|
|
|
HISTORY
The History of Valley Bible Church
Valley Bible Church began as Dieringer Union Sunday School in 1893, meeting in the
cook shack of a sawmill in Forest Canyon. The Sunday School was led by George Pepper,
a missionary with the American Sunday School Union (American Missionary Fellowship).
The group moved to Dieringer School in 1905. In 1940, the first pastor, Reverend
Joseph Green, was called and by 1948 the church was meeting in the Sumner Grange.
Under the leadership of Reverend Elmer Petersen, the group was incorporated as Dieringer
Bible Church. Formerly a raspberry farm, the land for the church facilities was
donated by a Mr. Rasmussen.
In 1953 the group broke ground for a church building, and after much sacrificial
giving and hard labor, the completed building was dedicated on May 4, 1958. The
Sunday the building was dedicated, the following quote was run in the bulletin:
|
"As this group has through the years, first as a Sunday School under the American
Sunday School Union, and then as a Sunday School and Church, stood for “the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints,” may it, in the years to come, should
Christ tarry, remain constant and true. It stands as a monument to the faith, cooperation,
and sacrificial giving of its members and friends."
|
That same year, under the leadership of Reverend Charles Lyman, Dieringer Bible
Church joined the Independent Fundamental Churches of America (now IFCA International).
Over the years, the church had many ups and downs, almost closing its doors several
times. In 1982, the dozen or so people remaining approached Northwest Independent
Church Extension for assistance and counsel. After meeting with the group, N.I.C.E.
encouraged them to persevere, believing God still had a work to do in the valley.
N.I.C.E. missionaries Arnold and Dorothy Wall came to serve as interim pastor for
several months until November of 1982, when the church extended a call to current
Pastor Frank and Wendy Emrich. The Emrichs began ministry that December with only
13 people in the church.
With growth and development in the valley, the area known as Dieringer ceased to
exist, so in 1983, the church changed its name to Valley Bible Church. Also in this
decade, Valley Bible Church began to grow. Pastor Frank remembers,
"Wendy and I used to pray for young couples with children to come to church, and
God answered that prayer in marvelous ways with wonderful people. I remember when
we finally reached 30 people coming, we thought we had a revival on our hands!”
|
As the church grew, they were able to support additional missionaries. There had
not been a missionary conference in years, and God blessed by allowing Valley Bible
Church to begin its annual missions conference. Dunn Gordy of New Tribes Mission
was the first speaker.
Bob and Dawn Archer
First Supported Foreign Field Missionaries
During this time, Pastor Frank joined the Pacific Fire Department for several years.
The Lord made this a very fruitful ministry for the whole church as He used Pastor
Frank to reach the community.
Through the 1990s, God continued to build Valley Bible Church’s ministries and people.
Because God brought so many people to Valley, two morning services had to be offered.
God also provided Pastor Frank and the congregation with assistant pastor Ryan Wood
who has been a tremendous blessing to Valley Bible Church. Pastor Frank remarks,
“We praise God for not only giving us a wonderful assistant pastor but also a great
son-in- law.”
|
It was during this time that God also provided Valley’s longest-serving church secretary,
Judi Allen.
Several ministries including women’s ministry, flock groups, benevolence ministry,
and the annual Bible Conferences were added. With numerical growth and a need for
more space, remodeling became necessary. Through His church, the Lord provided for
Pastor Frank and Wendy to purchase their own home and for the parsonage to be converted
to church offices and Sunday School rooms.
God continued to bless as Vally moved into the 2000s. Mario and Donna Ragazzo and
Louise Ferguson gave leadership to the AWANA program which began in 2001. Pastor
Frank said AWANA has been “one of the best ministries for reaching children and
parents with the gospel.”
Not only was Valley growing in ministry outreaches, but it was growing in numbers.
Between 2007-2008, over 32 babies were born! This led to the remodel of the nursery.
To allow more space for ministry activities, a modular building was purchased. God
wonderfully provided both the money and the people for the remodel and the modular.
2008 also witnessed the celebration of the Emrichs’ 25th anniversary of ministry
at Valley Bible Church. God has blessed us immensely by providing our wise, caring,
godly, faithful Pastor Frank and Wendy!
Adding to the amazing leadership team, Pastor David Dietrich became Vally's Youth
Pastor in April.
As he reflected on God’s goodness to Valley Bible Church over the years, Pastor
Frank shared some of his favorite memories. In addition to mentioning the church
campouts, “lots and lots” of potlucks, and church holiday celebrations, Pastor Frank
said,
|
“For me, my favorite memories are those of watching God at work: people getting
saved, families restored, the church growing. Those early years were tough but it
was thrilling to watch God bring the right people at the right time to build the
church. Many of those precious families are still serving at VBC.
One of the greatest privileges for me is seeing the children of many of our church
become adults and seeing them now bring their children to VBC!
People — not programs — have always been our priority and we had, and have, some
wonderful people in our lives! Those saints that have gone on to glory will always
be in our hearts.
Of course one of our favorite things is the explosion of babies we have had at VBC!
We have seen God answer prayer in marvelous ways; we have seen people come to the
Lord Jesus, families restored, health restored. We have seen people growing in their
knowledge and obedience to the Lord through faithful study and application of His
Word. We have seen our support of Missions grow from one or two missionaries to
now over 50! We have seen people trained and sent out both as missionaries and pastors.
We have seen people in need helped through our benevolence ministry.
It’s amazing to think of the world-wide impact VBC has had for a smaller church,
including the sharing of the sermon tapes and CDs that Harvel Theon sends out each
month.
We have seen people helping others in incredible ways, really obeying the ‘one anothers’
of Scripture. I believe VBC parallels the 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1 church. I have
been spending a lot of time in that passage lately and see VBC all over this chapter.”
|
When asked what he finds most exciting about the merger with Edgewood Community
Church, Pastor Frank replied,
“The opportunity to reach more people through more resources with the Gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ! Along with that is the testimony of what happens when God’s
people serve together in love and unity.
It will be exciting to see all the people from Valley Bible Church in one service
together! I am also excited to be working with the godly men in leadership at Edgewood
Community Church and the precious people that make up that church.”
Pastor Frank concluded,
“As I think through all that has happened during these years, I am awestruck at
God’s faithfulness. I praise God for the faithfulness of this church. We take no
credit for what has taken place, we are merely the recipients of God’s grace and
mercy. This is not a testimony to our greatness, this is a testimony to the grace
of God. This is not some kind of tribute to our cleverness or our ability to grit
our teeth and hang on. This is a testimony to the power of the Spirit of God, faithfully
serving the purposes of God in the work of this church through these years, in spite
of weakness, in spite of our failure. We give honor to Whom honor is due, we give
honor to God for what he has done in this place.”
We rejoice that God was pleased to take a small group of believers meeting in a
cook shack and build them into a church of over 300 with ministry all over the globe
- to God be the glory!
What a blessing to reflect on God’s faithfulness and goodness to His church over
the years. We look forward with great anticipation to His future plans for us, knowing
that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion.
"Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, You who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like you?"
Psalm 71:19
|
|
