News From Around the Region
Dr. Charles Revis was invited by First Baptist Church Missoula, MT to lead in a church-wide leadership retreat April 12-13. The event was held outside Missoula at Camp Utmost from Friday evening and Saturday. Dr. Revis presented three sessions on “Becoming a Salt & Light Congregation”, a training series on Evangelism & Outreach. Pastor elect David Lodwig accompanied Dr. Revis and offering devotions. Interim pastor, Bob McQuaid and his wife, Bobbi, designed the retreat and were excellent hosts. David Lodwig has become the new pastor at First Baptist Church starting on May 1 having moved from a campus pastor position at River Rock Church in Vancouver, WA.
Pastor John Morris is the new pastor at FBC Cambridge, ID having started in March of this year. The church held an afternoon Installation Service for Pastor John on Sunday, May 5. Dr. Charles Revis preached the installation message. Other ABC-NW representatives present included Rev. Bruce Young, FBC Boise Senior Pastor and the Search Consultant for the Search Committee; Gail & Jon Bonine from FBC Boise (Gail is the worship pastor at FBC Boise), Clint and Kathy Webb (Clint is the ABC-NW LLC Director), Rev. Duane and Carol Vaughn (Duane is the Senior Pastor at FBC Payette).
Rev. Duane Vaughn is completing two years as the Senior Pastor at FBC Payette. During his short tenure the church’s worship attendance has grown and a significant number of people have been baptized. The church is presently studying ways it can add ministries to reach young families, children and youth in their community. Pastor Duane completed ABC-NW’s process for having his prior ordination recognized. Rev. Clint Webb presented the Certificate of Recognition from ABC-USA to pastor Duane during the morning service on Sunday, May 5th. The church hosted a reception to honor this new milestone in Duane’s long and successful career in ministry.
After an exciting candidating weekend, June 8-10, FBC Sunnyside, WA has called Pastor Tim Pettey to be their new pastor. Sunnyside FBC has been engaged in an exciting journey. A year and a half ago they conducted a church assessment and voted to tackle all of the prescriptions. This led to a major simplification of their governance and operations. They were served by two Intentional Interim Pastors, Dr. Glenn Layne and Rev. David Pietsch, who led the congregation in significant changes in ministry. Dr. Worth Wilson gave expert guidance to the Search Team as they conducted the hard work of calling their next pastor. Great days are ahead for FBC Sunnyside!
The ABC-NW Region Board convened for its Spring meeting on May 9 & 10. President Jim Amend led the Board in finalizing a long list of important Region documents including new Standing Rules and Guiding Principles. Additionally the board worked on a new Personnel Manual, Region Goals and an Intake Form for churches applying for membership with ABC-NW and ABC-USA. These may not be the most exciting things to tackle but are important for organizational health.
FBC Yakima, WA hosted an Installation Service for Pastor Manuel Luquin on Sunday afternoon, April 28th. Rev. Patti Duckworth preached the installation message and Dr. Worth Wilson brought the charge to the pastor and congregation. Worth also served as the Search Consultant for the Search Committee. ABC-NW President Jim Amend and other ABC-NW representatives were in attendance. A wonderful and tasty Fiesta took place afterwards. FBC Yakima is becoming a multi-ethnic congregation having merged both the Hispanic and Anglo congregations.
