Growing church fills new building in Valley

SPOKANE VALLEY – A church still in its toddler years is packing hundreds of people into Sunday services each week on South Barker Road in Spokane Valley. The church building itself is even newer than the congregation; it opened its doors in September.

Founded by some members of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Valley Real Life Church got its start five years ago in the halls of Central Valley High School. Church membership has grown steadily and spiked by 400 additional members when the new building opened. The church, on former farmland in the Saltese Flats area, draws about 1,650 people a week.

The new building, on 48 acres, includes an auditorium for services, classrooms and a room for community meetings. The auditorium easily converts to a gym with basketball hoops and volleyball nets.

Outside, two soccer and football fields are taking shape, as are two baseball fields. There is a playground and a spot for outdoor movies in the summer. “This is supposed to be a parklike environment,” Senior Pastor Matt King said.

The goal is to make the building and grounds available to the community rather than being used once or twice a week. “That’s what we’re supposed to be: a community center,” King said. “Now it gets used every day of the week.”

The land was purchased from the Hepton family, which used to have a large farm. Records from the Spokane County Assessor’s Office list a sale price of $300,000 in 2006. The church building itself cost $8.5 million, for which the church took out a loan. “The price of construction blew this up,” King said.

The church, which has more than a dozen people on staff, is organized into small groups so each member receives attention and spiritual teaching. There are women’s groups, Bible study groups, children’s classes, parenting classes and other options. Many groups meet in members’ homes.

“We are a small-groups church,” King said. “We do stuff that’s fun.”

Nina Culver

Cross country runners clean up Waikiki trails

MEAD – Mead High School’s high-energy cross country runners spend a lot of training time on the trails near Waikiki Springs, running up its hillsides and cruising its flats.

Recently they instead filled plastic bags with trash and recyclables and rolled abandoned tires up the trails as part of the second annual cleanup of the undeveloped property between Mill Road and the Little Spokane River, just blocks from their school.

About 60 students participated in the Oct. 2 cleanup, organized by Waikiki View Ridge Homeowners Association member Marion Severud.

“I think it’s kind of cool that we’re part of making the community better,” said junior Katherine Rahn.

Much of the refuse consisted of beer cans and cigarette butts, but students also found shoes, inflatable rafts, golf balls, clothing, a fishing pole and more, filling several dozen trash bags.

The cross country teams made quick work of the project, joking and singing on their way up and down the hill.

The Waikiki Springs property is a winding collection of woodland paths that culminate at an open, marshy meadow leading to the Little Spokane River. Natural springs emerge from the hillside as bubbling streams.

Most of the property is owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, although students also cleaned up a section of neighboring private property.

The trails are heavily used by joggers, nature lovers and dog walkers. They’ve also seen more than their fair share of drinking parties and illegal camping and fires, said neighbor Ginny Davis.

“It’s terrible. People are leaving trash,” she said.

Lowell Severud said neighbors have been working to keep an eye on the property. The cleanups are making a difference, he said.

“Every year it just got worse, until it got so bad that we had to do something about it,” he said.

Amy Cannata

Proposal eliminates waterfront development

MEDICAL LAKE – Industrial development and multifamily housing wouldn’t be allowed on certain lakeshores in Medical Lake under a proposal that would be the first update of the community’s shoreline master plan in 41 years.

The Medical Lake City Council had its first reading of the new shoreline master plan ordinance Tuesday night.

Planner Glenn Scholten told the council the plan hasn’t been updated by Spokane County since 1967.

The proposal updates the language and eliminates industrial or multifamily uses of the land along the waterfront. Scholten said the plan also preserves private property rights.

A planner who has been working three days a week with the city’s planning commission to finish the shoreline project, Scholten previously presented the updated plan to the City Council at a Sept. 16 public hearing.

The city has jurisdiction over the shorelines of Medical Lake, West Medical Lake and a public ramp at Silver Lake.

Lisa Leinberger