i'm supposed to give a short testimony at the public hearing for scbc's redevelopment plans. i'm representing the young adult contingent at scbc. not just lumps, but you can see how most of what i'm talking about is from what we've done over the past few years.
Intro • 5th generation san Franciscan
• native sunset resident for 25 years
• in 1994 my parents brought our family to attend SCBC particularly for the strong youth programs that it offered.
• Grown up with the youth programs and now as a post-college young adult, SCBC continues to be a big part of my life as a young adult.
• Given back to the neighborhoods through the church serving as a mentor and counselor for high schoolers as well as other ways of investing in the community
• I’m now member and actively involved with the young adult groups.
Demographics • At SCBC we have strong young adult program which reach out to people in the Sunset and surrounding neighborhoods.
• We welcome and invite everyone and are not limited to just Christians. Every single week there are new young adults who come to SCBC, b/c of the community offerings and events which are unique in this part of the city.
• During the week we have two strong dynamic young adult communities ranging in age from 20-something to 30-somethings. Our Thursday nite 20-somethings group is approximately 70 people large. and our Friday nite 30-somethings group is about 40 people.
• With different people continually checking out our groups over the past 4 years, I estimate that 500 people have been served by our young adult communities with the vast majority coming from the Sunset and surrounding areas.
Dynamics • SCBC fosters strong communities for young adults engaged in wholesome, positive activities.
• For a lot of people like myself, SCBC offers a good channel for leadership and social development as young adults.
• On a weekly basis we regularly have Bible studies, life discussions, sports events social networking, and volunteer work to give back to the neighborhoods.
• We use our pool of resources to give to people in the city at large, not at all limited to the Chinese/Asian community.
o On a biweekly basis we have volunteers helping out serving food and providing care to the homeless in the Tenderloin.
o We’ve gone to distribute hygiene care packages to the homeless in civic center.
o On Thanksgiving and Christmas we’ve annually partnered with other civic agencies, like the Salvation Army and St Anthony’s, to provide food and meals to the elderly, the disabled and the homeless all around San Francisco.
o SCBC’s young adult communities are a unique offering in the Sunset which enriches our life development and also channels us to give back to the entire city.
Limited Space • Numerous time we take full advantage of every single available room at our church.
• We often have to meet offsite b/c of unavailable and booked up facilities at our Church.
• We’ve often tried to plan bigger activities to serve the young adult community, but have been continually limited by available space.
• If SCBC is allowed to proceed in its redevelopment plans, it would be a big boost to the young adult communities in the Sunset with residual benefits through community service.
Over the past 3 years and 9 months in Lumps, I’ve noticed a couple common grammar mistakes prevalent from time to time. Some refer to our group as “L.U.M.P.S.” or “LUMPS” as if it were an acronym. Well, it’s not. Somewhere inside, I cringe every time I see it in print like that. The first letter should be capitalized and the rest in lower case, just like you would any other proper noun. Some also tend to use the grammatically incorrect term “Lumpers” when referring to the people in the fellowship. The correct term to use is “Lumps” when referring to Lumps people. “Some Lumps got together.” Hey you lumps, come hang out.” “Lumpers” may possibly be part of our colloquial slang, but the educated grammatical term is “Lumps.”
When referring to our fellowship, ‘Lumps’ is correct as a singular noun. When referring to Lumps people, ‘Lumps’ is the correct plural word. (If you don’t believe me, try asking someone with linguistics expertise. Isn’t that right, Sandra?) Referring to a singular person, you can say ‘lump’ even though it sounds weird at first. Yeah, non-Lumps people might have you explain what the quirky term, but that’s just a great opportunity for you to start sharing what our fellowship is all about.
