Miracles, Commitment, and the Journey of Faith

In my sermon, I shared the story of how God has worked miracles in our lives, providing for us in times of need and blessing us abundantly. I reflected on my journey of getting an education while raising three children, working, and building a house. I also spoke about the joy and blessings that our family, including our 10 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren, has brought us. I expressed gratitude for the opportunity to share our story and for the interest in the history of the church that existed before the merger.

In the second part of the sermon, I discussed the growth of our church from its early days in the late 50s and early 60s. I shared the story of our founding pastor, John Stokes, who came to know the Lord in a foxhole during the Second World War and dedicated his life to serving Him. I also talked about the challenges our church faced as our congregation aged and we struggled to reach the community and young people. I emphasized the importance of the church in our lives, not just as a place to go on Sundays, but as a life commitment. I concluded by sharing my hopes for the future of the church.

Key Takeaways:
- God works miracles in our lives and provides for us in times of need ([39:17 ])
- The church is not just a place to go on Sundays, but a life commitment ([29:29 ])
- The growth and challenges of a church reflect the life journey of its congregation ([13:37 ])
- Faith is a crucial element in starting and growing a church ([31:39 ])
- The history of a church is important and should not be taken lightly ([40:28 ])

Bible Reading:
1) No specific Bible passages were mentioned in the sermon.

Observation Questions:
1) What are some of the ways the couple mentioned serving in their church community?
2) How did the couple's involvement in the church change over time?

Interpretation Questions:
1) How did the couple's commitment to their church reflect their commitment to Christ?
2) What lessons can we learn from the couple's lifelong dedication to serving in their church?

Application Questions:
1) What is one way you can increase your involvement in our church community this week?
2) How can you use your unique skills or talents to serve in our church?
3) Can you think of a time when serving in the church deepened your relationship with God? How did it do so?
4) How can you encourage others in our church to become more involved in serving?
5) How can you adapt your service to the church as your life circumstances change, like the couple did when women in their community began working more?

Day 1: The Power of Participation

Participation in the body of Christ is not just about attending church services, but about being actively involved in the community. It's about serving, contributing, and communicating. It's about dealing with disagreements and working through them. It's about being a part of a family where everyone has a role to play. This active participation strengthens our relationship with God and deepens our commitment to Christ. [28:51 ]

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 - "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many."

Reflection: Reflect on your current level of participation in your church community. How can you become more actively involved?

Day 2: The Importance of Commitment

Commitment to Christ is not just about believing, but about living out that belief in our daily lives. It's about making our faith a part of our everyday routine, not just something we do on Sundays. It's about teaching our children the importance of commitment and setting an example for them to follow. [30:09 ]

Luke 9:23 - "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'"

Reflection: How can you make your commitment to Christ more evident in your daily life?

Day 3: The Joy of Teaching

Teaching others about the Bible and the history of the church is not just a responsibility, but a joy. It's about sharing our love for the scriptures and helping others understand and appreciate them. It's about using our knowledge and skills to serve God and His people. [30:59 ]

2 Timothy 2:15 - "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."

Reflection: What is one way you can share your knowledge of the Bible with others?

Day 4: The Challenge of Change

Change can be challenging, especially when it involves stepping out in faith and starting something new. But these challenges can also be opportunities for growth and learning. They can strengthen our faith and deepen our dependence on God. [31:39 ]

James 1:2-4 - "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. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Reflection: Reflect on a recent change or challenge in your life. How can you see it as an opportunity for growth?

Day 5: The Blessing of Community

Being part of a church community is not just about attending services, but about building relationships and serving together. It's about meeting in homes, sharing meals, and learning from each other. It's about being part of a family that supports and encourages each other. [12:24 ]

Hebrews 10:24-25 - "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Reflection: How can you contribute to building a stronger sense of community in your church?

Hey everybody, Mark here. Thanks so much for joining us for this Menlo moment. I am so excited about this one because it features the story of Margaret and Tony, who are both in their early 90s, and share their story of a lifetime of servanthood to God. This includes them being high school sweethearts, moving abroad to Japan, as well as when they moved back here, launching and literally building the church that we worship at in Saratoga.

Now, it is an inspiring story, and I know that you're going to get as much out of it as I did because there's a lot of lessons to be learned there. We're so grateful for their willingness to share. If you're listening to this as this comes out, you still have time to sign up for our Menlo 150 anniversary, which is happening on November 5th, that's Sunday, November 5th at 10:30 at Woodside High School.

So we're all gathering in one location. If you show up to a campus that day, we will not have church there; we will all be at Woodside High School, where we are celebrating our 150th year anniversary as one church, all together in one location. So please sign up at men.church/men50 if you haven't already. If you can be there physically, great! If you need to be there through the internet, also great. We'll be streaming it. Come say hi to me in the chat, so I will see you there.

And now, let's go ahead and jump into this amazing Menlo moment.

Okay, and I'm Margaret.

And I'm Tony.

And we're glad for this Menlo moment, so thanks so much for being here. Margaret, we'll start with you. Where did you grow up? What was your home life like? What was your family like?

Well, I grew up in Campbell, so local here. Actually, we both did, and I went through the schools in Campbell. My parents always went to church, though it wasn't something that was talked about a lot or was a part of. My parents read their Bible every night, but it just wasn't something shared. I mean, we went to Campbell High School together, and we're high school sweethearts.

Oh my gosh, Campbell High School?

Campbell High School.

Okay, what year did you... were you both in the same year or no?

He was a couple of years ahead of me.

Okay, and we married. It was during the Korean War at the time, and anyway, so it's been a long journey.

Wow, yeah. And then what was your home life like? Did you grow up in a...?

Well, I grew up in Campbell too. My folks built a house in Campbell, and yeah, about three or four miles from Margaret's home, actually.

Okay, so we went to a little school called Cambrian Grammar School. She went to Campbell Grammar School.

Got it.

And then we both went to Campbell High School. My folks were Catholic, being of Italian descent. I remember one time the priest came by driving in his little old car, way back in the, I don't know, must have been the 30s or 40s, and said, "I want your two sons in catechism on Saturday morning." He said that to your parents, Dad?

So we did. We went to catechism.

Okay.

But that was... I think my brother and I were confirmed in the Catholic Church, but we never went to church. Our family went on Christmas maybe or Easter, and we weren't very close to the Catholic Church. So when I met Margaret in high school, she was involved in the CE group at Westminster Press in San Jose.

Okay.

And so, for an easy date, I used to take her to CE, and we had a good time there with the young people.

Sure.

And when I was 16, I committed my life to Christ.

Wow.

With Dwight Small, a well-known Presbyterian minister, who was the pastor there for a few years.

Okay.

And so he married us when we were young. We were 19 and 20, or 18 and 19, something like that.

Okay.

Because the Korean War wanted to draft me, and I ended up joining the Air Force.

Okay.

And we went from there together.

Yeah. Do you remember when you first met?

I remember our first date.

What was the first date?

We went to a movie at the California movie theater on First Street in San Jose.

Okay.

And I think the movie was called Mary Lou, or the song...

My gosh, how would you remember that?

I just remember the song.

You remember the song?

The song Mary went with that. Anyway, it was a big song then, that's for sure.

Sure.

And then, I mean, we were very young, but 72 years later, we're still here, so it's amazing. We're very, very thankful for the Lord.

Wow, that's great. Did you go off to the Korean War? What were you doing during that time?

Oh, well, we were together and not together. I mean, it was just that he was traveling and here in different bases, but we had times when we were together. One of the times when we were together was in Japan.

Okay.

And so, when we were first married, he went right off to base camp.

Yeah.

So we had four years in the military, and he had just started college and couldn't... didn't have deferment. So then that was after the military, did the college years, but by then we had three children.

Okay.

It was busy, but I was... we were in Utah and Texas and finally Japan, and there were lots of times when he was gone, and I just lived with my folks until he came back.

Your folks, were they still in Campbell?

Still in Campbell, mhm.

Yeah, so that was great. But then when he could have me in the base, then I would go be with him.

So, our second child was born in Japan, which I went over on a ship—two weeks on a ship, a troop ship—with a 16-month-old, so that was a journey. But he met me in Japan, and then we went to our base.

Wow.

And then I'm curious, what was your faith like during that time? Because it's so hard to be apart from each other in a relationship, also doing incredibly difficult things, whether that's traveling and being a mom by yourself or actually being enlisted.

It was always hard. We had three or four times when we were split up. The longest was when we were in Japan, and I was there about eight or nine months. We didn't have housing there for the non-commissioned officers. I was a sergeant.

Okay.

And the commissioned officers took all the base housing that was available, and our non-commissioned officers didn't have any place to take families.

Oh.

And we did an unusual thing. We built mobile units on military property.

Okay.

We paid for the units, and I designed the unit. It was just a little 35 by 10 mobile home kind of thing.

Wow.

And the Japanese built that for us.

Yeah, we had a contractor.

Okay.

It cost us $3,000 to build that.

So you're the architect of your house?

I was the architect.

Okay.

And it was interesting to watch them build those things.

Oh, yeah.

We built 35 of those, and I got the number five unit.

Okay.

And we lived in that for eight or nine months, and then our housing came available on the base, and we moved on the base and sold our unit to a Navy man that wanted it.

But, you know, if we go back to our experience as faith-oriented, you were always in the chapel. You eventually became the assistant chaplain.

Wow, that was on the base?

Yeah, wow.

Okay.

We were involved with missionaries, and in Japan, we were in the chapel. When we were in the states, we were usually in a local church in the area, but in the military in Japan, we were part of the chapel group.

And I have to say, those churches were a big influence in our early Christian experience, so they meant a lot to us. The first church where we met the Lord was very strong, and young families and couples were very important.

And that was the church in San Jose?

Oh, in San Jose.

Okay, excuse me.

Yeah, yeah, Westminster Press in San Jose.

Well, we committed our lives to Christ in that church, and then when we came back from the service, we went to that church and were part of a group called Voyagers.

As a matter of fact, we led the group and taught Bible study there for a while.

Wow.

And until we had some friends, we were living in Saratoga, driving to San Jose, about 10 or 15 miles.

Got it.

And we had some friends that we were in Saratoga also, and he was an IBM-er, and he invited me to join IBM, which I did.

Yeah.

And then he invited us to join them in this new church merger out in Saratoga, and it actually wasn't a merger; it was a starting church.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

So you were living in Saratoga at the time but then attending church in San Jose and then were invited to plant a church or start a church in Saratoga?

Yes, yes, absolutely.

We were.

So there were about eight or ten couples that helped start that church in Saratoga, and when we came back from the military, we built a home in Saratoga, so that's why we were there.

Yeah, we had bought a lot when I graduated from high school in 1948. I wanted to build a house, so I found this property in Saratoga, a little lot, and I bought that.

And that's... we ended up building the house when we got out of the service.

The greatest thing we ever did, to say the least.

Yeah, it was a good investment.

It was a very good investment. We had no idea what community we were moving into.

Sure.

What did it look like at the time?

Orchard all around. There were a couple of streets where we were building, which was near the high school, which was great, like downtown Saratoga High School.

Well, Saratoga High just had been built, and there was just orchard everywhere. And of course, we grew up in Campbell, where there was nothing but orchard, right?

And this was called the Valley of the Heart's Delight. You know, it was just prunes and apricots and, uh-huh, it was all around us. We kids all worked in the fruit, you know, picking prunes and yeah, it was a great life.

Yeah, really a lot of changes.

Sure has changed, yeah, a lot.

Okay, we had a lot of fun meeting. Before we had a church facility, we met in homes and we met in different places for worship as we started to get more people.

Okay.

And we had a little theater in Saratoga, and we used to meet in that. That was part of the time we met in, and we had a little lady that used to come and cover the billboards over with sheets because it was an art theater, and she didn't like the billboards.

Okay.

So those would get covered up every week. We worshiped there. We had an art center we worshiped in.

We had a community center.

Community center, okay.

Yeah, and finally, we bought this property on Herman Avenue and built the sanctuary there.

Okay.

And this was in the 40s or 50s?

Well, it's been late 50s, early 60s.

Our children were three, what would be, 37 and nine at that time.

MH.

And most of the families were in our age group, maybe a little bit older.

Yeah.

And so the children went to worship with us, and we didn't have Christian heads, so even though the sanctuary might have been built, children were still going to different homes or places for Sunday school.

God, we had at the time.

Okay, so they go to Sunday school, we pick them up, bring them to church, then they go to worship.

Wow.

So they kind of grew up in worship, and that was a major part of their life, and always in Sunday school and then later in youth groups and active in a young life group in the high school, which was very, very active at that time.

Okay, wow.

And so at some point, that church, I assume, got a little bit bigger and had more people attending. It sounds like there were young families, and maybe Saratoga, there were more people building in that area.

Yes, absolutely.

Wait, our founding pastor is interesting. He was in the Second World War, and he was what they call a foxhole Christian.

Okay.

He came to know the Lord, I guess, in a foxhole. He said, "Lord, if you get me out of here, I'm going to serve you."

Wow.

And he did.

And he was in Alaska. It was a little church when we called him to our church to be our founding pastor.

Okay.

And his name was John Stokes.

John Stokes.

And, um, he unfortunately died very young with a heart attack after he preached the Sunday morning sermon.

Um, he was in his 40s, I think, when he died.

Wow, that was our founding pastor, though.

Yeah.

And that was our start.

Yeah, but we grew to, I think, around 400 members in the church.

Okay.

And, um, but when we merged with Menlo, we might have been down to about 125, something like that.

Okay.

Yeah, really, we were getting older. You know, every... our kids had grown and moved away or gone off to college, and that was true with most all the families.

And so it was becoming a much older congregation, and the ones that were a little younger were doing all the work, and that was hard.

And it was just a difficult... we held together, and people were very loyal to the church and loved it, but it was hard to keep it right.

Well, and we weren't really reaching the community because we weren't reaching the young people, and that's what we wanted to do.

And when we built the church, our commitment was to reach the high school across the street because we were right across the street from the high school.

Right.

And that wasn't happening, and the ethnicity in the community had changed, and we weren't able to seem to reach out to them.

Wow.

But we did reach the high school for a period of time.

Oh yes, oh really?

Yes, early on, we used the high school facility for a while, and the high school used to come over and use our sanctuary, and we had a lunch, a big lunch for the teachers every year.

Yes.

So we were very closely connected with the high school.

Yes, we were.

We had a large group of high schoolers that used to meet on Herman Avenue.

Okay.

And, um, but we invited them in, and we had them in the fellowship hall. We built the fellowship hall by then.

MH.

And, um, we had a youth pastor that would meet with them, and we met with them.

We were quite close with Young Life.

Yes, we had a large group of Young Life kids meeting in the church—about 100 kids on Monday nights or something like that.

Wow, for a while.

Yeah, and we were also very close with the Scout troops, and we had Scouts meeting in our sanctuary and buildings.

So lots of ways to involve the community.

Yes, get people involved there.

Not as many as we could have or should have just because of the energy or the years change.

When we were young, there was a group of us that used to meet and go bi-monthly out to the mental institution, which was in San Jose at the time.

Okay.

It was closed down, but we would do hair and have birthday parties and play games, and we reached out to the wives of the prison community some at that time.

So there was outreach, definitely.

You know, things change as...

Yeah, so then how did Menlo get involved? So at this point, there was a lot of people, then it sounds like some empty nesters, and there was a drop in attendance or however you want to say that, and then...

Yeah, I think I was kind of instrumental in merging.

Okay.

I talked to our pastor, Steve Steele, at the time, and we knew something had to be done.

And even though we were financially stable, our church was in good shape financially, we thought we weren't reaching the community, and we needed to do something.

My idea was we would bring a young church that was trying to get started into our facility and merge with them and grow with the young people.

As a matter of fact, we had a young youth pastor with us for a few years that got ordained, and he was starting a young church in San Jose.

And so I was thinking, well, maybe something like that could be worked out, right?

And I guess Steve had some connections with pastors in Menlo, and so then that went from us bringing in a church to Menlo bringing us in as a church that kind of works a little differently.

Yeah.

And it was bothersome to some people, sure, what we were doing, and we did lose some members, but all in all, it's been a very good merger, and Menlo has been very thoughtful of the older people that have been there at the church.

Okay.

And they've refurbished a lot of the buildings, and it's grown since, and it's such a joy to us old folks to see young families there.

Oh, excuse me again.

That's okay.

Probably not good in the video. Sorry about that. I can cut that part out.

Yeah.

Nowadays, now we see them. We have a courtyard. I don't know if you've ever been there, but it's surrounded with a fence, and it's protected, and the kids just play and run around, and it's such a joy for us that had that when we were young to see that with these young families coming in.

And we've reached a very large Asian population, and that's been a blessing.

And I've had a prayer ministry in that church for 35 years, and it's gone on, so Menlo has been very supportive.

Good.

Can you paint the picture for me on what the first month or so of that merger was like? Was it an immediate lots of people joined? Was there excitement? Was it hard? What was that time period like for you?

Well, it was very positive. I was concerned as an elder in the church, and I told Steve, I said, "Well, let's... why don't we just try this for a few months, a little trial period, and see how this is going to work before we go all out and turn our facilities over to Menlo and turn over everything control to them?"

I said, "Let's just try."

Yeah.

And he said, "No, Menlo doesn't want to do that. We're going full bore."

And it was great. The first Sunday, we had 200 people, I think, in attendance, as I recall.

And Menlo was wise too; they had some people that were in Mountain View commit to coming to our facility for a while.

MH.

And of course, we got Scott Palm Bush, who was in Mountain View, to be our first campus pastor.

Mhm.

And so it started off with a real boom, and it really worked.

I was trying to remember; I think they did a lot of refurbishing before we had that first Sunday.

Okay.

And so there was some work in the bathrooms and the kitchen and the sanctuary, and we were coming up here every week for services because it was closed down while they were redoing everything.

Did that for a short... just a short period, right?

Interesting.

We have dear friends that left, and that's always hard.

That is hard.

And, you know, in any church situation, and we've been in a lot of them from the military and what we've gone through, people like different things, and churches will meet their needs differently.

Yeah.

And so some have left. Music has been an issue for some.

MH.

And we used to always have organ and a choir and all of that, and things have changed.

And yet we're so excited about the people we reach. I mean, that's what we're all about, right?

Is to reach others for the Lord and see them come in and enjoy worship and become a part of a family.

Yeah, and that's what I think Saratoga, in its past history, was always a family.

Yeah.

And our kids always felt when they came home back, they were coming to a family, and we hope it stayed similar and the same for sure.

So I would say two major things happened. We saw a great influx of young people, which we were praying for would happen with the Menlo merger, and then I also saw a large investment that Menlo has made in refurbishing the facility and keeping up the yard and all of that stuff that I spent a lot of time on with a group of volunteers.

We did a lot of... used to do a lot of work around the church.

Sure.

And we were called the Toolbox Crew.

And, uh, I need to start one of those for down here.

You want to help me?

They did a lot.

Unfortunately, I'm not as able as I used to be, but Menlo has done a great job in both aspects with the people and with the facility.

Wow.

The facility always was kind of Tony's thing, and this group of men were wonderful. I mean, they would build ramps for widows, people that were not able to get in the house, and stairs if they needed it, and help in any of that way, and then keep the rose garden up.

I don't know if you've seen our rose garden; it's beautiful.

Keep that up and build cabinets and build bookcases and anything—fences, we put the fence up, all that fence around the property, storage area in the back we built.

Yeah, it was a great group. Great group.

Sounds like it.

But again, things change.

You know, the advantage we had at that time is we had a lot of older people, and we had a lot of retired people in the church, and so a lot of men that were capable were able to be on this Toolbox Group.

Today, we have mostly young people, and they're all working, so you have weekends, which they need to be with their family, and it's difficult to get volunteers—much more difficult than it was when we were an older church.

Mhh.

Yeah, wow.

It sounds like you had been involved in the church in some capacity forever.

We have, yeah.

You ask our kids; they say the same. We have... we've always... I mean, when we were young, I taught Sunday school, and eventually, we taught... Tony and I taught classes together.

We had a marriage group together for years.

Um, we've taught... he's taught Bible classes. I used to teach women's Bible classes.

Wow.

Um, then that sort of went out to women's retreats I did for about 10 years and led.

Um, that's amazing.

I don't know; we used to do the cooking in the church and putting the tables up and moving things around.

I mean, we did... as a church, we did everything.

We didn't have anybody doing things; we just did it ourselves.

Wow.

We had a time, I don't know how long it was, maybe eight or nine years, where in the summer we had a week-long family camp we called it at the church every night with a dinner.

Everybody came, and then they would have different classes from investments to bicycle repair to, I don't know, bridge too, and the kids all signed up, and the children were in classes, and it was a very, very special time.

It was called Family Affair.

Yeah, it was Family Affair.

Okay, and it was week-long every year for 10 years, maybe?

Wow, nine years.

Yeah, but eventually, we met every night for dinner and social time together.

Yeah, yeah, little worship and just have the classes, which was really a fun thing, but it takes a lot of work.

Right, those kind of things take a lot of work.

Pretty involved, and I think things changed.

Like, I look back and I think about the Bible study, women's Bible studies I had for so many years, but then things began to change where women began to work.

You know, I was a stay-at-home mom; most of my friends were stay-at-home moms.

Those years were over, and women... both couples were working, and so you didn't have day Bible studies like we had when I was a young woman.

So things began to just be different, and you just go along with the difference and try to do the best you can, of course.

Wow.

Doing it in different ways.

Yeah, and it seems like just like a lifetime of involvement in serving and helping out.

And so for those people that might not be involved now, how did being involved in the church, whether that's volunteering your time or your expertise in building, how did that affect you and your relationship with God?

What encouragements would you give someone that's like, "I want to get involved, but I'm not sure yet"?

Well, for me, I would think if you've committed your life to Christ, you want to be a part of the body of Christ.

And so, just like a family, everybody has jobs; everybody does their part; everybody participates.

There's communication, right? There are things you need to deal with, things that you don't always agree on, but you deal with them, and you work them through.

And that was just something we grew up in as a young couple.

Okay.

That you don't just go to church on a Sunday; you're there, you work, you participate.

I mean, where we met the Lord, we had Sunday night service, we had Wednesday night prayer group and dinner.

Our kids all went to Sunday school as they grew up. Youth groups were a part.

I mean, it just was a family thing you did, and you committed to.

Okay.

And it was just natural. I guess if my children were here, you could ask them.

I mean, they're participants in their church, and they feel they have to—they want to do their part for the Lord.

And so they serve in whatever way they can.

That's good.

And to us, it's not just going on Sunday; it's a life commitment.

Wow.

And our kids would say, "Oh, I don't want to go to church."

Well, you have to go to school; you got to go to church.

That's just a part of our life; that's what we do.

Oh, yeah.

Tony, anything to add to that?

I don't think there's much to add to that. Church was actually, yes, it was a part of our life and our lives.

Okay.

I, um, that was always the way it was when we... in the service, our first married years, and continued that way.

MH.

When we were discharged and started the church here, I taught Sunday school for many years, adult classes and Bible study, and I love the history of the church and, of course, the gospels.

But, um, I really love the Old Testament, and I spent a lot of time doing that, and I wish I could do it today, but my hearing is so bad I really cannot participate too well in group activities.

I don't hear well enough.

Um, but, um, it was a great time in our lives, and, um, church was always a part, the main part of our lives, really.

Wow.

When we started the church, I have to say it was a faith lesson for me, particularly.

Yeah.

I think Tony was gung-ho, and these young couples that we were doing and new work and participating, but I had a great familiarity with women in the other church, and stepping out in faith and starting a new work was not easy.

Yeah.

And it's similar as we join Menlo, right? That's another step of faith that you take and say, "If God's calling us to do this, that's what we'll do."

I can't say for me it was always easy, particularly when we started our church, but God used it in our lives, I think, mightily, and there were a lot of lessons we learned.

Yeah, so wow.

And you've been around for almost all of it.

I mean, well, we have, yeah.

You've been around the church since it started and then through the merger with Menlo, and you've seen so much.

So what are your hopes for Menlo going forward?

I mean, we're capturing these conversations as we're celebrating our 150th year anniversary, which is crazy.

You've been there for almost half of that.

Yeah, that's right.

That's right.

What would your hopes be for the next 150 years for Menlo?

Well, I hope Menlo is successful in getting churches all around the Bay Area and really having an impact in this Bay Area, in Silicon Valley.

It's a great challenge and a difficult area to bring church into.

MH.

So it's a tough challenge, but boy, that would be beautiful to see.

Yeah.

A Bay Area for Christ, definitely.

Really would.

And of course, that... I mean, isn't that what the church is all about? Is to reach out to those, and I guess the church is always wondering how do we do that?

They're always re-evaluating, right?

What's the best way to reach the community around them?

MH.

Um, I don't have that answer.

I don't... that's okay.

I don't really know how you do it.

Yeah.

Um, I think we're doing well now, and word of mouth seems to be getting around, but we sure could do a lot more.

And one of the things I would like to see personally, and I think we both feel that this way, is just growth.

1. "I hope Menlo is successful in getting churches all around the Bay Area and really having an impact in this Bay Area in Silicon Valley. It's a great challenge and a difficult area to bring Church into. It's a tough challenge but that would be beautiful to see." - 32:15

2. "Your faith is a daily thing and people are so busy today it's hard to commit to a lot of things the church might even offer that are out there. But there's sports on Sundays and which we didn't have when our kids were growing up." - 32:15

3. "We used to play baseball on a church our church team. It was a lot of fun. That's a great bonding thing, you know, it's just really, really great. And we mentioned before reaching out to the community, getting and great way to do it." - 35:35

4. "Prayer has been a major part of that Ministry in the church. We did have a pastor whose wife got very ill with cancer and was dying and so we started kind of a regular weekly not something just spasmodically. And that's been going for close to 40 years probably." - 35:35

5. "We've seen many miracles that God has performed in our lives since the very beginning. The fact that we bought this property in Saratoga, the fact that we joined a new church work." - 35:35