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St. Luke Lutheran Church is an
energetic, faithful community called to worship God, walk in the Spirit and
witness to Christ. We welcome all who are looking for meaningful worship,
learning opportunities for children, youth, and adults, and fellowship for all
ages.
We are blessed with the leadership and
ministry of Pastor Jim Johnson, who began his call at St. Luke on January 1,
2001. Since Pastor Jim’s arrival at St. Luke and with his consistent vision for
the future, the congregation has grown in numbers, program opportunities,
staffing and energy. A new multi-purpose building was dedicated on February 26,
2006, and provides space for worship, fellowship and basketball and includes a
youth loft for high school fellowship. Most recently, the Adult Education room
(Genesis Room) was remodeled and the “old” kitchen was completely gutted to
re-emerge as a new, spacious library and modern kitchenette.
The St. Luke staff has grown to support our
ministry, resulting in a current staff as follows:
- Our Church Administrator, Sandy
Randolph, acts as the contact person for questions concerning life at St.
Luke, helps coordinate projects, attends to the financial aspects of the
church and is staff supervisor.
- Debbie Wraspir, our Children’s Ministry
Coordinator, develops St. Luke’s Sunday School and children’s programs, to
include Vacation Bible School, Harvest Fest, the Christmas play, SuperBowl
Sunday, Order of the Acolytes and Deeds of Kindness.
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Tyler Strom, our Youth Director, ministers to our
middle and high school youth. Together they celebrate Christ’s presence in
their lives through youth worship, Bible study, fellowship activities and
service projects. Our middle school youth gather for Confirmation studies on
Wednesday evenings after our mid-week worship service called “The
Connection”. At the same time, our high school youth meet for Youth Group.
Tyler, a group of our youth and some of our parents traveled to Calais,
Maine on a Mission Trip earlier in the summer to help a community struck by
poverty and create a Vacation Bible School experience for the children
there.
- St. Luke has a vision for exciting and
innovative worship, inspired by our Worship Coordinator, Jim Scollard. Our
8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Sunday worship services are more traditional in style
and are lead by organ, piano, instrument ensemble or worship team. These two
services are celebrated in our sanctuary. The 11:10 a.m. contemporary
worship, called Elevation, is lead by our Praise Band, Twelve, and is
celebrated in our multi-purpose facility. During the summer months (June –
August), we have only two worship services at 8:30 and 10:00 Sunday morning.
- Therese Walden, our church Secretary,
creates the monthly St. Luke Newsletter, Sunday’s worship bulletins and
announcement sheets and meets the needs of a busy staff and active
congregation.
- The Volunteer and Program Coordinator
at St. Luke, Suzie Buell, welcomes all to St. Luke, develops small
group ministry
opportunities and helps members find their place in the life and ministry at
St. Luke.
St. Luke holds to a “tradition” that
embraces ministry opportunities. Our vision for the future remains a driving
force for faithful ministry at St. Luke. We invite you to join us in worship and
fellowship at St. Luke. We encourage you to contact Pastor Jim, Therese Walden
(Secretary) or Sandy Randolph (Church Administrator) with any questions.
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Pastors, interns and members of the present
and past have blessed ministry at St. Luke with their gifts and vision. The
vision of a new Lutheran church in north Spokane became a reality on June 6,
1954, under the guidance of mission start pastor, Warren Pechman, with 50
confirmed adults and 42 children. Charter members Oren and Margaret Peterson
and Magna (Patterson) Knaggs are still attending St. Luke today. These first
services were held at a storefront at 10117 Pend Oreille Highway. This is now a
Mexican restaurant on what has become the Newport Highway. The congregation
grew quickly and the members valued their children’s Christian education,
evidenced by the Sunday School growing to 113 students.
Pastor Pechman was here for one year and was
followed by Pastor A. C. Baumgaertner, who confirmed St. Luke’s first three
confirmation students on May 1, 1955. During Pastor Baumgaertner’s ministry
plans were set in motion to build a church, and land was purchased at 9706 North
Division. In the summer of 1959, Pastor Jerald Ferguson came to St. Luke just
in time to move the congregation to Whitworth Elementary School, where worship
was held for the next two years. On May 28, 1961, ground was broken to build the
new church at a cost of $34,000. Construction was completed and worship in the
new sanctuary was held on September 12, 1961.
In 1964, Pastor Dave Angersbach was called
to St. Luke, and during his four-year ministry, he introduced the congregation
to sermons sung to guitar accompaniment. Now, he was an “out of the box”
thinker! Pastor Delmer Anderson followed Pastor Angersbach (1968) and led the
congregation to envision an addition to the existing church. The youth group
continued to be a growing and active ministry. The new addition conceived under
Pastor Anderson’s direction came to fruition with groundbreaking on April 3,
1977. Pastor Anderson had already moved on to another call in 1973 and Pastor
William Waxenberg was leading St. Luke in ministry. Pastor Waxenberg served St.
Luke for six years, during which time the new addition and sanctuary were
dedicated (April 16, 1978) and the congregation grew in numbers and energy.
While many will remember 1980 for the
eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, St. Luke will also remember that during his
ministry here, Pastor Burton Schroeder (1980 - 1985) embraced innovative worship
with the addition of a Chicago Folk Service. After Pastor Schroeder left St.
Luke, we were served by two interim pastors (Pastor C.P. Smith and Pastor Llano
Thielen) before calling Pastor Michael Wiser in 1986. During Pastor Michael’s
time at St. Luke, the congregation grew in size and ministry opportunities.
Children’s and youth ministry continued to be important, and to meet the needs
of a growing number of youth, St. Luke hired Alan Harbine, our first Director of
Youth and Family Ministries. Our high school youth group came to be known as
F.L.Y. (Fellowship of Lutheran Youth) and was active at home and in national
synod events. With the financial and prayerful support of the congregation, our
youth group traveled to distant places to work on mission projects.
By the 1990’s, it was clear that St. Luke
would be blessed by the addition of an associate pastor, and in 1994, Pastor
Karen Bates-Olson was called. Pastor Karen inspired the congregation to new
levels of musicianship, music and innovation in worship. Two children’s choirs
were started and a worship team, now known as Celebrate Grace, had its
beginnings. Alan Harbine left his position and Mark Eastman joined the staff to
work with our youth. In addition, in 1998, St. Luke hired Sandy Randolph as our
bookkeeper. After Pastor Wiser left his ministry at St. Luke (1999), Pastor Ron
Paulson was called as an interim pastor. He served the congregation with Pastor
Bates-Olson through much of 2000. Pastor Karen served St. Luke until her move to
a new call in September 2005.
Our Youth Director, Mark Eastman, left his
position at St. Luke in Spring 2003 and later that year, Patrick Striker joined
the staff and infused our youth program with excitement for fun, in-depth Bible
study and a Mission Trip to Ninilchik, Alaska. Patrick worked in ministry with
St. Luke youth through Spring 2006 and later that summer, Jerry Jones took over
as Youth Director, focusing on preparations for the Summer 2007 Mission Trip to
Bay-St. Louis, Mississippi to help with Hurricane Katrina relief. By Fall 2007,
youth ministry at St. Luke began a transitional time under the vision,
organization and foundational planning of Nancy Skrei. Nancy held the interim
position of Youth Ministry Coordinator until February 2008. From that point
through July 2008, Greg and Annie Albrecht enjoyed fellowship with our youth on
Sundays and during special activities and events. Tyler Strom began his ministry
with St. Luke middle and high school youth in
September 2008.
Come be Part of St. Luke's
Future
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