About Our History
"This is the way, walk in it."
Isaiah 30:21
I never have been one to know ahead of time what God is saying. I
usually hear His voice behind me after I have taken a leap of faith.
It is usually then that God confirms to me that He's been leading.
That's how it happened in April of 1995. After two years of bringing
the issue before the Lord in prayer, I quit my job at Scott Paper
where I had worked for nine years as a production mechanic (among
other things).
I love roller coasters. The wilder the better, in my opinion. I had
no idea, however, exactly how wild the ride can be when you really
give your life away to Jesus.
After leaving Scott Paper, through a miraculous series of events (a
story in itself), I enrolled in Western Seminary. I still had grease
under my nails when I began taking my Theology and Hebrew classes.
The academic life was both challenging and stimulating. One of the
challenges adjusting to a split week: three days in Portland, three
days back home.
After a year of commuting to Portland by train and also taking
classes here at Seattle's extension campus, I decided to move our
family down to Vancouver, WA (just across the river from Portland)
to finish my studies. We rented out our house to a great Christian
family and they took care of our sheep and chickens and our family
dog, Bear.
It was there in Seminary that the Lord led us to Calvary Chapel
Vancouver WA. When we found Calvary Chapel, we found our home. We
felt it the moment we first walked in. Pastor Denny took me under
his wing, met with me every couple of weeks and taught me the
''Calvary way," which is, in a nutshell, ''Love the people and feed
them God's Word." I learned that if I focused on that, God would do
the rest. Healthy sheep will reproduce naturally but my job was to
love them and feed them. I'm not much for agendas and programs, nor
are administrative skills on my list of talents or gifts, but one
thing I knew I could do was to love and feed God's people.
Just as we were finishing up down there at Western, we were praying
about God's direction for us when out of the blue my pastor, Denny
Martinez, received a call from his cousin. On a side note, Denny and
his cousin had not grown up knowing about each other. Through a
series of events that transpired shortly before I met Denny, his
cousin, Pastor Auggie of Calvary Chapel of Camano had been talking
to his grandmother and she said, ''You know you have a cousin who's
a Calvary Chapel pastor also." Auggie looked it up and sure enough,
Denny was on the pastors' list. He got in contact with Denny and
they started getting to know one another.
One afternoon, the Lord put it on Auggie's heart to call Denny.
After they talked for a minute, Auggie asked, ''Do you have anyone
down there who'd like to start a Calvary Chapel up here in
Marysville?'' Auggie's explained that he and his church had been
praying for two years that God would send a couple to start a
Calvary in Marysville.
Denny said, ''As a matter of fact, we do have a couple here who
would like to start a Calvary in Marysville. In fact, they're from
Marysville.''
Auggie said, "Send them up."
So we came home and plugged into Auggie's church. It wasn't long
before he sent us out. In June of 1997 - with three people on loan
from CC Stanwood - we started a Tuesday night home Bible study on
our front lawn. The Tuesday night study was a great time of
fellowship as the group took meals together and worshiped, prayed
and studied Scripture together. The Lord began to bless it and the
group grew. Of course, Shannon can really cook, and I think the
Cabbage Patch soup helped a lot.
Within months, the Bible study grew out of our house and we moved
briefly to a grange in Marysville. The church grew again and God
opened a door for us at a former bingo hall in downtown Marysville.
This move enabled us to begin Sunday morning worship services. This
was a step of faith for us: we had just enough money to get into the
building but no guarantee that we could make the second month's
rent. Two weeks before that rent was due, and finding ourselves $500
short of the amount due, we gathered and prayed. Within two days of
that prayer God provided a check through unusual circumstances in
exactly the amount needed. (Another great story: one of our women
was reunited with her father after 31 years during that first month
in the bingo hall. Turns out, he was quite wealthy, and before he
left, he wrote her a check for $5000. She tithed on that, and the
$500 need was met.) God has continued to bless us since that time by
always providing exactly what we need.
With the sale of that building a year later, God moved us to a small
building at 1059 State. We began with around 30 adults at that time
but within 10 months we had grown to a point where it was necessary
to add a second and then a third service. With our lease due, we
prayed about whether to renew our lease, buy the building or move.
We decided to move into Marysville Middle School where we've been
meeting since February 2000. It has been both wonderful and
challenging to be a mobile church, moving everything in and out each
week. In fall of 2003, the Lord allowed us to buy the Master's Touch
school building for our church office and midweek meetings. It has
truly been a blessing. In the process, the Lord has continued to
bless our fellowship both numerically and, more importantly,
spiritually. People are coming - and turning on to Jesus.
To God be the glory!