April 29, 2004

Church overcomes troubles, grows large congregation
Members credit Kansas pastor with turnaround

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

After years of leadership struggles, an aging facility and concerns about its future, the nondenominational Los Gatos Christian Church, today is a thriving 1,000-plus-member congregation.

Headed by Senior Pastor Galen Call, the church has successfully overcome what some members called a “deficit of trust,” in its top hierarchy and has began refurbishing most of Los Gatos Christian School, which operates on the spacious Hicks Road campus, formerly owned by Western Microwave. The campus is adjacent to the Almaden Valley and draws many of its members from Almaden.

“We’ve seen a renewal of hope and vision for the future. There’s excitement in our church again and we’re growing,” said Pastor Call.

Longtime church member Charlyne Wilson of Los Gatos, who’s been faithfully attending since 1979, credits the congregation’s turnaround to Pastor Call.

“When Pastor Galen came he was just so soothing and just like a balm to our hearts. We came closer together. We feel so close and love him and we love one another,” Wilson said. “We’re a family.”

Wilson said she likes Pastor Call’s teachings and attends his Bible class when she’s not helping lead the new-members class. “He’s very clear. He’s very calm. He’s very gentle. He teaches in such a way that I feel like a blotter. I just take all the information in.”

Similarly, Al Skovmand, a member of the church since 1973, said he and his late wife joined the congregation after one visit, but are more excited than ever to serve under Pastor Call.

“We’re growing. We have new people. We’re getting more and more baptisms now, not individuals, but families. That’s a good sign,” said the 82-year-old church deacon, sitting outside the church’s main hall where a vibrant choir could be heard singing religious music.

While most Christian ministers serve their congregations an average of three years, Pastor Call, who served 19 years as senior pastor of Grace Church Roseville, in Roseville, Minn., intends to stay “as long as God wants me to stay.”

“That’s the kind of ministry that produces the greater benefit for the congregation in the long run,” said the silver-haired, 59-year-old minister of his full-time paid position. “You build relationships. That’s what it’s about.

“I’m very honored to be the pastor of this church. It’s a wonderful loving congregation. They’ve been wounded, but the healing is taking place and there’s new life coming in. I’m finding it a great privilege and a fun time to be here.”

As senior pastor, Call preaches most Sundays “to bring a sense of the vision of God for the future of our church,” he said. Between 800 and 900 members attend Sunday morning church worship services. About 40 percent of those members live in Almaden Valley. The church is located on the border of San Jose and Los Gatos.

Pastor Galen Call
Pastor Galen Call took the helm of the Los Gatos Christian Church in August of 1999. In his 35th year of ministry, he grew up in the Midwest and went to Bible school and college in the Midwest. In 1969, he received a bachelor’s degree in religious education from Baptist Bible College, now Cornerstone University, in Grand Rapids, Mich. He also received a master’s of arts degree in ministry from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Ill. He has ministered to churches in Kentucky, Texas and Minnesota. His home church in Kansas ordained him as a pastor in March of 1969.

Married for 34 years to Jeannette Call, he has four children and two grandchildren. His youngest child, Emily, who lives in the Bay Area, was married earlier this month at Los Gatos Christian Church.

Pastor Call’s two sons live in Las Vegas and Minneapolis, respectively, and another daughter resides in Minnesota. All of them are married. “I came to California to thaw out after being in Minnesota for 19 years,” he joked of his decision to move to the Golden State.

Pastor Call explained he decided to oversee the Los Gatos church because he sensed his time of ministry in Minnesota was closing and was praying that God would open a door. “I sensed that God would lead us to a church that needed a healing ministry,” said Pastor Call. “We were privileged to come at a time when the church was looking for the kind of ministry we could offer. They have responded really well.”

The Kansas native also has ministry experience and has served on a number of boards and advisory councils. He has also taught in Bible conferences and on several mission fields.

Pastor Call has served on the Northwestern College and Radio Board of Trustees, in St. Paul, Minn., since 1996 and is chair of the student development committee.

When not found at the church or at home, Pastor Call is found working out at the Right Stuff health club on Blossom Hill and doing yard work. He also likes to fish, but he regrets he still has not had a chance to do much fishing since he arrived in California.

Congregation members mostly attend the church to find their purpose in life, he said. “We seek through the teaching of God’s word to help all of us understand why we’re here and God’s purposes for us and then how to live those in a very practical day by day kind of way.

Ultimately we’re here for the glory of God, but we’re also here to serve others,” said Pastor Call. “People are growing in their appreciation and their excitement of being a part of the community.”

The church draws membership from the entire South Bay, but its makeup reflects a broad range of people. It has a large number of seniors, single-parent families, and two-parent families with children.

The church is beefing up its children’s ministry and its student ministry for adolescents as Call wants to target young families with children and young people. The church also offers a 12-step Christ-centered program called, “Celebrate Recovery,” to help members and nonmembers overcome negative past experiences and/or addictions. The group meets on Fridays at 7 p.m.

While there are no specific mandates that require church membership to tithe, Pastor Call explained he encourages members to donate to the church “out of love not out of duty.”

Pastor Call focuses his teachings on the Bible. He also offers his membership a collection of his sermons in audiotape albums for a minimal charge.

As a nondenominational church, Pastor Call explained he teaches what the Bible says concerning the belief in one true God, the trinity, Jesus Christ being the Son of God, His atonement or sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection.

History
Los Gatos Christian Church was started in 1884 when “12 staunch church-men” organized a congregation to counteract the “wet days.”  The church began proclaiming its message on the west side of Los Gatos in the midst of seven saloons. In 1917, the congregation moved to West Main Street, where it remained for almost 40 years.

It moved to Monte Sereno on Daves Avenue in 1956 and, due to rapid membership growth, it added an auditorium. But almost as soon as it was completed, increasing numbers made it necessary to submit new plans for a still larger facility. When the city refused to issue a permit, Pastor Marvin Rickard and the members began considering alternatives, according to the church’s Web site.

In 1973, the church acquired its present Hicks Road campus. Despite difficulty in getting a use permit, the first service in the new facility was held in September with 1,900 in attendance. In 1977, the ministry vision broadened to include Los Gatos Christian School. Today the school serves approximately 400 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. That same year, construction was completed on the 1,300 seat worship center added to the north side of the existing structure. The church also started a television ministry reaching the Bay area, which no longer exists. The church began planting or assisting the establishment of new churches for a total of seven churches by 1987, including Crossroads Bible Church and South Valley Christian Church in San Jose.

Dr. Daniel Henderson became senior pastor in 1988, followed by Dr. Richard Kennedy in 1994. Due to damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a major retrofit of the worship center was completed in 1995.

For more information on Los Gatos Christian Church, 16845 Hicks Rd., San Jose, Calif., 95032, call 268-1411 or visit www.losgatoschristian.org. Sunday worship services begin at 9 a.m., with Sunday School for adults and children beginning at 10:45 a.m., and a Sunday sanctuary service at 6 p.m.