ADF Newsletter
Hillside Community Church
Mountain Top Ministry
“The woman was suicidal,” says Guaren Long, administrative director and treasurer for Hillside (Alliance) Community Church in Wrightwood, California. “Honestly, counseling someone with such hopelessness was out of my realm, but I survived cancer 20 years ago and understood what it meant to be at a low point. I was not threatened by Mary’s* words and boldly shared my hope in Jesus.”
Approximately 700 people attend this Alliance church, a close-knit community nestled in southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains. Two neighboring towns, Phelan and Piñon Hills, create the basis for the church’s original name—Tri-Community Alliance Church, established in 1982 and pastored by Terry Morrow since 1995. Mary, a Phelan resident, is one of many people who are finding Jesus through Hillside’s inclusive outreaches.
Binding Up the Brokenhearted
Through Christmas events, sports camps, and ministries to women, children, and homeless people, Hillside is making a Kingdom impact in the tri-community. “Some of our outreaches are spontaneous,” Guaren says. “When we see a need in the community, we try to fill it. Mary was here because her daughter had been invited by a friend to a mid-week kids’ program. Instead of driving back and forth to pick up her daughter, Mary decided to wait. The other mothers participated in a Bible study, but Mary was hesitant to join them.
“‘Do I have to stay here?’ she asked me. She looked like she’d had a pretty rough life, and I saw this as an opportunity to share Christ. When I invited her to talk with me, Mary opened up about her desire to end her life. We talked for an hour. She began coming to church, accepted Jesus as her Savior, and I’m still discipling her. It’s been a long, hard road, but Mary has seen God work in her life.”
Lighting the Way
With church growth came the need for expansion, and the Alliance Development Fund (ADF) is playing a key role in Hillside’s building project. With a loan from ADF, a new sanctuary is under construction. Currently, there are two services in the church, with a “chapel/coffeehouse” that broadcasts the service into another room to about 50 people. “It’s a safe place for visitors who aren’t so sure they are ready for the whole church thing,” says Guaren. “But they get the same music and message. It’s a good spot for people to check us out; some just prefer a more casual environment.”
The building campaign also includes a soccer/baseball field that “will be open to the community,” Guaren says, “using it as an opportunity to draw more families. We also open the church to groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Alanon, and Weight Watchers, providing a place to meet free of charge.
“As Hillside Community Church grows into a multi-ministry center, it will be a shining light in the community, bringing the hope of Jesus to lost and hurting people.”
Editor’s note: Hillside Community Church’s ministries are made possible in part by the Alliance Development Fund (ADF), which has helped the church to expand its ministries, bringing the light Jesus into the tri-community area. “ADF is about helping churches,” says church treasurer, Guaran Long. “Without ADF, we wouldn’t be able to impact the lives of people like Mary.”
Would you like to invest in building the Kingdom? Invest now or learn more about ADF investment options. Contact us toll-free at 1-888-878-3060 or e-mail us at adf@adf-inc.com.
Guest Corner
with Dr. David Thompson
Bongolo Hospital Ministry
A Message from Dr. David Thompson, who is a C&MA Board of Directors member and has served as an Alliance international worker at Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, West Africa, since 1974.
About 10 years ago, we started an endowment fund for Bongolo Hospital that would provide national doctors with income. Since the beginning, the mission has contributed the salaries of missionary doctors to keep hospital services affordable for the poor. This has made it possible for the hospital to pay all the other expenses, such has medicines, maintenance, utilities, and the salaries of the 80 or so employees. Unfortunately, there is no money left over for paying national doctors’ salaries. An endowment fund would provide steady income for a specific number of doctors.
The idea, at first, was to establish an endowment of $300,000, but since then, doctors’ salaries have increased in Gabon, and many places in Africa, about 300 percent. For specialists, the salaries are higher. Currently under the PAACS program, we are training one doctor to be a general surgeon and another one to be an ophthalmologist. The hospital also will need to hire a pediatrician. To generate enough income to support these doctors, we will need an endowment of approximately $2 million. The fund has a little more than $181,000 now.
We are praying that God will move in the hearts of His people about this urgent need. We know that our time at the hospital as international workers is limited; we might be there until 2018–2020. Before that time comes, we need to recruit and train more doctors, teaching specialty procedures that will take at least three or four years before the training missionary doctor retires or relocates.
Currently, Bongolo Hospital has one national doctor and five missionary doctors; I will probably be the first to leave because of retirement. For the number of patients we see, we will need at least five or six African doctors, so that is what we are planning for with the endowment. $1 million would probably generate enough investment income to support two or three doctors indefinitely. $2 million could provide for five or six indefinitely. If the endowment is smaller, some doctors might eventually have to be supported by the government, which would put the hospital in a precarious position and leave it at the mercy of government administrators who might not be sympathetic to the preaching of the gospel.
The hospital makes no profit, but every patient hears the gospel message. Thousands of people have trusted Christ as Savior through the compassionate care of Christian doctors and staff members. A guarantee of doctors’ salaries through the endowment fund will ensure that the ministry of mercy and evangelism at Bongolo Hospital will have the financial resources to continue serving the sick at affordable prices until Jesus comes.
If you would like to partner with the ministry of Bongolo Hospital through a financial gift to the endowment fund, please contact me at aacsdirectorafrica@gmail.com.
I welcome your prayers and support.
Dr. David C. Thompson
Alliance missionary and Director for Bongolo Hospital
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