City that once housed the Western White House now has seen local churches reach out in love to the local community.
By Dan Wooding Published: 21st July 2012
Holland Davis leading worship at his San Clemente church
San Clemente is a beautiful city in Orange County, California, located on the California Coast, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego at the southern tip of the county. It is known for its ocean, hill, and mountain views, a pleasant climate and its Spanish Colonial style architecture. San Clemente’s city slogan is “Spanish Village by the Sea”.
In 1968 President Richard Nixon bought part of the H. H. Cotton estate, one of the original homes built by one of Hanson’s partners. Nixon called it “La Casa Pacifica”, but it was nicknamed the “Western White House”, a term now commonly used for a President’s vacation home.
During Nixon’s tenure it was visited by many world leaders, including Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Prime Minister of Japan Eisaku Sato, and Henry Kissinger.
Now Nixon is long gone, and the focus on the city has now returned with a project called “Love San Clemente,” during which four local churches gathered over 50 volunteers to show what could happen if believers put their faith in action.
The brain child of Pastor Holland Davis of Worship Life Calvary Chapel San Clemente, “Love San Clemente” recently contributed more than $10,000.00 in completed projects, labor and supplies to Shore Cliffs Middle School and the City of San Clemente.
Jason Chung in the Orange County Register described “Love San Clemente”, as a seven day community service project [which began on Saturday, July 7, 2012 and ended on July 14, 2012], that included members of Cornerstone Community Church, San Clemente Presbyterian Church, Southcoast Church International and Worship Life Calvary Chapel San Clemente.
The week-long program launched with a food drive with bags donated by local San Clemente grocers including Ralph’s, Trader Joes and Stater Brothers. Over 450 bags were distributed and food collected was donated to Family Assistance Ministries, a community outreach that redistributes over $ 2.1 million in food to the hungry in South Orange County.
Holland Davis stated, “We were told that food donations over the summer months are extremely low so we felt that this would be the best way to begin Love San Clemente… by meeting the needs of the poor.”
On Monday, volunteers dusted cabinets, washed dishes and cleaned ovens and refrigerators in the student kitchen at Shorecliff’s Middle School. Chris Smith, pastor of Southcoast Church International said, “The city uses this kitchen for after school programs and with budget cuts and growing classroom sizes we wanted to help out this teacher that does such a great job for the school.”
“Love San Clemente” says that it is now looking for working refrigerators and ovens to replace the old non-working appliances used by San Clemente students.
On Tuesday through Thursday, volunteers picked up trash, cleaned and painted two city buildings in the former San Clemente Municipal Trap and Skeet Range so they can be used for weddings and other events. Former members of the Gun Club that used the Skeet Range commented on what a blessing it was to see people who cared for this part of San Clemente history.
On Friday, volunteers arrived at Family Assistance Ministries and helped sort clothes, organize closets with professional outfits for women going to job interviews and packing food for distribution.
“Love San Clemente” finished by honoring one of the military families with a special needs child who recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan with free tickets to the Dodger Game where the family was able to attend the Los Angeles Dodger’s batting practice and meet the players for autographs.
The idea of “Love San Clemente” began when Pastor Holland Davis of Worship Life Calvary Chapel San Clemente went to the City Hall and asked what his church could do to help.
“We wanted to show people the love of God in practical ways,” Davis explained.
Chris Smith, who works part time as a recreation specialist for the city said he knew of needs that weren’t being met because of city budget constraints and challenged Holland Davis to expand his vision to include more churches in San Clemente.
This resulted in four churches from various denominational backgrounds joining together for seven days of community service showing God’s love to San Clemente… hence “Love San Clemente”.
According to Davis, “This is our first year and we hope now to do this every year.”
Ron Sukut, Pastor of Cornerstone Community Church said, “San Clemente is such a cool town. We really do love our city and it was a blast getting together with others who wanted to give back to this beautiful place we call home. We’re looking forward to next time.”
Davis added, “I hope what we’ve done in San Clemente will inspire other churches to look for practical ways to organize as the Body of Christ and show God’s love to their cities in practical ways. Wouldn’t it be awesome if next year we could do ‘Love California’ and just love bomb the entire state?”
For more information on Love San Clemente please visit: www.lovesanclemente.com.
Note: Thanks go to Jason Chung of the Orange County Register for his contribution to this article.
For more information, please contact: Holland Davis
Cell: (949) 533-4656 Email: [email protected]