Words from President (November 2022)

Dear Presence’s supporters,

While Covid-19 has gradually progressed into an endemic disease, and many countries have opened their borders awaiting the economy to recover, somehow people may feel that the world is not the same anymore. Being so used to isolation from others during the pandemic, it will still take a long way to reconnect. Therefore, at our 19th Anniversary event, we pointed out 3 areas where we need to persist, in order for us to build a healthy heart and soul in the new normal of the world:

1. Facing loss and grief – Persist in fighting against fear through building a safe community

2. Managing difficult relationships or communications, emotions and stress – Persist in learning to cope effectively                                                

3. Connecting scattered people – Persist in loving

In the past year, Presence has been focusing on “Heart to Heart”. Through different activities and ministries, we strived to connect people with God and with others; so that the above 3 areas of persistence can be achieved.

We hosted the “Scripture Creative Expression Contest and Sharing” for the first time, and the response was way better than we expected. We saw different groups of believers, including families and friends, share how God’s Word has done wonderful things in their lives. Participants expressed their stories via music, art and sculptures. Many of them were very high quality creative pieces, carrying touching messages too. God’s Word is indeed powerful. We hope that we can host the contest again next year, and continue to testify how lives are being transformed by the Word of God.

Walking alongside is an important element of love. In the past two years, we have been providing professional training to equip quality certified coaches or trainers. These trained leaders can then walk and grow with other believers in the churches they serve. Besides the PLPC (Presence Life Planning Curriculum) certified trainers program, in the future we will also provide non-teaching style leadership training to help leaders facilitate small group discussions.

While striving to serve in these areas, we are still facing many difficulties maintaining our routine operations and providing ministries. In the past few years, we were able to rent our office at a much below market rate value. When the lease was about to end, we were notified that there would be a significant increase in our rent to catch up with the market. Therefore, we have decided to move to a smaller office (about half the size of our current office). Please pray for us so that the moving and transition can be smooth. Similar to churches and many other organizations, we have struggled financially especially during the pandemic. Our accumulated deficit up to the end of September 2022 is -$76,885. Like last year, we will have our “Giving Tuesday” campaign on November 29 this year. Please pray for us. If you feel moved by the Holy Spirit, we hope you can also support us financially so that Presence’s cultural mission can be carried on.

Note: Beginning December 1, 2022, Presence’s office will be moved to 1818 Sierra Leone Ave. Suite F, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. If you are moved to support us with a check donation, please make it payable to “Presence” and mail it to 20651 Golden Springs Dr., #104, Walnut, CA 91789. Thank you!

May the Lord bless you and your family!

Agnes Ip
Presence Founder and CEO

Previous Words from President: 

October 2021

October 2020