Church History
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, ELCA, started out in 1976 at Evergreen Memorial Gardens Funeral Homes. We began as a mission start congregation through the LCA and our mission developer was Pastor Charles Dion. Our first services were held at Evergreen, we held choir practice in the home of our organist and council meetings were held at council member’s homes, as were Bible studies and fellowship activities. Pastor Dion held confirmation and new member classes at his home.
We were given our charter in 1977 with 33 members and moved into our current building in 1982. Pastor Dion retired in 1983. We then called Pastor Ned Landis in 1983. Sadly, he was in an accident and sustained a serious head injury so his call was postponed until he was well enough to accept it. He stayed at Beautiful Savior until 1987. At that time, we were put on synodical support. The Bishop appointed Pastor Richard Jaech to be our new pastor and after 18 months of support, we were able to officially call him. Our congregation began to grow at this time, as did the neighborhood and community around Beautiful Savior. Many programs were started and we began partnerships with many outside organizations including a Mexican congregation that met in our sanctuary on Sunday afternoons for several years.
Our church building was remodeled and expanded in 1995. In 2001, Pastor John Lund was called as our Associate Pastor. Pastor John helped begin many new ministries and programs here, such as Wednesday night at church and Brown Bag Sunday (both are still going strong). Pastor John took a new call in 2005. After 25 years serving with us, Pastor Jaech ended his call in 2012 when he was elected Bishop of the Southwest Washington Synod.
Pastor Michelle Manicke, was appointed as our Interim pastor who saw Beautiful Savior through our time of transition. While Pastor Manicke was with us the congregation went through a process to become RIC (Reconciling in Christ). We called Pastor Chris Manisto to be our pastor in July 2015. We entered a new transition in the fall of 2018, and Pastor Scott Dunfee started as our interim pastor. Just before COVID-19 brought new challenges, our new called pastor, Pastor Jean DeVoll-Donaldson began in February 2020. ...
Our history is still being written and we look forward to seeing what God has in store for us next.