Founder’s Grandson Will Speak At Valleyford

For an entire year, Valleyford Community Church’s 65 members have been celebrating the church’s 100th anniversary with visits from former pastors and with other special events. Sunday will be the culmination of the yearlong celebration.

On March 1, 1896, the Rev. Walter Wood began the Enon Baptist Church four miles west of Valleyford.

On Sunday, his grandson, the Rev. Merle Wood of Yakima will preach at the 11 a.m. service. And Walter Wood’s great-granddaughters - Flora Smick of Spokane and Phyllis Yates of Deer Park - will sing.

“It’s interesting how people came out of the woodwork” as the congregation planned and held centennial activities this past year, said the Rev. Larry Haylett, the current pastor.

After Sunday’s service, the congregation will gather for a barbecue and a program in which members will tell what the church has meant to them and how it has affected their lives.

Mabel Anderson of Spokane will be one of the speakers. She is the wife of the late Rev. Herb Anderson, who ministered at Valleyford during the 1950s.

In 1909 the congregations of Enon and First Baptist Church united. Three years later, a new church was built, which was replaced with the present building in the 1950s.

It was also in the ‘50s that the church name was changed. It became a community church and associated with Village Missions, which has supplied its pastors since.

Gospel singer at academy

Gospel singer Steve Darmody will speak during the 11:15 a.m. worship service next Saturday at Upper Columbia Academy in Spangle.

At 7 that night, he will stage a concert at the school.

Darmody has sung on national radio and television, in churches and in community concerts since 1980. He also has performed in Australia, Africa and Canada and has recorded three albums.

Church forms in Coeur d’Alene

The Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers will be celebrated Sunday at the newly formed St. John the Baptist Orthodox Christian Church, meeting in the Coeur d’Alene Realtors Building at Fifth and Lakeside.

The Rev. Gregory Horton, the church’s pastor, says the 6 p.m. service will be the first Triumph of Orthodoxy service celebrated in this area. It’s a historical celebration that dates to the Byzantine Empire.

Members of St. Nicholas and Holy Trinity churches in Spokane will worship with the new congregation. The Rev. Joseph Copeland of Yakima will preach the sermon.

Regular weekend services will be at 5:30 p.m. Saturdays at Rathdrum United Methodist Church and 10 a.m. Sundays at the Realtors Building.

Lecture planned at GU

The Rev. J.J. Mueller, S.J., will deliver Gonzaga University’s 20th annual Flannery Lecture at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Hughes Auditorium on campus.

Mueller, who teaches theology at St. Louis University and works in its historical theology doctoral program, is teaching at GU this year as the Flannery Professor.

The Flannery Lecture is presented annually by an outstanding theologian, a school spokesman said. Mueller’s lecture will be on “Preaching the Gospel Message for the Third Millennium: Challenges and Trajectories for Theology in a Shifting World Context.”

Author will speak at Redeemer

Dr. Foster Cline, co-author of “Parenting With Love and Logic,” will be the guest speaker today at Redeemer Lutheran Church’s Family Life Seminar.

The seminar, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., will be at the church, at Dishman-Mica and University roads.

The event is designed for adults who wish to be better equipped to raise the next generation of children, a church spokesman said.

Cline is an internationally known child psychiatrist, author and lecturer.

For more information, call 926-4826 or 926-6363.

Pullman church expanding

Pullman Presbyterian Church members are undertaking a $1.1 million building and remodeling project at church’s current location, 1630 N.E. Stadium Way.

The project’s centerpiece will be a 4,900-square-foot worship facility adjoining the present building.

“Our vision is to construct the finest facility for worship on the Palouse,” said the Rev. Dan Saperstein, pastor of the 224-member congregation.

The present worship space will be converted into a fellowship hall.

Tan-Heyamoto Architects of Spokane will design the building, which will seat 270 people.

The building campaign has been dubbed “Building a Home for the Spirit.”

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