52 Churches

This is still in draft form.

Most people associate the Salvation Army with thrift stores and Christmas kettles, but there’s an entire denomination of the Salvation Army. My friend Jennine, says of this particular church, “they have to be the friendliest congregation we ever encountered.” They were very friendly, and we felt very welcome, as did Elaine, who came to play along this week, as we were on her side of town. We were greeted by Shoshannah Ruwethin, one of the Corps Officers/Pastors, who said she’d just read a Japanese proverb that “A kind word removes 3 months of winter,” and then wondered (as it was snowing, again, today) if maybe we weren’t being kind enough. So she entreated us to take a moment and greet those around us. Continue reading →

We’re probably impossible to please on this front, because we’d almost rather be invisible for this project, so I’m not complaining that we were ignored. No one at the East Valley Presbyterian Church even really said, “Hello” to us this morning before the passing of the Peace. This was a little strange, because it’s yet another small (about 60 people) church in Otis Orchards, and we were definitely out of place (too young for the demographic). I recognized several people there, but since they were “out of context” I couldn’t remember where I knew any of them from. I think the one woman works at the local gas station, but I thought that of a second woman until I ran into her at Target this evening. Not that they’d recognize me–I’m the Ultimate Generic Caucasian Woman–really–I look like someone you know, or your cousin, or an old friend. I’m of medium height, have mousy brown hair (that’s rapidly turning silver, and is therefore even more mousy), and I have no distinguishing features. Continue reading →

Life Center Foursquare Church is a “mega church” on Spokane’s west side. We attended the third (evening) service Sunday evening. The pastor guesstimated there were 1200 in attendance. The worship team/rock band consisted of 8 members: three singers, two guitarists, a pianist, a bass player, and a drummer. The congregation was demographically young, and Michael guessed that close to 50% of the people were under 30–lots of teens and 20-somethings. I don’t know if the earlier services draw older folks or not, and the parking lot was particularly treacherous as Spokane went into full meltdown this week, with cold clear nights that portend black ice all around. Continue reading →

One of the most striking things about the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church’s bulletin is that it contains no information regarding the service, beyond one scriptural reference–Galatians 3:6–and the pastor’s name. There were no hymn numbers, no order of service, no sermon title . . . nothing to guide a visitor through the service. They used a power point projection for most of the songs we sang, which were also found in the two hymnals in the pew. There was also a copy of

The New Testament: A Marked Edition–see page 140

which was a Souvenir Edition from the 1984 Summer Games, Los Angeles, CA. It was a KJV version by Bearing Precious Seed of Lock Haven Baptist Church. This was curious, as we watched this church building being built through the summer of 2005. How these copies of the NT made their way up the coast over the last quarter of a century, I haven’t a clue. They were light blue paper back copies in good condition. Continue reading →

While writing about Abston Church of Christ, my friend Teresa IM’d me, and suggested I watch the “Quest Preview” sermon from Southside Christian Church on Spokane’s south hill. Technically, this is the sermon from 13 January 2008, but since Teresa watched it today, and I watched it today . . . it’s part of this week’s report. Continue reading →

We’re snowed in this morning, with about 9″ of accumulation, snow still falling, a heavy snow advisory under effect, police on both sides of the border telling people to stay home unless they absolutely must go out, and the folks got a call from their church (see Week 2), saying they were cancelled for this morning. It’s quite something when a church like Foothills Community cancels, as most of the people who attend there live up here in the woods, are pretty stalwart, and drive 4WD vehicles. Continue reading →

Jen is off in Las Vegas this week, so rather than leave folks hanging, I thought I’d compose an “interim post.” No doubt she will have her own report to write upon her return. Continue reading →

Foothills Community Church is 6.2 miles from our house, making it the closest church to our house. We never considered attending there, as we’ve considered ourselves Episcopalians since our confirmation in the mid-1990s. My parents are new attendees there, and attend the 8:15am service, and our good friends the Baldwinis*, finding themselves on the other side of town, in an urban setting, are in the process of leaving. Some years back, when the Baldwinis* were new to town, and searching for a faith community, we invited them to our church, then ECOR, an invitation they accepted with some reluctance, in case they didn’t like it, and we didn’t want to be friends with them any longer. But I assured the entire Baldwini* clan that we would certainly like them, whether or not ECOR ended up being the church for them. Continue reading →

[singlepic=1,320,240,,]
This is a picture of me, drawn by my friend Willow this morning. Willow’s five, and she and her brothers often sit with us at ECOR, because her parents are in the choir. She informs me that it is a picture of me in my brown dress. The actual dress is not see-through, and if it were, you’d notice that my legs and arms are fatter than pictured here, though she got the torso pretty much spot-on. Continue reading →