Welcome to Laurelwood's Annual Report!
This report will be best viewed on a regular monitor but if you are looking at it on your phone you will want to view it in landscape (wide) for the best experience.
State of the Church
Dear Laurelwood family,
Time flies when you’re having fun. I have enjoyed being your interim this past year. I have also been encouraged by the excellent financial support of Laurelwood and it’s ministries. Your continued service in the ministry here puts Laurelwood in the place where Pastor next will look favorably on what God is doing in spite of the two major transitions: losing the much-loved Pastor Mike and all the Covid related issues.
We should thank God for our church staff. Pastor Kevin is the can-do guy and has been a great asset to me. I love how he leads worship. Sam Halstead has been doing a good job as interim youth pastor. Young people have come to Christ, and two were recently baptized. John Rawson has put much life into our children’s ministry. The soccer camps are outstanding. Children look forward to coming to Sunday school and church. Allison DeViney has been vital in our women’s ministry. I have had so many women commend her ministry to me. Debbie Miller and Jana Lewis make so much of the pastoral staff’s ministry possible. They are also a great help to volunteers who ask for assistance.
To have our worship services online is a blessing to those who cannot attend as well as an opportunity for many of my Midwest relatives to hear me preach who have never heard me preach before!
All of our ministry leaders, those who served this past year and those who will serve this coming year, are having an impact.
It was fun to be part of Operation Christmas child. You gave a great response in terms of giving and volunteering. I thank each one of you for your service and your encouragement to one another.
It has been a joy to work with the Search Team. Together they have put hundreds of hours into finding Pastor Next.
It has been my observation that the Laurelwood Elder Council prays more than any group of elders I have ever worked with in the last 50 years. But they do more than pray, they set the boundaries by monitoring both finances and policies. Gibran deserves a special thank you as he serves as both an Elder and on the Search Team.
Let me list some of the Laurelwood’s strengths that I have shared with several potential pastors:
- Strong family values and heritage
- Godly leaders
- Many small groups in place
- Women’s Bible studies (especially strong)
- Men’s Bible studies
- Strong adult Sunday Bible Classes
- Good Children’s ministry and summer programs (Soccer)
- Good mid-week children’s and youth programs
- Elder council is younger than most churches
One of the reasons that Laurelwood is healthy is because of the excellent direction from Laurelwood’s purpose, vision, and mission statements.
- Our Purpose – We aspire to be a community who finds more joy being for something – loving God, loving people, and making disciples – than being against something. We are all flawed and therefore we want Laurelwood to be a place of grace. Some have been in a church their whole lives; others are just starting to discover where they can encounter God together. We are family through the best of times as well as the worst. We’d love for you to become part of our family. We are from all backgrounds. No matter who you are or what journey you’re on, there is a place for you here at Laurelwood.
- Our Mission – Love God. Love People. Make Disciples.
- Our Vision – Following Jesus Together
Serving Christ together,
Interim Pastor Dennis Beatty
Worship
by Pastor Kevin Kruse
After another year of navigating Covid protocols and being flexible in an ever-changing environment, it feels like things are settling into a good rhythm in our Worship Services. We are back to a regular rotation of four unique worship teams. Additionally, the increased need for a production team has created more opportunities for non-musicians to serve.
This year, the worship teams started taking our Tuesday practice time and using the beginning to pray and plan the songs for Sunday. It has been a very beneficial and engaging process for our Worship Ministry to be involved in the planning, and has created a more integrated Sunday Worship gathering.
After 10 years of having our old projector system, we upgraded to HD digital projectors that are much brighter and much more clear. This new setup now allows us to show higher quality videos and has been helpful for those on stage to be able to see the screen in the back.
Men's Ministry
by Doug Goostree
Men’s Retreat at Ocean Park, WA
Dr. John Wecks led our “Air Force Fighter Squadron” of 12 men in 4 sessions over a Friday night through Sunday morning coastal retreat entitled “God’s Strategies for Life’s Battles.”
- Session 1: WE CAN WIN THE WAR WITHIN! (Destroying Mind Fortresses)
- Session 2. A Powerful Weapon in the Hands of Each Man (Prayer)
- Session 3. Straight Talk on God’s Will for Your Sexual Life (Purity)
- Session 4. How We Protect Ourselves From Unseen Enemies (the Armor of God)
Men’s Breakfasts & Youth BBQs
- We had 7 breakfasts averaging 25 men each
- We had 2 Evening BBQs with the Youth Ministry
Church Work Days
- In conjunction with the Trustee Board, the men of LBC sponsored 1 workday in the summer and 1 in the fall.
- Our men showed up to help members when needed such as the time 5 helped a widow with her property clean-up.
Men’s Studies
Meeting both on Wednesday mornings and Thursday evenings we went through the entire 6 book 33 series of Authentic Manhood, a series “Stepping Up “ By Dennis Rainey, and other shorter topics further challenging men to be men in their responsibilities to God, family, church and community. We averaged a combined 10 to 12 men each week.
Women's Ministry
by Allison DeViney
Women's Ministry has had an exciting year! With the disruption COVID caused to our regular ministry, we took a step back and evaluated what we were doing and what was needed for even greater ministry for the future. We re-started regular in-person ministry in September and God blessed us with an amazing year!
Over 160 women have attended at least one of our First Friday evenings. Among those attending were not only our own women, but friends and neighbors as well. We were blessed to hear from many of our own Laurelwood women, some who spoke in front of a large audience for the first time!
We continued offering our Women's Bible Studies, increasing from three classes to four with approximately 40 in attendance.
Our Fall retreat was attended by 22 women and we had one accept Jesus during the last speaker session!
Forty-eight women have regularly served in Women's Ministry this past year.
We are so excited that we are able to meet again! Post Covid restrictions, we were able to host our Annual Picnic and our Christmas Luncheon.
Other events included a hymn sing and a special lunch time to hear from Freedom House Ministries. This year we also kicked off a Freedom House Giving Tree.
Youth's Ministry
by Sam Halstead
As Laurelwood is in a period of transition, Laurelwood’s Youths’ Ministry has been no exception. One major transition that we have undergone is the transition from Luke Jech to Sam Halstead. Luke felt God’s calling to pursue micro-church/house-church ministry, meaning his time at Laurelwood was complete. Sam has since taken over at an interim level and continues to run the ministry as Youths’ ministry.
In the midst of transition, some major events have taken place. A couple of these events have been Laurelwood specific retreats. For the first time in recent memory, Laurelwood did it’s own high school summer retreat. During the retreat, we focused on spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude, giving your emotions to God, and being students of scripture. Also for the first time in recent memory, Laurelwood had a combined middle school and high school retreat. The theme of the week was Fellowship, and we unpacked the book of 1 John. We talked about the need for fellowship with God and fellow believers as well as what does it look like to be in fellowship with people who are not like you.
We had a large group of seniors graduate out of Laurelwood’s Youths’ ministry. Fortunately, four of these graduated seniors started serving as volunteers in the Youths’ Ministry. We also had a large class of 6th graders join our group. They have brought lots of energy and new perspectives to our group.
Finally, we have made a transition to a different teaching style in Youths’ ministry. Under the tutelage of Bill and Bobbie Trenckmann (former youth pastor and current missionaries of Laurelwood), we have begun a discussion based style of teaching. We take passages of scripture and share our thoughts, interpretations, and applications that we see in the passage while also tracking a major theme. Bill and Bobbie instill background knowledge into the discussion facilitators to ensure that students come away with accurate understandings and interpretations of God and scripture. On Wednesday nights, students are being encouraged to think about and wrestle with truths about their identity, their self-worth, and the context of living in the kingdom of light vs the kingdom of darkness. In Sunday school, they have been studying the life of Christ and proofs of His deity.
by John Rawson
This past year saw the following:
Video aired immediately after camp last year (2021) so complete numbers were not available yet (see below for numbers) and any future dates mentioned have already past.
- The “More than G.O.L.D.” Soccer Camp, with 64 children and 30 volunteers
- Club 66 with another outstanding year from Leng Halstead and her team.
- The re-opening of Kids Worship classes after the covid shut down period.
- The opening of “The Kids Store”. Children receive coins for respecting their teachers, each other, and the building. This positive reinforcement has led to a better teaching environment, and a lot of excitement from the kids.
- We continue with Special events, putting on our 2nd Trunk ‘n Treat, our 2nd Journey to the Cross, and our first Spiritual Birthday Party.
Adult Bible Classes
by John Wecks
Praise the Lord for a year that included the following men on our Leader Team: Scott DeViney, Paul Lantz, and Josh Espassandin as our Elder Representative. When Don Wiens passed away we lost a valuable leader.
This year we came out of shut-down of in-person classes, we were able to offer classes in person in the Fall. These included Romans Part 1, "Grace-Based Grandparenting" Bill & Becky Doel with Don & Jan Wiens.
Different Bible classes for adults were offered in Spring 2022 - Romans 9-16 taught by John Wecks, Suffering: Receiving God's Comfort taught by Mr. Lynn Ruark, and Discover Laurelwood! by Scott & Allison DeViney, and finally a class on Prayer co-taught by Bob Skoubo and Scott DeViney.
After Easter, Paul Lantz taught Nehemiah.
Scott DeViney agreed to be in-charge of the Rediscovery Series classes and has done an excellent job.
Community Groups
by Crista Hagan
Ten Community Groups formed and met regularly for fellowship, mutual encouragement, and Bible study. This included a small cohort of four collaborating groups who studied and applied the Gospel of John. These ten groups encompassed approximately 115 LBC members and regular attenders and a dozen or more non-LBC members.
The Community Group leaders met 3 times this year for training, encouragement, celebrating "wins" and trouble-shooting some problems and hang-ups. These check-in gatherings provided ample opportunity for the community group leaders to stay on track with one another in supporting the mission of LBC, to love God, love people, and make disciples, and to learn from one another's successes and difficulties.
Many of our community groups worked together, within and across groups, to meet needs through service in our church (Trunk 'n' Treat in October) and in our community (Adopt-a-Room at Open House Ministries in April). These service activities strengthened group bonds, within and across groups, built up the body of Christ at Laurelwood, and gave participants opportunity to put their faith into action through loving acts of service.
Our Gospel of John "cohort" of groups practiced intentional application of God's Word through assigned "tasks", which included individual tasks (like writing a "60 second Gospel" and a short (3 or 8-minute) testimony) and group tasks (like serving in the church or community). These tasks helped participants' faith develop as they prepared for opportunities to share the Gospel, in word and deed, with people in their spheres of influence.
Outreach
by Scott DeViney
This last year, COVID continued to be a factor affecting not only our church but also our missionaries. However, all 9 of our supported missionaries and organizations continued to do fruitful ministry in the name of Jesus. Like us, they were challenged to do ministry in different ways to adapt and innovate. Some of the many highlights included:
- Phil Ball's coaching team at the National Network of Youth Ministries trained 80 network leaders online and have seen growth in their youth ministry networks which continued meeting both in person and on Zoom.
- Josiah Venture hosted numerous online training events and conferences, including one of their largest ever that reached over 1,000 key leaders in 16 countries.
- Marriage Team continued coaching couples and training coaches in person and online, which has been extending the reach of their ministry during a time when it is needed more than ever. They also started partnering with Family Life and Communio this last year.
- In November, Laurelwood packed 783 shoeboxes as a church for Operation Christmas Child!
- Our church also gave a special offering to Josiah Venture's Ukraine Relief Effort - $8,047.50. Josiah Venture has been responding to the war and crisis in Ukraine with the gospel message and practical help, including over 5,500 Ukrainians transported out of active warzones, over 540 tons of food and supplies sent, and over 75,000 copies of special devotionals and gospel booklets shared.
We also had some changes in mission support this year. After over 40 years of ministry in Italy with World Venture, Doug & Dee Valenzuela retired from this service and are beginning a new chapter of ministry in the States. We are looking forward to beginning support for Claire Patty in the next year, who has been faithfully serving with her parents (former Laurelwood members and currently supported missionaries Dave & Connie Patty) with Josiah Venture in the Czech Republic.
Treasurer Report
by Gibran Braithwaite
We have once again ended the year with a General Fund surplus! Even though congregational giving to the General Fund was under what was anticipated, the ministry leaders displayed responsible spending. Giving to the Benevolent Fund has remained generous. Despite the global economic challenges, Laurelwood has been unhindered in its ability to pursue gospel centered ministry and is in a great position to welcome a new Senior Pastor! Through God's blessing, the attendees, and members of Laurelwood gifted almost $750,000 toward the General Fund, our Building Project, and Benevolent Fund. Let us continue to pray for God's guidance and wisdom on how to make more disciples in our community and around the world.
Caring Team
by Paul Lantz
Caring Team touched every aspect of Body Life by ministering through celebrations of:
Body Life — wedding, receptions, memorial services
Worship Service — communions & baptisms
Fellowship — social events, special meals, hospital visits
Mercy — Marital & financial aid and coaching
We continue to be blessed by a Church that continually seeks to look after its own. The Laurelwood Benevolent Fund was able to disburse $15,350 toward emergency needs of the Church body. In addition, the Caring Team beautifully supported six major Memorial Services for departed members, despite limitations placed on us by the COVID virus. The Social Committee faithfully supported multiple Church ministries with food and beverages, adding a wonderful touch to the fellowship of the Saints. We look forward to expanding our Caring Team ministries in the coming year as we continue to recover from the virus shutdown and welcome in Pastor Next.
Facilities
by John Crawford
The Laurelwood Campus
- 5 Acres – Clark Co. assessment = $2.8M
- Over 50 trees
- Over 90 shrubs
- 80,000 SF of lawn
- 30 zone sprinkler system
- 200 parking spaces
- 109,000 SF of pavement
- 4 Buildings – Age of buildings ranges from 1974 to 2006 (Worship Center remodeled in 2017)
- 34 windows
- 850 feet of gutter
- 16 downspouts
- 16 Toilets
- 13 Sinks
Annual facilities Budget is $150,000 (Includes Taxes, Utilities, Mortgage, etc.)
What does it take to maintain a 5-acre campus? A faithful team of amazing volunteers led by John Crawford!
The Volunteers
- Weekly volunteer work force of 3 – 7 people spend Wednesdays (9:00 – 2:30) fixing stuff.
- Bob & Sue DeViney, Trent O’Neal, Ken Crays, Henry Green often work other weekdays and Saturdays maintaining the garden beds, lawns and parking lots.
- Annual repair/replacement expenses typically run $15,000.
- Annual savings due to volunteer workers is $25,00 - $40,000 (depending on Projects).
- Cost savings due to upgraded LED lighting, Digital Thermostats, Improved Drainage.
- All new campus network & security camera systems.
- Remodeled & upgraded Children's Ministry rooms.
Clerk Report
by Rebecca Lundahl
Total active membership as of June 1, 2021: 218
Total active membership as of May 31, 2022: 177
Gains
- By statement of faith: 2
Losses
- by moving/attending elsewhere: 41
- by death: 2
Baptisms: 0