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November 2006
Honoring the past by endowing the future
Diane Ogawa spends the better part of her waking hours making decisions that impact significantly on future generations.
She has been called to this vocation both professionally—as executive director of the PNM Resources Foundation, which improves New Mexico’s quality of life through grants to the state’s non-profit organizations and educators—and, more recently, as co-chair, with her husband, Greg, of Covenant Presbyterian Church’s Joining Hearts & Hands campaign.
Covenant Presbyterian Church celebrates its 50th anniversary by making a $100,000 commitment to Joining Hearts & Hands. Photo by Michelle Roth.
“For me, this campaign provided the perfect opportunity to get involved at a new level at our church,” Ogawa said of Joining Hearts & Hands, the campaign to renew the Presbyterian Church for mission.
Ogawa’s evolving role at Covenant in Albuquerque, N.M., began in 2005, following the celebration of the church’s 50th anniversary. In studying the report that had been written on that occasion by Covenant’s long-range planning committee, she prayerfully sought her own point of entry. “This plan is great, but what does it mean for me,” Ogawa remembered thinking, “until I saw the ‘Commitment to Mission,’ which is why my mom and family and I are so committed to this church.”
The Rev. Catherine Robinson, Covenant’s pastor since August 2004, cited that same commitment to mission in reflecting on her own call. “When I began my ministry, it was clear that the church had a readiness to look at some new directions in mission,” Robinson said. “The congregation wanted to connect with the neighborhood in new ways, and our long-range planning committee wanted to focus on the area of new church development in order to give thanks to God for the people and the money that started this church.”
Robinson immediately contacted the Rev. Jim Collie, executive presbyter of Santa Fe Presbytery, to explore with him how the church’s objectives might be carried out most effectively. Without hesitation, Collie suggested Joining Hearts & Hands as the way to accomplish the church’s goals in the here and now. The presbytery is in the midst of a $1.7 million campaign for Joining Hearts & Hands, under the direction of campaign manager, the Rev. Judith Todd.
Setting Covenant’s $100,000 fundraising goal as a part of the presbytery’s overall campaign was Ogawa’s own idea: $50,000 to honor the church’s first 50 years, and $50,000 for the next 50.
“We structured our pledge so that a portion would go toward a permanent endowment, which would forever support the mission outreach of our church,” Ogawa said. “Not just what we all see, but the outreach that our children and grandchildren will see.”
The Rev. Bill Hedrick, Covenant’s parish associate, who resources the church’s Joining Hearts & Hands committee, commended Ogawa’s future-oriented approach to the task. “Diane understands how these things work,” Hedrick said. “From now on, there is a budgetary impetus and requirement that there be mission.”
Of Covenant’s commitment, Collie said, “There are a lot of excuses for not participating in Joining Hearts & Hands. Our experience with Covenant disproves them all. A relatively new pastor in an older, mid-income congregation looking to observe a local anniversary has caught fire with a $100,000 pledge to Joining Hearts & Hands.”
Robinson concurred. “I feel very excited that we’re doing something that will establish without question our connectedness to the denomination and to the presbytery,” she said. “The Spirit of God is indeed renewing our Presbyterian Church for mission.”
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