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Published on Monday, 02 February 2009 16:11
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Sandy Church's "attitude of gratitude" celebrated in local news


The East County Gazette ran a great column featuring a way that Sandy Church of the Nazarene is doing its best to become "a grateful community" and the difference they are making.  You can read the column here.  Pastor Jamie Snodgrass and two of the church members were also singled out as demonstrating true humility.  Thank you, Sandy Church for your involvement in your community and shining the light of Jesus from your place on the hill.

 

Resurrection Sunday reports from around the district

 

From Crow Applegate- Pastor Scott Simons: Our Easter attendance was 146 (Sunrise service and morning worship), with several first-time visitors.

Favorite story - Last year we had a man named Oscar Watts who was led by the Lord to come up to the church for support after his wife of 61 years passed away last March 24. I prayed with him and met with him several times for grief counseling, encouraging him to attend church to have a community of support around him. He did start attending Sunday services and men's Bible study, and became a member of our church last November. This spring he began bringing his daughter Margie with him to church. She had lost a 2-year old 30 years ago to illness, and now her mom a year ago. A few weeks ago the message of the sermon really spoke to her, and she wanted to make a recommitment to the Lord. She did this by being baptized on Easter Sunday during the service, and shared a beautiful testimony of the renewal of her faith and restored hope. We thank God for the honor of sharing this moment with her!

 

From Lakeview- Pastor Stace Andrews: We had 48 for Easter service in Lakeview and I spoke at the community sunrise service of about 60.

 

From Tillamook- Pastor Sid Sever: We had 401 in attendance. A great service in which we debuted our recently formed children’s choir, they did a fantastic job. I know of two individuals who accepted Christ.

 

From Keizer Open Gate- Dallas Yetter: 82 in attendance.  23 came forward for asking the death of sin to die in whatever aspect of their lives it had taken root, and that death be given to God in resurrection power.  There was a 15 minute play by the children's department about the Good Shepherd, excellently led by our Drama Troupe leader.


From Seaside Welcome Home- Pastor Mark Watt: On Wednesday evening we had 30 people in attendance and we had 38 in our Easter services over the weekend.  More importantly we had ten people during the week turn their lives over to God!  It was an amazing service on Wednesday night that bled over into our Saturday evening service and Sunday Morning celebration!  GOD IS ALIVE! was the theme of our Easter week.  The messages on Palm Sunday and Easter morning were well received and people's lives were changed!  It was an exciting week for us at Welcome Home.


From Corvallis Life Community Church- Pastor Dale Butler: We had 73 on Good Friday, 300 for our Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, and 184 on Easter Sunday morning.

 

From Sandy- Pastor Jamie Snodgrass: Resurrection Sunday attendance:  152 and one very large chicken.  12 prayed to receive Christ as Savior.  Barabbas was set free, and many were set free from sin by the blood of Christ and the power of the resurrection.

 

From Sisters- Pastor Chuck Perry: The Lord really blew us away this Easter.  We have been having some great services and the Spirit of the Lord has been powerful during this Easter season.  We had commitment cards to pray for individual people to come Easter Sunday and prayed like crazy over them.  I was hearing reports that a number of the people who were being invited were not able to come.  I had several of our regulars who were going to be gone Easter Sunday seeing their kids and family.  I wanted to believe that God was going to send us some new people, but some of the feed back going into Sunday was discouraging.  My message was "Did Jesus really die and raise from the dead?"  We will do a CSI investigation on the evidence.  This was in the Nugget (our Sisters weekly paper).  We had a free pancake breakfast, followed by the service and then an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  On Palm Sunday we had 35 people in attendance.  On Easter Sunday we had 110!  This included 15 kids and our make up for the service included a number of families who don't attend any where else.  The message went well as I helped the skeptics and seekers deal with the evidence and equipped the believers with vital information about the resurrection.  We are following up on those that we have information on.  It was a great day and we are praying for many more.

 

From Silverton- Pastor Dominic Carlow: It is a joy to report that Silverton COTN had 138 in attendance on Easter Sunday. The service centered around the personal testimonies of those who, 2,000 years later, have also, “Seen the Lord,” as Mary Magdelene did on Resurrection Morning. We had four baptisms, three of which were recent converts to the faith, and one of which came to Christ that morning! Of those in attendance, 40 were “guests,” of which roughly 30 are people with a growing connection to SCN through outreach efforts, family, and friendships, and 10 were first-time visitors, but also have substantial relational connections with the existing fellowship. This affirms our belief that people come to know Christ and His Church through relationships and encourages us as we seek to draw them ever deeper into a solid relationship with our Lord and His people. We are trusting that Christ will merge these new lives with our own in the days, weeks, and months ahead.


From Rose City- Pastor Dan Waits: We baptized 4 people on Easter, total worship attendance was 70, and we brought in 6 new members, all but one by profession of faith.


From Dallas New Life Fellowship- Pastors Kerry and Marcie Lumley: We had a wonderful, miraculous Sunday! We had 30 regular attenders and 46 guests, for a total attendance of 76! 8 people raised their hands to indicate they accepted Christ as Savior. Several of our people worked hard, invited many, and their friends, neighbors, and family responded. Even 2 of the church's new neighbors came, invited by the man who mows the church's lawn! Most of those guests live in the area and will be visited and followed up on. One family who's been in crisis mode for months walked in together -- the entire family!!! -- and our spirit did a happy dance we could hardly contain!


From Ashland Gracepoint- Pastor Jim Curty: We had 170 in attendance! LOTS of guests and some who returned to church after a very long time... 4-5 years. It was inspiring to watch people visit during our brunch and then having a full house... with excited folks singing great music and responding to the Word... just an awesome time! We're certainly doing our best to follow up and praying for lots of those folks to return!

 

From Gladstone- Pastor Larry Bingham: Our average attendance is usually around 55-60. On Easter Sunday we had 113! It was a great day of fellowship and celebration and remembering that we serve a God who loves to give second chances.

 

From Eagle Point Church on the Hill- Pastor Kim Linder: On Saturday we had the privilege to serve nearly 300 cups of coffee and hot chocolate at the EP Community Easter Egg Hunt. After 30 hours of continuous prayer (with an emphasis on praying for lost and broken people and the more than 100 people who were invited over the 4 weeks prior) we were encouraged to see God bless us with 114 for Easter services, with nearly 30 children in attendance. PTL! I have heard many encouraging reports. Now we are praying for returning guests. 

 

From McMinnville Church on the Hill- Pastor Jerry Moen: For Easter Sunday we had 1989 in attendance in 4 services. For Good Friday we had 487 in one service and baptized 11 new believers. Easter weekend total – 2,476. We had 18 people accept the Lord as savior, 35 said they would continue to explore the claims of Christ, 38 rededicated their life to Christ, and 93 committed to taking their relationship with Christ to a deeper level. It was a great weekend here in McMinnville.

 

From Eugene First- Pastor Les Moore: We at Eugene First did 3 services at the church itself (as opposed to last year at a different venue in one service) and had an attendance of 991. The theme of the celebration was “The Healing Power of the Cross” featuring a full pageantry, orchestra and choir. We took time after each service to call people forward for accepting Christ and being anointed for healing. There were a number who accepted Christ as personal savior and dozens anointed for healing.

 

From Myrtle Point Freedom Fellowship- Pastor Wayne Harmon: Myrtle Point Church was full with 55 in attendance; there were three new families. These have been called on and perhaps we will see them on a regular basis.

 

From Bay Area- Pastor Ron Halvorson: We exceeded our goal of 444 people by 7 (451 total), served 226 people Easter Breakfast before our service, and had 11 people raise their hands at the close of the service to ask for prayer for spiritual needs after sharing a simple message of hope and an invitation.

 

From Creswell- Pastor Stacey Hanson: We had a goal of 112 for Easter morning service- that's double our yearly average. We had 108 in attendance so we fell short by 4 people. However that is three more than we had last year, which is more than most anyone can remember for a single service in a long time. It was a great service and many of the new people were young families and we made a lot of good contacts.

 

From Prospect- Pastor Dennis Mortimore: The Prospect Church joined with three other churches within our community to have a special Easter Praise Celebration at the local school auditorium. We had 110 people attend the service and it was a great success. Following the service we had a small dinner by invitation only. We selected people who were not attending any of the churches and families in need, as well as single people who had no place to go. Because of the service two families tell us they are going to start coming to our church. We have a normal attendance of 12-14 adults on Sunday; for this service we were able to count 28 for our church. It has been exciting as we become more involved in our community and I believe the door is finally beginning to open for us.

 

From Portland Southeast Community- Pastor Rodney Bertholet: We had a super Easter service. The music was supreme, the message was good and the fellowship awesome, but the best was the time all spent with the Holy Spirit!!! Attendance was 100. After the service we all went to the fellowship hall and had breakfast together. A truly great day!

 

From Salem South- Pastor Chris May: We had 282 for Easter morning service. PTL! That is about 120 more than our recent average. I baptized one on Sunday evening.

 

From Brookings- Pastor Rick Green: Our total Easter attendance was 528. Saturday and Sunday evenings we presented an Easter music/drama program that combined had 282 in attendance. (not included in the Sunday morning worship attendance.) I had fun doing a live painting presentation during part of the performance—you can find a video of said presentation on my Facebook page. Following both morning services we had a number of people raise their hands indicating that they were receiving Jesus as their savior. One in particular was touching. One of our youth has been talking to a girl in her school about Jesus. She told him that she was into witchcraft. Two Sundays ago, this youth, Donnie, walked to church in the rain for the 8:30 service and stayed for Sunday School and the 11 am service. On Easter her dad gave her a ride, coming to both services again. In the first service she made no indication of accepting Jesus, but then, in the second service, with her friend's hand on her shoulder, she raised her hand indicating she believed in Jesus' resurrection. I was tearful when I saw her.

 

From Salem Oasis- Pastor Keith Ritter: 259 for Oasis. It was a great morning. Praise God.

 

From Albany Grace Point- Pastor Don Bergland: The attendance on Easter Sunday was 299. Personally I think they forgot to count me. (smile) Or maybe someone was hiding under a chair or in the bathroom. Bottom line it was a good Sunday with 7 people committing their lives to Christ for the first time. We had about 57 first time or returning visitors. Best of all was our first ever Easter Egg hunt on our property on Saturday. It was a huge success with many of the 500 attenders walking in from the neighborhood. Everyone loved it and it didn’t even rain. My favorite story (though I have more) has to be about a mom and her child that came to the last two Backyard BBQ’s of the summer. Her life is a mess. She is a single mom and although she shared with me some of her brokenness, she never made it to church. We lost touch with her because we never got her full name and address. Well at the Easter egg hunt she showed up again with her son. We talked briefly, I watched some of our young moms invite her to our moms club and church and… she was there Sunday morning chasing her son out the door at the end of the service. And now we have her name and address. God is so good. Saturday we realized how important it is that we wade through the paperwork and get busy building our new building.

 

From Lincoln City- Pastor Kelli Westmark: We had 42 for Easter.  Every day is a miracle here in Lincoln City!


More from Lincoln City...  from Pastor Kelli: "What a huge blessing it was to have Northwest Nazarene Universty's Bella Voce women's choir and University Men's Choir come to Lincoln City!  With their HUGE servants' hearts, they painted the sanctuary, cleaned and organized every room in the church, fully supplied our nursery, held an Easter egg hunt, and more.  We are BLESSED!


From Roseburg Church on the Rise- Pastor Mark Bodenstab: We had 386 for Easter Sunday “Friend Day” at Church on the Rise with over 30 raising their hands to “Say YES to Jesus”. Praise God!


From Portland Koinonia- Pastor Nick Mucci: 44! Easter egg hunt, dinner, Gospel shared.


From Sheridan- Pastor Monte Wing: We had 120 - with a number of new faces.  We had the drama "The Empty Tomb", plus an early morning free pancake breakfast and an Easter egg hunt after service.


From Springfield First- Pastor John Hanna: We had a wonderful Easter worship service as part of our Awesome April emphasis. We had 120 in attendance as well as giving out the Faithful Attendance Award to 18 people who didn't miss a single Sunday of church between Christmas Day 2011 and Resurrection Sunday 2012.

 

From Woodburn Soul’s Harbor- Pastor Will Robertson: We had 119 in attendance (!) and 2 new births!  Praise the Lord!!


From Hood River- Pastor Joel and Mindy Alsworth: Attendance: 116.  I person came to Christ and a few others asking for further prayer.  We also helped sponsor a community Easter egg hunt with 16 other churches here in HR.  We had some guests on Sunday because of the Easter egg hunt on Saturday!  

 

From Molalla- Pastor Max Jetton: Molalla is rejoicing in the afterglow of a glorious Easter weekend. We had 150 in our first Seder Saturday evening. Next year we hope to have two of these Passover Dinners with a Christian reinterpretation and invite more of the community to celebrate with us. Sunday morning we had over 350 join us for a drama/musical "One Glorious Day" written by our own Missie Miller. It was indeed glorious. Many stood to make commitments and renewals of past commitments.

 

From Grand Ronde- Pastor David Crabb: Our Easter attendance was 82 for worship.   Our average for AM worship over the past year has been about 37, so we more than doubled in attendance.


From Klamath Falls Westside Community- Pastor John Kays: We had 52- a Sunday attendance record for us! There were several visitors to follow up with, as well as quite a few fringe folks that came. It was a great day to worship God and give thanks for His power at work in our lives.

 

From Bend Mission- Pastor Brent Hofen: Mission Church had an AWESOME Easter weekend. We had 4 services with about 500 people in attendance. We had 12 brand new commitments to Christ and over 20 renewed their commitment to Christ. There were about 50 first time visitors. We also did a reverse offering and gave $5,000 to the congregation throughout the services in unmarked envelopes. IT WAS AWESOME! People are using their $5, $10, $20, $50, or $100 dollar bills to bless someone else in the name of Jesus Christ! Stories are beginning to flood in as people use the money to minister to someone outside of our church.


From Oakridge- Pastor Randy Johnson: We had a very good Easter service. Our activities for the day were: a community sunrise service at 6:30 with 75-100 in attendance; at 10 am we served a pancake and egg breakfast to about 150 people; our service was at 11 and we had 190 in attendance that celebrated God's power and grace with us; following the service we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Our church donated over 1500 stuffed eggs for the hunt. It was a great day.

 

From Winston- Pastor Cheryl Colby: We had 52 in our morning worship; 11 of these were brand new to our church. We had a beautiful service with the Holy Spirit in attendance. The conversations following our worship were encouraging with many testifying to being blessed and feeling His presence throughout the worship. We are hopeful that most of those visiting will return to worship with us.

 

From Prineville- Pastor Matt Huff: We had an amazing day!  The official count came in at 266- our largest Easter Sunday since I've been here.  Our new service attendance was tripled.  We baptized 5 people, 1 was an on-the-spot decision.  We had 20+ people come forward to accept Christ.  One was special to me.  There is a gentleman named Jay who I have known and been meeting with on a regular basis for at least 3 years.  He and his family rarely come to church and we have spent time talking about salvation and he always admitted to just not being ready to take that step.  Well, his whole family was there on Sunday.  He came forward and then his wife came forward.  I was in awe.  A truly amazing day.

 

From Coquille- Pastor Mike Martin: We had a wonderful Easter service and a great time of Celebrating the Risen Christ! We had 158 people for Easter! We had several new people, a few visitors from out of town, and some returning church families. The Lord was so faithful!