News
We hope you have enjoyed a joyful Christmas and Happy New Year season. You have all made this a banner holiday season at OSC. Here are just a few highlights: Our pantry ministry hosted Thanksgiving for 25 food-insecure seniors; We also provided Christmas gifts for every child under 18 in the pantry program; OSC members sang Christmas carols at a local memory care; Over 185 people turned out for one of our biggest Christmas Eve services ever…
This week we are kicking off our annual year-end fund drive. This is just one of two times every year when we focus on fundraising. Last year you raised $40,151.00 for urgent building repairs to fix our leaking roof and broken front window. Thank you to all who helped make last year’s year-end fund drive a success!
To kick-off Advent, join us on Sunday, December 3rd at 10am for a unique Sunday Gathering entitled, Advent’s Light: Celebrating Song, Story, and Community. All ages will enjoy singing, interactive storytelling, and community. Stick around after the service to sip hot cocoa, eat cookies, and a chance to make your own Advent wreath. We encourage individuals and families of all kinds to come together and embrace the spirit of the Advent season!
Whenever the Santa Ana's begin to blow, I find myself thinking about the winds of change and the movement of life. I can't believe we are already at the beginning of November and moving into our holiday season with Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas upon us. We hope you are enjoying our new series on Rejecting Burnout Culture and finding space to rest in this upcoming busy season. As we move into Thanksgiving and Advent, we look forward to…
After roughly a month of Border Protection dropping off legal asylum seekers at the Oceanside Transit Center and a Herculean effort by non-profits, everyday Oceanside residents, and churches to provide basic care, there is a new solution. As of today, because the County Supervisors approved $3 million dollars for relief, they will be consolidating all asylum seekers to one location in downtown San Diego, where more shelters and services are nearby.
Today we have an opportunity to push for the County to direct funds toward these efforts. Tomorrow Tuesday Oct 10th, 9am The County Board of Supervisors will decide whether to allocate $3 million for humanitarian emergency supportive services for asylum seeking migrants (funding source: general purpose revenue).
We want to update you on OSC’s involvement in the ongoing migrant crisis unfolding across San Diego County and how you can help with this urgent situation. Estimates are that over 7,000 asylum seekers have been dropped by Border Patrol at transit centers around the County over the past two weeks. On average, about 100 migrants are being dropped at the Oceanside Transit Center every day. This is likely to continue for several more weeks, if not months.
Recently the OSC Board of Elders met and unanimously agreed to extend our current Mission Commitment through December 2025. For those who may not know, the Mission Commitment is our guiding set of values and priorities at OSC. You can click here to see our current version. It is created by a strategic planning process involving the whole congregation, staff, and Board as well as key community partners
After two months of searching, we are thrilled to announce the hiring of our new Youth & Children’s Minister, Rev. Claire Watson. Overall we received a dozen applicants for this position, including several high quality candidates. After conducting initial interviews with the most qualified applicants, Claire was the clear standout, both in terms of qualifications and fit with OSC’s values and culture. She then met with a panel…
We write today with news about an important staff change at OSC. As many of you know, over the past year our Associate Pastor Alex Kip has reconnected with his artistic passion to pursue a career in film and, during that time, his acting opportunities have grown significantly. Accordingly, this past spring, we worked with Alex to change his role to an Outreach Minister, decreasing his hours and responsibilities to afford him more time and flexibility to pursue his acting career.
