Kahu Alan Akana and Rev. Susumu Yamane
On Sunday, June 7, 2015, I celebrated the 25th anniversary of my ordination into Christian ministry. It was an honor to have Rev. Susumu Yamane give the benediction at our worship service at the parsonage. He was the pastor of our church in 1960, the year I was born and our current church building was built! I met Rev. Yamane several years ago in Hilo and he encouraged me to come back to Hawai’i and serve a church. Little did either of us know at the time that his daughter Naomi Giovanni would be calling me from Kōloa and inviting me to consider becoming the kahu at Kōloa Union Church!
I was also thrilled to announce on Sunday that our church raised $276,360 for our capital campaign, Maika’i Hana Hou! (Creating Goodness and Beauty Once Again!). We want to build upon what Rev. Yamane and the people of Kōloa Union Church began over 50 years ago to have a beautiful place where people could come and experience the goodness of God through worship, prayer, education, fellowship and reaching out to the community! Today, our church provides all of these things, including space for community groups five days a week. We decided last year to make our church building and grounds more welcoming and inviting, not just for us but for so many more people in our community. The congregation voted to conduct a capital campaign for this purpose (with a minimum goal of $150,000!)…and they blew right over the top of that goal! I am so pleased to be the kahu of such a generous and compassionate congregation!
Aloha nui loa!
Kahu Alan Akana
Editor’s Note: Kahu Akana will be taking a break, so the next “Weekly Pastor’s Message” will be in July.
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