Pray for Those in Authority: Clackamas County
_(clacDA0002).jpg) |
| Elliot Prairie Community Church |
Starting with the new year, we hope to take Standing
in the Gap for Oregon in a slightly different direction. We’ve covered all
36 counties in Oregon and several of the cities more than once. This year,
post-2022 election, we want to focus on our elected officials and some of the citizens,
past and present, of each county.
 |
| Clackamas County |
From Sweet Rain: History of Molalla Assembly of God
Church:
Sometime in the early 1940’s a tent
meeting held in Molalla led to the establishment of a small Pentecostal
fellowship. [These tent meetings were held across the street
from the old Molalla Buckaroo Grounds. At first, the new congregation also met
in a tent.] After the tent meeting, the little congregation’s first official
meeting place was at the Rural Dell School where they first began to meet in
1943. They held services there for about three years while acquiring land and
beginning construction of a church building and parsonage at the edge of town
on North Molalla avenue where the Molalla Assembly of God still stands. Molalla
Assembly of God was incorporated in January, 1945. Preliminary construction
work had already begun at the new church site by 1944. Another fledgling
Pentecostal group had formed in Colton, and the two groups joined forces in
1948.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a young
couple met at the Glad Tiding Bible School, now Bethany University. This is the
oldest Pentecostal training center in the United States, established in 1919, a
mere decade after the Azusa Street revival broke out. The couple married in May
of 1945, and Glen Wakefield brought his young bride, Maxine, back to his hometown
of Molalla. For a while they lived in a trailer home on his
parents’ property, but then Glen, whose father was a district presbyter and a
pastor himself, was asked to be the pastor of the new Molalla Assembly of God.
They moved into a tiny house built on the back of the lot at 217 S. Molalla
Avenue. The first building on the property, it consisted of two tiny rooms with
a fold-up bed, a trash burner for heat and a tiny bathroom off one corner of
the kitchen.
Glen scrounged building materials and managed to
construct the first church on the site, in spite of a shortage of funds both
for himself and the church. He made ends meet by driving the bus/stage from
Molalla to Portland. Eventually a structure was built and the congregation moved
from the school. The church is now in its 78th year. Glen Wakefield
was pastor until 1947. The current pastor, Mike Cole, has been there for over
30 years.
Pray for Pastor Cole and this congregation.
Praying for elected officials:
Clackamas County Sheriff. The current county sheriff
is Angela Brandenburg who has been in office since 2020. She has been in
law enforcement for over 30 years, and also served for nine years in the Oregon
Army National Guard. She lives in Molalla with her husband and two children.
Clackamas County Board of Commissioners: The board is made
up of five county residents who serve four-year elected terms. They hold weekly
business meetings, and the public is invited to give comment during the
Thursday business meeting. If you live in Clackamas County, go here to learn how give your comments online or in person. The current commissioners
are: Tootie Smith, Chair (also from Molalla), Paul Savas, Martha
Schrader, Mark Schull, and Ben West.
The Circuit Court of Clackamas County is just down the
street from my apartment. This is the fifth judicial district of 27 districts
in Oregon. There are nine circuit court judges to hear cases in this district.
One is Ann Lininger. She was born in Oregon and studied law at Yale and
the New York University School of Law. She practiced law in Oregon until 2009 when
she was appointed to fill Martha Schrader’s position on the Clackamas County
Board of Commissioners when Schrader was appointed to the Oregon Senate.
(Martha is again a commissioner). Ann Lininger won re-election with no opposition
in 2014 as a Democrat representing District 38 (Lake Oswego, Portland). In 2017
Governor Kate Brown appointed her to the Clackamas Circuit Court. She and her
husband live in Portland and have two children.
Pray for these people, elected or appointed, who have much influence in the state. Pray for Godly wisdom and direction.
The book, Sweet Rain: History of Molalla Assembly of God Church can be purchased at the link below. Proceeds go to the church. Sweet Rain: History of Molalla Assembly of God Church (lulu.com)
Comments
Post a Comment