Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 3, March 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

SOUL FOOD:

Anchor Church adopts new format:

worshiping where you live

By TERRY VOGEL

Dave Foster is pastor of Anchor Church, located in Northeast Seattle near the intersection of NE 95th Street and 35th Avenue NE.

Late last year his congregation took a vote that changed their church life forever. With a vote of 80 percent support, the church body voted to reinvest their church. That is, they have voted to sell their property and look at "church" in a totally different way.

Once and if the property sells, they will transform their outreach in a way that looks totally different from a traditional church. Set up with a Ministry Center located in the Lake City area; it will focus on counseling, job training, a computer lab, English-as-a-Second-Language classes, child tutoring, a coffee shop and maybe even a gymnasium!

It is here at the Ministry Center where all will come together to serve and build community. The other part of this change will be a campus format where people worship where they live. Anchor Newcastle (Eastside) and Anchor University District are already in the formative stages with Anchor Lynnwood becoming a part of the worship and outreach in the near future (many members already live in the Lynnwood area).

Each campus will have a pastor and a member leadership team, with financial and directional support coming from a Leadership Council. All campuses will also come together once a month to worship together.

This idea of service to the community and worshiping where you live has been a group effort with many supporting and visioning along the way.

The driving force has been Foster, who is known to those at Anchor Baptist as "Pastor Dave." In addition to being a pastor, he is also a father and husband as well as the new football offensive coordinator at Nathan Hale High School.

Both efforts will challenge and nurture him in the coming months and years.

In my recent conversation with him, he drew many parallels between coaching a football team and shepherding a committed congregation. The challenge of encouraging and successfully developing a group of spirited and committed individuals with many different skills and talents toward a common goal is a similar reality.

As with any Christian group, the ideals of faith, hope, love and prayer are key elements to their goal of living and celebrating their faith in service and love to all.

A successful Anchor ministry bodes well for the health and well-being of the community at-large, as well as their membership. I would like to offer positive thoughts and best wishes to their new and exciting vision.

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Terry Vogel is community outreach coordinator at Maple Leaf Lutheran Church in the Meadowbrook neighborhood.