Pastor At Starr Road Baptist Receives Ministerial Ordination

The Rev. Kenneth Hein, pastor of Starr Road Baptist Church in Otis Orchards, was recently ordained as a gospel minister.

Hein, a Spokane native, returned to Spokane last summer and became the Starr Road church’s first full-time pastor since it was founded in 1977.

In 1970, Hein graduated from Washington State University with a degree in chemical engineering and for the following 21 years pursued a career in engineering. In 1991, he enrolled at Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

“About a year and a half before I went into the seminary, my wife (Diane) and I had come to a point where we agreed that that was really what the Lord was leading us to do,” said Hein.

He received his master of divinity degree from the seminary in 1994.

After graduation, he began his ministry at Starr Road Baptist.

In the past year the church’s congregation has grown about 60 percent. And Hein is excited to be part of a burgeoning church.

“I’d like the growth in numbers to continue,” he said.

Mark Danner recently become the church’s music minister. Danner recently finished his master’s degree work in music at Southwestern Seminary.

Pastor installed

The Rev. John Underhill, associate pastor of Valley Fourth Memorial Church, will be installed Sunday as the church’s senior pastor.

Valley Fourth is also the church Underhill attended as a child.

Underhill, a Spokane native, received a degree in economics from Washington State University in 1976. In the late 1970s, he earned a master’s degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary.

From 1984 to 1990, Underhill was at the helm at Springhill Community Bible Church in Reardan, Wash. He was hired as associate pastor at Valley Fourth Memorial Church five years ago.

Until now, his duties included supervising adult ministries. He developed numerous support groups within the congregation.

At 6 p.m., Sunday, an installation service will be held for Underhill at the church’s worship center, 2303 S. Bowdish Road. A reception will follow.

Ground-blessing ceremony

At 9 this morning, Bishop William Skylstad, leader of the Spokane Catholic Diocese, will conduct a ground-blessing ceremony at the construction site of Habitat for Humanity’s 37th housing project, 1519 N. Crestline.

All of Habitat for Humanity’s homes are built by volunteers with much of the money and materials coming from donations.

More than 225 volunteers from several Catholic parishes, along with Habitat for Humanity members, will work together to build the home.

So far, more than $30,000 of the $45,000 needed to fund the project has been raised. There will be a raffle and a drawing today to help the project reach the goal.

For more information about Habitat for Humanity, call 455-1521.

World Prayer Day

The second annual World Day of Prayer occurs Friday.

The purpose of the day is to unite people of all denominations from all over the world in silent prayer.

The event, sponsored by Unity School of Christianity in Unity Village, Mo., will be preceded Thursday night by a candle-lighting ceremony at 11. Flags from 184 countries will be represented at the ceremony.

The prayer vigil begins at midnight.