March 31, 2005

FOCUS ON FAITH: SAINT ANDREW LUTHERAN CHURCH

Holy Rollers

Portable church keeps spirit moving in Almaden

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

On a recent Sunday morning, drivers along Camden Avenue watched a huge rol-ling white trailer now described as Almaden’s first “church on wheels” make its way to Castillero Middle School.

The St. Andrew band: Charlie Parker, Music Director (acoustic guitar); Monika Hayes, vocals; Lee Pardini, keyboard; Colby Pollard, guitar; Kevin Haguchi, drums; and Gus Kambietz, bass.

A few minutes later, the 22-foot trailer pulled up into school’s front parking lot where several members of Saint Andrew Lutheran Church began removing a portable usher and greeter cart, worship and music equipment and classroom materials to begin worship services in the school’s indoor commons.

Within a few minutes, the congregation has helped set up everything to start its one-hour worship service.

The 40-year-old church, formerly located in Blossom Valley, began operating out of the trailer in January after moving out of its former church building, which it sold for $3 million to Almaden’s Chinese Church in Christ.

“We literally roll our church out of this trailer and set it up in half an hour. It’s every bit as practical, useful and worshipful as our church ever was,” said Saint Andrew Lutheran Church Pastor David Johanson. “It’s really amazing.”

Through a process of focusing on the vision and mission of the church, the congregation began to grow through Sunday morning offerings, although not fast enough to be self-supporting. The church also had insufficient financial and human resources to continue to grow under the same worship style and management system.

Eventually the church council chose the portable model.

The church belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America denomination whose regional synod is based in Oakland. The change had the blessing of the denomination’s regional bishop.

Saint Andrew is not associated with the other Almaden Lutheran church, Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, which belongs to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Proceeds from the building’s sale were used to continue funding the church’s mission of “inviting people to faith, equipping people to follow Jesus and serving others through the power of the Holy Spirit.” The church’s mission was created by Pastor David.

Pastor David Johanson, Matt Rasmussen, and Dave Blake, the loading crew.

During a recent interview from the church’s office in Almaden, 35-year-old Pastor David, as he’s commonly known among church members, explained that the portable church model was popular from the 1950s through the 1970s when congregations began meeting in schools until they could afford to buy property. Congregations considered themselves successful once they owned a building.

However, Pastor David added that many denominations have realized that it’s possible to be a successful congregation without owning a building. Many portable churches are learning that leasing a building provides them with the flexibility to survive in a fast-paced and changing world.

Today, there are more than 70,000 portable churches in the country and many don’t ever plan to own property, he added.

With the help of a company called Portable Church Industries that specializes in helping congregations create the look and feel that they want in places like school gyms, Saint Andrew prepared for the change, which serendipitously benefited the Chinese Church in Christ. That church was desperate to find a permanent building to house its English and Mandarin-speaking congregations after renting space from Almaden’s South Hills Community Church for several years.

Saint Andrew put its former building, located at 5805 Cahalan Ave., for sale last October and within a few weeks it received several offers.

A church committee is now responsible for wisely investing the money from the sale of the building’s sale.

Historic overview
Saint Andrew Lutheran Church was established in 1964 as a mission congregation in Blossom Valley. In the 1980s its membership peaked at 120 people, but steadily declined to less than 30 members in 2002.

In 1999, the church sold half of its property to have cash to renovate its old church building, which was 35 years old and badly in need of repairs. Church leaders expected the remodeling to attract new members, which did not happen.

In the spring of 2002, when Pastor David was called to lead Saint Andrew, only 15 people attended Sunday worship services.

The young pastor guided the congregation through a process of redeveloping its ministry which included the creation of a comprehensive vision, mission and strategy for the ailing church, the transformation of the congregation’s culture, changing from a 1950s-style religious institution primarily focused inward to a Christian movement that today tries to reach out to people in the community.

Pastor David is also credited for transforming the church’s worship service from traditional to contemporary with a band and multimedia capabilities.

The changes paid off. In the fall of 2003 the church began to see an increase in the number of visitors. By February of 2003, its average worship service attendance had climbed to 70 percent, or more than 100 percent growth. Average worship services attract about 50-plus people today.

Creating growth required the church to invest in staff and equipment. Church elders hired Christina Bushman as office administrator, Charlie Parker as part-time music director and it also asked Bushman to become a part-time children’s ministry director.

In 2004, the church began to seek creative ways to continue funding its mission. The church’s denomination was willing to provide the church with some funding, but not nearly enough to create a thriving ministry.

The church then considered mortgaging the property, but according to Pastor David after close analysis this looked like a losing proposition.

The nursery cares for children from birth through 2 years of age.

Unwilling to give up on its commitment to reach out to the community, it began to explore the idea of selling the property.

“After prayerful consideration we decided that our mission was more important than our building,” Pastor David said.

In December of 2004, the church began leasing office space at 6489 Camden Ave., coincidently right across the street from the Chinese Church in Christ’s former offices. Pastor David jokes that he swapped places with the congregation that purchased the church’s building.

“It has been an unbelievable experience for the congregation,” Pastor David noted. “There are some old time members who have had a difficult time, but they have just come a long and led the way. When we were in our building we had two or three people who did everything, now there are 15-20 people doing everything from setting up to teaching Sunday school.”

He added: “They (Chinese Church in Christ) were ready to have a building and we needed to get out of one. We needed to turn outward and take a bold step and say we’re not about a building, but about a mission. I see God’s hand in the whole thing. I could not have orchestrated it.”

Christmas Eve, the church held its first worship service at Castillero Middle School.

Pastor David
Pastor David grew up in Andover, Minn. He attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. where he became involved in youth ministry meeting many church youth ministers around the country.

When he graduated, he was offered a position in East Cleveland, Ohio, to develop an inner-city youth ministry in a predominantly African American community. Many of the city’s youth were afflicted by drugs, poverty and poor schools. He went to Cleveland thinking that he had answers and that he could help. The assignment is today credited with what he calls his personal salvation. “I was deeply changed by that experience and my relationship with Jesus was forever transformed. I got way more out of those eight years than what I was able to give,” he said.

Working for the Rev. Dennis Mims, who is recognized for his exceptional pastoral leadership, Pastor David remembers coming to the realization that he was called to become a pastor. Mims’ alma mater was Berkeley’s Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. He began attending seminary there.

His plans to return to Cleveland changed during his last year of seminary when he fell in love with fellow seminarian Rebecca Schlatter. That’s when he accepted the position to pastor Saint Andrew to remain in California to continue to court Schlatter.

Pastor David has been married to Schlatter for more than a year. She’s an ordained Lutheran pastor doing campus ministry at Santa Clara University.

“It was totally a God thing for me to end up at Saint Andrew,” he said. “The gifts that I have are what the congregation needed.”

Soon after moving to Almaden, Pastor David went to work. He’s already knocked on almost 3,000 doors introducing himself, giving people information about the church and offering to pray for them. His goal is to knock on 5,000 doors and then start knocking on those same doors again.

Saint Andrew’s new “portable” church.

“It has been an experience of renewal,” he said of becoming a portable church. “It’s been unbelievable what the Spirit has done.”

“The goal and my passion as a pastor are to help hopeless and hurting people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Pastor David said.

“In the depth of my heart I know what a relationship with Jesus has done for me in my life and I’ve met so many people in my life who are hurting,” Pastor David said, adding that the only solutions many people have are self help remedies that ultimately leave them by themselves. “Eventually, we need more than ourselves. We need God. I’m so deeply committed to helping people develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s at the heart of who I am and that’s why I became a pastor.”

The church elders also considered getting a mortgage on the property, but the more they looked into this option the more they realized it was a losing battle when banks turned them down to let them borrow money for operating costs.

After realizing they couldn’t raise the resources, the church elders decided to do “what God wanted us to do.”

The church is continuing to provide its popular community programs, like its Pathway seminars, designed to help people develop stronger relationships with God, by holding classes in church members’ homes, at coffee shops or at the park. Pastor David explained having the casual setting for the courses are a real plus because church growth research indicates casual locations are the best places to “share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the un-churched.”

Pastor David, an amateur musician and potter, said once the congregation grows to 500 members, the church will consider owning land again.

“Our challenge is to grow in depth and width. It’s not just about numbers. It’s growing in faithfulness,” he said.

For more information on Saint Andrew Lutheran Church call (408) 927-7800 or visit www.saintandrewchurch.org.

The church’s office, located at 6489 Camden Ave., Ste. 101, San Jose, Calif., 95120, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday, with a Sunday worship service at 10:15 a.m. at Castillero Middle School at Leyland Park Drive at Camden Avenue.