St. Michael’s parishioners and church officials celebrate the consecration of a large addition to the downtown Issaquah church June 19. Contributed

While the congregation sang and prayed, Bishop Gregory Rickel proceeded throughout the two floors, blessing new nurseries, Sunday school classrooms, meeting rooms, the music center and the central gathering area.

A highlight of the morning was the inaugural tolling of an antebellum bell newly installed in the tower.

Construction planning began three years ago with a discussion about facilities needed for realizing the parish mission of “bringing faith to life in the heart of Issaquah.” After working through several creative concepts developed by architect-parishioner Joe Donahou, the congregation held a successful capital campaign and broke ground last fall.

Aedifex Inc., of Seattle, managed the nine-month construction phase while teams of parish volunteers handled the landscaping.

St. Michael’s is well known for charitable outreach into Issaquah and beyond.

When the recession hit in 2009, the congregation organized a series of free Career Connection Issaquah lunches offering professional career consultations to job seekers.

The parish regularly collects staple food items for the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank, and staffs a monthly supper for hungry neighbors at the fire station. Every summer teens organize a Bible camp for farm worker children in the Skagit Valley.

Each December, a Messiah Sing-Along raises funds for Issaquah Community Services, and during the recent program year, a total of $12,400 was raised and distributed for charitable purposes, including drilling a fresh-water well for a Third World village.

St. Michael’s is also well known for its vibrant music program, led by Dr. Jason Anderson, who also directs the Compline Choir at St. Mark’s Cathedral. Anderson is pursuing grant money to found an Issaquah children’s chorus to be housed in the new music center.

If you go

The community is invited to visit St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church any Sunday at 8 or 10 a.m. Find more information about parish programs and people at www.stmichaels-issaquah.org.

Former Issaquah resident Melissa Van Der Wath will give a talk Sunday at Sammamish Presbyterian Church about her experiences in working with the people of South Africa.

The presentation starts at noon. The church is at 22522 N.E. Inglewood Hill Road.

Van Der Wath is in the area this month to spread the word about her work with the Hebron Community Project, an organization started by a family friend in an effort to aid positive change in South African society.

The community of Citrusdal, where she now lives in South Africa, has no electricity, no sewer or drainage, and only three toilets and three taps of running water for about 2,000 people.

Since moving to the area, Van Der Wath said she feels blessed by the support of the people she left behind, especially the involvement of Sammamish Presbyterian Church, where the pastor, Becki Barrett, is a close friend.

Barrett, who refers to the “informal settlements” of Citrusdal as the “politically correct word for squatter camps,” has played a large role in organizing mission trips to South Africa and collecting donations for the Hebron Project.

“For me to know someone and know a credible place where my money goes is valuable,” Barrett said.

Before Issaquah’s Christian Paul McOmber leaves for a two-year mission in South America, he will say goodbye to his friends and the community at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

McOmber plans to spend the next two years in Maceio, a seaside town in eastern Brazil.

“To all the people who have stood by me, or guided me in my path of life, I want them to know that I am leaving on my mission, because I want the people of Brazil to feel the love of my mentors, friends and family through me,” he said in a statement.

McOmber will deliver his farewell sermon from 12:45-2 p.m. Sunday at the church, 922 216th Ave. N.E., Sammamish.

This summer, Our Savior Lutheran Church is putting on the Midweek Community Campfire Series. The campfires are held every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. through Aug. 18 beside the lake at Lake Sammamish State Park.

The church invites all members of the community to join them. There will be hotdogs, s’mores and worship songs at every service.

Associate Pastor Ryan Fletcher said he hopes that the campfires will attract members of the church and nonchurch members alike.

“These are for anyone and everybody,” Fletcher said. “We are really trying to get the word out and get folks from every walk of life. Having it in a public space makes it less about us and our church, and more about the wider community.”

Lake Sammamish State Park was once the location where American Indian tribes held potlatches. Like the church campfires, those potlatch gatherings were focused on community and bringing people together.

Attendance at each campfire service tends to vary. Fletcher said it’s typically from 25-60 people.

Food volunteer Dianne Tanner said that the Wednesday evening gatherings would be especially great for younger couples and families to socialize and meet other people from the Issaquah area.

“They’re great for people who are looking for a relaxing, uplifting thing to do with their families,” Tanner said. “It’s good, clean fun.”

The campfires are put on entirely with the help of volunteers. Fletcher first began the campfire series several years back, and has continued them each year in the summertime.

“He’s a young pastor and he’s innovative,” Tanner said. “He tries to do different things that will encourage all members of the community to participate in Christian fellowship.”

The church has many events planned for the summer, including a day camp for children from Aug. 2-6. More information about the day camp, the Wednesday night campfires and other church events can be found at www.oslcissaquah.org and www.oslcdaycamp.com.

Kirsten Johnson: 392-6434 or isspress@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

McEwen’s first Sunday is Aug. 1, and he will play and direct the 10 a.m. service of Holy Communion, Rite II.

John arrives in the Seattle area from Florida, where he spent 10 years as the music director at Unity Church of Tampa. He has degrees in piano performance pedagogy and music education from the University of South Florida, and a Master of Arts in rehabilitation and mental health counseling.

Good Samaritan is at 1757 244th Ave. N.E., Sammamish.

The Rev. Drahus Oslik is taking over as head pastor at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. ‘I'm absolutely excited to be here,’ he said. By Paige Collins

His goals for the new ministry are to use the congregation’s energy to its fullest, to use his previous experience to bring new ideas and to encourage members to reach out to the community.

Oslik’s first service at Shepherd of the Hills was June 27 and he said he came away from it amazed by the energy of the congregation.

“I couldn’t have wished for a better first morning,” he said.

The church had been without an official pastor since November 2008. The process of finding the right one included the formation of a call committee, determination of the congregation’s priorities and multiple interviews with possible candidates, said Don Benson, a call committee member.

The church’s priorities as determined by the committee were preaching and teaching, the formation of youth ministries and community outreach, Benson said.Committee members interviewed two groups of candidates, without feeling a fit until they met Oslik.

“God led us to who we needed,” Mary Ardissono, church council secretary said.

As a young pastor, only in his sixth year in ministry, Oslik stood out to the committee as someone who could bring new ideas and grow with the congregation, Benson said.

“It was just one of those meetings that fit,” he said.

Born and raised in Slovakia, Oslik worked at a Lutheran church camp in Pennsylvania for multiple summers. It was there that he met his wife, and after the couple lived in Slovakia during his first term as assistant pastor, they moved back to the U.S. Since then, he spent the past three years in a rural conservative town in Pennsylvania, beginning to raise two young children.

Now, Oslik is anxious to see how the more liberal and populated Issaquah compares to his time in Pennsylvania.

“I see a great opportunity to do mission and reach out to the people here,” he said.

Shepherd of the Hills has been around since 1988 and is still a relatively small and forming congregation. Oslik said he sees that as a plus, because it allows for flexibility as he comes in.

One of his biggest goals is to help empower other people to help with the ministry rather than taking charge by himself.

“I don’t need helpers,” he said. “I need colleagues in ministry.”

Youth is an important focus for both Oslik and the congregation. Vacation Bible School at the church will be from 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Aug. 9-13. Children will get lunch and participate in activities, games and Bible study.

Oslik thinks it is very important to reach out to the community and invite new members into the congregation.

“I would like to extend an invitation to the Issaquah community to people looking for a small neighborhood church full of loving, joyful people,” he said. “This is the place for them.”

Oslik will be officially installed by the assistant of the bishop July 25.

Paige Collins: 392-6434 or isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

Woun Kim, a part-time minister with the Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, is helping the Community Church of Issaquah with its outreach program. Contributed

Nestled near the base of Squak Mountain, the parishioners at Community Church of Issaquah grew with a burgeoning community and has seen drastic changes come to a once sleepy, rural town.

They, in turn, have changed with it, bringing daring ministries, like Tent City 4, to Issaquah.

Now, they enter into uncharted territory again. This time, they are trying to find a new congregation to take up their mantel, said interim Rev. Dick Birdsall.

“There are a lot of things that have changed,” he said. “But nothing would make the church’s members happier than to see something new emerge from this building.”

The group has been together for decades — many even helped construct the building in the 1970s. However, the parish’s members are getting older and the number of members is getting smaller. The congregation is now about 50 members, compared to about 300 in the ’70s, Birdsall said.

In addition, Birdsall, who came out of retirement to lead the small congregation last year, is going to leave the church at the end of August.

To cope with the changes, he and his members reached out to other Baptist churches in their organization, the Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches, for ideas and help.

They found support from leadership at Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle and its part-time minister, Woun Kim.“There are so many second- and third-generation Asian families now living here, we thought about making the church more multicultural and eventually, transitioning,” Birdsall said. For church members “it is hard to see their numbers dwindling, because so many of them helped build this church.

“Instead of having this old congregation fade away, we wanted to see something new come from it.”

“As a sister church, JBC will help out by starting bible studies on the Eastside and finding a core group of people to lead them, then inviting new people to join us,” Kim said. “We’re looking forward to partnering with Community Church of Issaquah to start something new that will be beautiful.”

Right now, Kim said he is looking for individuals and families in the area who would like to be part of planning a new congregation, ministries and bible studies in the greater Issaquah area.

They will start by meeting at people’s homes, perhaps coordinating musical talents, but most importantly, getting to know each other by sharing their lives and experiences with God to form a new congregation.

It is a big challenge, he said, but one he is ready and willing to take on.

Kim and Birdsall will monitor the response from the community and the progress of the transition through August. At that time, Issaquah Community Church should have a new pastor and members will know whether the transition plan is being met with acceptance.

Eventually, the two congregations would merge together and a slow transition to a new Japanese Baptist Church would occur, they said.

The church’s regular services are still being held and everyone is welcome at the 11 a.m. worship service on Sundays at the church, 205 Mountain Park Blvd. S.W., Birdsall said.

Get involved

E-mail Woun Kim at wounkim@gmail.com.

Chantelle Lusebrink: 392-6434, ext. 241, or clusebrink@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

Participants of the celebration will help an expert scribe complete the final letters of the scroll.

The Torah scroll, one of the Jewish people’s most sacred objects, has roughly 600,000 handwritten letters. With a feather and special mix for ink, the scribe writes the five books of Moses on roughly 54 pieces of parchment. The average process takes more than a year to produce the beautiful workmanship of a Torah scroll.

When a scroll is completed, it calls for a great celebration by the city greeting it to its new home — the Holy Ark in the Synagogue. All the Torah scrolls join the greeting procession as they accompany the dancing, which begins from the street.

The Chabad of the Central Cascades’ Torah was donated by Mendy and Chanie Fischer, of Brooklyn, N.Y. They will join the celebration.

All are welcome to attend the celebration.

Go to www.ChabadIssaquah.com or call 985-7639.

“They have singing, roasting hot dogs and s’mores, the kids are playing. It’s a very relaxed and social event,” church member Barbara Royce Extract said.

The Rev. Ryan Fletcher, one of the coordinators of the campfires, said the event “is wide open to anybody.” The community campfire allows Issaquah people to socialize together and meet others.

“I just think people like to get to know people in the community,” Extract said.

The campfires are on Sunset Beach at Lake Sammamish State Park, where community members can enjoy the warm summer evenings and watch the picturesque sunset over Lake Sammamish.

“For families with kids, it’s a great way to spend an evening,” Extract said. “Kids can play with kids, adults can talk with adults. It’s a get-to-know-you community event.

“It’s a very simple event with a simple focus.”

The campfires truly represent Issaquah in the summertime, in which the weather is sunny and warm, Lake Sammamish is filled with boaters and swimmers, and people are socializing around a campfire, enjoying each other’s company, and ultimately building up a strong community, Fletcher said.

Reach intern Hunter Deiglmeier at isspress@isspress.com.

Glen Salzman (right), the new pastor for Summit Community Church in Issaquah, poses with his wife Lori and their 1-year-old daughter Pearl. By Alison Ingham

How would Jesus do ministry if he walked in Issaquah today? The new senior pastor of Summit Community Church has posed this question to himself as he plans the church’s role in the community.

The church will welcome Glen Salzman as its senior pastor with a special ceremony Nov. 2. One of the church founders, Monty Wright, will be a guest speaker and formally introduce Salzman to the congregation.

The service will be at 9:30 a.m. at Issaquah Valley Elementary School. A guest band will be featured, and a potluck will follow the service. Anyone who has ever been a part of the church is being invited, along with all community members.

Salzman has been acting as senior pastor for about the last year, but without the official title, said Ray Rose, an elder of the church. During that time, church elders interviewed all members and attendees about who should take over as senior pastor. About 20 families attend.

The elders asked questions about the church, and whether they believed Salzman would be the right person for the job. 

“It was a unanimous decision,” Rose said. “Glen is young and has unique perspectives. He’s a really good fit for the Issaquah valley.”

Salzman has degrees from Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary, where he and his wife Lori met. The two were married in 2003, stored their belongings in Colorado and embarked upon a faith-based road trip, which eventually took them to Gig Harbor. 

The couple stayed with some friends for a few months. A pastor from Fox Island, just south of Gig Harbor, sent Salzman’s resume to the pastor at Summit Community Church, which at the time was Oasis Christian Fellowship. Salzman and his wife went to an interview shortly after, and he was offered a job the next night.  

The couple moved to Issaquah in 2006 after he was hired as associate pastor. 

“We really want to make a difference in the community,” Salzman said. 

Once he officially takes over, he has a plan to reach Issaquah: The first step is to build relationships; the second step is ministry training. 

Salzman said he plans to build up leaders in the church, so that they can work on the third step: group evangelism with their neighbors and community members. One of the main focuses is hospitality. An example is the church’s participation in Salmon Days. The last step would be to multiply the leadership.

One outlet the church has for community and church members is a program called Life Skills, a nonprofit, eight-month course that is covertly God-based. 

“It gets people to the point where they can process their emotions for the first time,” Salzman said. 

It is personal transformations like these that he hopes will take place with the help of God and Summit Community Church. 

“One of our main goals is to have Christ on every block in Issaquah,” he said. “That’s how we’ll know we made a difference.” 

Alison Ingham is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.