Pastors

Our pastors in The Church of God, Northwest Region endeavor daily to connect the message and ministry of Christ and His Church with the communities they serve. They are aware that local churches, which they pastor are not social clubs but life-changing & soul-saving stations, bringing vital relief to those whose lives have been shaken or stranded by the turbulent storms of this life.

For more information about pastor, churches in your area or missions in the Northwest Region, contact:

Bishop Samuel McMahon, Regional Overseer
Call (509) 225-9054
710 Hwy 821 #24
Yakima, WA 98901

tcogwestlighthouse@gmail.com

David Hendricks (Flathead Valley, MT)

David Hendricks has lived in the Flathead Valley, Montana, for 20 years and has pastored the Columbia Falls area for 9 years. Before he began pastoring, he also served as an assistant pastor. David has three grown children and 12 grandchildren who keep him busy when he's not tending to the ministry of his local church.

According to Bro. Hendricks, one of the best things about living in Montana is that being just 20 minutes from Glacier National Park and in close proximity to the Swan and Mission Mountains, the Hungry Horse Reservoir and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. In an area that has so much to offer, he believes that the Church should offer just as much and more to all who are seeking truth and purpose, as well as to those who are hurting and do not yet know where to turn.

He adds that the best part of pastoring and serving as a district overseer is simply being able to help others and work along side them. David considers it a privilege to be a minister in The Church of God, adding that nothing compares to having the confidence that you are preaching the truth.

Bro. Hendricks has a reputation for serving others, something which he says he learned from his own father. He says that means working while it is day, always putting the needs of others before your own and never giving up on anyone. In fact, his prayer for The Church of God is that every member would get a heart so full of love and willingness to be of service to the Church and others that it becomes a driving force in their lives - one that wakes them up in the middle of the night with an awareness of the great needs all around them and the urgency of winning the lost.

Bro. Hendricks actively keeps in contact with the other churches in our region and works to build relationships in the Flathead Valley of Montana, where he hopes to see revival take hold of both the members of the church in Columbia Falls and the entire community. He believes that such revival is a natural result of God's people getting their priorities in line with the priorities of God - when they stop investing so much of their time and resources in the pleasures and comforts of their own lives and begin to invest them in the work of the Lord.

Samuel McMahon (Yakima Valley, WA)

Bishop McMahon has pastored for 37 consecutive years, occasionally pastoring two churches at the same time and having once pastored as many three churches.

In fact, the sheer number of churches he has pastored, some of which he also organized, speaks highly of his commitment to growing the Church both spiritually and by seeing new works begin where The Church of God is not currently operating. As of 2010, he has pastored 26 churches in all, in Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, British Columbia (Canada) and Washington.

Bro. McMahon continues to labor to see new missions grow to maturity in communities throughout the Northwest Region. In August, 2008, Bishop McMahon was appointed by General Overseer Stephen Smith to serve as the Regional Overseer for the Northwest Region. Shortly thereafter, he reorganized The Church of God in Yakima, WA, and began to pastor there. He has since seen growth in the Yakima church and has also been preaching at the Naches Indepent Church, nearby, where he anticipates the start of an even greater work when the pastor there retires. Additionally, he has been working with possible mission churches throughout the Northwest Region and hopes to see a significant increase, both spiritually and numerically in the near future.

“I would like to see us double our number of churches, as well as our membership,” Bro. McMahon asserts. “We have the opportunity to do that.”

However, Bro. McMahon has not overlooked the needs of the Yakima area, where he currently pastors. He has worked diligently to build relationships throughout the community and in the outlying areas. As a result, the local church has already begun to see fruit. Even so, he believes the fruits that have begun to come forward are only the very beginning of what God wants to do - and what He will do in the days and months and years ahead.

Bro. McMahon considers the members in Yakima to be a precious and industrious group of people. However, he believes that many more, just as precious and potentially as industrious have yet to be added to the Body of Christ, whom God desperately wants to use in the future work of the Church in the area.

Bishop McMahon says he considers pastoring to be one of the most important jobs in the Church. Although often far from being a prestigious position, it is the needs and demands of the position that make it so important.

Brenda Bell (Kennewick, WA)

Sis. Brenda Bell has been actively engaged in the ministry and work of the Church since she was 17 years old.

In her early years of service, she served as the Oregon State VLB secretary, a position she held for three years. Later, she served for three years as the Oregon State WMB secretary.

For five years (from 1988-1991), she traveled the state holding weekend mission revivals and was busily engaged in both Church work her regular employment with the Women's Health Department University of Oregon. She stepped down from revival work when her children were born and did not resume active Church work until after her children were grown.

Sis. Bell celebrated 39 years of marriage with her husband, Rick, in April and is excited about celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in April of 2011. Together, she and Rick have two sons, two grandsons and one granddaughter.

Sis. Bell renewed her covenant with The Church of God in 1997 and began pastoral work at that time. She has pastored a total of nine years, including her time at Eugene, Ore., Prineville, Ore., and her past two years at Kennewick, WA.

Concerning pastoral work, she says, “It's a very humbling position. It causes you to realize that you hold to a great degree the souls of precious sheep of God in your hands. It has caused me more than ever to be a servant and to serve those souls, to show them the love of God."

She believes that the Church is commissioned by God to provide truth, love and acceptance - to be a place where sincere men, women and young people can be assured of truth and find direction for their lives, as well as a sense of purpose and belonging.

As for The Church of God, she says, "It means everything to me. I've been a member of the Church since I was 12 years old. My whole life has been shaped by and around the Church. Without the Church I just don't feel like I would have a place in this world. God gave me a beautiful vision of the Church and it has held me and kept me through all of the tough times. It's been my whole life."

One of the most exciting things that she sees in the Church, are the teachings, which she has found to be rock solid, built on and around the whole Word of God. “The teachings of the Church make her stand out, because she's the only one who has the purity of doctrine that is all Bible-backed. If you're searching for truth, and you're searching to know how you need to live, what God requires, then you will find it through the teachings of The Church of God.”

Sis. Bell says she would like to see revival sweep through the Northwest Region, particularly the Kennewick church, since she pastors there. She would like to see God raise up children, young people and middle-aged people who with a heart for the Lord's work - to "see the unity that is in the mind of God for us, become a reality in this region and in our local church."

Jacob Doran (Sedro-Woolley, WA)

Jacob Doran currently pastors The Church of God in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. Although he has pastored there for less than a year, he previously pastored in Montana for five years and in Aurora, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago - for four years. Bro. Doran felt strongly that God was leading him to Western Washington, after being asked by the regional overseer to pastor the church in Sedro-Woolley.

That said, he admits that leaving Montana was one of the hardest things he has done, because of all the relationships he had built and the love he felt for them. He would like to think that such is one of the evidences of a pastor's heart, regardless of where he lives and ministers.

Today, God has given him a love for the community of Sedro-Woolley, the Skagit Valley and the many wonderful people who live there. Although new to the area, he rejoices to find that new relationships are being built every day.

Bro. Doran's heart has been to see God's people become serious about the calling and commission of the Body of Christ. He recall's the vision of former General Overseer, Bishop M.A. Tomlinson, who popularized the slogan "Every member a worker, and a special work for every one."

When Bro. Doran talks about vision, he says he means a lot more than just the doctrine and teachings of the Church. Bro. Doran stresses the need for clear insight into God's purpose for the Church on Earth and the work He has chosen for each one of us, as members in particular. Regardless of what we call it, he insists it is not a vision until it becomes a way of life and daily defines the way we see everything else.

To that end, Bro. Doran says he sees the role of a pastor as being "to teach, to equip and to send." That involves "whetting people's appetite for the things of God," as well as "cultivating a consuming love for Christ that is relevant as well as integrated with every facet of their lives and their labors."

Bro. Doran loves says that pastoring in the Sedro-Woolley and Skagit Valley area presents many opportunities, which he hopes to take advantage of. He is overwhelmed at the amount of potential he sees in the area and envisions a number of outreaches, which he hopes to implement as quickly as possible - not the least of which is the Church's ministry and outreach to young people. He is excited to have the regional VLB (Youth) coordinator as the youth leader of Sedro-Woolley church.

As an avid hiker, he would like to utilize the many hills, lakes, mountains, valleys and even the nearby oceanfront as a launching pad for an outdoors ministry, including camping and a mentorship program for young people of various age groups.

James Adcock (Salem, OR)

Curtis Barker (Dallas, OR)

Curtis Barker has a great love for the Lord and passion for ministering to others, in word and deed. He has pastored for a total of 35 total, in Washington and Oregon.

Bro. Curtis' first pastorate was in Riverton, WA, after which he pastored in Spokane, Vancouver and Kennewick, WA. Eventually, he relocated his family to Salem, WA, where he pastored for five years. While in Salem, he organized a new Church in Keizer, which he pastored for three years. Additionally, he pastored the church in East Portland for seven years. In the early 80's, he pastored at Dallas for a year and a half, after which he took a 10-year break from pastoring, beginning in 1984.

Bro. Curtis renewed his covenant with The Church of God in 1994, at which time he again took on the church in Salem, OR. He later organized The Church of God in Eugene, OR, but has pastored in Southeast Salem for the past four years. You could say that Salem has been his base of operation since in 1968, when he first moved his family to the community.

Bro. Curtis sees many good things on the horizon for both his local church and the Northwest Region. Recently (on May 13), the Salem church took in two new members, David and Sharon Kramer, with whom he had been holding services in their home, as well as in the Salem church. The Kramers joined on a Wednesday night, when Regional Missions Coordinator Betty Bishop was present to hold a special service prior to the Regional Ladies Retreat.

“We're looking to see some more growth in numbers and in the Word, and we plan to buy the building that we've been holding church in, soon.”

Bro. Curtis has four grown children, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, whom he dearly loves. However, his family also know his heart for the Church and for pastoring, which he sees as, “an opportunity to exercise the call to preach that God has given me and to be used of the Lord. It's a chance to be a servant to other people and to the community at large.”

He considers it an honor to pastor in The Church of God, which he says means everything to him, second only to his love for the Lord and the salvation he has long enjoyed, thanks to the wonderful gift of life in Christ Jesus. The work of the Church, he adds, is simply continuing the work of Jesus.

“We're here to declare all the truth that God has given, just as Jesus came not to preach his own doctrine but the One who sent Him,” he says. “He taught the truth of God, and that's He told the Church to do. I want to see the Church be perfected and ready for the coming of the Lord.”

Ron Barker (Portland, OR)

Bro. Ron Barker began pastoring in 1994, in Nampa/Caldwell, Idaho. He presently pastors in Portland, where he attends Multnomah University. He is majoring in leadership in ministry in an effort to obtain a Masters Degree in Theology and eventually enter a doctoral program.

Bro. Ron feels a deep love for both the people he pastors and the people he hopes to reach through his ministry.

“God has placed within me a longing to reach out to people,” he affirms. “There are many people that do not have a home church, have been emotionally and/or spiritually hurt, and have never known Jesus on a personal level. I want to help people develop a strong relationship with Jesus Christ and give them an opportunity to feel that they are in a place of spiritual and emotional safety.”

Particularly, God has given Bro. Ron a heart for young people. He is presently seeking to develop a ministry to homeless teenagers in the Portland area, where a large community of homeless teenagers now live. Portland, Bro. Ron explains, has few resources to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of such young people.

“My prayer is that God will unlock a door so our church will be able to open a youth center in downtown Portland.”

Additionally, he hopes to see the local church expand and develop a number of new churches throughout the greater Portland metropolitan area in the not-so-distant future.

"I enjoy living and pastoring in the Portland area," Bro. Ron explains. "Portland offers many indoor and outdoor activities all year that give many opportunities to meet new people and talk to them about the Lord. Most of my family lives in the metro area except for my daughter that recently moved to Iowa."\

Bro. Ron considers it a privilege to participate in the lives of others in a pastoral capacity, being a friend and counselor and tending to the many needs their lives present.

"I enjoy visiting people in their homes and being a part of their lives beyond the walls of the local church, because being a pastor does not mean just preaching a message every Sunday and Wednesday. Pastoring is about the people, and if a pastor does not like people, he or she is in the wrong line of work.”

Bro. Ron and his wife, Diana, have three grown children and four grandchildren. Sis. Diana works a paralegal and is also active in the regional work of the Church.

Dorothy Dodson (Eugene/Coburg, OR)
More Info Coming Soon!

Ken Brock (Prineville, OR)
More Info Coming Soon!

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Pastors