community and connection (peer support is vital for both the caregivers and the youth themselves), and resources (because sometimes all that is keeping a placement from happening or from a family reunifying is a bed or a carseat.
Anchor Verse of 2023
1 John 3:18 “...let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
JONI AND FRIENDS
Juanita Alarcon
Joni and Friends exists to help everyone with a disability find hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. They energize the Church to move from lack of awareness of people impacted by disability to including everyone into the fabric of worship, fellowship, and outreach. And they strive to meet both spiritual and practical needs through exceptional outreach ministry i.e., Family Retreats, Respites, Marriage Getaways, Single Parent Getaways, Internships, etc.
Anchor Verse of 2023
Luke 14:21-23 “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame...Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.”
The CITY PEACE PROJECT (TCPP)
Danny Sanchez
The City Peace Project is a ministry that helps hurting youth on public school campuses across San Jose. Their team mentors students directly impacted by gang activity and systemic traumas and provides them with the tools to help them be successful in any environment. Through proactive peacemaking, conflict resolution, and simply being a positive presence on campus, TCPP tackles tense atmospheres and brings Jesus’ joy and peace to students who have never been given the opportunity.
Anchor Verse of 2023
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
FOSTER THE CITY
Philip Pattinson
Foster the City is a coalition of churches working together to provide a loving home for every child in the foster system. We do this by raising up Foster Families with a team of Support Friends from within our congregations. Every church in the coalition has an Advocate(s) that cares for the micro-communities of Foster Families and Support Friends and helps to build the FTC ministry in their local church.
Anchor Verse of 2023
James 1:2-3 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS INCORPORATED (ISI)
Terry Yu and Gary Claassen
In missional terms it’s called the Diaspora. People move around and as they move they bring the experiences and values they pick up. God’s used this habit for thousands of years to spread His Word and the Gospel. Students from all over the world come to the Bay Area where ISI teams and partnering churches have the goal of showing these students Christ’s love, a practical love. And the hope is they’ll see how good it is to walk life with Christ, serve others, and pass along these values to whoever they connect with in their future steps.
Anchor Verse of 2023
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
REAL OPTIONS
Valerie Hill
RealOptions mission is to advance a culture of life in the Bay Area and to value every person, born and unborn, because they are made in the image of God. RealOptions has five medical clinics in the Bay Area which provide women and men with consultations regarding their options in an unplanned pregnancy along with an ultrasound to determine if it is a viable pregnancy; also material support, prenatal care, well woman check ups, abortion pill reversal treatment, and std testing and treatment for women and men. Their goal is to also safeguard lives through Optimal Health Education for students in local schools and youth groups and parent groups, and to provide pregnancy loss healing support groups and retreats for women and men who have experienced pregnancy loss of any kind. In the past year, they have provided over 17,000 services, safeguarded the lives of over 5,500 people, served over 300 parents, and saved more than 800 babies from abortion.
Anchor Verse of 2023
2 Corinthians 5:20 “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
YOUNG LIFE SAN JOSE
Danielle Sloneker
Young Life is a Christian mission for non-Christian adolescents, to introduce them to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith. It is about Jesus and about relationships. Young Life wants every highschool student to have an authentic and healthy relationship with a safe adult who loves Jesus, so they know just how much the Creator of the Universe loves them. They do this through adventure, laughter, play, community, authentic conversations, and sharing their stories & lives.
Anchor Verse of 2023
Luke 15:31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours...was lost and is found.’”