Pastor Arvy Wuysang

Pastor Arvy Wuysang with his fiancee Ailen Liogu.

WMC is pleased to welcome our new pastor for young
adults, Mr. Arvy Wuysang. He's bringing lots of energy
and enthusiasm plus his lovely fiancee Ailen to give him
constant support.
Last week Pastor Wuysang was kind enough to grant
me an interview and here's what he had to say:

(1) What was your job prior to coming to WMC?

AW: My assignment at WMC is my first real job as a
pastor. Prior to this I was doing an internship as youth
leader with the United Indonesian SDA Church in
Ontario.

(2) What do you perceive as the greatest challenge in
your new job at WMC?

AW: Achieving consistent attendance and participation
from the members in my youth group. So far the
attendance has been only sporadic.

(3) Have you ever worked with Pastor Ben del Pozo in
the past?

AW: Never. The first time I met him was when I came
to interview for the job.

(4) What part of your background do you think will be
the most helpful as you begin this new assignment?

AW: I do very well understanding and adapting to
other people's culture. That will be very helpful here
because WMC has great diversity.

(5) Have you been assigned a particular task by the
church board or by the head pastor?

AW: I have only been asked to lead the youth Sabbath
school discussion, but I would like some more ambitious
tasks.

(6) How can our church member help you succeed here?

AW: It would help me a lot if members could come up to
me and introduce themselves and also introduce their
friends and family to me.

(7) In many ways WMC fits the description of a church
in decline whose original members have moved out to
the suburbs. How do you plan to reverse this pattern?

AW: I have no immediate solution, but one suggestion
is to show organization, pray, and do a good job in our
respective positions.

(8) What do you see as the likeliest target for membership
growth in our church?

AW: The best places to draw from are the surrounding
neighborhood and WMMC. I have read that Ellen G.
White's original goal was to serve this neighborhood so
we should remain true to that goal.

(9) In your opinion what is WMC's strongest asset?

AW: The rich cultural diversity of the members.

(10) Our church has a Spanish group that has been
sputtering for years now. Would you consider helping
them grow?

AW: Yes. First I would like to learn Spanish, then I'll
try to reach out to the Spanish-speaking youth. I am
looking forward to getting a specific assignment to
help them with.

(11) We have several other adventist churches in the
neighborhood, but we have almost no interaction or
cooperation with them. How do you plan to improve
on that?

AW: I've had prior experience in helping organize an
invitational festival of praise where other churches
come to offer songs of praise while the host church
provides organization and logistics. I'd like to do
something similar here.

(12) Our neighborhood is heavily Hispanic. What
strategies do you envision using to reach out to the
Hispanic community?

AW: It's important for us to be relevant in our
neighborhood. One idea I'd like to try is offering
ESL classes.

(13) Does your fiancee Ailen have a favorite
ministry in church?

AW: Ailen has lots of experience as Children's
Ministry Director and Vacation Bible School, but
she also suports me in whatever activity I'm
involved with in church.

(14) If you were not a pastor, what would you
envision yourself doing?

AW: I did a minor in music when I was in college
so I'd probably be a singer-songwriter and play
the guitar.

(15) At the end of your assignment at WMC how
would you measure your success here?

AW: I will measure success by the number of
friends I have made because church is all about
friends and relationships.

The end.

God bless you.