Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino (PBCC)

On this year's Mother's Day Sunday, we attended Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino (located in Cupertino near Blaney & highway 280). When we arrived about 20 minutes before the 9:45am worship service, there was a line of cars entering the parking lot slowly and waiting for the people from the previous service to exit out. A car near the entrance pulled out but none of the cars ahead of me pulled in there. When I pulled up more, I could see why -- it was one of the "Visitor's" spot and so we happily parked in there :-)

Upon arrival into the main area of the church's courtyard, we quickly located our children's classrooms (for 2nd, 4th and 5th graders) and were surprised by 5-6 adult teachers waiting for students to arrive and warmly welcomed us in. There was no signing in or out other than putting on a nametag on our kids. Consequently, when we went to pick them up, they simply released our children to us. The atmosphere there was quite tight and lacking an official sign in/out process seem quite natural to this environment. The teachers were quite nice with smiles on their faces. Children said they liked the program where they had crafts and also outside playing time. There were about 20 kids in the 2nd graders room, and about 15 kids in the 4th & 5th room where it was spacious and well laid out with appropriate tables for activities. They did not have any praise time during the session but they did have a short sermon or a skit (done by the kids) based on the passage they are studying. The 2nd graders had a sermon on honoring parents while the 4th/5th graders did the skit on Acts 22.
We then made our way to the main sanctuary. The church campus is quite cozy and in some sense crowded especially when there are two congregations shifting in & out. However, we did not feel rushed or felt lost in the shuffle and what looked like a boy scout members were helping handing out the church bulletin at the entrance way welcoming us brightly.

The worship service praising was led by a special group from Royal Union Choir from King's Academy High School students composed of 10 singer mixed with girls and boys, pianist, electric guitarist, and a drummer. As the MC mentioned, it was special seeing our next generation leading the praise time on this Mother's Day. The sermon we received from Pastor Brian Morgan was part 1 of 3 on the Book of Proverbs. One of the key points for me was how much wisdom we need in this society we live in today where "wisdom + instruction = discipline" is lacking significantly. For example, some of us parents put too much emphasis on the "IQ" aspects of our children while God guages on the "fear of the Lord" factor, and that does not just drift into place but a constant teaching of God's wisdom + instruction is required.

I was deeply impressed with the pastor's comment about "The strength of our church is not found in the level of education pastors received but in the characters of their wives." It said to me that the spiritual formation of this church is founded in the characters of the staff (pastors and the elders board).

A testimony from a Sister, Gina, followed the sermon giving a tribute to her mother who had passed away one year ago. Basically, her mother who once had a dream of pursuing the glamorous life struggled to see where God is leading her life when she found herself expecting a 4th child and asked God to that if being a mother was her "calling" that she wants to be best at becoming one. She eventually had 11 children and showed her care and love to all of her 11 children. Can't summarize the whole testimony, but it was quite touching and brought tears to my eyes because of her mother's sacrificial love based on her firm faith in Jesus.

Church website: www.pbcc.org
Worship Times: 8:00, 9:45 and 11:30 AM