Salvation Army - Update 1

Majors Mitham and Angela Clement

The Petaluma Corp (church) of the Salvation Army has new co-Pastors, Majors Mitham and Angela Clement.  (See my original post about the Salvation Army - how it is a church, and its history.)  I recently visited the church and met them.

Both Mitham and Angela were born and grew up in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.  Mitham did a lot of spear-fishing there as a kid.  They met in college there.  Angela was involved in the Salvation Army there, and kept asking Mitham to go.  At first, he thought it was part of the military base in the Marshall Islands. Though he said yes, he didn't go.  Angela stopped asking him and started praying.  He went.  Mitham was impressed by how much they put their faith into action - going to the hospitals, going to the homeless, etc.

They married and decided to become Officers in the Salvation Army.  For two years they attended the Salvation Army College for Officer Training at Crestmont in Rancho Palos Verde, California.  Then they were ordained (commissioned) as Lieutenants.  They served for some years at a post in Hawaii.  Their most recent post was in Springfield, Oregon.  Over 18 years, they have risen to the rank of Majors.  They have 3 children: Curtison (25), adopted by Angela from her family before their marriage , serves as a Lieutenant with the Salvation Army in Sacramento.  Christiane (23) remains in Hawaii, while Hamelee (21) lives with them and attends the local junior college.

New Community Center

When I last visited the Salvation Army, they were building a community center on their property.  It is now completed, and I got to tour it.  It houses several offices for their ministries, which frees up rooms in the church for other uses.  They also have a good sized warehouse in the rear where they store food for food distribution, but also for disaster relief.  They also keep many army cots prepared for use should an emergency develop.  The Salvation Army believes in being prepared for disaster relief, and have often provided it when disasters and emergencies arise.

When I last visited, back in 2011, Captains Scott and Barbara Schneider served as co-Pastors.  They left for a new post, and Mike and Rachel Johnson then served as co-Pastors, until June 29th when the Clements arrived.  Salvation Army Officers, with some exceptions, tend to be assigned new posts every  5 years or so.  Anyway, I am rooting for the Clements.  They have a history of taking small congregations and helping them grow.  They already undertook a project to clean out and organize the church.  God bless them.

St. John's Anglican Church - Update 1

St. John's Anglican Church

Since I last visited St. John's Anglican Church, they relocated to 532 S. McDowell (in Petaluma).  They purchased the property some time in June of 2014, transformed the property into a church, and moved in August of that year.

Many in town knew the property as the site of Suzanne's Dance School.  Originally, The Church of Christ of Petaluma built it as their church building.  So it is being returned to being used as a church.

Pastor David Miller reports he is well-pleased with this transition, as well as the congregation.  While they Rented facilities at Lucchessi Community Center, it involved a lot of extra time setting up, and then later, breaking down, the church.  They called this "church in a box."  Owning a facility avoids this.  In addition, they now enjoy being a church in a neighborhood.

While some may say that buying property detracts from the church's mission, David Miller finds just the opposite.  He reports they are spending less on facilities on a monthly basis than when they rented both a meeting facility as well as church offices.

Finally, Pastor David thanks the support of City Ministries through the whole process.  City Ministries is an association of local churches which support each other.

New Life Christian Fellowship (Update 1)

Kevin & Maria Finkbiner
have two sons, Mattie & Landon

In February, 2014, New Life Christian Fellowship appointed a new Lead Pastor, Kevin Finkbiner.  Kevin (35 years old) has now served in that role for just over two years.  In a unique transition, Ron Hunt remains as the Teaching and Mentoring Pastor.  This transition gives room for Ron, as the older pastor, to allow Kevin, as the younger pastor to take the lead while benefiting from Ron's experience.

Kevin comes from Pasadena in Southern California.  He moved up to Sonoma County for his undergraduate studies at Sonoma State University.  InterVarsity Fellowship (a college campus ministry) soon
offered him an internship at their Sonoma State ministry.  He served six years on staff there in leadership.

At some point Kevin began attending New Life and Ron invited him to a position on staff.  Kevin has attended New Life for 14 years now.  Sometime in 2010, Ron announced a plan to transition Kevin into becoming Lead Pastor.

Though Kevin still describes New Life as a seeker-friendly church, he emphasizes the important role of making disciples.  He describes how New Life puts feet to this both every Sunday as well as through life groups (small group meetings), and especially through their core classes, leadership classes, and developing relationships.  Kevin likes to say, "You can belong before you believe."

For some time, Kevin has taken online classes from the Menlo Park campus of Fuller Theological Seminary.  He says by now he roughly has the equivalent of a Bible college degree.

When I visited New Life in 2011, Ron Hunt estimated they had around 500 members.  Kevin now estimates they have an average weekly attendance of around 550.

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Village Baptist Church (Update 1)

3585 Cypress Drive, Petaluma

Back around August of 2015, Village Baptist Church moved from their previous location at Suzanne's Dance School, at 532 S. McDowell in Petaluma, to an office suite at 3835 Cypress Drive, Suite 107, also in Petaluma (almost directly across from the UPS headquarters for Petaluma).  As with an increasing number of churches, they moved into an office building usually used for businesses.  It's in an industrial park in the south side of Petaluma.

Oddly, this move garnered unusual opposition expressed to the City of Petaluma.  I say unusual, since, when I visited, there is no one visible for quite a distance all around.  Some expressed concern they would have large meetings during the workweek, and overwhelm the parking lot, though the church asserted they held no work-hour meetings during the work week.  Eventually, the Planning Commission determined they needed no conditional permit, since the law treated them as a club which needs no conditional permit, and the City Council upheld an appeal of the Planning Commission decision in a unanimous vote.

3585 Cypress Drive
 Backside Main Entrance

I previously posted that Village Baptist Church had their main congregation down in Marin City, in Marin County, and Pastor Akognan would do an early service in Petaluma (since he lives here), and then travel down to Marin City to do a later service.  But since then, around three years ago or so, Village Baptist shut down their Marin City church, and moved all their operations up here in Petaluma.

So in my last post, I reported an attendance of around 20-30, while today, I saw around 60 or so (without counting those caring for children's Sunday school - so I would guess around 70 or so in weekly attendance.)  Some down in Marin City followed the move up to Petaluma.  Others still live in Marin City, but hope to move up here.  The church also hopes to grow up here.  They also hope to improve the lighting in their sanctuary.

It felt good to visit a church where most of the congregation consists of a portion of our society under-represented in Petaluma, but that has contributed so much to our culture.

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Update - Petaluma Christian Church

Jason Baker and family

Petaluma Christian Church engaged a new pastor in September, 2014, Jason Baker.  Jason is married to Leisha, and they have two sons, Evan (5) and Caleb (2).

Pastor Jason last served at East Park Church in Vancouver, Washington, where he began as a Youth/Men's Pastor, advanced to an Associate Pastor, and then served as an Interim Pastor when the Lead Pastor left.

Jason was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and still roots for all the Arizona sports teams.  He attended and graduated from Arizona Christian University.  He then attended Golden Gate Baptist Seminary (mostly attending their Phoenix, Arizona campus).  He earned his Masters of Divinity degree in 2009.

Let's pray for Jason (and his family) as he shepherds the flock at Petaluma Christian Church.

Original post for Petaluma Christian Church

Petaluma United Methodist Church - Update 1

Pastor Burke Owens

The Petaluma United Methodist Church in Petaluma has a new pastor, Burke Owens, who began his ministry in Petaluma this July (2015).  He has a background in growing grapes for wineries, so of course he focused on the rich symbolism in the Bible about vineyards, vines, and grapes, as well as sharing his knowledge of other ancient cultural practices of grape growing for various purposes reaching into our times. He left that background to tend to the local Methodist vineyard here in Petaluma, though he still works part-time in other business related vineyards (a sort of tent-maker).

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360 Church of Petaluma - Update 1

A few years ago, I wrote about a new church - 360 church of Petaluma.
http://visitingchurches.blogspot.com/2011/10/360-church-of-petaluma.html

They have sinced moved from their location at Valley Vista School (at 360 N. Webster St., Petaluma) to 879 Lindsburg Lane (also in Petaluma).  http://360churchofpetaluma.com/contact-us/

As they told me, they first sought to lease this sight.  However, the owner, who also owned North Bay Construction, wanted them to buy the property, which they did for around $5,000,000.  It's a large piece of property, so they lease out most of it to businesses (mostly along the Payran side), which pays for the mortgage, so, as they tell me, they have no mortgage payment.

Meanwhile, they have been renovating the warehouse where they meet.  They have been raising the funds to renovate this space, which they have done in stages, and continue to do in their upstairs Sunday School rooms.  They have raised these funds from their congregation and friends.

Since I last visited them, they have increased their average attendance from about 200 adults on a given Sunday to around 300 or so, with many children in the Sunday school.

I rejoice in their growth both in their membership as well as their property holdings.  May God bless them as they continue to grow.