Gleed pastors plant new church in downtown Yakima

YAKIMA, Wash. — Going from the long-standing Memorial Bible Church in Gleed to a hotel in downtown Yakima meant more than a change of address for associate pastor Sam Middlebrook and youth director Shawn Niles.

The pair felt they were called to minister to a new demographic: the "broken and hurting people of Yakima," as Middlebrook puts it.

"When people walk in our doors, my dream is that one day our church is full of middle class, upper class, poor, homeless, prostitutes, drug dealers, addicts, you name it," the lead pastor of the new Community Church said. "Because all of those people are loved desperately by God, and we want to love those who God loves."

Middlebrook, 34, and Niles, 30, started Community Church about two months ago, with the first service Nov. 20. Instead of a sanctuary, they hold services in a large conference room at the Howard Johnson Plaza hotel in downtown Yakima, and on that first Sunday morning, 127 people showed up -- outgrowing the first room they met in at the hotel.

Middlebrook says the majority of those people were probably from Memorial Bible Church, but it's since changed: At a service in early January, he said, only about 30 percent of the 189 people were from his previous church.

The church started as a group of 10 people from Memorial Bible Church meeting in Middlebrook's living room back in November, and grew from there before the first Sunday service simply by word of mouth.

Memorial Bible Church is a congregation of about 600 people, and Mike Alamos, chairman of the board of elders there, said losing their worship pastor and youth director has meant some changes around the church, but they're still going strong.

"We are still a thriving church; we are restructuring," he said. "People rearrange, people change, people move on, and that's what we're doing."

The senior pastor at Memorial Bible Church also resigned in November, so the church is working on finding someone to fill that role. In the meantime, Alamos said, volunteers within the congregation have stepped in to give sermons and lead worship team.

They're big changes, but "I think it's a great opportunity for us to see where we individually and collectively serve God," he said.

Memorial Bible Church is not connected with Community Church, but Alamos says the two churches are sending prayers "both ways."

Community Church is looking for a more permanent location as its congregation continues to outgrow spaces at the Howard Johnson. They don't have anything solid yet, Middlebrook and Niles say.

The startup costs of the church came out-of-pocket for both of them, though they declined to say how much they gave. For the first five weeks, they were unpaid, but since then, tithes collected during services have been sufficient for them to be paid employees, along with a business manager, Mitsy Cheney.

Their new salary isn't significantly different from what they received at Memorial Bible Church, they say.

"We really had no idea this would grow so fast," Niles said. "It has been such a cool transition."

Middlebrook's original plan was to move to a church in Northwest Washington, but as he prayed about it, he said he felt called to plant a church in Yakima.

When he shared his vision with Niles, the youth director felt moved to join him. But that doesn't mean there wasn't any apprehension in stepping out on their own.

"That's such a huge undertaking to think of going from a church that's been established for so long, and step out and start something completely new -- absolutely, there's some fear there," said Niles, who worked at Memorial Bible Church for three years and grew up in Yakima, where he currently lives with his wife.

Niles is leading youth services Sunday nights at Community Church, and is learning his new role of associate pastor as he goes.

"It's learning how to do church in a new way and a new place, but it's all been fun," he said.

Middlebrook has been lead pastor at churches in the past, he said, and worked for two years at Memorial Bible Church.

Community Church is geared toward people who aren't familiar with the church or Christian teachings, so on Sundays, Middlebrook's sermons may not dive as deep as long-time believers like, but, Niles says, "they'll be understandable."

Both men were raised in the church, and say it would be easy to use words or images that are unfamiliar to people who are new to Christianity.

Middlebrook, who now lives in Selah with his wife and four kids, grew up in an inner-city church in Houston that ministered to homeless people, and he worked as a prison chaplain in Texas for several years.

"I'm very comfortable being around rich and poor, and every ethnic group there is; I'm very comfortable whether you've been in jail for 20 years or you don't know where jail is," he said.

They haven't gone door-to-door yet to invite people in surrounding neighborhoods to church, relying instead on word of mouth. In the future, they hope to have bilingual staff so they can better reach out to the Latino community.

"Our vision is to intentionally reach beyond ourselves so that those who are far from God can know him, love him and live more like him in Christ," Middlebrook said.

* Molly Rosbach can be reached at 509-577-7628 or mrosbach@yakimaherald.com.