Local Church News
Recent events held by Church family and news from members.
Bearing Fruit in Every Season of Our Lives—Women’s Enrichment Weekend
God’s Word encourages and admonishes us to bear godly fruit throughout every stage of our Christian walk. This truth was the foundation of our 23rd Women’s Enrichment Weekend, held January 23–25, 2026, with the theme “Bearing Fruit in Every Season of Our Lives” taken from Psalm 1:3. The theme emerged as the top choice from surveys of attendees in recent years. Our gathering took place at the beautiful Embassy Suites in Brea, where we were blessed to return for a second year.
A total of 110 ladies attended, with more than half traveling from outside Southern California, representing six different states. Fourteen enjoyed their very first Women’s Weekend with us.
Many arrived on Friday and settled in to relax and get together with friends. Our event officially began Sabbath morning with church services. After two beautiful special music selections (vocal solos by Ingrid Helge and Sylvia Kennedy), Jim Tuck, who serves the Phoenix and Hawaii congregations, gave the sermon “Are You a Fig-Tree Christian?”
The theme was thoughtfully explored and developed throughout the various presentations. Lacee Hilgen served as our moderator on Saturday, with Rosie Gonzalez moderating on Sunday.
Saturday afternoon began with a warm welcome from Caty Seiglie, followed by three engaging presentations: Joan Tuck spoke on “He Fashions Our Hearts Individually,” Anna Moore addressed “Giving Back” through volunteering, and Kim Budge shared the value of having “sherpas”(Nepalese mountain guides) in our lives, encouraging us to be “sherpas” for each other. The afternoon concluded with an interactive table discussion led by Jennifer Carter, focusing on the different seasons of life we are currently in and the godly fruit God is developing in each of us.
The day’s activities concluded with a delicious Mexican buffet followed by free time for chatting with friends and bidding on our many donated and themed baskets for our raffle fundraiser.
Sunday morning began with three shorter presentations by Lelia Reed, Amber Pifer and Emily Dupree, each sharing valuable lessons learned from their own life experiences. Following these was an interactive discussion led by Jean Updegraff that continued the theme of bearing positive fruit through different seasons of life and through times of challenge.
On Sunday afternoon, following a deli sandwich group buffet, the winners of our fundraising raffle were announced. The raffle featured 47 beautiful baskets, and since each person was limited to winning one item, 47 happy ladies were able to take home a basket they had bid on. We were especially grateful to net $4,205 from raffle proceeds and direct donations, which will be used to fund a Women’s Weekend in Mexico.
The afternoon concluded with two presentations: Pam Pinzini shared “Finding Light After Loss” reflecting on widowhood, and Mary Ann Miller presented “Being a Deliberate Christian in All Seasons of Your Life,” interspersed with humor and relatable examples. Cindy Neumann then closed the weekend by expressing heartfelt thanks to the many individuals whose efforts made the weekend so enjoyable, meaningful and inspiring.
The ladies left the weekend uplifted and thankful for the opportunity to be together once again, encouraged to move forward and continue growing in bearing fruit in every season of our lives.
