22 Feb

PUEBLO FIRST SHARES ITS BLESSINGS WITH COMMUNITY

RMCNews with Anton Kapusi – Pueblo, Colorado … The Pueblo First Adventist Church is providing blessings to their neighborhood 24 hours a day through a new self-serve cabinet, called the Blessing Box, in front of the church.

The white and red cabinet can be seen from the community surrounding the church. Inside the Blessing Box are supplies for individuals who may need extra help.

Anton Kapusi, Pueblo First Church lead pastor, explained the idea, which comes from Philippians 2:4 – “Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others.” 

 The box contains grab-and-go snacks, canned soups, noodles, sauces, warm socks, blankets, and personal hygiene items, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, washcloths, and body care items.

Kapusi reflected on the project stating, “The best blessing has come from the surrounding community beginning to take part in keeping the Blessing Box filled and watched over when we are not around. We are grateful and blessed to have our community participating in this project!”

What is the expected outcome of the newly funded project?  “We have great hopes for this project going forward that we may not only relieve the immediate needs of our community but in time may be allowed to tend to their spiritual needs as well,” said Kapusi.

— RMCNews with Anton Kapusi, lead pastor at Pueblo First Adventist Church; photos supplied.

29 Sep

Pueblo moves evangelism online

By Anton Kapusi – Pueblo, Colorado … The Pueblo Church refocused their evangelism outreach, to social media and beyond.

COVID has brought a new normal of social distancing, masked faces, and has introduced a gap between not only people, but families, church members, and all kinds of relationships.

The question our faith community is facing is how to continue the gospel work when we can’t mingle physically, and when there is a limit to how many can attend meetings. The Pueblo Church developed a plan to hold evangelistic meetings by going online to increase their sphere of influence.

“(We) jumped on the opportunity that presented itself back in May 2020 to conduct online evangelistic outreach by MaxLife Events run by the Outreach Ministries of the Oregon Conference,” Anton Kapusi, Pueblo First pastor, said.

The first online series, “Leading from Your Pain” by John Boston began September 18, and has generated 451 interests in Pueblo, after just three presentations.

“In Pueblo, we have our work cut for us. There was never such a great interest expressed to any event that the church has organized in the past. It is amazing what a timely subject and targeted advertisements can do in our time and culture,” Kapusi said.

Pueblo church plans to hold more of these mini online evangelism meetings.  In October, Unchained: Hope and Healing from Addiction, with Pastor Richie Halversen and “Revelation of Love: Bible Prophecy Seminar,” with David Machado are planned.

“What will be the final impact of these series on Pueblo, only heaven knows. But we at Pueblo First are determined by God’s grace to embrace as many as possible,” Kapusi concluded.

–Anton Kapusi is pastor of Pueblo First Church in Pueblo, Colorado

25 Aug

BUILDING A HEALTHY AND SANITIZED CHURCH

By Anton Kapusi – Pueblo, Colorado … Pueblo First Adventist Church purchases equipment to ensure visitors are kept safe while attending worship services.

With the pandemic, safety and sanitization of the church is important to building healthy churches.

Pueblo First was eager to begin meeting in person to continue outreach to the community. When the safety committee began to meet, it became evident that new procedures had to be initiated to ensure members were returning to a safe, germ-free area.

Bob Guagliardo, safety leader for Pueblo First, knew he had to think outside the box about how to quickly and efficiently clean the campus. After researching the best equipment to sanitize a large area quickly, Guagliardo decided to bring the idea of purchasing an electrostatic sprayer to the safety committee. This machine provides a mild electrical charge (harmless to humans) which is added to the sanitizer mist that eliminates any microorganisms.

“We were aware that finding volunteers for (to clean the building) an extended period of time would be challenging. We decided to purchase a sprayer that sanitizing the church in a fraction of the time (it would normally take to clean the church), with far less labor and more efficiency,” Anton Kapusi, pastor of Pueblo First church said. “Today it takes only one person about 45 minutes to use our new electrostatic sprayer to sanitize and disinfect the sanctuary, classrooms, office spaces, bathrooms, and the fellowship hall (around 10 thousand square feet).”

“When we open the doors for worship, and throughout the week we can say that we worship, sing, pray, and enjoy the presence of each other in the safest environment we can provide,” Kapusi concluded.

–Anton Kapusi is pastor of the Pueblo First Adventist Church; photo supplied