In Community:

Spring 2025 Newsletter

Capture the King

by Pastor Mike Kurtz

I was at a friend’s house the other day, and in their living room is a chess board on the coffee table. As I watched two people playing, the thought occurred to me: What is the goal of chess? Is it not to capture the opponent’s king? You sacrifice pieces along the way; some pieces that are very powerful. Some pieces have unique power. Even the queen at times is sacrificed which is the most powerful piece on the board.

I find that analogy between chess and our life in Christ very similar. Our goal is to capture the King. Not in a victorious, defeat-the-enemy kind of way, but in a way that the apostle Paul describes as wanting to know Christ deeply – to discard everything that gets in the way, to sacrifice the riches of this world (i.e. to even consider them rubbish) in order to seriously know Christ. That’s the idea behind “capturing Christ”. The board has many pieces on it, but we must remember that we have one goal: to capture the King.

What are you doing to “capture the King”, to take a hold of Him and to be captivated by Him?

We often think of getting into the Word of God and getting to know the God of the Scriptures, the God of Creation, the Lord of our lives. And that, of course, is foundational in our pursuit of God. And there are other ways to take hold of God. We see God in our church family as we reflect Christ in our service to one another. We experience God as we experience His love within our community. We witness God as He works through people, transforming people, and drawing people to Himself. In a word, the pursuit of God is the journey of DISCIPLESHIP.

Last month I shared three stages of discipleship within the church: 1) Belonging; 2) Becoming; and 3) Bringing. As a reminder, these mean:

• Belonging: the ways we gather that give people a place to belong and fall in love with Jesus.
• Becoming: the ways we help people become who God created them to be through teaching, serving, and encouragement.
• Bringing: the ways we bring the gospel to the world, sharing Christ’s love, and making more disciples.

As a church, our desire is to help our church family “capture the King” through these discipleship steps. The path begins with finding a place to belong – spiritual friends, small groups, prayer gatherings. We need each other on this journey; we teach other on this journey; and we are loved on this journey toward Christ.

But growing closer to God is not just a feeling. It happens as we are transformed. And it takes place in the context of a church community as we serve alongside and for others. Bible studies, serving in ministries, learning how to relate to people in a Christlike way, throwing off the things that entangle us – these are ways we become more like the person God wants us to become.
And then we bring the gospel to the people in our lives that don’t know Jesus and helping them to become disciples of Jesus.

In all of these efforts, God reveals Himself in a way that enables us to appreciate Him more, to trust Him more, and to love Him more. And in this way we “capture the King”… or perhaps it’s the other way around: He captures us. He captivates us.

Do you have a place of belonging at FBC? Are you becoming more like the person God created you to become? Who are those around you that you could bring the gospel to? We are all on a journey. Let’s help each other run to the King.

Easter 2025

Easter Breakfast

by Marty Dong

The Faith Bible Church Community enjoyed a wonderful Holy Season with special services, celebrating Baptisms, and engaging in Lenten practices, such as fasting. FBC groups also enjoyed celebratory meals such as Seder dinners and the traditional Easter Breakfast. Because of the joyous occasion of several baptisms and the welcoming nature of our community, many new visitors attended the Easter Breakfast. Generally, FBC Easter Breakfasts are planned for about 120 people. This year, over 200 people were served as evidenced by many people needing to stand in the Fellowship Hall as they ate and other rooms in the church being used. Thankfully, there was enough food and the Easter Breakfast team exercised wonderful hospitality and resourcefulness. Many thanks to the great Easter Breakfast Team which included the Machida, Kumasaka, Mayeda and Dong families, Josh Huang, Tony Encarnacion, and Joshua R.

Baptism – Natalie Yeager

September 1st, 2024 was the day I knew I wanted to be baptized. All my life I knew I wanted to be baptized. Growing up in a Christian family I knew that I would be a Christian and I would be baptized and I believe that I have been a Christian for my whole life. I was just waiting for the moment when I knew I wanted to be baptized and felt ready and thought it was the right time. And that was then.

From the beginning, even before I was born, I was actually coming to FBC. I was in my mom’s stomach. And throughout my whole life, I have been coming to this church. I have been even going to private Christian schools for my whole life and this is where I started struggling. I think one of my biggest challenges in my life is school. When I started going to school as a kindergartener, I remember I struggled at school and always thought I was not good at reading. I remember one time when a lady came to our school and took each student out of the classroom, one at a time, and she had us read three letter words aloud to her. And I remember a word I needed to say and that word was “the” but I kept saying “duh.” I was 100% confident that I was pronouncing the word correctly and she was wrong.

Another incident that I knew I was not good at school was in third grade.I remember we had weekly spelling tests and I always did awful at them. My mom and I worked on it very hard, but still I didn’t do well. Next in fourth grade, I knew I really didn’t like reading. We were in a group of three people and we were supposed to read something aloud to our group and this one girl was forcing me to read everything, because she knew I hated reading and I was not good at it. I am not sure what happened next, but when the bell rang for lunch time, I started crying.

Listening to this, you might be surprised that I really, really did not like to read because if you see me alone, I am most likely reading somewhere. Even now, I don’t like to read out aloud but I still do it and try my hardest. I believe God helped me through it and found me a book that I actually loved to read. I actually finished that book on Easter Day, 2023 and that’s when I knew I would be reading for the rest of my life. I think success is the best form of revenge, so I am so proud of what I am doing and if that girl from fourth grade sees me, she would be surprised. This all comes back to God and how He helped me fall in love with the thing I disliked the most.

In 3rd grade, I was going to this Japanese school once a week for about an hour and the Japanese teacher noticed that I was struggling with reading. She let my parents know that I should go to a vision therapy specialist. Through that I found out I have a diagnosis of Convergence Insufficiency. With this diagnosis, it causes me to have a struggle with reading, writing and comprehension. The reason why I am not good at reading and comprehension is because I am so focused on reading the correct words, I can not comprehend what all the words mean together since my reading is so choppy.

I still struggle with school, but I know God is with me and He is helping me get through school. One thing I struggle most with right now is that I am not in the grade that I am supposed to be in. In 8th grade when we were looking for a high school to go to, my parents wanted me to go to a private Christian school so I ended up going to a classical Christian school. It was very academically challenging mixed in with me having my diagnosis, that caused me to go back a year. That was what the school recommended. When I went to that school that year in 8th grade, it was going great. I made a friend and the school work was manageable. After that year, my friend left to go to a different high school and I stayed at the same school. Then when I went to 9th grade, everything got so much harder. The school work itself got harder and my favorite teacher left and my friend left. With everyone leaving to go to different high schools, my class became super small (it was three girls including me). The other two girls were really good friends so I felt alone. After three months, it was not manageable to stay with the two girls completely ignoring me and the school work was just crazy. So I left the school after three months of that year. After that, I started to attend an online Christian school and it was going great.

I planned to do online school for the rest of high school, but the plan changed. My dad is a mailman and was delivering to this one family’s house and the mother was wearing the T-shirt of the school that I am going to. They talked about the school and encouraged us to join the school. My parents and I thought sure, in person school would be better. I ended up getting boba with the girl and her friends. And after the summer I joined the school. My grades at this school have gotten so much better and I know that is God helping me through everything. As before, friends have been hard to make at my school, but for a couple of months I have been making friends with people that are not in my grade. And I know in general God will help me make new friends and have better and deeper relationships with the friends I have now. Right now, I don’t know what I’m going to do with my school situation, if I’m going to still go to my school or something else, because I am still struggling with the friends thing still. I want to get a job and right now with the school I can’t really work and do school.

I don’t know the exact moment that I knew that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and that He died for my sins so that I will be forgiven. I didn’t have an epiphany moment for when I knew that, but I knew that I want to share to the world that I know that Jesus is the Lord. For a long time, I have been wanting to get baptized. I think that I wanted to do it in middle school, I don’t remember exactly, but because of COVID and everything, I didn’t. After church and everything was back to normal, I said to myself that I would get baptized when I knew the moment was right. And that was last year.

Last year, September 1st, 2024 was when Andrew Wills was baptized and when he was sharing his testimony, I had an epiphany moment. I knew I wanted to be baptized. I was just trying to hold in my tears for the rest of the testimony, service, and photos with Andrew and our friends. And everything was done, I went to my mom and shared that I wanted to be baptized and later shared with my dad and told them everything. I shared that I wanted to be baptized on Easter 2025 and here we are. I just want to thank the Lord for everything He has done for me and helping me through all of the struggles and helping me to get stronger and have a deeper faith. And for dying for me so I can be free from my sins and I can be with Him forever.

Thank you.

Baptism – Trevor Ishimitsu

Hello! My name is Trevor Ishimitsu.

I grew up in the church. I have attended FBC for my entire life. For those of you who knew me when I was about 5, you could probably recall a small, sweaty ball of energy running around the church having the time of his life. It’s safe to say that I viewed church more as playtime than as a place of worship. However, growing up with Sunday school every week I knew my Bible. Whether it be stories like David and Goliath or key Bible verses like Ephesians 2:8, I knew it. Did I understand the verses at a deep level? Probably not, but I memorized them regardless.

At the age of 3, I was asked if I wanted to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I said yes. The only thing being, how strong is a 3-year-olds faith? Not very strong. Despite my blind faith, I walked with Jesus for most of my life growing up.

I attended Awana from ages 3-10. From ages 3-5, I sang songs about Jesus and recited verses like John 3:16. The teacher for the kids was not the nicest person to put it lightly, but she did know her Bible. This serves as a reminder for me that God can use anyone to accomplish his mission. From ages 5-7, Awana focused more on games and chapel time. I was not a big fan of the games, and you could often find me cowering in the corner trying not to get hit by a dodgeball. When it came to chapel time, I was invested. Samson, Jonah, and the story of Jericho were some of my favorites. For the final years of Awana, I became a bit more comfortable with the games but was more devoted to reciting my memory verses to my leader. When chapel time came, the speaker was incredibly good with kids, as she found ways to give a message while dealing with my short 5-minute attention span.

From middle school until now, I never attended anything like Awana outside of attending FBC every Sunday. During this time, my faith with Jesus didn’t weaken per se, but Jesus definitely became more distant in my life. I only used my Bible during Sunday school and never really opened it outside of that. I might’ve said the occasional prayer, but Jesus was not the first thing I turned to when things got difficult. You could say I was a lukewarm Christian. This type of faith is what I had for my years through middle school and freshman year of high school until last September.

I got to a point in my life where I felt I could no longer tackle my problems alone. It was roughly midnight, and I recall just starting to cry. I felt hopeless. The only thing I could do in this situation was to go to the Lord. I opened my Bible for the first time in years without being in a Church setting. I remember reading out of Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” I remember praying, “God, help” Immediately after speaking these words, I felt God’s love overflow inside me as I changed from crying tears of sadness, to tears of joy. I truly felt comfort from the Lord as I trusted that He would take care of my problems. Since then, I have had a passion to build a stronger relationship with God. Every time I open my Bible at home, I can feel God’s presence and his faithfulness.

I connect with a quote from C.S Lewis that says, “God whispers to us through our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.” God got my attention through putting me in a pretty rough time in my life. When God got my attention again, I developed a close relationship with him that I never had before. A relationship as my closest friend. And I want to follow Him for the rest of my life.

Baptism – Matthew Machida

Hi everyone,

If you don’t know me, I’m Matthew Machida. I’m 21 right now in college, and I want to share a little on why I want to be baptized today. I grew up here in FBC all my life. I have fond memories in church, playing hide and seek around the building, sliding down handrails, Veggietales, etc.. But even though I was here every Sunday of every week, that was all church was to me. It was a place that my parents brought me to because that’s what the Machida family does. The 40-minute drive from home to church just became part of my life. But hey, at least I get my free goldfish and apple juice…

Needless to say, my relationship with God was also just… there. I never gave it much thought at all, because I was already “Christian.” But as I grew up and entered college, my relationship with Christ started to feel more real. I met a lot of people in my first couple of weeks at UW, and I ended up sticking around AACF, a Christian fellowship on campus associated with JEMS. The friends I met there took their faith very seriously. It was really surprising! Seeing how intentional their actions were in owning their faith encouraged me to take ownership of my own. And as I thought about it more, I realized my faith was very surface level. Like do I “live” like my life has been completely transformed by Jesus?

I started taking steps of faith to see how God could work in my life. I thought that I could grow closer to God by putting myself out there, serving Him in ways I’ve never done before. I went on my first ever short-term mission trip to Sacred Road in Yakima, I co-led a small group for AACF, I began taking prayer more seriously, having faith that God would truly work in my life. I felt my faith grow stronger and stronger, week after week, month after month. And it was good… But I still felt the same. Do I “feel” like my life has been completely transformed by Jesus?

I’m on AACF’s core leadership team, and a few months back, AACF had its first event of this school year. It was the first event we had where I was on core, and 115 people showed up… I also was sick… back cough, fever and everything. Imagine being that sick and then having to speak in front of 115 people. How on earth was I supposed to do it? That was my situation. But even though it seemed terrible, I could feel God working through me. He gave me strength to speak, to share, to connect and to love. Not only that, but God strengthened more than I had ever felt before! It was almost as like I wasn’t even sick at all…

After that first event, I realized… it’s not all me. My relationship with Jesus is not based on my efforts or what I do, but it’s based on faith! As a matter of fact, my efforts are nowhere close to enough! How can I do God’s work without God? Here I was trying to do all I could to try find Him, mission trips, small groups, leadership… but without that leap of faith, nothing would have changed. I realized that I don’t need to put in my best efforts to find Him. No, I need to have faith that He is already there. Because His grace is sufficient for me, so I can do all things through Him, who strengthens me! Once I understood this, I felt God’s love for the first time. I don’t have to have it all together! No matter how well I do or how much I mess up, God loves me through it all and is there, walking by me every step of the way.

It is because of His never-ending love that I want to be baptized today. Because I “know” that my life has been completely transformed by Jesus. That’s why! There’s a verse in Matthew where Jesus says: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” So if anything, I encourage all of you to take steps of faith. If you knock and truly believe that He is there, He will answer, as He did for me!

Praise to God for all He has done for us!

Selah

by Josh Kwok

Selah began as a way to introduce quiet, reflective worship into the cadence of my routine and developed into a vision of inviting others within — or even outside of — the FBC church body to enter into this reflective space as well to meet with God.

One year since the first session, that vision and purpose has not changed.

Through it, I have heard how this short hour of Scripture, music, and reflection on a Friday evening can be used by God to move hearts and build His community. A common response I hear from our brothers and sisters who have been to Selah is this: “I really needed it”. Regardless of life stage, vocation, or circumstance, life always seems to keep our minds occupied with the anxiety and stress of it all — it becomes easy to forget the big picture relating to eternal life with Christ when we fret over our temporary earthly situation. I am as guilty of this as anyone. Jesus’ words to His disciples in the book of John echoes the sentiment of Selah perfectly: “…the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach out all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:26-27, NASB). God really has used Selah to use His Spirit to minister to the broken and burdened who walk through the sanctuary doors, meeting many where they are.

Selah has also become an unintended way for church members to serve. Some of our own CYC (College & Young Careers) brothers and sisters have helped with the musical side of things. They have been fantastic (and thank you if that is you)! And a shoutout to Nathan Crawford for always being a reliable audio engineer!

Selah currently happens on the first Friday of every month, from 7-8pm. It is open to all, including friends and family outside of FBC; and believers or non-believers.

SoulFood Ministry

by Pastor Kohei Takeda

This year, we are amazed to see God’s special grace and blessings upon the SoulFood ministry. We witnessed two special blessings in the beginning of 2025. 

First, God gave us a fresh vision. Practically, God gave us an idea to invite small groups and house churches to serve with SoulFood, as opposed to recruiting volunteers individually. This would not just add structure to the ministry, but more importantly, create an opportunity to deepen small group communities across the church by serving together – which is a significant part of discipleship. Also, God gave us a creative idea to cultivate unity within the church through SoulFood, intergenerationally and interculturally. Namely, by pairing up with two small groups on a Sunday from different generations or cultures (younger and senior generations, or American and Japanese cultures), we thought that it would give us a chance to connect with more people and better.  

That said, the ministry core never knew these ideas would actually work. But, we confirmed God’s guidance by seeing many small group leaders getting excited to hear about the vision and showing interest in serving together, especially from house churches and CYC small groups. So, we decided to take a step of faith and invite small groups to serve with SoulFood. 

The second special blessing was that God brought many small groups to serve together. At the ministry kick-off meeting held on February 16, we confirmed that 17 small groups plus a few individuals signed up to serve in the SoulFood 2025-26, which is to prepare 150 meals on Sundays. It was like a foretaste of heaven to see diverse yet united volunteers serving in God’s Kingdom – from teenagers to seniors in their 80s, both Americans and Japanese. This counted more than 120 volunteers in total from the church. We are grateful that so many and diverse small groups showed excitement about serving together as a body of Christ. One young couple who serve as small group leads shared that they are excited because SoulFood made their first connections with FBC when they visited the church a few years ago. Now, they have great hope that by showing hospitality, God would bring more people to the church to connect, like they experienced themselves. 

Being led by God, this ministry started in the Fall of 2022 with those who shared a heart to rebuild the church community after the pandemic. They are those who actually stepped up to serve God’s people with love and faith in the midst of hardship and uncertainty. In response to such faithful followers of Jesus, God continues to bless both the volunteers and the church community in 2025, by deepening and advancing the ministry. Aligned with the vision of discipleship, we cannot wait to see how God makes new connections both with our neighbors and within the church, as we serve and show hospitality in unity in diversity. May glory be to God!

SoulFood 2022

CYC (College & Young Career)

by Jennifer Tsuji

Hello FBC fam! 

The first part of 2025 has absolutely flown by! Here’s a brief snapshot at what CYC has been up to the past few months:

SUNDAY SCHOOL 

We’ve continued our series on The Exile and are actually starting to transition to some post-exilic content. It has been a blessing and good opportunity to study the Old Testament together, as sometimes those books and timelines can get a little bit confusing. The teachers (s/o Tony, Steven, Danny & Ryan) have been doing a great job bringing forth thought-provoking yet easy to understand lessons that keep reminding us that God is always working and with us, even through the hard times. 

MONTHLY FELLOWSHIPS 

January – The CYC women hosted a Women’s Brunch for all women at FBC! It had been so long since an event like this had happened and it was a really blessed time for everyone involved. The multi-generational fellowship was very special and even though we were initially worried that us CYC girls wouldn’t have enough food prepared for everyone, God provided 🙂 It was a wonderful spread and there was also a very fun flower craft and good get-to-know-you games. Looking forward to hopefully making this a more regular thing! The CYC guys had a board game and pizza night, which I heard was a good time of bonding (as well as some competitive gaming).  Apologies that I do not have much more to say on this event, as I was not actually in attendance 🙂 

February  – We brought back Hot Ones – a CYC fan favorite! It was yet another fun time of eating spicy chicken wings and answering spicy questions together. The less spicy the chicken, the more spicy the questions you had to answer (and vice versa) so it was a very entertaining time regardless. Lots of milk and ice cream was also consumed. The table groups all bonded a lot and even planned post-event hangouts together! 

March – We hosted our first ever FBC Cafe! The idea (brought forth by Katie Li from an experience she had in college) was to open up a space at church for college students to study for Finals Weeks, and to provide them with some hand-crafted beverages and snacks. We ended up opening up the invite to the entire CYC group, and it was a wonderful time. We were super blessed by Erik Lee & Josh Kwok playing barista all day and making some amazing, cafe-quality drinks, and had a great college student turnout – some even invited their friends! Not sure how much studying actually occurred (lol) but it’s always fun and more motivating to work alongside people. Hopefully we can also make this a more frequent thing in the future!

April – The CYC prayer team hosted a joint WOK/CYC Praise & Prayer night. The worship team led us in some songs and then Josh Huang and Michael Pu led us through prayer exercises – there was a personal prayer time, partner prayer time, and group prayer time. The theme was around Loving Your Neighbor and really challenged us to pray about who God is calling us to love and how we can be better neighbors to those around us (inspired by the story of the Good Samaritan). It was a really good opportunity for WOK and CYC to inter-mingle and get to know each other better, as well! 

We continue to be blessed at all that God is doing through this ministry and would request prayer for His continued guidance and vision for the future as we begin to wrap up yet another (school) year! Thanks to the rest of the church for your support and prayer and please don’t be shy – we’d love to meet you and get to know you better, as well!  

WOK (WASABI & ROCK Ministries)

by Katie Li

Hi FBC family! It doesn’t seem like long ago when you were reading about the Ohana Retreat, and now I am excited to share a WOK update from these past few months. In February, we had our annual WOK Retreat at Lazy F (Ellensburg). We welcomed Jeremy Macdonald from Evangelical Chinese Church of Seattle to speak on the topic of God’s sovereignty with the primary question we posed to the kids and ourselves, “Why should we trust God?”

Minister Jeremy addressed this simple but important question in three messages: God’s sovereignty, the brokenness of the world we live in, why we can trust God. His first message defined God’s sovereignty and how He reigns over all of us the King of Kings, yet doesn’t control our every action. In his second message he acknowledged the brokenness and challenges of the world and reminded us that even in hardship God is working altogether for our good and His Kingdom. To close, his final message emphasized that we can still approach God in hardship and sorrow because He sees us, knows us, and is near to us. Because God is King of Kings we can trust that He has a plan, even in a broken world, and that His plan brings peace. We can bring our lament to Him, knowing He is working all things for our good.

It wouldn’t be a retreat (especially a WOK retreat) without a touch of silliness and most importantly, fellowship. We went ice skating and tubing and built many snowmen. We played lots of board games, and I learned that for some, the chess pieces aren’t even needed because they can play in their head! One of my favorite memories was unexpected as we couldn’t use the outdoor fire pit due to rain and almost called off roasted hot dogs and s’mores. Thankfully, we were able to access the kitchen to cook the hot dogs in a pan, and Kelsey asked the kids who wanted a hot dog. Only a few kids wanted hot dogs, so we cooked a couple and weren’t sure what we were going to do with the several packs of hot dogs Will bought! Of course the minute freshly seared and sizzled hot dogs started leaving the kitchen everyone wanted dogs and we ended up cooking all of them!

For our Spring activity, we headed to Factoria to watch a new movie called The King of Kings. It was an animated movie of Jesus’ life but told from the point of view of Charles Dickens narrating to his son. Our timing for the event worked out as some of the kids were right at the end or start of their Spring break, so we had the chance to meet some new faces who joined us for the event!

Last but certainly not least, we were blessed to witness the baptisms of Natalie Yeager and Trevor Ishimitsu on Easter. It was encouraging to hear how God has guided their lives and we look forward to their faith continuing to grow by God’s grace.

It’s hard to believe we’re almost at the end of the school year. As we’ve been teaching the book of Acts, we’ve learned especially about the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. Though the Apostles faced countless challenges as they spread the Gospel, they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue so that others could know God. When I see our WOK kids on Sunday, I am always excited to hear how their week has been, even through the routine of school, homework, sleep, I trust that God is working in each of them through His never-ending, transforming grace.

To our FBC family, thank you always for praying over the WOK ministry. We hope this update encourages and reminds you of how deeply God has and continues to care for each of us.

Katie, on behalf of the WOK team

CSL Volleyball – Full Blown Chaos

by Jennifer Tsuji

This year’s FBC CSL (Christian Sports League) B+ team once again lived up to our name: Full Blown Chaos 🙂 It is a fun type of chaos, though, as it’s always enjoyable to engage in friendly competition and be able to play volleyball at a high level against other churches. Our team really doesn’t play together outside of the CSL season (hence resulting in some chaos) but this year, we were able to at least have a couple of practices beforehand – thanks to Marty reserving some gym space for us and the B team! That was definitely a helpful time for us to be able to practice & bond before the season even started, as we had a couple of newcomers who hadn’t played with our team before. Most of our team attends FBC regularly, so it’s always a blessing to be able to continue to grow in community together, but we also have a few non-Christians on our team who don’t currently attend church. It’s been a great ministry opportunity to continue to get to know them and hopefully be lights to them, as we try to exemplify Christ’s love. Folks have very busy schedules but it was nice to have a team dinner together once after one of the games! Overall, our season went pretty well and we ended up being in the top 4 (out of 8) teams in B+, so we made playoffs! Our first playoff game was against the #1 seed and we battled very hard but ultimately came up short in some very close games. Next up is our 3rd place match in early May! No matter the outcome, it’s been a very blessed and fun CSL season. We are so grateful to all of our wonderful FBC fans who come cheer us on every week (someone from another team once mentioned to me that we have some of the best fan support!) and we are thankful for the ability to play sports and fellowship together.

CSL Volleyball – Faithful Bumpers of Christ

by Chris Moroney

This season has been a journey for our Christian volleyball team—one filled with exciting wins, tough losses, and, most importantly, growth in both skill and spirit. While the score hasn’t always reflected the outcome we hoped for, it’s been a season full of growth, perseverance, and deepening relationships.

We’ve experienced our share of highs and lows on the court. Some games have showcased our strengths, including strong serves, coordinated passes, strong hits, and moments of teamwork that left us all cheering. Other matches have challenged us, pushing us to grow in patience, communication, and resilience. Through it all, we’re learning to trust each other more and support one another through the mistakes and the victories.

What’s been most encouraging, though, is how God is using this team to bring us closer—not just as athletes, but as brothers and sisters in Christ. Each week, we’re not just building our volleyball skills—we’re building a foundation of unity, encouragement, and Christ-centered friendship.

As the season continues, we’re excited to see how God will keep shaping us—not only to play better, but to love deeper, serve humbler, and shine brighter for Him. Win or lose, we’re in this together—and that’s something worth celebrating.

(team photo absentees: Joshua Kwok, Nancy Ko, Patricia Tse, Yan Ye Jack Li, Zida Wang)

Sacred Road Summer Mission Support Letter

by Kelsey Huang

Somehow, I’ve dodged writing anything for the Grapevine all these years at FBC—but if there’s one thing I’m willing to break my streak for, it’s Sacred Road.

This year, we’re sending a massive team of 12 people out to the Yakama Reservation! The team is composed of Byron Chien, Doreen Chin, Jessica Hung, Jodi Eldridge, Joshua Huang, Kyle Walker, Lauren Mayeda, Micah Lind, Michael Pu, Tyler Omoto, Yukimi Kuge, and myself (Kelsey Huang). Waiting for us at Sacred Road will be Amy Li and Sammy Dong, two of our very own who are serving as interns this summer!

For our trip (June 28–July 5), most of our time will be split between worksite projects and Kid’s Club. We’re gearing up for long, hot days filled with manual labor to help repair homes in the area, followed by afternoons of crafts, games, and lots of piggyback rides with the local kids. It’s going to be a sweaty, joy-filled, and stretching week, and we’re excited to see how God will work both in and through us during it.

But don’t just take my word for it — here’s what a few of our team members had to say when asked why they chose to be part of the 2025 Sacred Road team:

Byron Chien (first-timer):

“I wanted to join the Sacred Road team this year because it’s a concrete way to serve and to be able to show God’s love toward others. Beyond just an opportunity to serve others, I’m also hoping that it will be an opportunity to grow in my faith.”

Josh Huang (returner):

“I decided to join the Sacred Road Summer Ministry Team again because of how I saw God use our team last year, and I want to continue to be able to serve the Yakama Nation. Last year, we had a special opportunity to connect with the family that we were serving and were able to share a meal with their extended family on the last full day we were on the reservation. To be a part of a community of volunteers that are spreading God’s love is very humbling.”

Doreen Chin (returner):

“After going to Sacred Road 2 years ago, I was inspired to look for ways to serve within CYC; prior to the trip, I had been receiving a lot from the group. Sacred Road helped me take a big step back from my life and reevaluate my priorities. I realized that I had stepped away from serving entirely after college and hadn’t sought out any opportunities/grown complacent with growing my faith. It’s crazy to see how God has opened my eyes to so many ways to serve at FBC ever since that trip, and I’m so excited to return!”

Jodi Eldridge (first-timer)

“For many years I have always wanted to go on the Sacred Road trip. It seemed like such a good experience, a great way to help others, and grow in my relationship with God.”

Michael Pu (first-timer)

“I decided to join the Sacred Road team this year after hearing about the experiences from the participants last year. It was encouraging to hear about how God was working on the Yakama reservation and how God was able to use everyone to serve and glorify Him. I pray that God can use me for His glory.”

Would you partner with us through prayer and financial support?

• Pray for our personal preparation, unity as a team, safety, and open hearts—both ours and those we meet in Yakama.
• Give if you feel led. Our team must raise $7,200 to cover the team. Donations can be made by Venmo (@faith-bible-church-seattle), check, or cash (please note “Sacred Road” on your gift).

Thank you for supporting us—we can’t wait to share about what God does when we return!

Bill’s Book Blurb

by Bill Hamasaki

FBC Calendar (link)